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January 28, 2003

living out of boxes

I really, really appreciate having my own house and my stuff back but could someone (pretty, pretty please) come unpack all these boxes?!! I used to love this part. It was fun to make a new space "my own". Now, I just want to be able to twitch my nose and make it put itself away. I am trying to unpack at least 5-10 boxes a day (they are little). Yesterday, I think I did about 10. It is amazing - I get unpacking one box and get distracted with another box and pretty soon there is junk flying everywhere.

I have started working also. Up to this point, I had been on base-wide orientation which was about 5 hours a day, Monday through Friday. Back on Tuesday, I started my usual 12 hour shift work. I work from 7am to 7pm, three to five days a week. It gives me more days off which is nice, but the work days are long for all of us.

The boys absolutely love the new neighborhood. There are 51 children on my side of the street, on our block alone. There are grade school age children EVERYWHERE you look. There is a playground on every block and the entire neighborhood is fenced in with only one entry point (with a gate guard). It is about half an hour from the base so there is no lollygaggers or passers-through which means that there is almost no traffic and no one goes more than 20 mph. There are fields for soccer, football, baseball, a recreation center, a video rental store and a minimart. Every Tuesday, the "chicken man" sits in front of the front gate. From him you can buy roasted (whole) chickens done on his truck, homemade red wine (suprisingly good) in a liter water bottle, marinated olives, and a few other yummies. We live fifteen minutes up the road from a town called Caltigirone which is world famous for handpainted ceramics and statues.

Needless to say we are liking it a lot.

I also bit the bullet and did something I have been promising Eli and Jake for years. We got a dog. His name is Jax and he is a six year old schipperke, show quality with AKC papers. He only weighs about 18 pounds. I found him in the paper, free to a good home. His original owners are having their second baby and feel overwhelmed with the two dogs they had. They still have their beagle. Jax is neutered and has an ID chip under his shoulder skin already. He is a great dog! We dogsat for a friend of mine in Washington and his personality is almost identicle to that dog (Jasper). He has the eveness of an older dog but the energy of a younger one. He has had a two year old boy pulling and poking and yelling for the last two years, so he is used to little kids. I take him for a walk (okay, he drags me) before I go to work and again in the evening. He sleeps on the boys' bed everynight. Doesn't bark much unless he feels that someone is in the yard. Here is a website I found on the <a href="http://www.akc.org/breeds/recbreeds/shipper.cfm">breed</a>. And <a href="http://www.schipperke-dogs.com/">another link</a>. I had never heard of this breed before, so I searched the internet for more information and found that there are some serious, die-hard, schipperke fans out there.

One other thing that has come up is that Cheryl will be going back to the States permanently at the end of April. As much as we went through to try to keep her here, the struggle has worn us out. The expense was growing and she is getting very homesick and lonely. We will miss her VERY much. We are beginning the search for someone to take her place. I will try to find another nanny situation given my odd hours. It will most likely be an Italian citizen so I guess the bonus is that we will have no choice but to learn lots of Italian as neither of us speak each other's language very well. Fortunately, I have 3 months to take my time.

Posted by DebC at 11:17 AM | Comments (6)

January 14, 2003

Wow, long time no post!

I have talked quite a bit about what we have done on our travels but not about us personally so here is a little update about us.

We move into base housing on Friday with some temporary furniture and then receive all of our household goods on Monday (MLK is not a holiday here). I should have most things unpacked in about a week, including the computer. I am not sure how long it takes to set up internet service over here but I plan to have at least 4 new photo galleries up by the end of January. I get my van back on Friday also - although I have really come to appreciate the clown car.

<b>Me:</b> Settling in quite nicely and learning Italian slowly. The food over here is way too tasty and not even remotely wheat or dairy free. I knew that it would be hard to manage but had just no idea. I am weak. So so weak. Everything over here has either cream, cheese or butter in it. Virtually all Italian meals have wheat in them. I am sort of okay if I stay home and cook for myself but living in a hotel has made that really difficult. I am resigned to the fact that cheating will happen until we get moved into our own house and I get my kitchen back together. In the meantime, both Seth and I have had a terrible time with our allergies, he with his rash and me with my sinuses. I am still on orientation and have not really begun what will be my normal work schedule but I think I will like my job.

<b>Eli:</b> Doing well in second grade although spelling and handwriting will be his crosses to bear. He has about 30 minutes of homework a night which is less than his last school. He has just gone through a growth spurt and has changed two pants sizes since June! He is going to have his dad's build. Fortunately for him (and me) he is also going to have his dad's sense of direction. He is my map guy in the car and has, on more than one occasion, stopped me from going the wrong way.

<b>Jake:</b> Happy to be a kindergartner! He loves, loves, loves to draw and make up stories. He also likes to take things apart and put them back together. He has gotten quite adept at using Euro, which is the money they use in Europe now. The Italians think it is very amusing to see him mull over his potential purchases.

<b>Seth:</b> A totally different baby than when we started traveling. He is very tall for his age and has a mouth full of teeth (11) that make him look a lot like Stitch from the movie Lilo and Stitch! His rash comes and goes but is usually fairly itchy. He eats quite a bit now, which has been a challenge to find legal foods for him. He is starting to say words and so far says: mom, nana (banana), ticka ticka (tickle tickle), woof (for dog) and mao (for cat) and even says - quite gleefully - CIAO!! The Italians absolutely love him. He said ciao for the first time two days ago to our Italian landlord, complete with the hand wave. Seth has also learned to kiss and will kiss anything that moves. He absolutely adores Eli but will go out of his way to annoy the crap out of Jake.

<b>Cheryl:</b> I think we have found a way for her to stay for a year. She will not have to go back to the states to renew her ID card - her mom is sending me power of attorney to do it here. She will be doing distance education for college in order to keep her a dependent of her mom's past the age of 21. I will send her out of the country for a day or two every 90 days to keep her visa current. I am also buying a tiny beater car for commuting purposes so we will both have transportation. See where being stubborn will get you hahahahahahaha.

Posted by DebC at 06:18 AM | Comments (6)

January 02, 2003

Happy New Year!!

I never make New Year resolutions because I know that I will not keep them and feeling like a failure is definitely not a good way to start the new year. But this year I can say that my New Year's resolution is to travel! We got started a little early by doing a little sight seeing last weekend. We went to a town called <a href="http://www.eurotravelling.net/italy/agrigento/agrigento_history.htm">Argrigento</a>. It is known for having the most intact Greek ruins between here and Greece. The guide said that if you want to see Greece, come here. It was fantastic. Since I don't have my computer to post my own pictures, I am linking tourist info. The tour that we went on featured a dinner with Italian folk dancers after the tour of the temples. Once again, Seth was the star and actually got out on the floor dancing with them. This time, he was happy to be mobbed (to a point) which was good to see after the trauma we all suffered on the castle tour. I now understand why the superstars get so freaked by the photographers. The tour of the temples was awesome and very surreal. Hard to stand on <a href="http://www-personal.umich.edu/~eby/agri.html">2600 year old ruins</a> and not feel insignificant. In the U.S., we simply don't have this history. I was wowed by 200 year old buildings. Pah, those are modern compared to what we saw. My favorite was the Temple of Concordia which started out as a pagan temple but was converted to a Christian church.

Don't forget to click on the words in my posts that are differently colored. These are websites that either give pictures or details about what I am talking about.

Posted by DebC at 12:11 AM