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What I dread about returning to the U.S.

23 Oct
22 October 2016. I listed my beefs with Roma the other day. Turnabout is fair play, so here are the things I am not looking forward to in gli stati uniti.
  • Having to fly to go to Europe. How we have loved jumping on trains! 10 hours or more on a plane is not fun, even in Business Class. When we come back to visit, we will take long trips (we have time!) to make the flights worthwhile. In the meantime, I am overusing my United Mileage Plus Visa to accrue as many points as possible. I wonder if we can charge a house?
  • Incredible choice of squash, and the pumpkins--of various kinds--taste amazing, as does everything.

    Incredible choice of squash, and the pumpkins–of various kinds–taste amazing, as does everything.

    Food additives, wooden produce, and high prices. Food in Italy tastes like it should taste. Red peppers zing, potatoes require no butter for flavor, and the overall need for everything from basil to thyme is minimal because the produce is so darn flavorful. In the U.S. we wax our fruits and veggies to preserve them, and God-knows-what is done to cattle and chickens. I am hoping that between the Farmer’s Market and Nature’s Foods I can find good organic stuff. It will cost significantly more to feed us than it has in Italy. I shudder to think of what wine costs in the U.S! And good olive oil!
  • Car-orientation and having to drive again. Yes, the buses in Rome are problematic, but it is possible — even desirable — to live without a car. Unless we want to live in a 700 square foot condo in downtown Portland, we’re going to have to buy a car. It just is not feasible to depend on buses, light rail, and trains. Ric has not driven in 3 1/2 years, and I have not done so in 18 months. We may have to have our son take us to a big parking lot and give us driving lessons.
  • Few trains. Sniff.

    Now THAT's Italian...Pizzeria Al Forno della Soffita.

    Now THAT’s Italian…Pizzeria Al Forno della Soffita.

  • Pizza. Papa Murphy’s Take-and-Bake will no longer cut it. There is good pizza in Portland: Apizza Scholls and Ken’s Artisan Pizza are renowned, with wood-fired pizzas and high-quality ingredients, but you have to line up about 17:00 to get in. We can barely stand to eat before 20:00 anymore. Nostrana has great pizza, too, but costo molto!
  • Eating dinner at 18:00. In Portland, we used to go out on Saturday night and leave the house at 17:30 so we could get a table without a reservation. Now at 18:00 I can barely think about eating except on occasion a little aperitivo. We like to sit down at a restaurant between 20:00 and 21:00. Even eating at home we seldom tuck in before 20:00. By 20:00 in Portland, most restaurants are thinking about shutting down the kitchen. The afternoon just seems longer and more useful when you aren’t thinking about dinner at 17:00. 
  • Lack of social outdoor life. As much as the sidewalk traffic in Roma can make me crazy, I do love the passeggiata tradition in Italy. It is most fun in the smaller towns. Take a walk, have a coffee or an aperitivo, do some shopping or just lick the windows, as the French say. In Paris, there are the terraces and in London the pubs. In Roma, we have the tiny bars. It is an excellent pre-dinner habit to take a walk, sit with friends and visit. In the U.S., we all pull into our homes using an automatic garage door opener and settle in without chatting up the neighbors. 

    Giant cappuccino in the U.S. The Italian version costs us about €1.20, even sitting down at our neighborhood place. It is JUST RIGHT.

    Giant cappuccino in the U.S. The Italian version costs us about €1.20, even sitting down at our neighborhood place. It is JUST RIGHT.

  • Giant cappuccini. No, I did not mistype. cappuccini is the plural of cappuccino. I think I will have to order the child-size. No one needs 12 ounces of milk to one ounce of espresso. 
Maintaining our Italian lifestyle after our return is going to be about as difficult as playing darts with spaghetti. We shall persevere and let you know how it is going. Four days until we fly!!!

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Four weeks to go!

29 Sep
29 September 2016. Four weeks from today we fly out of Roma, headed back to Portland. This was not an easy decision and throughout the next few weeks I will share some of our departure activities as well as thoughts on separating from Italy. It’s been four-and-a-half lovely years, which have passed like a nanosecond!
The path that brought us to Italy was accidental at best.
  • 2008 – Ric got his first passport in 40 years and said, “Let’s go to Europe.” I had been begging to go for years. All he ever wanted to do was go to Hawaii. He thought Europe was just full of old stuff. I said, “The U.K., France, or Italy: You pick and I’ll plan the trip.” So Italy is his fault.
  • March 2009 – I started Italian courses at Portland Community College. One night each week. Let me tell you, it was not enough.

    Atop Basilica San Marco, October 2010, where we fell in love with Italy.

    Atop Basilica San Marco, October 2010, where we fell in love with Italy.

  • October 2010 – We took a three-week trip to Italy. On Day 4, Ric famously said (while sitting in the sun in Venice drinking wine), “This is fabulous. We have to come back.”
  • We started joking about moving to Italy. If a job came up in Europe, should I try for it? Could we afford it? They’d never pick me, would they?
  • I applied for positions in Copenhagen and London and was rejected. In September 2011, I applied for Rome, never believing I’d be selected for such a big demotion.

    At Pompeii, December 2011.

    At Pompeii, December 2011.

  • December 2011 – We took a one-month trip to Italy. Yup, still loved it! On Morning 3, I woke up to an email from my boss asking “Did you want to move to Rome?” He had no idea I had applied.
  • After a winter and spring spent moving the entire organization to a newly constructed building I would never work in, in May 2012 Ric retired and we hauled the two cats to Rome. I accepted a 50% cut in pay and went from executive to secretary. I never looked back.
Libby and Janie, ready to fly to Rome, 2012!

Libby and Janie, ready to fly to Rome, 2012!

For three years we (Ric qualified for a part-time job in security) had the pleasure of working in the American Embassy in Rome. What a dream! I served with some very smart and committed people (I did in Portland, too) and had the privilege to learn how an embassy works, to meet people from many government agencies, and to make Italian friends. We went to the Marine Corps Ball and receptions at the Ambassador’s villa. We lived in a lovely apartment provided by the embassy that had no English-speaking tenants. THAT helped my Italian improve!
Settled in Rome, attending the Marine Corps Ball.

Settled in Rome, attending the Marine Corps Ball.

We loved the convenience of travel from Rome and took full advantage of any time off to see more of Italy and start to experience more of Europe. We could hop on a train and go anywhere!
At the end of my tour-of-duty, we were not ready to return to the U.S. The notion of work-as-we-knew-it was anathema. I was eligible to retire. Why not?
The 18-months since we retired have been a completely different adventure and one we would not trade for anything. My Italian is quite passable now as there are few people (mostly just Ric) that I can speak to in English. We have learned how things do and do not work without the loving embrace of the American Embassy. We have found medical services that are extraordinary and very personalized. We discovered that Poste Italiane is pretty dependable but very expensive. I ragazzi at the Via Sicilia office are particularly nice.
Here we are with our portiere, Pellegrino, who has been a friend and a blessing.

Here we are with our portiere, Pellegrino, who has been a friend and a blessing.

But it is time to go back to the U.S. It is time to re-establish a household of our own (we’ve been subletting a furnished place). We have experienced some of the frustrations Italians have with their own country and bureaucracy and while the U.S. is not perfect, things really do work quite well there. In the U.S., you can return items when you change your mind or they don’t fit and they will refund to your credit card. Not in Italy! In the U.S., you can turn on the heat in October if it is cold. Not in Italy!
Today we went to disconnect our cable and Internet service. They require 60 days notice so we have to pay through November even though we will turn in the equipment on the 27th of October. Can you imagine? Two months notice to disconnect a service? 
In the U.S., we can depend on certain services and we know how to argue when something does not work well. I’ve gotten better are standing up to service providers in Italian, but it is a strain to have to argue over everything since arguing is a national sport.
Allora, we will always come back annually to Italy as travelers for as long as we are able. Despite my sarcasm, we have a fondness for the people and the culture, but to travel here is far different than to live here. And we would never give up our passports. Never.
Stay tuned as the departure adventure unfolds. I know Janie is excited.

Missing the U.S.A.

19 Jun
19 June 2016. There must be something in the air causing ex-pat Americans in Italy to miss America.  I am pretty certain it isn’t Trump, Clinton or Sanders conjuring up the emotional response to missing the homeland, but a rash of articles, blogs, and posts to Facebook broke out in the past couple of weeks.
We’ve now been in Rome four years (as of May 18, 2016) and retired for one (as of May 19). We have found the experience as true ex-pats, outside the protective bubble of the embassy, to put us more in touch with what it is really like to live here. And yet we do not have to face many of the challenges working Italians that are raising families face. We have no pesky jobs.
Still, I have to say from time-to-time I get a little maudlin about not being in the United States. Rome is so beautiful and a delight to walk through when people aren’t knocking you off the sidewalk, but there are a few things from the U.S. that I miss so very much.
Clothes dryers
Drying rack on our terrace. It faces south, so when the weather is good the drying is fast. That's Libby in the foreground.

Drying rack on our terrace. It faces south, so when the weather is good the drying is fast. That’s Libby in the foreground.

You can try to romanticize the fresh-air drying, clothes warmed by the sun, blah, blah, blah. The truth is, all we have is a terrace with a rack from IKEA. The clothes come out stiff. I have never ironed so much in my life. There is nothing fresh about the motorino-scented air of Roma and if I leave them out too long, they gather pollen and dust. 
In winter, we have to hang clothes on a smaller rack in our second bedroom because they won’t dry in the cold and not enough sun hits the terrace. Drying bed sheets can take 24 hours. Give me a good old tumble dryer! We had one in our embassy apartment but running one is cost-prohibitive for the average person. Plus, there’s not room for one in our apartment.  
Ethnic food
Yes, we love Italian food. We can (and do) eat it day and night, but we miss the diversity of Peruvian, Mexican, Lebanese, Thai, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Indian available in most great cities. Certainly some are available in Roma. We’ve tried Thai in Roma and just was not comparable to anything we get in the U.S., although there is an excellent Lebanese place. On our recent trip through Switzerland, we managed to find excellent Mexican, Vietnamese, and Indian food. Oh, yeah, we had Italian, too. 
It is also challenging to find certain ingredients. I have been seeking fresh cilantro for 4 years. No dice. 
Understanding what is going on around me most of the time
How wondrous it would be to not only understand the words but also most of the pop culture references. Italian journalistic style takes some getting used to. Reading the paper is a chore for me, and I can understand the TV news only if I sit and watch it, completely focused, so I don’t. 
Family and friends and easy visits
Seeing family means an awfully big trip for one of us. We have American friends in Roma, but it is a transient community. In fact, our closest friends of the last two years are leaving this summer. 
Pedestrian-friendly sidewalks
Walking down the sidewalk is a full-body-contact sport in Roma. In the U.S. sidewalks are wide and level.  In the U.S. foot traffic moves more smoothly because there are norms. People in most cities, whether Paris or Portland, stay right or move over well in advance of any possible impact. In Roma, five people walking together expect to walk abreast of one another regardless of oncoming traffic. They gather in large groups in the middle of the sidewalk blocking passage while carrying on a conversation. People barge out of shop doors without glancing left or right. Add the bancarelli (sidewalk vendors) and cars parked on the sidewalks, and you get the picture: There’s little space left for pedestrians. 

 

A classic example of Roman parking: across the sidewalk, on a pedestrian crossing, in a school zone. I'm sure s/he was only going to be a couple of minutes...

A classic example of Roman parking: across the sidewalk, on a pedestrian crossing, in a school zone. I’m sure s/he was only going to be a couple of minutes…

This is our street. We live in the orangey-pink building on the left. Note the tow-away zone yet cars parked half-on-half-off the sidewalk. There is a sticker on the sign right below the arrow that says "Capito?" Ha! Never, ever do they enforce the parking law here.

This is our street. We live in the orangey-pink building on the left. Note the tow-away zone yet cars parked half-on-half-off the sidewalk. There is a sticker on the sign right below the arrow that says “Capito?” Ha! Never, ever do they enforce the parking law here.

 

Things working and making sense
  • Buses have no schedule because the traffic is heavy and double-parking is so rampant that the bus cannot keep to a schedule. AND the bus drivers are willy-nilly about departures from the top-of-the-route, so often 2 or 3 buses on the same line are within 5 or 10 minutes of one another and then there will be no bus for 45 minutes. WTF? Funny how in Paris you can set your watch to the bus. In Paris, the parking laws are enforced. How novel.  
  • Websites with an “events” page last updated in 2013
  • Stores that close for the afternoon just about when you have time to actually go shopping, and Post Office hours that are 8:35 to 13:05.
  • Parking in the pedestrian crossings, or on sidewalks, or anywhere the driver damn well feels like it. Arrrggghhhhh!
  • Needing to pay the cable company when we disconnect service. Yup, it costs €200 to disconnect and 60 days notice to do so. We might just test this program by not following the rules….
We recently took a cab home from Stazione Termini and the driver was incredulous that we choose to live in Roma. “Why?” he asked. “America is great. Everything works! Italy is a third-world country!” Even Italians know things don’t work here as well as in the U.S.
Talbots, Zappos, & Nordstrom
I miss my favorite stores and online shopping. We have Amazon.it (not good for clothes), and Lands End U.K. (which is good for clothes). I hate going from one tiny store to another looking for something. 
Going out to breakfast now-and-then
Real American smoked bacon is missing from my life. Along with fluffy omelets and breakfast potatoes. I don’t need them often, but more often than twice in four years would be great. 
Reading the Sunday paper (You still have them, right?)
Still we are privileged to live here. In May, we celebrated four years in Rome. Il tempo vola! My grievances are so-called First World Problems. The food in Italy is terrific, the coffee unbeatable, and the wine both excellent and inexpensive. After a recent 7-night stay in Switzerland where we practically had to sell our blood to afford wine, Italy looks mighty affordable. Our rent is less than we’d pay in Portland and we have trains. 
We do miss you, though, America! Baci to our friends and family. 

 

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Guns and The Top of Europe

30 Sep
30 September 2015.
A man gets on the train carrying a gun. What would you do? If I was in France, Spain, Great Britain or the USA, I would dive for cover. But we are in Switzerland, in the Bernese Oberland to be precise, and apparently, no one bats an eye. Neither did we since he walked in accompanied by another local, and even women pushing babies in strollers were undisturbed by the sight. I am not going to pretend I understand the Swiss mindset or even the laws around firearms. This article from Time magazine on the subject is pretty interesting. I am not sure I am more concerned about the fact he was hunting in an area where people hike or carrying a weapon in public. 
When we saw this guy get on we got the giggles. Can you imagine if this happened on MAX in Portland? This was on the Wengeralp narrow-gauge cog railway.
When we saw this guy get on we got the giggles. Can you imagine if this happened on MAX in Portland? This was on the Wengeralp narrow-gauge cog railway.
Switzerland seems to have its act together. The Swiss have managed to remain neutral in world politics, insulated from European Union issues as they are non-EU, but they take advantage of the Schengen Agreement and the abolishment of internal borders. Still, immigration is highly controlled. They have an admirable environmental record, plenty of water resources, clean air, excellent recycling, a thriving economy with low unemployment. Their public debt is less than 35% of GDP (compared to Italy at 134% and the USA at about 71%). And of course there’s the cheese. High prices do not seem to deter tourists, especially the Japanese who are here in droves and show no reluctance to shell out hundreds of Swiss Francs to see the sights and buy winter fashions. You would not believe the price of a Patagonia jacket here.
Staubbach Falls, visible from our vacation rental.
Staubbach Falls, visible from our vacation rental.
This is our third trip to Switzerland in less than 2 years. Yes, we like it. The food is not as good as Italy, and the coffee almost all comes from a ubiquitous push-button machine found in virtually every café and restaurant. It’s CHF 4.00 for a basic cup of coffee or a single shot of espresso. In fact, everything is quite expensive. While the exchange rate is almost on par with the U.S. dollar, the actual prices are high. A pizza that would cost us about $11.00-12.00 in Italy is about $23.00 here. A small green salad runs $8.50. Wine by the bottle is insanely expensive in restaurants, but one can get a small glass of good local wine for a price less than we experienced in Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco. Why do we come back if it costs so much? The transportation system, the hiking, the natural beauty: Switzerland offers a lot of what we like to do when traveling. And it works, well, like a clock.
A Jungfraujoch train moves up the mountain. Most of the journey is in a tunnel inside the Eiger and the Mönch.
A Jungfraujoch train moves up the mountain. Most of the journey is in a tunnel inside the Eiger and the Mönch.
I have wanted to go to the Jungfraujoch since Matt Lauer went there in 2011 during his annual “Where in the World is Matt Lauer” tour. During our first two Swiss trips in January 2014 and August 2014, we dismissed the trip to the Jungfraujoch as too expensive. It costs CHF 204.40 per person from Lauterbrunnen in the valley to the Jungfraujoch and back. We learned that with certain types of passes one could pay less, so we vowed “the next time” we would make the trip. This is the next time, so we bought both half-fare Swiss passes and a Bernese Oberland Regional Pass. We had to pay a relatively small supplement to go all the way to the Top of Europe (called so because it is the highest train station in Europe). It was worth it!
Jungfraujoch Railroad - our train ready to depart.
Jungfraujoch Railroad – our train ready to depart.
Rising at 5:00 AM, we caught the first train up the mountain, in total about 1 hour 45 minutes from the bottom of the valley to the Jungfraujoch, arriving just before 9:00 AM. Some of the “tour” is goofy. The giant snowglobe in the Alpine Sensation was unrefined, and the Ice Palace sculptures were not nearly as nice as those at the Saint Paul Winter Carnival of my youth, but the pure beauty of the pristine mountain was the star, and contemplating the building of such a railroad in the 1890s sobering. Thanks to 100 Italian laborers, the tunnel was built.
View from the Top of Europe over the cloud-covered valley. It was very cold outside!
View from the Top of Europe over the cloud-covered valley. It was very cold outside!

We went outside on the observation platform, but the 33 kph winds combined with the -1.5 Celsius temp reminded us a bit too much of our Minnesota and North Dakota heritage. We lasted long enough to take a few photos. Going on the sledding course was out of the question, as was the glacier walk of 1 1/2 hours roundtrip. 
We were at 11,333 feet above sea level. That is lower than the elevation we hiked to in Colorado last month, but a completely different climate. In Colorado, we peeled off layers. Here, I wished I’d had my puffy coat.
Railway Station at the Top of Europe, inside the mountain.
Railway Station at the Top of Europe, inside the mountain.
This was an unforgettable trip and we are glad we did it. Going early was a great strategy, at least with the weather forecast we had. We would be unlikely to go twice, so it truly was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. 

 

 

 

 

People walking on the glacier beneath the Jungfraujoch.
People walking on the glacier beneath the Jungfraujoch.
The Eiger pokes above low level clouds as we depart Kleine Scheidegg.
The Eiger pokes above low level clouds as we depart Kleine Scheidegg after our visit on high.
CHF 30,300 watch available at the highest watch shop in Europe.
CHF 30,300 watch available at the highest watch shop in Europe.
View of the Lauterbrunnen Valley. Our apartment is just a bit to the left of the church.
View of the Lauterbrunnen Valley. Our apartment is just a bit to the left of the church.
View from our apartment. We can also see Staubbach Falls from our terrace.
View from our apartment. We can also see Staubbach Falls from our terrace.

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Il rientro

8 Sep
Il rientro is the period when the Italians come back from their August vacations. Back from the beach, from the mountains, or from wherever they have traveled. During il reintro people talk about where they’ve been, when they got back, what a state of stress they are in! Yesterday at the grocery store the woman in front of me queried: “O cielo! Di chi e’ questo carrello?”  (Heavens! Whose cart is this?) She had grabbed the wrong grocery cart and was unloading someone else’s merchandise. “Ehi! Il stress dopo vacanza!” she exclaimed. (Ah! The stress after vacation!) Yup, life is rough for an Italian mamma who spent the month of August at the beach.
Stores and restaurants that were closed for August are reopening, new merchandise for fall is arriving, and the streets are full again with no place to park except in pedestrian crossings and in doppia fila. It is SRO again on the buses.
Only in Roma would this be news. A car belonging to teh Ministry of the Interior was parked illegally and held up a bus for half-an-hour.
Only in Roma would this be news. Yesterday a car belonging to the Internal Ministry — which includes the State Police — was parked illegally and held up a bus for half-an-hour.
We are in our own re-entry, just back from the U.S. on August 28. We were fortunate to enjoy a few days of quietude in Roma before the hoards returned. Each day last week, piano piano it got busier in the streets. 
We had huge thunderstorms last Friday and Saturday, clearing the air and lowering the temperatures. We have not had to turn the apartment into a cave during the day, nor use any fans, for three days now. It is heavenly to sleep in the cool with the windows open and no fan. Unfortunately, the motorini still buzz by at all hours. The skies have some clouds most days, a pleasant change after the heat. We’ll still get many warm days (today is about 80 degrees Fahrenheit/27 Celsius), but the long stretches of hot hot hot days with nights barely dipping to 75F/24C should be over.
Roma is in the process of trying to clean up for the Jubilee Year that starts December 8. Proclaimed by Papa Francesco, the Jubilee is expected to draw huge crowds to Roma and the rest of Italy. Roma needs to look good for this. While there is an official effort with increased street cleaners having been hired, there is also a grass-roots movement, “I am Rome.” I do think the city seems a little cleaner than it was 6 weeks ago, although apparently people still do not know how to pick up dog poop.
Just today the mayor announced fine or 150-200 Euro for throwing cigarette butts on the ground. A bold move and welcome! No longer can smokers do the famous lancia where they pinch the butt between thumb and forefinger and hurl it at the street. I am not sure who will have time for writing tickets for butts, but today I saw a policewoman with Polizia Roma Capitale actually writing parking tickets. Miracles happen!
It’s good to be back home in the land of fabulous food and coffee. We had a lot of good meals in the U.S., but the food is fresher here and requires less seasoning. Pizza in Italy is simply THE BEST, and it doesn’t cost as much to eat out at a pizzeria in Roma as it did a couple of places we ate in the U.S. Wine in Italy is far cheaper too.
Now that's a pizza! Ric Barton displays a work-of-art in Roma.
Now that’s a pizza! Ric Barton displays a work-of-art in Roma.
Regarding wine, my brother had an excellent observation for those pursuing the best selection of wine in the world. In France, one finds French wines; in Italy, Italian. Where can you find wines from everywhere? Yup, Stati Uniti. The selection wines available in the U.S. outnumbers the variety of pasta in Italy, but oh, Lord, the wine is inexpensive in Italy!
For most Italian kids, school starts Thursday. In Italy, they get the whole summer off, from early June to early September, like we used to. Why do so many American schools start in August? That’s when families should be getting in a final camping trip, swimming at the shore, having picnics. I think they do that right in Italy. Il rientro in September is for everyone.
We plan to enjoy more local outings in the area now that temperatures are moderate. There is much to Roma that we have not seen. After all, una vita non basta! (One lifetime is not enough!)
Enjoy your own rientro, wherever you may be!
bentornati

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