Vagabonds No More

 

As you may know, after a long period of traveling and research, we made the decision to make Capo D'Orlando our home. Making that a reality has taken a lot of time, learning, and patience. We've been fortunate to have so many Orlandini be kind and helpful as we worked our way through the process - it takes a village to make a couple of Americans Sicilians! I also feel fortunate for the moral support of my cousin Gerlyn, who happened to be visiting while we were beginning this process, and who has been a great cheerleader and support. 

So, over the past months, since October, we've been busy establishing residency, securing a visa for me, obtaining tax IDs and identification cards, and finding our way into the health care system. I won't go into all of the details, but it was full of visits to administrative offices and the Questura (police station) that involved many frustrations, challenges, successes, and positive experiences. My language immersion training has been and remains extensive!

After securing a registered lease for renting (thank you friends!), we began our quest with first visit to the Residence office on Thanksgiving. Here are our turkey panini for Thanksgiving dinner.

Uh oh! At the residence office, I learned I had 8 days from my last entry in the Schengen Zone to visit the Questura to start my paperwork. Missed that memo! In a stroke of good luck, we had recently returned from a trip to Ireland and my passport had been stamped in Zurich. With half of the days gone, we headed over to the police station. Fortunately, the officer was very nice and helpful. Who wouldn't like an officer who has a Better Call Saul bobblehead in his office?! That was a good conversation piece.

John excited to have submitted all of his residence paperwork. I was happy to receive my tax ID code. We had to travel to another town for this, figure out how to find the bus to go there, and interact with a foreign system and some difficult people.

Part of the residency process is an unscheduled visit to your home within a 45-day window by a police officer. When we were out and about during Carnevale, we spotted our visitation officer. I guess he gets all of the exciting duty! After multiple visits to the Questura and some runaround from the Immigration Officer, my visa (allowing me to stay longer than the Schengen Zone 90 day limit) paperwork was accepted and my fingerprints were taken. I have the paper application for travel, and I'm still waiting over 4 months later for the card. A friend who went through the same process received his just shy of 1 year from submission. Messina province is apparently very busy. I'm a little nervous to travel.

IDs and health care cards. Siamo Orlandini!

I think I 'buried the lead' here, but we also have been in talks to purchase an apartment. And, I'm happy to report that we recently closed on our new home! 

The apartment is on the first floor (second floor to U.S. friends). At a bit over 800 sq. ft., it doesn't qualify as a tiny house, but as a small house. It is  slightly bigger than our condo rental in Midtown Atlanta, but the space is distributed differently. The ceilings are very high, which makes it seem very spacious. Since the apartment was previously a tourist rental, it came with all of the furnishings, kitchenware, etc. Friend Corinne gifted us some storage containers and additional pans (thank you!). We only needed to purchase linens and then whatever else we wanted. 

There is a living room / dining room that opens to a small, efficient kitchen.




John is enjoying having little tasks to do around the apartment.

Off of this main room there is a nice balcony, with enough space for a table and chairs and a lounge chair. It also has some outside storage.

I love having an outdoor space to enjoy coffee, dine al fresco, or do my computer work. (I happen to be writing this blog here.)

Happy to have fresh basil readily accessible. The curtain behind me is some storage area.
 
From this balcony you can spot some of our kitty neighbors.

John working out how the shade functions. It can lay flat, like the one in the apartment in the picture or it can extend out like an awning using the white hooks. The view to the left of the balcony is toward the Nebrodi mountains. To the right is the Mar Tirreno, but the view is blocked by other buildings. However, it is less than 5 minutes walk away, and we can hear the waves when it is not calm.

For perspective, here are views from Grazia's apartment, 2nd floor, and from the roof. Che Bella!

There are two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a sizeable storage closet. Both of the bedrooms have ceiling fans - yay! - that's not something we've seen a lot in our travels, and we love having them. The main bedroom has a small balcony, perfect for hanging laundry and stepping out to enjoy some fresh air. 

Main bedroom and balcony. We had the railings re-painted for a freshen up.



Guest bedroom. I decided to make the second bed a sort of day bed. This way it can be a seating area if there is only one person, but can be used as a bed if there are two. Do you like my Sicilian-themed pillows? I'm always on the lookout, but they have to cost €5 or less.
 
Storage room. It feels weird to have 'stuff' after years of living out of two suitcases and two backpacks. However, we're keeping the accumulation minimalist. We've purchased items like beach chairs, fan, space heater, vacuum, coffeemaker, etc.

The bathroom is pretty standard, and it is where the washing machine is located (very common here). Maybe you have followed my European laundry adventures? A new apartment means a new washing machine and trying to find the elusive short cycle. We got it after 3 attempts!

Fun fact: Bidets are a legal requirement in Italy.

I found this great meme that captures the challenges of washing machine interpretation.

Our machine. No instructions. After the fiasco of the 2.5 hour cycle machine in Palermo, I definitely wanted to figure out the short cycle. Our first attempt was Butterfly 2, a total fail - the cycle was over an hour long! Next up: Cotton boll 6, which was marked "eco." Seemed reasonable. Not! It was even worse - 120 minutes. Attempt 3, however, was successful.

Running man for the win! I'm still confused as to why Cotton Boll 7 is the shortest cycle. 

A small outside area, shared with the apartment across the hall, has a washtub and additional space for clothes drying. One of my favorite features of the apartment are the windows - both style and number - that let in good light and breezes. 

Most importantly, the apartment came with the perfect neighbor - our friend Grazia! We've been lucky in life to have two fantastic next-door neighbors - here in Capo D'Orlando and back at Weatherstone in the ATL, where we had super neighbor, and friend, Joan.

Grazia, and her son Salvo, have done more than I could ever describe to help us make living here a reality. She has the kindest heart and a good sense of humor. We have fun together!

I do still plan to keep writing the blog because, while we have a home, we plan to travel. (Plus, I have a backlog of travel blogs to share, LOL!) I'll also continue to have write-ups of my genealogy pursuits, for those who are interested. And, as our introduction says ... maybe some other stuff!

I realized that I haven't shared any outtakes recently, so I'll leave some here for your amusement.








Comments

  1. How wonderful! A great adventure and lovely home.

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  2. So glad for the updates and photos. Loved the window video...John could make it on TV! Ha.
    Good to see the apt. with the filtered light from the windows! Congratulazione!! Well done!

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  3. Congratulations! Love your new place
    The view is Beautiful!! Best of luck

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  4. Congratulations! Nice place. It's great you have good friends and neighbors. Washing machine controls had me laughing.

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    1. Thanks, Robert! One of my many cultural adventures, lol.

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  5. Congratulations and best wishes for this next installment your adventures.

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  6. Congrats!!! What a fantastic journey to living full-time in Italy! I hope one day you compile your experiences into a book. All of this was absolutely epic from beginning to end. I’m so glad that you both have found your forever home and community! (--Tara)

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    1. We certainly took a winding road. Maybe I'll get around to a book? Thank you!

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  7. The journey has been fun, and the destination even better! Congratulations on finding your best place to land.

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  8. I always enjoy reading your blog. Watching your travels has been entertaining. I look forward to seeing how life evolves in Italy. Steve and I still want to visit Sicily on one of our European trips. Congratulations on the new home! Rob P.

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  10. From your Mediterranean neighbor (in Tel Aviv), this post is a testament to your persistence, patience, ingenuity, and resilience in managing detours due to the global epidemic and bureaucracy. Your new home is stunning! I recognize the small refrigerator! My top-loading small washer by Electrolux has a Quick Wash setting, which gets the job done in under 30 minutes at a temperature setting of 40. Do you have dust or sand indoors? I do primarily from construction, aka gentrification. Big hugs to you and your darling neighbor.

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    1. Thank you dear friend! I appreciate all of your support and cheerleading along the way, more than I could ever describe. The refrigerator is perfect, and I conquered finding that quick setting on the washing machine. I am happy with the many ways our new life leaves a smaller footprint on Earth. Speaking of earth, yes lots of dust and dust bunnies. I'm swiffering all the time, LOL. And, of course, with life at the beach comes sand and small pebbles. Hugs back at you.

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