Christmas in Italy

      Buon Natale! Merry Christmas! 

     Some of our family's holiday traditions are not being practiced this year but I'm happy to say we are experiencing some different events this year.  The kids and I did a cookie exchange with our friends Julianne Pugh and Leslie Ross (wives of Boeing engineers).  We made Nanaimo bars, Magic layer bars, decorated sugar cookies and exchanged a few other types.
    

      The day before we enjoyed a leisure walk around old Naples (Spaccanapoli).  We perused a few churches in the area, shopped and ate pasta! yum!!

Move #4?

 

     Well, we are back to hotel/bungalow living.  At least we have a kitchen,washer and dryer in our ‘bungalow’. We are staying at a nice resort-type establishment just a few kilometers outside of Naples. It is called Damiani’s.  There are 3 pools-one that is so warm it’s like a hot tub!, 4 tennis courts (too bad we don’t have our racquets with us-ugh) places to camp, and several out buildings,etc  where guests can congregate and drink caffe. ;-)   Did I mention there are 3 pianos here for Juliann to practice on too?!  I’ve been overjoyed to hear her play again.

      The bungalow has 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, dining/living room, and a small kitchen.   Like I mentioned, there is a washer and dryer-they are in the kitchen acting as counters as well.  Dryers are not always available here so it is nice to have one. The thing about this dryer is that it is tremendously loud!  We have to turn it on right before we leave for the day.

     Our current routine: Aaron leaves for work around 7:30 or 8, we all have breakfast and get ready for the day, then we hang out in the main building where the pianos are; we work on school studies and play cards and Juliann practices piano. She is working on a Peanuts Christmas song.  I hope to have a video to post of the completed performance J by Christmas.   Evening is usually when we like to take a dip in the pool-it’s the perfect thing to do to help us relax for the night.

 A kind friend loaned us a Christmas tree :-)

 Race and Ryan(American/Italian friend) cooking dinner the first night: gnocchi,grana(cheese), brasaola(meat),pesto

 Main hotel building. Piano to the left of the picture

      Damiani’s is close to the grocery store and a few other places to shop but unfortunately, it is very dangerous to walk to anything from here.  I went to the grocery store yesterday and almost got hit by a bus on the way home.  It was unnerving to say the least! Ahhhh!!  I just have to wait to get the car from Aaron and then shop.  However, he has been working such late hours that nothing is open when he gets home.   We have to finish Christmas shopping too so we will be those crazy last minute shoppers this weekend! haha

We are in the middle of several days of nasty weather here in Southern Italy. What a perfect day to update my blog, right?  However, we did have an absolutely fabulous ,fall day last Monday and I am so glad we were able to take advantage of it.

      I had read about a tour near where we are currently living.  The tour is of a tunnel that runs through a nearby hill.  When I read about this tour I learned that the tunnel is not always open and it can be hard to reach anyone who has access to it.  So, I decided it would be best to just walk down to see if we could get into the tour; since we needed to get out and exercise anyway, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to go check it out.  When we got there, we were told we had to have a reservation (prenotazione). So I wrote down the number to call and told the gentleman(signore) that I would call later.  As we were walking away, I was stopped and asked to wait.  Signore made a phone call and then asked us to enter the gate for the tourJ.  It was sincerely nice that we were allowed to stay and the tour was free to boot!

     Our destination: Grotta di Seiano. Grotta is cave, essentially, in Italian. Di means ‘of’ and Seiano is the name of the individual who it was named after.   This cave is located in Posillipo; where we live right now. The original name is Pausylipon meaning: rest from grief or pain.  Posillipo is quite nice with beautiful views so I can understand why it was named as such.   The cave is 770 meters long and leads to a little cemetery that has long been deserted.  Beyond the cemetery is a pleasant path that leads to a large open area and ruins. (Side note: when we visited a nearby park, Parco Virgiliano, we saw a little bit of these ruins and sincerely wanted to figure out how to get down to explore, so it was a fun surprise that the tour led us here!)

      Our tour guide didn’t speak much English but he was very patient with us and spoke slow enough for us to understand most of what he said.   His name: Eugenio and he was delightful!  He was our photographer at each ideal picture spot too.  He also had us take a picture of our shadows in the cave. That was cool!  The icing on the cake, too, was that we were invited to have caffe with the gentleman at the tour. Delizioso! And Eugenio told me I needed to bring my Marito(Aaron) back for a tour. Of course, he told me call first for a reservation J!

      When we got home, Race said he learned more Italian from Eugenio than from what he had learned thus far.  I think he’s exaggerating a bit but I was so glad he got so much from the experience J  We all did. It was really fun!

Back to the hotel..

     We are in a holding pattern.  I really thought we would be in our Italy home before the holidays.  I'm grateful that we have a great place to be right now but it's a little hard knowing that we will be hotel hopping again and through Christmas.  It's especially difficult for Juliann and Race.  I pictured us getting into our permanent place before Thanksgiving, cooking a turkey with all the trimmings,etc. and then decorating,etc. for Christmas-complete with a tree. Well, that is not to be this year.  Especially this time of year, I see how much we need stability for the kids sake.  I've been praying that they will see that this is temporary and it's all part of the adventure that we are on.  In time, they will understand but in the mean time, it's difficult.  ugh..
    On another note, we are officially legal to be in the country now.  On Tuesday we all went to the Immigrazione office with tons of paper work-everything official is done on paper here. I know, old-school,right?! ha  Then, we spent a few hours at the post office finalizing the process.  I find it interesting that so many processes are taken care of at the post office. You would think one would just go to mail a letter or a package there but NO! It seems like everything is done at the post office or the Tabacchi stores. he he 

Shopping experiences

      There is lots of shopping to be done in Italy.  Italians love to shop and they love shopping malls!
We have shopped in town-many little store fronts up and down mainstreets and alleys, shopping malls-similar to what we are used to in the states, and open air markets.  I have found that the markets have the best prices but, similar to some stores we have been in, most merchandise is made in China. :(  

 Centro Campania mall-Scarpe & Scarpe (shoes and shoes :-)

 Kat, Beth and I could get in a lot of trouble-lots of tights here!! Fun :-)

    (confession: the above picture is actually in Belgium but I didn't have a good pic of the tights here in Italy)
    Grocery shopping is pretty similar to back home.  Of course, there are different brands,etc. but it's organized and priced similarly.  When choosing meat, I avoid carne di cavallo (horse meat :-(   There are rows and rows of pasta and formaggio(cheese).There have been very few food items we haven't been able to find. We have found peanut butter but it is quite expensive. A small jar costs 5-6 euros ($7-8). Race got to buy Doritos and Pop-Tarts on the base while he was with some friends. 

 I always think of Sarah as we pass all the make up here

 I love the markets here

 Here is a man making Preseppi-nativity or city/country diorama type structures. Naples is well known for these. See Juliann's blog:http://julesitalianadventures.blogspot.it/

 Let's not overlook buying.. gelato! Quite enjoyable.

   Did you get a kick out of the above pictures of the signs we saw at a little jewelry shop?  We were so confused, we didn't know what to do..haha

"Let's see where this goes..."

     I think my interest in exploring new places has started to rub off on Juliann and Race a little bit.  We decided to go for a walk the other day; our destination: a motorcycle shop.  However, before we reached the shop, Juliann noticed an arched entrance that led to some stairs.  She stopped Race and I and said, "Let's see where these stairs go."  I was a little surprised because most of the time when I say that, I am met with lots of grumbling and "Why?"   So, I quickly agreed to go up the stairs.  Race didn't protest, so we were on our way.  The stairs kept going and going and going...

 The beginning was quite steep

 View of the stairway beyond the car.

 First level view: Mt Vesuvius. It is super cool we get to see that daily!

 There are stairs under the greenery

 Still going..

 We discovered a tennis court along our way. Guarded by a large German Shep Dog(beyond the gate)

     We reached the top of the stairs and ate our picnic lunch. Going down the stairs was almost as challenging as going up. Some of the steps were covered by plants and sludge (recent storms helped with that) so it was a bit tricky to maneuver down. Also, personally, my legs felt like jello, so...

    It hadn't started raining so we continued on to find the bike shop.  Not surprising, the shop was closed, so we looked through the window and then crossed the street to the water.  Again, not surprisingly, there was a wedding couple having their pictures taken next to the water. I say not surprisingly, because there are weddings here almost daily it seems. It is picturesque here when you keep your camera from pointing toward the ground..haha.

A few more observations while driving around Naples

    There are a few things I didn't mention in my last blog about driving around here. Here are a few things, I'm sure I will continue to add to this list ;) 

             *5 people in a Smart Car
             *kids using a DS,etc. while riding on scooters
             * a man driving a car while walking his dog (holding leash out the window) on our narrow, busy, full! street
             *open doors of parked cars while moving cars speed past. not surprising that side mirrors get knocked off, you'd think that people wouldn't want their doors to be yanked off too, right? no..
             *polizia stand at lots of street corners; guarding streets that are blocked or? who knows. they look bored a lot
             *parked cars in every possible position; sideways, backwards, perpindicular to the road, up on stairs, in the middle of the road...surprised? ergh..
            

       I'm kicking myself for not having a camera ready but on our way to church we saw a magnificent black horse (looked like a Friesian stallion) hitched to an elaborate baroque(looked like it was covered in gold, intricate details,etc) style carriage.  It was so grand.  I hope I get to see it again and this time I will be ready to catch a picture.
       On the subject of horses, I have seen horses a few times here so far.  In the city, there are frequent carriages that carry tourists around, near Il Faro church, there are horses on the beach occasionally, and on our way home from the Amalfi coast, I saw a man riding his horse up to a pub. He was just trotting down the middle of the road like it was totally normal.  He was riding in a western saddle too; not too many western riders in these parts..:)