MN Little Italy 8

[francagoestohollywood]

Benvenuti, ciao hello

Hello MM and welcome (your dd is gorgeous!)! Hope we can help you with any info you need in case you decide to come back here (me and dh are italian, we lived in the UK until christmas 2007)

Gio, if you have local friends with dc your son's age or older, who've already been through the process, don't be ashamed to ask all the info needed. Italians are always happy to share their insider tips with friends, it's like rebelling to our kafkian/kafkesque (not sure about this word) bureaucracy Ask away as much as you need!!!

Pippi, omg, which place? memoria a scolapasta, remember? (I was very upset when ds started school in the UK, do you remember??? - ages ago emoticon-)

I'm hopeless with saving money tips . I run riot in the market!!!!!!! ANd i def spend to much money on facaccia

san vito lo capo maybe???

oh yes san vito lo capo and riserva dello zingaro. Marvellous sea. But it was 12 yrs ago and I was touring sicily in a tent (never go camping in sicily in august. Too hot).
But I can ask around, as I have friends who go there oftn. But seriously a pool al mare is . tell him it's not eco friendly

have to go to bed now, i'll let you know pippi

Buona sera, well, notte really!
DD's been really appiccicata since her jabs, was hoping for some "me" time today (I mean baking cake and fold washing) so sent DP and DCs to neighbour, but DD started crying so they were back after 10 mins and would only stay in my arms!!!! hope she's better this week, with DP off on wed to go to great-uncle's funeral u in Yorks (and surely will have the old italians questioning why I've not gone too... but at least this time got the excuse

Ciao MM!! I'm Italian, been here 11 years on the 22nd , DP is Italian Yorkshireman, I have a DS (4.6 ) and a DD (20wks)

Gio - DS started reception this year (well, lst year!) just 10 days after DD was born, so very very emotional, especially as I expected 1/2 days to begin with, but it was on full days after only 2!! I just feel that at 4.2 he was far too young to start school.... especailly as it means limiting when we can go to italy ... but he's fine... he went to nursery (private for 2 mornings first, school nursery after) and he cried to begin with, but was fine after a few days (unlike me, I spent all my first year at asilo hanging on to Suora's skirt, so while the other kids were having their pisolino I'd be in the kitchen with Suore e cuoche having a spoon of espresso!!)

aand never mind about Spring, I want Summer!!

sunflower I've been to suore as well, asilo and elementary. Luckily I had a great suora maestra and the cuoca was something else, she made horrible pasta but amazing pizza!

no rush franca, we are only looking around atm. if you are at pool al mare it means you have never been to one of this package holiday full of brits who stay all week by the hoptel pool and never venture on the beach. dh luckily loves the sea and he's okay without a pool but there's still smthng inside him from his childhood that tells him we must have a pool !! we are prob going to get an apt in a villaggio/residence so that we have a bit of everything (tbh as much as I love self catering I don't fancy the idea of tidying up on holiday as well this year!).

pippi, cuoche were good, but I often had pane e marmellata as I was a very fussy eater. but the Suora Superiora, now she was something else! Parents were terrified of her too!

have you decided about work in the end?

LOL! our suora superiora was terrifing as well. luckily I had little contact with her while my poor brother had her for maestra and was scarred for life!

re work, will go and discuss option with manager this week.

Aargh! Only one of my amazon parcels (the smaller one) has arrived and it has been OPENED! so one of the books is wet and crinkly. I hate it whan books are not in perfect condition, it's one of my few OCD traits. Lately they've been opening all my parcels, DD had a late Xmas pressie arrive last wee and that was opened as well, plus a few last year. Is this normal? It never happened when I got stuff sent to the office. Maybe they think because I've got a foreign name I must be a terrorist, maybe I should start getting stuff sent in DP's name. His parcels never get opened.

Gio, good luck getting your DS a materna place, I'm sure he'll love it, DD certainly loves hers. I haven't read the requisites for Rome on the site Franca linked (far too lazy), but here in Monza it affected your punteggio if only one parent was seen as working. Everybody at DD's state school has 2 parents working and my ex neighbour's DH was an artist, so not effectively "employed" and her DD lost out on a state nursery place because of that. If you're going to be staying here for a while it might be an idea to register yourself with a codice fiscale and maybe P.IVA just so you can put yourself down as a libera professionista. You can still keep your earnings UK based if you can demonstrate that said moneys were earned abroad. I've done this in the past though not with a partita iva, although I know people who manage to get away with this a lot. You'll just have to earn a minimum in Italy to keep things ticking over then the rest can be UK. You really don't want to have to start paying Italian taxes if you can help it.

We spend a fortune on food as well, mainly down to DP not resisting "bargains" such as lobster at half price. Considering we buy no meat or fish (apart from DP's "bargains") we still manage to spend around 120-150 euros per weekly shop, yet after day 3 I have nothing to eat/cook with. I've started vaguely meal planning so it has improved, plus I've gone back to being a bit more inventive. We don't do primo, secondo frutta here either, it's usually something piatto unico style + fruit/posh chocolate for pudding. Sometimes if I'm feeling festive I'll do a contorno, but usually it's everything bunged in a pan together.

primo, secondo, contorno? yeah, right! as it is, today I had porridge for lunch!!! I like piatto unico!

Ciao a tutte!

Brangelina, at the opened parcels. We haven't experienced this yet, and dh gets at least 1 parcel a week from abroad.

Yes, also in Milan the punteggio is affected by not having both working parents, it means you get 1 point instead of 2. But the main points are given if you choose the 2 closest materne (15 points) to your house, etc. But as I said, I don't know anyone who didn't get a place.

I do piatto unico too, followed by fruit. Problem is that dc always want to eat a bit of mozzarella/or prosciutto etc after the piatto unico... that's pricey.

Sunflower! How's dd doing today?

I never have problems with parcels but once I had an amazon parcel opened. Nothing was lost but inside was a clipboard with someone's checklist for a conference or something, plus a worn child's sweatshirt. Most bizarre. Hope your other stuff turns up soon.

a bit rompi today, but fine thanks! AND we had 2 12hr nights in a row!!! though I still went to bed late as they keep on showing crap on tv, and then starting good films at 11pm...

Now I think about it I've had every parcel in the last few months opened, plus one for DD where - coincidentally - it had my surname on instead of DP's. Hmmm, I wonder whether it's worth going to have a word with someone at the post office. With whom though? Looks like I might have to get them sent to my office, which is a pain as I'd actually have to go in....

at the used sweatshirt! I suppose it could have been much worse.

at the sweatshirt (and lol a bit, if you don't mind. How bizarre!!!)

12 hrs I'm impressed sunflower!

Yes how is baby sunflower we have jabs next week as well.... heres hoping !( minrosa is nearly 3 months eeeeekkkk)
at your parcel. We had one that was opened it took ages to get here dh said the box was a bit wet as well - one wonders if it was a tactic ??? There was 1 book missing as well but seeing as I paid £1.50 for it ( It was not Amazon btw but a M&S one that my sister had opened taken out what she need to to and then sealed again. I have done pretty well ( touch wood) on parcels over Xmas and now there was a time when they took ages and always seemed to have a bit opened or missing. I found that those plastic sealing bags from the Uk are brill- they are tough.
We are piatto unico here with dolce or frutta to follow. Dh is not fussed on the whole caboodle thank heavens. DD gets her pasta with carne or whatever on the same plate.
Here there are not enough nursery places hence our scelta to go to the suore and seeing as dd enjoys nido so much we don't want her to loose out.

opps if I had re read before posting but dd1 work up ...Just got dd2 down as well !!
2 x 12 hrs brava i will make sure minirosa knows !
Porridge...yucky yuck same category as polenta for me ...Sorry but dd will not experience it unless somebody else makes it- I do like flapjacks though !!

I know that as I have told you she'll be up twice tonight!

sputnik!!

was feeling vvery cold (it's oh so pouring here!!) and coudn't be asked cooking as we're having left over spezzatino tonight and the porridge warmed me up nicely.... should really forget Italy and move to Australia.. sick of the cold and wet!!

I have to agree rosa, I find porridge one of the very few things I don't really fancy eating. Shame though, because - on paper - it sounds like the ultimate comfort food!

Yes, sunflower, gloomy here as well. Possibly less cold. But we have severe weather warning for tomorrow (rain and wind)

sunflower, do you make spezzatino in the pentola a pressione?

no, never tried that, is it good? just made it in one of those terracotta big pots with lid, so can just started on hob and then put in the oven (I like experimenting you see, so I pick up/make up things as I go along... works most times...)