Monthly Archives: June 2011
Surprise trip to Menorca, Balaeric Islands!
Okay, okay…I admit it. Living in Napoli has some pretty kick ass perks. Goose’s job may suck ass at times but on the other hand, he gets the scoop on all the awesome trips that the 6th fleet band takes. Like this past weekend’s trip to Menorca. You know, an island over there in the Balaerics? Next to Palma? And Ibiza? AKA tropical paradise and beaches and drinks?
Yeah, that place.
Goose was SDO this weekend (and ended up working like 12 hours each day to boot, sadly) so Gina and I took a girl’s trip to Menorca. Hopped on the C-26 and flew out for a mini, random, tropical getaway. No reservations, no plans. We ended up staying at this super awesome resort hotel and had this AH-MA-ZING view from our hotel room:
Life’s rough. 
When we got “tired” of the beach (or, rather, tired of the sand and the water started cooling down too much), we’d go to the pool:
I just love a good swimming pool, don’t you?
Sun setting over the bay. I seriously didn’t want to leave.
I tried to be all island-y and ordered fish for dinner. It came looking at me and I didn’t even get a fish knife. But, as you can see, I was victorious and managed to not mangle the fish! I win.
I had to take one of these stereotypical feet shots this morning. Gina and I hit the beach for one last swim/snorkel this morning and this was after the beach but before the pool. 
And let’s not discuss the mass amounts of alcohol consumed, shall we? Although, speaking of drinks, funny story! Gina and I went to one of the outdoor bar/cafe things on the beach (the one you can kind of see in the first picture, actually) around 1400 on Saturday afternoon and ordered some food and rum and cokes. The waiter looked at us with a slightly puzzled look on his face and said,
“It’s a bit early to start drinking, isn’t it?”
We kind of looked at him like he was nuts and gently explained that it’s NEVER too early to start drinking. Hell, breakfast starts out with champagne so a rum and coke at 1400? Pfft. Child’s play.
So this is why I’ve been MIA the last 3 days or so. (It’s okay to hate me. Just a little though. 
)
New House!
I’m camped out on the couch in pain because my klutzy ass slipped down the marble stairs and I feel bruised from head to toe so I have lots of time to update you guys about our new house! I am so, so excited about this and cannot wait to get over there. We have to be out of this house by the 7th of July so we have about 2 weeks to move.
If you’re curious, we currently live in a town called Giuliano in Campania. Predictably, it’s in the Campania region of Italy, just outside of Naples. We are moving to a slightly different area to a town called Lago Patria. It’s about the same distance to Capodichino (aka the base Goose works at and/or the local Naples airport) and the same to Support Site and the large shopping center. One of the big appeals to living in Lago and the surrounding area is the proximity to Carney Park, aka, location of the dog park. Also we’ll be closer to friends, another big bonus.
And now the fun stuff, pictures! Am I the only one that’s excited??
Athens!
What an adventure! As I mentioned the other day, we flew on a C-26 to Athens, Greece. It was a free flight so hey, why not? The catch was that the flight was subject to the needs and whims of the Navy. Turns out the Navy had a need to get a spare part from Sigonella, Italy to Stuttgart, Germany to fix their broken C-130. And hey look! There’s a Navy sponsored plane about to take off with time to get the part to Germany! So what should have been a quick 3ish hour flight leaving us the afternoon of the 15th to explore turned into a 12 hour expedition getting us into Athens and to our hotel at around 12:30pm. Awesome.
It’s a travel post, lots of pictures ahead. You have been warned.
#Winning
WE GET KEYS TO THE HOUSE ON MONDAY!!!!
That’s all she wrote, folks. I’ll share pictures when we get keys and I can get to the house to take some! I feel like the biggest weight has been lifted and I cannot wait to get out of here!
Carry on.
House Hunting. Again. Yes, really.
No, I’m definitely not joking. I can only wish this were a (horribly awful) joke but it’s not. We had to go out today to look at houses. Again. I don’t even know which time this was anymore but I am definitely so.over. house hunting for sure now.
You see, we thought we found a house. I mean, sure, the yard wasn’t anything great and rather small, actually, but it had a yard, was a stand alone house, had a kitchen that can accommodate American ranges, etc. so why not? It’s the best of what we’ve seen and sure, I really wish we could find somewhere with a bigger yard for the dog but I am SOOOOOOO over looking. Fine, we’ll take it. I just.don’t.care.anymore.
Slight setback – the landlord needs to get a form from city hall saying that his house has been “pardoned” for being built illegally. Oh but it’s okay! He should be getting it this week! And suddenly, it’s Saturday and still no form and no inclination that it will be awarded soon. Or in other words, Italian corruption and all that crap. Fantastic. So guess what we got to do today?
Hooray. I’m oh so very excited. Cannot wait. Sign me up. Yay. (Aren’t you just feeling the enthusiasm?)
And then something funny happened. Something very unexpected and yet not all together unwelcome.
The house (yes, only one!) was not bad, not bad at all. It has a pretty decent sized yard, a big kitchen (with space for an American range!!), interwebz, and it’s right on the lake. Yes, this house has a lake view. We liked it so much that we said we’d take it on the spot.
Of course, that could be chalked up to just being tired of looking for a house and running out of time to move but it’s all good. We go to housing on Monday to set up an appointment to sign the contract. Did I mention that the owner speaks English, works at housing (so he’s probably corrupt but hey, who here in Italy isn’t anyways?), and the house has already been through inspection and has passed???
Hopefully this is the last we’ve seen of Murphy with regards to our fantabulous housing situation. Oh and if you’re curious, yes, she is parked in front of my house again. Bitch.
Things I Learned Today
- I am friends with the base XO’s wife. Definitely didn’t know this beforehand, I hope I didn’t embarrass myself too much.
- Drinking water while I grocery shop helps me make good decisions.
- I like fizzy water.
- I like flat (natural) water.
- I don’t like fizzy water that has gone flat, yuck!
- It’s apparently rocket science to try to rent video games on base. That or no one ever does it since she had NO CLUE how to do that.
- A simple “thank you” can mean everything.
This kid is adorable!
Confession: I love Glee. And this video is just one thing making me happy today.
Perspective
Over the past week or so, a friend and I have been having an ongoing email conversation abut a whole lot of nothing, anything, and everything. We come from vastly different walks of life and at one point, we started chatting about and comparing them. I asked what it was like to live and grow up in the same place and he answered. But it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting to hear. Granted, some of that is also cultural so that does account for some of the differences.
You watch TV shows or read books about people who grow up in the same house they were brought home to, go to school and have the same classes with the same friends, etc. For me, anything even remotely like that is hard to imagine. The longest I’ve ever lived anywhere in one place was about 6 years, before my dad joined the Army. I haven’t stopped moving ever since.
So when I got some of the answers I did to my, “So what’s it like?” question, it really made me stop and think for a bit. He pointed out that everyone goes through some changes of sorts throughout life. Granted, they may not be as dramatic as being hauled all over the world but still, life isn’t always as romanticized as we see on TV. (Imagine that, huh?) He pointed out that you do still change schools, people still grow into their own, friendships evolve, etc. Life isn’t stagnant, not by a long shot. Not the answer I was expecting at all…not that I even knew what I was looking for, really. I just know that wasn’t it.
In turn, I kind of tried explaining what it was like living the life of a professional nomad. I quickly realized that it really is simply complicated and that I take a lot of things that come with the territory for granted. Things like my ability to go with the flow, make friends easily, the ability to take the bad with the good, and more.
I’ve lived in my fair share of places and when I tell people about some of them, a lot of times people are jealous. Hawaii and Italy are usually the ones that seem to garner most jealousy and it’s hard for me to understand why sometimes. I tend to forget that to most, living somewhere tropical or in Europe are only dreams and rarely come true. It’s hard to remind myself that I’ve been lucky, at least on paper.
But my friend dug a little deeper and I had to admit that I definitely wasn’t a fan of living in Hawaii and so far, I’m not a fan of living here in Italy. I mean sure, both places definitely have their upsides but they definitely have their downs. (I won’t go through the whole litany of reasons why Hawaii and Italy (so far) have both disappointed because it’s irrelevant.) After listening to my life, my friend thought about it then he pointed out something I’d overlooked.
After 3 of the worst years I’d experienced, we moved to Germany where I experienced 3 of the best years of my life. (As in, I’d actually go back and relive HS, as painful as it was at times, awesome.) So maybe in order to have those awesome experiences occasionally, you have to take the bad to get the good. Or in other words, maybe I appreciated life in Heidelberg all the more because of the rough time I had in Wahiawa. Which means that there might, just might, be something worth looking forward to about living in Naples after all.
