November 1, 2010

  • Bank Holiday

    Ahhh, how lovely it is to be at home for a day. At home with plenty to do, but at home nonetheless. The rest of the weekend I was out most of the time, so I have taken advantage of having an extra day off work due to All Saints' Day bank holiday here to catch up with boring chores (washing, ironing etc), to do some lesson planning (not much and not nearly enough yet!) and general chilling, which included actually sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of tea all the way through (rather than taking gulps whilst trying to do everything else at the same time which is how it usually goes in the mornings!). 

    It's a shame the weather is pretty awful at the moment (constant rain) or it would have been nice to go somewhere today. Still have MUCH to explore. I've realised still haven't even done Udine properly yet... haven't had the time or mentality to be a tourist properly here. Perhaps I never will be!
    I've also realised that I've been here over a month now and am STILL not officially registered in any way, shape or form here. All my documents still relate to Brescia. I think I can update my Carta Regionale dei Servizi (in order to register with a GP) without too much trouble but it's quite possible they will tell me I have to register myself as living here first. I need to avoid doing what I did in Brescia which was registering as resident here. I only want to be domiciled for the moment...it's all thoroughly complicated and confusing, but my work contract is based on me being newly arrived from the UK and therefore paying taxes in the UK (with an apparent 2 year exemption for teachers). Who knows how it will all actually work out. When I have time to go and do the queuing thing at any of the relevant offices is another question. It's my fault for not getting on with it before I actually started work (which was the whole point of coming here early...). I was a bit blasé because I already had all the things definitely required (codice fiscale etc). I'm sure it doesn't really matter that much though because as an EU citizen I don't actually need a permesso di soggiorno or anything. 

    The good news, for anyone who remembers the Barclays Italia saga from this time last year, is that I am now fully set up with an Italian bank account! I opened one recommended by a colleague, and so far it couldn't be better. It's an online one without all the ridiculous charges, and so far it seems to function perfectly normally, like you would expect a bank account to (and exactly like the Barclays one didn't). So, after a year of having cash stashed in the "Bank of Charis" in my bedroom, I now have it safely stored in a bank account, accessible from anywhere via cash points (what a novelty!!) and I can make debit card payments, and have my salary paid direct into the account. Amazing!!! All it took was a recommendation from a fellow Brit in It!!