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Italy: No reply from real estate agents:
I suggest posting here about what area you were interested in purchasing in... that way maybe someone who knows the area can give your contact info personally to a reputable english- speaking agent. I could help you out in the Vasto, Abruzzo area, for instance... I am from the US and have lived here for years. A good friend of mine is a reputable real estate agent so I could ask them to send you some info based on what you are looking for.
Italy: Masonic Lodge:
Hi, I was sorting through old emails and saw this... long shot after all this time, but if you're still looking for info I can hook you up with local masons. Can you message me in private?
Italy: new to Italy:
Terry, Abruzzo is pretty disorganized for foreigners... no street signs, no bus route maps, no bus schedules that make sense...
and of course Italians are very very silent about taxes, as so many of them are evading taxes in one way or another.
Anyway, look up this group on facebook: pink italy
ask to join and we can be in touch if you have questions.
rachel
Italy: Am I Crazy?:
Just because there are a lot of english teachers here doesn't mean that you won't find work. Private schools value a teacher who is trustworthy and long-term. Private lessons (under the table) still abound as well. Working in a school, your pay will always be low. Working privately your pay will always be inconsistent because hosts of Italians start lessons and then change their minds half way through. That said, my opinion on "la dolce vita" is this (I am American by the way): Italy has always been romantically chaotic but lately (in the past 5 years) with the financial crisis, the government cracking down on fiscal evasion, and the hoards of immigrants without jobs, it has become just chaotic and no longer so romantic. Crime is on the rise and a lot more "crazies" are coming out of the cracks. Now, coming from the USA, the crazies might not bother you because we all know how many people have gone off the deep end in america. What strikes me is that Italy is quickly headed in that direction. So if you choose a small Italian town in the hills or near the beach where you have more to life than hustle and bustle then maybe you can still get a enjoy a bit of "la dolce vita". If you choose Rome, you might at times just feel like you're living in another kind of America but without the order, without the justice and without the good salary. That's my thought!
Italy: Senior Discounts??:
depending on what town you're in, seniors in Italy aren't known for giving a lot of business to restaurants :) they are generally picky and prefer home cooking!
anyway, there are senior discounts at many supermarkets and social events
Italy: Old toys:
you could try a barter site like zerorelativo.it
on that site, you can exchange things for other stuff you'd like. This works really well if you're in a big city where you can meet someone for the exchange.
There's also an online consignment shop for kids stuff: http://www.babybazar.it/
Italy: vasto rentals:
Vasto...
depends on what type of rental you are looking for.
here are some websites where you can start your search:
eurekasa.it
tecnocasa.it
Italy: Feeling lost in Italy:
Hi -
I think the best way to learn a language (i say this from experience) is to attend 6 hours of language classes per day for at least 30 days, in a full-immersion situation (the teacher speaks only the language he is explaining). This may sound extreme, but it is the only way that you will get your head into the language. You will get your accent worked on, you will learn enough basic grammar to carry on most kinds of conversations.
After this type of course, provided that you are living in a situation where you are forced to USE WHAT YOU LEARNED every single day as you leave the classroom, you will probably still struggle to understand everything on the news or in the newspaper (they use very elaborate language that is not commonly spoken), you will probably still struggle to understand conversations in dialect, and you will probably not understand everything your doctor says.
BUT you will probably feel a lot better about your daily interactions with your surroundings.
If you can't afford that kind of course, you should hire a private tutor who will teach you some grammar and then correct your translations. Translate a new document or article every single day and have the tutor correct it and explain all of the corrections. Watch ITALIAN movies with English subtitles. Watch them over and over and over again until you understand every single word they said. Then take out the subtitles and watch them again.
Like Carmine said: "carry a notebook around and focus, be like a doctor and
write down words phrases"
Write down the translation of every word/phrase and draw pictures, make associations for yourself that will make learning easier.
Italian is a pretty scientific/mathematical language to learn. It's different from English because most words in Italian can be constructed in the same exact way (except for the exceptions). Hardly anything is random in this language. The pronunciation is pretty self explanatory - except for the occasional word that has maintained the latin/pronunciation.
Ask everyone to please correct you when you make mistakes. Many times, Italians will try to be kind to us foreigners and just "understand" our incorrect italian. But when you're trying to learn, it's more useful if they correct you. So, ask certain people around you to take it upon themselves to correct your mistakes. The more mistakes you make, the more you will learn!
PS I would stay away from newspapers, "il telegiornale", and novels to start with. they can be very discouraging!
i wish you luck :)
Rachel
Italy: Buon Anno! How'd you celebrate in Italia?:
Friends and our kids (kids change the face of fun... it's not so much a party, as an evening daycare with dinner)... dinner was good: local salami, ventricina, mozzarella from Venafro, marinated olives, bruschetta, pasta (tonnarelli all'uovo) with a smoked-salmon and vodka cream sauce, a rib-eye steak, lentils and sausage, panettone, pandoro, excellent Cabernet Sauvignon produced in the perfect microclimate located in Abruzzo, and spumante at midnight. All this took place on top of a tiny hill at 700 mt. a.s.l. in a village called Carunchio, at Palazzo Tour D'Eau.
The only new years traditions I know about around these parts is to eat lentils, as they represent coins, i.e., wealth in the new year, and some odd pork thing called cotechino, which seems to be a processed and machine-shaped version of a pig's leg/foot, which represents something else (maybe abundance?) for the new year. I think I've heard of people tossing old things out the window in other parts of the country. Maybe Naples? Can't remember.
Italy: FYI amazon.it:
yes, you read correctly! amazon.it is alive!
they are not as well organized or well-furnished (e.g., you can't search for toys by age group) as amazon.com or amazon.co.uk, but with some user support i hope they will flourish!
they even sell a nice selection of books in english!
very exciting!
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