Translation: Our little Italian life
Finally, life has become more normal the past two weeks or so. Jamie goes to work on a regular basis, Riann has gymnastics and swimming lessons on base on a regular basis which means Lincoln and I have a regular routine again now too. A few of you have asked some questions that I just haven't gotten around to answering, so my apologies... I will try to answer some things here.
Technically, we live in Gricignano di Aversa, about 20km north of Napoli. Someone told me the base used to be all farm land, so it is very flat here but we are surrounded by mountains and the volcano Mt. Vesuvius, or Vesuvio as they call it here. I double checked the spelling just now and was a little freaked out learning this: "Vesuvius has erupted many times and is today regarded as one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world because of the population of 3,000,000 people living nearby and its tendency towards explosive (Plinian) eruptions. It is the most densely populated volcanic region in the world." Thanks, Wikipedia. And I thought I was pretty safe living on base.
I have met a friend who refers to living on base as living in "Pleasantville", where every day is perfectly the same, nothing goes wrong, and everyone is walking around happy and content. Well, yes, that is pretty much how it is here, Pleasantville. Living on base provides security and easy access to everyday things. Once Riann starts kindergarten, school will be a short walk from home. We have a grocery store (Commissary), the Exchange which is pretty much everything the grocery store doesn't carry), a hospital, a mini mart, a movie theater, bowling alley, an Irish Pub, auto shop, soon there will be a restaurant opening on base, and a lot of other things... you would never have to leave base IF you didn't want to. You hear a lot of rumors about living out on the economy, mostly negative things. But depending on who you talk to, there are also a lot of really cool, safe places that are off base where you can live too. Jamie and I thought it was best to get started on base, get acclimated, and do absolutely everything we possibly can off base to enjoy the best of both worlds.
It has been hot here since the day we landed, and the sun is brutally hot. Every morning I get Riann & Linc ready to walk out the door, I slather their little bodies with a good coating of sunscreen, they look a lot like little cupcakes frosted in vanilla buttercream. Even with the SPF 55+, they are bronzed little babes. People that have been here for 2+ years have said to me "It only gets hotter". Ugh. Thank goodness for the AC we DON'T pay for, and for the still cool-water pool we have access to every day.
We visited the school Riann and Lincoln will be attending off base in starting in September. I have only heard exceptional things about this school. Riann will go 5 days a week and Lincoln will go two days a week. What ever will I do with all that free time I have on my hands??
We have hardly had a day with nothing to do since we landed here in Napoli. I feel like every day we have something to do, somewhere to go... And when Jamie and I do get the kids down for the night, we are often reading up on, researching, and planning where to go next weekend. I feel like we have to remind ourselves we are here for 3 years, that we do have many more weekends to travel. But c'mon, we're living in Italy! There is so much to see, so much to do... even the people I've met that have been here for 1 or 2 years say there are still so many more places they have yet to see. Why would we want to stay home, do nothing, be lazy when we have all of Italy, let alone Europe, to explore??
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