Saturday, December 24, 2011

Frohe Weihnacht from Austria!

Grusse gott! As Chris already well-described, we are enjoying our Christmas weekend in Austria. We spent the first night in Villach which is just over the Italian-Austrian border. It was a wonderful night. We found a comfortable hotel within walking distance to the old town which was bustling with its annual Christmas market. The ever-present church in the center of town had an imposing bell tower that was draped in a netting of small white lights. Beneath the bell tower was a simple life-size nativity scene missing only the birthday baby. The market stauls were buzzing with shoppers and families strolling the cobblestone street. Every few stauls had people gathered around heating lamps sipping their Gluwein and the aroma just added to the whole scene. Around a corner, we happened upon the skating rink busy with youngsters having fun. The rink had a faux ceiling made of more netting of white lights draped like fabric. It was hard to drag the kids away from their spot watching the ice skaters, but they did enjoy a ride on the kinder train just down the street.

Down a little further was a small music group. I really don't know what to call these Tyrolean guys. They were dressed in sheep skin, one played the accordian, one a bag pipe sort of thing (also made of sheep skin), one a tambourine, and another a short oboe. They were a jolly group who responded to our kids' amazed faces by coming closer and giving us a personal concert. After the song, one musician got on his cell phone and his partner explained to us he was in the middle of a deal to sell 2000 of his sheep. Sure. Why not? Our walk was followed by a warm comfort-food dinner (one that only an Austrian or German brauhaus could deliver) and a tall Dunkel beir. Wunderbar!

The morning at our hotel was complete with a wonderful breakfast spread full of German coldcuts, spreads, fresh farm breads, croisants, fruit, yogurts, granolas and other cereals, and good strong coffee. It was good fueling for our trip to Salzburg.

Driving the Autobahn to Salzburg was great. We were surrounded by impressive rocky, snow covered peaks all around. At one point we came out of a long tunnel into a snow storm. Of course, Josh had to go potty, but luckily there was a rest stop right there outside the tunnel. By the time I came out of the bathroom, the snow was really coming down and there was probably an inch or so on the pavement. I thought, we better get out of here. We have a new car, but did not have time to get snow tires. We slowly slipped our way out of the rest stop, and luckily, as we descended in elevation, the snow turned more to rain......a wintry mix, as they say.

Salzburg is great so far. I really enjoyed the ChristKindl-Market while the rest of my party rested. The market was bustling with people and there were lots of stauls with beautiful Christmas ornaments and other crafts and goods. There were also stands selling beautiful breads, pasteries, and candies. The market is set-up at the foot of the Cathedral in the center of the old town. It was a beautiful Christmas scene.

I'm not sure what the rest of our time in Salzburg will hold, but I'm sure we will be reporting it later.

To all our family and friends, we are wishing you a wonderful Christmas and lots of love!

Taylor Family Christmas in Salzburg

Merry Christmas everyone! Several months ago, I offered Suzanne the vision of spending Christmas in Salzburg this year, and as circumstances would have it, here we are.

It's Christmas Eve, I am writing this from our hotel room in the heart of downtown Salzburg while the kids rest a little and Suzanne has some time shopping before the Christmas markets close for the day. The grandiose chimes of the city's main bell tower are permeating the stillness of our hotel room, as I write in the dark trying not to wake the kids.

We are debating our itinerary for the next 48 hours, and the options include church service tonight in the main cathedral, opening presents tomorrow morning (we brought a suitcase full of presents for the kids to open on Christmas morning), taking the "Sound of Music Tour", riding the mountain-tramcar up to the castle that looks over the town, and/or just walking around Old Town and exploring on our own. I don't know if we'll do any of that, but the fact that those are our options is pretty damn cool.

We spent last night in a town about 1.5 South of here called Villach. What an amazing night. Picture what you would think of as a prototypical Austrian village, with all of the streets and churches lit up with Christmas lights and decorations, cobblestone pedestrian-only zones, big Christmas trees in the squares, an outdoor skating rink, little huts forming a small market of ornaments, wool scarves, and gluvein. The town has the ever-present river running through it with several bridges separating the newer areas of town with the older areas, all beautifully lit for Chrismas. Our hotel was within walking distance to the old town and to everything else, just like where we are staying tonight in Salzburg.

The drive to Villach, then again from Villach to Salzburg, was pretty amazing too. So far, our "new" 15-year old BMW, newly dubbed "The Millenium Falcon", has held up well and has been fun to drive. So there you are driving along very smoothly and comfortably at 90 or 100 mph, with snowy and rocky Alpine mountains in every direction, the occasional storybook castle perched on some snowy precipice, and Tchaicovski's "The Nutcracker" trying to overcome the beeps and bloops from the kids' Leapsters in the backseat. We certainly miss spending the holidays with our family, but we'll trade driving I95 and the NJ Turnpike for that drive through the Alps anyday.

It certainly is a different Christmas for us. I am quite certain that we will look forward to spending many, many years/decades celebrating Christmas with all of our family, with all of the wonderful traditions, back home, in a short few years. But for now, we are going to enjoy spending this time with just the four of us, in new and wonderful places, with new and wonderful sights and sounds, hopefully making family memories that will last a lifetime.

We want you all to know that we are thinking of you and wishing you all a wonderful Christmas. We love you all very much.

I would also like to say a couple of special prayers: for the men and women in our Armed Forces who are away from home and not necessarily because of their own doing, and for all of those less fortunate than ourselves who may not have the luxury of family or home. May God watch over and protect all of us during this Christmas Season.

...and to all a good night.

ct

Thursday, December 22, 2011

First Italian-style coffee break

I haven't been in the office much in the past two weeks because of the in-processing requirements. I've been at my desk a little more each day, still mostly doing in-processing stuff eg. still getting basic work email and phone. I am supposed to be in an actual office, but that has been occupied by someone else temporarily, so they've stuck me at a desk in the design shop.

Today, I've been at my desk most of the morning. There have been designers (all Italian nationals) and contractors coming and going all morning. Then, kind of all of the sudden, half the office is gone and the other half is putting on their coats. I had headphones on because I was trying to get a few things done and the constant Italian language throughout the office is actually pretty distracting, but I look up to see what all the rucus is about. Honestly, I thought there may have been a fire alarm go off, but then, no one was moving particularly fast, so that couldn't have been it. Then I was thinking that maybe there was a big staff meeting going on, but that didn't seem right. It was too early for lunch, so that wasn't it. Then it hit me! I remembered from my days here before: 10am coffee break! Then I realized why they had been glancing in my direction with what appeared to be uncertainty and awkwardness - they weren't sure whether to invite me or not, maybe because I am an American, or maybe because I am one of the Supervisors around here, I really don't know. But I'm new, it's Christmas, I certainly need to do some team-building, and did I want to go they ask....certamente!...meaning: HELLS YEAH!

So here's the drill, it's pretty simple - you dress up like there a cold, artic storm outside even though it's sunny and 50, walk across the post a ways, stop into the Carabinieri Coffee Shop, order a coffee or capuccino, drink it, and walk back. There really isn't a whole lot of lingering - enough to drink a small coffee, but still respectful of the fact that it's the work day - and then you go back to the office, unravel the omnipresent scarves that EVERYone wears, and go back to work. Basta, finito!

awesome.
ct

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Aaaah, Venezia!

Ciao Tutti! Aaah, Venezia! There’s just no place like it.

We followed up our Saturday outing to downtown Vicenza with a Sunday outing to Venice. Not a bad weekend.

It was the kids’ first time on a train which they were really excited about. Kids….here we are embarking on an Italian adventure and a day trip to one of the more iconic cities of the world, and they are totally jazzed up about riding on a train. Hey, it’s all good.

One benefit of this first trip into Venice is that Suzanne and I started to get up the learning curve on how it’s all done. By that, I mean that we fumbled and stumbled and bumbled our way through. Actually, once we arrived in Venice, things were fairly smooth sailing. Driving our borrowed minivan to the train station in Vicenza, parking, buying train tickets, and getting on and off the train – at the correct stops….well that was where we had a little learning to do. Despite some hiccups, we actually managed to arrive where and basically when we wanted, and again, it was all good.

Venice in December is very different than Venice in the summer or doing Carnivale (February). There aren’t the same crowds, although there were still a good number of people around – maybe because it was a week before Christmas. There also fewer scam artists and cheesy street vendors. Then again, there we are crossing the Grand Canale with all of its splendor and the kids are totally fixated on the $.50 gooey toys being sold by the vendors up and down the bridge, so those guys are still a presence.



Venice in December is also obviously colder. It’s a pretty decent hike from the train station down to Piazza San Marco, so the walking keeps you warm, especially if you are sometimes carrying 40 and 50 pound children. It was a good bit colder when we got to the main square and walked along the water, but it’s easy enough to find a place to warm up with some Italian coffee or cappuccino.

The kids actually did really, really well considering the amount of walking and the ample opportunities to run out of sight, get distracted by lots of new sights and interesting alleys, and get lost among the crowds of people. They really did well. We were all rewarded by a warm-up stop at a gelaterria (despite the contradiction in purpose).

Josh and Isabel (especially Josh) went absolutely nuts chasing the pigeons all around Piazza San Marco. Again, it’s pretty funny when you are blown away by the architecture/art/history/magnificence and the kids are absorbed with the pigeons.



Both kids (especially Isabel) were also excited to see some of the places that she had read about in one of her “Olivia” books eg. the Bridge of Sighs….ahhhh.

Although we stayed pretty much on the main path between the train station and Piazza San Marco(if there is one), we made a couple of quick stops into some really amazing churches along the way. One of these churches looked almost like an old pile of bricks from the outside, but then you read a sign stating that it was a Russian Orthodox church erected in the 11th century, and you go inside and it’s simply amazing – not in a grandiose and extravagant way, but in a historically rich and artistically interesting way. I mean, for someone like me who isn’t educated in art or architecture, much less 11th century European history, I was blown away.


Anyway, now that we’ve broken the seal and gotten the basics figure out on how to get to Venice and back, we are ready to start receiving visitors! Weeell, we have no place to put you yet, as we are in our 3rd week of hotel room living ourselves, but besides that we’re ready. We have even completed the process of buying a car, so we have our own wheels now. Good times all around.

Love to all of you!

And Merry Christmas!

ct

Sunday, December 18, 2011

CLT's first post to family blog

This is my first post on the family blog. I think one of the reasons for that is because Suzanne has done such a nice job setting it up and getting it started. She has done a really good job of capturing the collective mood of the family and sharing some of the interesting experiences we are having. I’ll see if I can augment her efforts now and again with some interesting tidbits and perspectives of my own.

Maybe it should be noted that while I write this, I am eating a couple of varieties of Sicilian olives that we got at the local downtown market this afternoon and drinking a red wine local to the Veneto Region (where we live). As they say, that doesn’t suck.

We have been here almost two weeks and today was the first time we visited downtown Vicenza. It makes me so happy that we had such a nice day exploring downtown as a family. That is basically the epitome of what I have been envisioning for the past 13 years: walking casually around town on a random Saturday afternoon, seeing amazing architectural and historic buildings everywhere, sampling the wares of the local markets, finding a small little trattoria to eat lunch in, driving around with incredible snow-capped mountains on the near horizon, and simply enjoying la bella vita. Just before we left, Suzanne and I were having drinks with the Garretts and Marianne asked what we were most looking forward to. That kind of stumped me. After I mulled it around a little and realized that I had no agenda for what to do once we arrived because I was so singularly focused on getting us all here. In my mind I figured that the second we touched down in the Venice airport, as a family, my work here was done. That is obviously far from the truth, but I suppose I figured that getting here was the hard part and everything after that would take care of itself. Today’s outing downtown, however, is the kind of experience that I expected - so ordinary and so incredible all at the same time.

Here are a couple of other random notes about our time here so far:

Buying a car – you know, I think the process of buying a car here is representative of much of the in-processing procedures. We really don’t know what we’re doing, trying to follow instructions that are often wrong or conflicting, badly wanting it to work out quickly because it has large ramifications on our life and finances, but having little control over….really anything. We don’t have cell phones yet, so even the smallest of coordinations becomes problematic. There are a ridiculous number of steps in the process of buying a car, getting it registered/inspected/insured, getting licensed, and getting to the point where you are driving the car. Try to imagine the worst of U.S. Government and Italian bureaucracy and double it. Maybe triple it. But I’ve had enough exposure to this kind of thing to where I have adjusted my expectations and attitude, and I have actually found it pretty entertaining.

We are in the process of buying a 15-year old BMW – a smaller sedan that can get around on the narrow winding streets but still big enough for our family of 4, a car with some zip to navigate the autostradas and autobahns, and a car that can be easily worked on by the local BMW repair shops. It’s a truly amazing car in its features and technology, and it blows me away to think that this is all in a car that was built in 1996. We’ll probably be buying it over 2 or 3 times with repair costs, but it should still be a fun car to drive around for awhile. I have nicknamed it “The Millenium Falcon” after Hans Solo spaceship – it’s old, but it’s still a spaceship that shoots lasers and can go to warp speed (most of the time).

My job – I have changed jobs enough to know that you really shouldn’t make any assessments until at least 4 or 6 months into it. In my case here, that may have to be extended to at least a year because it’s going to take us so much longer to get settled. So we’ll see. I have a staff of 4 “local nationals” and 1 American who has been here for like 30 years so he may as well be a “LN”. As my new boss explained to me during our first meeting over cappuccino, these guys have been working here far before I got here (even before my boss got here and he’s been here 9 years) and they’ll be here after we leave our positions, so it would be best if I waited at least a year before I try to make any big changes. I think there is a lot to read between the lines there. In any case, I think I’ll like the guys on my staff, I think it’ll be a good learning experience, I don’t think it’ll be the most stressful job in the world, I don’t think I am going to enjoying a strict 9-5 M-F schedule, but overall it’s a job that got us all here and I’m grateful to have it. It trips me out to here my staff refer to me as “il capo” (the boss), especially because it elicits images of Tony Soprano and because I think there is irony in the fact that I’ll probably have no control or authority in my new position as their boss.

Italian language – I think Suzanne did a good job explaining the language situation here. There are a lot of Italians who work on post and in our department, and they all speak English well. Off post, there are a lot of Italians who really don’t know much of any English. I’ve remembered more than I thought I would, but it’s not as if I was fluent when I left here 13 years ago. I should have lots of opportunities to practice and learn the language because I am working with so many local nationals, I’m sure the kids will be conversant in no time at all once we get them into the Asilo (Italian preschool/kindergarten), and Suzanne is already not too far behind me which means we’ll be able to help each other as we all learn.


Buon Natale, tutti!

ct

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Busy Getting Settled

Well, it has been to long since my last post! Funny how you can keep so busy when you just live in a hotel and everything you need is within walking distance. It seems the days go by quickly. Each day there are papers to fill out, orientations to attend, offices to visit, etc. Last week I did the orientation for the child services so now the kids are enrolled in preschool and they also have after-school care and parents' night out care at a very reasonable rate. Chris has a whole other set of things to do before he can get a computer, passwords, a phone, etc. Speaking of phones, we still do not have cell phones. Can you believe it? This is probably the longest we've gone without a mobile phone since we started using them. It's a strange feeling.

The other modern convenience we were missing is having a car. It certainly has us doing some walking which is not all bad. Last week, though, we were very fortunate to be loaned a vehicle. It's a small mini-van with a lot of interior cosmetic and electronic issues, but it drives just fine. Chris got his drivers' license last week after passing the test and on Saturday, we got the van. We took it down to Sossana which is a 30 minute drive South of town where Chris' boss, Greg, lives. We looked at a house down there which is very interesting (the lower level bathroom is below ground and the back wall and part of the ceiling is actually the rock of the hill) but not quite right for us. We continued on a little drive to Orgiano, another place we were considering (the countess), then back to Greg's house. They had invited us to a little last minute dinner party and it was very nice. They have a great house. The kitchen is spacious with a long country table. There is a wood burning stove in the kitchen that gives a lot of warmth. We had good wine, good cheese, and good company. We were joined by an Italian friend and his British wife plus another American friend who works on the Army Post and lives near-by.

Lago di Fimon


That night we left and had to find our way home in the dark, and it was dark. One very interesting thing about the towns around here are that they are small and surrounded by much agricultural land. There is no urban sprawl like we are accustomed to at home. It's really very nice. You drive through farm land, then into a small town with one or two roundabouts (no traffic lights), you pass a church that looks like it may date to the 1600s, and before you know it you are through the town and driving through more farms. This is what it's like just a few minutes outside Vicenza. Vicenza is more urban but still a manageable town.

Our Hotel Christmas Decoration


Last Sunday we drove back down to an area South of Vicenza. We are still getting an idea of where we want to live. This area is called Arcugnano. It was a nice drive and we stopped at Lago di Fimon, a small lake in the middle of this valley. We took a nice walk and talked to a couple fishermen. We also found a good pizzeria for lunch, but that is not hard to do around here. There was even a little girl Isabel's age and the three kids kept each other enteretained towards the end of our stay, despite the language barrier.

So far, the kids have only really picked up "ciao" and Isabel is good at saying her age, "cinque". For those people who say everyone here in Italy speak English, perhaps they are talking about the ticket counter at the Roman colliseum, because very few people speak English. If they can, they don't let you know it. Chris has been great. He seems to remember a lot from his time here in the past. The real test came when we invited over an Italian girl the other night to introduce her to the kids and us so that she can hopefully be a babysitter we can call on when needed. She came to our hotel with her father and neither one spoke more than about 5 words of English. It was an interesting interview. All in all, though, Chris did great. I continue to get nervous and then tongue-tied with Spanish which comes a bit more easily. By the time the girl and her father left, Chris could barely speak any language. His brain was done.

The other more interesting happening this week was the buying of our new car! It's actually an old car, but new to us! It's a BMW 540 and I think it will do us very well on the Autostrada. We are just keeping our fingers crossed that everything continues to work since it has some years on it. Apparently, when it was new, some Italian gold trader owned it and drove it to visit his gold mines. This is per Giovanni, the very nice Italian man who works at a local auto shop. Giovanni took us for a test drive the other day and it was the scariest test drive I have ever witnessed. Thank God we weren't on a closed track, or maybe that would have been safer. He took us around a couple city streets that were not populated with people or cars. He declares he is going to demonstrate the suspension and he suddenly swerves onto the curb to the left at 40 mph (or about 60 kmh as they would have it here), then to the curb on the right side of the street to show us the other side. Then curves back to the center of the street coming about 1 meter from the parked car in front of us and he then slams on the breaks to show us the stopping power and control of this car. No anti-lock breaks here. Then he accelerates again around the corner and down the street to show us it's 0-60mph acceleration. Meanwhile, I'm screaming, "OMG!" from the back seat and Giovanni is laughing and saying to Chris, "Your wife, she is scared, si?"

Well, now the car is ours, but I'll let Chris tell the story of all the hoops one must jump through to actually get it registered, insured, and inspected. We'll be lucky if we are able to drive this thing the coming week.

Other events of the past week include me passing my drivers' license test (not very exciting), the kids started preschool (yea!), and we had a nice visit with a coworker of Chris' who is going to pass along his house to us as he is moving out next week. It will be a temporary house as we look for something else. It's advantageous because the lease is month-to-month which is very unusual, and at this point almost anything is better than the hotel!

View of some snowy moutains from the front of our hotel

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Benvenuto a Italia!

We made it! It was a long trip but we made it. All in all, the trip was very smooth. We made all connections, all our luggage made it, and the kids did not have any major breakdowns. Isabel almost lost it when the flight attendant came to take away trash in preparation for landing and she had not yet finished her Sprite. That was on the first flight which was very short. It was just a little express plane from Baltimore to Newark, NJ. It was a small plane where you walk out onto the tarmac and they take your carry-on bags from you since there is not much overhead room inside the plane. From inside the plane we could see them loading those carry-ons and Isabel was quick to announce in a proud voice which seemed too loud on a plane full of quiet weary travelers, "Josh, my bag was put on before your bag." Ah, the sibling thing.

 

This was Josh and Isabel's first plane ride and it was fun watching them enjoy this short little flight. I told Isabel to watch the wheel out in front of her that extended from the wing because once we get up in the air it will fold up. Well, she was fixated on that. When we started to look at something else she would say, "mommy, I have to watch the wheel!" She enjoyed seeing the little houses and commented they looked like toys. We saw a pretty sunset and she liked the pretty lights as we approached Newark. The middle of the short flight was consumed by having to explain every square inch of the folded pamphlet in the seat-back pocket. You know the one with all the emergency procedures? She was very interested in what every picture meant. I had to, of course, describe these things very carefully. There was no use of the word crash-landing, for example.



Newark was a quick lay-over and I was lucky to be able to make a quick trip outside security with the kids to bid farewell to Gretchen, Heidi, Annie, Jack, and Christine. It was fun to see them there and a sad good-bye. We exchanged a few words and hugs and then it was back on line to get through security as that took about 45 minutes and we were close to boarding time for the next flight.



The flight to Germany was a comfortable plane with individual touch-screen monitors in front of each seat. This was good for keeping the kids occupied. Once we got settled they each chose a movie, Spy Kids for Isabel and Cars for Josh. Isabel was cute laughing at her movie with her headphones on and Josh would make little comments about Lightning McQueen. Josh didn't last long, though, and fell asleep about an hour into the trip. Isabel lasted at least another hour or so, but also finally fell asleep. Chris and I did not sleep much.

It was raining and cold in Germany but we didn't leave the airport so it didn't matter. Our next flight was a quick one to Venice. I couldn't keep my eyes open at that point and I slept with Isabel and Josh sleeping on each of my sides. Chris woke me at one point so I could gaze out at the amazing snow-covered alps. It was an impressive site. The next time I looked out it was a maze of canals and we were landing at Marco Polo airport. The hardest part of the trip was the two and a half hour wait at the airport for our shuttle bus to the post.

Finally, we were cruising down the Autostrada on our way to Vicenza. Now, we are here at our hotel. It's good for the interim. We have enough space and a small kitchen. The best part is internet right in the room. Also, everything from the commissary to the px to the post office are close walking distances away. We are going from office to office gathering information and filling out forms. Yesterday was nice and sunny and the kids explored a couple playgrounds near the hotel.

Last night, we finally ventured out into the actual Italy. While on post, it's more like living in the States. Once you get off, you are in the real Italy. We took a walk to a local trattoria recommended by Chris' new supervisor. It was a great recommendation. We had fantastic pizza, the kids got a kick out of watching the pizza maker, and we met a nice local family. Their son, Leonardo, was showing us his karate moves since he just came from karate class and he practiced his English by asking Josh what his name is. Chris pulled out some decent Italian and conversed with the parents a bit. All in all, a fantastic little cozy pizzeria as you might picture with wood fire thin crust pizza, wine by the caraffe, friendly people, and our camarerie topped it off with a small taste of meloncello....delizioso!

Today, I need to do some shopping. I have laundry to do and it would be nice to get at least some juice and a few snacks for the hotel room. I'm not sure yet how I'm going to carry everything back to the room but I'll figure it out. At least the jet lag seems to be fading. Yesterday morning was tough. The kids and I slept until 9:30! We missed the hotel breakfast. Chris had to meet his supervisor early for a coffee and then in-process. I don't know how he did it. I would have been asleep.

Until tomorrow......I'm sure there are more stories to come.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Exhausted

So far, unemployment has been one of the hardest and most stressful jobs I've had so far. This week has been exhausting. Monday started with the household goods packers. Three ladies came and got down to business and packed all our stuff all day long. At the same time, I was running around like a mad person still trying to organize, put things together, throw things away, unpack early Christmas and late birthday presents for the kids that had been given to them during family gatherings over Thanksgiving. The packing ladies commented that I looked as busy as they were and I believe they were right.

Tuesday, we were up bright and early again. Kids got off to their last day at Ms. Megan's (daycare) and I got back to the house where the day was for packing anything that wasn't packed the day before and load it all into a truck. This time there were about 5 men who took all our furniture apart and wrapped everything in paper. Every room was filled with the screech of packing tape unrolling. Of course, the weather was not cooperative and the downpour of rain forecasted for that day commenced just as the movers were ready to start bringing everything to the trucks. I couldn't watch. I was in the way anyway. I left to do some needed errands.

By about 5pm, it looked like they might actually finish, and about a half an hour later they carried out the last box. Whew! Everything is packed and off to some port. We just got the official weight and it was 8135 pounds of stuff. I wonder how many pounds of stuff the average American owns? An average person from France? Mexico? An average person from China? Hmmmm.

Wednesday arrived and it was another early morning to get started on the cleaning. We cleaned and cleaned for about 8 hours straight. Why in the heck did we not do this for ourselves sometime over the last few years? Our house looked great when we were done. It wasn't this clean when we moved into it 7 years ago. We topped it off with some great, professional carpet cleaning Wednesday afternoon. When we arrived Thursday morning, it looked fantastic.

We made a successful hand-off to our new tenants and they looked down-right giddy about moving into our house. That made us happy because we want people to enjoy it and really appreciate all it has to offer. We filled their brains with more information than they will ever remember about the house and they we said "Ciao!". We also said some emotional good-byes to our neighbors and finally to Orchard Beach.

Today, with two days left in the country, our goal was to take our car to the port for shipping. Unfortunately, this process took much longer than we thought since we realized the night before that the full tank of gas left in the car would need to be burned down to 1/4 tank, as mandated by the vehicle processing center at the port. Ugh......driving, driving, driving.....burning fuel....driving, driving, driving.....finally down to almost a 1/4 tank. We took a nice tour of the Eastern Shore. Good thing it's not a hybrid. There were a few more glitches at the port, but in the end, it got processed and we should see it again sometime at the end of January.

Now we are back home and the time has come to say goodbye to Mom and Dad. They are good sports about it, or at least they are putting up a good front. I know they are going to miss us and the kids a lot (mostly the grandkids). I'm glad both of them have an adventurous spirit. I believe it allows them to appreciate what we are doing and have a better acceptance for the temporary loss.

What a week, and it's only the beginning. We are going to be met with more crazy weeks of getting settled on the other end. I don't think we have even hit the half-way point. This is an adventure already. We are definitely on the roller coaster. I must say, though, I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1h_hmdVJAc&feature=related

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

#2 Off and Away

Remember that last scene in Raiders of the Lost Arc when the arc is in a crate and being stored at some giant warehouse with thousands of other non-descriptive crates? That is where I picture our two storage crates going to today. I know there will be more things we could have put in those crates, but too late. Everything else is coming with us!

Crates destined for storage

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Move #1 is Underway!

Ok, the first of three shipments is underway to Italy! I guess that was pretty smooth. I'm still afraid of opening up some cabinet or drawer and realizing there is a bunch of stuff that should have gone out with that quick shipment. Basically, we are at the point where if it doesn't fit in a suitcase that goes with us on the plane, we better be able to do without it for the next 3 months. In reality, we could probably do without a lot of the stuff we own. I'm looking forward to the simple life. Don't get me wrong. I love buying a bunch of cheap stuff at Walmart just like the next bargain shopping American woman, but it will be nice to see what life is like without Walmart and Target. Wow, did I just say that?

Monday, November 21, 2011

New Chapter

This is when it really sinks in that a new chapter in your life is beginning. I am leaving Good Samaritan Hospital this morning for the last time. I have been coming to work here for the last nine years with only two short maternity breaks. I was a student here 10 years ago this coming February. This is definitely bittersweet. I'm sure everyone who works at a hospital has many grievances about faulty processes, out-of-touch administration, and other things surrounding the chaos that is a hospital, but at the end it feels like a family. People come to this place everyday and continue to meet the challenge of taking care of patients, but they are comforted by their colleagues who understand. Medicine continually battles the conflict of too many patients and not enough providers, patients who destroy their own bodies with bad habits as well as those that were dealt a bad genetic hand, a plethora of pharmacy and expensive tests, and the age-old question of, "Who is going to pay for all this?" Even with all that, I feel blessed to be part of the medical community. It will continue to be part of my life, and I wonder what direction it will take in the near future.

We are now at 13 days and counting until we leave the country. Nerves are still jumpy with the upcoming moves scheduled to start tomorrow. There is much to do! Hopefully, tomorrow I can report on a successful first shipment out of the house and underway.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Arrivederci Boat!

Chris and Tom just pulled away with the boat. Another big item being tucked away. We'll miss you boat! See you in a few years!

Making Progress

As anyone who deals with the government knows, things do not move quickly. This move has been a year in the making. Yes, it was last January we started talking about this job opportunity. Here we are 11 months later wrapping things up. One of our last critical pieces was the visas. One cannot stay more than a month in Italy without one or they will ship you home!

The passport office at Ft Meade seemed very confident they knew what to do to get our visas, but after two failed attempts and three more weeks of lost time, Chris took it upon himself to cut out the middleman and go directly to the source in D.C. This required two awful drives to D.C. (are there any pleasant ones?) and two visits with the snooty Italian consulate who insinuated we were impatient, pushy Americans. Well, we are Americans, no? We want what we want and we want it now! They were miraculously able to take our paperwork and generate a little sticker for each of the families' passports within 24 hours.

In the meantime, Chris was able to take a little walk up Massachusetts Ave while waiting for the Embassy to open and he happened upon some landscapers taking down a tree. He asked for a piece of wood to give his wood-turner father and they hesitantly obliged. The man had to climb the inside security fence and balance one foot on the inside fence and the other foot on the outside security fence and heave the log over the outside fence. Why two security fences you ask? Yea, he was at the Naval Observatory, AKA the Biden residence. I told Chris he should email Dr. Biden and ask if she would like a bowl or wine-stopper made from wood taken from their property. On second thought, that might instigate research into the acquiring of such wood, the viewing of security cameras, and some friendly landscaper might not have his job anymore.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Sunrise pic

New Beginnings

As I sit and look out at the sunrise over the Rockfish Valley and watch it slowly melt the frost covering the Eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains, I contemplate our upcoming changes. This is our third annual anniversary weekend to Wintergreen Resort in Virginia where we are celebrating our eighth anniversary. It has been a wonderful tradition but one that will be put on hold for a few years.

When we return from our trip, I must get down to serious organizing of our things at home. In about three weeks, moving trucks will start coming to take it all away and there are three stages that need to be laid out. As with everyone, I'm sure we have more stuff than we think we have. We have been in this house for 7 years and that is the longest either of us has been in one place since we left our childhood homes.

We are fortunate to have found two people who we think will be great tenants for our house while we are gone. It was a search full of worry. We have found many tenants before but never for the house we care the most about and the house in which we plan to live again. We knew it needed to be someone who would appreciate the view, the water, the beach, and the character of it, but that narrows down the pool of potential tenants significantly.

The tenant search was only one of the many things that has been giving us restless nights, aching necks, uneasy stomachs, and short tempers lately. This moving thing is stressful, and throw in an overseas move for the whole family and it magnifies the stress one hundred fold. Our life is complicated. We have rentals to look after. We had repairs to our house which were being put off but now need to be expedited. We have a boat to winterize and store. We have financial matters to wrap up. We have a dog who needed a good home because he could not come with us. This was the hardest and saddest of all. Last weekend we took him to his new home. I believe he will be very loved there, but I fear he really misses us and that is painful. I am probably humanizing his feelings too much, but the emotions are still raw with us. He is very missed!

We will also miss birthdays and holidays with family and summer outings with friends. We will miss going out on our boat (Chris knew as soon as we made that commitment we would hear something about Italy, and sure enough...). We will miss our parents, our sisters, our nieces and nephews. We hope they all come to visit but we know it won't be enough. We hope they understand that this is not forever and we will return in the blink of an eye. So as we sit here in our beautiful condo on top of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with its spectacular panoramic view, we contemplate things to come. Good things to come.

Buried under the stress of moving and temporary loss of people and traditions, we are immensely excited about new traditions, new travels, and new experiences. Where will we spend Christmas? The alps? Austria? I bet Salzburg is amazingly beautiful at Christmas time. How about Rome? What will we do next summer? How about a week in Spain for the Festival in Pamplona?!? I can't wait to see Spain. What will we do for our tenth wedding anniversary? That is coming up soon. The options are endless.

Besides travel, I look forward to simply enjoying Italian life in and around Vicenza. I want to learn the language and especially would like the children to learn it. I want to explore the markets and taste fantastic food and wine. I want to join the locals in their evening passagiata and take in all there is to absorb in this culture. Yes, there is much to look forward to in the days, weeks, months, and the three years ahead.

So tomorrow it is back to our life in transition. We are enjoying the journey. That is an important part of life that we must not forget. Life is the journey.