porkocane

I can now officially work in Italy! Luciana (Giovanni's mother), Matteo, and I headed to the Questura (official immigration office) early this morning to obtain my permisso di sojourno, a document that gives me permission to stay and work in Italy. It is a much easier process for me since I am married to an Italian and because of baby Matteo, we were ushered ahead of the 100 plus people in line. Here, women with children get first priority. Perhaps this is a reflection of the strong regard for family (or the negative population growth). I found it quite conscientious. They even had a supervised nursery for babies and children. We went to various other offices today after receiving the permisso di sojourno where each person told us to go some place else. I am learning that Italian bureacracy is like a scavenger hut. You go to several places before you find the place where someone can actually process your documents but once you arrive at the right place, it is unbelievably simple and fast compared to America. So I feel empowered knowing that I can legally work. I am planning to draft a flyer offering english classes and am currently searching someone from whom to receive a shiatsu so that I can learn more about the shiatsu community here.



Matteo seems happy here. He loves running freely in and out of the house and is showing a passion for gardening. He picks several tomatoes and strawberries each day. He devours the strawberries while taking one bite of the cherry tomatoes and leaving the rest as compost. He is speaking and responding in both english and italian. His favorite new italian word is 'panne' (bread) which he uses when we walk one block to the local panaderia to buy fresh bread. He also loves to say ching ching (which is the italian equivalent of cheers) and knock glasses several times over dinner. In english, he has mastered two important words -'more' and 'done'- which make feeding him so much easier. He adores italian expresso (a teaspoon of his nonna's coffee mixed in a coffee cup of water). This along with the gelato he has eaten are two things I would never have allowed in Minnesota but I guess when in Rome.... I have now substituted chammomile tea in his coffee cup and he seems just as happy. I will post some pictures of him soon.

Giovanni (Pier) just started work two days ago. He is working as an industrial mechanic in the same company as his best friend, Luciano. They get to eat lunch together every day and Giovanni is apprenticing with the 'guru' of the mechanics, so things are going well so far. In his spare time, he is applying the knowledge he gained working in Minnesota at Vineland tree care. He has been pruning all of his parents trees and his father calls him the artist of the gypsies (this is just an example of the colorful venetian expressions that don't translate so well into english - another one is 'porkocane' , a swear word that translates as pigdog.