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
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
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
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
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