Again, another fairly routine day. Except that, in the evening after a dinner of chickpea soup, Alle and I decided to walk to the train station to get my photo taken for the permesso di soggiorno I have to fill out. Unfortunately, we get nearly all the way to the train station before Alle realises he�s forgotten his wallet and we don�t have the money to get the pics done! LOL! Oh,well, no matter, really� We go for a walk farther into town instead, heading for the park where his old kindergarten is. We sit on a bench and talk while the sun sets, and it�s cool and quiet and a very pleasant evening. Holding hands we head for home after a while, and I�m feeling good because even though I�ve only been home for a couple of days, really, I�ve managed to walk a bit every day. Quite a good feeling!
mercoled� (Wednesday) 19th maggio (May)
Okay, this time we mean it! Alle and I walk to the station in the morning after he�s had his hair cut and picked up copies of the marriage certificate and we�ve printed out my autocertification that I live here with my husband (more bloody paperwork for the permesso, you see). I get my photo done, and we walk to the Questura with the intention of filling out the forms and waiting in line for the day. Unfortunately, there are no more numbers to take, and the place is PACKED! Neither space nor seat to be had! Alle and I pause, consider the situation, and decide there�s no point in waiting. There�s no hope for getting anything done at 10.30 in the morning, when the place basically folds up around 1.00 in the afternoon. So now we�re homeward bound, so he can change and leave after lunch for an appointment. But first, we go to PuntoBlu, where Alle has to pay for his forgotten tollway ticket. It doesn�t take long � in fact, there�s more time spent trying to park the car (only six spaces, not including the handicapped one) than inside the offices. Once that�s done, we go to the bank and take care of some business there, then go to wash the car (huzzah!!!) and get gas. (By the way, folks, gas prices are running $5.18 a gallon in Italy. That�s approximately $1.45 a liter.) Then once again, we head for home.
I spend the afternoon at Rob�s, working on my TOEFL (waiting for a response from my tutor, actually), and then Alle and I reunite for a light dinner and another walk. This time, we don�t go far � just down to the gelateria for some refreshment, since we�d already walked that afternoon. We still stroll while eating gelato (how perfect it is!), and we walk home while night falls. Lovely! Romantic! Delightful! (Are you disgusted yet???)
gioved� (Thursday) 20th maggio (May)
Alle volunteers to go to the Questura on his own, to scout the situation and get us a number in the line so we can avoid waiting outside too long. So, I get up at 8.00 and have a quick shower and get dressed, while he�s already there, waiting. He calls me on the cellphone shortly thereafter to let me know it doesn�t look good, but he�ll call me in an hour so I can wait while he runs an errand for Guido in town. Instead, he comes home a short while after that, telling me, "It�s hopeless � they ran out of numbers and were blocking people from entering the building, anyway." So instead, we sit and talk for a bit, running over our options and the possibilities. There don�t seem to be many. We�ll have to figure this one out on the fly, so to speak. He leaves for work a short while later, and I go to Rob�s once again for my TOEFL work. (Who knew learning English again would be so hard! I still suck at grammar�) I�m upstairs again when Alle gets home, and we go out for a brief journey to the mall � Ariosto this time, not Grand Emilia, since he�s home later than usual � and we pick up a few things for dinner Friday night. J Since we get back late we don�t go out for a walk, instead we watch a little television and then listen to the radio for a while. Dad went out � Alle says he�s on a date! � so we have the house to ourselves for a few hours. As it�s pretty late, I opt to open the door of our room and the window, since the the other windows are open and we can manage a nice breeze in the evening. It�s all very relaxing, and before long, we�re dozing contentedly to the songs on the radio, chatting occasionally. Finally, the evening turns really cool, so I close up our room (Alle chills easily, you see), and we go on to sleep since he has work on Friday.
And that just about covers it for this week. Today, venerd�, I haven�t done much else but write this email. I�ll now turn my attentions fully to my TOEFL studies, and when Alle gets home we�ll have a light dinner, a walk, and then we�ll watch a video until he falls asleep. LOL! Loose plans at best, yes, but I reckon they�re pretty good ones.
Yes, that�s the end folks� If you made it this far, well � good on yer!
Arrivederci e vi voglio bene!
Kim