Another Two
Remarkably, we're just over 1 and 1/2 years into our stint here in Italy.
Like a swift bird, the time here has flown. In many ways, I still feel like a newbie on my maiden voyage flying solo after just leaving the nest. The view of life here is still fresh, and I seem to uncover new angles and perspectives on life abroad. Napoli also offers up a bit of turbulence, here and there and almost always unexpectedly. However, I am not sure any amount of "flight hours" would prepare you totally.
In other ways, I'm very much the mother-hen now. I have my beak in just about everything around me, and I have grown a fondness for newcomers to Italy, many of which contact me through this blog or the "Living Abroad in Italy" group I started on Facebook about a year ago. (If you haven't checked it out yet, please do.) I loved attending the International Bazaar at NATO last Friday. I spent as much time saying hello to friends as I did shopping, and it felt good to have a strong community that I enjoy and feel an integral part of in Napoli.
Like all Navy voyages, they must come to an end, nonetheless.
Our initial date for departure was March 2010, and now I am almost certain (never 100% when your husband works for the military) that we'll be here through summer/fall 2011. WOW! Almost 2 more years, and 1 and 1/2 more than originally planned.
As I briefly mentioned several weeks back, my husband switched positions from the Navy side of things (Capodichino) to the NATO side, at the "Allied Joint Force Naples," an altogether different job in the military at a different base, but still located here in Naples. As such, we've taken on a new "set of orders" as we call it.
Are you awaiting my reaction?
Am I happy, ready for more time like many of my fellow military abroad? Or upset, ready to leave practically on arrival, like some you find here?
Actually, I'm quite content and pleased. I'm not ready to leave. I don't anticipate being ready by next spring or summer. In fact, I was starting to panic a bit thinking about our departure, worried about running out of time to complete our "To See" list. There really is still so much more to explore.
Also, our life has a groove and rhythm now. Of course, we've had family in town for almost 5 weeks, and I'm quite ready to have the "Family 4" back doing what families do day-to-day, just in Italy.
Peanut is thriving in kindergarten at the Dept. of Defense school. She is successfully keeping up her Italian with a wonderful twice-weekly tutor that she greets with hugs and kisses. Buddy is still smiling and happy every day I pick him up at the Italian pre-school. We enjoy his dinner prayers recited fully in Italian. E has a very challenging but exciting job that is absolutely the pinnacle for him at this point in his career, a job that will transform him and hopefully his career in the Navy. Whew!
Now, ask me in a month or so when the relentless rains cause flooding and it's bone-cold and the air is thickly damp. Or when the winter blues of sick kids are wearing thin. Or when my daughter and son's Naples-based asthma kicks into full gear, and it breaks my heart. Or when I get another email from our renters with something wrong in our Virginia-based home, and I think "Why in the heck am I managing a rental by myself half way around the world?!?!" Aegh!!!
But that's life, right? No matter what country, what city, life is not free of challenges. They just come in different forms here in Napoli, and in a different time-zone than "back home." And, frustrations can't be soothed by a few hours shopping at Target or sipping the latest flavored latte at Starbucks. (Amy, I'm thinking about you on these!)
In contrast, I'm even more ready now, making a list of places to still see, local vineyards to visit, cooking classes to attend. Oh, and a list for my landlord! If I'm gonna be here almost 2 more years, I need a few things (i.e. my ripped window screens replaced; mosquitoes are like rabid racoons here, unquenchable).
So, for you readers, it looks like you get a few more years of vicariously "Living in the Boot" if you wish. I hope to keep up the good work for yah, which, by the way, hasn't been up to my standards lately due to lack of time. Posting more frequently is my goal!
Anway, looking forward to a few more years with you!
Last weekend in Sorrento
Monday, October 19, 2009 at 12:08PM
View Printer Friendly Version
Email Article to Friend
Reader Comments (3)
Im so glad you are embracing more time in Naples. Well, really, Europe...am I right? Do we really love Naples if we werent easily able to explore other areas of Italy or Europe?? Maybe, but not nearly as much. I treasure my time there, and already look back on it very fondly but am still very much enjoying running my washer/dryer together as welll as my Dyson vacuum and my dishwasher!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! America really is the land of the 'easy button' compared to the rest of the world and I am so thankful for my experience in a rougher part of Italy to be able to appreciate this fact.
I Miss you.
The Hulett family misses you all very much!! Great picture of you guys ;)
Ah! Thanks for your words! I want so much to hear your thoughts on post-Italy now especially after being home for a few months now. I am curious about your feelings about it all, and your perspective on the US after coming back. We must catch up soon! Just emailed you....