October | 2017 | Cobbled

Buongiorno from Vicenza! Tomorrow we need a whole family picture with the daddy.

Who knows what the right words to say are? Not me! Either way, I’m in Italy! So…buongiorno!

Our road to Italy has been a rocky one with many-a-detour. As much as it seems we travel (I know how it appears on FB), we haven’t really ever “planned” a vacation more than a few weeks in advance, and we’ve never had elaborate plans to visit anywhere before (I know that probably doesn’t seem right, but it is)…EXCEPT for Italy.

All our other “vacations” usually just happen on chance and good timing (and credit cards) – I mean, finding a 7 day Disney cruise for half price 3 weeks before it sails and it just happens to be the week before Justin deploys? Fate (or something 😂). A Navy sponsored trip to London for a helo convention? Ended up being cancelled but we went anyway! Finding out 2 months before an EPIC move to Europe that the Navy will pay to get us here via a transatlantic cruise? Well, yes, I think I will!

But Italy? Nope, I was beginning to think it just wasn’t meant to be. First planned trip was February 2007. Justin had secured leave and miraculously I was also able to get the same week off and I found AND PURCHASED incredibly priced airline tickets. But as much as the Navy giveth (awesome cruise to Europe and fantastic European orders!), the Navy taketh away (I think they take a LOT more than they give). So, the Navy decided to rescind the leave for some required training and thus, trip cancellation #1 (and a partial loss of the airline money).

A year and a half later, we made attempt #2. Justin was freshly post-deployment with plenty of leave and I was able to work wonders and make some time off to match, so we decided to try the Space A military flights. At the time, I believe they left from Norfolk every day straight to Naples. We also had a friend with connections at the Navy’s lodge in Naples and had rooms reserved and all. Lots of Italy travel books and Frommers guides filled our bags, as did tank tops and shorts for the fine Italian weather. First day attempt – flight was full, but we were told there were 125 seats on tomorrow’s flight and we were a shoo-in. Day 2 attempt – arrive and what do you know? An entire darn company of army soldiers appears and takes every.single.seat on that flight. We were pretty crushed, but decided to move our search to Dover, Delaware and try our hand at all our options, which still included Italy. So we drove 8 hours (just kidding, I have no idea how long it takes from Norfolk to Dover). We sat for hours and watched the Italy flights come and go without us, but the LAST plane of the day had 2 seats left just for us! It just wasn’t going to Italy. So, we hopped on and landed in Spangdahlem, Germany in 40 degree weather with shorts and tank tops and a handful of Italy books 😂. We couldn’t figure out how to get to Italy from there by any cost efficient measures so we bought some sweatshirts and headed west-ish to Paris. So, while definitely NOT a failed trip, it was still a swing and a miss for Italy.

This trip is our third major attempt to vacation here BUT this time it was a success! It was a chaotic, less than desirable travel situation for me (I’ll spare the gory details of my uncontrollable anxieties over travel and crowds and humanity (probably could and should be controlled with medication, but I’ve managed 36 years, right???)) but the kids were good AND we made it! We are here in the boot!

The view from our apt’s side window

Nighttime view from the apt’s front window

And as thankful as I am for the chance to live over here in Europe, and as much as I LOVE chocolate, waffles, fries and beer, I LOVE PIZZA MORE – I could and would eat pizza every damn day if it were socially (and familially (??? Is that a word?) acceptable.

After the waiter caught us taking this pic, he came out with a pizza cutter. His English was broken (way better than my Italian = none) but he basically told me they cut it for the Americans 😂

Anyway, as much as I love our opportunity in Belgium, I just gotta say this country is so much more my speed. The pizza, the pasta, the wine, the nap time 😂, how much they love kids, how much less they seem to be judging, how much easier it is to communicate (they *seem* less angry to me 😂) , and the SUN ☀️. When we left the airbnb this morning, I instantly felt 1000 times more comfortable than I have ever felt in Belgium…and within 30 seconds of leaving the airbnb apt, the girls had a new souvenir! (Should I link to my souvenir blog? It’s about time for “The ghosts of souvenir’s past, Vol 2)

Handmade shawls – Meredith’s is cotton/wool (not super clear – gotta brush up on my fabrics and my Italian 😬), Natalie’s is alpaca hair!

Tomorrow promises to be some more hectic travel that *may* make me wonder how I married someone who doesn’t share the same travel style as me, but I agreed to try. So here’s to a train to Venice and maybe a gondola ride!

The Bakery below our apt

The beautiful wrapping job on our pastries. Benny loved smearing the Nutella pastries and cookies everywhere.

Natalie and her favorite food, spaghetti!

Handmade cranberry Italian soda – it was the bomb, but of course my kids didn’t like it, so I drank it AND my wine.

Best pizza of MY LIFE at Al Paridiso (I’d call it paradise)

Summer has come and gone, our travels have significantly slowed (almost to a stop), a new school year has started, and homework and after school activities and sports are taking over our lives. We’ve been to birthday parties and cookouts and festivals, gone to see a ton of new movies (yay for English movies on the base!), tried a lot more local stores (though I still Amazon – yep, it’s a verb – daily), and gotten more active in church than we ever have been in the past.

Fall in Belgium

Ah, the new normal…I’ve had many people tell me it would be around 6 months for me to get comfortable here…to find my “normal”. It’s now a little over 5 months (but we left our last house 6 months ago, so I’m calling it NOW), and I’d say it’s happened. It’s “comfortable”. We could easily forget where we are while driving around and hanging out in the house. It’s not until there is a sign in French or someone speaking on an overhead in French until you realize it’s really not “that” normal 😂. The malls seem to mostly play American/English music, so I can be walking around feeling totally at home until I have to interact wth someone.

As strange as it sounds, it’s not that different from my experience moving to Nevada, and maybe even other regular military moves. Realistically, it probably always takes 6 months to get “comfortable” in a new place.

After living in the south for roughly 20 years, Nevada was a HUGE shock for me. Granted I was pregnant and emotional, but there were soooooo many tears, and those tears lasted for MONTHS. At first, it felt impossible to make friends and everyone and everything seemed so cold. And then, as if the feeling of “coldness” wasn’t bad enough, it snowed IN OCTOBER and continued all winter and even snowed the following JUNE! But in the end, Nevada ended up being one of our favorite places, and it gave me my Wesley (my perma-souvenir) and some of the best friends that have and will do anything to help me. It was my first experience in actually learning about the “real” me and how much the real me needed other people for SO many reasons and how I need to accept help and rely on the village.

So if the other side of the country was hard, imagine the other side of the world! But we’re trying! Making friends and listening to the word-of-mouth suggestions (and million different FB pages for this base) have been our lifelines. This is one of those places where you really have to rely on others for the good info (travel, stores, sports, etc).

Just to keep anyone who is interested up-to-date – here is our fall schedule. It’s so much that I think I may have to break down and get a desk calendar to leave in the kitchen.

Natalie and Meredith are taking ballet 3 days a week – classical ballet on Wednesdays and modern ballet on Mondays and Thursdays. Meredith is MUCH more into modern ballet and her fun Portuguese teacher than she is classical ballet, which I’m sure will not surprise anyone who knows her 😂. And Natalie and Meredith signed up and did the first training to be altar servers at church! Yay, Jesus!

Classical ballet

Modern ballet

Wesley is “playing” soccer twice a week, meaning he plays for maybe 1/2 of the game and when he’s goalie or on the sideline he’s just way out in left field. He is also going to do the 1st grade Lego club.

And then there’s Bennett. We’ve been trying to go to story time at the library each week. He is not a socialized child, he’s a wild banshee. He likes to climb on the tables and move the chairs around instead of listening to the story, but we keep trying. In addition to story time, I finally got him signed up for the hourly day care on the base (can only use a few hours a week, with an appointment, if they have room, but better than nothing!). YAYAYAY! He’s been twice and the word on the street is that he really likes to wash his hands and he needs to work on eating with utensils. In February, he’ll start Belgian kindergarten (preschool) and will learn French!

Me? I’m still stuck in an existential “who am I?” crisis 😂. What am I going to do with myself? And when am I going to start? While I’m finally comfortable, I’m still just not sure what’s next.

Justin signed us up to teach Sunday school (something he’s always wanted to do – but me? I am no teacher 😳). I am hoping this is a good start to figuring out my next 2.5 years (hard to believe I’m 1/6 of the way through this! It’s going too fast!). I mean, if nothing else, we have seventh graders – oh so awkward (like me!) At least I can relate to them – I’m stuck in an awkward “who am I as a 36 year old?” just as much as they are a “who am I?” middle schooler. And they giggle inappropriately and don’t pay attention, just like me.

As a family we are still trying to do as much as possible with our “free” time and still trying to make the most of our weekends. Last month we did some more sightseeing (shopping) in Bruges and Ostend (beach) and we spent last Saturday at the local Oktoberfest! I know it’s not the one in Munich, but it’s put on by the German cohorts here and it was pretty fun (with the exception of some interesting children situations 😳 WESLEY!). For fall break we’re going to take advantage of €16 rountrip airline tickets and add a new country to our list! Arrivederci!