Another day, another adventure

In all honesty I wasn't looking forward to today. In fact, I was rather dreading it. Why? Well, one reason is that I had to get up early and since I've just begun sleeping well after a week of not sleeping at all, the thought of getting up by 7am wasn't exactly exciting. Secondly, Lynda and I not only had to navigate our way to the immigration office by ourselves, but we also had to figure out how to apply for her Permesso di Soggiorno. The permesso allows an individual to remain legally in Italy after the 90 days that their airline ticket allows them expires. Personally, I don't get this process. She was granted a visa that allows her to stay in Italy for a year....but still, she had to apply for the permesso? Whatever.

I am happy to report that we made it to the immigration office without incident. Well, that's not entirely true. We did get off the metro one stop too early, but we were able to get right back on and go to the correct stop. Thanfully, we met our labor consultant at the office and he figured out for us what we needed to do. Then, he drove us back to campus where he proceeded to complete the application (entirely in Italian btw) for Lynda with her help. Finally, he drove us to the post office where the application needs to be submitted.

All I can say is that last night I sent out a prayer request and those prayers were answered in the form of Dr. Roberto De Rossi. The man was sent straight from heaven. I cannot even imagine having to have completed that process without him. I dare say we couldn't have done it. The woman at the post office was, well let's just say that she was less than friendly or helpful. (And she didn't speak any English!) I giggled internally several times when I began to see Dr. De Rossi get frustrated and confused. I mean c'mon! if a native Italian AND a labor consultant doesn't understand the process how are the rest of us supposed to?? All that to say, he was such a tremendous help and a God send. He sorted everything out and Lynda's application was submitted. Supposedly she will get a letter in 10 days requesting her presence at the local police station for an interview...but from what we've learned that will never happen. The system is so back logged that there are thousands and thousands of people waiting to hear back. So, we safely assume that by the time we're ready to officially leave the country and return home in 3 years...that's when she'll get her letter.

There was one more lesson for the day. I have learned that all the attractive Italian men can be found at the post office. Truly, I'm not kidding you. I don't know what it is that draws them there, but I am fairly certain that I will be sending a lot more letters and post cards than I'd anticipated if only to appreciate the view.