Re: 10 months here and depression is setting in
 

Freezing in Turin today, well at least compared to Friday when I was already dreaming of wearing my sandels.:D Rained quite hard this weekend and if I could see the mountains through the black clouds, I bet there is more snow on the tops. Hot weather followed by rain, what do you get? Mozzies. :(

I was planning on going to Spalmbeach at the chocolate fair. Think I'll give that a miss. brrrr.

Re: 10 months here and depression is setting in
 

I've got a nice recipe for cherry tomatoes ...... dare I say?

Re: 10 months here and depression is setting in
 

Is this topic about the difficulties of "settling in" to life in Italy?

If so, boy have I got a few tales to tell! But I won't bore you .. suffice it to say that after 26 years I still have difficulties and hardly a week goes by without thinking *what the heck am I doing living here?*:o

If anything homesickness gets worse, but you just plod on and think about what you *have* got rather than what you haven't...and thank god for the internet and satellite TV!

That said, it doesn't help that now everyone is talking about what a bad state Italy is in and how everything is much better "all'estero" and that anyone who can should move away! It's the old Italian inferiority complex I'm afraid. I just laugh and say "what do you mean..? the food here is much better"
:thumbsup:

Re: 10 months here and depression is setting in
 

Yes please! I've been messing about with sourdough bread for the last couple of weeks, but all my loaves come out like bricks. This morning I tried combining the sour dough starter with commercial yeast. It rose up like a balloon on the last rising..... and as I moved it onto the top of the cooker to open the oven door it was like someone pricked it with a pin. It deflated like a pancake while I watched! My daughter came home from school ready to eat it for lunch and decided the only thing it was good for was bruschetta so out came the cherry tomatoes......Back to the drawing board with the bread....;)

Re: 10 months here and depression is setting in
 

Just read some of the threads on life in Australia or the USA, the UK or anywhere and you'll soon realise that the grass is not always greener.

Tell us a few stories go on. Good ones and bad.

Once, years ago, I quite innocently said to a grizzly bear of a bank teller, "I don't understand what you mean. I'm sure it doesn't work this way in England." and he told me that it worked that way here and if I didn't like it I could f**k off back to the UK.
He really did say "vafanculo nel tuo paese."
When I got over the initial shock, I marched upstairs and reported him to the manager. Nothing probably happened but it made me feel a bit better.

Re: 10 months here and depression is setting in
 

Mark- Tell us your war stories! And I want to hear the cherry recipe too :) Lorna- how are your kids doing at school? I was trying to follow that thread about your daughter's teacher, but I haven't checked in a while. All good?

It's raining, raining, raining in Milan today but I LOVE it! Gives us a chance to open a bottle of nice red on a Monday. However, I agree- let's bring back flowing summer dresses and Spritz's and white wine afternoons!

For me, it's getting ok-er. I don't want to say better, but maybe I am settling into some dull acceptance of my life here.

Re: 10 months here and depression is setting in
 

as I have said on another thread, that was what the American customs officer said to OH the first time we went to the USA .... never been back since!

Re: 10 months here and depression is setting in
 

Are you sure you want the recipe, it's cherry tomatoes not cherries!

Re: 10 months here and depression is setting in
 

Whoops! Yep. My subliminal mind must want cherries, though! All that talk of summer!

Re: 10 months here and depression is setting in
 

Yes I was thinking of cherries too.

Re: 10 months here and depression is setting in
 

Actually thinking about it, at the beginning I didn't really have any great expectancies about living "in Italy" per se, so in that respect I was always OK with it despite the numerous difficulties. I really didn't have any great ideas about whizzing around thru cobbled streets on a bike in the sunshine, eating al fresco 12 months a year and lolling about in a Tuscan farmhouse or whatever.

Perhaps the only frustrating thing was that I wanted to teach but here it was (and still is) so difficult to get by, so I had to give it up and I ended up doing a job / jobs that I don't enjoy.

I guess most of my woes have been related to just feeling homesick and so far away from parents and roots. Back then I just wanted to get away, it might have been the same if I'd been in Germany or Portugal or the US.

:o

Re: 10 months here and depression is setting in
 

:D Sometimes feel the same, after most of the last 50 years here. Find myself enjoying 'Countryfile' and 'The Dales' that I've downloaded to watch. Just been looking at properties for sale in North Wales.

But then I just log onto the Daily Mail home page, and that knocks some sense into me.:lol:

ciao for now.
'o nonno

Re: 10 months here and depression is setting in
 

50 years? Blimey! :thumbsup:

Yes, the arrival of the internet has been a great help. I have big gaps in my knowledge of news and events in the UK from about 1986-1998. :confused:

Re: 10 months here and depression is setting in
 

Sunnyjt..I am italian, I live in trieste but I spent almost 2 years in Melbourne and I madly loved it! At the end, I decided to come back here (still can't understand why!) and even if I have been lucky enough to find a job (with a temporary contract, obviously) I feel soo lonely. My friends now have different lives, while my girl friends in Melbourne are always in touch with me. I agree qith you 100 % about italian women, I understand this even more after being away from here for a while.
I don't have single friends so what I do is to fill my evenings with whatever I can find in Internet.
I found this in Internet about Milan: http://www.ciaoeurope.com/dettaglio.asp?id=418 they organise international "aperitivi" where people can drink something speaking with people in different languages
Or check here: http://www.eventi-milano.it/
If you were here I would suggest to catch up for a drink or a movie or just strolling around... chin up! and be strong!!!

Re: 10 months here and depression is setting in
 

Sunnyjt, I know this thread was inactive for a while now. How are you doing? I know the way people perceive things may be quite different in different places. Trust me, after about a year it gets much better.