The past week Christine has started the work to transform our new house into a true home. All on her own she's begun to break out the floor tiles, hoping that we'd be able to recuperate enough to re-use them for the ground floor. It was a dirty sort of work and not with all good results either. Some of the tiles were thicker than others and here and there chips broke off. So she's unsure whether there will be enough usable tiles left. Perhaps we'll have to buy new ones after all? It's too early to tell yet.
Together with Giulio, the older man who's living in the same house as where Christine is staying, she dispersed all of the rubble and waste over our entrance lane, in order to make it accessible to common vehicles and trucks. Giulio's driven over it a couple of times with his car to make sure that it's solid enough. It'll not be the ideal foundation, but it will do just the same. Later on we can still add some of the natural stone which we're not going to use for the house.
We've also decided on the builders we're going to hire for the main structural works on the walls and the roof. Danilo asked three of the builder companies he usually works with to make an offer and Christine chose the cheapest one. But not before having asked a couple of references of course and they all turned out very positive. So making a choice was a no-brainer. The contract is signed and next Monday they'll start! Today Christine has returned with Giulio to clean up around the house. There are lots of bushes and trees which need to be removed in order to allow the builders to put their scaffolding. Christine will also cut down a couple of trees by the house which were already terminally ill. What's done is done.
And for those of you who are wondering why I let my wife do all the heavy work; I'm sitting here with our little cat Chloé on my lap and she needs a lot of attention. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it!
Upon reflection I realised that I had totally forgotten to inform you about someting very important: Christine will be on the Italian television!!!
The regional branch of the Italian state television in Bologna were doing a survey on foreigners who were buying properties in the Emilia region. They wanted to know what attracted them so much to that particular area, what they thought about living in Italy etc. They ended up with Cosetta. Since she has a well-established B&B in the heart of the area, they inquired if she knew any foreigners... You can guess that she immediately thought of us! So last Friday a team from the RAI went to visit Christine at our new house and did an interview. I'm not certain when it will be broadcast but Christine would keep me informed. We'll receive a DVD of the interview anyway so I'll put it on our blog asap.
Christine was in fact quite nervous and normally she hates being "in the spotlight". But Cosetta and I pushed her to go for it, even if it's just for a bit of publicity. And I'm sure she did a brilliant job.
We've also already made a local newspaper who was doing an article on the same subject - again through Cosetta. They reported that after four visits we had decided to buy a new house and to move over there. A slight exaggeration. It was actually only after two visits.
It won't take long before we'll be Italian celebrities... hehehe...
The works on our new house haven't started yet. In fact, so far we haven't seen any price offer from any of the workers. Danilo, our architect, says that we should relax and that if necessary he can stipulate in the contract that the works have to be finished in six months time. But that is not the point. In the first place the works need to be done properly. And it just takes time to do things in a decent way. Christine is slowly starting to lose her temper and will call Danilo every day until things are moving. We were prepared for expensive words like "the works can start immediately after the act's been signed". But the Italians should also be prepared for the fact that we're "northeners" to be reckoned with! Who do they think we are? Amateurs?
Next weekend will be the annual Chestnut Festival in the village where is Christine is staying for the moment. It's a major event over there and everyone who means anything in the Emilian Apennines will be going - chestnuts are omnipresent in the region and the festivities celebrate the harvest and the end of summer. Traditionally all the ladies from the village will bake a pie or cake and offer them to the visitors for free. It's something you'd hardly want to miss! Now it so happens that Christine also likes to do a bit of pastry on the side (see some of the previous posts) and hence she couldn't resist participating in the cake frenzy for obvious reasons. She's already been busy all week with making some "trials" and these were met with astonishment by the local community. For the end result she's planning on making an autumn-coloured icing with leaves, chestnuts and other autumn stuff in sugarwork. I'm sure that it will be absolutely drop-dead gorgeous and wish that I could be there too. For Christine, that is. Not so much for the cakes...
Christine is now living amidst the Italians, all on her own. Needless to say that she's the star of the village where she resides for the time being. The house where she's renting a couple of rooms is what one could call a typical Italian countryside home. This means that it is owned by the (grand)parents of the family and that over time the children and their respective spouses receive parts of the house to live in. So in fact Christine is surrounded by an entire family. And since she's "strange" all of the family members want to visit Christine, invite her for an afternoon's knitting (with tea and biscuits) or have her as a guest for dinner. At times she feels a bit suffocated by all this attention, but then again she also gets an enormous amount of warmth and friendship from her neighbours. They try to help her with everything and in return Christine helps them out when they go out to pick plums for making brandy or to harvest the grapes from the vineyard. This has earned her a lot of respect. We want to go and live there as "Italians" amongst the Italians, not as "foreigners" who stick to their own community or who just stay there during the holidays. And this attitude pays off well. In no time Christine has been able to make contact with local masons and other craftsmen who want to give us a hand with our new house. Soon she will go there with a couple of guys to attack the ugly cement plaster that covers the beautiful natural stone the walls are made of. It will certainly already change the view spectacularly. Giulio, the family oldest, is carefully watching that Christine is not being ripped off and assures that she always gets the best price.
Christine has also met with a representative of a second window-making company. We already have a very good offer for having all of our window frames and doors made in solid local wood. This second company will make an offer for the same in PVC. We'd actually prefer the second option because it's so much easier in maintenance. But all depends on the price. And PVC just doesn't bring that all natural feel that real wood does. Well, we'll see.
Finally, Christine met an English family who live in the area already for quite some time. They're very friendly people and the good news for me is that teaching English really is a goldmine over there. They didn't do it themselves because according to their saying they don't have enough patience. But they've already been asked numerous times. So it looks like my future is assured!
It's two weeks now that I'm sitting all alone in our old house. Well, "alone" is a bit exaggerated because our four cats give me plenty of distraction from the fact that I'm missing Christine so much. We haven't been that much in contact with eachother as I would have liked because Christine's internet connection isn't working properly yet. I believe that her laptop is using - by default - the internal wireless modem in stead of the special wireless key that we received from her Italian internet provider. The Italian countryside is in fact so dispersed that most of the internet connections have to pass via a wireless system. Unfortunately her version of Windows is in Flemish and not a lot of people in Italy master this language. Therefore it makes finding a helping hand a bit more complicated, even though Christine goes at great lengths to try to translate everything into Italian. I know a bit about computers, but not that much that I manage to tell Christine what to do over the phone. These phonecalls are very expensive and I'm terrified about the bill that is due to come any time soon. Fortunately I can use Skype to ring Christine on her Italian mobile. It's certainly not for free either, but at least it will keep the bill at a reasonable level.
In the mean time I decided that it was also time for me to upgrade my home PC. The poor thing was over six years old and in computering that means it dated from the age of the dinosaurs. It took me about five days to sort everything out (apparently a one-year old 1GB RAM card was no longer up to today's standards...) but now everything's working properly. Yeehaaa!
Finally I can bring you the good news that last Friday Christine signed the sollicitor's act with all of the former owners. She told me over the phone that it was quite a story, but due to reasons explained above I don't know all of the details yet. But I'm sure they'll be juicy and please check my blog regularly in case you'd like to find out what they are. I'm also curious enough as it is...
Ladies and Gentlemen... THE HOUSE IN ITALY IS OFFICIALLY OURS!!! (this announcement should be accompanied by the sound of popping champagne corks...)
Yes... yes... stop laughing you all. I've written a book. Actually, I've already been writing on it for years, even before I started working for Sobelair... euhhhh... cough cough... IACA that is. I don't expect it will be a big success, but hey... it was just great fun writing it. The book is called "the Five" and it is mainly targeted at an adolescent audience, although it may appeal to all ages. It's a weird mixture of wild comedy and slapstick, adrenaline-pumping action, drama and romance. So a bit for every taste. I've attached it to this message so if you really have too much spare time on your hands and you really don't know what to do...
I've been playing the piano since I was 9 years old. And some time ago I also did some private teaching. Hence the idea to do a bit of that on the side also in Italy. Although I have to say that I didn't really believe in this because after all Italy is the country where classical music was sort of invented. I was convinced that there would be abundant music academies around which could offer every kind of education in a much cheaper way. But that was without counting on Christine, of course...
We visited a shop where they specialised in all kinds of wooden floors because that's what we'd like to have on the first floor and in the living room. The shop manager was so friendly and he was so enthusiastic about our project that he asked us what we were planning to do in Italy. So I mentioned teaching English. Upon which Christine added that I also teach the piano. The man's eyes suddenly popped wide open of surprise. He told us that his best mate was the director of the music academy of Castelnovo ne' Monti and that they'd been searching for a piano teacher for a long time, especially to give evening classes. So to him I was like a gift from heaven! I humbly added that I don't really have an official license as a piano teacher. But perhaps they consider my skills to be adequate for the job? Who knows if they're desperate? It could mean that I already have a real job (perhaps part time, perhaps only for a couple of evenings per week,...) before leaving Flanders!
You can judge my skills for yourself through this excerpt of a home recording I made of Bach's Goldberg Variations. Please don't mind the sound of the piano itself because it's a 100-year old grandmother. But I hope you like it altogether...
Last Tuesday was D-day for us. It was the day where we would go to the city of Reggio Nell'Emilia to sign the act of the house sale at the sollicitor of the sellers. Unfortunately... again... the mother of the sellers couldn't be present due to illness. The poor old bird is 97 and for some mysterious reason she too has to sign a few papers. Perhaps to ensure that her 3 sons are over 18? So the event has been postponed until next Friday and I signed a mandate allowing Christine to sign the act also in my name. It will now proceed at the sellers' house - we won't take any more risks. So we can only hope that the old lady will not pass away or do something else inadverted the coming week.
The first thing we did in Italy was going to the bank. We had already worked so hard to bypass all the petty little rules and restrictions that kept us from simply paying the sellers of our house with the Belgian bridge loan. The only thing we still needed was opening an account at our Italian bank. We tried it over the phone and through e-mail, but it was absolutely necessary for us to visit the bank personally before they could give us an account number. Then it would be a matter of five minutes and everything would be in order. At least, that was the sales pitch.
When we eventually met the bank manager and asked him to do something simple, like... opening a new account, this suddenly turned out to be impossible. In spite of all of his promises over the phone. We are "foreigners" and for that there are special procedures which may take some time. Christine started to lose the last remainders of her patience and angrily explained that the one thing we didn't have anymore was time. The sollicitor's act had to be signed and for that we needed regular cheques and enough money on our Italian account of course. She became so angry that a second person, who we believe was the director of the whole office, entered the room and asked the manager how far he was with the account. In the mean time, Christine explained our problem once more while ostentatively tapping with a large part of our savings - in cash - on the manager's desk. This gesture had the desired effect. In no time phonecalls were made to the head office and personal data was entered into the computer system. Five minutes later we had our account number so we could call our Belgian sollicitor to transfer the money we needed from the bridge loan. Hurray!!!
This afternoon I came back from Italy. Alone. The final goodbye was tearing me apart. And Christine too. Tears were countless. Furthermore I feel absolutely tired after 6 days of driving around, cleaning Christine's temporary Italian home and trying to sort things out with banks, notaries and building plans. So this will be a brief message. Tomorrow I'll start reporting about our adventures of the past week.
And to end with a positive note... I just booked a plane ticket for a week's holiday in Italy when it will be Christine's birthday half November! hehehe...
Tomorrow at dawn we'll be off to Italy. It will be a very important week in many aspects. One of them is signing the sollocitor's act and the hand over of the keys to our new home. But another one makes me feel terrified. As from next Wednesday afternoon, Christine and I will be separated from eachother for months. Never before we've had to do without eachother for such a long time. I'm not sure how we're going to cope. We're both very attached to eachother. Yes, I know... in the end it's going to make us stronger. But that's only a bitter consolation.
Thursday is approaching at breakneck speed. For Christine, these are the last few days in good old Flanders. She'll still return perhaps once or twice, especially for the final move next year. But as from next week she'll already be an official Italian resident! Actually, I envy her a bit. I'm the one who has to stay behind here. Then again, the cats will keep me company I suppose. They're growing big and are more than a handful when they play and run about. It's nice to see how happy they all are. Fortunately they don't know yet about what'll be coming towards them next year. I'm certain that having to miss Christine for 6 months will already give them more than enough stress.
Christine is also making a long list of all the things she'll have to pack. Our trailer is as good as new again and we're surely going to need it. She'll not only need most of her clothes, but also part of the dishes, cutlery, a water boiler, pots 'n pans, most of our tools (to help with the refurbishment of our new house) and lots of other stuff. And not to forget her laptop of course so we can use Skype to keep in touch with eachother. If anyone of you would like to have her Italian Skype address, just send me an e-mail!
Today the representative from the movers company dropped by to sign a couple of documents and to discuss some of the details. For example, we will also need a lift at the destination because carrying a wardrobe up the stairs... well... you see what I mean?
The man was also very interested in the access road to our house. Would it be suitable for a lorry? Errrr... with a bit of luck...
So that's also something we need to work on. Otherwise our B&B will be for 4x4 fanatics only!
Yesterday we went to our sollicitor with the buyers of our house to sign the compromise of the sale. It is the first step in order to make everything official. Somewhere half-December we shall return to the sollicitor's office to sign the final act. And then the house will no longer belong to us. We've agreed that we can still live in our house until the works in Italy are finished. But then we irreversibly have to leave. In the compromise it says "by the 31st of May 2010 at 19:00". If not, we can be expelled by a bailiff!Hahahaaaa... We'll be packed and ready by 19:00 allright!
Afterwards we shared a nice glass of champaign with the buyers. They're a very sympathetic, elderly couple and we sincerely hope that they will find the piece and happiness in our house that they were looking for. Thanks to them, we can start building our Italian dream. And they truly granted us that dream with all of their hearts. It really fills us with joy that so far everything goes more or less according to our wildest hopes. For us it's a sign that we had to do this and that our decision was the right one.
In the evening we went out to a nice restaurant, together with Christine's mum. It was very cosy and we very much enjoyed the evening. It's actually a bit sad that only for the past year or so Christine and her mother seem to grow close to eachother. The cold war is settling and for the first time Christine feels that she truly has a mother. And now we're going away to Italy... Then again, Bologna is only an hour and a half away by plane. And I've installed Skype on my mother-in-law's laptop. So there's no excuse why we shouldn't see eachother anymore!
It will be exactly in just two weeks that Christine and I will return to Italy to sign the sollicitor's act which will finalise the acquisition of the house. I will return home shortly afterwards, but Christine will already remain in Italy. Permanently. A painstaking 6 months awaits us where we'll hardly see eachother. It's a very distressing thought, although I'm absolutely certain that we'll come out stronger than ever before. It's going to be hard but we're doing it for the "higher goal".
We're also experiencing another strange phenomenon at the moment. All of our friends and family (at least that part which we're still on speaking terms with) are contacting us to ask if they can still come to visit us to say "goodbye". This means that our agenda for this week and the next is absolutely crammed. Not that these moments are very emotional or painful. Italy isn't the end of the world and we're certain that many of our friends will still come to see us over there. I don't really know how to describe the feeling we're having. Personally I'm less touched than I thought I would be. We've made the big decision and that's that. Also having to say goodbye to our house doesn't move me in the least. Tomorrow we're going to our local sollicitor to sign the compromise for the sale. Hurray! Italy's coming closer! Strange, isn't it? Perhaps my emotions will still change and pain and regret will take the upper hand. But right now I think that that's very unlikely.
Yes, you read it correctly. Since yesterday we do not have one but two new kittens in the house! Blu, our Nowegian Forest kitten, likes to play with other cats. She's such a wild and excited little furrball. Unfortunately, our older cat Canelle doesn't like all that personal attention. Therefore we decided to buy another Norwegian Forest kitten, Chloé, as a playmate for Blu. But then we started thinking... We felt that perhaps we had room for one more (male) cat. Tomcats are usually a bit calmer and tend to look more for contact with humans than with other cats. So we found Thomas with the same breeder in the north of Holland where we had already booked Chloé. Aren't they both adorable?
Chloé:
And this is Thomas:
We were absolutely knackered when we returned home around 22:00 yesterday. Especially on the way to Emmen we lost over an hour due to the extremely busy traffic. But both kittens had survived the trip better than expected. In fact, they slept during most of the journey. And thi morning they were all playfulness and excitement. To such an extent that even Blu had to throw the towel in the ring and look for a quieter spot in the garden...
We've made a decision about the company we're going to hire for the final move next year. This is a very expensive part of the whole project so we weren't going to take it lightly. We've contacted several companies and we were amazed about the price differences. And you have to carefully examin the details as well. Will there be extra workers included for the unloading in Italy? What about an electric lift both here and in Italy? Is the price per cubic metre or can we load the lorry until it's completely full? Are there crates included for the statue in our garden and the fragile living room chandelier? And what about the excess for the insurance? Especially this insurance-bit was very tricky. Some didn't inform us that moved items are only insured if they are packed by the movers themselves. But having your stuff packed costs quite a bit of money. Eventually we were able to cut a deal, meaning that we pack everything, but the movers will check whether it has been done properly. And we won't have an insurance excess either. Most likely, if anything will break along the route, it will be a couple of plates or glasses. But if we have, let's say, an excess of 250, these will not be reimbursed. So we had to drive a hard bargain in order to get our way with the company of our choice. That's to say, a hard bargain... All in all this move will still cost us something around 7.000 taxes and insurance included. If you're planning to move abroad as well, don't forget to put a serious budget aside for the movers!
The problems with the banks, both over here and in Italy, are driving us mad. We just can't believe that such simple matter can cause such big difficulties. And then there is the shear arrogance. The Belgian bank who gave us the bridge loan bluntly told us that "we should in fact be grateful that this loan was granted" and that "we should stop moaning about their demand to only send money to a sollicitor in Italy". We tried in vain to explain that the sollicitor doesn't want that money and that things are just different in Italy.
Christine was so fed up with it that she wrote a sharp e-mail to Guy Verhofstadt, the self-declared "pope" of the unified Europe and in his wet dreams the first president of the United States of Europe. No reply so far, probably because he's on a holiday to his own estate in Tuscany. How ironic...
And then there are the problems in Italy where we are denied a small mortgage because we don't live in Italy (yet) and don't have a fixed Italian income.
So Christine wrote a letter to Berlusconi. Hand-written and on blue, high-quality letter paper. And in Italian of course! She'll probably never receive a reply, or at least a decent one, to this letter either. But nevertheless she feels good to have given rein to all of her bitter frustration.
Today Christine has returned with Giulio to clean up around the house. There are lots of bushes and trees which need to be removed in order to allow the builders to put their scaffolding. Christine will also cut down a couple of trees by the house which were already terminally ill. What's done is done. 
So last Friday a team from the RAI went to visit Christine at our new house and did an interview. I'm not certain when it will be broadcast but Christine would keep me informed. We'll receive a DVD of the interview anyway so I'll put it on our blog asap. 
Furthermore I feel absolutely tired after 6 days of driving around, cleaning Christine's temporary Italian home and trying to sort things out with banks, notaries and building plans. So this will be a brief message. Tomorrow I'll start reporting about our adventures of the past week.
Actually, I envy her a bit. I'm the one who has to stay behind here. Then again, the cats will keep me company I suppose. They're growing big and are more than a handful when they play and run about. It's nice to see how happy they all are. Fortunately they don't know yet about what'll be coming towards them next year. I'm certain that having to miss Christine for 6 months will already give them more than enough stress.
and on blue, high-quality letter paper. And in Italian of course! 
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