culture shock

There and Back Again

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

So here we are, still “in search of a dream to call home,” I suppose. The past several months, although completely and uncharacteristically uneventful on casteluzzo.blogspot.com, have been quite eventful in real life. Our business failed in February, we spent a glorious two and a half weeks in Italy in March, and we moved back to California in April.

The devastation of our business failing took awhile to fully sink in. Finally one day, we found ourselves on the living room floor, feeling as if we’d been rolled in on a stretcher. Business gone, massive debt hanging over our heads, and our idyllic Italian dream shattered.… Read more

Never Expect it the Same Way Twice

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Productivity for us here in Italy seems to be more a product of serendipity than careful planning. It’s not that we don’t plan exhaustively. But sometimes things turn out better when we just go with the flow. Our internet has been grinding to a halt fairly often lately. We can get reliable dial-up, which us O.K. for email and other more basic tasks. But we cannot send large attachments, and forget about Skype calls (we don’t have a home phone, and we’ve been trying to set up quite a lot of things for our trip to the U.S.)., or web-conferencing.

We had a web-conference scheduled for Thursday evening, which we were forced to cancel.… Read more

San Diego

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

We’ve ditched the Italian schedule. No more dinners at 7:00. We need to get this family to bed at a reasonable time. Tony was thinking yesterday that most of our productive, happy family time is in the morning. Afternoon is for naps. So we’ve decided to lengthen the morning at the expense of the afternoon. Instead of having a three-hour morning and a seven-hour afternoon, we’ll have a five-hour morning and a five-hour afternoon, and spend some time in the afternoon doing things like tidying the house, setting out everyone’s clothes, and fixing a picnic lunch for the next day.

For the past year or so (since our second child was born, coincidentally enough), we’ve had something of a schedule fetish.… Read more

Awkward

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Last night we had an awkward moment. No, it was more like ninety awkward moments. We had decided to have dinner downstairs at the picnic table. Unfortunately, as Tony arrived with a stack of plates, he realized that Giorgio and Carla, our neighbors across the way, and the family downstairs were all having a communal dinner at the picnic table. He heard them suddenly fall silent, and then rapid whispering. No matter. There is a second, smaller table, so he turned toward it. However, it was holding their dessert. They quickly moved it. Thoroughly embarrassed, he set the plates down.

I came down with food, and suggested that we retreat upstairs, since we had obviously made a serious faux pas.… Read more

American Heritage

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Since today is the Fourth of July, I have spent some time thinking about what being an American means to me, and especially what I would like to give to my children from that part of my heritage. Being a little distant gives me a different perspective, and allows me to separate out the good from the bad a little better. It also allows me to focus more on the ideals and less on the sometimes disappointing present reality.

Today I told Axa about how the United States wrote a special letter to the King of England to tell him they were their own country, and then about the Revolutionary War.… Read more

Consider the lilies of the field

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

This verse came up in my scripture reading this morning. 3 Nephi 13:28-30 (and Matthew 6:28-30). “Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, . . . even so will he clothe you, if ye are not of little faith.” He has clothed us and fed us and taken care of us in a multitude of ways here in Italy, as we are learning to do it ourselves.… Read more

Chocolates

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Tony went by himself to the comune yesterday, chocolates in hand. When he walked into the chocolate shop, there was a man in front of him in line who got a delectable sample platter, so Tony just ordered the same thing when he got to the front of the line. When he walked into the comune a few minutes later, he saw the same man, who is actually an employee at the anagrafe. When he saw Tony, he told everyone the funny story of the American who was behind him in line and copied his order.

Teresa was not impressed. She immediately pushed the chocolates aside and reached for Tony’s documents.… Read more

Fun at the Comune

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

Last week the appointed day finally came when the English-speaking person would be at the comune to discuss jure sanguinis with us. We went in with the impression we had received the previous week that they had never heard of jure sanguinis. Charmingly enough, the person who sent us away the previous week is the person in charge of jure sanguinis applications, and she has done several. I think she just hoped we’d go away. However, Silvia, the English-speaker (who does speak perfect English and is very nice also) is a definite ally. I handed our precious green binder to her, and she and the other employee began flipping through it.… Read more

In Italy

Sarah Bringhurst Familia

We are in Italy. Our first adventure (after over 24 hours of airplanes and airports) was our rental car. We packed all our seventeen (more or less) bags into it and set off, map in hand. We had gotten almost out of the airport parking lot when the car began to smell bad. And then worse. We turned around and headed back, concerned. A passerby flagged us down, pointing to the engine, from which smoke was beginning to billow. Tony parked the car and rushed back in to the car rental place. I was still sitting in the car with the children when a man came up to the window and said I should get out, and asked me where my husband was, and said the car was on fire.… Read more