All posts by Deirdre Straughan

living in Italy

Leaving Italy: The Practicalities

Leave a comment

On March 31st, 2008, my residence in Italy was officially revoked. This was easy to accomplish. A few days before, Enrico and I had gone together to Lecco’s Ufficio dell’Anagrafe (I guess a reasonable translation would be “Population Records Office”). This is where you go to record transfers of residence (within Italy), births, deaths, and marriages.

To undo my Italian residency, all that was required was to write a letter which the nice lady at the window dictated and Enrico transcribed (his handwriting being much more legible than mine). She photocopied my carta d’identita’ (Italian identity card) and gave it back to me, then told us to go to the Registry Office (within the same building) to officially hand in the letter. The lady there gave us a dated and signed photocopy, and that was all there was to it.

You may be wondering: why did I so easily give up what so many foreigners would give their eyeteeth to have? Taxes, my friend. Most countries in the world, including Italy, make all their residents, citizens or foreigners, pay some sort of income tax. The US is perhaps the ONLY country in the world which requires its non-resident citizens to pay tax. So, if you’re an American living overseas, you’ve got two sets of taxes to file per year. There is a tax treaty between the US and Italy such that the US gives you tax credits for the Italian taxes paid on the first $86,000 of your income. Beyond that, you’re paying both governments for the privilege of working. There was a time, in my Dotcom boom heyday, when I was paying over 50% of my income in taxes.

Since I will no longer be availing myself of Italian national services such as health care and education, I see no good reason to keep giving money to the Italian government, especially when I have to put a kid through college in the US. So I’ve cancelled my Italian residency. I can still visit at least as often I’m likely to have time to, I think the limit is three months out of every six. Supposedly at some point someone official will show up at our house to ascertain whether I’m still there or not.

You might also like:

Italy Changing: La Dolce Vita Ain’t What It Used to Be Everyday Italian: Newspaper Headlines 9 Return to Bormio Part 2 Moving House in Italy
bio

First Weeks in Colorado

Leave a comment

I don’t always have the mental energy to write profound thoughts or reach important conclusions, but I know that some of you enjoy keeping up with what I’m doing, so here’s a sort of travelogue about my recent move to the US.

Mar 31 Departed Milan. Enrico drove me to the airport in heavy traffic, from which I concluded that I should never again try to get to Linate during rush hour. Made it with a comfortable margin in the end, but it wasn’t worth the stress.

Transited through Frankfurt and decided never to do that again, either. Security has been relaxed, I suppose – we didn’t go through the full body pat-down I’ve experienced in Frankfurt before, but we did have passport checks at the gate. This is fine when your passport is checked just before you get on the plane, but in this case we were required to be checked before going into a holding area just outside the gate. This area had insufficient chairs and no bathroom, so it got very annoying when the flight was delayed.

The delay was due to severe overbooking (so much for German efficiency…). Lufthansa offered a business class upgrade and 500 euros to anyone who would take a later flight through Chicago. I considered it, but was worried about arriving in Denver around midnight, tired, with lots of baggage, and needing to drive an hour over unfamiliar roads to reach my new home.

The flight, of course, was full to the last seat. My seat neighbor was returning from a business trip to India, and had loved it, so we found plenty to talk about. Plus I watched some decent movies from the wide selection available on the seat-back video screens, and read the latest Montalbano book.

…and didn’t have time to write any more!

You might also like:

Default ThumbnailThe (Previous) Bombing of Tripoli Italian SMS-Speak Default ThumbnailTravelling India in Luxury… and Out Default ThumbnailRubber Ducky
TCKs

Coming “Home” to America

9 Comments

So I’ve returned to live (and work) in the USA. A number of people, particularly US immigration officers, have said: “Welcome home.” I am grateful for their friendly intentions, but “home” is not what the US represents for me. I’ve lived here only about a third of my life to date.

Having spent many of my formative years in Asia, I tried to come “home” to America once before, when I graduated from high school in India and entered college in the US. Like many third culture kids, I had felt out of place (though not unhappy) in the exotic countries I’d lived in, where I was very obviously foreign even after being there for years. I dreamed of returning to a country where I would feel wholly at ease and be accepted as a natural part of the scenery. It was a rude shock to discover that this homeland, for me and others like me, is a myth. Though I didn’t realize it at the time, I was a “hidden immigrant”: on the surface seemingly a local, but in reality a not-quite-native, which manifested in ways which confused and irritated the real Americans.

Continue reading Coming “Home” to America →

You might also like:

Default ThumbnailLearn Italian in Song: I Bambini Fanno Ooh Italian vs. American Diet What Happens When You’re Not a Native of Anywhere? Slow Food, Good Wine, Hot Baths
Italian language, Italian songs

Learn Italian in Song: Dieci Ragazze per Me

1 Comment

Ten Girls for Me

Another Lucio Battisti classic, this has been part of the Italian pop lexicon for decades, as illustrated in this clip from the film Bianca, starring Nanni Moretti.

Ho visto un uomo che moriva per amore,– – – I saw a man who was dying for love,
ne ho visto un altro che piu’ lacrime non ha.– – – I saw another who had no more tears.
Nessun coltello mai ti può ferir di piu’– – – No knife can wound you more
di un grande amore che ti stringe il cuor.– – – Than a great love which squeezes your heart.

Dieci ragazze per me posson bastare– – – 10 girls for me can be enough.
dieci ragazze per me io voglio dimenticare– – – 10 girls for me, I want to forget.
capelli biondi da accarezzare– – – Blonde hair to caress
e labbra rosse sulle quali morire.– – – and red lips to die on
Dieci ragazze per me solo per me.– – – 10 girls for me, only for me.

Una la voglio perché– – – One I want because
sa bene ballare.– – – she knows how to dance well.
Una la voglio perché– – – One I want because
ancor non sa cosa vuol dire l’amore.– – – she still doesn’t know what love means.

Una soltanto perché– – – One only because
ha conosciuto tutti tranne me.– – – she has known everyone but me.
Dieci ragazze cosi’– – – 10 girls like that
che dicono solo di si’.– – – who only say yes.

Vorrei sapere chi ha detto– – – I want to know who said
che non vivo piu’ senza te.– – – that I no longer live without you.
Matto, quello é proprio matto perché– – – Crazy, he’s really crazy
because
forse non sa– – – maybe he doesn’t know
che posso averne una per il giorno,– – – that I can have one for the day
una per la sera– – – one for the evening
però quel matto mi conosce– – – but that crazy knows me
perché ha detto una cosa vera.– – – because he said a true thing.

Dieci ragazze per me– – – 10 girls for me can be enough.
posson bastare
dieci ragazze per me– – – 10 girls for me, I want to forget.
io voglio dimenticare
capelli biondi da accarezzare– – – Blonde hair to caress
e labbra rosse sulle quali morire.– – – and red lips to die on
Dieci ragazze cosi’– – – 10 girls like that
che dicon solo di si’.– – – who only say yes.

You might also like:

Default ThumbnailLearn Italian in Song: La Vasca Default ThumbnailLearn Italian in Song: Il Campo Delle Lucciole Default ThumbnailAggiungi un Posto a Tavola: Consolazione Default ThumbnailLearn Italian in Song: La Canzone del Sole