Allllliiiiivvvveeee

Okay, so you know how sometimes someone gives you a nice gift, or leaves you a nice message, and you fully intend to respond to that email, send that thank you note, call them back just as soon as you can.  But then time passes, and you start to think…ack…it’s been too long, now I really need to give a good response.  But then, time slips a bit further and suddenly it is embarrassingly late and it sort of seems like it would be better to not respond at all and give a generic “must have been lost in the mail, I never got it…” type message the next time you happen to run into this person.

That’s where I am about this blog.

And the truth is, the delay is a combination of truth and exaggeration of my busy-ness.  But, there is news.  So instead of recapping my weeks since I arrived back (August 1), I’m going to try to highlight a few things…and hopefully my internet allowance is big enough that I can just upload photos without resizing them.  Vediamo.

Biggest news: we’re in the new apartment!  Woohoo!  [Photos below]  We had initially thought that it was going to be available the first of August, but in the end it was the first of September.  This of course kept us bouncing around a bit between apartments for the first four weeks I was here.

I have dedicated quite literally almost 4 days worth of time, and I have a feeling it will be close to 5 before I finish trying to get this visa thing finalized.  As of tomorrow, I should be enrolled in the University [officially] and studying – in Italian.  If you talked to me while I was home, you know I was hoping to take a course taught in English.  But, in a perfect summary of this absurd system, that list wasn’t published until the 28th of August and the deadline for registering for foreigners is the 25th of August.  So, as it is, I’ll be studying Economics in Italian this Fall.

Unfortunately, I’ve also found out that there is literally no way to renew my visa from here.  Of course, had I enrolled in a regular degree program, the visa would be for 6 years.  I didn’t take that course of action because the legal authority on all of this says on it’s web page that I would need to achieve a C1 (very high) level of Italian to be admitted.  Turns out, for this university, I just needed to essentially have a conversation with some people.  Awesome.  But, as it stands, it appears I’ll be returning to the states around Christmas.  But, it’s never that straightforward – I have to register before the 25th of December but have to show proof of passing an exam….that’s in February.  Beautiful.

So aside from that monstrous headache, I’ve been doing a bit of traveling around [photos below] and trying to enjoy the sunshine.

Ferragosto was fantastic, delicious meal with great friends – photos below too!

We did have a particularly good week of like 4 beaches in 3 days or something, which included Chia, Santa Margherita, Mari Ermi, and quite possibly my new favorite beach, S’Arena Scoada.  We also got a chance to hang out with Paolo’s mom’s side of the family, including our rockin’ New York City hosts Rob and Laura, and enjoy an amazing dinner.  And today we went to Mari Pintau again – and it was pleasantly empty and lovely.

Work is up and down, but private students are up – so that’s a nice cash pad right now.

Other news…

My camera has finally died. It’s been joking about it for a year or so now, but last week, while shooting an airshow, it took it’s very last gasps.  This of course puts me in a strange position – I love camera, we’ve been together for nearly 6 years, but camera prices have changed so much – I think it’s time to find a new model at a more reasonable price.  But, do I want to buy something here [I have one those money trees! ;)] where they seem more expensive and come with European attachments?  Or, do I continue to use this little trucker that I got years ago as a ‘if I break it, I won’t cry about it’ camera until I get home and can find something?  Decisions, decisions….

Paolo and I had a killer Mexican dinner party the other night.  All in all it was a 14 person count with, at least, I believe, everyone having a great time.  I’d brought back corn tortillas, tapatio, and black beans from the States so with a place to host a party, it was finally time to do it.  It must be said….damn I missed hosting parties.  :]  And if I must say, Paolo and I make a pretty good party-throwing team.

I’ve gotten an internet key for the laptop.  And I did that all by myself.  Well, Paolo helped me look on the internet for the best deal among the local companies, but I mean, I went to the store all by myself.  The connection speed isn’t excepppptional but it is faster than my phone – so that’s a plus.

Because of it, and a friend, I’ve started watching the Sopranos.  Weird the things you miss without HBO.  Also, I think I need to get back into Entourage now that it’s ending.  There’s no White Collar or Mad Men right now….

Two nights ago I made this killer pasta sauce.  Tomatoes here are finishing their season and so the ugly ones are dirt cheap – and we have a lot of them.  It was excellent, but in the end I don’t know if two hours of blanching/peeling/chopping was totally necessary – in general the ‘premade’ sauces you find here are really cheap and really good.  Next time I’ll try with that.  [Pictures below].

Also did tomatoes, procuitto and baked eggs the other day – my first foray into baking (the last apartment didn’t have a stove) since the corn bread in Alghero fiasco.

Paolo’s parents gave us sweet new toothbrushes [yeah, they coordinate - ha.  How did that happen to me?]  mine’s purple….his is orange.  Sigh.

But, they’ve also given us a basil plant and a little peperoncino plant – so we’re going to not tell anyone about my black thumb and see how all this goes.

I have a crazy washing machine.  Picture below.

I officially have Italian health insurance.  Apparently last year I missed a critical step and just existed 6 delightful months thinking I was insured.  Oh well.  Live and learn.  And don’t die.

And I think, in this moment, that is all I can think of that’s even remotely new or interesting.