There's no Place Like Home

All our belongings are now safely with us! Today the shipments were delivered to the house. It was a mostly tranquil day that ended with most everyone (that is movers and me) being a little cranky.

A BIG thanks to Chaz, my friend and neighbor who lived through the same move experience just 9 months ago. She is the reason the beautiful armoire I bought for Emily is going to be lifted up the balconies and to her room on Friday! She was persistent and it definitely paid off.

By the end of the day, I was really Italian. I made the movers pasta pomodoro, and caffe. Well, in the morning i made the caffe. The afternoon coffee i burnt getting sidetracked with moving issues but luckily Kathy came to my rescue and cleaned it up for me.

The day was a little stressful but we got it done. I spent about 4 hours trying to clear a path through our bedroom and make our bed. The site of my comfy bed is just about the best thing I've seen in Italy to date!

Up early again tomorrow to pick up my Mom-in-Law who's currently flying to Rome! We are super excited for her visit.

Today I'm thankful for:

28. My friend Katia for taking the kids overnight for me

29. A smooth move

30. My BED! I'm pausing as I type to do bed angels :)

Tutto a Posto

"Tutto a posto." This is a phase that means "Everything is in its place." It can also be used in response to "Come stai?" or "How are you?". Well, today I'm feeling that term on many levels as I work into the night to ensure the things we already have here are in place before receiving both our shipments of household goods tomorrow!

Chris and I had a nice morning together as we took the kiddos to school, stopped at the bar for a cafe, and went to Brico (think Home Depot) for a few items. Then we came home (man I like the way that sounds!) and we walked through the house looking and discussing where everything should go.

Then Chris went to bed to prepare for working tonight. Yes, Chris has to work tonight, tomorrow night and the next night. The worst possible timing!

But, piano, piano (slowly, slowly) we will put our house together!

Tonight I am thankful for:

25. The men working on our yard who played soccer with Ivan for a few minutes

26. Emily and Ivan playing playdoh for an hour!

27. My landlord Giovanna for helping Emily with Italian homework and takin her with her daughter to rhythmic gymnastics tonight.

First Night in Our Home!

Last night was our first night in our new home! We don't get our furniture until Tuesday, so we had to adapt a little. We spent most of our night at Ikea (pronounced ee-KAY-uh in Italy) with a familiar Swedish meatball dinner. No matter what country you're in, Ikea is constant!

We were there to buy linens for the only bed currently in the house. The landlord has a beautiful brass bed he gave us to use in the guest bedroom so last night the four of us piled into it! :)

Poor Emily had homework that we all had put on the backburner until last night, so Chris made her a little cushioned spot in our living room area with a little lamp we bought to sprawl out and do her math and Italian homework. She was so tired, she couldn't remember how to do long division. But Daddy worked with her while I put the bedding together and put Ivan Bear to bed.

The house was a bit chilly going to bed. The hotel had unlimited electricity so we could be a little frivolous with the heat and air conditioning, but now we have to be a bit more frugal. Our landlord installed a pellet stove for heat which will be great, but we had not yet bought pellets so rather than using the radiators we turned on the heat from the air conditioner on the floor we slept in and it helped a bit. Today we will get pellets and use that for heat. The kids are learning now that they should wear slippers everywhere in the house. Luckily we have mostly wood floors, and they seem to stay warmer, but when you go into a bathroom, the transition is chilly on the feet! :)

Even though poor Emily didn't finish homework until 11pm, everyone was so happy to spend the night in our new home. We got ready and had breakfast on the patio and it was lovely. Somehow I only had an 8 minute drive to school and I still managed to be 10 minutes late :( but I was so thankful that it wasn't an hour drive!

This morning Chris asked, "Was it worth the wait?" and I replied, "I'm sure it was, but ask me after Thanksgiving dinner when my furniture is here, we are unpacked and I can prepare a proper American feast!"

Today I am thankful for:

22. Ikea Swedish meatballs with Salsa (gravy) and marmalata (lingonberries)

23. A bed that fit all four of us

24. My beautiful macchiato with cinnamon on top :)

It's Hard to Say Goodbye!

Well, as I type this we are packing up our belongings at the hotel and preparing to move into our new home.  We have been in Italy since June 3, and at this hotel since July 2.  The hotel has been our home away from home for over 4 months!

First thing is that I thought you might all like to see what a hotel key looks like in Italy.  First, I will show you a picture of something you have all probably seen or used.  A hotel key in the US:

Typical Hotel Key from US and Around the World

And this is a hotel key in Italy:

Italian Hotel Key(s)

The white clicker was for the gate.  The longest key let you in the room and one of the normalish looking keys let you in the pedestrian gate. Other than that I have NO IDEA what the other keys are for! I laughed when I saw these keys the first time.  I thought "WHAT IN THE WORLD?"  And I also thought it must just be this hotel...NOPE!  Guess what our house keys will look like.  Not too unsimilar.

Also, every door in the house has a key in it like these.  This is how they lock bedroom doors, bathroom doors.  They are huge and they always fall out at some inopportune time.

Oh well, enough about the crazy keys...since we have lived here in the hotel, we have really grown close to the two men that live on-site that take care of all of the maintenance of the hotel and provide security.

Both are from Ghana, Africa.  They both have families back in Ghana and they work here most of the year.  One of them has talked to me about his family in detail.  He has sons back home and a beautiful wife. He is hoping to bring his family here to Italy early next year to live with him.

They are Muslims, a culture I am fairly familiar with because I went to college with many Muslims...However, leave it to me to offer them a feast of food during Ramadan!  They both have their opinions about Italy and remarkably they are very similar to ours.  That there is good and there is bad here.  They taught me a lot about how Naples "works" and the corruption here.  They have been like uncles to our kids here all summer and into the fall.  They help me take groceries upstairs, they walk our dogs when we aren't home, wash our cars for a nominal amount and they adore our kids since they are far away from theirs.  I've been fortunate to have many lengthy discussions with them while I take the dogs out for walks.  They are truly remarkable men that are doing the very best they can for their families.  Occasionally they will ask us to buy them little things that are much too expensive in Italy or things that are "American" that they send home to their families.  Also, we sometimes will surprise them with something special.  For instance, one of the men really likes Mountain Dew soda that you cannot find here in Italy.  :)

Tonight we had an issue with a new neighbor blaring his music at 1am (gotta love this apartment living!) and one of the men came to get him to quiet down and then stopped by.  He saw that we were packing up our bags and he said, "Are you leaving tomorrow?"  We said, "Yes" and the look on his face was that of such sadness.  Watching him nearly brought me to tears.

When you move to a foreign country, you really learn to make friendships quickly.  And these men have been such a great help and support to our family.

I am wrapping up my night praying for them and their families.

Today I am thankful for:

19. Our friends Omar and Hassan.

20. Our friends Kathy and Ciro who have done so much to help us since we arrived in Italy!

21. Our friends Bill and Chaz who introduced us to Avellino!

May God richly bless them all!

Countdown to Moving Day

First of all, sorry this post is 12 hours late.  I'm hoping in the US it's still Friday in some places ;)  It just means it's double blog post day for me!

I don't want to spoil the ending, but it looks like at the end of this 5 1/2 month period of our sojourn in Italy, the family WILL get the house.  It hasn't been as easy as I thought.  You know the feeling when you go to a restaurant like TGI Friday's or The Cheesecake Factory and you get the menu and it's 10 pages long?  You may have been hungry for something when you got there, but after you see page after page of new ideas, you suddenly don't know what to order.  You may ask your server what they like.  And then you ask your friends what they're ordering.  And you still aren't sure, yet you don't want to hold up the entire table so you say, "Uhhhh, skip me until the end."  Well, that's what searching for a home in Naples has been like for us.

But looooooong story short, we found our house that made the most PROS on our PRO/CON list and we will be moving in on Tuesday!

I can't wait to unfold the events that occurred leading up to this.  If you like House Hunters International, you will enjoy the next series of blog posts.  If you know someone PCSing overseas, the info might also be helpful to them.  If you have lived through this sort of move, please feel free to add comments for others!

Today I'm thankful for:

16. The little bit of Italian I have picked up.  I'm completely able to talk to my landlords, the yard workers, the maid, the electrician, the painters, everyone working on my home! And I think it helped us find favor with our home inspectors yesterday.  And I introduced myself to an Italian neighbor!  Like my blogpost Meeting in the Middle Italians LOVE when I do my best to communicate.

17. The two bars walking distance from my new house.  Everyone that works in them are so nice and inviting to us!

18. Landlords that love us.  Their family is amazing!

Is it Lunchtime YET???

I've written a lot about how wonderful the food is in Italy, but I don't know how much I've written about Eating in Italy. Eating and mealtimes has been the biggest cultural hurdle for me to get my mind wrapped around but I think it's finally sinking in to my brain.

If you are full-blooded American, you will be disappointed that you cannot find a restaurant that serves American-style breakfast. In fact, you won't likely find any restaurant open before 8pm! That's not a type-o. I'll explain momentarily.

Breakfast in Italy is cappuccino and cornetto (a sweet croissant). If you are at home, you might have a glass of steamed milk, a glass or juice and 5-8 breakfast biscuit cookies (and of course caffe). Cereal is a trend that is just catching on here. It's funny because there are directions on the box including that you pour cold milk (not hot) on the cereal. We think that's funny, but if you look at a box of pasta here you would not see any directions on preparation except for the number of minutes to cook. In the states, there are directions on the box (boil 2 quarts of water, add salt to water, etc)

You can eat anytime after waking. Some eat at home, some eat at a cafe bar. I think up until 11am is normal.

Pranza or lunch is usually eaten at home. Again, very few restaurants are open. Only in metropolitan areas and tourist areas, and 12 at the very earliest. If you work, you may get a panino (sandwich) or pizzette (little pizza-style pastry) at the bar. At home, lunch is pasta, and usually a substantial amount. Oh, and lunch is around 12:30-1:30pm. Very late!

At this time of day you will only find pizza at a lunch walk-up place in a metro area (ie: downtown Naples or larger suburb). There might be a couple of tall tables to stand at and eat or you would take it home. These places also sell yummy little trasures (none of them healthy) like croquette
made of potato and sometimes a meat filling, arancini which are deep fried, breaded balls of risotto or pasta and my favorite, zeppoline which are fried pieces of pizza dough salted - heart attack food for sure. But pretty tasty! Real restaurants have wood ovens for pizza and they don't heat them until dinner time. It takes 4 hours to get the oven to the proper, consistent temperature!

If you do find a restaurant they will serve you a multi-course traditional lunch. It's pricey and it's a lot of food. You can push back and only order one course too. It starts with a plate of fresh mozzarella di buffala, proccuitto crudo (raw) and maybe a salami of some kind. Then you would select from the primi piatti or first plates of pasta. And it's substantial! Then you would choose from the secondi piatti which is a main course. Then maybe a salad after that! It goes on and on! I usually only order from the list of primi piatti or insalate (salad).

So everyone eats a large pasta lunch and takes riposo (a nap). Yes, businesses completely shut down. You can't go to smaller stores, specialty stores, schools are dismissed, everything! Some gas stations are open and very large supermarkets, but everything else closes. I was in a United Colors of Benetton and they were hurrying to ring me up before they closed for riposo. it's a very serious thing.

So they sleep until 4 or so and return to work! Work until 7 or 8 and then it's dinnertime. 8 is the earliest you will see an Italian at a restaurant. 9, 10, 11 not uncommon. Makes me yawn just thinking about it!

The convenience of a 24 hour Denny's is greatly missed by this American girl! I really miss going out to breakfast more than anything! But no lunch spots and no dinner until 8 is just as frustrating. Even the few McDonalds here don't serve breakfast. They open at noon. Another of my favorite activities, going to lunch with a girlfriend is near impossible - but if you go downtown or near the seaside you can find something. I'm adjusting, and it's difficult, but the food is so good, it's worth waiting for!

Today I'm thankful for:

13. Zeppoline

14. The car our landlord let us borrow while ours is in the shop

15. Kids karaoke night on the base. Emily loves it!!!

American Family

Well, it's been an interesting week, watching my various friends post their views on Facebook.  Everyone is now settling down and has largely slept on the outcome.  I can feel the calm coming.

There are some issues of which I am happy with the outcome and some of which I'm not pleased with the outcome.  But there's one thing that I'm still remain happy about.  I'm American.

Every day in Italy, I see either Carabinieri (Italy's Military Police), local Polizia (Local Police) or Guardia di Finanza (Financial Military Police) pulling cars over to search your car or check documentation WITHOUT CAUSE.  First, in America, Military police have no jurisdiction over civilians - only military.  Second, there must be just cause to search a car or pull you over.  However in Italy, they just put up the red lollypop and you must pull over.  And you don't want to not see it...the guy behind the guy with the lollypop is ready for you.

At the same time, no government or police faction can do anything against the Italian Camorra.  Since they have taken over the trash collection in the Campania region, there are walls and walls of trash everywhere.  You can't even pull off the highway into an emergency lane because it's a wall of trash.  I have gone for runs around and through piles of trash.  And businesses must pay the Camorra il pizzo or a "Protection Fee" for operating.  Refusing to pay means that you are a target of terrorism, usually ending in the burning down of your establishment.  It's so ironic that you would pay the organization for protection from that same organization.

That coupled with a recent article of the air quality.  A study was just released that shows measurable amounts of cocaine and marijuana.  Also, because of the trash problem everyone burns their trash.  The air is constantly filled with smoke from burning trash.

No one and I mean no one obeys basic traffic rules.  I say no one, because if you are here long enough, you become one of them.  You drive like them or else they will eat you alive on the roads.  Now that I have been driving my kids back and forth 1 hour each way and the miles I put on in between, I think I have logged at least 300 hours of driving since I arrived.  The states have their share of crazy drivers and almost everyone speeds, but this is more than you can imagine.  Roads with Ferraris, 199cc scooters and everything in between.  You cannot believe it until you experience it.  There is a civility in the states that is not here on the road.  And I have never seen anyone pulled over.  Passing police cars, ambulances and other emergency vehicles with lights on seems commonplace.  It is almost lawlessness.

For these reasons and more, I am so thankful to be an American.  Sure there are things that I think we can learn from here too.  Like the quality of food and what is accepted.  There are strict GMO restrictions in place and the people generally make very fresh and healthy choices.  I've heard of people driving to Naples just for eggs because they are the best for pastries.  There are very few processed foods and those that are on the shelves (like breakfast biscuits and cookies that are very popular) have very simple ingredients - ones even I can understand!

But all in all, give me the good ol' USofA. Italians that have been to America all agree that our country is the greatest nation.  A man who pumps gas for me tells me about his Uncle in Philadelphia and how wonderful the US was when he visited.  He longs to save enough money to move his children there for a better chance at life.  That's the American Dream.  It's still alive in the world, and I hope that we can hold our country together for it to be realized for generations to come!

Join my family in praying for our nation.  This morning in the wake of our political elections I spent some time in prayer using this scripture from the Apostle Paul as inspiration of how to live as a citizen of both the US and Heaven.

“Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. For the Lord’s sake, respect all human authority—whether the king as head of state, or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right. It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you. For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil. Respect everyone, and love your Christian brothers and sisters. Fear God, and respect the king.” (1 Peter 2:12-17, NLT)

Today I am thankful for the following:

10. Landlords that are working around the clock for our home inspection.  They are flipping this house in 3 days time!

11. America.  Land of the Free...Home of the Brave

12. The foosball table at our hotel.  My son has had so much quality time with Daddy at this table and he has gotten quite good for being only 4!  Tonight they got to play before Chris headed in to work.