Kiwis are everywhere - it IS a small world

Last night we went and had dinner in Luino, on the north eastern shore of Lago Maggiore, with a friend that Patch started in the Air Force with. He and his wife have just moved to Italy as well after living in England for many years. How incredible that we both move to Italy at the same time to almost the same place. They are about an hour from where we are currently staying and half an hour from where we will be living in Varese. This is the closest we have lived since they were in Blenheim and we were in Christchurch back in '91.

We had a wonderful evening with Saundy and Lisa. As they had only been in there house two days, and only had electricity for two hours we decided to walk down into the town to have pizza and gelati for dinner. The place was amazingly busy - people everywhere. Lots of families of all ages out together enjoying the warm evening (21 degrees at 11pm), walking, talking and eating gelati. This is life in Italy!

It was especially nice to have an entire evening being able to understand every word being said. It is quite disconcerting to have little idea of what is going on around you conversationally; especially when it involves you. Waiting patiently for a translation half a discussion later is disconnecting. We're getting better at picking up the gist of conversations so that helps. Soon we may even be able to converse ourselves...

We have a new home!

We've done it... On Thursday afternoon Barry and I went into Varese and signed the rental contract on our home for the next four years. The house is in Varese itself, on the southern side of the city and the north eastern end of the lake, Lago Varese. Our address for 7 August will be Via Zanelle 20, Varese; postcode to follow.

The house is the one we refer to as the 'vault house'. It is an architecturally designed place about 7 years old with a 7 tonne bank safe imbedded in the centre! Alan is thrilled at having somewhere to keep 'important' things such as his (still to be purchased) air soft gun and also his x-box when we go on holiday. The owners currently store their art and treasures in their when away from the house for more than a day. They have STUNNING art!

The landlord is planning on leaving much of the furniture for us, which is great as it is really lovely. This includes the kitchen (yes - the kitchen - many houses come without!), fridge, awesome modern aga style oven about 1.5-1.8m wide, leather settee, beds, drawers, sideboards, cffee tables etc. Wednesday of next week I go to Varese to compile an inventory with the landlord of exactly what stays. This will let me know what we will need to purchase.

We have done a trip to Ikea and got a catalogue to browse. It was only when we got home and I translated the title that I discovered the catalogues are only for use in the store - ooops - not for taking home. Oh welllll. Caitlin has identified the bed and desk she wants. We need to visit a few more shops for other things though.

We are hoping to move in earlier than 7 August. It all depends on when the landlord can move his family to their new home. He had wanted the move day to be 10 August but I explained that my mother is arriving on 8 August for six weeks - so he immediately offered to make it the 7th. He will try to make it a few days earlier still if he can. This would really help us as we are all going stir crazy in the hotel.

Will post photos of the house after the inventory visit!

Internet dependence - going cold turkey

I know I'm not an addict but being away from the computer for a week has been really hard going. The only access here in the hotel is still the computer in the lobby. This periodically loses the internet! Far too frequently for Alan's liking and usually when he is connected...

I keep wanting to go and look up some information about things to see and places to visit and lessons for the kids and support material for their learning and... and I can't. Even just catching up with the news from home on Stuff or my email or playing a game or... Okay I'm an addict. I NEED the internet!

The hotel has just changed from cabled internet to wireless in the lobby and started to charge; 4 euros an hour or 8 euros for a 24 hour period. Horribly expensive and rarely operational. We are back to a solid connection to get anything at all and we still have to pay.

We investigated getting a card for the laptops that would allow us access to the internet in our rooms (via vodafone) at 19euro a month. The only catch is that you have to sign on for 24 months. Definitely out of the price range that!

The other option is access via our mobile phones. I think I can post to the blog from my phone so will try to set that up now and then attempt to post later today.

House hunting in Italy

We've begun the hunt for a home in Italy. So far we have had two days out looking at a total of seven houses. Two were possibles. We are out to look at more tomorrow, Friday, and will probably make a decision then.

Housing in Italy would be hard to judge from what we have seen to date. Most that we have been shown are fairly modern, less than 10 years old and really don't provide the 'Italina experience' we were hoping for. Also, security concious is an understatement. Even here in the hotel our door is about 10cm thick with bolts that extend into the frame on both sides when locked. Some of the houses have bars on the windows, all have security fencing and require gate latches to be released from the house before visitors can enter. One house even has a seven tonne safe. The house was built around it. one wonder's about the owners business interests...

Some of the houses we have viewed have been stunning but embarassing in there size. The most incredible was in a small town called Caidate. The house has been in the hands of the same tennant for 26 years. They are moving to a new home of 900 square metres! This place is their home and workshop. They make 'clavichords' (brand Bizzi) and their show room , which is attached to the house, is extraordinary. The really interesting part of this house was walking through a little door from the show room, and almost immediately through another little door, then out into a courtyard surrounded by animal stalls. The courtyard had a huge arched entrance to our right and as we stepped through we realised what the the agent meant when she said the house was 'behind the castle' - oh that castle!

The two homes we like so far are quite different. One is very architectural and the owners are happy to leave much of the furniture. This would be helpful for us. The issue with it is the lack of space for the kids. The living area is all open plan so there is no separate space for them, except a large 'playroom' which only has external access form the house. Of course that may not be a bad thing. However, I'd like to have the place as a workroom and studio.

The second house we like is also a newer home with good living areas but very small bedrooms. The lovely thing about the house is the outdoor living room in the corner of the section. This little open air room has it's own kitchen for summer living. I loved it! The property also has a para pool in poor condition. It may or may not warrant the effort required to clean it up and get it running.

I wonder what we'll be visiting tomorrow with the next agent?

Now for some observations on Italy...

Okay - so we have survived a few more days here in Italia... and we are trying to think more Italian ... the issue is that things are a little different ... so here are some observations to date ...

• We are NOT europeans. We are nothing like Europeans - in looks, style, or manners. We would never stare at someone whilst insulting them behind their backs. No we are NOT americans even though we speak english with a strange accent. An apology would be nice!
  
• NZ is far more advanced than we ever thought. In NZ you can buy groceries any day of the week - even any hour of the day. NOT SO in Italy. Here EVERYTHING closes on Sunday - all the way through to 2pm on Monday. OMG!!!!!! This would not have been an issue had we known about it and had we not been trying to buy groceries for the other two families arriving at 6.30am Monday morning.
  
• Switzerland is also closed on Sunday. We rang to check. At least they answered the phone.
• Hotel rooms come with furniture - and towels. That's all. No plates, kettle, pots, cutlery ...
  
• Houses have at least as many bathrooms as they have bedrooms. There is a bidet in every bathroom. The cleaners must think us very grubby as ours is never used.
• Traffic lights, road signs and driving laws are simply for guidance.
  
• The shortest period in time is the gap between the lights turning green and the first horn sounding.
• The country is very beautiful. It is very green and many of the towns are filled with trees lining the streets.
• There are as many friendly people as not - especially once they realise we are from Nuova Zelanda. They all go "Ahhh" and smile.
• Driving on the right hand side of the road is easy once you get used to "easy left (turn), hard right (turn)" in order to keep to the correct side of the road.
• The wine is cheap. VERY cheap. €3 for 5 litres - for cooking.
• Bubbly wine sealed with a cork and a string needs a corkscrew to open it. No amount of shaking the bottle will free the cork! Some day I may post the video!!

We still have access to the internet only through the single computer in the reception of the hotel. I do have a new Italian cell phone number and will forward it to all shortly.

Also apologies to those I text to advise (about my new number) at 5.30pm local time. I forgot it was 3.30am NZ time. I'll let the rest of you know my number at a more civilised hour.

Two days in Italy - all the rumours are true!

We have surived our first few days in Italy really well, and we have discovered that all the rumours about Italy are true.

• The country is truly beautiful. Avenues of trees lead to our hotel and, in the light breeze yesterday, leaves drifted across our path from the trees either side.
• The people are mostly very friendly, (and forgiving) especially when we try to speak the language.
  
• Image is very important! Clothing is worn VERY tight - even when it really shouldn't be - and/or very elegantly.
  
• Driving is linked to virility. Cars are small but driven like you were on the track at Monza.
• Red tape is incredible. It took a total of around 10 visits to about 6 different offices over 3 or 4 hours to get the dogs from the airport.
• Italians love dogs. You should have seen all these men in overalls fussing over the dogs when we finally got them out of the travel cage.
  
• The food is divine - fresh, tasty, varied. YUM.
• The wine is CHEAP. In the local supermarket you can buy wine in five litre bottles for about €3-4. A good bottle of local Italian bubbly is €7-8.
  
• The modern electronic world hasn't entirely arrived. There is one internet connection in our hotel. It is in the reception area and it is a 56k connection... nothing at all in the rooms.
  

Yesterday afternoon we ventured out around the local area on our own with the Tom-Tom satellite navigator. A wonderful experience. Sesto Calende really is gorgeous and living there would be lovely. We drove back roads and made our way through some little towns with the narrowest streets you've ever seen. The houses open straight off the road, not even a foot path.

This morning Barry has gone off on his own to his office. Manuela, our relocations agent, will pick us up this afternoon to start looking for houses. She is trying to get us some SIM cards so we can use our mobiles here. (Vodafone disconnected my ability to roam so I cannot make or recieve calls or texts on my NZ number)

Must away - can't hold up the computer any longer. Ciao per adesso. (Cheers for now!)

Last day in Singapore - Italy here we come

We've had a lovely quiet day today. Some simple holiday down time was needed; so was time to repack! We eventually ventured out about 1pm for lunch at a well known local eatery.

'1036' is famous for its seafood although I found I couldn't order anything I had just been introduced to. Poor Caitlin was thoroughly enjoying her 'fou yung egg' until she discovered the shrimp.

http://www.edirectory.sg/articles/article-118.html

After lunch Caitlin and I decided to return to the house and rest. Barry and Alan headed off for more adventures. They returned around 5pm and Alan was buzzing. He'd had a ball with attack helicopters flying overhead, a visit to the military museum and managing to capture a squirrel on video!

Our plan for the rest of the day is to shower and change before heading to the airport about 8pm. That way we can explore the famous Changi airport before flying out around midnight. The idea is to sleep for 8 hours or so at the beginning of the flight (12.45 hours) and then awake and be ready for arrival at 6.45am local time, Milan.