Stuck in Italy
- ivona-stajduhar
- 30. srp 2016.
- 9 min čitanja
It was a fatal 2014. Given that Andrei lived in Italy for 16 years, he used to work with his neighbors in the grape harvest. The pay-check was something a little less than 10 euros, and you've worked 8-12, then you had two hours of lunch break and then 2-6 in the evening. Sounds tolerable, doesn't it? When he told me about it, it seemed like a good and fairly easy earning of money. I said we can try. But given that the neighbor and Andrei don't really like each other a lot, he said that we will find the same deal only with other people. I left that to him, and my task was to persuade my parents. To my great surprise, they let me go! So we set off for Italy. Before that we had a technical inspection of the car and we got hold up there because something was not right and we had to take care of if we want to go to Italy. We were able to solve the problem, the car had passed the technical, and we finally set off at 6 in the afternoon on 6-7 hour journey. It's not really a good idea to be solving important things at a day of the trip, believe me. Along the way we naturally took a few pictures, and when darkness fell exhaustion took hold and we had to drink a few strong coffees and RedBulls. To Italy we got half asleep.
In Italy we stayed with his father who lives there with Andrei's younger sister, but considering that he often goes to Croatia, at the time he wasn't there, and we had the house to ourselves. When we arrived to a small town called Pedersano where Andrei lived before, we threw our bags and jumped straight to bed. At night I couldn't see anything so in the morning I saw some really beautiful pictures. See to what I woke up to.
We intended to stay for three weeks to work. We were supposed to start work a few days after our arrival, but all the time it was raining and it was not good weather for harvesting. So we spent a week at home, exploring Pedersano and Rovereto a little, but worrying whether we'll even start working or will it continue to rain. Oh, we did not know how much it was nice to sit home.
After a week we woke up and the sun was shining outside. We were excited because we could finally start working. We called our employers and find out that we'restarting the next day. But then they caught us a little unprepared and told us we start at 6 in the morning. At first we thought it was because we still have to work out the details, but we did not know how wrong we were. The next day we appeared at work and met up with other workers, and the majority were foreigners. Then we learned that to vineyards we have to go to were 30 kilometers (one way!). We took two other workers in the car with us bacuse not everyone had cars. It bothered us that they do not have organized transport for their workers and we have to spend our gas but we felt that this will eventually be paid. When we arrived, we saw a vineyard without a shade, on a downhill slope, beneath which was a construction site. We didn't like that a lot but we couldn't do much about it – we came here to work. We started working and everything was fine until lunch, which we thought would be organized. Well, good that we brought some bread and pate because they didn't have any food for us. The only thing these people had for their workers was water, but we ran out of it in a few hours. In fact, we had lunch in the shadow of the excavator. It was exactly afternoon and we've been working from 7, with only half an hour break. The sun and the tireness was killing us, we continued with the work that was supposed to last until 6 in the afternoon. Of course, it lasted longer. We finished work at about 7, drove their workers to where we originally came together and went home. After our muscles relaxed, the whole body began to hurt. We took some painkillers and went to bed knowing that tomorrow we must relive this day again.
Stickieness, insects and fatigue waited for us the next day. The same vineyard, the same people, but this time even without water, they forgot to bring it. We run out of our 2l water after 2 hours of work and we couldn't wait for that one if-you-can-call-a-break break . Later they brought us water, but on 20 workers, each barely got a liter. Yesterday was repeated; we have been working non-stop with a half hour break. And again - back home in huge pain. Then I broke down. I layed on the couch and started thinking about how I miss my family and that I will disappoint them if I give up this job. After I cried a good deal, it was time to talk to my mom, which she took surprisingly well and supported me and told me she was waiting for me at home in Croatia no matter what happens. Then we started thinking about giving up, but I still tought it would be wrong to give up. So we went to work the next day, broken spirits, and by the end of the day we were sure that it wasn't leading to anywhere and that we weren't going to endure one more day. After returning from work, we told the employers that we will no longer work and finally fell asleep in peace knowing that tomorrow we weren't going to wake up in pain. Although Andrei and I were not used to do hard work, we took a too big of a bite on this one. But, as from all other experiences, we got out with a lesson - before working abroad, be sure to check for whom you will actually be working.
Although we had some infernal days, this was our chance to look around Pedersano and we decided to stay another week to enjoy Italy a little bit . The first trip was to the center of Rovereto where Andrei took me to one of the best meals I've ever had in my life - a real Indian chicken curry. The restaurant is located right in the center. The staff there is really polite and the food is even better. If you are going to eat there,and we strongly advise you do if you are someweher nea Rovereto, do not forget to order the Indian bread 'pane nan' with the curry. The combination is excellent ! For dessert we ordered '' tartuffo alla vanilia '' something like an ice cream with a core flavor of coffee. Oh, I'd give everything to be there and eat it instead here writing about it!
Most of the time we spent in Italy, we bought food in Eurospin which for me was a revelation. If you're asking where to buy cheap in Italy Eurospin is the place you're looking for. For only 8 euros, we bought food that we took on for the next couple of days. When we didnt eat food from the store, we did great homemade pizza which we ate with an even better view!
Pedersano is a town located near the major city of Rovereto (Rovereto is located near Verona). It is a beautiful town that reminded me a little of our Dalmatian cities. Paved streets and stone houses are a breath of tradition, which makes Pedersano a real little romantic town. Of course, in Pedersano we found an excellent pizzeria 'La miniera' 'in which the price of pizza was around € 5-7. Once you try the Italian pizza, you will forget all about Croatian pizza!
After the rain that ruined the first week of our stay and the torture at the exhausting work, it was time to enjoy the sunny days that came to us. These days we took visiting beauty of the surroundings fo Pedersano. One of the beauties was the Lago di Cei, which is located only 15 minutes drive from Pedersano.
We did not miss any opportunity to walk through the beautiful vineyards that are everywhere. In doing so we stole a couple of apples, to see what kind was better. ;) Shhh, don't tell anyone!
Sunny days kept on going, and we still spent then enjoying nature.We visited a huge canyon called Laghetti del Leno. Through the canyon runs the river Leno which by its size in that part of the canyon, I would say that it is more of a stream. But a stream that woke up the explorers in us.
One of the days we spent exploring an unamed waterfall located in a forest near us and to whom is very easy to get but it is necessary to know the surroundings to find it.
The rest of our stay in Italy we spent in the enjoyment in this beautiful nature and having fun with Andrei's friends. The last day before we left we decided to visit Gardaland with them. It was really fun and we visited many rides, but the majority of those that did not contain a lot of turning and climbing to great heights since we are not fans of height.
After Gardaland a long trip was waiting for us - it was time to go back to Croatia. We knew it wouldn't be easy considering that the trip lasts 7-8 hours, and we'll have to find a way to stay awake. But we did not expect what was going to happen soon. We drove and chatted when we noticed that we took a wrong turn - instead of near Trieste, we ended up in it's center. Andrei knew a little about streets in Trieste, but at night it all seemed foreign to him too. We started to panic because we knew we were low on fuel, which we had planned to buy when we cross the border. Then we finally made our way on the road to the border. This road was a great climb, which we began to climb, but soon the worst thing that could happen, happened - the car stopped in the middle of the road. We tried to start it up a couple of times, but it did not give any signs of life. Then we started to really panic. We were on the hill, and I was afraid that the car will go downhill and not stop. Andrei has somehow managed to park in a yard maneuvering it back and there we stopped, got out of the car and looked at what the hell do we do now. We have not seen anything that would give us any idea how to get out of here. We sat on the curb of the road, desperate and stuck. There were a few things on our minds; we are in another country far from home, where everything is expensive, and we have a few euros in our pockets, we can not call a tow truck over from HAK because we are not in Croatia, and a towing service would cost us hundreds of euros here. We did not know what to do, nor had anyone whom we could ask for help. I was thinking and comforting us out loud: ''Some day we will laugh at this.''
It seems that Trieste is a ghost town at night, because at that time it really was. We were not in the city center but we got stuck on a hill above the town, from where it's even more difficult to find help. We decided to walk to the city center and maybe find help, or at least find a mechanic to which we can go to the next day. We found a mechanic shop that was opening at 8 o'clock and we were relieved a little. But, there was one more problem – we had to go to the bathroom and there was none open at this time fo night. The we spotted a couple of police offers in the middle of the square and decided to ask them for help. They were friendly and advised us it would be best if we slept through the night in out car and find a mechanic in the morning. They also gave us direction to the coffee shop that was supposed to be working at these late hours. We found the shop, but right at the time it was closing. We explored the center of Trieste a little bit more and run into a coffee shop that was working 24/7. We sat down and looked at our situation. The coffee shop had wifi so we shot a selfie that I sent to my mum explaining our situation and sending her our (lost) regards from Triest! She wasn't worried as I thought she would be and she even said she would come to pick us up if we don't find a solution. We decided to go back to the car and sleep through the hours we had left. On our way back we even ran into a man on bycicle that was trying to sell us roses and a ''fresh, cold beer''. Yeah right, fresh and cold right off of your bycicle in the middle of the night. We came back to the car and slept till 7 in the morning so we can be first at the mechanic's. We explained our situation to the mechanic and he was kind enough to drive us back to where our car was and look at it. He somehow got our car on the road and started rolling it downhill. What happened was that the car started normally when going downhill. The thing was – we ran on low fuel and that's why car wouldn't start when being uphill because the fuel couldn't come to the engine. The mechanic poured fuel into our car, exchanged the fuel filter and we were saved, but a few euros short. We started our journey back home with relief it wasn't something more serious. Tired, but happy this whole thing was behind us. Now, as we remeber it, we laugh at the whole experience. Just like I said right when it was happening. So, when something like this happens to you, don't cry over it, because some day you will be laughing at it! Cuz we sure are laughing at it now! :D
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