Hmmm...

There have been a few things going on here and there, but I keep forgetting to post about them. I photographed a freak occurence last Friday and I took step by step pictures of two home made meals from this past week, but my uploading skills seem to have escaped me and you've all been left in the dark :(

I promise I will update a little more now that our internet is back up and running properly.

Also, my bf's parents gifted us 6 bottles of red and 6 bottles of white wine *squeeee* I love free booze ;)

We're going to sign the tenancy agreement for our potentially new apartment in NOVARA tonight. I'm super excited and can't wait to get the keys and start decorating etc. But first the precautionary measure of putting down cockroach poison (I shan't be caught out again!) and then the move from London. We'll be in my hometown from the 3rd of August helping out my mum, packing up our stuff, seeing old friends and eventually moving all our crap back to Italy.

It will be awesome to have my bf off work, but BOOOO!!! to the amount of stuff we have to do. I was sincerely hoping for a nice relaxing holiday, of at least 3 days this year, but it seems very unlikely now :/

Oh well. Such is life. but YAY for new apartment joy :D

Hot and Humid

I'm terribly hot. It's terribly humid and so I'm terribly sticky.

I cannot wait to move. Apparently we should get the keys to our new apartment on the 29th of July. I'm counting down the days :D

I'm really looking forward to homemaking, the new place is unfurnished, we'll be picking up our stuff from the UK early in August, but there are other things we need to get hold of too. Like a kitchen. I'm hoping to buy a bed for the 2nd bedroom now so we can start moving our stuff from here and living there asap. It's too hot to sleep here.

Oh and it's flying ant season now. I've already been bitten by one this morning. On my foot, so it's flip flops for me until it goes away. Good job I brought some back with me eh?

Italian Adventures

I've had a few Italian adventures over the past month, but I've been too busy/lazy to upload pictures, sorry! I'm going to start with my most recent adventure and work my way back.

This past weekend the bf's parents drove down to Italy from Lyon and I went with them. We didn't go straight to Turin because they had an appointment with a carpenter who was measuring for windows in their house in the mountains which is currently being renovated. So I had an hour to while away in Fenils. It's a tiny little village, just houses and a church kind of tiny. I've been there before, but never in such glorious weather, so I decided to snap some pics. I also got some in the car on the way to Fenils, the clouds were doing some crazy things and the drive through the Alps is just magical :)

Enjoy...

I love the little houses nestled into the mountainside.
(Probably going at about 170km an hour here)


Waiting by the side of the road. (Excuse the reflections in the car window)


Amazing sky.


Amazing views.


The snow melts, the river grows.


No shops, but there is a church.


Some awesome catches for the window shutters.

I hope you've enjoyed the tour of Fenils, I look forward to seeing you again on another tour in Italy.

Will I ever have a quiet weekend?

When I am in Italy, we go from Cameri to Torino every other weekend. On the other weekends, we might go into Novara, or into Milano, or once in a while we just laze around the flat (usually not wearing much because it's so frikking hot and humid in the daytime).

I only got to France last Saturday, but I miss my bf and need some extra clothes (yes, ontop of all the clothes I bought on Tuesday!) so I'm going to Torino this weekend. Back on Sunday evening in time for dinner and sleep before work at the school on Monday. Seriously, will I ever get to have a relaxing, truly relaxing weekend? Maybe not.

As this is being published I should be on my way to Torino. While I am there I am going to buy some more of these:

And I'm going to go here and here and maybe, if I'm feeling very naughty here for a Fiorio sundae... mmm, marsala. I'm also going to hunt down some Italian treasures for a girl who needs her spirits lifting and I'm going to eat some of this:

but not necessarily those flavours. (I'll probably go with Bacio e Crema di Grom con panna montata... YUM!)

I hope you all have a buon weekend! xx

Sawwy

Sorry to all. I've really been slacking with blogging. I've been pretty lazy all round to be honest... ok maybe that's not strictly true, but mostly true.

I went back to London for a couple of days last week. Wednesday was Republic day here in Italy, so my lovely had the day off and we lazed around for a while, then I packed and we went to the airport. For an international airport, Malpensa is not very well connected. Or staffed for that matter. My flight was delayed by three hours... they put me on an early flight, which was also delayed by three hours, but was planned to take off an hour after my original flight was scheduled to leave.

Me and the beloved bought a huge stack of home magazines (we're going to BUY an apartment here in ITALY! :D ), ate some grimy food courtesy of easyjet vouchers and I smoked many cigarettes.

The flight did not leave at 22:15. The plane didn't even land in Malpensa until 22:45. There were no airport staff around to give information and the one police officer at the internal passport control got a serious bollocking from angry Italian people. Airport staff gave out more vouchers and very limited information... our flight eventually took off at 00:15.

So Tired.

I got into London, waited half an hour for a train, then 20 minutes for a bus, laughed at drunken people getting naked in the fountains at Trafalgar square and finally made it home as the sun was coming up. I was in bed at 4:30, joined by the lovely Benji cat who was very surprised at my sudden and strangely timed presence, but couldn't sleep for ages because I was so wired from the awful trip.

Walking back to my Mum's house and the sun is rising.

I got about 3 hours of sleep and then spent most of the morning opening my post.

POST! :D

I spent Thursday talking to my mum, sunbathing and being tired. I spent Friday shopping, attempting to pack, eating Chinese take away and being guilted by the cat who knew I was leaving again when he saw me get out suitcases.

I got about 3 hours sleep on Friday night and left at 4:30 to get my early flight back to Malpensa. Luckily this one wasn't delayed and I got back to Cameri without a hitch. Apart from the old man who tried to come on to me at Novara train station. Oh and getting fleeced at an airport bureau de change.

We went to Milano on Saturday, it was my beloved's first time there, we met up with one of his workmates and his wife who gave us a tour, treated us to EIGHT EURO soft drinks at a bar with views of the Duomo and spent the whole day decidedly uncomfortable because it was at least 30 degrees and severely humid.

I forgot to bring my camera, so no pictures form Saturday, but I do have a couple from earlier in the week.

Castello Sforzesco - Piazza Castello


It's a fantastic Castle.


With pretty couryards, art exhibitions and the huge Parco Sempione.

I promise to update more often. My internet time is limited, but I'm thinking of shelling out for an internet key of my very own... but I also need to either get my laptop fixed, or get a new one. Decisions, decisions.

I hope you all had lovely weekends and that they were overall, somewhat better that mine :)

Italian Adventures.

Ok, so not such a huge amazing adventure, but it tickled my funny bone none the less.

We went to the supermercato to get some beer as part of our celebrations on Tuesday and I found this great beer. The bf commented on it's name and I just had to get it!!

Baffo D'oro = Golden Mustache.

I laughed in the supermarket and snapped it up. It was actually a pretty nice beer, although seeing as I didn't already have a mustache, I didn't get a golden one as a result of drinking said beer and I was very disappointed. If I get it again, I'll be sure to create a large head of foam and take a pic of the golden mustache of wonder ;)

w00t!

Ok, an impromptu post to tell you a little about yesterday....

I got the call in the afternoon on my Italian cell phone. I knew it was about the job because I'd only given my number to them... I was nervous, really shaking, I was sure they were going to tell me that unfortunately I didn't have the job, but I was wrong! I jumped silently around the room as the firector talked to me and I'm going back into Milano on Monday to finalise everything and get my letter of intent to employ (so I can sort out all my documents here). My contract will start and be signed in September, but my training will probably be in June. I'm super excited, but also really nervous. Ack, I have such terrible confidence, I get nervous so easily!!!

Anyway, so the job is at a Reggio Preschool 'One to Three'. I went to the school in the centre of Milano and it's so nice! I love the Reggio approach to preschool education, it seems so creative and nurturing. I'll be a prechool teacher, which is a job I've wanted to do for some years now, but short of studying for an NVQ in the UK, I wasn't going to get the job there. I'm going to have a pretty nasty commute in the mornings, but it's totally worth it! I was made for this job :D

It's actually handy that I won't start until September, it means I can tie up all my loose ends in the UK, bring a bunch of stuff back to Italy with me (again) and try and pass my driving test there. The sad part is that I won't see my beloved for some two months and I likely won't be there during August which is when a bunch of people were planning to visit :( But it's really important I get my licence... unless I attempt to do it here?

Last night my beloved took me out to a really fabulous sea food restaurant and I quickly snapped this pic before we went. Don't mind the awful poses or the insane mess behind us, we were rushing out of the door to make our reservation!

Neither of us are used to drinking anymore and a bottle of wine between us took a lot of effort to drink. All we did when we got home was complain about our bulging stomachs and our wine induced headaches. That'll teach us ;)

Nightmare.

Don't get me wrong, I love Italy, I love the gorgeous food, the climate, the architecture, the traditions and culture and myriad other things. However, I don't think you can ever appreciate how lucky we are in the UK until you live in somewhere like Italy. When you are on holiday you don't mind so much that nothing is open on a sunday, that everything closes in the middle of the day and that banks are open less hours than the average person works.

When you come here on holiday, you don't mind that everything is unorganised, that people don't queue, that there is no rule for which side of the escalator to stand on, that the automatic ticket machines at the station are slow and likely to crash which is why there is always a huge queue for the manned ticket booths.

When you come here on holiday it doesn't matter that the buses and trams in the cities are unreliable and that intercity trains can be delayed for up to 4 hours because of heavy rain. It doesn't worry you that buses to smaller towns stop running at 8:30 in the evening or that a taxi for an 8km journey costs 20Euro.

I think you can see where this is going.

In the UK we are spoiled with a wealth of information intended to aid the average person as well as tourists i.e. it's easy to follow. People queue on the right of the escalator, so you can walk down the left side, people form an orderly queue when a bus or train pulls up instead of pushing their way to the front (Ok, not in central London), there are buses that run 24 hours a day and trains that run until at least 3 in the morning.

We had a lot of difficulty in getting home from the airport. The bus to our town stopped running at 9pm and the tickets we were sold for the train were useless because they used a route that (you guessed it) stopped running earlier in the day and used a rail replacement bus service that ran every TWO HOURS!? Thankfully we encountered the nicest strangers I've ever met in my entire life. People volunteered information without asking, they walked us to platforms and pointed out timetables and platforms and escalators to us, a random guy at one of the many train stations we ended up at, actually drove us to another train station and told us how to get home. Maybe he should be working for Tren Italia? Why the actual employees of the rail company couldn't have informed us of the a) correct and b) easiest way to get home at that hour is beyond me, but at least we met such kind people on our journey.

I don't know if you can tell, but the shine is starting to wear off. I need to get a scooter, then everything will start to look brighter again.

So. Freaking. Tired.

I've been running around shopping, fetching things from storage, packing, making swaps which I should have done last week but left until the last minute, unpacking and repacking and ugh, I'm so tired.

I watched 'The Lion in Winter' yesterday and it's such a fantastic film, splendid dialogue with such well cast and great actors. I hadn't ever heard of it and got sent it through the post because I forgot to switch back to my list on Love Film and I'm really glad I got to watch it, because it was just really, really great. I would be more enthusiastic but I'm exhausted.

I bought something for the flat we're going to be staying in for a while in Cameri and although it's really not that heavy, it's big. Really big (I would tell you what it is, but my bf might be reading this). I had trouble getting it into my luggage, but I managed it. Then I spent ages fiddling around with liquids and electronic things that I can't take on as hand luggage and finally zipped up the bag only to weigh it and find it was 5 kilos too heavy. So I had to repack the bag a couple of times to get it right.

And don't even get me started on hand luggage.

The thing is... I got this thing for the flat that will likely be useless elsewhere and it seems the bf is keen to move asap. If I had known this was the case 2 days ago, I wouldn't have bothered and could have filled my luggage with books! As it stands, we'll just have to see what happens. And I suppose it will at least be useful for the 3 weeks I'm going to be in Italy.

So, Ciao for now. Volcanic Ash Cloud (Yes, I've capitalised it) permitting I'll be flying to Lombardia and getting a bus back into Piemonte and finally seeing my beloved again. He said it's raining loads there at the moment, but it's ok because apparently the town is filled with CATS. Big fat lazy cats... and if you didn't already know, I'm a crazy cat lady in the making ...well, apart from actually having a cat of my own that is, one step at a time eh?

♥

Guessing Game

Who spent two days working on her CV and covering letter?
Who sent it off yesterday feeling terribly nervous and stressed out?
Who got a reply back within an hour?
Who was offered a tour and interview this month?
Who booked flights to Milan last night?
Who is going to Italy next Thursday?

Yep. Me.

Me. Me. Me.

I can still hardly belive it. They got back to me so quickly, I'm really hopeful. When I think about it too much it makes me really nervous... I've got so much to do. I've dug out my psych books from Uni and I'm trying to cram as much Italian into my head as possible and it's all totally overwhelming and I feel really unprepared, but at least I have some time before they want to meet me.

Milano here I come!!

(here)

p.s. thank you for the good luck wishes, I think they helped, so keep thinking of me until I get the job ♥

Secretly very excited.

I know this is really long, but please read it and share in my joy as I shout from the rooftops of happiness!

Ok, so not so secretly excited. VERY PUBLICLY EXCITED!

I'm jumping the gun a little here but I can't help it. The future was looking a little bleak, exciting but by no means rosy. For those of you who don't know, I'm moving to Italy in the summer of this year. My boyfriend landed a nice little job and moved there last week. I'm supposed to be doing all the things I need to do to be ready to go out there, i.e. getting my driving licence, any qualifications to help me get work, sorting out our flats worth of stuff that's in storage etc. etc.

The future was looking bleak. I say this because although I love Italy and I've always wanted to live there, I had a romantic idea in my head of this all being a little more planned a little less spontaneous. I had an idea that we'd go in a few years (read 5) and we'd be settled with a little money, some kind of career path we'd each be following and some valuable job experience. But, life never quite works like that. I've been struggling with the age old question of 'What do I want to be when I grow up?' but decided to do a teaching English as a foreign language course, which was my intent for our original plan to move to Japan in a couple of years anyway. So I was going to do it in June and hope for the best in regards to jobs.

I've looked at the job market, and although it's always easier to find a job when you're in the country you want to work in, it wasn't looking good. The fabled E word that has crippled many a competent job seeker stood in my way at every corner. Yes readers, Experience. Most schools are looking for at least 1 years tefl experience, many were looking for more. Sigh. So I got disheartened and decided I'd probably end up working the reception at the Ramada for as long as it took to find my dream.

Then, as if an angel guided me through the clouds of despair (well, a google search really) I found the job of my dreams. I've been banging on about wanting to do this kind of work pretty much since I graduated in 2007, or perhaps even earlier. The problem being I'd have to study for 3 years plus to gain a qualification that is worth less than my degree in academic terms and it's just not very well paid in the UK. Like several potential career paths, I crossed it from my list because of the length of training and I'm a pretty pessimistic person, so I talk myself out of it easily. But this, my dream come true, my lifeline, my perfect job stood there looking me in the face. No experience necessary, full training given, requires an appropriate qualification, one of which being a PSYCHOLOGY DEGREE!!!! Seriously ladies and gents, this job was made for me!

I don't want to say too much more, because if I don't get it, I'll be gutted, but they are actually looking for a team of staff, so I have a better chance than if they were looking for just one more staff member. I am so unbelievably excited, it's untrue. I know I shouldn't pin all my hopes on this, because they might not want me, or need me by the time I get to Italy, but I am qualified for this job, I'd be fantastic at it, it's not badly paid, it's in Milan, so commutable and I've been keeping an eye out for something like this for years. I'm going to send them a preliminary email teling them about my situation and that I really, really want this job, and that I'd be perfect for it, of course and suggesting that maybe I can go out there to meet them before the end of June and have a little meeting or interview or something. I have no commitments here at the moment, so I could jump on a flight tomorrow, assuming there is a seat. Hell, I'd even sneak into the baggage compartment if it meant getting this job. Seriously.

Thank you google angels for bringing this up on the first page of search results and thank you cold virus for making me ill so I stayed at home instead of going out this weekend and thank you my beloved for badgering me about looking for schools and work and thank you internet for existing and THANK YOU amazing potential place of work for looking for me (because I know when you wrote that ad, you were secretly looking for me, maybe you have an oracle or read Tarot, whatever it was, thank you too).

I'm happy :D

ps, wish me luck!