Odds & ends

Last night and the last few nights, I have truly enjoyed sitting outside talking with the neighbors. We just kind of hang out, drink wine and talk. Last night a couple Italian neighbors joined us and it was fantastic. We practiced our italian and they practiced their English. With a few missteps here and there, we all conversed with one another. It was really nice. Found out that my one neighbor, Carmello, is from Germany and then grew up in Sicily. His wife, Erika, is from northern Italy. Then our other neighbors are from Albania. It's such an eye opening experience to meet and know people from all over the world. It's also a shame that Americans think everyone should learn English and that we often refuse to learn another language. My neighbors know about 3-4 languages apiece!  And I am desperately trying to learn theirs. Thankfully my 4 years of Latin aid me in reading and translating the language, I just can't string too many words together. But, to remedy that situation, I am registered for an Italian course that starts in another month. After that, I shall take on italy, one syllable at a time.

I have located the best place to get fresh produce and fresh cheese. I LOVE all the cheeses here and am slowly learning their distinct tastes and how to work with each of them. I can honestly say, that fresh mozzarella (in a water filled bag) is so much better than prepacked Sargento cheese any day of the week. And jarred parmesan? Not even an option anymore.

My next phase with be learning to can some tomato sauce and salsa for use later in the year. i have ordered my supplies can't wait to get them. I did pick up some jars the other day and am considering grabbing a few more for later use in the fall. The canning season is probably the only time I'll see the jars so I better grab them when I can. Maybe I can learn to do pickles and olives too. It should be an adventure and when I couple it with my Italian cooking classes, I should become a real pro soon enough!

A thought to leave you with...if American construction workers and those working on farms could feel free to wear their speedos and no hard hats for the Americans, they might feel happier and more inclined to take care of themselves. Speedos are for every wear here, not just the beach or pool!

My first Italian cooking class

When my cell phone pinged me to say I had a new message in my inbox, I couldn't imagine that it was an invite to an Italian cooking class. There were some cancellations to a class that afternoon and I was lucky enough to get a spot. And for $5, who could beat it? So off i went to the Arts & Crafts place on post for my class. We were introduced to the Italian instructor and given a page with our menu for the day. There was a picture of cute little ladybugs on the front and a list of other menu items. I was excited. It turned out that we were going to make some Italian hors d'oeuvres.

Our first order of business was easy. We had some Italian loaf bread that we rolled out flat. Then we spread cream cheese on top and laid on some speck, it's like cooked italian bacon. When that was done, we rolled up the bread lengthwise and moved it to a piece of plastic wrap, where we wrapped up the roll and tightly pinched the ends of the plastic. Then it was placed in the refrigerator for later to be sliced. It turned out to be cute little pinwheel sandwiches.

Next we made the coccinella, which is Italian for ladybugs. They apparently are a symbol of good luck in Italy. To make these, we used sliced pieces of toasted Italian bread. Next you spread cream cheese on top, place a parsley leaf on top and then take a small tomato (preferably cherry), slice it in half, and place it facing down on top of the parsley. The you use a paring knife to poke a few holes in the top of the tomato, inside those holes you place peppercorns. A word of caution though, unless you really like peppercorns, you may want to remove them before eating. Then we sliced a black olive in half and placed that in front of the tomato, forming a head for the ladybug. The remainder of the black olive was sliced and used as decoration for the legs. Since mayo here comes in a tube, we put two dabs on the head of the ladybug for eyes, and voila, coccinella!

The next use of tomatoes included boiled eggs. Here you sliced off the ends of the boiled egg so you have a flat surface to lay it on and another flat surface on top for a cherry tomato half. Again, dab with a little mayo or maybe your favorite ranch dressing and there you have it.

Of course, no appetizer would be complete without bruschetta. We again used our toasted bread and rubbed garlic on it, then we added on top a mixture of cherry tomatoes and fresh basil. That was easy and simple. i would have preferred some mozzarella on top, but that's just me.

The last appetizer we made consisted of grilled vegetables, specifically eggplant and peppers, but you could use zucchini and other veggies too.The eggplant was hand washed with olive oil and grilled until soft. The same was done with the yellow and red bell peppers which were quartered and cleaned. Once the eggplant was done, we again added a thin layer of cream cheese, salt and pepper, and rolled it up. We then place a toothpick through it and added the cut peppers underneath.

Our last task of the day included an Italian drink called Spritz. This is comprised of a wine called Prosecco, another wine called Aperol Spritz, and then a splash of mineral water (frizzante they call it here). The recipe was two parts Prosecco, 1 part Spritz and a splash of mineral water. Intoxicating yes, but okay in taste.

Thus now you have it, my first Italian cooking class and I think we did well.

Time to move on or out from under this cloud

It's hard to believe that a few days ago I was fussing about the hard loaner bed we have and worrying about not having any closets in the house, and then my daughter ends up with emergency surgery. Four days in a pediatric ward can really change your opinion about what is in important in life, and sometimes it is the simplest things, such as family and not furniture or what you are sleeping on. The first two nights we were by ourselves in a large room. The next two nights we had other kids and their families in the room. One poor girl continually vomited after her surgery and looked so pathetic, heck she could have been my other child. The next little girl was in pain from her surgery too and cried a good amount. Even in another language, you can understand a child's pain and suffering. You can also understand a mother's yearning for her child to recover and feel better. A mother's love transcends all language barriers.

It is four days after we entered the hospital and I am happy to say that my daughter was released today. I am happy too because while we were waiting to be discharged, our roommates had been replaced by a 2 yr and a 1 yr old. I might have been crankier had we stayed another night and become very short tempered with the toddlers. I am one exhausted mother. Not only are the reclining chairs in the hospital less than comfortable or comparable to my hard bed, but I am finally coming down off the stress I've been under for the last few days. My body and mind are simply tired.

So let's recap, in the last two months, we had a few hiccups with our move, my husband and I both got injured on a pleasant and supposedly relaxing tubing trip down the river, my father in law was hospitalized for a couple days, my dog was attacked by another dog and then ended up with emergency surgery for bloat, we left our beloved dog with my inlaws, my niece, dad and sister had a court hearing to determine the custody of my niece, we enjoyed the buckets of rain from tropical storm Debbie, had to make last minute arrangements for an airport ride, endured an excruciatingly long plane ride to another country where our baggage didn't make it for two days, lost my husband's kindle on the plane, endured the process of finding a new home and taking a driver's class to drive in this country, continually struggled with a language and culture barrier that leaves me completely baffled some days, and the icing on the cake was my daughter's appendectomy. Oh and today, my husband found out he didn't get his possible promotion, he had a slim possibility but it's a still a blow nonetheless. Quite frankly, whatever dark cloud that is hanging over the heads of my family really needs to move on. So karma, Murphy's Law, bad luck, or dark cloud, it is time to leave. I would like to start enjoying life again and not wait for the next proverbial shoe to drop.

Our Italian hopsital tour (not really a tourist spot but oh well)

Ah well, the visit to Italy isn't going quite as well as I had hoped. On Monday night we got to take the rushed tour and extraordinary long ride to the hospital (thanks to the GPS for not finding the most direct route) with our youngest daughter writhing and crying in pain. Let me start by saying, a parent never likes to see their child in pain nor do they want to ever take their child to the hospital. Now let's compound that situation by being in a foreign country for only 3 weeks, not knowing where you are driving to (what did we do without GPS), and NOT speaking the native tongue, welcome to what has been my world for the last 3 days. Luckily, the Army has an interpreter at the hospital, a patient liaison that translate what you say to the doctor and what the doctor tells you. Bless these people because without them, I would have been worse off than I was and completely and utterly lost. The doctor examined my daughter and after ruling out an UTI (which is common for my daughter) and possible constipation, she called in the pediatric surgeon. My heart jumped to my throat at that moment because the idea of my child needing surgery never even crossed my mind. The ped surgeon walked in, and I swear a couple of the ladies swooned over him. He looked like he was a surfer type surgeon too with his shark tooth necklace and dark tan. He examined our daughter and immediately thought appendicitis. We did blood work, an ultrasound and an xray all within the span of an hour and a half. I was really surprised by the alacrity of the whole situation, we barely had to wait and that was only for the ultrasound physician. My poor husband got a workout that night because he had to keep carrying our 6 yr old all around the hospital. Why we never got a wheel chair or gurney I will never know. By the end of the night and an exhausted and passed out child, we were told she was being admitted for observation and possible appendectomy surgery in the morning. It was all I could do to hold back the tears of fear and frustration.

I spent the night with our daughter and did my best to pantomime my discussions with the nurses. They had to call the patient liaison to translate a few things but we settled in for a few hours of sleep. The poor thing woke up about 30 times in the span of 4 hours. More bloodwork was done at 6am which led to more screaming and crying and an adamant 6 yr old demanding to go home. At 815 the doctors came in, along with the head of the Army surgical team here on post. Thankfully he spoke English and Italian fluently. He gave us a second opinion and then told us she would be having emergency surgery within 2 hours. My worst fear had come to light. What happened over the next few hours was hard on both my husband and I. A friend came to get our oldest daughter and our youngest got wheeled away to have surgery. We were able to go with her to the recovery room area where my scared little 6yr old just started to cry and begged me not to leave her. I cried with her a bot but told her not to be afraid, but I knew she was just as afraid as I was. Another interpreter stayed with her the whole time while both surgeons performed the surgery. But as my daughter was wheeled away from me crying out my name, i couldn't hold back the tears I had been bottling up for the last 15 hours. I was a wreck at that point and as a another family witnessed my break down, I knew that a mother's love for her child overcame every language barrier there was. That lady got my eye and gave a look of pity and strength, she smiled as if she understood my agony. My husband put his arm around me and walked me out of the room. The next two hours seemed like the longest two hours of my life. You have in your mind what they show you on tv, the family in the waiting room, waiting for news on their loved one, hoping that all goes well and dreading the news of anything bad happening. That was us, sitting and waiting, not understanding a word around us, but bonding again as mother and father, parents to a sweet little girl. We both said screw the cost, and called home to family. I think we both needed our parents right then just as much as our daughter needed us.

When the words, "There they are.." come out in English in an all Italian hospital, you know they are for you. The doctors told us the surgery went well and that they got the appendix before it perforated. It was definitely inflamed and needed to be removed. And they were able to do it laproscopically so the scarring would be minimal. Finally, after several long minutes, our daughter was wheeled out and back to her room. It was then, after she was resting comfortably, did I finally leave the hospital alone to head home for a shower and a couple hours of sleep. There was no questioning the fact that I would be staying with her another night. Last night's sleep was better than the first and i think that being exhausted definitely helps. We awoke a few times in the night as my daughter was becoming restless, and the reclining hospital chair I was sleeping in was less than comfortable. The nurses and I tried desperately to talk and a couple of them knew some english. Otherwise, we communicated with hand gestures. Unfortunately, when we woke up today, we were told that there would be two more kids, babies no less, joining us in our room.  I was rather displeased about this fact since the whole need for her to stay was to rest and be monitored for any complications. I explained she would not get the rest she needed to recuperate if that happened. Although i did not understand the concept of no privacy in the Italian hospital, i was still taken aback. Later when the nurses returned, along with another doctor, I inquired about the age of the babies, both less than 3 years. Now you and I both know that they would be up half the night upset, crying and in pain. No one in the room would get rest. I again expressed my concern over my daughter's ability to heal properly in that type of environment and asked if she could be released the next day. The doctor said "Oh no, at least 3-4 days. This was an invasive surgery not just a bump." I must have looked at her incredulously and she must have sensed my displeasure at two toddlers joining us because an hour later, they wheeled out one of the crib and replaced it with a second bed. I was then told a 9yr would join us. By the time I left today, we had the 9yr, a 5 yr who would be operated on tomorrow, and my daughter, plus all the family members, in the room. i knew I was doomed to sleep another night there.

Let me say this, there is nothing like an American, a Romanian and an Italian mother all trying to converse and only being able to understand a few words. But we were all there for the same reason, our daughters' needed us during their surgery. I certainly could not begrudge these women the time with their kids nor could I do anything about the situation, except urge my daughter to keep getting up to walk and move the gas through her system. Only then could we have a hope of heading home the next day. I'm a home for a bit resting and getting some household chores done. My husband is at the hospital and I get to spend some time with our other daughter who has graciously been watched over by friends for the last two nights. Keep your fingers crossed the little comes home soon because all she wants is her bed and her pillow. My poor little thing.

Oh the pizza!

My international friends were right, you have not had pizza unless you have tried pizza in Italy. I swear i did not know pizza could taste this good nor did I ever in my wildest dreams realize the varied number of toppings you could have on a pizza. Let's face it, this born and raised in America girl only knows of Pizza Hut, Papa johns, Little Caesars and few mom and pop shops. I'm used to choices such as cheese or pepperoni, sausage and ham, triple meat, veggie pizza with onions, peppers, and olives, and let's get crazy here, ham and pineapple. I'm sure some of you have even eaten at the California Pizza Kitchen where their pizzas can be a little beyond the norm. But let me say this, in Italy, anything, and i mean anything, can go on a pizza. I remember going to pizza joints as a kid and adult or ordering online from the local pizza place and the menu itself was maybe 1-2 pages tops, and that included choices of salads, appetizers, and sandwiches. But here, mama mia! The menu is a little book. The selection of pizza ranges from traditionale pizze to specialesse pizze. And the selection, not one, not two, not even three pages, but rather 5-8 pages of pizza selections. Seriously, I would really need to study that menu for days before I could make a better educated guess at my pizza toppings. (And i say educated guess because not every menu has an English translation under it, so I have to either 1) guess at the toppings, or 2) translate, and well that could take a long time.

The kids are easy because they either want cheese (Margherita) pizza or pepperoni (Diavola) pizza. But for my husband and I, we like to step out of the box a little. One pizza I ordered had ricotta and spinach with the regular pomodoro sauce and cheese. Another one had funghi (mushrooms) tomato and zucchini. My husband, he enjoys the anchovies, prosciutto, and panchetta options. But tonight's menu took the cake because even though i had heard they ate this and even saw it advertised in a local grocery store flyer, I was not prepared to see horse meat listed as a topping on a pizza. let me just say this now, eww, ick and the thought of it repulses me. So I am sure that will  never be an option for me. Some of the other topping options for pizza included zucchini, artichokes, capers, anchovies,various types of cheese, panchetta, speck (bacon for you bacon lovers), prosciutto (ham), sausage, black or green olives, cream cheese, ricotta, braciola, buffalo mozzarella, suckling pig, eggs, peas, mushroooms, and eggplant. For a good idea of an Italian menu and to read some of the pizza options, check out this page: http://italianfood.about.com/library/weekly/aa021305.htm It's a real eyeopener.

One last thing, they don't slice the pizza here. Nary a pizza cutter shall touch your pizza. You will use a knife and fork or if you prefer, tear a piece off. You do not eat a slice of pizza by holding it to your mother and taking a bite. That is frowned upon and will make you a deadringer for an American. And lastly, you don't take a slice, roll it up and then eat it. Again, a definite no-no.

The food, the food

They say there is nothing like eating fresh and cooking fresh. In a world of grocery stores and convenience stops, it's nice to be able to get back to nature and enjoy the mom and pop stores of the world. Since we've moved here, I've had an opportunity to eat some wonderful food and enjoy some pairings of food i would never have thought of. I mean really, what menu in America has a selection of over 30 pizzas? Anyone? And who would think that stuffing olives with meat would be a delicious morsel? Need I even mention the fresh buffalo mozzarella in water or the several options I have of cheese? I didn't even know this many cheeses existed. The Italians do though. Let's start with the markets. The local markets move around on a daily basis. Each city has a certain day for the market. Mine is on Sundays, from 8-12pm. The vendors come from miles around and begin to fill the streets with clothes, shoes, linens, kitchen utensils, produce, meat, cheese, etc. It's a whirlwind of activity concentrated in a small town, with only a few blocks of commercialism. Even the shops are open during this time frame. In my market, there are about 5-6 produce vendors, all with a little something different to offer but all with exceptionally fresh fruits and veggies. My friends introduced to me to one stand where their daughter speaks a little english. I tried to deal with the mother this past weekend and she handed me off to her daughter once she figured out I didn't know all the fruit names in Italian. (Ok I am still learning. Bananas are bananas, pineapple is ananas, and apples are mela.) I picked up some strawberries (fragola) which are so much better than the ones we used to pick, blueberries (mirtilli), blackberries (more), green pepper (pepe verde) and of course tomatoes (pomodoro). Then I picked up some fish fillets and headed to the meat market. I pick a rolled up beef product which I was able to decipher as a mixture of meats, pork and beef. I had to go on instinct that we might like it. When I arrived home, a little 1 mile walk later, I showed my hubby all the wonderful items I purchased. Dinner that night was delicious and the mystery meat turned out to be pancetta, prosciutto, a thin layer of filet with a sausage link in the middle. It was a tasty treat.

Yesterday I headed back downtown, prior to the stores lunchtime closing which is from 1:30-3:30. I hit the butcher shop, cheese & wine shop and attempted to hit the pastry shop, which unfortunately closed for holiday until next month. Yes, the italians do take a month long holiday usually in August so I guess this shop goes a little early. At any rate, at the meat shop, the butcher tried to tells us the meat with his broken english and our poor italian. I at least know that chicken is pollo. Now I know he was trying to explain to me the different types of chicken he had but all I got out of the conversation was that one was a small chicken and the other one was a bird of a different feather, perhaps quail. I am not sure, but we did get two chicken fillets. Then we moved on to beef. What i thought was beef was pork, but honestly I am going on the color of the meat and the fact that one is carne. After he told us it was porj, we decided on beef. He went into the back of the shop and brought out this beautiful piece of meat hanging a meat hook. I of course chose that, which I think was a steak of some sorts and then finger gesturing began because of course I left my italian translation book at home and I forgot how to ask for a pound of meat. It's some weird metric unit I cannot remember. Two cuts later and a an exchange of pleasantries of "ciao, ciao" and "grazie mille", we moved on to the cheese shop.

It was there I ventured in the back for the pinot I ended up purchasing. I am more of a sweet wine person, more like a moscato person, and thought I would try something new. (Let's say the wine was very dry and not to my tastebud liking). We decided to get some cheeses and pair them with some honey, a nice pairing we had the day before which ended up being the sweetest delicacy I have ever had. we picked  up some fresh mozzarella (packed in water) and then due etti (1/2 lb) of some swiss like cheese. No it wasn't sliced like you would get at the store but rather cut off in a triangular shape and wrapped in paper. I then asked id he had some honey because looking around the store I couldn't locate it nor read the jars. My translator on my phone fail me when it said honey translated into honey, because when I asked just for that, the shopkeeper had no idea what I was saying. It was then my husband saved the day. He did a little imitation of a bee and the shopkeeper was able to figure out what we needed, laughing all the way. When we left, he looked at my husband and said, 'I like bzz bzz, bene, bene." Well at least it got the point across!

I pair the steak with the fresh basil, garlic, pepper and crumbled cheese on top and had some fresh fettucine with a roasted garlic and mushroom sauce. It melted in your mouth. So your job now is to try the honey & cheese, best with a hard cheese rather then a soft one. try it and get back to me, you will like it. And the buffalo mozzarella was out of this world.

Ahh the Pokemon festival

There is something to be said about a country that has a festival every week somewhere throughout the country. Our town just had a music festival for 4 nights, because nothing of course here really gets going until the evening.  It was nice to open the opens and here the music being sung down in the town circle. All American, all 80s-90s and even some more recent hits. Makes you feel right at home in your local karoake bar, only this music carries a few miles outside of town. Nonetheless, it was awesome to hear.

About a week ago, we found out there was a Pokemon festival held once a year near Rimini. And my kids and husband are HUGE Pokemon fans. I swear I don't understand half the stuff they tell me because they are always talking about some character whose name I cannot pronounce. Well lo and behold, we happened to plan our arrival just right because 3 days ago, we attended said festival. It was held in Ravenna, about 2 1/2 hours (on a good day without Italian beach day driving) south of us. We drove through Bologna, through the Emilia Romagna area, beautiful countrysides with old structures and small castles. Even a few walled cities. But I must say my favorite view of all were the sunflower fields, as far as the eye could see. And this was not your "we're in Kansas Toto" type of sunflower fields, these things were huge! The ride itself was simply breathtaking and I enjoyed every minute of it, except of course the crazy drivers on the autostrade who really don't care that you read the manual and know the correct speed limits, etc, etc, they will just blow right by you like you are out on Sunday stroll down the road. My 130kph was nothing compared to their 160-170kph. (For those struggling to make the American conversions, multiply the kph x 6 and drop the last number).
Most of the driving was pleasant until we reached the Rimini area and then well, it was DC traffic all over again. Eh well at least I am used to that.

Alas, we finally reached our destination around 12pm. The festival was located inside the Mirabilandia theme park, complete with shopping, plenty of rides for the kids, a stage area, and even a couple water rides. Let me emphasize, it was a not a complete waterpark per se, but that did not have an effect on the clothing of choice of the Italians. After we paid our extremely inflated entry fee into the park (oh the things you do for kids) and received our information on the festival inside the park, we entered and the kids's eyes were immediately drawn to everything Pokemon. There were figurines, cards galore, card packages, cases, etc. I just stood back and waited until the begging could begin. It took all of one minute until I heard, "Mom PLEASE I want that deck and those figures and those cards, Please, I won't ask for it all, just a couple things."  I sighed and replied, "Later, let's go do the activities first." They had this festival from end of park to the other end, with little activities set up in each section. In one section you could learn to play the game. In another section, you participated in Pokemon games. Once you completed all 5 Pokemon games, i.e. throwing Pokemon balls at a target, rolling dice, Pokemon Plinko, spin the wheel of Pokemon and name that character, and then Pokemon evloutions, you could be entered to win a huge Pokemon prize. We completed all the games and the kids cleaned up on everything from Pokemon tins, figurines, magazines, activity books, and cards (Italian ones no less). My oldest got put into a junior tournament with her DS. There was a big tent set up by Nintendo where they were holding a senior tournament for the adults and a junior tournament for kids. My daughter did a great job and beat her opponent a few times. After my initial explaining to one judge that she didn't speak Italian, the other judge would help field some of her questions. Then she even had an Italian girl helping to show her a few moves. I was damn impressed at well she actually did. She was finally beat, but she did a great job.

Towards the end of the day, we found our way to the free Pokemon t-shirts, and card sets. Everyone was in Pokemon heaven despite the excessive heat. What I noticed all throughout the day though was the lack of what we American would consider proper clothing. I understand that we have our hangups about body types and body parts that should or should not be shown, but then i remind myself that i am in Europe and the culture here is quite different. I could understand the bathing suit attire, but then the guys wearing speedos, and only speedos, kind of threw me. I can say, they defintely weren't Channing Tatum. As my husband kept singing 'Sexy and I know it' as the guys walked by, I had to keep elbowing him in the stomach to keep quiet.  So then he just started in with the "wiggle, wiggle, wiggle" lyrics. It really was hard not to laugh. There were plenty of kids, maybe age 10 and below without shirts, and not just the boys, girls too. That kind of surprised me too. Then we moved on to the women. Now here, I swear I could have taken off my top completely and there would not have been a problem. Since we moved here I have seen women take their shirts and roll them up under their bras, leaving their stomach, flat or not, completely exposed. However, at the park, aside from the bathing suit bikinis, which alot of women of all sizes wore, some women opted to just walk around in their bras and shorts. Apparently if I plan to fit in here, I need to find some other types of bras that I would not mind wearing in publib should the need arise. I just know that I have never seen grown women, of all sizes, shapes, and ages, walk around in a bra in public. That simply unnerved me but I suppose, when in Rome...I will say I ended up taking my top gauzy shirt off and walking around in my tank, bra straps showing, because honestly I was hot.

By the end of the day we were exhausted. We stayed for the Pokemon show, saw life size versions of Picachu, Oshawott, and Tepig characters, watched a Pokemon quiz show all in Italian, and even received entertainment from teens and young adult fans who dressed up as their favorite character. i can't say it was amusing but I think the kids kind of enjoyed it, even though they couldn't understand a word being said. Of course, we bought some cards on the way out and headed back home. I can't say it was my first choice in cities to visit during our Italian tour but at least with the kids' festivities out of the way, we are now clear to enjoy some mommy and daddy activities. I can't wait. Our next trip will definitely be Venice. Buono notte, I am tired.

We have moved into our house. It’s a pretty house, new construction in a new subdivision, if that’s what you call them over here. We live across from a swim and tennis club and just up the street, within walking distance, is the main town complete with not one, but 4 gelaterrias. It’s a quaint little town with plenty of shoe shopping (which I might add are very expensive shoes here! We paid $98 euro for two pairs of kids Italian sandals the other day). Also in the town is the local cheese and salami shop with pastas and some bread, a small meat shop, and a local produce store. I have visions of heading downtown everyday determined to make a fresh dinner for my family. However, first I’d really like my bike to make this daily journey, and second, I’d like to know what in the world I am buying because despite my best efforts, I have not been able to translate much and the shop keepers only speak a little English. But it is fun trying. I also love that every Sunday there is a market downtown with LOTS of opportunities to buy clothes, shoes, flowers, plants, housewares and of course, both cooked and uncooked food. I’m getting better at asking for my produce, and eventually will be a pro at it.

 Alorrah, so the house itself is nice, somewhat spacious and somewhat small. It’s like living in a large townhouse. It’s a necessity to be creative in finding a home for all your stuff. And by creative, I mean making a closet or storage space out of thin area. Ikea is becoming a close friend of the family and has some unique storage ideas and pieces for small spaces. And since there are no closets at all in my house, not even one, unique storage is a MUST. We have temporary furniture until our stuff makes it here and believe me when I say this, that day cannot come soon enough. It’s one thing to uproot yourself clear across country with furniture in tow and wait a couple days for the movers. But here, I have uprooted the whole family to another country where we don’t speak the language and where getting things done quickly is not the norm or a necessity. So I say eventually, and that is a long eventually, my household items will arrive. Unfortunately that means I need to purchase other items for my home to feel somewhat normal.

Our first shipment, the unaccompanied baggage was supposed to be here last week. In that I had two air mattresses, extra pillows, sheets, towels, some kitchen utensils, a few baking items, and a small tv.  But since our shipment did not arrive and we moved into our house earlier than expected, we had to purchase all these things. For this I am not happy. Our baggage is now delayed due to recent deployments in the area so I am not sure when it will arrive. I feel so unsettled and out of sorts it isn’t funny anymore and the stress is beginning to overwhelm me.
 

The kids are sort of adjusting despite not being involved in any summer activities right now. Their main summer activity aside from staying underfoot and under my skin, is playing pokemon on their DS. I cannot remember the last time we actually watched tv since that too is a luxury here, and our AFN decoder is not connecting to the satellite so we are SOL anyhow. Most days the girls play remarkably  well together.  But of course, then we have those days and times where they tire of each other and then starts the whining and bickering. I would tell them to go play with friends but there are  few here and the language barrier hinders the making of some friends too, at least in my kids’ minds. I just wish they had some toys to play with or bikes to ride too. I know it’s hard on them and I keeping kicking myself for not sending the bikes in the first shipment. Pretty soon I will have to reinvent stick ball for them so they have something to do aside from gymnastics all over the hardwood floors and marble.

I cooked our first official meal in the house today from items i bought at the market. It included packaged risotto from one of the stores, fresh eggplant, an interesting meat mixture rolled up and wrapped with bacon, and for the kids, some fresh fish already cooked that i just needed to reheat. When i purchased the meat I really thought he said it was a filet of some sort and I vaguely remember him saying "misti" meaning a mixture of meat. Aside from the bacon, there was prosciutto, another thin layer of meat, and sausage in the middle. Interesting and tasty. The risotto was cooked perfectly and the eggplant tasted a little different than what we have in the states. Seeing how my stove is tiny, I will have to coordinate cooking better in the future.

The other large accomplishment today was laundry in my very small washer and dryer. I've done a couple loads and the dryer just took forever to dry. So today I put the towels on the drying rack outside on the porch and dried them old school. I can honestly say that I have never done that, but they turned out just fine and smell wonderful. I also learned from our sponsor that we had to dump the water from the dryer every few loads. I had absolutely no clue what he was talking about until we spoke to one of the neighbor. Lo and behold, there was a plastic container which was retaining the water from the clothes. Then it dawned upon that the dryer had no vent system so yes, draining the water was a necessity. Just another quirky thing I will have to get used to.

Well it's late and the Pokemon adventure which we completed the other day still has me worn out. I'll write about that another day because you really have to hear about this unique festival. Buono notte!

new day, new house

It's a new day in my new house that i will be living in for the next three years. We received our loaner furniture which get us by until our household goods arrive I pray before Aug 9.  This temp bed is like sleeping on a rock. And I have slept on few rocks, this one being the hardest. I'm really hoping our first shipment arrives today. It's got my air mattresses in it.

I took my husband to the Italian version of Walmart yesterday, a place called Emisfero. I think I overwhelmed him a bit. We did however purchase an European microwave yesterday, unfortunately all the instructions are in every other language but English! Go figure. Now I'll get lots of practice translating Italian. Another favorite American store that is here is Ikea. I cannot wait to go there. We need some shelves for this house and other essentials to make it nice. With tape measure in hand, I will go and procure some of those shelving needs, especially something to make up for my lack of a closet, any closet, in this house.

At any rate when we were handed to the keys to our castle yesterday i was surprised by the enormity of my keychain. Beleive it or not, I was handed 22 keys to my house. No two locks are exactly the same so I need a separate key for each one. That is totally insane. In addition to the keys, I have a master list of what each key unlocks and a certain order in which they must start so i can obtain the correct key. And the security features of the house are almost as good as Ft Knox. I know it's to keep out the gypsies but wow, I am impressed by the 4 lock system on the door, shutters with lock features on each window, and by far the coolest windows i have ever seen.

All the appliances are in either German, italian, Russian or Greek so I spend a good amount of time translating everything. Thankfully there are plenty of pictures, smiley faces, and sad faces on the papers to help me along. I will soon be an expert Pictionary player, so friends beware.

We've also met a couple neighbors, our American counterparts. The Italians do not wave and kind of look at you rather funny for waving hi to them. I was told it's because we are in Northern Italy and that's how they roll here. Sounds pretty darn close to the US and the north versus south friendliness. As my husband and I are from the south, we tend to wave hi alot, so we are getting lots of bewildering looks. Alorrah! At least my nearest neighbors are awesome and I think we will become a close knit group of folks who have been thrown together. I see commuting and carpooling opportunities in our future as well as a few cookouts.

Ciao, ciao for now.

And this you must do on 1/4 tank of gas

It's been a long weekend studying but it paid off. On Friday my husband and I took a 2 hours driver's course on driving in Italy. Today we took our test and both of us passed with a 100%. We had 25 multiple choice questions, 25 true/false questions and then had to identify 50 signs. There are triangle signs with red that indicate danger, there are round red signs that indicate prohibitary moves, round blue signs that mean mandatory moves, and then there are square blue signs that are information signs. Once you have that down pat, you need to know how to decipher them. For instance, there is one with a guarded railroad (a picture of a railroad track) and the other one is an unguarded railroad (with a picture of Thomas the train). Then you have yield signs, yiled right of way, and oncoming traffic yield signs. It can be pretty confusing. And there are few traffic signals here, so they used roundabouts about every 50 ft. You have to be careful in those things because as you approach them, there are about 4-6 signs telling you 5 different things, another 4 signs while you are in the roundabout telling you the direction of a city and then you have to merge off the roundabout maintaining your speed before you get run over by a crazy Italian moped. I tell you these people are scary. While I have my driver's license, I am damn scared to drive! Not to mention that the carbaneiri target us (remember my license plate screams American) so now I'm really scared. But hey, it's either this, ride my bike or walk and it's too damn humid here to keep walking in this heat. So i better man up and drive the car.

Getting your car out of hock as my husband says was a trip and a half. The other day we went and reserved our plates and called the insurance company to overnight our insurance policy. (It's a pretty standard service they do and thank God the USAA operator knew what I was talking about when I called.) Then we had to take the driver's course and at least one of us had to pass the test. Once we got our license, our wonderful sponsor drove us to the location to get my car. We walked in and registered the car, this process took about 20 minutes or so. A little shorter time period than the DMV at home, but I'm not done yet. Once the car was registered, we had to get it inspected at the car place. They had to make sure that everything on the paper from our shipping documents reflected what was in front of them. Then they put the plates on the car and reminded us of the items we needed in our car to past inspection on post. Once we got this done, we returned to post to get the couple of things we needed, head to the on post inspection site, and then got our slip, thankfully we passed, that said we could now get our gas coupons. You see, when you ship the car over via boat, you have to have 1/4 of  a tank or less.  I know we are not the only ones having this problem, but this whole process of inspection, then drive to post for another inspection, drive back to the car port section for coupons and then back to base to get the coupons, to only drive off post to get gas, can be very stressful. Italy is the last place I want to run out of gas on the side of the road in 90 + degree heat.At any rate, we took our ceritificate back to the registration folks, got our ok to get gas coupons, then headed back to post get our coupons. The only problem at this point, the gas station was on it's afternoon break, which meant they were not open until 3pm. Yes, these shops and gas stations close every day from 1:00pm-3pm for lunch and rest! In addition to the afternoon break, the gas station is only open to take your coupons for 1/2day on Saturday and well on Sunday, you better pray you don't need gas because they are closed. There is no 24 hour gas stop here, you need a plan and you need to stick to it that is for sure. Oh and you better know how to do your metric conversions because you'll need to know how much gas in liters you will need. Luckily, when I was trying to compute the amount I needed, which is about 4L to a gallon, I found the answer in my owner's manual, in liters no less!  The Gods must have been shining down on me at that moment! 

Needless to say, it's been an experience but I almost feel as if everything is being rushed and I am scared we are overlooking something. Tomorrow we move into our new house and I hope to get internet up and running there soon. Our unaccompanied baggage should arrive on Wednesday and then the rest of our shipment should be there in a few weeks. Until then, we have the temporary furniture arriving as well as the items we will be using from the lending closet. All this stuff to remember. I hope it goes smoothly. Wish us luck! 

The journey to downtown Vicenza

Today we thought to ourselves, let's try to take the bus downtown and see what's there. We drove through there by accident the other day when we rented our car and got lost. Today I just wanted to explore the piazza and shops. So we walked from the hotel to outside the pedestrian gate and picked up the #1 bus that heads downtown. The only problem was that everything was in Italian and reading it, well I know a few words but not enough. At any rate, I thought I would at least recognize the area, I am after a girl we give directions by the sites near or around where we want to go. The first stop we got off was of course the wrong stop. We walked around a bit, saw a couple newstands, got accosted by a Nigerian wanting money, found the salami and cheese shop and the produce shop. But nothing really looked familiar. I did see  a castle wall which I knew was near the city walls. (Yes we have citty walls here). Then I saw the Teatro Olimpico. Little did I know what we wanted was around the corner. So we walked back to the bus stop and hopped back on the bus. We went a few more stops and found a good location to get off. And wow, the center of the town was gorgeous, the cobblestones screamed old time civilization and the old architecture and sculptures brought you back to a time long ago. It really makes you appreciate the history of this country. We found a shaded parked and walked around taking in the scenery and waterways. Then we walked through an archway towards the center of town. We took in many of the sites and got some great pics of the architecture and sculptures.

We hit a gelaterria for a brief snack and then found and wonderful bar for lunch. You see here, the ristorantes are not open until 7:30 during the summer so the bars and pizzeria are the only things open. This was a quaint bar, which could almost past for a cute little coffee shop in the states. The only options for lunch were paninis, crostini, bruschetta, and pizzas. Both the girls got different types of pizza, one was a square size Margherita and the other looked like a calzone of sorts. My husband and I opted for bruschetta and let me say this, I have only had one type of bruschetta which is the one with cheese and tomatos. The many we saw today looked so appetizing. My husband had a bruschetta with prosciutto, cheese and funghi (mushrooms). I had one with cheese, tomatoes and zucchini. They put them in the brick oven to toast them and when we got them they looked even better. I will say this, it was by far the best bruschetta I have ever had and it was very filling too. Despite the language barrier, the shop keeper knew a few words to help us and we in turn tried not to butcher the language too much. Too bad I cannot remember the name of the place but I will return there one day.

We then decided to walk around and noticed many of the shops were closed. Apparently, the shops are open until about 1:30 then remain close, or chiuso, until they open again at 5:30. To me it seems very weird but I suppose that is just Italian culture here. I am sure it's because they try to conserve energy during the hotter part of the day since most shops don't have a/c. Alorra, I have learned if I plan to shop I had better do it in the morning. We continued our walk down this beautiful pedestrian walk way through the shops and town center. At the very end, we again found the Teatro Olimpico. The courtyard of this place was amazing. We did not have time to head inside but from what we could tell, it was the open theater where they held past performances. It will have to be a trip for another day. We rounded the corner and walked back to the first bus stop, noticing all the now closed shops. We finally flagged down the bus we needed and made it back to the post. It was an adventure indeed but I am so proud that we took the opportunity to get out and explore.

Getting your POV and the driving course

I am excited to say our car has arrived in Italy, in fact, it was here on Monday. However, we can't have our car, at least not yet. See here, the regs state that we must get the new plates to register the car. Then we call the insurance company back home, thank God for USAA, and have them overnight the insurance straightaway to a local dealer outside the post gate. (Did I mention we walk EVERYWHERE here?) Anyway, we are also required to take a 2 hr driver's course and written test on the Italian driving laws and signs. We are at the driver's course portion right now. Today my husband and I sat through this class. The Italian instructor went through her power point presentation and I swear the lady had a wonderful sense of humor about how Italians drive around here. Several times she mentioned that we had to obey by these laws or that certain laws are only for the Americans, yet the Italians do not have to abide by them. For instance, bicycles. We are required to wear a helmet and pay attention to the road signs and oncoming vehicles which are supposed to yield to bicyclists since they have the right of way. No so true for Italians who seemed rather entitled to get from point A to point B without anyone or anything getting in their way. Shoot the Italians do not even need to wear a bike helmet! Now, tell me this, we keep getting told over and over, "It's important that you blend in." Hmm, well let's see, as Jeff Foxworthy might say. "you might be an American if you wear a helmet while riding a bike in Italy. You might be an American if your license plate begins with CZ or ZA. You might be an American if you are the only one saying "Non parlo Italiano" while everyone else around you speaks Italian." And it's not as if my blonde haired, blue eyed, fair skinned child screams Italian. I think it's a bit of a oxymoron to tell us to blend it but have us do things that cause us to stick out. There is no sense driving around with an American flag stuck on my car, you'll know right off the bat I'm American because I have a square license plate rather than the long skinny one.

Alorra. (For those wanting to know that meaning, it means absolutely nothing in the Italian language but is a filler word for so or anyway. I just think it sounds pretty.) Alorra, we listened intently and took diligent notes hoping to past this test. Then we did an overview of the various types of signs you might see here. Let's see, a circular sign with red trim indicates a prohibitory sign. A triangular sign with red trims indicates a danger sign. A circular sign with blue trim indicates a mandatory sign and a square sign with blue trim indicates an informational sign. Once you have those down, you just need to make sure you know the right 50 signs that will be on the test so you can past. Good thing I'm good at charades. The pictures on the signs are very informative. I especially like the signs for animal crossing. One has a picture a deer. This indicates wildlife crossing. The other sign has a picture of a cow and indicates domestic animal crossing. Oh and in case you are wondering, you cannot drive through the countryside or inside the city limits and honk your horn at the flocks of domestic animals. It could scare them and then we might have a stampede on our hands which would the creation of a new Danger sign.

As we watched our 40 min movie on driving in Italy, we became increasingly confused by all the rules. You must have your lights on while driving on the Autostrade, while driving through tunnels, during rain and fog, and most importantly 1/2 hour before sunset and 1/2 hour after sunrise. (And twice on Monday and once on a Wednesday). Allora, i must make sure I know when sunset is around here prior to my leaving home. Thank goodness i finally came into the 21st century and got a phone with internet access. Now I can just google the weather forecast and approximate time of sunset so i can turn on my lights precisely one 1/2 "ora" before sunset. But I will say the best part of the class is that I have finally learned to convert kilometers per hour to mphs. It's very easy. So for those that have forgotten the metric system learned a long time ago in school, here's a quick lesson. You take the kph, let's say 30, and multiply it times 6, then drop the last number. So 30x6 = 180, which means you can drive 18 mph down the street. Good thing I am good at math or I might have to have my oldest daughter start doing these calculations for me.

So on Monday morning, my husband and I will take our driver's test, 50 multiple choices and 50 signs, and provided we only miss no more than 4 in each section, we will be permitted to get our SETAF license and drive in this beautiful country. It also means that we can get our car out of hock and then move into our new house. I am praying that everything goes well on Monday. But since it is a first come, first serve basis and only 15 can take the test at once, I better get there early like the Target Christmas lady and repeat my mantra "Open, Open, Open." or in Italian: "Aperto, aperto, aperto." You see, I'm beginning to understand this language. Yeah Me!!

Ciao, ciao!

Festivals

We had our very first Fourth of July celebration here yesterday. The post did a really good job of setting up a great activity for the families and soldiers. It was an all day festival so the kids had a few chance to enjoy the rides and festivities. There were about 5 kiddie rides if you were lucky. The oldest enjoyed the bumper cars alot and got me and her sister many times. As I watched her drive her own car, i swear I got  glimpse of her driving abilities to come. What a scary thought. I had the younger one driving our car and she got me dizzy, literally driving in circles. After partaking of the games and food, we walked out to the dunking booth where the kids had perfect aim and dunked the sergeant. Perhaps  I should look into softball for them too. The SGM ran the snow cone booths and the kids just had to some. As my daughter sat eating her snow cone dripping it all down the front of her dress and her legs, I simply laughed as she said "Curse you Sno-Cone." Must be a Phineas & Ferb saying. The night ended with some nice fireworks coordinated to America and Born in the USA and a finale to the tune of Carmina Burana. I love that song.

This last week we've had the chance to get off post and drive around a bit either with friends or the one day we rented a car and got lost in Italy. What some of our friends have told us is that just about every weekend there is a festival that occurs somewhere in Italy. For instance, last weekend one of the nearby towns had the Festival of Cheese. Another town had the Festival of the Crusader. But next weekend is the ultimate festival for the kids. It's two days of non stop Pokemon. That's right, a Pokemon Festival in Ravenna. The kids cannot contain their excitement and are already planning their weekend and what games they plan to play. And let's not forget the Pikachu appearance. Shoot this is better than Disney and less expensive. It's at a Wonderland, a theme park if you will in one of the towns. The thing is, as Americans when we think of Wonderlands, we immediately think of Disneyworld, Disneyland and Hershey Park.  Apparently here though, there are alot of towns with Wonderlands and I think they rival small theme parks with roller coasters, boardwalk games etc. I will have to you know more about it once we experience it. But you can bet on this, mommy must endure two days of Pokemon, a game which I do not like to hear about, nor do I understand or even want to understand. I suppose it is one of those sacrifices I must make as a parent. Who knows, perhaps there will be some other shopping for me around there.

The next festival we also plan to attend will be Marostica, where there is the human chest game that occurs ever two years. It will be in the early fall so hopefully the weather will be great. the town's piazzo is set up as a large chess board and this human chess game is played daily for the weekend, every two years. If you're interested check it out here; http://www.bed-breakfast-italy.com/medieval/chess.htm

The children are bored and are begging for some fun time. So off we go walking to either go bowling or swimming. Here's hoping they have fun! Ciao!

Restaurants

Here, there are a couple types of restaurants depending on the type of food you want and/or the time of day. Dinner does not start until 7pm or 7:30pm, just beware!  If you want a snack, the best place to go is a bar, usually a taverna. Haven't been in one yet, but who know when the adventure may strike me. For full meals, you'll want an osteria, pizzeria, trattoria, or ristorante. Once you've chosen your particular type of food and restuarant, then you get to browse the menu. There are a couple types of menus. If  you have kids there is a children's menu, menu per bambini, which is tucked away inside the regular menu. If there is not one, then ask for a child's portion, una porzione per bambini. As for the rest of us, let me explain how Italian menus are set up. There is the appetizer, l'antipasto, and the salad, insalata, but the salads here are not typical of the US salads. In other words, a meal is not centered around your salad. And the only dressing you will receive includes the balsmic vinegar and olive oil bottles. The salad is mostly greens, no real lettuce, and if you are lucky, a couple slices of tomato. No cheese, no sunflowers, no olives, and no croutons. Shoot the breadsticks are actual thin hard sticks of dried packaged bread. No Olive Garden breadsticks here. As for the food, unless you order pizza, the rest of the menu is broken up into the first course, second course, vegetable and dessert. The first course, primo corso, consists of a large bowl of pasta. Pomodoro refers to a tomato sauce. Formaggio is the cheese sauce and pesto of course is pesto. May I recommend the Gnocchi alla Formaggio, it is to die for!! The second course is then your meat, and really it's a small portion of meat on the plate all by itself. I really enjoyed the pollo scallopini and the pork scallopini. Both are really good. If you are looking steak, order the bistecca ai ferri. After that comes your vegetable. I love mushrooms and the other night ordered some. The funghi were baked in olive oil and simply delicioso! My husband has to been in hog heaven because when he eats he does not like the foods to touch, he eat them one section at a time. Me, I like it all on my plate at once. I'm certainly not getting that here. But hey, when in Rome....

The last course, if you have not stuffed yourself silly with the other courses, is dessert, or dolce. Althought some italian pastries are really delicious, my kids have opted for the gelaterrias. Gelato here is simply wonderful and there are so many flavors to choose from. Apparently it is also lighter than American ice cream which means it's better on my waistline.

Here are a couple other things you may want to know about the restaurants which kind of surprised us. First, on your bill, if you have chosen to sit down and be served, you will be charged a coperto per person.It's basically your cover charge to sit down. The service is really slow, so bring some patience with you. For a woman who has little patience and two kids that get antsy, I've got a long learning curve ahead of me. If you want the check, you'll need to ask for it, and they again will be in no rush to get it to you. And the last thing, unless the service is exceptional, there is no tipping here. Go figure. Sometimes it is included in the bill, but mostly they do not expect a tip at all. So try your best to get your bill almost exact.

The last thing has to do with the drinks. If you are ordering a beer, it's either Blonde or Amber, light or dark. If you want wine, vino, you can order by the bottle or by the liter. Time to whip out the old metric system!  If you want a coke, that is doable too. There are two sizes of the cans and you will be given a glass to drink out of. A friend of ours told us that Italians really like to advertise what you are drinking. So if you are drinking a beer, you'll receive it in the glass with the company's name. If you are drinking a coke, you'll get a coke glass to accompany the drink. And please, do not drink from the can, that is frowned upon here. Lastly, the water, or acqua. It is ordered by the large glass bottle and you must specify if you want it naturale or frizzante. The bottles are for use by the table and you'll get glasses for everyone. Lastly, if I can figure out how to order some ice with my drink, I will, because they do not serve ice here!  That's like blasphemy for me. I've been complacent about it, but really I like my ice!!

Buon appetito and buono fortuna!

Day 1

We landed in the airport around 915am, Germany time. As we waited by the carousel for the luggage, I had a nagging feeling the luggage wasn't going to make it. You  see when we landed in Frankfurt, the plane took forever to taxi and the announcement was made that there would be a shuttle to meet those with a connecting flight to Venice. When we got off the flight, the attendant was there with a sign and told us where to go. (Thank goodness I still remember some of my German I took in high school too) We were transported to the other side of the airport, but for me, it could have been the other side of the universe and i would have been none the wiser. It was after all another country and I was in the minority. The shuttle stopped at a curb and everyone got off. We were shuttled into a building and proceeded to follow the people in front up the stairs to who knows where. At this point I had been awake for 20+ hours and crossed 6 time zones. I was totally confused and barely had my wits about me. So we followed these people with the German airport guards behind us. (OK so right there NOT a good idea.) When we reached the third floor we went in through a door and the German guys left us. I had no idea what to do or where to go but I knew we were in the airport. After stopping a worker there, and whipping out a but more German again, I asked him where we should go next and what to do. Apparently, we were at the Customs area and had to show them our passports. AHH!! Ok now I understood. We made it through customs and figured out where to go after that. We got to the counter with 10 minutes to spare. The flight was due to leave by 8:10am. We spoke to the lady at the counter about switching seats and she was able to get us in a row together, otherwise my 6 yr old would have been in the front of the plane and the rest of the family scattered throughout the plan. Not a good idea! We took the hour flight to Venice, and it was pretty uneventful. The flight attendants handed out German and Italian newspapers to the passengers as well as drinks. Since the announcements were mostly in German, with a few translated to English, we had to ask if it was ok to use electronic devices before my 6 yr old had a fit on the plane. All hail the Pokemon games!

Of course when we landed we found the bathrooms or il bagno as they say here and freshened up. The baggage area was crowded and the Italians know nothing about personal space. Apparently they also don't believe in lines and will cut in front of you even though you are next in line. So the whole Southern belief of being polite that i was raised with was not going to cut it here. We explained to the luggage people in painful detail that our luggage was lost. I really wish I took the time to learn a few key phrases. I managed to point to the sheet of luggage types, told her the italian number of our luggage as well as the Italian color. Thank goodness we learned those in our Girl Scouts this past year. We left the area and met our sponsor. I highly recommend this. Although there is a shuttle that takes all military personnel from the airport to the post, this way seemed better, more personal. And for those that might travel here, apparently having the airline loose your luggage is a good omen and pretty commonplace. Word of advice, travel with carry on only.

We made it to post which in and of itself was a miracle. I heard horror stories about how the Italians drive but seriously, you know the phrase, "Like a bat out of hell", this was worse! The guys on mopeds would drive right down the middle line of the road, and the other cars would ride your tail until you moved out of their way. It was nuts, almost worst than driving in a NY taxi cab. We checked into the hotel and our wonderful sponsor drove us around to get the lay of the land of the 1.8 mile radius of the post. He also took us to in processing where we entered our ID cards into the system so we could get on post without issue. The carbineri scan the cards everytime you come on post. We also had the chance to go to the housing office, which was a good walking distance from the hotel and right off post. We were offered a house right off, the one and only government lease available which we were required to take unless we could come up with a good excuse to turn it down or my husband was declared promotable. They wanted an answer right then and we looked at this lady in disbelief and told her we had only been in the country for 3 hours, and asked if we could have a little time to discusss this. We scheduled an appt and showing the next day and left. There are two entrances to post where you can walk on, so we we re-entered the post and headed to the exchange where we had a few minutes to get a change of clothes. As I was browsing the ladies section who should I see but a friend, the only person I know here, who moved here a year ago. I called out her name and she stared at me in disbelief. After the initial exchange of hellos she rushed off to an appointment and she promised to call later. It was nice to see a friendly face.

We found our mailbox, attempted to unlock the crazy lock, and headed back to the hotel to rest a bit. My friend called to invite us to dinner but warned us that dinner around here did not start until 7pm or so. (That's rather late you know.) She picked us up and took us to a little hole in the wall pizza and pasta place. The air conditioner was not working so we sat outside. Apparently when you do this, or any restaurant, you need to keep a watchful eye on your stuff or the gypsies will steal it right under your nose. Great, more things to worry about. Most of the family ordered from the extensive pizza menu and my friend and I chose the other option. You order the dinner, which is broken up in to three courses. The first course is a pasta course, the second course is your meat course and the third is your vegetable. After that, there is of course the dessert, or dolce course but we opted out of that. The drink ordering part was interesting. For water, you order large bottles which the table shares. YOu have a choice of natural water or Frizzante, fizzy water. YOu can also order the whole bottle of wine or small 1/2 liter or 500ml portions of wine. The dinner was good but the service extremely slow, and at times non-existent. Apparently this is the way it happens here. After dinner, our friend drove us around a bit and took us for gelato. After a semi successful attempt at ordering gelato, we enjoy our frozen dessert and returned to the hotel.

By then it was late and all I wanted to do was sleep. Screw the time zones, I was beyond exhausted. But what my friend did was help us fight through the initial jet lag part so we could get on the italian schedule. I was thankful she did this. However, after a day that started on a Wed and ended on a Thursday, 3 plane rides later and 6 time zones, and having been awake for 35 hours, I just wanted a shower and my bed.

**And for those that asked me, my father in law is doing better and should be released today from the hospital.

Arrived, the adventure in getting here

Hi there,

We landed in country 5 days ago and well, getting here was the easy part of the last two weeks. As my father in law tells me, if I didn't have bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. I am beginning to think he is right. Now I often have things happen constantly, things I can handle daily and don't add up, but the last two weeks were the two from hell, literally.

The movers can the 2nd week in June. The unaccompanied baggage folks were as easy as pie and we are awaiting the delivery of that shipment any day now. The next day, we had the regular movers for our main household shipment. They were really nice guys and damn efficient. They had the whole house packed in a day and then moved the remainder of the items the next day. All are items were crated so I supposed that's why the packing went faster the expected. In other words, and if you've not had your stuff crated before, they wrap it in brown paper and literally shove it in a crate.Some of the items are put in boxes and then crated, but it was interesting to see it all go inside. As the end of the first day closed, my husband asked me if I knew where our eldest daughter's bookbag she packed for the plane was located. I said, yes I am sure I moved it to the other room for safekeeping. I checked, and yeah, no, the bag was packed somewhere on the truck. Her room was one of the first rooms on the truck. The bag contained her nintendo DS, games, books, and her favorite toy she has slept with since she was 1 year old. Can we say moving problem? After my husband calmed down the child, we began to formulate a plan to entertain her for the long flight.

The next day went better but the movers still felt badly about packing up the kid's stuff. Our EDD, estimated drop date, was scheduled for August 9th. That thursday the final set of movers arrived to pack up the storage items. After they left, we tried to clean up the house. A wonderful neighbor had us over for dinner and while we eat the power, often a problem on the post, went out. After dinner we had to return to the house to finish clearing and cleaning, as well as move the boxes we were taking to the parents' house. By the light of the moon, a borrowed flashlight and the lights from the Kindle and Ipod, we were able to do what we needed. When we returned to lodging, the power was still out. The children enjoyed a bath by light of the Ipod and went to sleep.

Luckily, we were able to clear housing eaerly the next morning and get on the road to my dad's house earlier than anticipated. It was funny then, but our poor dog refused to leave the side of my husband's truck. I think he thought we were going to leave him behind. Everyone loaded up and the trailer hooked up, we embarked upon our journey.

We arrived at my dad's and met their dog, Chloe, who was nice but territorial. After about 6 hours, and while everyone was together on the deck cooking steaks, the dogs got into a scuffle. My lab, all of 113 lbs and a big sissy, did not fair well and literally got his butt bit. We took him to the pet emergency where he had stitches on his back hind leg, in two spots, and on his ear where the other dog took a bite. After about $250, he came home sedated and on meds. Poor puppy. The other dog was completely unscathed.

Two days later we decided to go tubing down the river. The water was low but we still managed. Of course my butt connected with every large rock going down the river. About half way down the river we hit small rapids and I had my hand on the youngest daughter's raft. We hit another set of rocks and fast moving water and I was knocked off the raft, successfully hitting my back in two spots and clocking my head on a rock when i was submerged. I got my wits about me and came up to the surface only to see my 6 yr having to brave the small rapids by herself. Luckily my husband was in front and waiting for her to come to him, but she was crying and scared to go it alone. I muddled myself to the other side of the water with a raging headache in tow. Once I was able to get to my husband and daughter she was too frightened to continue down the river. We crossed the river again, this time in slower moving water, and made it to the shore. The others continued and I was left with my daughter so we could walk down the river. We encountered a rock embankment which forced us to reenter the water briefly, and let's just say that was an ordeal to get her back in the water, and as we came up on the adjoining campsite along the water, I saw my dad's car leaving the campground parking. We headed to the street and started walking. Luckily, one of the tubing company's vans saw the brightly colored tube and drove us back to the shop. My dad took us home thankfully. My husband, after receiving our note and upon his arrival to the shop, told me our other daughter and niece wanted to ride again. When my husband returned home, his stomach looked like it had been malled by a bear and his foot had two good lacerations on it. He apparently hit a nasty rock thus scraping along his stomach and lost a shoe, hence the lacerated foot. Needless to say, we were supposed to leave the next day for Florida. That trip had to be delayed a day.

The remainder of our trip was in Florida with my inlaws. We arrived on a Thursday and left the following Wednesday. That Friday evening, tropical storm Debby arrived and stalled in the Gulf, showering Florida with buckets upon buckets of rain. It rained for about 4 days straight and we ended up with flooded roads, road closures and over 20 inches of rain. Early Saturday morning my father in law woke us up at 7am because the dog was having a problem breathing. After several foamy vomitting episodes and watching the dog go from ok to worse in 30 minutes, we rushed him to my inlaws' vet which luckily opened at 8am. The dog was having a problem walking and vomitted a few more times when we got him there. They came in to tell us he had signs of bloat and he needed an emergency procedure to help relieve the gas buildup before his stomach turned on it's side. After what seemed like hours, we had a talk with the vet who told us he would need surgery to basically attach his stomach to his insides, or they could an exloratory surgery to see if he had indeed ate something he shouldn't have. (It wouldn't have been the first time.) We told them to open him up again and do what they needed. We later had to transport him to the emergency vet for weekend observation. After paying $1790 to the first vet, our dog was released for transport. The estimate at the ER Vet was $500-$1100. Nice. We left the dog and went home. Sometime in all the melee, our oldest lost her tooth. Emergency Tooth Fairy visit came next.

We got the dog back Monday morning, and the estimate was about dead on, of course on the higher side. It was still raining buckets outside and the roads were still flooded.  We were scheduled to leave on Wed and it was looking near impossible to get a shuttle there let alone have the flight leave on time. Tuesday morning, my father was ill and went to the doctor. After taking his meds later that afternoon, he began to have an adverse reaction to them and had to be taken by ambulance to the ER. It was released that night but has since returned.

Through the grace of God and wonderful neighbors, we made it to the airport with 8bags and 4 carry-ons in tow. I admit I was afraid to set foot on the plane for fear it would not make it to its destination. Thankfully, two transfers later, and two trips to through customs, coupled with a rush to our last flight via shuttle, and some seat transfers, we made it to Italy unscathed and in one piece. I wish I could say the same for our luggage which did not make it at all. After filing a claim for our luggage, our nice sponsor transported us back to the post and thus, our story begins.