Tired

I took 4 days off of work. Today was the fist day.
If you're thinking that it was for a holiday, think again. Actually, I had to remind myself of that too all day.
I got up early and by 8.45 mom and I were on our way. First stop was to have the car checked since we plan to go out of Rome this weekend (their last weekend here). My dad met us at the shop near the Embassy. Claudio the mechanic said he'll try to have the car ready by tomorrow-I forgot to ask if he could have it ready by the morning! Oh well, anyway, we left the car and walked about 15-20mins to our Bank - Intesa San Paolo. Not too far off from the Embassy. It was were we had opened our account the first months we were here. All three of us were signatories, therefore, all three of us were needed to close the account.
The guy at the bank was explaining that we needed to leave a bit of money for additional costs (in case we've used the credit card and were debited later or whatever). My dad started going into hyper mode telling my mom, yeah its normal when you close your account to leave €150, etc, etc, etc. My mom was trying her best not to get pissed off, why are you dictating how much to leave, just let him tell us. In the end, they just had to leave €45 in the bank. After two weeks and there are no charges or other bills the rest of the money will go into my account (I provided it-it was actually funny because the guy had asked if one of us could come back after two weeks to pick up the difference or if we would prefer a bank transfer. I said bank transfer to my bank. In Italy? he asked. Yeah, I have an account within the same bank. He's like ok, account number and address. I gave the account number and told him, Parco de Medici, and he looked at me weirdly, I said World Food Programme. AH! WFP! you should have just said that.... hehehehe anyway). My parents took the bulk of the cash but it was mostly in 50's and my mom wanted to have bigger denominations. So the bank refered us to another bank about 5 minutes walk away to see if they had any. We ran into two of my dad's colleagues as they were encashing their salaries! Unfortunately, after 10minutes of waiting, the bank told us that they didn't have any big denominations.
Our next stop was to the MetroBank Remittance Center, also always near the embassy. So walking back towards the embassy, this was a 10-15 minute walk and my parents and I were reminiscing about walking down that street again. We haven't walked down there in over 4 years. We get to Metro and my mom sends some money to the philippines and changes her money there. Thanks Joey and Lerna! Great team! My dad in the meanwhile had gotten his car from near by the shop I left my car at!
Next stop was the MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) - my mom needed to get the IVA exemption from the Castorama shop which supposedly delivered the kitchen set to the movers last 28 July 2007. Unfortunately, it wasnt ready yet. The next stop was to bring my dad to a Metro station as he needed to encash his dollar cheque and he could only do that from the Deutsche Bank along Via dei Tritone (center). Mom and I then went to the opposite side of Rome so we could buy bedsheets for me. On our way there, the airconditioning stops working and its 40°C outside. Now the heat is getting to me. We arrive at our destination around 12 (and they close at 1) While there got a call from Francesco, the mover, Castorama just delivered the stuff, and one piece was broken! ARGH!
We left at 1 and ate at Panorama. My mom bought glass frames for herself by the shop outside of panorama.
Guard stopped us asking for our ticket but we weren't given one. Trying to explain myself, but apparently very poorly, the guy let us off the hook. Trying to find the GRA, we were heading for Castorama. Got there around 2.45. Andrea the guy that sold the stuff to us at first didn't understand the problem so my mom called up Francesco to ask him to explain to Andrea the problem. After Andrea unsterstood the situation he said he couldn't do anything and we'd have to wait for Marco his supervisor who was out and would be back in 15-20minutes. Also because he wasn't so interested in helping us out as his shift was ending in 15minutes. So mom and I bought water from the machine in house, sat down on the chairs provided and I introduced her to the games on my ipod. Around 3.15 we went in search of Marco. Noone pays attention to you in Italy and you'd have to wait until they acknowledge your presence first. Anyway, Marco came down and he was so cool. He tried to understand what we were asking, and then we gave up, and called Francesco again. After he understood the situation, he looked on the computer for new pieces, but he couldn't find one. The container has to be closed by tomorrow. We needed the new piece now. Otherwise, we'd just ask for a refund. Marco was a star and solved the problem by providing to us the cabinet on display as the substitute for the broken one.
We went to DTM, the movers and got there around 4.15, used the bathroom and finally met Francesco. So, he was cool too, spoke english well. He showed us the warehouse and the stuff.
The end of the day, we got home by 5.30.I was so tired!
We ate dinner around 6ish, then the landlady came and showed me my contract. I'll be paying rent which after one year will increase by €100. I paid my rent today, and I had to pay almos €200 to register the contract. I'm broke and my parents havent left yet.
Tomorrow is just as exciting! *that was sarcasm* we have more stuff to do.
Oh and my parents had a big fight tonight, the yelling, the screaming, the drama.
.....
*hay*