Italy, Day 126
four months in, and it feels like the blink of an eye that lasted a lifetime. today, December 11, has been on our calendar for weeks as the day when we would have to present ourselves, our documents, our passports, our folders carefully prepared by Beatrice (the secretary at the College who specializes in immigration), photos in quadruplicate, and anything else we could think of at the local police station, the Questura. this is the second step in the three-part process of obtaining the permesso di soggiorno (literally, permission to stay - similar to an Italian green card, and required for foreigners staying beyond 90 days). for the first part, we trekked over to the post office by the Pantheon with another folder (also prepared by Beatrice, bless her!), to be given an appointment date and time at the Questura. the original date was actually August 28, but Beatrice rescheduled it to better fit Nick's schedule at the college. so now at this second step, we would go to the Questura with all of our documents for fingerprinting and security checks. the third step is actually picking up your permesso di soggiorno, which takes about 2 months from the fingerprinting appointment. (and you have to renew it every year - so by time you get yours, you typically only have about 6 months before it's time to start the process again!)
i had heard horror stories of people waiting four hours after their appointment time to even make it up to the desk, or people being turned away for not having a document that didn't even appear on the list of required documents. and while i have every faith in our liaison Beatrice, there's still no telling what capricious whims might strike the fancy of the actual officials in charge of legalizing our stay here. so last night, i carefully laid out our folders from Beatrice, containing the attestation letter from the Rector of the College verifying Nick's contract, copies of our passports and visas, and the receipts from our application at the post office. then, for good measure, i filled a folder with anything else i could think of: the girls' birth certificates, declaration of our insurance policy covering us here in Italy, and our codice fiscale certificates (which i really didn't think were relevant, but you never know). i put some snacks and activities in the diaper bag backpack for the girls, and made sure Greta's backpack was ready with everything she would need for school (on Tuesdays, she stays all day at school for her gymnastics class at the end of the day). then i set my alarm for 6:30 AM. we had the first appointment of the day at 8:30 AM, but Beatrice had advised we get there at 7:15 AM (for reasons which became abundantly clear later). since Nick had to play for morning prayer which concluded at 7:15, we would be rushing to get there as soon as possible after he finished (but one of the other seminarians, Matt, had to renew his permesso this morning too, and the plan was for him to arrive promptly at 7:15 and take numbers for us so we'd be good to go as soon as they started calling numbers at 8:30).
well, i woke up to Nick saying "babe! it's quarter after 7!" somehow i hadn't realized when turning on my alarm that it was only set for certain days - and Tuesday wasn't one of them. so i threw on some clothes, bolted down a cup of coffee that Nick had brewed before he left the house at 5:30 (!) and wrestled a protesting Greta into her clothes while Nick got Cecilia ready. we flew out the door, only to stop in our tracks to at the acrid smell in the air. we couldn't see any smoke, but it definitely smelled like burning rubber. we continued down the hill, crossed an eerily quiet St. Peter's Square, and got to the Questura by 7:45. we were to report to a specific room that is reserved for people seeking the permesso for religious purposes, so it wasn't a surprise to see ninety percent of the people in collars or habits, but it was a surprise to see thirty people already waiting in this room, forty-five minutes before the Questura even opened. thank goodness for Matt, who had arrived before any of the rest of them, drawing number 31 for himself, 32 for Nick and 33 for me.
as we waited, we dicussed the burning smell. it turns out that a landfill to the north of Rome caught fire this morning ... no wonder it smelled bad. in fact, the schools were mandated to keep kids inside with windows closed today because of concerns over the air quality (although the smell had disappeared by mid-morning).
and then, it was our turn! the actual process was less stressful than i anticipated in some ways, although of course, this being Italy, we were in for some surprises. first of all, they started calling numbers at 8:31 (technically one minute late, but practically early by Italian standards!), and though Matt was actually first, because we had the kids, the lady called us back first. (sorry, Matt!) secondly, the folder Beatrice prepared for us was sufficient (grazie mille, Beatrice!) and they didn't ask to see any other documentation (nor did they actually want four passport photos as was explicitly stated on the paperwork - they only wanted one of Nick, and one of myself, and none of the girls! oh well). but i was mistaken in thinking that we would complete the whole process right then and there. after checking our documents, the lady kept our passports and told us to go back to the little room and wait to be called for the fingerprinting. that finally happened around 9:30 AM. we had to go outside and back in a room, two doors down, for the finger printing. once that was finished, they told us to go back into the waiting room and wait "five minutes" before being called again as they had to run the background checks. by this point, it was ten AM and i needed to change Cecilia's diaper (and use the bathroom myself, to be honest). i asked if there was a bathroom available and they said "yes, yes, but after the security clearance" so we traipsed back into the little waiting room. we had waited there for about fifteen minutes when they called number 32, so we all headed back outside but then the fingerprinting guy said that he only wanted Nick, and i should go back to the waiting room with the girls. so back we went, and we had only been there for about a minute when suddenly the first lady came out from behind her desk, said something in Italian that i didn't understand, and everybody stood up and walked outside. Greta asked if it was a fire drill, and i said "no" because it would be ridiculous to have a fire drill! but i still couldn't explain what was happening. then somebody did say it was a fire drill! can you imagine a fire drill at the local DMV? so bizarre. anyway, we all stood around in the square across the street for about five minutes, before being told it was okay to go back inside. meanwhile, Nick was trying to get in touch with the organ tuner and maintenance man who flew in from Paris on Sunday to tune the organs here -- he was supposed to meet him this morning but hadn't counted on us being here so long (it was now 10:30 AM).
anyway, after another five minutes or so, they finally called us back over to the fingerprinting side, let me use the bathroom and change Cecilia (who had been helpfully calling out "poop! I poop!" every so often), and took more fingerprints and measured our height. we were then presented with a letter giving us a link to track the process of our permesso online, and another letter instructing us to appear at another office on January 14 to watch a two-hour film about Italian citizenship (in English). that was another surprise as i haven't heard anybody mention this in all the research i've done about the permesso process!
and then, blessedly, the fingerprinting guy said "finito! arrivederci!" and Nick flew off meet the organ tuner and the girls and i headed home. it was 11 AM, and i didn't want to disrupt Greta's class as they were having a special service in the chapel today, so i messaged her teacher to say i'd bring her over after lunch.
after lunch of PB&J (and leftover lasagna for me), i packed up the girls again, dropped Greta off at school, and headed off to do my twice weekly grocery shopping. today i had another mission, too: i want to bake Christmas cookies with the girls, but i need cookie cutters, wire racks, and sprinkles! those things just aren't to be found in the regular grocery stores. after lots of googling, i did discover a kitchen store called Peroni not too far from my usual grocery store, so we set off. and the store is so cute! i really do miss the convenience of one-stop shopping (especially when i have the girls with me), but the benefit is that when you can find the shop that has what you need, it's usually quite well stocked! anyway, i successfully got what i needed and enjoyed the walk as i had never actually been on those streets before (strange, because i walk the blocks on either side of that area quite often!). just when i think i know Rome, she surprises me!
there was another surprise as i walked over to the grocery store. i spied a glint beneath my shoe as i walked on a street i've walked at least a dozen times before. and yes, there was a stolpersteine, a brass "stumbling stone" which is a memorial to a Jewish person who lived in the nearest building and was killed during the Holocaust. reading the details on this stone gave me the chills: this person was one of those rounded up off the streets and massacred at the Fosse Ardeatine site, which Rebecca and i visited in October.
it was ironic that i noticed this stone today, because last night, many of the Instagram accounts i follow were reporting that a group of twenty stolpersteine dedicated to the Di Consiglio family were stolen the night before from the nearby neighborhood of Monti, at Via Madonna dei Monti, 82. to steal the very thing that memorialized this family is somehow even more appalling than to vandalize it. so, today, i spent a few moments reflecting, remembering those who lost their lives in the Holocaust, and the eleven people who were killed during the attack in Pittsburgh on October 27 of this year. we will not forget you.
the rest of the afternoon has been uneventful. in a few minutes, Cecilia and i will walk down to pick up Greta from school, and then i'll make dinner for us. later tonight, i'll put together another meal for our friend who had a baby over Thanksgiving (and probably freeze it for easier transportation! i haven't quite figured out how to carry a whole meal over to her without a car and without spilling anything!). and that last conundrum i feel sums up much of our time in Italy. the rituals and rhythm of daily life go on; there are just a few twists here and there. and, fire drills and all, it's worth it to be here in the Eternal City.
i had heard horror stories of people waiting four hours after their appointment time to even make it up to the desk, or people being turned away for not having a document that didn't even appear on the list of required documents. and while i have every faith in our liaison Beatrice, there's still no telling what capricious whims might strike the fancy of the actual officials in charge of legalizing our stay here. so last night, i carefully laid out our folders from Beatrice, containing the attestation letter from the Rector of the College verifying Nick's contract, copies of our passports and visas, and the receipts from our application at the post office. then, for good measure, i filled a folder with anything else i could think of: the girls' birth certificates, declaration of our insurance policy covering us here in Italy, and our codice fiscale certificates (which i really didn't think were relevant, but you never know). i put some snacks and activities in the diaper bag backpack for the girls, and made sure Greta's backpack was ready with everything she would need for school (on Tuesdays, she stays all day at school for her gymnastics class at the end of the day). then i set my alarm for 6:30 AM. we had the first appointment of the day at 8:30 AM, but Beatrice had advised we get there at 7:15 AM (for reasons which became abundantly clear later). since Nick had to play for morning prayer which concluded at 7:15, we would be rushing to get there as soon as possible after he finished (but one of the other seminarians, Matt, had to renew his permesso this morning too, and the plan was for him to arrive promptly at 7:15 and take numbers for us so we'd be good to go as soon as they started calling numbers at 8:30).
well, i woke up to Nick saying "babe! it's quarter after 7!" somehow i hadn't realized when turning on my alarm that it was only set for certain days - and Tuesday wasn't one of them. so i threw on some clothes, bolted down a cup of coffee that Nick had brewed before he left the house at 5:30 (!) and wrestled a protesting Greta into her clothes while Nick got Cecilia ready. we flew out the door, only to stop in our tracks to at the acrid smell in the air. we couldn't see any smoke, but it definitely smelled like burning rubber. we continued down the hill, crossed an eerily quiet St. Peter's Square, and got to the Questura by 7:45. we were to report to a specific room that is reserved for people seeking the permesso for religious purposes, so it wasn't a surprise to see ninety percent of the people in collars or habits, but it was a surprise to see thirty people already waiting in this room, forty-five minutes before the Questura even opened. thank goodness for Matt, who had arrived before any of the rest of them, drawing number 31 for himself, 32 for Nick and 33 for me.
as we waited, we dicussed the burning smell. it turns out that a landfill to the north of Rome caught fire this morning ... no wonder it smelled bad. in fact, the schools were mandated to keep kids inside with windows closed today because of concerns over the air quality (although the smell had disappeared by mid-morning).
and then, it was our turn! the actual process was less stressful than i anticipated in some ways, although of course, this being Italy, we were in for some surprises. first of all, they started calling numbers at 8:31 (technically one minute late, but practically early by Italian standards!), and though Matt was actually first, because we had the kids, the lady called us back first. (sorry, Matt!) secondly, the folder Beatrice prepared for us was sufficient (grazie mille, Beatrice!) and they didn't ask to see any other documentation (nor did they actually want four passport photos as was explicitly stated on the paperwork - they only wanted one of Nick, and one of myself, and none of the girls! oh well). but i was mistaken in thinking that we would complete the whole process right then and there. after checking our documents, the lady kept our passports and told us to go back to the little room and wait to be called for the fingerprinting. that finally happened around 9:30 AM. we had to go outside and back in a room, two doors down, for the finger printing. once that was finished, they told us to go back into the waiting room and wait "five minutes" before being called again as they had to run the background checks. by this point, it was ten AM and i needed to change Cecilia's diaper (and use the bathroom myself, to be honest). i asked if there was a bathroom available and they said "yes, yes, but after the security clearance" so we traipsed back into the little waiting room. we had waited there for about fifteen minutes when they called number 32, so we all headed back outside but then the fingerprinting guy said that he only wanted Nick, and i should go back to the waiting room with the girls. so back we went, and we had only been there for about a minute when suddenly the first lady came out from behind her desk, said something in Italian that i didn't understand, and everybody stood up and walked outside. Greta asked if it was a fire drill, and i said "no" because it would be ridiculous to have a fire drill! but i still couldn't explain what was happening. then somebody did say it was a fire drill! can you imagine a fire drill at the local DMV? so bizarre. anyway, we all stood around in the square across the street for about five minutes, before being told it was okay to go back inside. meanwhile, Nick was trying to get in touch with the organ tuner and maintenance man who flew in from Paris on Sunday to tune the organs here -- he was supposed to meet him this morning but hadn't counted on us being here so long (it was now 10:30 AM).
anyway, after another five minutes or so, they finally called us back over to the fingerprinting side, let me use the bathroom and change Cecilia (who had been helpfully calling out "poop! I poop!" every so often), and took more fingerprints and measured our height. we were then presented with a letter giving us a link to track the process of our permesso online, and another letter instructing us to appear at another office on January 14 to watch a two-hour film about Italian citizenship (in English). that was another surprise as i haven't heard anybody mention this in all the research i've done about the permesso process!
and then, blessedly, the fingerprinting guy said "finito! arrivederci!" and Nick flew off meet the organ tuner and the girls and i headed home. it was 11 AM, and i didn't want to disrupt Greta's class as they were having a special service in the chapel today, so i messaged her teacher to say i'd bring her over after lunch.
after lunch of PB&J (and leftover lasagna for me), i packed up the girls again, dropped Greta off at school, and headed off to do my twice weekly grocery shopping. today i had another mission, too: i want to bake Christmas cookies with the girls, but i need cookie cutters, wire racks, and sprinkles! those things just aren't to be found in the regular grocery stores. after lots of googling, i did discover a kitchen store called Peroni not too far from my usual grocery store, so we set off. and the store is so cute! i really do miss the convenience of one-stop shopping (especially when i have the girls with me), but the benefit is that when you can find the shop that has what you need, it's usually quite well stocked! anyway, i successfully got what i needed and enjoyed the walk as i had never actually been on those streets before (strange, because i walk the blocks on either side of that area quite often!). just when i think i know Rome, she surprises me!
there was another surprise as i walked over to the grocery store. i spied a glint beneath my shoe as i walked on a street i've walked at least a dozen times before. and yes, there was a stolpersteine, a brass "stumbling stone" which is a memorial to a Jewish person who lived in the nearest building and was killed during the Holocaust. reading the details on this stone gave me the chills: this person was one of those rounded up off the streets and massacred at the Fosse Ardeatine site, which Rebecca and i visited in October.
it was ironic that i noticed this stone today, because last night, many of the Instagram accounts i follow were reporting that a group of twenty stolpersteine dedicated to the Di Consiglio family were stolen the night before from the nearby neighborhood of Monti, at Via Madonna dei Monti, 82. to steal the very thing that memorialized this family is somehow even more appalling than to vandalize it. so, today, i spent a few moments reflecting, remembering those who lost their lives in the Holocaust, and the eleven people who were killed during the attack in Pittsburgh on October 27 of this year. we will not forget you.
the rest of the afternoon has been uneventful. in a few minutes, Cecilia and i will walk down to pick up Greta from school, and then i'll make dinner for us. later tonight, i'll put together another meal for our friend who had a baby over Thanksgiving (and probably freeze it for easier transportation! i haven't quite figured out how to carry a whole meal over to her without a car and without spilling anything!). and that last conundrum i feel sums up much of our time in Italy. the rituals and rhythm of daily life go on; there are just a few twists here and there. and, fire drills and all, it's worth it to be here in the Eternal City.
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