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July 27, 2003
I think Eli helped me make up my mind the other day.
I haven't been sure what I will do when I leave here, retire or take one more duty station. I have twenty years in this November first but I have to stay put for the whole tour (three years), which will make it almost 22 years before I am able to retire. No problem, life is not exactly rough living in Europe (now that things have calmed a bit). But taking one more duty station will allow me to get reestablished in the States, specifically Illinois. I was considering teaching Hospital Corps School in Great Lakes. It would be fitting to return to the place where I started, to teach a new crop of Corpsmen who might in turn become me (well a facsimilie anyway). The boys and I talk frequently about what we will do when we leave here. In the car the other day, Eli said "I want you to retire so I don't have to worry about you going to war anymore". Ulp. Ummmm yep me too.
So I started looking around the internet and even emailed a realtor! Of course, buying anything is still a long way off but there is <a href="http://www.southernillinoisproperties.com/content/searchresult.html?search_by=countylist&proptype=*&minprice=100000&maxprice=175000&bed=&full=&citylist=IL+ANNA%2CIL+CARBONDALE%2CIL+COBDEN%2CIL+HERRIN%2CIL+MAKANDA&county=&state=">quite a bit to be had</a>, and at the right price too, I might add. Click on the link to see a few of the properties that caught my interest. They won't be there in a year of course, but it gives me a rough idea of what is reality. The earliest I would buy property would be next summer. That would give me a year or less to get my act together. I am excited. I will be a first time home owner and I am really nervous. Everyone else seems to do okay is what I keep telling myself but whoooaaa boy is that a butt load of money.
Okay, so property is one thing but what about work? The picture is very, very bleak when it comes to anything approaching midwifery services or alternative birthing. Ugh. That is okay, I have been plannning to get out of nursing altogether and was only going to use my RN for a stopgap job until I found something more suitable for me. I am looking into massage therapy. The catch is that I only want to work a day or two a week. Working as an RN would easily make that possible even with a hefty mortgage payment. I am looking into <a href="http://www.memorialhospitalofcarbondale.org/home.nsf/content/CareerOpportunities?OpenDocument&type=mhc">a hospital in Carbondale</a>. They have a labor and delivery floor there. All of the other hospitals apparently don't. Looks like geriatrics is very big around Southern Illinois. Hmmm. Might consider.
Anyway, just thinking aloud. Two years and three months to go!
We went to a really cool place yesterday, <a href="http://www.bestofsicily.com/taormina.htm">Taormina</a>. It is a major European tourist spot here in Sicily. I went specifically to see the Greek ampitheater and I was truly not disappointed. I cannot wait for the pictures to come back but in the meantime, here are a couple of <a href="http://www.taormina.it/">websites</a>. The ampitheater is actually used as a public venue for concerts and plays. As a matter of fact, Macbeth played there yesterday. Can you imagine watching Shakespeare in a 2300 year old ampitheater?!!!! (I know you aren't supposed to use more than one exclamation point but trust me, this warrants it!!!!). Brittany Spears flashed her ass there last month, Elton John and Simply Red were there this month. Very bizarre.
Posted by DebC at 11:19 PM | Comments (1)
July 18, 2003
It has been one year this week
Steve was transferred to the prison in Shelton a year ago this week. It has seemed like two lifetimes have passed by in that time. For those that don't have the opportunity to speak with him, he is doing very well. There is no way to minimize the fact that life in prison sucks but he has done very well so far. He has a job working in the warehouse and has taken night classes in computer drafting. He is a prolific letter writer, we recieve at least two letters a week! I, on the otherhand, am guilty of sending him two or three letters a month (of course, they are 8-12 pages). The prison has a program where he is able to read a kid's book onto a tape and essentially make a taped letter along with it. The boys really love this. We have recieved 10 of these books this way. We have also worked out a deal to call him through the prison chaplain's office, once a quarter. We would love to talk to him more but I cannot recieve collect calls here (even in my home) due to the agreement the base has with the Italian phone company.
If all goes well, Steve will be released to a work study program sometime in the summer of 2004. He will be moving back to Illinois to be near family and eventually near us when we get back from Sicily. The separation from dad has been hard on the boys and we count the weeks until we can get some sort of (I almost said normal hahahaha) close family routine set up.
I am still set on buying some property in Southern Illinois sometime next year. I have two years and three months left until I both leave Sicily and am eligible to retire from the Navy. My twenty year anniversary is November first of this year! I go back and forth every week over whether I will retire in 2005 or not. On one hand, I am very ready to move into the civilian world. I am working on my finances so that I will be nearly debt free when I leave here (not counting car and house of course), which is coming along quite nicely. On the other hand, it would be very smart to take another duty station near where I plan to retire in order to get my feet back on the ground. There are several options in Illinois. I don't know. I think it will depend on whether I find property I like before I leave here.
Posted by DebC at 10:51 AM | Comments (3)
July 10, 2003
Spain was outstanding!
We took a military flight over (used to be called "mac" flight but is now "amc") which was FREE (woohoo). You fly standby which means your vacation timeline can be tenuous at best. We were very fortunate to get on the flight we wanted both ways and neither one was delayed.
When we left Sicily, it was 105 F, when we arrived in Spain, 2.5 hours later, it was 75 F. Walking the tarmac to the terminal had me freaking out because I had not brought anything that resembled warm clothes to cover the very large goosebumps on our arms. It took us a few days but we adjusted. The temperature was actually the only complaint I had. The baby and I did not do much swimming because it was too cold. Seth's lips would turn blue about 10 minutes into our daily attempt. For some reason, the baby pool was colder than the big pool. Eli and Jake did not care and spent max time submerged. We slathered on sunscreen but unfortunately, all except Seth got burned the first day on our shoulders.
The hotel was one of those all inclusive resorts right on the beach. Our deal had a complimentary (full out five star) breakfast buffet included but not the other meals. I figured that we would walk down the street to get local food. This turned out to be a lot harder than we thought. Spaniards eat dinner at 10 pm. I am not kidding. No restaurants even open until 8pm. I am guessing the reason for this is that it is bright sunny at 10 pm. It is very disorienting to look down at your watch and realize that it is going on 11 pm and the sun is just setting! So anyway, we ended up eating at the hotel buffet for dinners and the pool bar for lunches. We did make one stab at eating out in town on the second night. We had walked about 3 miles the night before and had picked out this cafe with a huge playground attached. We arrived around 6pm (yes, this was before we understood the customary meal times) and attempted to order. They spoke no English and I habla horrible Espanol. Through hand gestures, I ordered chicken and hoped for the best. We received a fried, breaded chicken patty and some fries. Oh well, hotel buffet for us.
We found that the hotel was a pickup point for a tour company that had daily trips. Perfecto. Much to my chagrin, we missed the day trip to Morocco - I had no idea this would even be an option! The other tours were all interesting but with three bored kids, I decided to only do two of them. I chose Seville (for me) and Gibraltar (for the guys). Seville was wonderful. We took a city tour and learned about the buildings of the 1929-1930 World's Fair and the 1992 Exposition. We stopped to walk around in the Plaza de Americas where we found a huge flock of pidgeons that the boys hand fed. There were so many fantastic buildings that is should take days to see Seville (sans kids of course). The Plaza de Espana was the background of the Naboo palace in Star Wars II. We toured the moorish palace - Real Alcazar and a fantastic gothic cathedral, which is rumored to be the resting place of Christopher Columbus (they have a tomb but are not sure if his bones are actually in it!). We took a boat ride up and down the river and of course, bought tourist junk.
Gibraltar was by far our favorite place. After 5 days of language barrier, an English speaking place was a welcome respite. Gibraltar is a British colony on the Southern Coast of Spain. You have to go through customs despite the European Union agreement. Spain has not bought into the EU concept happily. There is a sign on the way out of Gibraltar stating Britain's unhappiness with Spain's strict boarder policy. It urges visitors to complain to the EU board. Very Snarky. We started our tour by taking a bus ride throughout the colony and up to the top of "the rock". We went into St. Michael's Cave, which was preparing a runway inside the main chamber for the Ms. Gibraltar beauty pagent!!! After the cave, we went to see the famous Barbary apes. We had been warned that they like to jump on tourists (which the guys were looking forward to) but they were fairly sedate when we saw them. As our bus went down into the main area that the apes frequent (not the jungle part), a young ape jumped onto the bus very unexpectedly and sat in the driver's window, riding down until we parked. When we got out, we found we could walk right up to them and probably could have touched them (although mom did not allow!). We saw a couple of neat ape families. Our guide pointed out that we could see North Africa (Morocco more specifically - the hazy mountain in the distance). After the tour, we went downtown for a walk in the shopping district. We had fish and chips in a pub and watched a changing of the guard parade down the street. And of course bought tourist junk.
The rest of our trip to Rota was spent on the beach and at the pool. We met quite the smorgasboard of international friends and discovered that language is not necessary for fun in the sun. I am always amazed at the power of children to make friends. We spent the evenings walking out in town and even rented a car for about 10 hours to go to a supermarket and a few shops to - you guessed it - buy tourist junk. To be fair, we needed beach toys and towels. A sample of things we bought: castanets (the real ones), souvenir booklets of the sights we saw, t-shirts, towels, beach toys, fruit, water, snow globes x 2, postcards, fridge magnets (for Seth's collection).
Speaking of tourist junk, I have decided to start a collection of snow globes from each place I go. I am doing well so far but will have to backtrack to find globes from at least some of the places I have been.
I decided that we will definitely be returning to Spain because I really want to get to Morocco (only for a day due to danger), Lisbon, Ronda, Jerez, Madrid and Barcelona. My digital camera was acting up (Eli dropped it), so most of our pictures are 35mm and are being developed as we speak. I will put together a photo gallery when I get them (it takes ten days here!!!). I am about 10 photo galleries behind now because I cannot find my FrontPage CD to reload it since my computer crashed. If I actually cleaned my computer room, I would probably find it.
Posted by DebC at 12:27 PM | Comments (6)
July 01, 2003
Alrighty, we are off to see if the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plains.
I will be back on the 8th of July. I hope all my American friends have a happy and safe 4th of July and my international friends watchout for the toxic chemical fallout from all of our fireworks! (Damn, that was near to an Irish toast).
Here are some Time Sucks to keep you busy while I am gone (pace yourself). Don't forget to turn the lights out and shut the door when you leave.
Bubble Wrap - still addicting after all these years.
Do not open if you get motion sickness.
Ever wonder how much stuff is actually inside your favorite product
Place some mighty longterm bets (how will you know if you win?).
Add your favorite word to the pile.
Ah come on, you knew I had to add one potty humor site!
You didn't look at all of those in one sitting did you?!
Posted by DebC at 08:59 AM