Today, we slept until 11:00 AM AGAIN! ugh! I just want some normalcy. We have got to get into a good routine, and soon! Once we got up, we decided to go for a drive out through the countryside to see if we could "learn" our way around some. We also looked at another house. I posted pictures on facebook, but I think I can add an image to this blog too. Anyhow, the house was pretty, but we couldn't get in. The housing office here has the keys and they are closed today. However, the Italian schools have school on Saturdays...weird. Abbi and Hunter are really glad they don't! ha! The Italians observe Wednesday as their "Sunday". Everything is closed on Wednesdays, off-base that is. We also learned that they close their restaurants daily after lunch and re-open around 6:00 pm. We went to "Crazy Pizza Team" for dinner. They were closed, so we went to the mall to walk around until time to eat. That was so awkward for me. It just seemed like everyone was looking and staring at us. We are VERY American compared to the crowd. We are going to have to find a way to blend more. Mine and Abbi's accents give us away every time! haha! (I had someone tell me that last night!) So, while we are at the mall, Abbi has to go to the bathroom. We go in, there is a woman with her child. Abbi goes into a stall and I wait for her outside the stall. While I am standing there, a MAN walks in and enters the stall next to Abbi, and then another man enters another stall. As you can guess, my mouth drops to the floor, and then I notice the "multi-sex" sign (the man and the woman stick figures) on the door! Eeeeeeeek!!!!! I was totally freaked out. Rob, who saw the men enter the bathroom, comes rushing in like the hero on the white horse! hahahaha! And then starts laughing when he sees the door. We were so freaked out! We left the mall shortly after, as that was ENOUGH for me for one day. That is a whole lot to take in. We were walking out to the car, and a gypsy approached us with a baby wrapped in a sling. She started speaking Italian and holding her hand out, pointing to the baby, and almost crying like she was begging for money. We were instantly on our toes. We have heard that they use women and babies to distract you while they pick your pockets or snatch your kids. We grabbed the kids, put them in the car, explained to the lady we were "Americano" and had no money to give her. She kept pointing at Rob and his pockets like she really wanted some money. I had one Euro coin in my pocket. It was worth 10 Euro cents. She took it, said something else, and left like she was appreciative. Don't know if she was sincere or not, but with it being our 6th day in this country, and me being as careful as I am with the kids, I didn't care. I was already too freaked out and wanted to BOLT!
We made it to the Pizzeria, and I went in to order. Seems I have a little bit better way of communicating with the Italians than the rest of us yet. I just use hand motions and pick out a few words I have learned, plus my IPAD is awesome! :) We ordered 3 pizzas, cost us 14.50 Euro. They were alright as far as taste, but very thin. I guess it filled us up tho. The man was desperately trying to communicate with me and just had to say "sorry". I did show him my Ipad which read "I will learn to speak Italian". Of course it was in Italian so he could read it. He patted me on the back, smiled, and was saying something that seemed like he was encouraging me. They are very appreciative when you tell them or act like you want to learn their ways and culture. Very nice man. It made me feel much better after the whole gypsy experience. I counted the "ordering, paying for, consuming" Italian food experience as a major milestone for us. We are here in our cozy little "safe spot" for now. Rob and Hunter are shooting enemies on COD, and Abbi is playing Words with Friends and chatting with Sarah. Fisher is running around naked because he has a rash on his hiney! :) I am getting ready to take a shower and go to bed.
We are going to Awanas and Sunday School with the kids in the morning at 9:00 and then to the Post Chapel Service at 11:00. We will probably watch the Superbowl. They shut the base down Monday morning until noon or so to give the soldiers the opportunity to watch the game and then get some rest. You have to remember that when the SuperBowl starts, we are 7 hours ahead of that time. So if it starts at 7PM, it will be 2 AM here. Kinda cool they do that. They know it is a big deal to the soldiers.
I can't wait to see what God has in store for us tomorrow!
No comments:
Post a Comment