Ciao!
I know it’s been a while since I wrote one of these, but I’ve been BUSY! I have been informed by several people that I MUST continue writing these letters, since they will be a great “journal”, so I will… it’s a good way to get the same news to everyone, but I don’t want to only send form letters, either! Today may be a whole day of email/letter writing.
It’s Tuesday and our stuff was delivered one week ago. The whole moving-in experience was much more pleasant than I expected. NOT ONE of our movers spoke English!!! But they were very friendly, very cheerful, and it turned out to be the best Italian lesson I could have had. They helped us with our Italian, and we helped one of them with his English numbers (the only slight English any of them had). One of the movers was teasing us about all of the beds we have when it’s only the two of us living here (it’s really only three, but it seemed like a lot when they had to bring in all the mattresses, boxsprings, and frames). We were trying to tell him that we have a huge family in America who would come to visit us – aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. – and he understood! He corrected our form of the verb for “visit”, so we learned how to say that correctly.
I was so proud of myself! I did better than I thought I would with my Italian – “here”, “there”, “outside”, “bathroom”, “kitchen”, “right”, “left”, “up”, “down”, “first floor”, “second floor”, etc. AND all my numbers! Our boxes were numbered (1-243) and we had to check off each number on our inventory as it came in – so the movers were calling out numbers in Italian, and I understood all of them!!! Granted, they were enunciating pretty clearly for our benefit, but still!!! I have patted myself on the back a lot for that day.
I am amazed, honestly, at how much we have gotten done in one week. There are very few boxes left in the house and most of them are full of my craft supplies, which are lowest-priority for unpacking. Not to imply that the house is neat, clean or organized – far from it! We have just taken everything out of boxes!
I’m exaggerating a little – the kitchen is almost completely finished, and so is our bedroom. The living room is unpacked but completely unorganized – everything just got piled places as it came out of the box, so I have to organize the shelves (books, knick-knacks, etc.) and the furniture. The office/guestroom is nearly finished office-wise, but not guestroom-wise. And of course there is all the cleaning to do and then the decorating (hanging pictures, etc.) As you all know, moving is not a short process! We were going to go to the mountains this weekend, but we decided to stay here and work instead, which was great because it was both of us together, which is much faster and more fun than me alone.
I don’t have any good stories to tell about Italy, because I have been doing nothing but trying to get our home together. I can tell you, though, that I absolutely love this house! It is so beautiful that I can’t believe we really live here. I am already getting in shape with all the traveling up and down stairs, though! Three stories will do it to you fast, especially when there’s no bathroom on the first floor!
It’s been interesting trying to find ways to organize things since there are no closets or storage spaces. The kitchen was especially interesting, because I have very little drawer space. Think of all those random cooking utensils, and baking utensils, and saran-wrap etc., not to mention silverware. We have bought a lot of hooks and I’m hanging lots of stuff. And my baker’s rack is a lifesaver!! I can’t tell you how glad I am that we got that. We are really lucky, too, because we have a pantry – most houses don’t.
The last week has gone by so fast. I feel like I can’t even remember anything – but really I guess it’s that unpacking isn’t exciting enough to tell much about.
We bought our tickets to come home for Christmas. I’m arriving on December 17 at 3:25pm, and Mike is arriving on December 21 (the day of our family party) at 2:40pm. He will leave on the 28th, and I will leave on January 7. We got a better deal on tickets than we expected, and we don’t have to go through New York, which would be awful at Christmastime. He comes through London and I come through Paris. We are really excited about coming home. He wishes he could stay for longer, but he can’t leave prior to the 21st because of something at work, and he can’t afford to take much more leave with all the traveling we want to do in the next year.
It’s raining outside now, the first time it’s rained since I got here that wasn’t a thunderstorm. It’s kind of nice. The weather finally broke on Saturday, and it hasn’t gotten hot again since. Thank goodness! The heat gets wearing after a while with no air conditioning. It has actually been cool in our bedroom at night since Saturday – which I absolutely love! Of course, I am still not sleeping right, but at least I’m comfortable while I’m awake! J
I made caprese for Mike and me this weekend. It’s just slices of fresh mozzarella with slices of tomato on top, with basil and olive oil on it. It’s one of his favorites over here, so I wanted to learn how to make it, with my FRESH BASIL that I am growing in my kitchen windowsill!!! (Aren’t you proud of me?) It turned out really well. I also want to learn to make Pesto sauce, which takes lots of basil, but I can’t find pine nuts at the commissary. I guess I will have to venture out into a real Italian grocery store, huh? I need to do that anyway, because I’m tired of buying milk and bread that go bad three days after I buy them. I guess the dates get close while stuff is being shipped overseas for our commissary?
Now I just have to learn what to do with my oregano and peppermint. I’m excited right now to re-pot them all in my flowerpots that Christine painted for me. They have been in grocery store plastic pots till now, waiting for me to unpack my flowerpots.
I am rambling so I will go for now. I want to write individual notes to put this one with. I love you all and miss you lots!!!
Love,
Shelly