Progress

The last few days have seen some progress of sorts for which I am thankful for. I met some nice people through Steffen (mainly his colleagues), got a letter from the institute that I need to apply for my 'codice fiscale' (tax code) that everyone living in Italy needs, received word from the HR department that the 'Nullaosta' I need to apply for my visa at the Italian embassy in Singapore will probably be ready around 10 Nov (but I am still keeping my fingers crossed, hopefully it won't be delayed yet again), got my offical 'codice fiscale', signed the contract for the apartment yesterday (and paid up the 2-month rent that will not be returned so that now I am broke), and attended my first Italian class today where the teacher was very nice and among my classmates was also a very sweet chinese girl with whom I've made friends with.

Once in a while, unpleasant things happen (conflicts always occur when people are close) and times when I miss home and wish I hadn't chosen to come here but when I count my blessings, I have more than enough to be grateful for.

It really made my day today that I managed to find the school which someone in the Anglican church I visited last Sun recommended to me and was able to join the class.

With the very vague instructions given to me, it took almost 2 hours of walking up, down, here and there and people pointing me in all sorts of different directions until luckily, an Italian lady who spoke German walked me to the right place. Phew!

I am determined to do my best to learn the language before I have to start at the institute. As my sister would say, 'Fighting!' :)