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Archive for the ‘Living in Italy’ Category

A Lame Duck American

Posted in Americans Abroad, Expat in Italy, Italy, Living abroad, Living in Italy, Orvieto, Travel, tagged on August 14, 2012| 10 Comments »

There’s a mind-set you adopt when you’re about to move far, far away.  You become a short-timer drawing an arbitrary line in the sand – a sort of invisible cut-off date after which you won’t be forming any new relationships.  Now when I meet someone I’m tempted to say, “Hi, my name is Toni and you can’t get attached to me.”  I’ve put into place a “friend moratorium” because I just can’t like any more people – it hurts too much to leave them.

A perfect example is Reggie. I met her just under the wire at a Starbucks on Union Street about a month ago.  She is hysterically funny, super smart and very cool. Now I’m going to miss her, damn it! 

When it rains, it pours…

Wouldn’t you know it?  The other day on the ferry a handsome man smiled at me PAST THE DEADLINE!  

I was thinking…perhaps some rules are meant to be broken?

by Toni DeBella

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WANTED IN ROME

Posted in Expat in Italy, Italy, Living in Italy, Orvieto, Rome, Travel, Umbria, tagged , , , , , , , on July 16, 2012| 23 Comments »

LOOKING FOR WORK IN ITALY:

Background and Education:

University Bachelor of Science Degree in Human Performance (Physical Education – don’t get any funny ideas), Graduate Degree from School of Hard Knocks.

 

Prior Work Experience:

Freelance Legal/Executive Administrative Assistant (yeah, Secretary), Single Mom (yes, it’s a “real” job), Mural/Faux Finishing business owner since 1991, Government Affairs Regulatory Assistant (really), Commercial/Television Actress (yes, really).

 

Recent Work Experience:

Blogger, Freelance Travel Writer, Copywriter, Editor (knows the difference between favorite and favourite), TEFL Certified English Teacher (who isn’t?), Personal Assistant, Olive Oil Sales Rep, Relocation Coordinator, Vacation Concierge, Video Travel Host, and International Pet Escort.

 

Hobbies and Interests:

Italy.  Available Immediately.

by Toni DeBella

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Writer’s Block:

Posted in Culture, Expat in Italy, Italy, Living in Italy, Orvieto, Travel, writing, tagged , , , , , on June 24, 2012| 19 Comments »

Dictionary.com defines writer’s block as follows:

“a usually temporary condition in which a writer finds it impossible to proceed with the writing of a novel, play, or other work.”

Bingo!

Now that I have a diagnosis and understand the symptoms, I’m ready to find a cure.

This paralyzing syndrome, I’ve discovered, is quite common among those who write on a regular basis. There are different schools of thought on what brings about writer’s block in the first place – the most common seems to be that writer’s block is a vicious cycle generated from a fear that your work might not be good enough, followed by anxiety, which in turn stops the flow. It could be caused by a lack of inspiration or maybe you don’t have enough interesting material to write about.

Whatever the cause, writer’s block steps on your creativity hose, preventing ideas and coherent thoughts from making it onto the page. An acute ailment, this disorder must be eradicated before it becomes a chronic condition. If you’re determined to snuff out this insidious and confidence-blowing virus once and for all, here are some suggestions from writers who’ve had “the block” and overcame it:

#1: Take a break. Walk away from the project and do something fun.

#2: Sit down and type ten of the worst pages you’ve ever  written.

#3: Turn off your computer screen and write as fast as you can. Edit later.

#4: Give your ideas time to form and try writing about a variety of different things.

#5: Seek therapy.

#6: Make a schedule and stick to it. Write everyday.

#7: Eat chocolate and make yourself a nice cup of tea.

#8: Have a change of scenery.

#9: Be authentic in your writing: if it’s not working it may be a “lie”. 

#10: Go to Italy immediately for inspiration!

Thanks to fellow expat writers Debbie Oakes, Barbara Zaragoza, Giuliana Sica, Rhonda Walker, Mark Leslie and Lisa Chiodo for their contributions to this post – I couldn’t have done it without you.  “Write on”!

by Toni DeBella

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Writing a Blog about Italy: Where Strangers are Friends You Haven’t Met Yet.

Posted in Expat in Italy, Italy, Living in Italy, Orvieto, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on June 15, 2012| 25 Comments »

Friends come in all shapes and sizes. Some live around the corner, some across an ocean. Sometimes your buddy-o-meter goes off and you get a certain vibe about someone that defies proximity – a unique kindred connection that isn’t a function of time or space.

She was the very first person to read and comment on this blog just over a year ago. We became Facebook friends. She had an irreverent sense of humor, coincidently also has a son named Andrew and loves Italy. She’s a fantastic cook. I’m a fantastic eater. We say things like “Ciao cugina” (Hi cousin) and banter on the computer like childhood friends.

We finally had our first meeting in North Beach last night. Dinner, chit-chatting (we even let her husband get a word in edgewise, from time to time). We shared chilled shot glasses of her homemade Limoncello and the waiters joined us for an after-dinner toast. How did I think the evening went? Let’s just say a visit with me in Orvieto is in the works.

I never expected this blog to be such a portal for funneling wonderful and dynamic people into my life. I’ve been fortunate to have a network of warm and supportive cohorts introduced to me through this medium.  They consist of a mixture of “real-time” and “web-based” friends, but friends nontheless. Among the Hall of Famers: a very “accommodating” family of five; a gal destined for Umbria; a mad renovating mommy; a floating foodie, a lake dweller, a stage fright-prone rock star; and a Chianti-drinking-but-not-while-driving adventurer.

That little “Like” button has “virtually” changed my life.

Check them out: 

The Beehive Hotel & Cafe and Cross-Pollinate

Renovating Italy

Living & Working a Dream Life in Europe

Destination Umbria

An Italophile

Follow Your Nose

by Toni DeBella

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The Golden Gate Bridge: A Diamond Anniversary!

Posted in Expat in Italy, Living in Italy, Orvieto, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 26, 2012| 5 Comments »

“My arms are flung across the deep,

Into the clouds my towers soar,

And where the waters never sleep,

I guard the California shore.”

– Written by Joseph P. Strauss, Chief Engineer, Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District, 1937

May 27, 2012 marks the 75th anniversary of the most famous and recognizable span in the world: The Golden Gate Bridge!  Like The Eiffel Tower, The Coliseum, The Great Wall of China and Big Ben, no caption is required on this postcard – the image speaks for itself, it says “San Francisco, California, U.S.A.”

The Golden Gate Bridge is named for the strait it traverses and not, as many people believe, for its color.  The bridge isn’t gold but painted International Orange – a color that sets it apart from its magnificent surroundings while also enhancing the visibility for ships passing through the gate in and out of San Francisco’s harbor.  Just three miles long, the bridge conveniently connects urban with nature, leading the way to the wonders of the Marin Headlands. It’s estimated that nine million visitors come to walk across this bridge every year.   Really? Is that all?

Living just a few miles down the road from the bridge, I have the pleasure of traveling across it weekly.  I have to say that I never ever get tired of it – after so many years of driving over this glittering, harp-like structure, it still gives me a thrill! I dig Joseph B. Strauss’ art deco architecture, the dramatic view of the Pacific Ocean, the panorama of the City’s skyline, and all those tiny little sailboats dotting the waters of the windy bay.

You may be asking yourself, “What does the Golden Gate Bridge have to do with Italy”?  Absolutely nothing, but I felt I had to take a moment to post a tribute to my “other” hometown’s “Il Pointe” and say Auguri!

Happy 75th Birthday, Golden Gate Bridge! I have to say, you don’t look a day over 50!

by Toni DeBella

l’Estate a San Francsico, Al Saltapicchio, Orvieto

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Termini Station, Rome 2012

Posted in Expat in Italy, Italy, Living in Italy, Orvieto, Rome, Travel, tagged , , , , , , on May 13, 2012| 21 Comments »

Proper Bathroom Etiquette

I put my euro into the slot at the automatic gate and a high-pitched alarm sounded. The gate wouldn’t open so I started fiddling with the coin return button in an attempt to make the buzzing stop!  Fifteen seconds of that ear-piercing noise brought out the bathroom attendant who shouted at me in Italian to move my bag. “Can’t you see that your suitcase is too close to the gate and that’s what’s causing the commotion?” he growled at me menacingly.

Big Fat Chicken

I’ve never been very good at confrontations; I get really nervous in tense situations, which usually renders me completely inarticulate. If someone is aggressive or mean to me I dummy-up, only to think of a pithy comeback later when it’s too late.

Parlo Italiano un po’

But something strange happens when I speak Italian: my personality changes and my communications become more direct and my tone tougher. Perhaps because my vocabulary is limited I don’t mince words. What finally comes out of my mouth is basic and instinctual. In Italian, I don’t pull any punches.

The change has come…

Without missing a beat or hesitating one millisecond, it came over me — a reaction as natural and spontaneous as I’ve ever had. “Eh, no, non ho capito perche’ il problema non e’ ovvio, SCUSA!” I yelled back at the attendant, adding the appropriate hand gestures for greater effect.  He backed off. Maybe this place is rubbing off on me?

by Toni DeBella

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Why I Write About Italy

Posted in Expat in Italy, Italy, Living in Italy, Orvieto, Travel, tagged , , , , on May 8, 2012| 15 Comments »

I write about Italy because…

…the country of Italy is jam-packed with hundreds upon hundreds of small, intimate and profound stories.  Material and subjects fall into my lap – I don’t even have to look for them, they just appear at my doorstep.  What can I do? They are screaming to be written about…and I am a “wannabe” travel writer.

…”old” is interesting to me and so is “different”.

…I am uncontrollably compelled to chronicle my experiences and spew forth my points of view about what I love (and sometimes hate) about this country.  It’s a complicated relationship we have, Italy and me, and I need to talk about it.

…I am just arrogant and self-absorbed enough to believe that everyone within earshot or sitting at a computer wants to hear or read what I have to say.  I am the self-appointed, unofficial Ambassador of Orvieto, Umbria, and all parts in between and beyond.  I’ll write about Italy if I think you’ll read it.

I write about Italy because I can.

 

by Toni DeBella

Italy Roundtable’s One-Year Anniversary Invitation to Bloggers:

 “As we’re preparing for our one-year anniversary of the formation of the Italy Roundtable, we’d like you to pull up a chair (so to speak)! We invite you to choose one of the topics we’ve blogged about in the past year and write a post about it. We’ll highlight some of our favorites in our own Roundtable posts next month.” 

ArtTrav, At Home in Tuscany, Brigolante, Italofile, & WhyGo Italy

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Isn’t Life Strange?

Posted in Expat in Italy, Italy, Living in Italy, Orvieto, Travel, tagged , , , , , on May 5, 2012| 9 Comments »

I was having a chat with a friend today who was in a bit of a quandary.  He’d been offered an incredible opportunity – the kind of thing that comes around once in a lifetime.  I know that in his heart he’d really like to accept the offer, but just the thought of it made him squirm in his chair.  He was definitely contemplating something outside the box – the very reason he should “go for it”…easy for me to say.

In the film A League of Their Own, Tom Hanks, speaking about the game of baseball said, “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it.  The hard is what makes it great.” 

Stepping out of ones comfort zone and putting it all on the line is never easy. But taking on something that, in your wildest dreams you couldn’t imagine doing, and then doing it…that’s what makes life worth living, isn’t it?

Isn’t life strange

A turn of the page

A book without light

Unless with love we write;

To throw it away

To lose just a day

The quicksand of time

You know it makes me want to cry.

“Isn’t Life Strange?” by the Moody Blues

Lyrics by J. Lodge

by Toni DeBella

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Living in Italy: A Part Time Life In Between

Posted in Expat in Italy, Living in Italy, Orvieto, Travel, tagged , , , , , , on April 30, 2012| 12 Comments »

"Orvieto Sunset"

I have an Italian passport, a codice fiscale and my city library card.  I received the “friend-of-a-friend” discount on my Roman root canal and get the locals’ price for my morning caffe latte.  I’ve accumulated two tablecloths, four plug adapters, six wooden hangers, a set of espresso cups, a milk foamer, a bathmat and a thicker skin.

Going back and forth, arriving and departing, being here and then there makes my head spin!  My months in Italy have passed at lightening speed; the countdown has begun and the melancholy is setting in.  There is just over one week until I must return to my American “base camp”.  I get confused about which place I can call home: San Francisco or Orvieto?

I’m often asked if I am living la dolce vita? Stereotypes and dopey clichés are the stuff of Hollywood films, tour companies and real estate agencies – images perpetuated to sell the fantasy.  No, I don’t live either Under the Tuscan Sun or in The Dark Heart of Italy.  Honestly, this kooky existence, even with its sometimes harsh reality, beats the Eat, Pray, Love version of romanticized Italy, hands down.

The other day I overheard one women whisper to another as they passed me on the street, “There’s that americana”.  It sent me flashing back to my preteen, middle school days for a moment and then, suddenly, a satisfied smile came over my face because being the topic of town gossip, I decided, is much preferable to being invisible.

I know that I am still an outsider looking in, an invested observer circling around the perimeter of Italian life.  I quite like the view from over here…for now.  Sometimes you have to let things unfold at their own pace and in their own time.  I’d rather stay in Italy, but I must go back.  I cling to the hope that one day il destino will throw me the proverbial bone and I won’t have to leave.  Until that time comes, I will make like a bad penny and just keep turning up!

by Toni DeBella

“Orvieto Sunset” and the other images of Italy were contributed by Patrick Delaney, a fellow expat from Dublin, Ireland in the process of building a house in nearby Montecchio. Umbria.  Patrick, an architect, has been painting in oils for ten years.  He believes good paintings are about light and shade and atmosphere.  His favorite artist is Caravaggio – he only wishes he could paint like him.  (But mind you, he gets into as much trouble!)  For more information about Patrick’s work, you can contact him at delaneypm@eircom.net.

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Brian’s “Ape”

Posted in Expat in Italy, Italy, Living abroad, Living in Italy, Orvieto, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 6, 2012| 14 Comments »

I don’t know why, but the sight of my friend Brian “putting” about Orvieto in his 2000 forest green Piaggio Ape makes me smile.  Perhaps it’s because he’s such a distinguished and elegant Englishman that the visual of him in that little Italian pickup truck (“ape” means “bee”) creates a contrasting effect – as if one is looking at an enigma.  But once you get to know Brian you’ll discover the many facets of his personality: father, grandfather, friend, soul mate to the lovely Antonella, and an adventuresome, rugged, country-boy-at-heart hobby farmer.

I got to wondering about how Brian happened to land in Italy, so on one of our morning jaunts around the Rupe I asked him, and he graciously agreed to spin his wonderful tale of two teenage boys, a yellow and grey 150 LD Lambretta scooter and 4,000 kilometers of roads that began the dream to live in Italy.

Just sixteen and eighteen years of age respectively, he and his friend Michael Williams set out from Rotherham, England for Italian parts unknown.  It was 1957 (a very good year) – a decade post-World War II when Italy was a much different country than it is today.  He remembers it as a simple and innocent time.  

Brian  doesn’t recall the girl in the photo’s name, only that “she didn’t fancy me.”

The exchange rate to lire was good, the girls were pretty and exotic, and the boys’ youthful exuberance and open hearts bought them life lessons you couldn’t pay a million euros for today.  Per esempio, a collision with the back of a tractor ended amicably with a “wine” summit on the tractor owner’s portico.  Both parties agreed to assume equal fault in the matter with just a gentleman’s handshake, a “grazie” and a “ciao”. 

As with most journeys, this one came to an end and Brian dutifully returned to England to join the family’s tile business.  When it came time for a trade course, his father sent him off to Malmö, Sweden – knowing full well the risk of sending him to the training in Modena, Italy – Brian might never have returned!

Enjoying a visit with the grandchildren

Brian worked hard and raised his family, venturing back to Italy whenever he could.  With his children grown and his tile business sold, he retired at the young age of 51 and made a “bee” line straight for Italy where he has now lived for 21 years…and counting. 

Although today he drives around on three wheels instead of two, I think it would be safe to say that life in Italy is very sweet for Brian and his little Ape. 

by Toni DeBella

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