GETTING TOGETHER

Oops! Looks like this should have been published earlier!

Through the message board at ExPats In Italy, we met Isabella and Terry, who own a really cool apartment in Todi. They also own a bed a breakfast just outside of Asheville, NC, which is for sale. When they sell the B&B they plan to spend more time here. 

We had Terry and Isabella over for dinner last Saturday night. The spent the night at our house and the next morning we drove to Siena for the first annual Expats In Italy get together…hereafter referred to as a GTG. We picked up our friend Judith who lives in Citta di Castello, and the five of us enjoyed the one and a half hour drive to Siena.

Once there we were finally able to put faces to the names we had come to know from the message board! Michaelshaun and his wife Alex were there with their two absolutely adorable daughters. Shae and Art, who we’d had lunch with before were there, and Angie, an artist who lives in Florence. We finally go to meet Alice Twain and her boyfriend, and amazingly, Alice was EXACTLY as I had pictured her!

Larry and his daughter were there, Dave and Indah, Mentha, and of course, last but certainly not least, Cristina, the one who is responsible for the ExPats site and all the wonderful information she shares with us!

Cristina showed us around here contrada (neighborhood) in Siena, then we had a nice relaxing lunch where we got to know each other better. It’s so interesting to hear everyone’s story, and to find the common links we all share.

We’ve also met another expat, Marguerite, through the message board. She currently lives with her husband and two kids in Jakarta, where her husband works for an oil company. Amazingly, in the “it’s a small world” category, Marguerite knows our new friends Paul and Patty, who were still teaching in Jakarta when Marguerite arrived!

Marguerite is coming to Umbria next week to house hunt. At his point she doesn’t know if this will be a vacation home or a permanent one. After emailing back and forth, she decided to stay a few days longer than originally planned, and she’ll be staying with us for those extra four days! We need to do something to make a little extra money, so maybe something like this will help out from time to time.