Beginning to Settle

The Word of the Post is: Maledizione; meaning: darn it, as in "Maledizione Jamie, quit bugging me I'm trying to drive.
 

Randy and I have landed, unpacked, and begun the arduous process of moving in. The first few days were rough. We would be up until about 4:00 am and then have to peel ourselves out of bed at 1:00 pm. We are still not used to the 6 hour time distance (6 hrs later than Eastern Standard) but at least I don’t feel like a drunken zombie at noon anymore. 

 

On Friday, we met with an Italian realtor and have started house hunting. Right now we’re staying in an economy apartment on base, which is fine for a bit-especially since the heat is now working…

On Saturday, we met a number of people from Randy’s new squadron, the 510^th Buzzards. A few years ago Randy was a buzzsaw, which made me a buzzsaw babe by proxy. Now I’m a buzzette. I’ve come full circle. Our squadron hosted a dinner for us in downtown Aviano at a restaurant called Casablanca. I had pear ravioli and Randy had pumpkin pizza (both amazing). And vino, lots of vino. We were very lucky to have sponsors who planned this evening, took us to the mall (Randy has an Italian coat now), and drove us to and from this dinner. To continue my evening of firsts I used a thing called “a squatty potty” which I haven’t decided whether I abhor or adore. 

Not Casablanca's actual squatty potty. Their's was much cleaner. But this is it, basically.

 

Randy will probably begin working next week, whereas I’ll continue living the life of luxury while I wait for my license to come through. Randy and I are both stationed at Aviano Air Base. Aviano is a town located in the province of Pordenone. Pordenone is in the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. All of this is located in Northeast Italy. We can see the base of the Dolomite Mountains from our apartment’s window right now actually and it’s awesome.

 

We plan to stay within 20 miles from the base itself. We’re looking at a few regions and spent Sunday (today) driving around and getting ourselves acquainted with the area. Pordenone is visually so different from the places I have lived in. Many of the houses are massive antiques reflecting the history of each quaint village. The streets are narrow and winding. Towns only distanced by a mile or so can dramatically shift in style and pace. You can be entertained just by driving down one very long street as you pass village after village. Well I was entertained anyway; poor Randy was driving on these very narrow winding streets and trying to decipher equally long winding street signs. The entire time I interpreted all the Italian words I knew. This probably distracted him more than it aided him. Maledizione.

We started our day in Polcenigo. This house is pretty amazing and close to base, but it’s quite isolated and the town is molto small. 

We then traveled to Sacile, the biggest town in the area. There are many restaurants, shops, and people which are pluses for us. This is likely as far as we’ll live from base. I tried to creep on this house and take a picture. I bet the renters thought I was casing the joint.

 

Next, we drove by a town right outside of Sacile, Fontana Fredda.  It’s smaller than Sacile, but close enough that we can still be in the mix. We saw inside this house, it's actually huge.

Finally this house was in teeny tiny Sedrano. It was fully furnished and very close to base. The problem was, however, it’s also far from where most of our co-workers are located.

We have about a month to find a place to live and we have gotten “our boots on the ground.” I have personally used this time to practice my very basic Italian on the kind people of Italia and Randy. Poor Randy. Well, fino alla prossima volta (until next time).

Ps. Last night, after I wrote most of this I couldn't fall asleep again. Today I feel like a drunken zombie. Maledizione.

All in One Piece

Dumb, real dumb.

Let me begin with: everything turned out ok. So, Randy and I totally screwed up our sleep schedules. We arrived in Italy at 3:30 Italian time, 10:30 Eastern Standard time; after a night of minimal sleep aboard a plan with two dogs. We were greeted by several members of our new squadron. 

Our sponsors took us to our TLF (temporary housing) and were so generous to give us a bag of groceries. I fell asleep (against my will and better judgment) at about 5:30. At 10:00 pm I woke up and realized I was screwed-I was awake according to no kind of time zone. I accepted my fate and decided to take the dogs out. We’re on the first floor, but it’s actually one above ground level.  I couldn’t find the stairs so I took them on the elevator. 

The door to the elevator had closed when I realized I had Nina’s leash in my hand, that it was connected to her, and that she was NOT IN THE ELEVATOR. I quickly pressed the open door button, but it rudely did not comply and I tossed the handle in the air and watched it raise one floor above me. My inner monologue screamed “this is my worst nightmare” while I tried to find the staircase after I left the elevator. I didn’t and ran back on the elevator, went back up one floor, and found my little dog. She was unscathed and oblivious and still attached. WOW. I realized I better wake up and get my head on straight before I dismember my pets. The irony is that Nina is scared of wood floors and her harness, but her near death experience went by completely unnoticed. Geez-welcome to Italy.