I had this great idea that we'd take an hour or two every Sunday to recap our week and connect with everyone. I hadn't planned on being so immediately and warmly enveloped by Italy, nor had I planned on spending every Sunday devouring glorious meals with our landlords. We'll try to find a different, regular time to write, and in the meantime this is some of the stuff we've been up to.
The process of moving out of the hotel and into our house seems eternal, but last week we signed a pre-contract. We hope this means we'll be moved in by the end of the month. After the meeting, Enzo invited us over to the house for another amazing lunch. Nonna read Italian Lion King to the girls, Senior Garofalo sang Italian songs while the girls danced outside, and somehow by the end of lunch it was dark outside and past dinnertime :-)
We finally went to Carney Park which we'd been hearing about nearly since we arrived. At some point, the base realized that Americans would eventually want to play some baseball, climb some rock walls, and play some Nintendo Wii, so they built a park. In the crater of a (extinct) volcano. America, you're pretty awesome sometimes :-)
In addition to several playgrounds, fields, pools with slides, the park also has cabins available for camping and (we were told) one of the best views in the city of New Year's fireworks. So if any of you are thinking you want to do a little something special this New Years, let us know and we'll get you a cabin too, and you can spend New Year's Eve hiking in a volcano in Italy with us.
(I think Scott took pictures of the park and I'm reserving this spot in the hope that when he gets home from work, he will put said pictures here)
(Lindsey: much obliged :) )...
Two days after the pre-contract was signed, base did an inspection of the house to make sure it was okay for inhabiting (it was). After the inspection, Laura (Enzo's fiancee) invited us to her house for dinner to meet her parents. Scott helped Enzo with his computer while Laura and her mom taught me Italian words for baking items as we made a cake (torta, as it turns out). There was a moment of horror when the realized I was a vegetarian, but Scott assured them that I would still cook meat for him and anyone else who visited, so all was forgiven :-) Closed out the night with Laura's parents teaching the girls the Italian version of "ring around the rosie" (Giro, Giro, Tondo).
...every family we have met has been a blessing. Obviously not speaking the same language is a huge barrier, but in some very meaningful ways it cuts out a lot of nonsense, too. When you're struggling to fit each sentence together, there is no room for pretense or posturing. Like the communication of toddlers, it is clumsy, inefficient, and completely sincere... and typically just focuses on the most basic of needs, which in Italy is always food.
** UPDATE Sunday 2/12/12 **
The weather has been fairly bruto the last several days and we'd more or less resigned ourselves to sitting around the hotel room doing a whole lot of nothing (including NOT writing in this blog), but today we finally decided enough is enough and decided to take a drive. Highlights included the Caroline Aqueduct and the small town of Sant' Agata de Goti, where we got up close and personal with some rarely seen snow in Southern Italy. Lowlights included not being able to find anywhere to eat anything at all at 1 pm on a Sunday....
** UPDATE Monday 2/13/12 **
We signed all of the contract paperwork and the movers will deliver all of our household goods tomorrow! All of the girls' toys and clothes and whatnots that have been packed up cold and alone since September will finally get to see the light of day. Officially our move-in date is Friday to give time to transfer over the utilities and get all the odds and ends sorted out, but it will be nice to at least begin the unpacking/living a normalish life process.
We'll be sure to post some more updates as we get settled in to the house, in the meantime, here's another cornucopia of pictures from some of the things we've done the last few weeks :)
Ciao,
Scott & Lindsey
P.S. typing is significantly easier without that stupid cast on my hand! -- Scott
The process of moving out of the hotel and into our house seems eternal, but last week we signed a pre-contract. We hope this means we'll be moved in by the end of the month. After the meeting, Enzo invited us over to the house for another amazing lunch. Nonna read Italian Lion King to the girls, Senior Garofalo sang Italian songs while the girls danced outside, and somehow by the end of lunch it was dark outside and past dinnertime :-)
We finally went to Carney Park which we'd been hearing about nearly since we arrived. At some point, the base realized that Americans would eventually want to play some baseball, climb some rock walls, and play some Nintendo Wii, so they built a park. In the crater of a (extinct) volcano. America, you're pretty awesome sometimes :-)
In addition to several playgrounds, fields, pools with slides, the park also has cabins available for camping and (we were told) one of the best views in the city of New Year's fireworks. So if any of you are thinking you want to do a little something special this New Years, let us know and we'll get you a cabin too, and you can spend New Year's Eve hiking in a volcano in Italy with us.
(I think Scott took pictures of the park and I'm reserving this spot in the hope that when he gets home from work, he will put said pictures here)
(Lindsey: much obliged :) )...
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| Linds taking a break to play |
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| A volcano with a view |
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| Badminton Superstar |
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| Young Indiana Crawford |
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| Wheee! |
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| Kapow! |
Two days after the pre-contract was signed, base did an inspection of the house to make sure it was okay for inhabiting (it was). After the inspection, Laura (Enzo's fiancee) invited us to her house for dinner to meet her parents. Scott helped Enzo with his computer while Laura and her mom taught me Italian words for baking items as we made a cake (torta, as it turns out). There was a moment of horror when the realized I was a vegetarian, but Scott assured them that I would still cook meat for him and anyone else who visited, so all was forgiven :-) Closed out the night with Laura's parents teaching the girls the Italian version of "ring around the rosie" (Giro, Giro, Tondo).
...every family we have met has been a blessing. Obviously not speaking the same language is a huge barrier, but in some very meaningful ways it cuts out a lot of nonsense, too. When you're struggling to fit each sentence together, there is no room for pretense or posturing. Like the communication of toddlers, it is clumsy, inefficient, and completely sincere... and typically just focuses on the most basic of needs, which in Italy is always food.
** UPDATE Sunday 2/12/12 **
The weather has been fairly bruto the last several days and we'd more or less resigned ourselves to sitting around the hotel room doing a whole lot of nothing (including NOT writing in this blog), but today we finally decided enough is enough and decided to take a drive. Highlights included the Caroline Aqueduct and the small town of Sant' Agata de Goti, where we got up close and personal with some rarely seen snow in Southern Italy. Lowlights included not being able to find anywhere to eat anything at all at 1 pm on a Sunday....
** UPDATE Monday 2/13/12 **
We signed all of the contract paperwork and the movers will deliver all of our household goods tomorrow! All of the girls' toys and clothes and whatnots that have been packed up cold and alone since September will finally get to see the light of day. Officially our move-in date is Friday to give time to transfer over the utilities and get all the odds and ends sorted out, but it will be nice to at least begin the unpacking/living a normalish life process.
We'll be sure to post some more updates as we get settled in to the house, in the meantime, here's another cornucopia of pictures from some of the things we've done the last few weeks :)
Ciao,
Scott & Lindsey
P.S. typing is significantly easier without that stupid cast on my hand! -- Scott
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| Kylie conquering the sunset at a beach in Lago Patria |
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| I don't even wanna know whats in this water, but it looks pretty |
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| All my ladies taking in the sunset <3 |
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| Ava being a trooper. |
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| Kylie looking for the next dirt hill she can slide down |
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| Lindsey checking out Enzo's new steed |
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| Friendly little fluff dog in the country |
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| She's gonna give us some excellent cheese one day |
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| Fountain in downtown Napoli near the Piazza di Plebecito |
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| View of the Bay of Napoli |
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| This castle is called the Museo Civico (Civic Museum) |
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| Museum which is older than most the artifacts we have in the US... |
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| This statue looked awesome |
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| Shopping district near the Piazza di Plebecito |
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| The Gardens at Caserta Palace |
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| More Caserta... |
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| Crazy vomiting dolphin/dragon-headed monster things |
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| These fish are swimming in the reflection pool... |
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| Sorrento. |
