#36: A Bin Update and a Bureaucratic Hiccup

Ciao Nonni!

A quick update on the paper bin situation. After three missed collections, defiance reigned in the neighbourhood. Everyone left their overflowing paper bins out day and night, in protest of the lack of service. I can only imagine the number of calls being placed to Sistema Ambiente to complain about the desecration of the local streets.

At some point, the waste service relented. A special pick up was dispatched on Friday afternoon last week, and all the bins were emptied. 

Yesterday was the usual paper day, so I waited with anticipation to see what would happen. Was Friday in place of previous collections? Or would the service skip another week as they'd so recently been to our neighbourhood?

Everyone put their paper bins out as normal the night before. As of 3pm the following day, they were all still full. It seemed as if the drama was not yet over! I ran into Signora Maria as I was leaving to go to my afternoon Italian class, and we lamented the situation.

When I returned an hour and a half later, I again saw her in the foyer of the building. She was triumphant! The bins had been emptied. Better late than never!

Speaking of Signora Maria, she's becoming quite cheeky. She knows I head out to Italian classes a few times a week. Last time I told her I was going, she said that she hopes one day I will understand what she's saying to me. Or at least that we can have a conversation where I don't stare blankly at her most of the time. Fair enough.

On the topic of my Italian classes, I've really struggled to find a good rhythm with these. The group lessons run by the comune are great (and also free!) but they are big classes, and for the amount of time you commit to them you get very little actual practice. 

I'm excited that in the last few weeks I've found a new teacher, and she lives just around the corner! La professoressa is from Chicago and has lived in Italy for many years. She holds small group classes, and also offers one on one lessons. I've signed myself up for both.

Unlike last time, I've put myself in a class that is probably ever so slightly too advanced for me, which means I'm learning heaps! So far I've found the balance between grammar, vocabulary and conversation practice to be perfect. She is a true scholar and loves to explain the origins of words, which I'm finding is actually incredibly helpful - as well as very interesting!

I won't come home in a couple of weeks speaking fluently, but I am feeling a satisfaction with this aspect of my life here that I hadn't found to date. 

The rollercoaster ride of Italian bureaucracy continues. Only last week I was singing the praises once again of the Italian healthcare system. Leo had conjunctivitis, and I was able to send a photo of his eye to his doctor via text. She replied within minutes with a prescription. I went to the farmacia and they dispensed the medicine immediately. I paid zero. Nothing. Not even at the pharmacy. No waiting for an appointment or anything.

I should have sensed it was a bit too good to be true. The doctor messaged me back the following day saying that it appeared we had been removed from her list of patients, and that it seemed like our enrolment in the national healthcare service had expired.

I checked our cards. No, they were all in date. She advised that I should go the following day to the regional offices of the service (the CUP) and figure out what was happening.

After much internal complaining, I relented. I had to go. Luckily I was able to recruit a friend who also needed to run the gauntlet of the CUP and had been putting it off. Strength in numbers. Especially when those numbers speak better Italian than you!

We went to the office. It was closed for renovation. No one seemed to be able to point us in the right direction. Eventually, after wandering around the hospital campus for a while we spotted a miniscule sign pointing towards the temporary office.

We found it, took our tickets, and sat down to wait. After a surprisingly short time I was called up to one of the counters. Unlike my previous visit, the staff member who served me was in no mood to accommodate my very poor Italian. Instead of speaking more slowly and simply when I asked, she shouted louder and faster. 

For some reason, which could not be determined by either me or her, our enrolment had expired. Apparently I should have known about this, despite it not ever having been communicated anywhere. And despite our cards saying they were valid until well into 2025. At one point, a random gentleman at the counter to my right even tried to intervene on my behalf. Defending me against the tidal wave of accusatory Italian that I couldn't even begin to comprehend. 

After much back and forth, and a million paper forms (of course), I left with two new cards for the children and confirmation that we were, once again, assigned to our lovely paediatrician. The server was actually very nice after all the formalities (aka the battle) had been concluded. A classic Italian bureaucratic interaction!

I messaged the doctor that afternoon to confirm that, despite the best efforts of the CUP office, we were back in the system. And that Leo was much better. She sent about 10 laughing emojis and a thumbs up. 

All my love and hugs!