Step Two: Once I got here, I had to fill out a Permesso di Soggiorno, within eight days of arriving. Just getting the forms was a challenge - we couldn't find them. Next step was to purchase a tax stamp from a tabacchi shop (not from the post office), and go to Poste Italiane to hand in the forms. This might have been fairly simple, except I misunderstood my family's instructions and all the tabacchi shops were closed for lunch by the time I got there. After lunch my host dad and I went out again. Keep in mind that this was after I had been here for two weeks and my Italian was terrible (although for the most part it still is) and that I was with my host dad who doesn't speak English. Off we go to a Poste Italiane. Poste Italiane is more than just a post office. True, you can send packages and some people recieve mail there, but it's also where you go to pay bills, hand in paperwork, and other things as well. I think it serves as an official arm of the government for some things as well, such as some documentation and identification purposes. Anyway, we wait at a smaller Poste Italiane closer to the house for roughly half an hour before our number is called. We are then informed that that location does not service our request.
Off we go to another location. At this one we wait for roughly an hour. By this time I'm getting pretty tired and frustrated, not helped by the awful beeping sound made by the machine that informs everyone whose turn it is. I think this machine and the life-sucking machine in the Princess Bride have the same roots - I felt like my life had been considerably shortened when I left. But seriously, the noise it makes is awful. Finally my number is called. The man behind the desk informs us that we need more photocopies of my and my host dad's passports. Of course, I don't fully understand this, but my host dad does, and grabs my passport from the death grip it had previously enjoyed in my hands, says "wait here" and runs out of the building. He returns and we are able to finish the paperwork.
Step 3: Going to the government office. I was unable to make my appointment at the government office, so my host dad and I go hoping to make another appointment. They are able to look at my paperwork right away and tell us to return the next morning with the final pieces. Whenever I hand in paperwork, or go to an official office, I am terrified that they will find something wrong and send me home. And, knowing my luck, it will probably be something stupid, like checking off "male" instead of "female", or saying that I was born in the 17th month, and that will be the end.
One of the requirements for the paperwork was more passport photos, so on the way home we stop at a roadside photo booth. My host dad pulls over, and sends me on my way with no instructions whatsoever. I guess he must have thought that I'd used one of these before. Just a few problems with the photo booth. Firstly, it would not take my money. I am capable of being a pretty patient person, but the machine had a timer going, so I was stressing out. (What would have happened when the timer ran out, I'm not sure. Maybe the the stool would become a launch seat and throw me from the booth?) Secondly, I can't seem to get centred correctly. I know that passport photos have very specific regulations, so I'm more than a bit nervous that my paperwork will be trown out and I'll get sent home. After three takes I give up and hope for the best. A tip: you never know how these things will decide how to crop your photo.
Step Four: Returning to the government office. The next morning we show up again. This time there are quite a few people there as well. The strange thing is that they stood outside the building, while I went inside, no idea why. There is some discussion about why I need the Permesso di Soggiorno, and then they take my fingerprints on an electric scanner. Then we head across the courtyard to another office where only I am allowed in (not my host dad). One of the workers in there is wearing medical gloves and the other is wearing one of those white suits that you wear over top of your regular clothes. This makes me nervous. My Italian is spotty at best, and I'm afraid that this is not going to go well. They take my fingerprints (again), and my palm prints, then I'm allowed to leave.
Step Five: receiving my Permesso di Soggiorno - hopefully in January?
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