Getting my feet wet

A lot of people have been asking what I'm doing in Italy and how it's been going. It's a hard question because moving to another country is nothing like moving to another state and the way to do something in one country, with of all its comforts and ease of living, is quite different in another.

For example, for the month of August, Italians go away on holiday (i.e. vacation), usually to the beach. So here in Collegno (the part of Torino where I am living), there is hardly anyone around. This weekend should begin the mass migration, but life as it is normally will not be until Sept 7th or so. What this means for me is that if a nearby shop is open at all, it will close sometime after lunch. I can see the mail mounting high in most of my neighbors' mailboxes. I haven't seen a soul in the building. I pass very few people on the street... and yet I live on one of the main streets outside of downtown...

Well, the exception to the store closings in August are the bigger malls and stores which take about an hour or more to get to. Sometimes, like when we went to IKEA, we had to take THREE different buses. And the wait for the bus was MUCH longer than the actual ride.

And factor in the fact that other than IKEA, I can't really research prices online. I have to actually go to Carrefour and look at prices there. Then OBI across the way to compare. Then make it out to Bricofer and wherever else. All because I don't want to spend an arm and a leg for something I can get much cheaper somewhere else or settle for something ugly when there's something comparable and pretty somewhere else. And I don't know the reputation of the brands and the stores to really know things like we know our own stores and brands.

And then theres the paperwork that needs to get done, like getting my tax code so that I can set up the electricity and sign up for discount cards. Getting my permission to stay so I don't have to leave when my visa runs out next August. And getting internet and phone at my apartment so I can continue communicating with the outside world once I move out of my team leader's place.

Oh, and jet lag which wipes me out my mid-day so that I couldn't get so many things done as on my check-list...

So here's my list of things that count as "getting my feet wet" or establishing myself in Italy. It is not exhaustive and it's in no particular order but the firing sequence that went off in my head as I typed.

(x) Get over jet-lag - not sure: Aug 27/28??
(x) Apply for tax code - Aug 21
(x) Apply for permission to stay - Aug 24/Sept 16
(x) Call to set up electricity in apartment - Aug 24
(x) Get electricity in apartment - Oct 1
(x) Set up phone services - Sept 17, waiting for them to start
(x) Unpack - mid-Oct
(x) People return to their normal lives in Italy
(x) Clean apartment - Aug 22
(x) Spackle & sand apartment Aug 25 & 28
(x) Tape up baseboards and doors for painting - Aug 28 & 30?
(x) Prime walls - step 1: adhesive paint step 2: prime white
() Paint
() Make friends - in progress
() Meet neighbors -in progress
() Learn bus routes
() Get a map in my head of the city
(x) Check out cultural center in Collegno
() Visit college campus in the city
() Team's arrival (!!!!)
() Be fully supported
() Recover the language that I've forgotten
() Learn more Italian
() Move out of my team leaders' place (prereq: a bed, closet & kitchen) - have everything but kitchen & electricity !

Rebels & Yankees

The tension and stereotypes between the South and Northerners actually exists. Think of the differences between Mississippi and Massachusetts. It's real. Part of it has to do with warm and cold climate cultures. The difference between a Latin community and a German. One is even-oriented, the other time-oriented. Another difference is shame vs guilt. Group versus individual. Etc.

In Italy this cultural distinction between north and south also exists. The south is more agricultural, the north, industrial. Southerners are known to be more friendly and hospitable. Northerns tend to be more impatient and curt.

I spent six weeks in Salerno, south of Naples, which is in southern Italy and found the people to be super friendly and helpful, patient and kind. I thought southern Italy was where I wanted to be. It was impossible not to find help or not to make friends, even with completely different-minded people.

But it's the north that is more spiritually desolate and parched without the gospel. So, to the north I came. And though I've only been here a week and there is hardly anyone here in the country, I have found my share of rude, rude people.

First, there was a lady at the post office when I went to apply for my permesso who was just plain cranky. She was short with me and where I had left things blank (like signing and dating or the page numbers) on purpose to make it official or to make sure it was correct, she would tell me "you have not finished!" "this is not complete!" Instead of just saying, "could you sign and date this?" or "oh, you left this part out." Social niceties are not very common around here. There was another lady that same day huffing and puffing and slamming things because it was a little warm in the building. It was far from intolerable.

But worst of all was at the small paint shop we entered. I needed to buy spackle to repair the holes in the walls the construction workers left (yes, brand new place, needing spackle!). We were still trying to figure out the paint system (they dilute their paint and there isn't such thing as 'primer' per se). Team leader Paul and I were inspecting some tubs of paint and trying to decipher the language. The handle was on the front side of the paint, so I moved it to the back and let it drop.

BAD IDEA!!!

The handle hit a rail behind it which was not screwed in properly and VERY flimsy. And on top of the unstable railing was propped up a canvas with a layer of paint. This was on the window display where below were other painted knickknacks. So the handle that I moved hit the flimsy gate which wobbled and knocked down the canvas which proceeded to make the BIGGEST clatter known to mankind. And of course, the whole store went dead silent... except for the lady owner who came over to me YELLING and proceeded to CHEW ME OUT in Italian. I didn't understand anything she said expect for something about it being "bad for business." This seemed to last for eternity and I was COMPLETELY mortified! I turned bright red and got hot and sweaty... but it wasn't even my fault!

I was looking to purchase merchandise from her and bring business. It wasn't my fault the paint was right up against the gate that wasn't screwed in. It wasn't my idea to place a canvas on an unstable flat surface! And then decorate the floor below it! I was sooooooo upset! And my look of embarrassment was probably confused with guilt. And I did feel bad, but really, it wasn't my fault!

I left there very perturbed, hoping it would fall again and she would see that she had no right to chew me out and feel all bad about yelling at a foreigner.

But as I got to thinking - Jesus was falsely accused! And He didn't say a word! I would have given her a peace of my mind, had I been able. But all I was able to say was a sheepish "scusa, scusa..."

The people here don't know the joy that Jesus gives. They have never experienced His love. They have no idea what peace from above would even feel like. These people can only rely on themselves and their business to bring them what they are looking for. When really, the Answer to all their wants and needs is in Christ.

Paul wants to go back to that store and befriend her and her husband - she will surely remember him (she proceeded later on to reprimand his wife, Beth, for looking around)! Maybe it wouldn't be the best for me to poke my head around there just yet, but who knows what may come of this. It's these unforgettable moments that sometimes make the greatest impact... Maybe she'd been having a bad few days and she just let it ALL out on me. Better me than someone who could snap back at her. Someone who can't remind her of all the nasty things she said. I was her best audience to lose it on.

So I trust that God is doing something bigger than me. That He is preparing hearts and making every move so perfect. And I've got a tough crowd up against the message - but I also have a God in whose hand is every heart!