Pictures

Jacqueline at Piancavallo the ski resort on the mountain behind our town. It has an ice skating rink etc. About a 20 minute drive on a curvy road with no guardrails. I could look straight down the mountain and wasn't too happy about it. I also couldn't believe the number of cyclists.

I've tried to rotate this one, but am having issues. Julia at Piancavallo w/ Daddy. She loves to swing. Sorry the pictures are faded as we only had our disposable camera with us.

Julia enjoying her first bites of Italian food at the Pizzeria. Couldn't figure out how to delete the image. I will figure it out when I get our home computer up and running.

Our house in Dardago. I will be working on curb appeal soon! We have built in shutters, which are really nice.

The picture on the right is our balcony and looking back into town. We are looking forward to dining al fresco! Our neighbors are always eating dinner outside. The mosquitos are a bit troublesome, but we are working on that!

Below is the view of the mountains (the Alps) and our town. We can see this view out our bedroom and family room windows. Love the new YELLOW house!! We can only see it from Julia's room.

August 30th

This morning I heard a broom very close to our house at 8:30 in the morning. I looked outside and our landlord was sweeping a very small portion of our driveway. I couldn't believe it. He swept this very small area for at least 5+ minutes. I went out and greeted him and opened our gate. He came in and swept and pulled some weeds for about another hour. Very interesting. The Italians really do sweep alot.

Today I saw a nun riding a bicycle. I have only seen this in pictures, but to actually see it... I just laughed.

Michael and I are going to recommend that anyone who PCSs' here has to have at least $2000 saved up (really more than that b/c our car insurance is 5x as much as it was in the states). We are going to pick-up our second car so a lady told us to bring $500 Euros to pay people off at the port (this is a reliable source). GRRRRREAT. We had to pay the road tax at the post office today as it also functions as the town bank. It is not cheap and then, to top it off, they charge you a 1Euro "service fee." I just thought - I paid $500 for my car and then you charge me a dollar as a service fee? GOOD GRIEF. I can't even remember how many other things we have to pay for... At this point we just shell it over.

I'm trying to figure out the washer - still not sure if I am doing it right. I am not using the dryer since everyone tells me our electricity will go out so I am doing as the Italians do and drying my clothes outside.

OOh I forgot to say on Saturday morning one of the very sweet wives in the office took me out to show me around. I could get in trouble here. We went to the COOP in Pordenone (the closest big town). It is the grocery store and it is just wonderful. Every kind of cheese you could imagine. It is like a glorfied Super Walmart b/c it also has clothes etc. Then we went to a couple of houseware stores. One was like Ikea, but a little bit more pricey. Loved it.

Yesterday, Jacqueline and I amused ourselves by watching a tractor plow our neighbors yard. I saw it come in to Henrico's w/ two younger boys on it. They had a plow initially attached to it and the two boys differed on how things needed to be done - it was funny watching them yell at each other. I went in, got a beer, came back out to watch. I don't know how long this went on, then they got another attachment and continued to plow about 3x back and forth in no particular pattern and just left. I just scratched my head in complete confusion.

It is fun getting use to the night routine. We hear the bells chime, the clinking of plates and glasses being cleaned and then night falls. With the darkness, we start to hear all of the shutters closing. It is like having a warm blanket pulled on top of you. You just settle in and sigh.

august 27th

Well, we were just told that we have another month to go till our "stuff" gets here. It was suppose to be here today. Oh well, what can you do? So it is going to take 3 months for it to get here. Next week we should have phone service! Then maybe the internet, then tv then our stuff. Hey, at least I can quit microwaving hot water for my shower.

This weekend we went up to Lake Barcis. It was sooo beautiful. Emerald green in color and oh so clear and cold. JD really wanted to go swimming, but I stuck my toe in and screamed. Ice cubes, I swear, it was stocked with ice cubes. Plus, I would only have about 3 big boulders to stand on then I was over my head. I don't think balancing on a rock with a three year old who thinks she is a mermaid would have been a good idea. We got her an ice cream instead.

One of the three tunnels we had to take was 4000 meters long.

We had our first successful party last night. The office was invited to come over for gelato. I forgot to look up the word "box" before I left for the gelato shop so I had to do a lot of pointing to order it. I thought, no furniture, good excuse for a party.

See, everything comes down to gelato.

august 24th

Nothing too new to report. Jacqueline and I couldn't believe it when we came outside of the house to p/u Michael yesterday - the clouds were down in our village. It was just breathtaking b/c they framed our bell tower. We still only have one car. We'll hopefully go to Livirno to p/u the Tahoe this coming week.

I did accomplish quite a bit yesterday. I had to go p/u our decoder so we can get tv through the Armed Forces Network. We get 5-7 channels for free - but there are military empowerment commericals instead of "our" commercials. I won't miss all the ads for the elections - The directions were to a white building w/ a white cement fence in the industrial park in the city of Aviano. Well, I get to the industrial park and ALL the buildings are white w/ a white fence. Thank goodness we just bought a GPS. I didn't have the address just the street so I had to figure it out by the process of elimination. I did it though!!

We can see the lights of the city below from our balcony. I think its the town of Sacile, which has canals running through it.

Today I did venture into Dardago during the day. I strolled up the street and the little market on the square was open. I bought a few postcards of Dardago and an ice tea. I have become completely addicted to their peach ice tea. They had gelato and ice cream cakes, bread and numerous magazines. I can't figure out when they are open yet. I will sign up next week for my Italian classes so I can figure it out as well as figure out what my neigbors are saying to me. I know all their dogs names, but little else.

Pretty much everything closes from 12:30-3 including the businesses in the surrounding towns. That is the life, isn't it? Wake up, have your cafe, work hard, take a nap and eat lunch, work some more, stroll around your town, eat some delicious food and drink some wine (and drink a scorpino - not sure about the spelling, but it is lemon sorbet mixed with vodka) then go to bed.
I think I can do that every day for a few years. Come for a visit and you can do it too!

August 23rd

I still can't believe we are here. I'll probably say that the whole time I am here. Yesterday, some of the girls from the office and I went to a town called Nove where they produce ceramics. I was completely overwhelmed by all the choices. They actually produce some of the settings for Lenox and Tiffany's here. I bought some gifts - the prices are amazingly cheap. We also looked at some frescos.
I feel like a true Italian now. I met "the squatter." What is it you ask? a toilet in the floor. I totally wish I was kidding. We were in a nice restaurant too!! It is completely surrounded by beautiful porcelain. There is some strategy for meeting the squatter too, which we were briefed on last week in a spouses training session (didn't think it would include going to the bathroom). All I could think of was wait till Jacqueline meets "the squatter." Thankfully, after my meeting, I ate gelato. All was better then.
As we were leaving I saw an older woman peddling her bike with her dog in the basket. This is pure Italy.
Julia is signing "more" with gusto. She loves Italian food. She should be crawling soon, but I hope it waits till our furniture comes so I can have some rugs down. We do have beautiful tile floors. One of Michael's office mates has all marble floors in his house, which are just beautiful.
We think we'll have more than five pieces of furniture by the end of September. But the good news is that we have HOT WATER. I got to actually take a shower in the house yesterday. Now, I have no excuse to get out of cooking.
I did pass my driving test. There are no shoulders on the roads in Italy and the bikes share the roads with you. There are many streets I drive on not believing two vehicles can pass. I just can't wait to get the Tahoe!! Also I have to remember to check my mirror before I turn left b/c even if you have your signal on, they will still go around you on the left!!!!

It is my new mantra - "check the mirror and don't worry about the Italian in the Smart Car on your bumper."