LIFE'S BEEN HECTIC...NOTHING NEW

There was 4.2 earthquake last night in the area. I was asleep so didn't feel it but my daughter called me to ask if I had. She was closer to the epicentre. I don't even know if it was felt where I am.

I've been busting my ass to paint the house. I've got a townhouse, as I guess it would be called in the US. Three floors with a basement garage. With homes attached on both sides. It's large by Italian standards, tiny by US standards, approximately 1,722 square feet (160 m2). I finished removing all the varnish from the IKEA kitchen, sanding it, and repainting it in funky green and turquoise. I have bright red tiled walls, and by throwing in red accents around the kitchen, it works in a 1950s-esque pop art way.

I decided to lighten up the whole house. I want to have a Miami beach feel --I live in a depressing miasma of fog most of the year -- and I had previously decorated with a Texas theme.When we had the house built 6, 7 years ago, I had them paint the walls a neutral taupe, and we have one wall and column that are bare stone, so it tied in well. I had pictures and accents that reflect my Texan love.

But I realized, that with the kitchen being brighter, I needed to brighten up the rest of the area. I want to feel as if I'm on holiday when I come in from the cold and fog. So I got a pale sunny yellow for the walls, I've started painting the furniture white (cheaper than buying new, though a real pain in the ass), and I've changed the artwork to reflect scenes from the sea. I bought a frame which holds nine photos and printed out pics of us at the sea, either surfing or playing, keeping the colors in blues and sunny (or sandy) yellow.

I've done the walls from the living room, up the stairs, in the "hallway" and up the other stairs to the "mansarda", or livable attic.

Now, up there I'm going to do a pale-pale sky blue on the walls and in between the rafters. There are good beams and then there are some real shit pieces of wood that make up the main ceiling. This area wasn't originally meant to be a living space, so the materials aren't the best quality,except the main beams. So, before I paint, I need to fill any spaces between the planks. I'm stuffing the larger ones with rolled up newspaper, and putting stucco in all of the gaps, even over the newspaper. I hope it will also help retain heat in the winter and keep it cooler in the summer. The temp difference up there is noticeable, and that's where I sleep.

So, this is what I'm doing, other than the other 1 million things I usually do as a "single" mom.

A friend on Facebook told me today that I should start an all female painting company here. She must live in la-la land because she's American and lives here in Italy, too, with her Italian husband. She should know better. Reasons why this is an impossibility:

1. I'd NEVER find another woman who would do the work. It's hard and messy, and they'd break a nail.
2. If I found a team, no one, and I mean NO ONE, would hire women to paint their home. Not even another woman.
3. Any other painters in the area would make it a point to humiliate me, ruin me, etc. Not only because it would be competition business-wise, but because deep down, Italian men are scared of women.
4.Opening a business of any kind in Italy is next to impossible with all the red tape (unless you're Chinese, and speak no Italian, then no problem [I'll get to THAT on another day])
5. Finally, I'm 41 frikking years old. I do not want to have a baby. And owning a business is the same as having a baby. You're tied down until it grows enough to be left in the hands of someone competent, and usually competent people are hard to find, especially when thinking about leaving your "baby".

So, in the meantime, I'll just work on my own home. I need to sell this place!

Ciao...well FUCK. Just had a small earthquake. Seriously. This one, yep, felt it. Weird sensation, really. Thought my stomach was rumbling at first, then it got stronger LOL

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX ovvero PENSANDO FUORI DAGLI SCHEMI

In my years here I've noticed MANY things, good and bad, to compare to life in other countries. I claim to be seeing this country from the point of view of a Texan, but I actually lived all over the world as a child due to my family's line of work.

I've also lived in other US states as an adult, though not for as long as I lived in Texas. So, I guess I'm not TECHNICALLY a Texan, though I'll claim it.

Today I had to explain to my 9 year old on the way to school why there are no lockers, shelves or cubbies in Italian schools. It's easy to just say "E' così, e basta," meaning, more or less, "That's life, drop it." But I WANT her to see that life doesn't always come with one perspective, so I tried to explain the "seeing/thinking outside of the box" idea to her.

I explained that many people here find comfort in their boxes--in their four walls and floor and ceiling--and that to take a peek outside would scare them. Anything new, modern or different can be scary, even if it is proven to be useful, easy, safer and more economical. But there is no real sense of enterprise here, no need for risk or personal challenge, so it's easier to stay in the box and peek out, all the while complaining that life isn't as good as you wish.

It is a very sad situation, and I don't know how many other countries are afflicted with this mentality, but it could cause the ruin of a nation. It's 2012, and time to roll with the changes. It's not time to put a fast food restaurant on every corner, or to wear pajamas and bunny slippers to the mall. It's not time to have ten credit cards for every family and wrack up debt buying stuff you don't need with money you don't have. These are not ideals that need to be taken out of America. Keep that shit there. I understand.

But Italia needs to OPEN UP mentally and put itself back in the running with other developed countries.

Open up the box and get out.

The beginning of the Italian adventure...yee-haw.

This blog is just about observations I've made in the last 14 years since I moved here. "Here" is in the southern part of the province of Brescia, outside of a small town called Montichiari. I came from San Antonio, Texas, which I consider home.

I came here because I fell in love with an Italian cutie. Two years younger than me, but he seemed so much more mature (Ha.Ha.) I had recently divorced my first husband and was living with my parents with my 2 year old daughter as I tried to finish university and work.


My idea of fleeing that life in Texas (and at the time, San Antonio seemed like the last place I wanted to be) was brought to realization when Mr. V. invited me to come live with him and bring my little girl. It was not a decision made lightly on his part. I was ready immediately.

Blah, blah, blah. I got here after visiting once without my daughter and once with her. We ended up in an apartment in the center of the city of Brescia, in the center-north of the country, near Lake Garda. The area was daunting. I'd never lived in a real city before, where parking was impossible to find, where gypsies were on the street, where I had to buy drinking water by the 6-pack in 2 liter bottles and carry home. Along with the other groceries.


I also had to enroll my daughter in a preschool, which is mandatory for kids from 3 to 5. No one spoke English, which was more a problem for me than for her. She was five and picked it up quickly.

Her school (scuola materna). The teachers and other parents were complete assholes to me, from January to June. No one ever tried to say hello or ask if I needed help. BRESCIANI.

Mr V., still just my boyfriend at the time, worked a job that took him away a lot. It seems that he was gone for four months out of that first year I was here. I had to learn the language quickly, and even though I had studied two courses of basics at uni in Texas, saying "Ciao" just isn't enough. I had to learn that to pay bills you go to the post office. There is not the practice of writing checks as is so common in the US. To buy Tylenol (paracetomol) or cough syrup, instead of going to the grocery store, you must go to the pharmacy (chemist's) and ask for it. I have to say, in these 14 years, at least that has changed a little. You still have to ask for it, but at least the chemist is IN the grocery store LOL.

So, at first it was little changes. Little annoying changes. I remember meeting a British woman who had been here for 25 years. She grabbed me by the shoulders and with a wild look in her eyes said "GO HOME! Just pack you bags and turn around. No man, no love, nothing is worth this hell." Wow. I though she was crazy.

Now I'm the crazy woman. I don't tell young women to go home. A person will do what he or she thinks is right at the time, but I pity them. I can only hope the future in Italia is going to get a bit better and that people here change. Because it's up to the Italians to stop this ridiculous mess of a country, it's up to them to stop complaining and blaming and it's up to them to change.

In the meantime, I'm going to take the piss outta this country as much as I can!

Taco Cabana on Pat Booker Road, Universal City, San Antonio outskirts...my fave restaurant for Tex-Mex. Universal City is attached to San Antonio, has a population of about 15,000 (has the USAF base of Randolph so people come and go continually). It has one main street (Pat Booker) and most of the area off the main street is residential, with private homes and many apartment complexes.

This is the street I came from....in the Sunrise Canyon subdivision. A lot better parking opportunities!

This is the street we moved to, Via Mantova, in a furnished apartment...culture shock??? No parking!

Overview of the city of Brescia, population just under 200,000, including all outlying towns in the provincial area.