Week of 1.10

I'm so behind that I don't remember if anything particularly interesting happened 1.10 or 2.10. So I'm going with "no."

3.10 Not All Passport Photographs Are Created Equal

My appointment with the Questura is tomorrow, and I needed passport pictures of me and the girls for the permesso. We asked Vitale where one could get same, and he directed me to a photographer in Salso that he said was very good and not too expensive. The studio was easy to find (across the street from the Terme, makes life easy) and indeed, only slightly more expensive at 10E per set than getting them from CVS at home. Plus, this guy was an actual professional photographer, so he made us pose for them and made sure they looked good, instead of just doing the mug shot thing. End result: pictures that came out so well that I’m going to order additional copies for the girls’ “school pictures” this year.

4.10 Italian Medicine Beats American All To Pieces, But Immigration Is…Whatever.

I had another visit with the endocrinologist to go over the girls’ numbers, which have been terrible. I’m hoping now that school has started they’ll settle down some as we get into more of a routine. Dr Chiari informed me, regretfully, that I had to pay for the last two visits and that he had been unable to get me a reduced rate, so I would have to pay the full price. Then he presented me with the bills, one for Rose, one for Elise. I was braced, though I knew it wouldn’t be anything like as high as an uninsured American doctor visit. Hell, it wasn’t as high as an INSURED American doctor visit! 18E each. Italy is teaching me to have a VERY poor opinion of American poilitics.

After the doctor it was off to Immigration. Serious anticlimax. I arrived about 15 minutes before my appointment time. There was nowhere to check in or anything, so I wasn’t even sure they would call me. 20 minutes after my time, I got the courage up to ask someone who was leaving, “Excuse me, what time was your appointment?” She said 45 minutes ago, so at least I knew I wasn’t NECESSARILY being ignored. Finally the syllables that pass for Margaret Miller came over the PA. (I never knew Margaret Miller was a difficult name to pronounce J .) The little man had my file for the permesso sitting next to him, so he had to know that it was incomplete. I was relatively panicked knowing that the didn’t have the original birth certs, let alone the apostilles, that I was told I had to have. He stamped a bunch of stuff, made me sign a bunch of stuff that basically said “all the info I have provided is true and correct,” took a set of electronic fingerprints, then told me I’d have to do another set in a few minutes, not sure why. Finally, he asked if I knew that I have to take a citizenship exam. This was news. He gave me the packet about it in English, and I had to sign a promise to actually go and take it (the promise also had a date and place on it, very helpful). Upon reading the exam packet, I realized I should have asked for the Italian version, as that would have been significantly clearer. I asked if getting the permesso would enable me to get national health. He looked at me as if I were stupid. “Certo.” But they wouldn’t give me national health on the strength of my visa – will the permesso make a difference? Ok, now I’m slow AND stupid. “Si, certo” in that “maybe if I say it slowly your tiny brain will have time to process it” voice. Ok, yay. Next I had to go into another room to give not only all ten fingers, but 4 fingers at a go plus palms to the electronic fingerprinter. Naturally half-way through the machine hiccuped and lost all the prints so far, so we had to do them again. I joked a little with the cop about how he LUUUUVED his computer, at which he glared at me (in a friendly way) and said curtly, “Odio.” Once all 14 prints were done, I made the cop laugh when I said, “And now, FEET!” and pretended to untie my shoes. They’ll call me sometime in November about when to pick up the completed permesso with all our lovely pictures. Once I have the permesso, I can apply for national health in January – no point in applying in December, as I would have to pay the full year’s tax quota for only a couple weeks of coverage. In the end, no one cared about translations, apostilles, visas, nuthin. That’s Italian bureaucracy for ya. I’d be pissed off if I weren’t so relieved.

5.10 2^nd bellydance lesson was today. I can’t really afford to do this once a week (I can’t REALLY afford to do it twice a month, but we love it) so we asked Marcella if we could video parts of the lesson so we have something to practice during the time off. She didn’t really want to, but finally agreed on the condition that we don’t publish the video, and that it’s not longer than about 10 minutes. Totally fair. We did 20 minutes of yoga to warm up, then the bellydancing. I am old and stiff.  Marcella, Aurora and Elise bend over flat on everything, while I’m in an unflexible little ball. Very sad for me. But, as we say, pian piano.