There is a very distinctive siren sound that I'm not sure belongs to the police. Our residence here is near a hospital so it might just belong to the ambulance. In my travels I've never heard a similar sound. I'm pretty sure that this particular sound will always remind me of my stay here since we've heard it pretty much every day this week and more than a few times per day.
L. came by with a Sri Lankan lady who works as a housekeeper part time. I don't have a maid back in the UAE as I do the cleaning myself back home but the husband mentioned the cleaner to me and I thought why not. Well, I am cleaning pretty much every day here and hoovered the place before they arrived so I couldn't really hire her today. You pay her 10 euros per hour which I think is a very reasonable price though the husband's eyes bulged at this. I think he's spoiled that I never demanded help with the cleaning before so he doesn't know what prices are actually out there for this kind of service!
After our introductions something really embarrassing happened. Ugh, I feel bad just thinking about it. I told W. that this 3gb sim card business isn't working out as we had consumed the entire bandwidth in just two days between myself and my sons so he stopped by Vodafone on his way back from work last night and the guy working there showed him the offers. There's a pretty good one like we have back in the UAE that is 30mbps but that is MUCH cheaper than our crook of a telecommunication company's. You pay 99 euros for the modem then after that, starting next week, it's 25 euros a month. It's 120 euros in the Emirates for the same internet plan monthly! Etisalat sucks.
Anyway... So I'm explaining to L. that this plan in the leaflet is what we want to go with and she sort of got a look on her face that wasn't exactly positive. Mr. P. doesn't know English so I couldn't contact him and explain and Mrs. C. I already felt bad for having her come over with the handyman only two days ago so L. was the choice. Honestly, as our broker, it shouldn't be her duty to contact our landlords FOR us but W. seemed to think it was okay. Well L. said she would phone Mr. P. no problem and then tell us the outcome.
After L. and the housekeeper left I immediately phoned W. and told him I felt bad about involving L. and that she had already been very kind and she's pretty busy brokering other places for people visiting Milan for this furniture exhibition taking place soon. SO W. phones L. and then immediately calls me back. IT TURNED OUT THAT L. THOUGHT WE WANTED MR. P AND MRS. C TO PAY FOR THE INTERNET OFFER.
No! I have terrible anxiety talking to people face to face and it's even more terrible on the phone when you don't have facial cues to give you clues as to how to steer a conversation (I know I'm overanalysing basic human communication but I can't help it!) but I got over it and called L.
I explained to her that WE ARE PAYING FOR IT. Not our landlords! She seemed pretty amused as W. had already explained the thing to her. After that I phone Mrs. C but I get the message "segreteria telefonica" and some more Italian after that. I google the aforementioned two words and it turns out it's an answering machine service. :/ I thought those things were only applicable in the movies (I never used an answering machine service in my life.)
Anyway I decide to get over it and bathe my son when Mrs. C. calls back. Turns out L. set her straight and that the misunderstanding was corrected.
I'm HUGELY relieved at this. She also wanted to know if she should bring my younger son's bed today instead of the cot we reserved for my baby daughter but I told her we were heading out today as it's the weekend and she seemed relieved too and mentioned some place she was going to and that she would be away all weekend which is perfectly fine. She said that she'd accompany me to Vodafone on Monday and have the bed sorted out that day, too. Well, my stomach feels a little twisted at the thought of accompanying a stranger that long but it's okay! I shall overcome my anxieties one at a time.
We also went to Auchan yesterday by foot. It's a ways away but it was really sunny yesterday and it was nice to just walk. Monza is really picturesque and it's just pleasant to observe the buildings and people walking their dogs by you and around you.
In the meantime the Vodafone guy gave W. a "free" 3gb sim card and I replaced the one whose gigabytes had been consumed. N. wants a "full version" of a game and I relent and buy it for him. Usually I am 100% against in-app purchases but I feel bad for the kid for dragging him with us to Italy away from his school and friends and extended family.
W. is renting a car for the weekend and he wants to pass by one of Milan's outlet malls to buy some work shirts. I don't really want to do any shopping but he says it needs to be done. I might buy a bag if the prices aren't exorbitant as mine is already worse for wear.
W. has been so swamped with work that I'm looking forward to seeing the sights with him and the kids. It would have been a perfect opportunity to go to Florence since the week long vacation is for Carnevale. I'll try to convince him to go to Venice but if not that's okay. It's just enough to be together.
L. came by with a Sri Lankan lady who works as a housekeeper part time. I don't have a maid back in the UAE as I do the cleaning myself back home but the husband mentioned the cleaner to me and I thought why not. Well, I am cleaning pretty much every day here and hoovered the place before they arrived so I couldn't really hire her today. You pay her 10 euros per hour which I think is a very reasonable price though the husband's eyes bulged at this. I think he's spoiled that I never demanded help with the cleaning before so he doesn't know what prices are actually out there for this kind of service!
After our introductions something really embarrassing happened. Ugh, I feel bad just thinking about it. I told W. that this 3gb sim card business isn't working out as we had consumed the entire bandwidth in just two days between myself and my sons so he stopped by Vodafone on his way back from work last night and the guy working there showed him the offers. There's a pretty good one like we have back in the UAE that is 30mbps but that is MUCH cheaper than our crook of a telecommunication company's. You pay 99 euros for the modem then after that, starting next week, it's 25 euros a month. It's 120 euros in the Emirates for the same internet plan monthly! Etisalat sucks.
Anyway... So I'm explaining to L. that this plan in the leaflet is what we want to go with and she sort of got a look on her face that wasn't exactly positive. Mr. P. doesn't know English so I couldn't contact him and explain and Mrs. C. I already felt bad for having her come over with the handyman only two days ago so L. was the choice. Honestly, as our broker, it shouldn't be her duty to contact our landlords FOR us but W. seemed to think it was okay. Well L. said she would phone Mr. P. no problem and then tell us the outcome.
After L. and the housekeeper left I immediately phoned W. and told him I felt bad about involving L. and that she had already been very kind and she's pretty busy brokering other places for people visiting Milan for this furniture exhibition taking place soon. SO W. phones L. and then immediately calls me back. IT TURNED OUT THAT L. THOUGHT WE WANTED MR. P AND MRS. C TO PAY FOR THE INTERNET OFFER.
No! I have terrible anxiety talking to people face to face and it's even more terrible on the phone when you don't have facial cues to give you clues as to how to steer a conversation (I know I'm overanalysing basic human communication but I can't help it!) but I got over it and called L.
I explained to her that WE ARE PAYING FOR IT. Not our landlords! She seemed pretty amused as W. had already explained the thing to her. After that I phone Mrs. C but I get the message "segreteria telefonica" and some more Italian after that. I google the aforementioned two words and it turns out it's an answering machine service. :/ I thought those things were only applicable in the movies (I never used an answering machine service in my life.)
Anyway I decide to get over it and bathe my son when Mrs. C. calls back. Turns out L. set her straight and that the misunderstanding was corrected.
I'm HUGELY relieved at this. She also wanted to know if she should bring my younger son's bed today instead of the cot we reserved for my baby daughter but I told her we were heading out today as it's the weekend and she seemed relieved too and mentioned some place she was going to and that she would be away all weekend which is perfectly fine. She said that she'd accompany me to Vodafone on Monday and have the bed sorted out that day, too. Well, my stomach feels a little twisted at the thought of accompanying a stranger that long but it's okay! I shall overcome my anxieties one at a time.
We also went to Auchan yesterday by foot. It's a ways away but it was really sunny yesterday and it was nice to just walk. Monza is really picturesque and it's just pleasant to observe the buildings and people walking their dogs by you and around you.
In the meantime the Vodafone guy gave W. a "free" 3gb sim card and I replaced the one whose gigabytes had been consumed. N. wants a "full version" of a game and I relent and buy it for him. Usually I am 100% against in-app purchases but I feel bad for the kid for dragging him with us to Italy away from his school and friends and extended family.
W. is renting a car for the weekend and he wants to pass by one of Milan's outlet malls to buy some work shirts. I don't really want to do any shopping but he says it needs to be done. I might buy a bag if the prices aren't exorbitant as mine is already worse for wear.
W. has been so swamped with work that I'm looking forward to seeing the sights with him and the kids. It would have been a perfect opportunity to go to Florence since the week long vacation is for Carnevale. I'll try to convince him to go to Venice but if not that's okay. It's just enough to be together.
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