Bike. Market... Storm

Today my friend Beth and I headed up to Maniago to ride our bikes and visit their market. Maniago is an adorable little mountain town about 25 minutes from my house. We actually had looked at living there, but the drive to base is a bit longer than we wanted. Anyhow, this was my first trip there since driving through looking at houses.

Beth and I pack up our cars, bikes, trailors and kids. She has two kids - Ashlynn is Rylan's favorite little girl ever! We rode into the city center and started walking though the crowded market. We have noticed that when we ride with our baby trailors we seem to get a lot of attention - mostly smiles from passers-by. Today was no different. We got off of our bikes and pushed them though the busy market looking at everything from Mickey Mouse umbrellas to clothing to flowers. It seemed that everyone who passed us slowed down to look at one of all of the kids (espeically cutie Carson who is just 8mths old - Italians LOVE kids). We finally made it to a more open area of the market and found the most amazing curtain stand. Then we heard a huge thunder and noticed the very gray clouds coming over the mountain. The market became quite a scury to get packed up. I snapped a few pictures of the market and the curtains. I LOVE the red one with the 'nests' on it - but have no idea how to decorate a room around it... hmmmmm





Before it started to rain we let the kids stretch their legs at the fountain.





We headed back to our cars and the rain begain - lucky for the kids they were protected! We made it back to the cars just before the storm really hit.




While we didnt' get to ride on the local cycling path there we still had a good time and I'm looking forward to going back next Monday :)

Turning into Betty Jean

I've recently realized that I am turning into my maternal grandmother (Betty Jean Hoffman). While I obviously am looking more and more like my mom, I am acting more and more like grandmaw. Most of this transformation is of the Green nature. I hate to admit it, but in the States I never recycled much more than paper at work and old clothes. Numerous friends over the past decade have encouraged me to recycle, sadly I never took the time. Now that we are in Italy and recycling isn't exactly optional, I've decided to embrace it! This embracing has begun my transformation into Grandmaw.

My grandmother lives in a small house in Gastonia, NC. She recycles EVERYTHING. I don't believe she does this for the good of the earth, but just because it's what you are supposed to do. For years I didn't understand why I couldn't throw leftover food scrapes into the trashcan. (No garbage disposal.) I was disgusted that she scrapped leftover food from Sunday Lunch plates into a coffee container before handwashing them. (No, she doesnt' have a dishwasher.) However, I have now seen the light!

We have plastic, aluminum, cardboard and garbage pick up every week. There are also two bins placed throughout the neighborhoods for glass and organic waste. From the beginning I jumped at the fact of recycling the non-food items. I refused to use the organic waste containers. I ignorantly thought it was beyond disgusting. However, after realizing that we were the only people in our neighborhood that have 2 full trash cans on the street every week. I, out of American embarrassment, decided to make a change. Now, just like my grandmaw, scrape food off of plates and throw out any unused foods. My kitchen is furnished with an organic material bucket (just like my grandmaw's coffee can) and I walk it up the street every couple of days. My trash has been reduced by about 1/4 every week (I'm aiming at getting this down to 1/2) and my garbage doesn't smell like yucky food.

I must admit I smile every time I do it, because I can feel her presence in my Italian kitchen telling me I'm doing the right thing.

There are many other ways I would love to be more like my grandmaw - Her strong faith, her joy of laughing until someone pees their pants, her hard work, her patience and love with our family, her giving nature - but I'll start with scraping food and recycling.


Here are a few embaressing moments in my attempt to be Betty Jean.. haha

Our garbage cans (the yellow ones that hold about half of a regular city garbage can in the States). First of all we have 2 of them. Everyone else has 1. Not only do we fill up both of them, but we sometimes have an extra bag sitting beside the cans :( This not only is frowned upon, but can be fined up to 640euro.

Milk Containers. Our abundance of milk containers (soy milk and dairy) is rediculous. I have yet to figure out how to recycle them. Apparently they do not go with the cardboard containers, since the collector tossed all of them back into the bin before leaving.

Organic Waste: My first attempt at organic waste was a complete failure. Rylan and walked my bowl of leftover food up to the bin, quickly opened and dumped the food in. Once I heard the splat of the gross food, I immediately noticed that everyone else had put their food into a plastic bag. The bin doesn't smell or have flies arond it for this very reason. We walked back to the house hanging our head low, knowing that our nosey Italian neighbors probably watched the whole embaressing act.


My Little Green Organic Machine



The Line Up


The Distance to the glass and organics bin from our driveway


~ Heather

The BIG blog

SO we've been in Italy going on 2 months and WOW, what a journey it's been so far. I don't think Heather and I were quite prepared for the magnitude of changes we would have to endure once we got here but we're slowly easing into the facets of Italian life.

DRIVING
Some would say that Italians drive like maniacs, and I have to agree to some extent. Italian driving translates into a mixture of practicality and subtle disregard for traffic laws. For instance, if an Italian is driving and encounters a slower vehicle in front of him/her, the driver will simply pass the slower vehicle. Now, throw in a couple more variables like a solid line(no passing zone) or oncomming traffic. It doesn't really matter to Italians. They will pass no matter what. Americans that witness this kind of driving behavior call it the "ghost lane". There really isn't a lane when they attempt a pass but miraculously there's a lane once their commited to passing. I call it a well orchastrated game of chicken where someone always moves out of the way.

There are very few carbinieri, or police as we refer to them, out on the roads monitoring speed. Most speeding tickets are issued by electronic cameras that get your plate number in certain zones that are always marked. This leaves Italians with a few unspoken rules. 1. Drive as fast as you want, except around electronic velocity signs. 2. ALWAYS use your blinker. (Blinker discipline here amazes me considering the lack of regard for everything else) 3. Don't hit cyclists. Pedestrians are fair game.
Surviving the roads in Italy is a combination of EVERYONE paying attention. This is precisely why you'll never see an Italian nor I doing anything else but driving while behind the wheel.

THE GOOD SHIP LOLLIPOP
Speaking of carbinieri. You won't find them on the road too much, but on the side of the road mainly. They travel in two's. One will have a white stick with a red lite up circle on the end, resembling a lollipop. They other will have....an uzi. If they wave the "lollipop" at you, you're required to pull over. The scenerio is simple. You pull over or they shoot. Seems kind of harsh right? It is. Most people just take the easy route and pull over.
They can pull you over for no reason at all. They can also search your vehicle without probable cause. This doesn't bother the people that are following the rules.

FOOD
Oh yes, food. What a great place to be if you like to eat. Our expectation was that once we were here, we'd be so indulged by the amazing food here that we'd look like blimps within a year. However, we've found the opposite to be true. Italians take food very seriously. If you're the kind of person that likes to make a midnight run to jack in the box, then this is a place that will require some adjustment. Fast food in the american sense is almost non-existant. Even Italian fast food isn't so fast. They take a lot of pride in the food they cook and take their time doing it, regardless of where you go.
Dining is also considered a social event, to be enjoyed with family and friends. This means that almost every time Italians dine out, it's an all night event, lasting from about 8 to sometimes midnight. I'm working nights and I'm usually driving home at about midnight and I'm always amazed at the amount of people I see walking back from their favorite neighborhood ristorante.

DOMANI
Domani, means tomorrow or get to it when I get to it. This seems to be the theme of Italian culture. They're never in a big hurry to do anything except while driving. Our internet took 2 weeks to get hooked up. Our phone took almost 3 weeks. They don't work from noon to 3PM every day. They shut down during the month of August and go on holiday.

HOME SWEET HOME
In the States, you can walk around most neighborhoods and walk right up to someone's front door. I guess that's our cushion of space. However, here in Italy, every house has some kind of buffer zone. Usually a fence then a yard then the house. At the entrance gate at the fence there's a buzzer. A visitor has to ring the buzzer at the gate and ask to be invited. If you know them, then you remotely unlatch the gate from inside the house. To sum it up, in America, our front doors are literally the front door. In Italy, the front door is the gate at the fence line. In my opinion, italians are this way because theft is a real problem here. It's one more obstacle for a potential house burgler.

TAX
I believe theft is a problem because of the taxes here. Our landlord explained to me that the Italian government takes almost %50 of his profits in taxes. This results in most businesses being cash only, for the purpose of evading taxes. Can't say that I blame them.

CONCLUDE
We're learning more and more about this place every day. At the moment, because of the language barrier and cultural specific protocols, going out to do anything takes a reasonable amount of energy. Even simple things like going to the hardware store or going shopping for stuff for the house can be a sizable adventure. We're taking it one step at a time though. Most people say it takes about 6 months to be totally comfortable here and I think they're right.

Cyclist in Italy are hard core!

Today was a great day. First off - our car arrived! Benvenuti in Italia little red Jetta! Ryaln went to school for a few hours and Travis and I headed over to pick up the car. Since we had the rental I drove the Jetta back to base. This was my first driving experience in Italy AND i haven't driven a manual in months (and only learned to drive a manual a few months ago). Italian roads are narrow and the drivers are insane! No one follows the speed limit and they pass whenever possible - even if it means a near head on head collision. Thankfully the drive from the car transport staion to the base was only about 3 miles and didn't go through any of the really narrow roads like in the city centers where there are roads like you see in the movies - literally only about 1.2 carlengths wide. I'm so NOT ready for that. On that note - I'd like to mention that I can't wait to get on my bike and RIDE!

Cyclist are everywhere! Today we drove our up to Piancavallo (the local ski resort above Aviano that sits just abour 4100 feet). The mountain had 7-15% grades the entire way up and we saw at least 5 cyclists on the way to the top!!! Seriously, do regular cyclists climb a mountain on Thursday afternoon???? I don't think so! I couldn't help myself from staring at their huge calves and trying to see what kind of bike they had. I am now on a quest to see if i can recognize any of my favorite cyclists - Levi, Lance, Ivan Basso etc. since i do not believe just anyone rides up those mountains on a sunny weekday afternoon.

In other Hoobalini news - We got word today that the current tenats of our new house will be out by the end of next week and we should be able to move in shortly after! I can't express how much I want to have a permanant home. Traveling for 7 weeks has certainly changed my perception and appreication of having my own home.

I hope all is well in your world.

buonanotte i miei amici ~ Heather

We heart Google Translate

Ciao da Italia! I am finally getting around to posting our first blog from Italy - thanks for the reminders to post! haha I guess we have quickly accepted the Italian way of life - "I'll get to it tomorrow or maybe next week"!

Travis, Rylan, Caz and I are all finally sleeping on this time zone so I think I can function enough to write :)

We've been in Aviano for eleven days now. The fligt from Baltimore was thankfully uneventful. Rylan did OK on the plane ride across the ocean, however he did ask everyone if they wanted to go to 'his Italy'! The 7.5 hour flight was warm so he didn't sleep as well as we had hoped, but we survived. After a quick stop in Germany we made the quick 56 minute flight to Aviano. Since we flew on a military flight we flew directly onto the base and didn't get to see any of the countryside. The next few days were focused on moving into our temporary housing facility and getting settled on base. This base is very different than Mountain Home. There are different areas of the base and none of them are connected. This has made life on base kind of challenging. All of the family activities are over in Area 1 (about 5 miles from here) so we aren't taking advantage of them yet. Travis has had meetings most days and Rylan and I have been playing.

Last Thursday we went on a Benvenuti tour to see some of the local areas. Rylan enjoyed getting to ride on a bus and a train! Everyday since he has asked to go ride the bus or the train :) This tour was our first off base experience. We certainly live in a beautiful area. The base is at the base of the Dolomites and so the roads are very narrow mountain roads! The villages are small, but still crowded - I know that is an odd description, but that's the best i can do right now. We had the chance to see a natural spring, the large city close by - Pordenone, visit a church, eat lunch and visit a winery! We of course purchased our first two bottles of wine that day! DELICIOUS!

The weekend was spent house hunting. Our car hasn't arrived, so we rented a car here on base for a couple of days. We did find a wonderful house that turned out to be a condo. With both of our big dogs a condo isn't ideal. The next few houses we drove by or looked inside of didn't quite meet our American standards (nice neighborhood, safe, fenced, no bars on the windows, not a house that Jesus may have built - nothing against jesus :) After hours of internet searching and driving around we found the perfect house for us! It's in a small neighborhood just above Polcenigo, Italy. We can walk to the town center as well as hiking/biking trails. You can see 6 towns and their bell towers all around us. This also means that you can hear the bell towers chiming thoughout the day (One of my personal favorite parts of the house). It has a view of the mountains and you can hear the river running. The inside is completely tiled, air conditioned, and clean. We have 3 bedrooms 2 baths, a full kitchen (including dishwasher!), a joined dining and living room as well as a basement with 3 rooms that are freebies. We have 3 outsides areas and a medium sized yard. Oh and theire is a garage and a yard gate. The yard gate is nice because of the random gypsies that may come looking for handouts! AND there is a cherry tree right out of the kitchen window! To say the least we are EXTREMELY excited about moving into this house. We should move by the 25th of June.

Last night was the contract signing at Luigi's house. We have to sign a 4 year contract (which made finding a good house that much more important). Luigi doens't speak any English so his brother Antonio translates for us (thank God!). We signed the contract over some Prosecco and then he gave us a bottle to take home! Travis and I both felt extremely comfortable in their home and hope we are invited back. Rylan played with Stefania (the grandmother). I had a lovely converstaion with her in Italian and I believe we talked about babies, kids and mosquitos!

Italy Outtings: Other than house hunting we really havne't been exploring too much. The town of Aviano is very close and we have been out to eat there once. It was delicious and expensive. My personal favorite part of the meal was the prosciutto and mozzarella (Travis added tomatoes to his). I could have stopped right there and been blissfully satisfied. Rylan got spaghetti and meatsauce, Travis has a 4 cheese pasta and I had a cheese egg and bacon pasta dish. Everything was wonderful, but very very rich!

Rylan and my days are spent cleaning up our little 1 bedroom hotel room, playing and walking. There is a large playground in the courtyard right outside our hotel and Rylan thinks that this is his personal Italy! There are plenty of other moms for me to talk to and kids for rylan to play with. The base commissary and BX (shopping) are in this section of base so I've been cooking most of our meals.

Overall we have been adjusting. It's exhausting figuring everything out, but we will get it soon enough. The language barrier obviously is going to be a challenge. We are working on Rosetta Stone and I have already been able to pick up on a few words now. I'm sure in a few months we won't have to think about what road signs mean or what hours Italian businesses aren't open for siesta. We certainly miss all of our family and friends but appreciate all of the support you have been giving us on facebook and email.

If you have specific questions, please feel free to ask.

amore a tutti voi
~ Heather

3 Cheese Hoobalini

Welcome to our BLOG! I apologize for the cheesiness already, but we couldn't resist! Travis and I are excited to share our Italian adventures that are about to begin. We have a HUGE month ahead of us!

Travis is in Tacoma ~as I type~ dropping the car off to be shipped.
My last day of work is Thursday (and it's a long day, ending with a program that evening)!
Rylan and I fly to Indiana on Sunday to visit Rylan's Grandpa Steve. Then we'll catch up with Sallie and meet Tommy and V! Flying NC on Wednesday to visit family and friends! LOTS of family and friends.
While Rylan and I are playing and chatting our days away in sunny NC, Travis will be at home supervising packing, watching the dogs and cleaning the house. ~love you honey.
By the middle of May we will all be in Lewiston to see more family (espeically our nieces and nephews!)

And finally after 30 days of traveling, visiting and cleaning (for Travis) we will all be heading to Italy..... for 1460 days!!!!!

We hope you enjoy our Italian adventure!

Travis - Big Cheese
Heather - Mama Cheese
Rylan - Baby Cheese

(by the way, i know that hasta is not italian - it was Trav's idea :) ~HPH