The Grind

Ciao friends and family! We are stuck in a lull, so I thought I'd post our latest happenings, even though they are less than exciting.

Joe is picking up his car today! We have been a 1 vehicle family for the last 3 months. To say I'm ecstatic would be an understatement. Even though I'm not in love with this lemon of a van, it is fulfilling its purpose of being a mode of transportation. I guess I can't expect much more out of it. I took Joe to work this morning and, of course, lights starting flashing at me on the way back home. It appears we need an oil change...2 short days before we leave for a long trip. So yeah, GREAT news. Joe is attempting to get an appointment for tomorrow so I can take it in for service. I'm less than thrilled with this prospect since my Italian skills are still infantile. Oh well!

Speaking of my Italian skills...I had two separate instances of how delinquent I am in this language today. I "tried" to pay my cell/wifi/home phone bill today. To say that things are done differently here would be an understatement! First of all, you cannot pay your bill at the store you bought said phone and services. You have to either go to a bank, post office or little vending machine thing. No, I'm not kidding. I'm dead serious. I went to the local post office, which is usually quite empty. Well, it was quite empty when we arrived but had filled up by the time we left. The only thing I could figure out was that the computer was down for paying bills and I'd have to come back later. I think ?!?! Then, shortly after arriving back home, the company that provides these services calls the home phone and tries to speak to me in Italian. I try to speak to her in English. She laughs and says, "Oh dear!" Well, I at least understood that and the fact that she was either attempting to get me to fess up to  knowing more Italian than I know OR she was asking for an Italian speaking person to get on the line. In either case, I just said, "Non capisco l'italiano." It was a short, sweet, unhelpful call. She did ask me for my telephone number...which I didn't even know! Sorry America! I am giving the whole nation a bad name.

Joe and I saw the chiropractor yesterday. We both have some weakening in our necks (ok, mine is more significant than that...arthritis is setting in and I'm starting to get rounded shoulders...ugh) and I have a weak lower back (it is shaped like an S, which would be fine if I were a snake!) and my arches are falling in my feet. Yeah, I'm falling apart. He did an adjustment and showed us some exercises, and boy am I sore! He wants me to eventually start Pilates. I'm ok with that...but am hoping we get this neck and back strengthened first! I could totally see my pulling something else out of whack.

OH, Joe and I had date night the other night! A neighbor watched the kids while we went out for dinner. She is 18 and lovely. The kids followed her around like puppies, I'm sure. She made them dinner and worked on her English while teaching the kids some Italian. Perfetto! Joe and I were needing a few hours away. It was very refreshing. Here's a pic of us in our booth at the restaurant.

Sunday, we slept in past the alarm. I think Joe turned it off and we rolled back over and fell back asleep. Anyway, we missed church which was a big bummer. It always starts the week off right to be with other believers and hear the Word. Alas, this did not happen for us. We did, however, get to the Cavalry Museum that afternoon. Can I just say, I either need to brush up on my Italian history or I need to quit visiting so many museums? I'm starting to feel like I've seen every uniform the Italian military has ever used. The pics of the training field were really cool...especially seeing the horses jump over such obstacles to look as if they were flying. They also had miniature replicas/models of the Battle of Waterloo. I must say, my favorite part was seeing the big tanks and the motorcycles. Maybe I should visit the Automobile Museum next?!?! Seems more my style.

We leave in a few days for Firenze. I am over-the-moon excited! We have a "plan of attack" and are sticking with it. LOL. Just kidding! We have a plan but are staying flexible since the weather seems hit or miss for the weekend. I would be happy just people watching, but I'm sure the kids would be "bored". The really amazing part about this trip...we just started learning about the Renaissance Period! Our book referred to Florence, Italy several times. God is so wonderful. I had no idea when we booked this trip it would fall at the same time we started learning about Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo, Donatello...oh wait, that's something else! We didn't learn about Donatello. That one was just for laughs. We did look him up and discover he was an artist during the Renaissance. Those TMNT, such Renaissance Reptiles. :)

Arrivederci!

It's been awhile

I haven't been keeping up with this blog very well, and I'm a little sorry about that. Honestly, we've just been living life over here. It doesn't seem that exciting to me, but I know the grands want to read about what we've been up to these last few weeks, so here goes.

Wow! I just looked back at my last post to see where I need to pick up. So, yeah, it's been a long time! I will try to hit the highlights since then. I can guarantee I will forget something.

Our weekdays have all been pretty similar. Do school during the day, wait for Joe to get home from work, fuss and fume because he's always later than he says. Good times! Add in the fact that we still only have 1 vehicle, and things get tense. I'm trying to have patience, I promise.

The weekends are quite lovely and we always enjoy them. I wish life were just one big weekend, don't you? We go to church each Sunday, usually grab a bite after with friends and maybe go to a park or hotspot in Torino. One Sunday, we went to lunch with friends and then to the top of the Duomo Bell tower in Torino. It was fun but made me realize how out of shape I am! Over 200 steps and I was feeling it! The view made it worthwhile, at least. Here are a couple shots.

 

 While in the bell tower, one of the boys we were with wanted to tap his pencil on a bell. Joe did him one better and hit the clapper against the bell. I'm surprised we weren't quickly kicked off the premises! Joe says he did it lightly. It was quite loud in the tower. Maybe it didn't carry well?!?!

The day before we climbed the bell tower, we visited Forte di Fenestrelle. This is a fort built in the 1700s, I believe. It is massive! We went on a bad day. It had snowed that morning, so most of it was closed. We will go back. We were able to see 3 museums. The kids enjoyed the animal museum (think taxidermy's Heaven), the fashion museum was pretty cool and we all enjoyed the tarts and drinks at the ristorante! I'm pretty excited about going back and exploring the entire grounds.

We had a dusting...they had a few inches. Well, maybe closer to 6". 

 Which is scarier? The boy or the buffalo?

Watch out! There's a puma behind you! Oh wait, that's just Little J. 

 He loved the gazelles. Joe got a good pic of him with a tiny one. It was his favorite.

Fashion similar to what was on exhibit at the Fashion Museum

The kids (and Joe) played in the snow while I sat in the van. They needed a good snow to play in while I needed a warm van to sit in. Mutually beneficial.

The next weekend, we hiked in Ruata. It was lovely, but snowy. Climbing a mountain in the snow in tennis shoes, yeah, not a genius idea. I knew I was in trouble when we arrived at the beginning of the trail and people had snow shoes and ski poles! I was unequipped for this terrain. It was fun and gorgeous, so we will return. I just want to wait until there has been a thaw, thank you very much.

 Breathtaking views of the Alps

The wonder of God's majesty...seriously, awe-inspiring

After church this weekend, we went to lunch with a coworker of Joe's from Japan. He and his wife are also moving to Torino. It was lovely and they probably know downtown Torino better than we do. OK, that isn't saying much. We only "lived" in downtown Torino for a week. Whenever we go back to town, I remember how much I like it. It is clean, lots of things to do, I never thought I'd be a big city sort of girl. Well, we live in the country here, so I guess I'm not. It just makes me appreciate the big city even more. I don't want to live there, but it sure is nice to visit.

This past weekend, we went shopping on Saturday. We went to the local open air market. I was looking for clothes for my weeds, I mean kids. Turns out, I am not good at market shopping. I don't have the patience for it. We then went to look at a karate place for Big J. He liked it! There is also a dance studio and Olympic sized pool there. So KK can go to dance, Big J can go to karate and the other two want to take swim lessons. We were thrilled to find this. Add in the coolness factor of it being next to one of the Olympic stadiums from the 2006 Olympics and we were stoked! Once I get the van full-time, we are all over it.

Sunday, we went to church and then were invited to our neighbor's house for drinks and desserts. It was lovely. We were outside the entire time, there was loads of food and the company was wonderful. KK said the next day that she really had a lot of fun.

Yesterday, the kids and I had to go to Torino to start the process for immigration, now that Joe is a resident of San Pietro val Lemina. Since we were downtown, we went to the Matisse exhibit (yeah, the kids had never seen so many naked bodies before...lol) and the Risorgimento Museum (Italian unification). I think I need to brush up on my Italian history. I didn't know enough about the unification to understand much in the museum. Add in a 6 year old that was at the door of the next room before we all entered the current room, and I didn't get as much out of the museum as I would have liked. I did, however, enjoy the Amsterdam Fries we bought and ate before we went in...so there's that. Here are a few pics of the artwork and ceilings in the Risorgimento Museum. No photos allowed in Matisse, of course.

 

Just your typical, boring ceiling 

 Artwork in the hall...we were amazed at the detail in each painting. Some of the paintings were photograph quality. It was quite impressive.

 Another boring ceiling. These people need to learn to be more decorative! ;)

 My little Boo liked this one..it has horses!

The Chamber of Deputies of the Subalpine Parliament

I forgot to mention, a friend showed us a trail close to our house that we can "burn some energy". It is close enough to walk to and easy enough that I'm not feeling like an invalid after the hike. Here are a few pics from our excursion last week!

Hard to see, but that is Torino beyond the hills.

I need to sign off here! It is 6:30 and I haven't started dinner. Oops, it is 18:30 and I haven't started dinner. Buona serata! Manchi e ti amo alla mia gente Kentucky.

Palazzo Reale, Filing Paperwork and the Big City

I am going to attempt to not be wordy on this post. I took some pics on our last day out and wanted to show you all a little bit of Torino and the significance of history. ;) You know me, trying to impart knowledge everywhere I go. Ha!

Excuse the quality of these photos. Some were taken with my camera, so they either have a glare or are blurry. I'm hoping you get the gist of the pictures from the Palazzo Reale, even if the quality is substandard.

So here's the story behind the excursion day...the kids and I have to go mail our paperwork for our residency application. We met our representative at a small post office, signed a form and off went the application. It was very easy and anticlimactic. I was really expecting to feel something when we started this process for the kids and I. I only felt ready to get on to the fun stuff.

We then walked to the tourist office to buy our annual pass for the museums! It took a long time to do that, so we headed straight to Soup&Go, KK's favorite Torino spot. It was yummy, like always. We need one in Northern Kentucky. One of my industrious friends needs to work on that. :P

After lunch, we headed to the Palazzo Reale. In English, this is the Royal Palace. It is huge! I am not sure which king it was built for...but I know it was for the Savoy rulers. See, you are learning already. It looks like Vittorio Emanuele II was the king of Italy that lived there when it was, I assume, abandoned. I'm not sure on this, so don't quote me! Here are a few pics of our tour.

I think this was a Throne Room

Look at this floor! Seriously. I "need" some hardwood floors like this.

So fancy...and bright. The chandeliers were amazing! I wish I had my Canon with me. Next time.

These were pictures of a ballroom.

The mural on the ceiling in the ballroom. I believe this was one representing the Olympics

The Oriental Room

The Dining Room - I think a few pieces of the place setting were missing. The table was enormous. This pic does it  no justice.

The view from one of the windows. There is a fountain in the garden and the Mole behind it

Little J and Boo in the armory...in front of the horses

Somebody is tired...oh, and KK, too.

Big J with some armor and swords

Boo really liked this horse

After we toured the palace, the girls and I headed to get some chocolates and loose-leaf tea. We were successful in finding chocolate, not tea. Somehow, I lost the tea shop we had passed on our way to the palace. You just never know when a shop is going to completely shut down and even close the windows. Not only did we females imbibe in chocolates, we bought a cone of Amsterdam chips, i.e. french fries. We had them top them with BBQ sauce, but KK and I had Samurai sauce on the side. YUM! I don't think the clerk thought we could handle the spiciness...it was divine! We then walked back to Piazza Castello to await our boys. They were walking through an art museum while we enjoyed a little shopping time. The girls and I were able to watch them prepare for the 10-year anniversary celebrations of the Torino Winter Olympics. We were invited to go to White Night last night with Joe's coworker, but it was raining and sleeting at our house. We decided to stay in and play some games, instead. We woke up (incredibly late) to ice covering the yard. I'm glad we stayed in last night.

 Isn't she lovely? (at Piazza Castello)

 When did my Boo start looking like a pre-teen? I don't like it! (Piazza Castello)

I must say, the kids and I loved this day! We were able to explore, spend time with Joe and walk around downtown Torino. We really, really needed a fun day like this. Arrivederci!

What's up, doc?

As the title implies, we saw a doctor in Pinerolo this week. He is an allergist and was quite helpful to us! He gave us some meds for myself and Little J for his asthma. He also recommended a few specialists for my Boo. All in all, a good visit.

I also wanted to update everyone on the Albers's happenings. Our sea shipment arrived yesterday! I'm in Heaven, or what I imagine Heaven will be like. LOL. I have to admit, it might sound silly, but I was almost in tears when I pulled out my salt shaker. Seeing that lovely device from home, well, it almost reduced this grown woman to tears. When I saw my spoon rests, the same thing almost happened. Don't even get me started on once the bed was assembled! I haven't slept that well in a couple of months. I think I passed out around 9:30 last night and only woke up when Joe almost pushed me out of the bed in the middle of the night. Mind you, it is a king-sized bed. He has plenty of space. He thought my side was better last night, I assume. Anyway, I lived through almost getting the push and had a great night's sleep. Happy, Happy, Happy!

We went to lunch with a couple of families from church this past Sunday. The food was delicious (it was the best gluten-free pizza I've ever had, in my life), the gelato was scrumptious and the company was delightful. It was a great day! The kids would have been happy never coming home. Alas, reality struck and we had to start preparing for the shipment to arrive.

Besides the shipment, not much else has happened this week. We've settled in, gotten better adjusted, and are finding a new routine. Oh, and I started Italian lessons this week! My instructor is a great guy that was willing to let my questions dictate how the lesson went. I think that Joe and I will learn a lot and teach each other through this process. I've also enlisted my instructor's help for teaching the kids Italian. We will be bilingual when we move back, hopefully!

Funny story time...I made Borsch the other night for the end of our Russian "study"...that only lasted 2 days. Anyway, I found it ironic that I could not find Italian seasoning and had to make up my own. Skip forward a couple of days to me trying to find Italian dressing at the supermarket. No go! So, once again, I will be making homemade Italian dressing with a Pinterest recipe. Praying it works out. I guess there are benefits to living in a melting pot. Ethnic foods are in abundance in America. We've found most Italians just put olive oil and balsamic vinegar on their salad. Praying for a miracle in finding the items necessary for my recipe. :)

**Note - I can't find the cord for my camera to upload pictures to the laptop. I'm incredibly frustrated by this. I actually typed this post a week ago and have been searching for the cable ever since. Once I find the cable, I will load pictures.

The Good, the Bad and the Italian

We have been in our new house for almost 3 weeks now. It is weird to call it home, but that is exactly what it has become. I guess wherever my people are, that is home.

Lots of things have happened over the last 3 weeks! We got WiFi, lost it within a day and got it back the next week. Joe took two of the kids hiking on trails in the Alps, and they loved it! I had to stay home with two sick kids. Oh yeah, kids have been sick non-stop since arriving in the house. Little J has had an asthma flare, not cool. We think it is partly the dust, partly the gas stove and partly exposure to new allergens and bugs that he has never been exposed to before. All of the other kids have had runny noses and/or coughs for the past three weeks. Good times, good times.

Our cute little hikers

It finally rained here on Sunday! Torino has been in the middle of a dry spell for months. No rain, no snow, no precipitation. This rain was a blessing on the entire region! Not only was the rain good for the valley, the snow is pretty on the Alps. :) There have also been a few nights of high winds at the house. It has been a long time since I've been in wind storms like this. It was close to scary, especially being in a new house with half the family hiking in the Alps at the time. I'm starting to adjust to the sounds.

The Alps from our school room door, pre-snow

Same shot, post-snow

Speaking of sounds, every night there is a sound like a dying cat that seems to be right outside our bedroom window. There are many feral cats in the area, and we often see them dashing through the yard. We also see their droppings everywhere. OK, not sure if droppings is the right term for cat poop. It is disgusting, regardless of what you call it. Joe did say he saw a dead fox on the way to work today. Maybe the dying fox would come to our window to beg for help every night, only to be rejected by the crazy Americanos. Poor fox! He picked the wrong house. UPDATE: Joe saw a black cat sitting outside the bathroom window this morning. He thinks it is mewing for food. It is more like a dying cat sounds than a meow, but you get the point.

We are learning a lot about Italian bureaucracy. For one thing, doing anything is a series of steps, meetings and requirements that would make you believe that you were eligible for presidency. I won't go into detail, because it would bore you to pieces, but the steps Joe has to take to get citizenship here is beyond crazy. Granted, I have no idea what it takes to do this in America. I have to believe it is much less complicated. Even to get an Italian bank account is worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize! It was an hour-long appointment, it has taken close to 2 weeks for the debit card to even come in and we still don't have a PIN number. You know the saying "2 steps forward, 1 step back"? Well, I'm pretty sure it is 1 step forward, 2 steps back here. At least, that is how it feels. And we are not the only ones saying this! Never say the word bureaucracy to an Italian. Man, they hate it worse than we do! They will either just throw their hands up in the air in frustration or go on a diatribe of how awful it is here. Typically, Italians will not complain or say anything negative about Italy. Mention bureaucracy, watch out. Game on. Remember earlier where I mentioned the WiFi yo-yo? It has taken some American friends MONTHS to get WiFi. Bureaucracy.

Another strange thing, to this American girl, is the amount of paper sent just to give you information about an account. Electric company sent a 10-page information packet, all in Italian, thank you very much. The same day, we got an equally thick envelope from the telecommunications company. Granted, we have WiFi, my cell and our house phone through telecom store. Still, it is a bit excessive. Especially since we can't read a single line of it. :-P

We bought a vacuum! It is tiny, rechargeable and is not powerful enough for us...but we feel the house is already cleaner. I've been vacuuming my little heart out this week. Yes, it has taken me the entire week to vacuum this house. I think we picked the only Italian house with carpet upstairs. All the other spaces have many, many area rugs. I have cleaned the filter on this little piece of machinery so many times, it is insane. Our landlord hadn't lived in the house for at least 2 years before we moved in here. So, yeah, lots of dust accumulated in the rugs and carpet. We can feel a huge difference in the feel of the rugs and the overall aroma of the house. It is amazing how sweeping a house can be so rewarding. Trust me, I am not a clean freak. My house typically has more of a "lived-in" feel than "disinfected" feel. Still, it is nice to have clean floors.

Our cute, little vacuum.

We have been imbibing in the local custom of Bugie for Carnevale! It tastes like a crispy funnel cake and we are addicted. The chocolate ones are my favorite. It is awful and wonderful, all at once. My stomach hates me for what I am doing to it. Sorry, tummy. Hopefully soon we will find out what is wrong with you!

 Yummy, flaky decadence

Joe is buying us year passes to the museums! We attempted to go to Stupinigi after church on Sunday. It was cost-prohibitive, to say the least. Now, we can go on our passes! I'm excited to see the museums and palaces around Torino.

Joe and the babies at Stupinigi - it was a dreary, rainy day

Heading to make a cup of hot tea! I've taken up the nasty habit of caffe lattes every morning. I can never get warm. Hot tea, hot coffee, lots of layers, blankets everywhere. Between the marble, hardwood and tile floors, my body is just zapped of heat. I try to wear my house slippers but don't always remember. This morning, the kids tried to make me a caffee latte with my breakfast, while I was still in bed. Umm, let's just say they burned up the coffee grounds and a moka pot. Luckily, no Italian house would be complete without multiple moka pots. It is the thought that counts, right?!?! LOL. Arrivederci!

Yep, we ruined one of these already.

Wifi never looked so sweet...

So, I have to admit a dark secret about myself. I have an idol and its name is technology. Over the past week, I've tried to slay this dragon of mine. I'm not sure I'm there yet. I've been reading "Gospel Treason" by Brad Bigney, who just so happens to be the pastor of Grace Fellowship Church, where we attended for 1 1/2 years, until we moved. I am seeing many things in my life that I hold as idols. It is eye-opening and scary. I really recommend the book, if you are ready to slay your dragons, too.

Back to WiFi...we are back online! I'm afraid I have already spent more time on the internet today than is humanly reasonable. In my own defense (because that is a totally unhealthy way to slay your idols...by defending them!), I have been out of contact with anyone but my kids and husband for almost a week. We have had no internet, my cell phone only made local calls and I don't have a vehicle. We are also in a location where we cannot easily walk anywhere. A vehicle is a necessity, unless you want to walk to get the world's best pizza. We haven't even had this pizza yet...we've just been told. I am basking in the glory of WiFi bars, and it isn't pretty.

Speaking of pizza, we've been consuming it in massive quantities. Is it full of gluten? Yes. Am I miserable from eating it? Yes. I've decided that I will use this opportunity to get truly tested for Celiac instead of getting tests run when I've been gluten free for 3 years. I'm hoping for more accurate results. Only issue, which is a big one, is we don't have national insurance yet. We need to look into this further. I'm hoping I can go to a doctor on our private insurance and bypass the whole other issue. Prayers sent for this to work out for us. I really can't continue to eat gluten for much longer. Every joint hurts, digestion is out of control, skin breakouts are worse than a teenagers, etc. I am almost in disbelief over how bad I've felt. Ugh! I was really hoping I'd be better on Italian wheat. Apparently not!

On to bigger and brighter things! We are in our house and loving it! It has so much room for the kids to play and explore. The yard (or gardens, if you're Italian) is spacious and fenced/gated. I can send the kids out and not worry about them escaping or someone kidnapping them. Yay! Our air shipment arrived last Monday, so we started back to book school on Tuesday. I'm pretty confident that learning how to maneuver an international move, exploring Torino, all our adventures on the way to Pozzuoli, exploring Pozzuoli, moving in the new house, etc. are all learning experiences. Still, it has been nice to get back into a routine and have some of our old stuff from home. I thought about posting some new photos to show you the house, but I guess I've been there, done that. I will post a pic of the kids. I think the grandparents will enjoy it. You're welcome! (Prego, in Italian.)

The kids in the homeschool room

I feel now would be a good time to send a shout out to our super-de-duper landlord, Ryan! He has been an incredible blessing for us. He took Joe to show him how to get me a cell phone, where the butcher shop, home improvement store, and electronics stores are, helped order a new washing machine, came to help us get our WiFi installed, etc. We have found out that this is not common. He speaks English, to boot! Once again, God provides. We would not have been able to do half of this stuff without his help. Or we would have been overcharged or waiting for months for these services. We have been able to get WiFi within a week of moving in the house! This is unheard of in Italy, especially for an ex-pat. Thanking God for a great landlord that is willing to help us with so much.

Another big shout out to my new friend, Marta, for helping navigate the homeschooling world in Italy. I still have some work to do, but she has helped tremendously! We are headed to their house tomorrow night for a dinner. I am so excited about this. Knowing my luck and past history, I will come down with the flu or something. Whenever something fun is planned, someone is sick. Praying for health and vitality tomorrow evening!

I guess it is time to start thinking about dinner. Tonight's gluten offering is tortellini with marinara and probably a side salad. Just a note...salad dressing here is literally a bottle of olive oil and a bottle of balsamic vinegar. The first person to visit and bring me a bottle of ranch dressing will get huge rewards. :) Buon appetito!