Carnevale, Part I

It's that time of year - Carnevale! Last night, I went with a group of ladies to Venice to take in a dinner theater production of Carnival. It was a fantastic time! The show itself was a mixture of acting and film to show the history of Venice and Carnevale. It was not quite what I expected, but it was really interesting.

When we were riding the vaporetto (water bus) back to the train station, we were saying that we had to pinch ourselves. After all, it was Wednesday night, and we were in Venice to take in a show. What a great way to spend an evening!

Being that it was Carnevale, it was actually kind of dead in Venice. I really did not see many tourists, or anyone, out and about. There were not that many people pushing each other around on the Grand Canal or the Rialto Bridge. It was very strange.

I am hoping that there will be a Carnevale, Part II post after the weekend. Chris and I are hoping to go on Saturday. I will hopefully get some great pictures, too. I took some last night, but they didn't come out too great. Here's a nice blurry one for you!

...And, America Loses a Point

This weekend has been great! Yesterday, I hosted a baby shower for my friend Patty (hi, Patty!), who is expecting her first baby in a few weeks. The shower was a "Pickles and Ice Cream" theme, which sounds weird, but was actually quite cute. Everything, from the food (sandwiches and ice cream sundae bar) to the game (about cravings) was a lot of fun. Patty got some great gifts!

But, naturally, there was one downside. The shower favors I ordered (at the beginning of January, and EXPEDITED mind you) did not arrive on time. They were really cute ice cream scoops. Oh well. America loses a point.

And, One Point Goes to Italy!

Another score for an enterprising Italian businessman! We have been going back-and-forth between USAA and the USAA-approved body shop this week in regard to the BMW - that's right, we still have not gotten a single thing done to get the car fixed.

The battery died shortly after the accident, and the only English speaker at the body shop (who is conveniently rarely there) told us to make sure we heard from USAA that they would cover towing before we did anything. FINALLY, today, I talked to our USAA guy, who told me I would be hearing from the body shop. I heard from them, and they gave me the number to the towing guy they wanted me to use.

I called the towing guy, Claudio, who PICKED UP ON THE FIRST TRY (!), and arrived at my house ON TIME, within a couple hours of when we first talked! This is an astounding moment in Italian commerce. Grazie mille per Claudio! Bravo!!

Not much else going on this week.

Boring!

I am only checking in, because I received an e-mail from my sister, Laura, who complained that my blog is "really disappoint[ing]". This is, apparently, because I have not written in awhile, and she likes to be a snoop. I promise, I have only not written, because this has been a slow week. You would so not be interested in the hijinks involved with cleaning a house!

The only interesting thing that happened this week was the start of a new Bible study with PWOC. I'm studying a book called 3:16 by Max Lucado. It's an interesting one, and I encourage you to read it! This week's lesson covers John 3:1-12, which covers Nicodemus' conversation with Jesus. It offers up a good question to all of us, even those of us who are Christians. Are we too religious? Jesus says in this passage that religion and good works alone do not get us to Heaven. Only if we are born again do we get to the Father. So, it's a good question to keep in mind.

As Christians we often get caught up in the minutiae of which denomination is more correct, or which way to take Communion is correct, or which way to baptize is more correct. We're all missing the point. Faith in Jesus' grace is the only point to make, and we're missing that opportunity all the time. He says it in John 3. Read it!

I do have some interesting things coming up - Carnevale in Venice, a ski trip to Innsbruck, and a cruise to Turkey, Greece, and Egypt. So, keep checking in!

Pleasantly Surprised

As I stated earlier, I will sometimes use this blog to vent about my frustrations with living in Italy. However, I am also pleasantly surprised sometimes!

For instance, a few days ago, Chris needed to get a routine MRI done on his ear (nothing to be nervous about). We had to go to an Italian cancer hospital off of the mountain highway, which is very close to both the base and our house.

The staff at this hospital was fantastic! Also, there was an older woman in the waiting room with me who was waiting while her husband had an MRI too. She was this very fashionable, elegant, beautiful woman - and had to have been in her 70s. She went out of her way to strike up a conversation with me, knowing that I was an American. She spoke no English, except for a few phrases, like "Good morning" and "Good afternoon". But, I understood what she was saying, and in my limited Italian, actually had a great conversation with her!

All a pleasant surprise for a hospital adventure.

The latest pleasant surprise happened just yesterday. We bought an LCD flat-screen TV about a year ago. It started showing these annoying lines down the screen, so we finally took it back to the BX to ship out for service right before Christmas. The people there told us not to expect it back before at least February, so we were prepared to not get it back until then at the earliest. I mean, there were holidays going on, so we assumed that no Italian store would even look at it before mid-January.

But, lo and behold, we got it back last night! I must say, I am impressed, at this particular moment, with the work ethic of one Italian store owner.

The Phrase I Seem To Hear Most Often

Warning: Sometimes I will use this blog as a place to vent about Italy, in general, and Aviano, in particular. I know, I know, I am lucky to live in Italy.

"Well, it's because you are stationed in Italy. If you were stationed anywhere else..." If we were stationed anywhere else is usually what I am being told when I'm about to hear how Italian law is basically set up to destroy anyone living in said country.

The first time I heard this phrase was when I had thought to move rolling over my 401(k) account into an IRA down on my list of things to do before moving to Italy. I thought, for sure, this was something I could just do once I got here. Thus, lessening my stress level a tad before getting out of Oklahoma. Whoa, was I wrong. Italian law is set up so that foreigners cannot, apparently, open any kind of retirement account (or anything resembling one) while living in Italy. Interesting.

That was the first time I was told that, if I had been stationed somewhere else, like Germany, I would have been totally fine.

The most recent time I heard this phrase was today. Remember, we got into a car accident on Saturday. A car accident that was not at all our fault. I was talking to our USAA representative today about the accident, and the other party, who is also a USAA customer. I casually asked what kind of system we would have set up for the other party paying for the rental car that we are most definitely going to need for the body work that the car is going to need. [By the way, taking care of things like this in Italy is never a quick affair. You need to factor in the fact that most mechanics are going to take long holidays for just about EVERY holiday that pops up. AND, they don't work in the middle of the day for several hours on end. For a handy little siesta time called "riposo".]

Anyways, my lovely USAA claims representative pipes in with the fact that we won't be getting a reimbursement for any vehicle that we would be renting. "Why not?" I asked incredulously. "If you recall, the accident was not at all our fault, and it's a severe hassle that we are going to be without one of our cars during this whole thing."

"Oh," she said (and I should have seen this coming from a mile away). "It's against Italian law for insurance companies to reimburse anyone for a rental vehicle. Unless it's a vehicle you use for a business. Like, if you were a door-to-door salesman. If you lived somewhere else, like Germany for example, this wouldn't be an issue."

Sigh.

And, It Started Out So Promising...

We had a great day planned for Saturday. We had a two-year-old's birthday party to attend (the social event of the weekend, as it turns out), and then we were going to go to a Bella Befana Fest in our village. Bella Befana, for those that don't know, is the Italian Christmas witch who comes to visit children on the night before Epiphany (Jan. 6). Many villages around this area build enormous bonfires and burn a witch at the top for this celebration, and they served mulled wine, and everyone has a great time.

Well, it has been raining quite a bit over the past few days. On our way to the birthday party, we were literally about to turn to park our car, and a car just plowed right into Chris' BMW. The great thing is that, since we were at our friends' house, we had several people who saw the accident. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, but Chris' car needs some work (the trunk won't close and the lights are shattered). The other girl's car is totaled, though.

Luckily, the other car was being driven by an American. We have the same insurance, and this probably cut the time devoted to reporting the accident in half. It still took a long time.

We finally got back to the birthday party (we had to go all the way to the base to finish the report), and found out eventually that La Befana was cancelled in Giais due to all the rain. So, it turned out to be a bummer of a day, but we still had a great time at the party with our friends!

Poffabro

The Italians take Christmas very seriously, which means that this time of year is absolutely spectacular. We are so blessed to be here - it's hard to believe that we will only have one Christmas left here at Aviano.

Today, Chris left work a couple of hours early (a miracle), and we drove about a half-hour into the mountain to a heart-stoppingly beautiful village called Poffabro. This little village is built onto a hillside, which means that the buildings are perched incredibly on a slope, and the narrow streets wind up and down with breathtaking views of the Pre-Alps. It is clear that the buildings are centuries old, as the homes are built right on top of one another complete with space for the family barn. The buildings are also constructed with gorgeous stonework. Many of the houses in our village were built in the same manner.

We went to Poffabro to take in a semi-famous tradition in this area - the nativity scenes. Although, for us, Christmas and New Year's have come and gone, Advent is still ongoing. This quaint little village, each year, stuffs a nativity scene in every nook and cranny in town. There are some that are absolutely tiny all the way up to life-sized. They are made from just about everything - we even saw one made completely from pasta (normale) and one from wine jugs. There were the very simple to the incredibly ornate with lights, running water, and music.

It was just beautiful. If you are here in Italy, this event goes on until January 13. You should definitely check it out.

What would be really great would be if I had a picture to post, but my camera, naturally, was dead. I'm posting a picture of the village that I found online. We ended our walk with some hot chocolate/mulled wine from the town bar, and decided to leave when we saw that the fountain was icing over.

If Your Friends Jumped Off of a Bridge...

Traditionally, I decline to make New Year's resolutions. Typically, I despise the Internet media darlings MySpace and Facebook. But, I am stepping outside of my comfort zone in 2008.

Chris and I moved to northern Italy in October 2006, and I told some people then that I would start a blog. Since I have been hounded by some people (Laura Stallings chief among them) to actually start one, I thought that I would include this within my wider 2008 resolution to write more. I also thought that, by using a public forum to announce my intentions, I MIGHT actually take up my pen (or in this case computer) and do what I've been intending to do for over a year now.

In 2008, my goal is to simply write. It would be very simple, except for the fact that I always find excuses not to do it. I've started journaling to get my mind going in the morning, which was my first step. My second is this blog. Finally, and I am nervous even saying it, I would love to write a book.

I know that some of you remember how long it took me to finish my master's thesis, and you are laughing at me. But, this would actually be way more fun and interesting, and I have an idea brewing in my head. I've even written a little bit! But, I just want to see if I'm actually any good, and if I can somehow get an agent. Baby steps. I certainly have the time.

So, welcome to my blog, part of my new process for getting myself writing. I am not going to write mundane details about my daily routine - you just wouldn't be interested in spouse group meetings or trips to the post office. But, I will tell you about all of our trips that we take, as well as all the interesting things that are happening for us here in Italia.