House Hunting the Second

October 3rd

Today we looked at houses again.

The first property is in Lago Patria and is part of a gated community or parco.  It has the biggest yard we've seen so far, which would be great for Ta. The kitchen was on the small side, but most of the rooms had bright colors on the walls which was fun.  It also has nice views of the lake and a community pool.
	The outside of the house (left). A yard in which Ta could play (above).
	Can you tell Americans used to live here?  I can! (left) The rest of the main room and a peek into the dining room (above).

The dining room is half orange.  Here are doorways to the stairs, a bathroom, and the kitchen (above). The kitchen was pretty small.  The area to the right is a door that goes outside.  So there isn't much room to add more counter space or a table or anything (right).

The upstairs landing (left). One of the less colorful bedrooms.  Each of the rooms had a different color.  One was pink with a safari wall paper border around it (right).

		Another tiled basement/garage.  This one only had access from the outside.
		This parco had a community pool that we would be able to use.

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This property was also in Lago Patria.  It had several different fruit trees in the yard and very pink exterior walls. This property is in the process of being renovated, so if we choose this one, we'd be the first ones to use the new kitchen, bathrooms, etc. It had fun little pizza oven shaped windows and closets in two of the rooms.  Closets are unheard of here.  The Navy will lend us wardrobes because of this.
	This is a very pink house, on the outside anyway.  It has a yard all the way around it, so maybe Ta can run in circles.
	It also has a variety of fruit trees (left). The main room has a fire place.  The stairs are to the right (above).

		This is the dining room.
		This is the kitchen. It is currently being renovated.
		The stairs had two windows like this.  They are pizza oven doors.  I think they're fun.
		This is one of the bedrooms.  It actually had a closet.  Closets do not exist in Italian homes as far as I can tell, so this is a bit of an anomaly.
	This is the view of Lago Patria from the balcony of one of the rooms.

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The third property was in Licola, which we visited on Tuesday (House Hunting the First).  It was quite spacious, but it was mostly patio with very little actual grassy yard. This house's main feature was its rooftop terrace, which had lovely views down to the ocean.
The last house for today.  It has a lot of patio space, but as you will see, not much grassy space.

	This is the main living area.  It's a lovely shade of lavender.
	This is the kitchen.  It at least has a lot of space to add more counters and storage as needed.
	If you go out of the kitchen to the left, you will come outside to another patio and a view of the "yard."   I'm not sure if this will be enough for Ta.

Back inside and upstairs is the landing for the bedrooms (left). One of the bedrooms that goes out to a balcony (right).

	Another tiled garage/basement.  They really like to tile things here.
	The view from the rooftop terrace.  It was a little hazy today, but you can kind of make out the ocean.  It's the blue bit before the sky starts.

We are going to look at more places tomorrow, partially to see what else is out there and partially to fulfill our TLA requirements.   The Navy helps us pay for the time we are in temporary lodging with a Temporary Lodging Allowance (TLA).   To qualify for TLA here, we have to prove that we are given house hunting a strenuous effort.  This is defined as looking at a minimum of 10 properties for every 10 day period of TLA.

Since we have only seen six properties, we need at least four more to make the TLA requirements.  And since I'm not 100% sure about any of the houses we've seen (I think I like #2 from today the best), I want to make sure we can still receive TLA.  So more houses tomorrow! 

UAB Returns

October 1st

Happy New Fiscal Year!  For those of you who have new fiscal years starting in October.   The military does.  I think it's weird.

Today our UAB (unaccompanied baggage) is supposed to be delivered.  You may remember it from this post. (I just figured out how to reference past posts. Woo!)

A few days ago we decided to try to get our UAB back.  I received an email before we left the US that it was already in storage in Italy and waiting for us, so now that we're here we might as well get it.  The Navy Lodge has most amenities that we need but this way we could have some more clothes, decent cooking supplies, video games, and I could get my sewing machine.

The UAB was supposed to show up around 8:30, but we were informed it could be anytime during the day.

So we wait.

Dan went off to test drive a car.

And we wait.

I went off to investigate something called NOSC (Naples Overseas Club).  It was supposed to be a welcome social or something, but it was kind of disorganized and I felt really uncomfortable.  I did not stay long. 

We wait some more.

Dan decides to go into work for the afternoon.

I wait.

UAB finally arrives around 14:00.  It took all of 15 minutes for the movers to drop off our boxes.  We received the same number of boxes we sent, which is promising.  Now we have to go through them and see if anything has been damaged.  A few boxes are a little worse for wear but hopefully it's just the box. W insisted on investigating the boxes.  They weren't even open yet.

I test drove a car this evening.  Most of the vehicles here are manuals and I have not driven a manual since I had to drive my friend Mary Rose home (in her car) because she dislocated her shoulder.  Luckily for her, she had taken me out to practice driving stick the weekend before.   This was about three years ago.

At 16 my gather tried to teach me to drive stick in his F150 pickup truck.  I could not get that truck into 1st for love nor money.  Our big teaching adventure ended up with me stalled out in traffic with everyone honking at me, my dad yelling, and me crying.  So needless to say, my manual driving skills are rusty to nonexistent.  I see a lot of practice driving around base in my near future.

House Hunting the First

September 30th

Today is exciting because we are going to go look at houses.  Our housing counselor is Paolo.

We are going out to look at three properties today, each a bit different, to get an idea of what we might want (since we don't really know).

The first property is in Lincola and is huge, but not quite what we want.
The yellow house	The "yard". It's mostly paved. That dirt is the grassy area.	It has a nice lemon tree in the back though!
		This is the ground floor entry area.  Everything is marble or ceramic tile.
		This is the kitchen.
		This is the garage/basement. Yes, it is tiled.
Upstairs.  All the doors look like this.	One of the bedrooms.	Upstairs balcony and view.
		This is the view.  It's pretty sweet.  Those are peaches in the foreground by the way.

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The second property is in Cuma Licola and is also quite spacious.  It has these cool glass pocket doors on the inside.
	The walkway to the front door (left).  The landlord's sister lives next door.  So that's handy. Main room with cool doors (above).
	The cool pocket doors (left). The kitchen, which has a patio off to the right and a balcony to the left (above).
	Upstairs landing (left). One of the bedrooms with a balcony (right).
		Looking down into the yard.  They were doing some painting and updates to the house.
		The garage/basement.  This one is not tiled.
		The view.  It is also pretty sweet.  That is a tangerine grove right next door.  I bet it smells awesome in the spring, or whenever it goes into bloom.

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The third property was in Pozzouli and was part of a closed community that mostly caters to other military or NATO families.  It was a little less interesting than the other two, but still nice.
		This place was the first floor of a three floor apartment building.  It has a little bit of grass.
		The kitchen.  This is the biggest/nicest of the kitchens we saw today.
		The main room with a green marble fireplace.  We're not sure that we'd need a fireplace, though Paolo has assured us that it gets cold enough for them.  I'm not convinced.
	The hallway to the bedrooms and bathrooms (left). One of the bedrooms that looks out to the garden area (right).
		The view was lovely here as well, but it was a bit of a tease.  Look at the amazing things you could see, if the other building wasn't right in front of you!

We liked the second property the best, but would like to see more places to get a better idea of what our options are. We are going back out with Paolo on Friday to continue looking for a place to live.

1st Day and Cooking

September 29th

Today is Dan's first day of work with his new command!  WOOOOOO!

I went to a cooking class.  It was a bit chaotic, but good.
Roasted peppers bruschetta - eaten with bread (left).
Smoked salmon (top right).
Potatoes and Green beens (bottom right).

We also made a sausage and cheese brushetta, a pasta with a traditional tomato sauce, a four cheese penne, and lemon chicken.  There was a lot of food and it was all very good.

Brittany and Tom had us over for tacos and limoncello.  Look! Look!  It's a visual pun! (It's limoncello in a cello!  BWUAHAHAHAHAHA!)

Naples Tour

September 26th

As our last part of the Intercultural Relations brief, they took us on the train to downtown Naples.  We bussed to the train station and we started our adventure at the Campi Flegrei stop.  We took the train to the Piazza Amedeo stop and took the cable car to Vomero, which is the newer part of Naples.  We stopped to get cage and snacks.  I got a sfogliatelle, which is a citrus ricotta filled pastry.  It was delicious.

We also walked around the Vomero market.  This is where you would go to get your produce if possible.  Italians only go to a grocery store to get produce if they absolutely have to.  It is their last resort.

After Vomero we took the train to the Umberto Galleria.

Campi Flegrei stop	Umberto Galleria

We were given 40 minutes to wander around before having lunch.  We walked down to view the bay of Naples.

		Here's us! I think that's Vesuvius in the background.
This is the Basilica of San Francesco di Paola. This seems like a good representation of Naples, very old things covered in graffiti. The area in front of the Basilica is Piazza del Plebiscito; Naples's main square. The inside of the Basilica has several very large and impressive statues. This is also where the dried blood of San Gennaro is kept in a vial. It is said that twice a year the blood liquifies to show that the saint is protecting the city.
Here are some silly altered signs we found in Naples.

One of the main shopping alleys (bottom left)   Dan in an alley (bottom right).

This is Brandi, the restaurant where Margherita pizza was created.  The chef made a special pizza for when King Umberto I came to dedicate the Umberto Galleria in 1889.  The pizza was made with ingredients that represented the Italian flag: red tomatoes, white mozzarella, and green basil.  The chef named the pizza after the queen, Margherita.  Woo pizza!

We took the train back to Campi Flegrei and piled back into the bus.  I may have slept most of the way back. 

Area Orientation Parts 2-5

September 22nd - 25th

Most of this week was bureaucratic and informational briefs.

Day 2 of AO:
I mostly skipped Day 2 of AO.  Dan was required to attend almost all of it.  I slept in and then only went to the brief about the process for getting/registering a car.  I spent the afternoon going shopping with Jen and Amy for a dress for Jen.  (I met Amy in Norfolk and Jen on Sunday at Amy's).

Dan told housing we would like to live off base.

Day 3 of AO:
Today was the day we had driver's ed and took our driver's license test.  It was a multiple choice test about what various driving signs meant.  Dan and I both passed.  Wooo!

We went to the Chapel Services brief, but mostly because it was before the Vet brief.  The next thing we had to attend was the AOR Anti-Terrorism brief.  It was....a bit intense.

Dan had to attend the next few briefs, but I went off to get the pets registered with the Vet.  This went smoothly.  One more thing accomplished!

Day 4 of AO:
Day 4 was about MWR who does a lot of tours and events for the Service Members here.  It sounds like they have bunch of great trips that they organize around Italy and other parts of Europe.

We also were required to attend an Intercultural Relations brief.  I will say this, the information was good, the presenter was delightful, but it was too much at one time and way too long.  It was 4 hours long with a mini break in the middle.  I got very fidgety and restless by the end of it.  I wish more of the information had been in a packet rather than flashed up on a slide. 

Dan and I ran off after the briefs to talk to housing.  They told us we were allowed to live off base and needed a CNA (certified non-availability) to start the house hunting process. 

Day 5 of AO:
This day started with the security brief.  There was good information, but I kind of wanted to move back to the US after it.  Dan wanted to see numbers/statistics and was not as swayed by the Security Chief's stories.

The next part of this day was going over to Capodichino to get my Sojourner's Permit.  It's required for me to be able to reside in Italy for more than 90 days.  Luckily we ended up near the front of the line, so it didn't take long.  Part of the process was getting fingerprinted.  They take this part seriously.  They did finger and palm prints.  My hands were entirely covered in ink by the end.  Luckily the ink washed off with some scrubbing.

Dan checked into PSD to get our ration cards, we got lunch, and I checked in with the NMCRS.

When we got back to the Support Site we went back over to housing to talk to a housing counselor and set up a showing. 

Grape Stomping

September 20th

Dan is still badly jet lagged.  I decided to go off on a USO tour adventure with Tom and Brittany.

We piled into a bus which drove us to a vineyard on Mount Vesuvius, Cantina del Vesuvio.  The roadways and corners the bus driver made it around were ridiculous.  I would have been stuck/ in so many accidents.  It was impressive.

Apparently this place is mostly for tourists.  You go out and cut some grapes from the vines,  you can stomp the grapes a la I Love Lucy, and then you can have a lunch and wine tasting.  And of course there is wine available for purchase at the end.

Tom was not really interested in cutting grapes, but Brittany and I were all over it.

I may have chosen a bunch of grapes that was growing around some other vines, and made a mess while trying to get them free.

We had to wait for the kids to stomp grapes before we were allowed to stomp grapes.  I was not happy about this.  Why do we always insist on letting kids do things first?  I want to do things.  We finally get to stomp grapes!  It is oddly satisfying.  It's kind of like popping bubble wrap, except for your toes, and gooshy.  I liked it.  I seriously recommend going to the grocery store, buying some grapes, sticking them in a bucket and stomping on them.  You will feel better after.

The lunch comprised of salami, bruschetta with tomatoes, and spaghetti.  We tried their Lacryma Christi wines (a Rosso, a Rosato, a Bianco, and a Reserva).  We also tried their sparkling wine, Capafresca Spumante, which I liked the best, but it may have had something to do with it being hot and the wine being cold.  We also tried the Grappa they distill and the olive oil they make from their olive grove.  It was all quite tasty.

Once I returned from grape stomping, we tried to figure out what we wanted to do about housing.  Unfortunately no solutions were determined.  Both on base and off base have advantages and disadvantages, and neither option screams the right choice.

Maybe tomorrow we will figure out what we want to do.  We have to tell housing on Monday.

Area Orientation Part 1

September 19th

 Area Orientation is mostly mandatory for all Active Duty members, so Dan is required to go to all of the various briefs.  This first day was a welcome as well as figuring out some of our needed paperwork to get set up in the system and get various records transferred.  Weeeeeeee!

I kid.  It was good that they set this up for us.

Housing threw us for a loop though.  I thought we would be told we had to live on base or that base housing was full and we had to live off base.   I was not expecting to have a choice in the matter (and was hoping to just be told what we were doing).   We were supposed to tell housing today what we wanted to do, but convinced them to give us the weekend to think about it.  PANIC!

Jimmy took us to Pozzouli to walk around for the evening and then we'd meet up with him later for pizza.

While waiting for Jimmy, we thought we'd get some drinks and sit for awhile.  We got our drinks, but because of some confusing language issues, we also got a plate of fried chicken and potato chips.  I'm not 100% sure where we went wrong.  Oh well.  Adventure!

For dinner we went to Picea with another person from Dan's new command, Matt.  The Margherite pizza was delicious (tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil) and it was a lovely dinner.