Archive for the ‘me me me’ Category
expat countdown meme
My fellow American in Calabria, Cherrye of My Bella Vita, did this meme a looooong time ago, but I’m just getting around to it.
She got it from Expat Travels: From Switzerland to Canada (where I saw it as well) who got it from The CanadianSwiss Blog…and as I’ve been promising Diane of Martinis for Two that I’d talk a bit more about my expat feelings, I figured now was as good a time as any to do this one.
* Name 5 things you love in your new country:
- Knowing that a neighbor always has something I need–parsley, lemons, tomatoes, gossip (yes, even things I don’t need!).
- The sea, the sea, the beautiful Ionian Sea and the mountains, the mountains, the gorgeous mountains–all from my balcony!
- Fresh, organic food that is readily available and relatively inexpensive.
- Clean, fresh air.
- Not having to worry about health insurance.
* Name 4 things that you miss from your native country:
- My family and friends, of course.
- Ethnic food of any kind other than Italian/Calabrian.
- Jeans that I like and that fit me well.
- American sports, especially watching my Duke Blue Devils this time of year (and especially *especially* when they beat Carolina).
* Name 3 things that annoy you a bit (or much) in your new country:
- Silvio Berlusconi.
- The pathetic salaries in sharp contrast to the high cost of living.
- Did I mention Berlusconi?
* Name 2 things that surprise you (or have surprised you in the beginning) in your new country:
- How difficult it has been to get to know Italian women as friends.
- The entire Italian education system, including how long it takes many to get through university.
* Name 1 thing that you would terribly miss in your new country, if you had to leave it.
- Well, P of course, but also the Italian language. I’m not sure I could do without it anymore. I came here knowing nothing, but now I’m addicted.
Fellow expats, do play along!
But hey, even if you’ve moved from one place to another within the same country, I’d be interested to read your answers to this meme–sometimes moving within a country can feel just as foreign as hopping the pond.
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[tags]expats, italy, expats in italy, memes[/tags]
40 Before 40
I wrote out a “40 before 40” list (that’s shorthand for “40 things to do before I turn 40”) around the time of my 30th birthday in 2006, but I didn’t have a blog yet.
So since I believe in telling the universe what I want (or at least telling the blogosphere), without further ado:
40 before 40
1. Get married. I’m aiming to do this with P, and hopefully before the age of 33. The actual planning and family logistics are putting this on hold for now.
2. Start a family. Again, with P, and for the first new member to be in my arms by the age of 35.
3. Make a family recipe book. I’m thinking recipes from my mom, my grandmother, P’s mom, other relatives, and us. And any other ones I like, since, you know, I’m the author and all.
4. Establish traditions for holidays. Thanksgiving and Fourth of July are the biggies for me to incorporate because they aren’t normally celebrated here. All the others are important too, but I want to be sure my children get the American holiday feel as much as possible.
5. Knit/crochet/cross-stitch gifts. First I have to learn how to knit and crochet, and then we can work on the gifts. I’m set on the cross-stitching, though…now to find the time!
6. Read The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000. Standing in the way is accessibility and cost since I have access to precisely no public libraries, but we’ll do our best. Online options will help this quest.
7. Read Time’s All-Time 100 Novels. Ditto for the commentary on #6.
8. Read classic and modern Italian literature in Italian. Boccaccio and Dante up to Eco and Calvino. I want to be able to read Italian as quickly as I read English. It could happen. [I’ve begun!]
9. Learn another language. I’m thinking French. German doesn’t count because I’ve already taken a year of it in college. If it so inspires me to continue, well, I won’t count that as new anyway. So probably French, possibly Lithuanian, Greek if I’m feeling extra frisky.
10. Start a blog. This one must happen within the next year or two. [It did! You’re looking at it!]
11. Get novel published. Must finish one first.
12. Organize photos into albums/scrapbooks. First I have to get all that stuff here. That alone will probably take the better part of the next 10 years.
13. Get everything out of storage, selling what needs to go, and getting everything I want in Italy here. See commentary to #12. I’m going to have a make a trip to the U.S. to just take care of that stuff, but it needs to be done.
14. Go to Hawaii. Does this need an explanation?
15. Go to Australia. P’s got relatives there, so that would cut costs, right?
16. Find family villages in Lithuania and Germany and visit. This will take a major genealogical search, and it’d be nice if I received a little blessing from the Family Tree Fairies. Of course then perhaps I should reconsider my commentary on #9.
17. Pick up the flute again. And then I could join a Calabrese band!
18. Keep a well-tended garden. P’s got a head start here, but I’d like to have flowers in addition to vegetables, even if I only have them on my balcony. P, practical Calabrian that he is, doesn’t really get my desire to grow and tend to flowers.
19. Make sure I can make all the dishes P makes. We split the cooking duties, so there are certain things he always makes, but I want to know the secrets too. And then I’ll put ’em in the family recipe book (see #3).
20. Learn and practice photography. An in-person course would probably be difficult to come by here, but thank goodness for the Internet–and I have a lot of good inspiration for pictures.
21. Send out real birthday cards and letters. No more e-cards for the important people, and I really need to write out and send more snail mail.
22. Study more world history. Being American, I feel greatly undernourished on the meal of the rest of the world’s history. I need to study up, especially on Europe.
23. Learn Italian and/or American sign language. Going to have to do this one within the next couple years because I want to teach any future baby.
24. Be in the house we’ll be in for the long haul. I want to be settled in the house our children will grow up in.
25. Have that house completely as I want it (at that moment). I will probably look to change things up every couple years since I get bored easily, but I just want everything major in place and working, even if styles may change.
26. Get to and maintain my ideal weight. I’m pretty much there, but the main part of this is to stay there. Super-skinny isn’t the goal by any means, but I do hope to be at the right weight according to the BMI and an appropriate waist-to-hip ratio (*healthy*).
27. Only have clothes and shoes that we actually wear. Anything that’s so grossly out of style that we’d never wear it cannot take up room in our limited storage space.
28. Still be hugging and kissing P every day. I don’t want this to change.
29. Still be dancing in the kitchen on a regular basis. Not saying we do this every day, but it’s often enough that I don’t want it to stop.
30. Singing more (and with the (hopeful) kid(s)). I love to sing, and I want to validate that. I do have to find more music to sing along to, which I suppose is like #30(a).
31. Get caught up on classic movies. I really should have seen movies like Casablanca, The Philadelphia Story, Rebel Without a Cause, etc., by now. Lucky for me, SKY has a great classics movie channel. I’m working on it.
32. Take some sort of course on something in some way. Subject could be photography (see #20), language (#9), world history (#22), or something I haven’t even considered yet. But I want to learn more about something in an organized way with a teacher who knows the material well. I miss school. There I said it.
33. Have savings. Doesn’t have to be in a bank and it doesn’t have to be a lot, but extra cash in case of emergency would be a really nice thing. [I’m on my way!]
34. Go to a Broadway show. Yes, I’ve already seen several (The Phantom of the Opera is my favorite), but the fact that I live in Italy now doesn’t make it as accessible as it once was. If we have children, and they are of a certain age by the time I’m 40, it’d be nice for them to go too.
35. Paint/draw more, with more actual knowledge of what I’m doing. I’d like to learn how to do watercolors, in particular.
36. See the Grand Canyon. I’ve never been, and P would love this too.
37. Visit Yosemite National Park. Ditto commentary to #36.
38. Have a real vacation where I don’t worry about anything. Can’t remember the last time I just lounged on a beach not worrying about a freaking thing. I hope that can happen again, although the beach isn’t necessary–a mountain cabin would work fine too.
39. Vegas. See commentary to #36.
40. Study all major religions (and even some minor ones if there’s time). I know a lot about Catholicism but not everything. And I know a little about a lot of other religions. But I’d like to know more.
After I typed this out, I realized there are actually so many more things for me to do before 40. Guess I’ll just have to live longer then.
What’s on your “(X) before (X)” list?
Six-Word Memoirs
SMITH Magazine, self-described as “a home for storytelling,” challenged readers to write six-word memoirs inspired by Ernest Hemingway, who, when asked to write a six-word novel, came up with “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”
Genius, right?
To get the words rolling, SMITH teased with six-word memoirs written by author of Eat, Pray, Love Elizabeth Gilbert (“Me see world! Me write stories!”) and Chef Mario Batali (“Brought it to a boil, often”).
Some of my favorites are:
Secret of life: Marry an Italian. (Nora Ephron)
Wasn’t born a redhead; fixed that. (Andie Grace)
Found true love, married someone else. (Bjorn Stromberg)
Must remember: people, gadgets. That order. (Brian Lam)
One tooth, one cavity, life’s cruel. (John Bettencourt)
You can read more in Not Quite What I was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure by Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser, but you know I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to write mine:
In search of heritage, found self.
Read more about six-word memoirs in the L.A. Times Op-Ed Short on words, deep in meaning and send yours in to SMITH Magazine here. But first, do share:
What is your six-word memoir?
Buon weekend!
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[tags] SMITH Magazine, six-word memoirs, books[/tags]
Love Thursday: Letting Sleeping Dogs Lie
I am *so* lucky to be able to work at home.
I especially appreciate it when the weather is nasty outside — cold, rainy, and windy — and I can sit at the kitchen table with my laptop, papers and files and notebooks spread all around me, the small space heater nearby, a fleece blankie over my legs, and Luna and Stella at my feet.
Well, nearer to the stufa than to my feet, but who’s measuring?
Happy Love Thursday!
(Yes, it’s officially back!)
year end meme
What’s the end of a year without a little reflection on what’s happened, where we’ve been, and what we’ve done?
Well over at Sundry Mourning, there’s a little tradition of the Year End meme, first copied from Gwen’s Petty, Judgmental, Evil Thoughts back in 2004.
I filled it out last year, which you can find here, and now it’s time to look back on 2007.
Feel free to play along and let me know where to find you!
1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before? Raised puppies from birth, dyed my hair, made Christmas cookies on a wide scale, used a cookie press, slept in a bed & breakfast (Hi Cherrye!), made money from my blog, became a professional blogger, sent out Italian Christmas cards, made hummus, made bagels, acted as an interpreter, wrote 25,0o0 words in a month.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Don’t make ’em; can’t break ’em. I might make some this year, though, just to mix things up. We’ll see.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? No family or close friends, but some blogfriends–and a whole lot of expats in Italy are preggers now, quite a few due any day!
4. Did anyone close to you die? My great-aunt’s daughter Jeanie as I wrote about here and my mom’s friend Kitty who was like a grandmother to me and who I wrote about here.
5. What countries did you visit? Just Italia.
6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? More writing gigs as always, and a book contract wouldn’t suck either. Ooh, and a real vacation.
7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? October 20 birth of the puppies. I think that’s all.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Probably the development of this blog and its amazing community. I’m also pretty proud of losing more weight and maintaining it–aah, and finding a pair of pants in Italy that fit me and that I like! Woohoo!
9. What was your biggest failure? It’s not really my personal failure, but I had hoped to be in the new house by now.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Only recently with a nasty stomach virus followed up by a sinus infection. Love being sick over the holidays!
11. What was the best thing you bought? My ADSL contract with Telecom (although it *does* have its issues).
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? I said my doggie Luna last year, and I’m going with her again but for different reasons. This year she accepted a new dog in the house followed by six puppies–all in stride. She’s such a trooper.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Going with the Bush administration again on this one. Can’t wait to have a new administration to be appalled and depressed by.
14. Where did most of your money go? Internet and phone bills (but so worth it), just like last year.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? The camera from Salena–I’m *still* really, really, really excited about that.
16. What song will always remind you of 2007? Geez probably the theme songs from, The O.C., Gilmore Girls, and Veronica Mars since they’ve served as my background noise most of the year.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you: (a) happier or sadder? (b) thinner or fatter? (c) richer or poorer? Hmm, I’d say happier, a few pounds lighter, and there’s money in the bank–I’m richer (although “rich” is a strong word).
18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Yoga and fiction writing.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Anything other than fiction writing.
20. How did you spend Christmas? With P and his parents for the first half and then cradling my throbbing face for the second half. Fun times.
21. Did you fall in love in 2007? Have you seen the puppies?
22. What was your favorite TV program? Lost.
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I don’t hate the players, just the game sometimes.
24. What was the best book you read? Ooh, tough one. Eat Pray Love sticks out.
25. What was your greatest musical discovery? Adriano Celentano although it’s not so much a discovery as a more intense dedication. Love that voice.
26. What did you want and get? An expansion of my writing career.
27. What did you want and not get? To be in the new house by Christmas.
28. What was your favorite film of this year? Haven’t seen anything new in a long time. Favorite new-to-me film? Pirates of the Caribbean. Just when I thought I couldn’t love Johnny Depp more.
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 31 and honestly, I don’t remember what happened–a sure sign of getting old as it was only two months ago.
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Same answer as last year: if someone in my family or close circle of friends from home would have visited or if I would’ve been able to go home.
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? Comfortable is key.
32. What kept you sane? My doggies, the Internet, fellow expats, blogs, emails, phone calls, and my writing.
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I’ve enjoyed Milo Ventimiglia despite the fact that P won’t let me watch Heroes. Have to get my Milo fix via GG.
34. What political issue stirred you the most? The concept of universal health care versus how it’s carried out in certain (ahem) countries.
35. Who did you miss? My family and my girlfriends from home more than ever.
36. Who was the best new person you met? Lots of online buddies, of course, but in person, one of my students who has become a friend.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007. A positive attitude positively makes a positive difference.
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. With the risk of getting (a lot) sappy, it’s hard to put into words how much this past year of my life has been enriched by all of you who take the time to read, comment, write, and share your lives through these Internets. And so, from Natalie Merchant:
You’ve been so kind and generous
I don’t know how you keep on giving
For your kindness I’m in debt to you
For your selflessness my admiration
For everything you’ve done you know I’m bound
I’m bound to thank you for it.
And how was your year?
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[tags] year end meme, memes[/tags]
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
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