The 3rd Meeting of Indonesian Community in Florence

Introducing Jeanny.

I was thrilled when I received this email from Zyra a.k.a. Jeanny. She wrote me to express her interest to meet up with another Indonesian women in Florence. Later I found out she lives in Bari, from Florence it's way down South of Italy. Like myself, she was longing to be able to joke and chat in our own mother tongue language. So excited that she would find ways to go to Florence and meet us.

Permesso di Soggiorno

What is Permesso di Soggiorno? 

The 2nd Meeting of Indonesian Community In Florence

It's a beautiful sunny Saturday of January 26th, 2013. We decided to have this 2nd meeting on Saturday to accommodate our 2 new friends. As students, their weekdays occupied with schools, thus to have a meeting in the weekend was the best way to be able to have them joined. I met Mia, one of them about two weeks earlier in the church service that Sunday morning. I remember our Pastor greeted her at the entrance door as she entered. I heard she mentioned she came from America, but from her accent and when I took a glance on her face, I was somehow sure she is Indonesian, and I was right. So glad to finally have met another Indonesian in Florence. She is young, pretty and lively; so I wasn't surprised when she mentioned she's going to study fashion design in Florence. It suited her.

Ciao! Sono Indonesiana in Italia!

It’s been three months now, since the first day we arrived. Within those three months, a lot of things happened. The first two months was occupied with all processes of applying for our stay permit. Applying was only the beginning of the whole process, completing paper works, going, waiting, checking, and meeting people at local government offices to get all done was another long story. 

However, I would say, I am grateful. During the whole process it was amazing how God have shown His abundance mercy and helps. So now I can really thankfully say,” I am an Indonesian and officially Italiana!”   

The 1st Meeting of Indonesian Community in Florence

It was Wednesday, December 19^th, 2012. Finally I met Yawa, it was also the second time I met Erna again.  Erna's husband, Joni, was contacted by Yawa through InterNations in Florence, a global community of expatriates.  From Joni, Yawa who was seeking for other Indonesian fellows in Florence, was informed about me and finally got in touch with me through Facebook. She has been living in Florence for more than a year with her husband, Cyril, when we met for the first time. We decided to have lunch together at Mario an Italian restaurant near Mercato Centrale.

I got there at 11.35 by bike. I saw both of them chat in front of Mario’s, I hurried to lock-up my bike to a pole nearby. Waved at one of them but they didn’t seem to notice. I walked toward them and greeted them. Erna, who I met about two months earlier greeted me first then I introduced myself to Yawa who was standing next to her.