« trouble on the nanny front | Main | Happy New Year!! »
December 23, 2002
BUON NATALE :) (translation: Happy Nativity)
I will be so happy to get my household stuff back!! Living out of a temporary apartment with someone else's things just sucks. Culture shock has finally set it. Yesterday was the worst - procrastination is a really bad thing to have in Sicily. I noticed as I was driving my rental car that it was on empty - gas station closed. I then realized that I needed to buy a few meals (really small freezer) for the next few days. Military grocery store closed. Okkkkaaaay. Laundry then. Water main near the only laundry mat on base broken and washers secured. Wahhhh. I am still on orientation which means eight or less hours during the work day but since they are on holiday break, I have been temporarily working at my real job. 12 hour shifts today and tomorrow so no way to bail myself out of the mess that I created. I am going to ask them to take pity on me and let me go early to get gas and food today. The Italian work schedule is very different from the American work schedule. They start at 8 am but then take a four hour break from noon to four pm and then work from four to about seven or eight. This means that the fast, fast, fast, gotta have it now mentality that I am so used to WILL NOT WORK here.
I am still without my own computer so updates will continue to be sporadic. We are adjusting and loving it though. This past Saturday, we visited a 16th century castle (Donnafugata) which was gorgeous. I took a whole roll of film so when I do get my computer back, there will be plenty of pictures. Seth is the Italian version of a movie star. They are so baby centered that where ever we go, strangers stop to coo and stroke his hair. While we were at the castle, he was mobbed by a school group mostly made up of Italian girls about 12 years old. At first he was laughing and flirting but then they crowded him and were talking noisily and he got freaked. Cheryl actually took a picture of us while I was trying diplomatically to extract him. They don't have the *th* combo in their language so his name is nearly impossible for them to say. They called him Sef or Seft.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! I hope everyone has at least a peaceful one. Oh, I keep forgetting to tell you the time difference. From the East Coast, it is six hours forward. Anyone who would like my address, let me know. When I move into base housing, Jan 17th, I will be getting a phone service that will allow people to call me through a dispatch that will only be about 6 cents a minute. If you would like to have this number, let me know that too.
Update: Got gas, got groceries and did enough laundry to make it through Christmas when I can do all of it at once.
Posted by DebC at December 23, 2002 7:49 AM