MUMsnet little Italy

[mediterraneo]

buonasera!

Thanks so much med. I like organi di gestione dei fondi... it will be clear what I mean, because I will then list them! I am asking for dosh, and I want to make it clear that I am also approaching all other possible sources. It's a nightmare. I hate writing 'bureaucratese' - Italians are so good at it... and I am so.... not!

What do you think of my lunchbox ideas?

Come dici tu dipende dal contesto...per me la merenda e' lo snack delle 3 e mezza....boh!

Dopo scuola, vuoi dire? Allora non funziona. Ma la franca diceva piu' sotto che usava portare la merenda a scuola per il break delle 10,30. Boh!

no, no, voglio dire che io non userei "merenda" per il lunch box che si mangia a pranzo, per me la merenda si fa mid-afternoon. Boh, e' una palla tradurre, diciamoci la verita'.

Si, anch'io portavo la merenda per la ricreazione delle 10.30, normalmente un panino con un po' di frutta, pero' all'epoca la scuola finiva alle 12.30, quindi si pranzava a casa verso le 13.30-14.00 quando il babbo tornava anche lui a casa dalla pausa del lavoro. Era un mondo cosi' diverso. [nostalgia] Ma la merenda non si mangia a pranzo per me.

Anch'io da piccola tornavo a casa per il pranzo (e poi di nuovo a scuola per il pomeriggio). Era un'altro mondo. Ma io, come sapete, sono vecchissima!

Poi... la traduzione... uffa', sono stufa - di Dante, di Enrico VII, di Clemente V... di tutti! E soprattutto sono stufa delle mie proprie parole. Dopo averle letto tre mila volte non so piu' se fanno senso o no! Basta... bisogna farla finita questa traduzione. (Ma ora no; vado a letto!)

Buona sera! Siete tutte italiane? Io no, ma il mondo italiano mi interessa molto.

Ciao SauerKraut... Sono inglese, ma molto italofila!

Cali... your infant school experience sounds much like mine. I went on 5-y-o hunger strike until my mum took pity on me!

Hi everyone, been away for work and am now catching up with the backlog.

Med - lunchbox is porta panini or porta pranzo, or at least that was what they were called in Rinascente and somewhere else a few weeks ago. It amused me as I'd never seen them here before and I think it bemused a lot of Italians, I overheard someone ask why you needed a big valigetta to carry a small flask.

It's my DD's birthday today and bad mummy that I am I haven't got her a present. I think I'm going to have to rush to Ikea tonight a pick up the farm. Not that she's going to notice, she's only 2, so maybe I can get away with sending DP tomorrow instead. Fortunately she is having her party at nursery so I don't have to bother with a cake tonight (I really am a mean mummy, I must improve by next year). I'm really annoyed by this thing whereby you can't give home-made food at nursery, schools etc. I had to buy a Mulino Bianco thing which I'd never have contemplated buying normally (I really hate cibi industriali).

for my 5 lire worth. On nipotinas gita scheda it said da portare collazione al sacco .. But they have only just and they are hard to find started selling actual lunch boxes with handles and matching cups etc . I sent a mini zaino back from here for nipotina.
Califrau/fudge what about blue m&Ms in US ?Ok not as satisfying as a bar of dairy milk but ok when desperate. Loved them when I was pregnant !
Brangelina seems daft about no home cooked stuff in nursery but hope your dd had a good day ! Have you booked to go away at all or did I miss the post ?

No I haven't, I'm still undecided. It hinges mainly on the weather, if it's going to pour down and be cold I don't want to go, I see no point in being stuck indoors on holiday. I'd much rather do a week of mare somewhere cheap than a wet week in the UK. DD will have seen most of her English rellies anyway, as they're all coming to see me the first half of Aug. I'm also trying to find out if SS is actually coming, as that puts another angle on things in terms of expense and possibility of places to stay. I don't think the boy really wants to come (no playstations available and TV only in English), but DP doesn't want to admit it so has not confirmed anything yet. Oh it's so complicated.

OMG Franca you're moving back to Milan!?! Have you already got somewhere to live or will you have to buy? Don't worry about moving the DCs, they'll adapt and at primary school age it makes no difference being moved about. I certainly did and it did me no harm (mad cross-eyed cackle emoticon). When are you moving?

what do you mean about home-cooked food at nursery? Taht the food is not cooked on the premises? or that you can't send your food in? I liked the idea that dc ate food at nursery, this is where they learnt about jacket potatoes and yorkshire pudding !
Brangelina, everything is still up in the air. We should move after Christmas. But I'mn stressing about "minor" details, such as not being able to find a place in scuola and asilo for the first 6 months and having to pay for private, and I'm not keen on private schools anyway. I think we'll probably rent for the beginning. I'd like to live where I used to, somewhere around corso genova/cesare correnti/conca del naviglio, but it's probably going to be too expensive. I also like the area around corso di porta romana, but again, it might be too expensive. The area around giulio romano/via crema, is quite nice, near metropolitanan gialla, and probably more affordable, but I don't know, prices are crazy now... I think you made a good decision about Monza, however I don't think dh will want to commute from there into Milano every day... arghhhhh it's too complicaed, I'd rather stay put here.

Yes I mean something I prepare myself. They eat pretty well at nursery so I'm not worried about that, it's just that I'd have preferred to have made my own cake than buy an over-sweet additive laden thing.

I think you might have to forget about living near Corso Genova or Porta Romana, last time I looked rent for a trilocale in that area was about ?1800 euros upwards, and often "trilocale" is meant very loosely - a couple I saw were bilocali with ripostigli.... You might be lucky though, someone I knew was in comunale housing and was living in a condominio del '700 in Corso Italia for 200 euros a month. Not sure how he got in but I think he might have known someone in comune. Monza's not too bad in logistical terms, it takes me 15 mins to get into Milan by train, less if I get off at Sesto and get the metro. It's not a good place from other points of view but still better than a lot of dormitory towns in the hinterland milanese. That's what swayed it for me, anyway. I didn't realise how crap the school situation was though....

The schooling thing is a nightmare, isn't it? Can you not come to Milan and stay somewhere for a couple of weeks to get your residenza, then your children are automatically residenti and will be able to get in the local schools? Or it is too late? I know there are a lot of extra school places in Milan, particularly in materna, so maybe it's no too late to iscriverli.

I think the iscrizioni can only be made in February (or is it January), so if we have the residenza we can iscriverli per settembre 2008. I'll need to find an alternative for those six months. Mind you ds will be 5 and a half and it;s probably easier to find him a place at scuola elementare. Yes, schooling sounds like a nightmare. Old teachers and bad attitudes from the parents, lack of funds and motivation, lack of discussion. A big shame, as I said, I had a fantastic education and fantastic time at school. Have to say that the majority of my friends who live in Milan are quite happy about asili and scuole elementari.
I know, the pirces are appalling, and no I don't know anyonme in comune... we'll see. Somehow, I feel I can compromise on the size of the flat but not on the area. I'm in for a reality check .

Ah, you meant the cake! that's funny. Although I don't think my nursery here would have allowed me bringing in something I baked myself because of allergies...

Here they're not fussed about allergies, it's the possibility of salmonella from my unclean kitchen that worries them

I do understand about you wanting to live where you want to live - I lived in a shoebox for years because of the location. Wouldn't have moved anywhere else either! Do you live in a house or flat now? Do you have a garden? I used to hate gardens and gardening but really miss having one here. I'm now trying to grow albicocche and avocados on my balcony. I want to plant potatoes too but haven't got the space. I really miss proper English potatoes too, you can't make decent jacket spuds with the Italian ones.

We live in a house with a decent size garden. Don't have a clue about gardening though, but we do grow sage, rosemary, mint and parsely! (strawberries are all being eaten by slugs). We don't use it as much as english people would. It's always too wet, or too cold or too windy (for us). I'm sure I'll miss it though. And god I love this house, I'm not sure I want to part with it!

I can bring you some potatoes if you want. Not sure if I'll manage to live without English butter

Yes, I never used the garden in the UK for the same reasons. The ironic thing is, it would be ideal here with the better climate. Maybe not in the summer, it's so hot here now that going out on the balcony involves a huge drop in blood pressure, but it would be lovely in spring.

Yes please for the potatoes. They'd probably take up all your weight allowance though and I'm not sure what variety to go for, there are just so many and I'm out of practice. I remember the first time DP set foot in Tesco he was amazed that there was a whole aisle just for potatoes. He was so awestruck that he bored everybody about it when we got back.

Franca you can get Lurpack salted butter in Italy but it is ( well in my area ) E2.70 500g so I use it for cake making and on toast ( UK style)
Brangelina we are in the Uk and ok lucky as am at parents but we have been out and about almost every day. Beach in wellies and wind jackets to sun suits the next day. It has been wet but so far we have escaped being totally wet but we did do 3 rounds of the cathedral until it stopped the other day !
I miss a garden so much when I am in Italy as coming to the UK I did not even bother with geraniums this summer and my window boxes are all weeds. My herbs get eaten by cheeky birds who ignore my strips of tinfoil on sticks. BUt I would love to have a strip of garden to potter in.
at flat rents they are as high as Venice but I guess the areas in Milano that you are keen on are nice ones ?

Rosa, it's the wellies and wind jackets bit that puts me off! I do like to be warm on a beach and country walks are not quite the same when you're ploughing through mud and have your head down to avoid the driving rain... Mind you, DD has never used her wellies (apart from in the house when she has no nappy on!) and they're getting too small, so it might be an idea just to get some use out of them.

We went to buy dd a pair of closed in shoes 2 days after we arrived as she came up in sandals also bought wellies at £6 which she wears with 2 pairs of socks so they will do for the winter.
I hate the rain but hearing that Venice is on about 80% humidity am happy to be here. Ok so am getting fed up with my same sweatshirt and I still need another pair of jeans. Going out for a meal tonight with dh first time since last summer. As in Venice nonna doesnt do babysitting but Grandma here is pushing us out the door !