This doesn't really have to do with living in Italy, but is about my life, so here it is. My Grandaddy passed away on Thursday, November 27, 2008. He was 87 years old. It was somewhat sudden, but death can't be completely unexpected at age 87. He had been diagnosed with lung cancer about a week prior, and went downhill very quickly. Although he will be sorely missed, I am glad that he did not have to endure a long, painful illness.
Grandaddy was from McNairy County, Tennessee and Corinth, Mississippi. He and my Grandmother were married more than 62 years. In his work life, he sold liquid carbon dioxide for carbonation and ended up as the president of his company in Chicago. He was very dedicated to his work. He was also active in the Baptist Church for many years. Grandaddy was well-known and active in the retirement community where he lived. He and my grandmother raised 4 sons and have 7 grandchildren. I am told that he was a very stern father, but he definitely had a softer touch when it came to his grandchildren, whom he adored.
Though I am sorry that I wasn't able to see Grandaddy one more time before he died, I am glad that Jeff, Emily, and I stopped in to see Grandmother and Grandaddy in June during our trip to Wisconsin. I will be flying to Chicago on Tuesday to spend a week visiting with Grandmother, my aunts, uncles, and cousins, and my dad and sisters. A sad occasion, but it will be a rare chance to visit with so much of my family.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Trash talk
Something you don't think about until you are in a different place is how trash is handled. Italians do a lot of recycling. It is mandated in some places, but not here in Ferrara. However, it is still made easy.
There is no household trash pickup. There are dumpsters all along the streets (there is one about 30 yards from our front door) for people to put their trash in. All the dumpsters are color coded as to what kind of waste they are for. Gray dumpsters, which are the most common, are for general household trash. Brown, the second most common, is for yard waste like leaves, bush trimmings, etc. Then there are recycling dumpsters along the street about half as often as the brown and gray. Yellow ones are for plastic, blue is for cardboard and paper, and green is for glass and aluminum. I don't quite understand why glass and aluminum are put in together, but at least they can be recycled. Occasionally you see white containers for clear glass only. There are even containers in about half the recycling areas for old clothes and shoes to be donated to charity. There are also small clear containers in different places around town for old batteries. One thing I have not found is recycling for steel cans. In some places, but not as much in Ferrara, you find containers for "organico" or food waste, which is then composted.
There is a large center on the other side of town where you can take bulk recycling items (I took some of the packing boxes and paper there 2 weeks ago), paper, glass, cardboard, and even appliances and oil. It is free if you have a residence in the city, and if you don't you pay a small amount per kilogram of material discarded. They weigh your car when you enter and again when you leave to figure out how much you dropped off.
I was always shocked by how few people in the US recycle, even when pickup is included in your garbage bill. I am glad to see that some places are better about that.
There is no household trash pickup. There are dumpsters all along the streets (there is one about 30 yards from our front door) for people to put their trash in. All the dumpsters are color coded as to what kind of waste they are for. Gray dumpsters, which are the most common, are for general household trash. Brown, the second most common, is for yard waste like leaves, bush trimmings, etc. Then there are recycling dumpsters along the street about half as often as the brown and gray. Yellow ones are for plastic, blue is for cardboard and paper, and green is for glass and aluminum. I don't quite understand why glass and aluminum are put in together, but at least they can be recycled. Occasionally you see white containers for clear glass only. There are even containers in about half the recycling areas for old clothes and shoes to be donated to charity. There are also small clear containers in different places around town for old batteries. One thing I have not found is recycling for steel cans. In some places, but not as much in Ferrara, you find containers for "organico" or food waste, which is then composted.
There is a large center on the other side of town where you can take bulk recycling items (I took some of the packing boxes and paper there 2 weeks ago), paper, glass, cardboard, and even appliances and oil. It is free if you have a residence in the city, and if you don't you pay a small amount per kilogram of material discarded. They weigh your car when you enter and again when you leave to figure out how much you dropped off.
I was always shocked by how few people in the US recycle, even when pickup is included in your garbage bill. I am glad to see that some places are better about that.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Laundry Day
I have had adventures the last few weeks in learning the fine art of laundry with European appliances. A washing machine was included with our house, and we were issued a dryer from the base.
Here is a picture of the washing machine. Sorry about the angle, but it's in the downstairs bathroom, so it's hard to get a good angle for a picture.
It is a front-loader, as you can see, which is standard here. I don't think they have top-loading machines. It came with instructions only in Italian, so it has been a bit of an adventure learning how to use it. The first time I used it, I tried to put the detergent with the clothes, and that made a big mess. I think I had to run the rinse cycle 3 times to get the soap out. Then I found the little drawer where you are supposed to put the detergent in. That helped some, but my things kept coming out soapy. Finally, I went online looking for instructions and discovered that I needed to drastically reduce the amount of detergent. I can stuff the drum completely full of clothes and put one tablespoon of detergent in the drawer, and my clothes will not only come out clean, but most of the time there is leftover detergent in the drawer when I go to put in the next load. I had to get medicine cups out of my medicine cabinet to measure the detergent in, because the caps are too big. The cycle time on this washer is very long (up to 90 minutes plus, depending on the load), but it works very well, and, rumor has it, is much less harsh on the clothes since there is no agitator.
Here is a picture of my dryer.
It is in the kitchen, because there was no room for it in the bathroom with the washer. A lot of Italians do not have dryers, but simply use clotheslines or large drying racks to dry their clothes. That is not a completely viable option, though, because Ferrara can be very humid and foggy, especially in the fall and winter (like now), and clothes will not dry thoroughly when hung out in that kind of weather.
This is a European condensing dryer, which means that it does not vent to the outside, but catches the water that comes out of the clothes in a special drawer (pictured below).
This drawer must be emptied at the end of each cycle (and sometimes in the middle if your stuff is really wet). Like the washer, the dryer takes much longer than the American kind. The driest cycle for cottons automatically sets to 2 hours, but does not always take that long. There seems to be some kind of sensor inside that shortens the cycle if the clothes dry faster. One other different thing is that I cannot use dryer sheets in this dryer. I'm not sure why they don't work, but they come out all balled up with none of the fabric softener having rubbed off on the clothes. There is a compartment in the washer for fabric softener, so I'll have to try that when I get some Downy.
Some of my friends here have said that they cannot run their washers and dryers at the same time because it causes the electricity to go out. I, fortunately, have not had that problem, and have actually been able to run the washer, dryer, and dishwasher at the same time without a problem. However, I discovered today that I cannot run the washer, dryer, and oven at the same time. That did cause the power to go out. I was able to fix it by flipping the breakers in the garage, but I won't try that again!
Better get back to work. A full week's laundry takes me an entire day. In American machines, I could do my laundry in about 4-5 hours, but here it takes 8-9 hours.
Here is a picture of the washing machine. Sorry about the angle, but it's in the downstairs bathroom, so it's hard to get a good angle for a picture.
It is a front-loader, as you can see, which is standard here. I don't think they have top-loading machines. It came with instructions only in Italian, so it has been a bit of an adventure learning how to use it. The first time I used it, I tried to put the detergent with the clothes, and that made a big mess. I think I had to run the rinse cycle 3 times to get the soap out. Then I found the little drawer where you are supposed to put the detergent in. That helped some, but my things kept coming out soapy. Finally, I went online looking for instructions and discovered that I needed to drastically reduce the amount of detergent. I can stuff the drum completely full of clothes and put one tablespoon of detergent in the drawer, and my clothes will not only come out clean, but most of the time there is leftover detergent in the drawer when I go to put in the next load. I had to get medicine cups out of my medicine cabinet to measure the detergent in, because the caps are too big. The cycle time on this washer is very long (up to 90 minutes plus, depending on the load), but it works very well, and, rumor has it, is much less harsh on the clothes since there is no agitator.
Here is a picture of my dryer.
It is in the kitchen, because there was no room for it in the bathroom with the washer. A lot of Italians do not have dryers, but simply use clotheslines or large drying racks to dry their clothes. That is not a completely viable option, though, because Ferrara can be very humid and foggy, especially in the fall and winter (like now), and clothes will not dry thoroughly when hung out in that kind of weather.
This is a European condensing dryer, which means that it does not vent to the outside, but catches the water that comes out of the clothes in a special drawer (pictured below).
This drawer must be emptied at the end of each cycle (and sometimes in the middle if your stuff is really wet). Like the washer, the dryer takes much longer than the American kind. The driest cycle for cottons automatically sets to 2 hours, but does not always take that long. There seems to be some kind of sensor inside that shortens the cycle if the clothes dry faster. One other different thing is that I cannot use dryer sheets in this dryer. I'm not sure why they don't work, but they come out all balled up with none of the fabric softener having rubbed off on the clothes. There is a compartment in the washer for fabric softener, so I'll have to try that when I get some Downy.
Some of my friends here have said that they cannot run their washers and dryers at the same time because it causes the electricity to go out. I, fortunately, have not had that problem, and have actually been able to run the washer, dryer, and dishwasher at the same time without a problem. However, I discovered today that I cannot run the washer, dryer, and oven at the same time. That did cause the power to go out. I was able to fix it by flipping the breakers in the garage, but I won't try that again!
Better get back to work. A full week's laundry takes me an entire day. In American machines, I could do my laundry in about 4-5 hours, but here it takes 8-9 hours.
Monday, November 10, 2008
backtracking to Halloween
Just had to post this picture of Emily and her friend Kirsten, ready to go to the Halloween party put on by the Americans here.
Emily was Queen Amidala from Star Wars, and Kirsten was a spider. The Italians do not officially celebrate Halloween, though it is gaining in popularity here. We did see some shops with Halloween decorations, etc. All Saints' Day (November 1st) is an official Italian holiday, though.
The night of the party, the last crate of our household goods was being delivered, so Jeff had to stay home while I took the girls to the party. My friend Chris was picking us up (I don't have a driver's license over here yet), and she didn't know where our house was, so we walked up to another area that she was familiar with. So I stood on a very busy street corner with the above pictured children in costume for about 10 minutes waiting on her. I'm sure the Italians got quite a kick out of it!
Emily was Queen Amidala from Star Wars, and Kirsten was a spider. The Italians do not officially celebrate Halloween, though it is gaining in popularity here. We did see some shops with Halloween decorations, etc. All Saints' Day (November 1st) is an official Italian holiday, though. The night of the party, the last crate of our household goods was being delivered, so Jeff had to stay home while I took the girls to the party. My friend Chris was picking us up (I don't have a driver's license over here yet), and she didn't know where our house was, so we walked up to another area that she was familiar with. So I stood on a very busy street corner with the above pictured children in costume for about 10 minutes waiting on her. I'm sure the Italians got quite a kick out of it!
More house pictures
I have finally gotten a good bit of the house in order, so I can post a few more pictures. I got inspired on Saturday to get the downstairs set the way I want it because 2 friends and their kids were coming over on Sunday.
Here is my kitchen. The two cabinets that don't match are the ones we were issued through the military.
Our kitchen was very well outfitted when we moved into the house, so we were lucky. The built-in refrigerator is behind the very tall cabinet door next to the oven.
Here is a view of the front entranceway. It's a little dark, but you can see it OK.
This is a view looking back the other way into the dining/living room. There are still a few boxes around, but nothing like it was!
This is the marble staircase.
Here are a couple of views of Emily's room. I haven't had time to really organize it yet, but it was the first room unpacked, mainly so that Emily would have plenty to do while I worked on the rest of the unpacking. Most of the furniture in Emily's room came with the house. We decided that it would be nice for her to have 2 beds for sleepovers, and she has already had one with her friend Grace.
I've got a lot more cleaning and organizing to do, but most of the unpacking is done.
Yesterday, Sunday, my friend Sue and her kids, Kirsten (who is in Emily's class at school) and Charley (who is 2), and my friend Darci and her daughter Hope (age 1) came over to hang out, have lunch, and let the kids play for a while. Emily and Kirsten get along very well, and played on their own pretty much the whole time. Charley has entered the terrible twos and spent the time trying to keep all the toys away from Hope, occasionally whacking her with a block when she got too close. Hope kept a very sunny attitude through most of this treatment. The grown ups did manage to visit a little bit in between refereeing, and it was nice to do something a little different, since all of our husbands are out of town. Darci is American, and Sue is technically Danish, though they came here from the UK and she speaks English with a perfect British accent. Her husband is British.
Here is my kitchen. The two cabinets that don't match are the ones we were issued through the military.
Our kitchen was very well outfitted when we moved into the house, so we were lucky. The built-in refrigerator is behind the very tall cabinet door next to the oven.
Here is a view of the front entranceway. It's a little dark, but you can see it OK.
This is a view looking back the other way into the dining/living room. There are still a few boxes around, but nothing like it was!
This is the marble staircase.
Here are a couple of views of Emily's room. I haven't had time to really organize it yet, but it was the first room unpacked, mainly so that Emily would have plenty to do while I worked on the rest of the unpacking. Most of the furniture in Emily's room came with the house. We decided that it would be nice for her to have 2 beds for sleepovers, and she has already had one with her friend Grace.
I've got a lot more cleaning and organizing to do, but most of the unpacking is done.
Yesterday, Sunday, my friend Sue and her kids, Kirsten (who is in Emily's class at school) and Charley (who is 2), and my friend Darci and her daughter Hope (age 1) came over to hang out, have lunch, and let the kids play for a while. Emily and Kirsten get along very well, and played on their own pretty much the whole time. Charley has entered the terrible twos and spent the time trying to keep all the toys away from Hope, occasionally whacking her with a block when she got too close. Hope kept a very sunny attitude through most of this treatment. The grown ups did manage to visit a little bit in between refereeing, and it was nice to do something a little different, since all of our husbands are out of town. Darci is American, and Sue is technically Danish, though they came here from the UK and she speaks English with a perfect British accent. Her husband is British.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
A few house pictures
OK, so I was inspired this morning because it is beautiful and sunny (at least for now). It has been overcast and rainy the last several days, and yesterday was the worst! So I went out this morning and took some pictures of the outside of the house.
This is a view of the front of the house. You can't really see the upstairs because of the large tree, but there are 2 balconies up there. Every room on the 1st floor (upstairs) has a balcony, including the bathroom! And yes, those are crape myrtles along the right side of the walk.
This is a closer view of the front door (on the right side). The big door/window on the left is the kitchen.
This is the back of the house. You can see the garage in front and Emily's room (R), and the office (L) upstairs. The blue thing is Jeff's grill, covered with plastic.
This is the actual back door, which is to the left of the garage. With all the shutters, this place locks up like Fort Knox at night, but lets in lots of light during the day! Not that I am very worried about our security; Ferrara is a very safe city.
Now, I'd better get back to unpacking so that someday you can see the inside of the house!
This is a view of the front of the house. You can't really see the upstairs because of the large tree, but there are 2 balconies up there. Every room on the 1st floor (upstairs) has a balcony, including the bathroom! And yes, those are crape myrtles along the right side of the walk.
This is a closer view of the front door (on the right side). The big door/window on the left is the kitchen.
This is the back of the house. You can see the garage in front and Emily's room (R), and the office (L) upstairs. The blue thing is Jeff's grill, covered with plastic.
This is the actual back door, which is to the left of the garage. With all the shutters, this place locks up like Fort Knox at night, but lets in lots of light during the day! Not that I am very worried about our security; Ferrara is a very safe city.
Now, I'd better get back to unpacking so that someday you can see the inside of the house!
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
A HOUSE!
So here's the post you've all been waiting for - we've moved into a house! We moved out of the Hotel Europa on Saturday, October 25 to our new residence. It came furnished, so we were able to move in and stay before our household goods arrived.
Hmm, what to say first? First of all, I'm not posting any pictures yet, because the place is a wreck, full of boxes and junk everywhere at the moment. I am chipping away at the unpacking, but it's a pretty big job.
So, a description of the place... It is a 3 story townhouse, attached on both sides, with 210 square meters (roughly 2100 square feet) of space. The ground floor and stairs are marble, the 2nd floor (here, 1st floor) is parquet, and the top floor loft is tile. We have a kitchen, living/dining room and full bathroom on the ground floor, the master bedroom with its own ensuite bathroom (pretty rare in Italy), a second bathroom, Emily's bedroom, and an office on the 1st floor, and a loft on the 2nd floor with storage space and bedroom, den, and play areas. We have an Italian style 2 car garage (it will fit 2 cars, one behind the other), a front and back garden, and a small neighborhood park out back with some playground equipment. It is a 10 minute walk to Emily's school.
Our household goods arrived on Wednesday and Thursday, October 29 &30. We had 9 crates of stuff! We have so far managed to squeeze it all into this house that already had furniture, though there is a lot of stuff in the garage! Jeff and I moved the furniture from the master bedroom into the loft for our guest room, we are using the furniture that was in Emily's room, and the landlord's couch, our dining table and 2 of our beds are in the garage. We have heard rumors that our landlord might let us use a storage garage that he owns, but nothing definite on that.
The main issue is closet space. Italians do not have closets! There are large wardrobes in both bedrooms, and we brought the armoire from our bedroom at home, but a wardrobe is not the same as a walk-in closet! Also, there is no storage space in the bathrooms. We have a VERY small medicine cabinet in our bathroom, but there is none in either of the other bathrooms. I hope to get some narrow cabinets to put in Emily's bathroom, because there is enough space to fit them in there. I have squeezed a plastic 3 drawer cart into our bathroom, but it is tight! Currently, I have extra towels and toiletries in the cabinets in the office.
On Thursday, October 30, we received our appliances from the Army base in Vicenza. We were issued a large freezer, an American style refrigerator (Italian ones are significantly smaller), a European dryer, and 2 kitchen cabinets (there is limited cabinetry in Italian kitchens). We already had a European washer, oven, stove, and sink (we could have been issued those as well if we had needed them). I am still figuring out how to do the washer and dryer. Unfortunately, the washer's instruction book is only in Italian! A European dryer does not vent, it collects the water extracted from your clothes into a reservoir which must be emptied every cycle. We could have gotten an American one, but didn't have a place to put it where it could vent to the outside.
I will try to post at least a few pictures soon, as I get things settled. There is so much to describe, it's hard to do it in one post! Things are very different here, but also very interesting!
Hmm, what to say first? First of all, I'm not posting any pictures yet, because the place is a wreck, full of boxes and junk everywhere at the moment. I am chipping away at the unpacking, but it's a pretty big job.
So, a description of the place... It is a 3 story townhouse, attached on both sides, with 210 square meters (roughly 2100 square feet) of space. The ground floor and stairs are marble, the 2nd floor (here, 1st floor) is parquet, and the top floor loft is tile. We have a kitchen, living/dining room and full bathroom on the ground floor, the master bedroom with its own ensuite bathroom (pretty rare in Italy), a second bathroom, Emily's bedroom, and an office on the 1st floor, and a loft on the 2nd floor with storage space and bedroom, den, and play areas. We have an Italian style 2 car garage (it will fit 2 cars, one behind the other), a front and back garden, and a small neighborhood park out back with some playground equipment. It is a 10 minute walk to Emily's school.
Our household goods arrived on Wednesday and Thursday, October 29 &30. We had 9 crates of stuff! We have so far managed to squeeze it all into this house that already had furniture, though there is a lot of stuff in the garage! Jeff and I moved the furniture from the master bedroom into the loft for our guest room, we are using the furniture that was in Emily's room, and the landlord's couch, our dining table and 2 of our beds are in the garage. We have heard rumors that our landlord might let us use a storage garage that he owns, but nothing definite on that.
The main issue is closet space. Italians do not have closets! There are large wardrobes in both bedrooms, and we brought the armoire from our bedroom at home, but a wardrobe is not the same as a walk-in closet! Also, there is no storage space in the bathrooms. We have a VERY small medicine cabinet in our bathroom, but there is none in either of the other bathrooms. I hope to get some narrow cabinets to put in Emily's bathroom, because there is enough space to fit them in there. I have squeezed a plastic 3 drawer cart into our bathroom, but it is tight! Currently, I have extra towels and toiletries in the cabinets in the office.
On Thursday, October 30, we received our appliances from the Army base in Vicenza. We were issued a large freezer, an American style refrigerator (Italian ones are significantly smaller), a European dryer, and 2 kitchen cabinets (there is limited cabinetry in Italian kitchens). We already had a European washer, oven, stove, and sink (we could have been issued those as well if we had needed them). I am still figuring out how to do the washer and dryer. Unfortunately, the washer's instruction book is only in Italian! A European dryer does not vent, it collects the water extracted from your clothes into a reservoir which must be emptied every cycle. We could have gotten an American one, but didn't have a place to put it where it could vent to the outside.
I will try to post at least a few pictures soon, as I get things settled. There is so much to describe, it's hard to do it in one post! Things are very different here, but also very interesting!
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