Our Next Step

As you can imagine there has been a lot going on in the D’Ambrosi household.

1) My mom left on February 20, three days ago, Demetrio and I have been feeling the pinch. We are now both fully in charge of taking care of Veronica. She goes where we go and lives a truly Mediterranean lifestyle. We try to get her home for naps so she does not get too cranky. So far, she has proven to be very adaptable.

2) I have been extremely preoccupied with studying for my Italian driver’s license. While my mom was here, she took care of Veronica in the mornings for one to three hours while I went to the driving school. Sometimes Demetrio would go with me and wait for me there and sometimes I would take the bus to and from.

3) My DH (dear husband) has decided that enough is enough. Since September 15 (the day that the project he’s been working on with Microsoft and Fiat ended) he has been a stay-at-home daddy. Microsoft Italy was supposed to find him another position within its subsidiary but after five months they have failed to do so and they have asked him to look for position outside of Italy. They told him that they do not have a position for him; his dream of possibly living in Rome has been dashed. So the crafty DH sent his resume out and began working towards finding another job. He flew to Seattle for a round of interviews and was offered a position right away. They want him to start as soon as possible and so assigned us a relocation specialist to get us moving.

My thoughts:

I think everyone knows that my first six months of Italy was very difficult. The language barrier really alienated me from the Italians around me. Slowly though I began to meet more and more ex-pats. (Laurie being the first) I saw my social life looking up. Finally, it felt like I had found a group of people I could really trust, talk to and lean on for support when living in Italy had gotten the best of me. My social calendar was busier than most of the Italians I know.
I can say without hesitation that I am really going to miss all the new friends that I have made in Torino. I personally would like to stay for two or more years so my Italian can improve and I can possibly start a mommy and baby group. Part of me feels like a failure, our experiment to live in Italy just was not feasible.

I think its hit my husband worst of all he said to me the other day “I think I got Italy out of my system.” As he reminds me that he’s only been a tourist in Italy for the past 20 years and have never lived here. Little things frustrate him a daily basis but I think there is a bigger philosophical picture too.

I’m not sure if I’ll continue blogging on Gia-Gina in Italy. Nevertheless, I know I will keep the baby blog as Veronica daily happenings are two Important to let fall by the wayside.

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