Tesseramento

I haven't yet reported that we pursued the issue of Charlotte's tesseramento (swim license) while away in Puglia. Josh emailed Dale Neuburger who is the Vice President of FINA (International Swimming Federation). Dale emailed the President of FIN (Italian Swimming Federation) on Charlotte's behalf. He then forwarded the response to Josh. The response stated that she is unable to join the Italian Federation unless she has been living here for 12 months, however, she can represent the U.S.A, in Italy, but she will not be able to represent Aniene or swim in the Italian National Championships. Dale put us in touch with USA Swimming in Colorado Springs. Sandy Vollmer from USA Swimming emailed Josh immediately, offering to help, and attached a 2010 application.

Once back in Rome (Monday), I called Sandy to be sure we were on the same page. The next day (Tuesday), she emailed a letter of support to FIN. That same day Josh spoke to someone at FIN who confirmed the information contained in the email to Dale. Today, Josh went to see this woman at FIN, who was very kind, and her boss. They received the letter of support from USA Swimming and Charlotte will get her tesseramento (license) today. Charlotte will be able to compete in meets and regional meets but not in the National Championships.

So there you have it. Three or four days and it's done. The guys at Aniene were very pleased for her but it's hard to imagine why they told us initially that it would be "impossible" to get the tesseramento. They are convinced it was approved only because we intervened and took it to the next level. We think they are a bunch of bozos because they couldn't get the same information that we received when we contacted FIN. But in the end, it doesn't matter as long as Charlotte can swim. And the first meet is November 29th at Aniene. Go Charlotte and kick some Italian A--!

Josh and I "celebrated" by going out to lunch. We thought we'd try a different neighborhood 10 euro buffet at a restaurant that had been recommended called Ciccia Bomba. Well, we did arrive at 1:30pm which we thought was right on time, but the buffet looked a bit scant. It made us realize that we had an awesome find at Trattoria Rose which was better situated near our villa and where there was three times the selection and even tastier food. Always good to prove a theory though.

Once back at home, we were paid another visit by Domenico, the radiator man, because the maid's room radiator had sprung a leak and the carpet was now soaked. It's always something.

Don and Dale left this morning to return home. It was a really nice visit; it was great to have grandparents around. Dale called from Washington D.C. to say they'd landed safely. They left our home at 7:30am, it was now 9:30pm, and they were still on the opposite coast. Now that's a long day.