September 20, 2010

  • One and a half days...

    When I arrived here just over a year ago I had with me.....

    • Laptop bag 
    • Large holdall full to the 23kg limit
    • Hand luggage sized suitcase

    (Sort of like this except I had the suitcase not the rucksack - this was coming back after the summer!)

     I am leaving with...

    • Laptop bag 
    • Large holdall full to the 23kg limit
    • Hand luggage sized suitcase
    • 2 small boxes of books
    • 1 medium box full of folders, books etc
    • 3 full-to-the-brim box files of notes, lesson plans, materials
    • Rucksack 
    • 2 blue ikea bags with textile stuff
    • One large ikea paper bag of shoes 
    • Two canvas bags full of miscellany
    • Red plastic box with various equipment in
    • Printer box (stuffed with as much stationery and electrical stuff I could get round the printer!)
    • Ikea foldable chair
       
    • This was in the interim packing stages (hence the hangers not yet being packed and only half the boxes being there!)

      (As it looks now, just a bit of a blurry photo...)

    I guess I haven't really held back on accumulating things and bringing more things out from home everytime I/someone else made a trip out here! But then there wasn't really any need to hold back, since I always knew I was planning to stay in Italy another year and so could just move with all my stuff. I'm going to have a VERY hard time when I do decide I want to move back to England though...  let's not worry about that yet though!

    My landlord/lady (complicated as the son is the official landlord and I pay my rent to him, but he doesn't do anything in terms of managing it and we always deal with the mother or step-father for everything else..) just came round to give me back my deposit and check the room. I had specifically arranged that she could bring cash as I don't have an Italian bank account (remember the whole Barclays Italia fiasco? winky Wasn't that a long time ago now!). She came without any saying that she'd do it by transfer.... err, no. Anyway she was quick to suggest she went and withdrew as much as she could from the Bancomat and will transfer the rest to my English account, which is fine by me. It would have been a pain having it ALL go to English account as I do everything in cash here, but I've got enough to see me through until I next get paid (in November - eek!). Anyway she said I'd been the perfect tenant and they'd have trouble finding someone else like me! I have no idea what I've done to deserve that description as I don't feel like I've done anything, but perhaps that's the point! I've paid my rent on time every month and haven't broken anything!! Woohoo! I also thoroughly cleaned the room today and it's now looking very empty but very tidy. 

    We're going to have some fun on Wednesday. I feel it's going to be a day to just get through, haha. Will be great to see mum and dad - shame that it's only for about 8 hours! But 8 very important hours!! The biggest problem is going to be finding anywhere at all to put the car outside to load it up... then obviously trekking up and down 100 steps lugging all those boxes isn't going to be much fun... oh and then there's the small matter of me managing to drive on the right side of the road (in both senses), finding my way out of Brescia, not annoying too many crazy Italian drivers by dithering because I don't know where I'm going, and finding the way in Udine...and finding a space at the other end to unload again. Thank GOODNESS there's a lift in the new place!!!!