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Consulate Journey

| Tracy

A week after UNR defeated UNLV for the eight straight time, we found ourselves on a flight to Los Angeles for our visa appointment at the Italian Consulate.

We were prepared. Or so we thought. We had not one, but two binders full of documents (in triplicate), a list from the consulate Web site of the documents required and enough passport photos to choke a hippo.

The evening before the appointment we landed at LAX, took a taxi to our hotel, arrived three hours early and received a nice upgrade to a suite. After a glance at a map realized that we were just a few blocks from where our sister Trina and her husband and daughter lived and gave Trina a call to let her know that we were in town.

She immediately asked if we were free that evening and said that when she was finished with an appointment that they would stop by our hotel to visit. We eagerly awaited her arrival, sort of . . . both of us were exhausted after a day of travel and fell asleep within minutes of sitting down, thankfully our afternoon respite didn’t last too long and we were both awake to greet our visitors a few hours later. Trina and her husband, Glenn, took us to dinner at Norm’s, a favorite of theirs and we really enjoyed ourselves.

Rarely do we get such great one-on-one time with family as most family events involve many more people, so we were both excited and pleased for their time and attention. After dinner they took us by the cottage they’ve rented in LA, which is absolutely adorable and Trina walked her sister around the quiet neighborhood where they live while the brothers-in-law chatted at the cottage.

Trina had offered to pick us up the following morning and to drop us off at the consulate for our appointment, saving us a great deal in cab fare. We were happy for her company and really enjoyed the afternoon when we finished at the consulate. Trina took us to the California Academy of Science (the new home of the Space Shuttle Endeavor) on the USC campus where we explored for hours all of the great exhibits, then she took us on the route the Endeavor traveled from LAX to it’s new home at the Academy of Science. We were both amazed and awed at the size of the Space Shuttle and the ingenuity it took to get it from one place to the other.

Our afternoon exploits helped us to forget our morning at the Italian Consulate.

After arriving an hour early and waiting in the small room with a very large window looking down at Avenue of the Stars, we were called promptly at our appointed time by Patricia Maroni, our intake counselor for a visa.

She quickly looked through the binder of our paperwork and asked where we got the list of documents. Stating that she hoped we hadn’t used the one from the Italian Immigration site as that is not the same list as the one for the Italian Consulate General in LA. We smiled and told her we had the list from the LA Consulate Web site, whew close call, because weeks earlier we had called the consulate and were told that the list was on their Web site. She smiled and said “Oh no, that is not the one to use. It is outdated, you should have called and asked for the right list from us, then you would have been prepared.”

There are no words to describe the swearing that was happening in our heads as we looked at Patricia incredulously and stated “Well, now we know better for next time.”

Patricia graciously gave us the super-secret, can’t get it till you get here in person, list of documents and as we eagerly read through the list to see if we had the additional documents in our “other” binder of documents. We had one of the three we were missing, our marriage license. The other missing documents were a letter from us to the Consulate General stating why we wanted to live in Italy – that has to be signed and notarized – and a letter from our banker stating our monthly income, account types and balances.

We asked Patricia if a bank statement would suffice as many of us in the U.S. don’t actually know our banker. She said “NO. It needs to be a letter from your banker and needs also to be signed by your banker.”

So after our lovely afternoon with Trina and our niece, Etta-Kimiyo, we found ourselves back at LAX waiting for our flight and reviewing the events of our visit to the consulate and making a list for the following Monday.

1) write a letter explaining why we want to live in Italy

2) find a notary so the Consulate General knows that our next door neighbor didn’t write our letter for us

3) find our who the hell our banker is and get them to write us a letter

We pick up the letter at 10 am today and will be visiting the notary this afternoon, followed by a trip to FedEx to send everything back to Patricia, including the thank you card for all her help during our recent visit.

Fingers crossed people, we are hoping to get a favorable reply and the visa stamp in our passports by Christmas so we can book our flights, get the dog certified for travel and move in early January.

Whew, almost there.

Battle for Nevada 2012

Fremont Cannon, college football's largest trophy, a replica of a 19th century Howitzer cannon.
| Tracy

Our last “in person” game between state rivals, University of Nevada, Reno and University of Nevada, Las Vegas, is soon approaching. This game and state rivalry has been an important event in our lives for the past 12 years. It’s right up there with Superbowl Sunday and the Academy Awards for our family.

When we married 12 years ago, we knew that it would be difficult for the children to spend holidays with more than one household a day. Children need to play and do not generally like to be opening gifts and eating and getting in the car to go to another household to open more gifts, eat again and get back in the car. We decided that holidays could be celebrated when we were together without disrupting the children, and then we thought it could be just as much fun to create special family days that were not traditional holidays.

So Superbowl Sunday became a family holiday, the kids would pick a team to support, so did we, food was laid out to be grazed upon during the day and lively shouting ensued. The Academy Awards were another family holiday. We printed up the categories, the nominees and everyone voted for who they thought would win and at the end of the night correct answers were added up and a winner named. These were the family days we most looked forward to, more than Christmas and Thanksgiving because these were our special times with our kids and we looked forward to them every year.

The UNR vs. UNLV game isn’t one where anyone picks a team to support. We are now and will forever be UNR fans. This isn’t just any state rivalry . . . we play for the largest trophy of any college team in the U.S., the Fremont Cannon, and it’s a very, very serious event. The winner of the game paints the cannon in their school colors and the cannon has been it’s rightful blue color for the past 7 years. UNR can lose every single game in a season and as long as they beat UNLV they remain champions to all their fans and supporters, and this family. This year, like all the others, we will scream, holler, kick the back of the bleachers and have the time of our lives and will love and support our Wolf Pack for another year . . . as long as they bring that cannon home to it’s rightful place.

We are making the arrangements, getting tickets, arranging a small bus and generally beginning to get pretty excited for game day at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas. This game will be bittersweet, but even that can be overcome as long as the cannon stays blue and comes home to Reno.

So say a prayer for our Pack on Saturday, October 13 for a hard fought victory . . . game starts at noon, prayers should start at approximately 11:45 am! Go Pack!

UNR vs. UNLV Football History

1969 Reno  UNR 30–28       

1970 Las Vegas  UNLV 42–30

1971 Reno  UNLV 27–13       

1972 Las Vegas  UNR 41–13       

1973 Reno  UNR 19–3       

1974 Las Vegas  UNLV 28–7       

1975 Reno  UNLV 45–7       

1976 Las Vegas  UNLV 49–33       

1977 Reno  UNLV 27–12       

1978 Las Vegas  UNR 23–14       

1979 Reno  UNLV 26–21       

1983 Las Vegas  UNLV 28–18       

1985 Reno  UNR 48–7       

1987 Las Vegas  UNLV 24–19       

1989 Reno  UNR 45–7

1990 Las Vegas  UNR 26–14       

1991 Reno  UNR 50–8       

1992 Las Vegas  UNR 14–10       

1993 Reno  UNR 49–14

1994 Las Vegas  UNLV 32–27       

1995 Reno  UNR 55–32       

1996 Las Vegas  UNR 54–17       

1997 Reno  UNR 31–14       

1998 Las Vegas  UNR 31–20       

1999 Reno  UNR 26–12       

2000 Las Vegas  UNLV 38–7       

2001 Reno  UNLV 27–12       

2002 Las Vegas  UNLV 21–17       

2003 Reno  UNLV 16–12       

2004 Las Vegas  UNLV 48–13       

2005 Reno  UNR 22–14       

2006 Las Vegas  UNR 31–3       

2007 Reno  UNR 27–20       

2008 Las Vegas  UNR 49–27       

2009 Reno  UNR 63–28       

2010 Las Vegas  UNR 44–26

2011 Reno  UNR 37–0

Total Wins: UNR 22, UNLV 15

Our last Rib Cook-off

Like a peach pie in a disposable tray
| Tracy
It's all about the RIBS!
It’s all about the RIBS!

We attended our last Rib Cook-off today. This one like so many in the past was all about barbecue sauce and roasted ears of corn, looking for a place to sit and eat that may or may not have a little bit of shade or somewhere to set down your sampler tray. And this year, like every year in the past I’ve left the dental floss at home. But that negligent aspect aside, it is the smell and the taste of well done barbecue and sweet and tangy sauces that has kept us going back year after year after year.

The Rib Cook-off is but one of the many events hosted in the Reno-Sparks area that we will miss in the years to come, yet as any good organizer knows you cannot add something new without letting something go or you just end up with chaos.

Nick enjoying his roasted corn
Nick enjoying his roasted corn

So we said our farewell to the Rib Cook-off with a sampling of excellently cooked and basted pork ribs, roasted corn on the cob, Alan indulged in a bit of deep-fried peaches with whipped cream shared with our son Nick who came along to spend a couple of hours with us out in the smokey, barbecue-flavored haze that is Rib Cook-off.

The foodie in each of us is pleased and our inner organizers plan to substitute barbecued ribs for the annual horse race in Siena in 2013 to keep life balanced and free of chaos while accepting that we will do without the familiar and embrace the unknown as we prepare for a future abroad.

See Alan’s event portfolio.

Portfolio Preview

| Tracy

An Italian Point of View has a new Web site. This new site has portfolios of our favorite photos from excursions we’ve had recently.

Updates will occur as we continue on our journey and our hope is to connect the new Web site and our Twitter, Flickr and You Tube accounts to our Word Press blog. For now I think we may have to memorize all of the Web addresses and add links, but as we become more proficient we expect that these things will also get easier to link together.

So visit the new site and view some our current online portfolios.

And the good news keeps coming . . .

Apollo
| Tracy

Item number two on our “big list” was to sell Apollo.

A week ago, we listed Apollo on Craig’s List after getting him a bath and taking a few photos of him all bright and shiny. We knew that we needed to act quickly before the winter season set in as it is very difficult to sell a sport car when it’s snowing, especially one that is rear-wheel drive.

So after his mini spa day and photo shoot, we wrote an ad, uploaded some photos of Apollo’s big smiling mug and listed a price we thought we could negotiate around and sent it into the vastness of the Internet to work it’s magic on the right person.

Three days later the right person came along. Exactly the right person — over the age of 40 and could drive a manual transmission, someone who had sports cars his whole life (mainly Corvettes) and who could appreciate a GM product, someone who had a second vehicle and wouldn’t need Apollo as a means of transportation in the winter, and best of all . . . someone with cash.

A quick phone call, a 15 minute meet at the marina, a peek under the hood and a hop into the driver’s seat and he was on his way home with his wife and Schnauzer. The following day, another quick phone call, a 15 minute meet at the bank and finally a quick test drive (my first time in the passenger seat) and Apollo was on his way home with his new family.

Now we are looking forward to getting “big list” item three handled. Number three is selling the Smart car which we are expecting to start in November.

Things continue to move forward and we are grateful and appreciative of all those who are helping us along the way, even if it’s just rehoming a few “big list” items for us!

Homeless . . . and happy!

| Tracy

We got great news today — the house closed!!

Our beautiful, 3 bdrm, 2 bath, 2 car garage home has a new owner and we couldn’t be happier about it.

Selling the house was one of those “big list” items that was important to both of us to be handled prior to our move. This morning we received an email from our realtor that the house has closed and that there is a check awaiting us at the title company. Woohoo!

After our first buyer didn’t quite work out due to their bank not getting the paperwork together over a rather long nine month period, we had to make the decision to abandon our first buyer and re-list the house. It was a difficult decision as we had been hopeful that the first buyer’s bank could get it together and close the deal, but that just didn’t happen.

So, after a discussion with our realtor we re-listed the house on July 5 at 9:30 am, by 10:30 am there were 25 requests to view the house, by July 6 at 5 pm our realtor took the house back off the market so that we could go through the four offers we had already received. Of the four offers, two were cash. After reviewing each of the four offers we accepted one of the cash offers. The buyer had checked the box on the offer stating he was not planning to live in the house and we figured it was someone interested in flipping the house.

We eventually found out that the buyer wasn’t intending to flip the house but the reason he wasn’t planning to live in the house was that he bought it for his paraplegic brother and sister-in-law. Talk about feeling good about a decision, after realizing what an amazing person was buying our house, we couldn’t help but feel good that we had re-listed the house allowing this new buyer the opportunity to find a house in his price range, leaving enough left over for the renovations necessary to add ramps and remodel the master bath to accommodate his brother.

Thankfully our home had wide hallways, spacious living areas and would need minimal upgrades to accommodate a wheelchair, thus allowing his brother to move into the house within weeks of the purchase and the few upgrades the house would need.

We are super happy for the new owners and hope that they have many happy years in the house, we sure did.

For us, it was a moment of joy to find out that we are now free to move without fear of having an anchor back in the States that we’ll have to deal with from afar. We are grateful to our realtor, Terri Cole with Coldwell Banker and would recommend her to anyone in the Reno/Sparks area in search of a dedicated realtor.

With 143 days left until we move, this news couldn’t have been more timely. Now we will refocus our efforts to selling the cars and finishing our other tasks before moving.

We got it!

Terrace Garden - Florence Apartment
| Tracy

We have secured our first apartment in Italy!

50 square meters off via Laura just a block from Piazza Innocenti on a pedestrian street. It has all the features we were hoping for: terra cotta floors, dark beam ceilings, a garden/terrace area and room for company. We were looking for apartments in the historic district and this gem of a place is just a few blocks from the Duomo in Florence. One of the nicest features is that it is a ground floor apartment and all the areas that Kiara needs to access are on one floor, no stairs for her.

Our lease is 18 months and has an option to renew, so we’ll need to decide if we’re staying on a little longer in Florence or making the move to Venice which is stop number two for our Italian adventure.

Master Bedroom - Florence Apartment
Master Bedroom – Florence Apartment

This shot of the master bedroom shows the terra cotta floors (which will help keep the room cool in the summer) and part of the study loft above.

Study Loft - Florence Apartment
Study Loft – Florence Apartment

This is the study loft in the master bedroom which shows the dark, wood beam ceiling as well.

Living Room - Florence Apartment
Living Room – Florence Apartment

The living room, which is actually part of the great room which includes the living room, kitchen and dining room. The space is not very big, but is nicely appointed without being crowded so even the small space looks larger.

Guest Loft - Florence Apartment
Guest Loft – Florence Apartment

The guest loft has two single beds that can be made into a double bed for couples (this is a standard in Italy which allows for a lot of flexibility for hotels and vacation rentals).

Dining Room - Florence Apartment
Dining Room – Florence Apartment

The dining room has a nice view of the terrace garden, we are hopeful that the fountain actually works! This was the shot that sold us on this apartment, we could just picture ourselves having breakfast at this table every day.

Kitchen - Florence Apartment
Kitchen – Florence Apartment

The kitchen is all pretty normal as Italian basic kitchens go, except for that nice big oven. That is definitely an upgrade from the average Italian kitchen and one that we’ll appreciate all winter long.

Terrace Garden - Florence Apartment
Terrace Garden – Florence Apartment

The statue and greenery are a welcome sight, we never expected anything so beautiful or even a backyard at all, this was such a huge bonus for us.

But as far as apartments go, this one is actually very nice and quite spacious for it’s minimal square footage and it is so beautifully situated within the historic district that it will definitely be a great starting point for us.

Tracy’s Swan Song

photo of a sunset
| Tracy

I retired yesterday. 

I drove to the office like it was any other day, AC/DC’s Highway to Hell on Apollo’s [my 2008 bright yellow Saturn Sky] stereo, caramel macchiato from Starbuck’s in the drink holder, keys clipped to the strap of my purse — a regular day. As I drove up the hill that I have driven up for 18 years it finally dawned on me — this is the last trip up this hill I will ever have to do. Wow! After 18 years you’d think that there would be something amiss with elated attitude, it almost seemed wrong to be so happy about leaving. But in the grand scheme of things someone must leave in order for the next person to promote and grow.

And besides, we have a schedule to adhere to. This is item number 2 on the “big list” of things to do before going to Italy and I’m just not sad about it. Number 1 was selling the house — downsizing, minimizing, moving to an apartment — check, done. Number 2 — Tracy retires and begins wrangling paperwork — check, done.

So yesterday morning I parked the car, grabbed my purse and my coffee and headed in to the office like any other day — except the only thing left to do was to write a farewell e-mail to my colleagues, turn in my keys, my checklist, my exit interview and meet a few friends, the husband and my boss for lunch at my favorite restaurant for what Barb (my boss of 3 years) called my “swan song.” We had a great time and laughed plenty, especially since the three friends that were there knew ALL of the stories from my 18 years at the college, every last goofy, slightly unprofessional, moronic thing I had done these three knew it all — I haven’t laughed that hard in a long, long time!

My farewell e-mail went something like:

It has been both a pleasure and a privilege to have worked with all of you during my 18 years at TMCC. I will be leaving today with great memories of such things as registering students manually for classes, the invention of the Tel-Reg system, the annual Poker Run, commencement at Rancho San Rafael, Welcome Back skits, Night of a Thousand Classes, the Tenure Celebration and much, much more.

I also want to say thanks to some of the professors I’ve had over the years — Kelsie Harder, Jim Roderick, Bill Gallegos, and my dear friend Carola Naumer — as I retire from TMCC with degrees in Art History and Fine Arts, largely due to their encouragement and teaching excellence.

Our next adventure starts January of 2013, when we move to Florence. Which is my next assignment — taking care of paperwork and all the loose ends that need to be tied prior to our departure.

It may not be La Dolce Vita but life in Italy will definitely feel like a retirement made in heaven.

Thank you and farewell.

What I didn’t expect was the 63 responses I received within a few hours of sending this message. I know most of the people at the college, but I still didn’t expect that many responses, especially since most of the faculty are away for the summer — it felt good to know I’ll be missed, you really can’t ask for more than that.

But even with such a wonderful out-pouring of support I cannot feel sad, I know that I’ll miss the people that I worked with for 18 years, there are some very nice people at TMCC and I really enjoyed working with them over the years, but I’m not sad and I won’t miss it. I had a great job, I loved what I did and I was pretty good at it [well at least people were kind and SAID I was good at it =) ] but it was just what I did during the day. It was always a job, never my life. Life was what happened between 5 pm and 8 am the rest was just work. Some days good, some not so much, but the job paid for the life and the life was at home — and that’s where I am now, home living my life and — largely due to an awesome husband, great kids and family and amazing friends — it’s a pretty good one.

Alan’s Retirement: 200 Days and Counting

| Alan

Next week is Tracy’s final week at work prior to her retirement on June 29.  She is excited to start her retirement working full-time on our final visa paperwork and preparing all the logistics for our move to Florence.  She is the ultimate “Queen of Organization.”

I’m envious she is retiring first, but looking forward to be teaching one last semester at Truckee Meadows Community College while still helping Tracy with the moving process between classes.  I have a few days less than 200 to go until I “pull the pin” and join her in retirement.

Between careers in law enforcement and college teaching I have about 32 years in public service prior to retirement with five years working in the private sector before that.  I feel privileged to have had two challenging and rewarding careers serving my community and, with minimizing and simplifying our lifestyle, being able to retire young enough to fully embrace our expat adventure.

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