Did you think that I was going to write a long post about how terrible it is to live here? No way. I did save some complaining for the end, though. I know that I am in the honeymoon phase with our new city. But, I don’t care. I am so happy exploring this new city and figuring out how to communicate.
Sometimes I take a walk after the kids’ school bus leaves (and before heading to my morning Italian class). The walks are equal parts exercise and exploration. In fact, we live in the “explorer” street section of the city. You know how some cities have tree streets? So, you might see Elm St., then Maple St., then Pine Ave? Well, we live on Amerigo Vespucci Street, which is sandwiched between Sebastiano Cabot Street and Cristofo Colombo Street. I would go into detail how I muse that it is fitting that we live in the explorer streets, but I have a feeling some of you are really starting to hate me:).
I come home from my walks bursting with new information about our neighborhood. “Josh, there is a Mexican restaurant called Taco Bang (true!) ten minutes from here”. I have found three pharmacies, a Chinese restaurant, a pilates studio and a dance studio, all within a half-mile radius of our house. Also, there are more bakeries than I can count. I mean, I can count them, but I keep losing count because there are so many and they smell so good. There are lots of people eating brioche and sitting at cafes in the morning. There is an air of people going to work, but it is not harried. There is time to have a coffee and a cigarette (but why, oh why do so many Europeans still smoke?!)
We have been in our apartment for just over one week. It feels like much longer. I think that it is a good thing. My wonderful parents and brother shipped our remaining items (four boxes weighing 40 lb each). Having them arrive was a bit like Christmas morning. “Oh, I forgot about these legos”, said Noah delighted! I already see the kids navigating the streets around us easily. They know where the ATM is, the good gelato place(s), the daily outdoor market, the “Whole Foods” Carrefour. Yes, I even love our grocery store. It is like a Whole Foods, but full of Italian things too. There are whole rabbits, skinned and ready to cook, but also a sushi bar.
Now, I do want to take a moment to share some of the downside. It has been unseasonably hot, and the apartment has no AC. We have a lot of open windows. There are no screens and lots of mosquitoes. That means that we are all covered in bites. Sylvie gets them the worst in
the family; her little body is covered in welts. Not fun. Also, there is no dryer, so we are line-drying all of our clothing. What do we do in the winter?! To be determined, I guess.
Our apartment is beautiful, but the streets are narrow and all the sound bounces like crazy (please see prior note about all windows being open). What is that guy doing every morning at 4:30am driving his Vespa around our block?!
Finally, our no-car owning strategy has compelled us to re-learn how to drive a manual car. We now cruise around the city and to the kids’ school in either a tiny Car2Go smart car or an Enjoy Fiat 500 with “enjoy” emblazoned on the side. It is freeing not to actually own a car, but it is harrowing to drive a manual car through the hills to the international school.
This is supposedly the hottest September in 30 years in the city. We can feel the weather almost changing. We are cheering for it. When it does, I will have almost nothing to complain about. Maybe at that point I will know what to do with all that wet laundry when it rains.