Mood:
happyMy last two entries have been a little “punkie,” so I thought I’d write a little bit to talk about how thing are going. We didn’t go anywhere fun or take any pictures since Florence, so this entry is just me typing.
Italy is nice…Or at least I think it will be. The fact is that it has rained every day since we arrived a week ago. The only decent day we’ve had is the day we went to Florence. It’s supposed to stop raining tomorrow evening, and then stay pretty nice for the foreseeable future. That would be nice. While it isn’t terribly cold here (in the 40’s), we are all tired of being wet.
Jacoby is back in school, and has attended each of his classes, once. He is now about half-way through his Freshman year, but will not receive credit for this first half, since he just arrived. He appears to like his school, at least initially. All of his teachers are American, so he isn’t dealing with a cultural/language barrier there.
We have received our house for the next three years. We will get to move in with “loaner” furniture on Monday . It is a nice house, in a nice little town, next to a grape field and a castle on the adjacent hill. No kidding, it’s a great little place. That being said, it is an awful drive to and from work.
It’s not that it’s crowded, or traffic is unbearable, or anything like that. It’s that the roads here are terrible. They are not laid out well, and the signs/markings will take some getting used to. We’ve ended up on two “impromptu tours” in the last two days, because the maps in the GPS are out-of-date and the signage isn’t sufficient to make up the difference. Like I said before, I will eventually get used to these roads, but right now, they are source of constant frustration.
There is a GREAT gym on post, and it’s right next to my office. Fantastic. I’ve been working out every morning, trying to fend off all of the “transit food.” I’m looking forward to getting in the house and getting back into the diet program. I just feel better when I eat right.
The Jeep is expected to arrive tomorrow. I hope so. It’ll be nice to have it back, although I still have to deal with these roads…We will also get Kimberly’s Mini back soon, although I don’t think she’ll be too excited about driving it, for the same reason.
We are almost finished with our in-processing. We are done visiting all of the important places and handing out copies of my orders. This week has been spent in Head Start, which is supposed to teach us survival Italian and a bit about the local culture. While the quality of teaching is questionable, the material is VERY worth knowing, and the class is having a positive impact on us.
So, in short, we are here. We are still happy to be here, although that excitement is tempered by the annoyances previously mentioned. I’ll get back to work on Tuesday to being my transition with the outgoing SIGO. As always, life is good!
