I think you've already heard about parts 1 and 2, so now for parts 3 and 4. Yesterday morning, we met in the Campo to go to the police station for fingerprints. Ok, fine, whatever, right? Well...we did that, got a piece of paper from them...and then had to go to another police station to do that again! Yes, we marched from one police station to the next to get our fingerprints taken twice. I felt like a criminal. I think what put me over the top was that they did palm prints at the second location too. What do they think I'm going to do, pick something up with my palms and subtly leave a store with it? It's fine. It was just another experience with Italian bureaucracy. Even though my Italian is minimal at best, I think I'm still getting a pretty good feel for how it works....you have to jump through a lot of hoops.
Lucky, we have amazing RA's who are here to help us.
The part where this story gets mildly interesting, is where I turn the topic of discussion from the actual permit to stay, to talking about umbrellas.
Bear with me.
So (shockingly), it was raining yesterday morning when this all went down. We all had our umbrellas up, but mine was a super cheap one that I had gotten on a whim at the beginning on another, yes, rainy day. The wind was strong...and the umbrella died. It was sad.
But...
it did give me an opportunity to buy a new one. I know. So exciting. It is though...look at how cute that is. (Also, bonus shot of the apartment building.)
Ok, not really, but what I did enjoy was the little conversation I had with the guy who sold it to me. There's a little (mostly) outdoor shop right off the Campo that I walk past literally every single day, but I had never really stopped to look or talk to the man who works there. But I did see that he had umbrellas, and it was raining, and mine broke, so I stopped.
"Quante costa?" (How much?)
"This is five, this is eight..."
"Parli Italiano! Voglio imparare." (Speak Italian! I want to learn.)
"Parli Italiano! Voglio imparare." (Speak Italian! I want to learn.)
Sometimes it's a little bit frustrating when people speak to me in English. It's a reminder how terrible my Italian is, but I'm working on it. Normally I wouldn't say anything, but he seemed friendly. And, it sparked a fun little conversation about which one to buy, how I'm a student here, about learning Italian etc.
We used a fun combination of English and Italian and he corrected my grammar every sentence so that I could learn. I think one of my most used phrases is: "Come si dice ____?" (how do you say____?) It comes in quite handy. I'll learn a new word, and probably forget it 10 minutes later, but it's the use and the repetition that is helping me learn.
I'd say overall, it was a successful interaction. Plus, I got a groovy new umbrella out of the deal. Don't think too much about my use of the word groovy. I don't know where it came from. I don't think I've ever used that word before...ever.
Anyway, I also have a few more pictures that I can post. I'm trying to balance the word to picture ratio. Lemme know how I'm doing :)
I took these pictures when I was out for my run. Really, I'm not very fast so I have to stop sometimes to walk anyways, and well...look at the pretties! The second one is at the very end of the run, after I've come pack into the city. I just liked it.
Those aren't my clothes, but this is a common sighting here in Siena. There are washing machines (although they take about two hours to run) but there aren't dryers. Everyone hangs their clothes out in various places. They can get very creative. Also, in my apartment, there are often socks, shirts, etc. perched on the heaters. It works very well!
And lastly, this is my door. The doors in Italy are just so much nicer than the doors in America. It did take me a couple of days to figure out how to get inside but I have now learned all the quirks of the lock and now I'm a master.
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