Additional Bathroom Conundrums*

You last read about the hole-in-the-ground toilets and Kwame's distaste with the thought of going #2 in there. (He forgets that girls get to squat no matter what!). Along with the hole-in-the-ground, you can find the traditional tank and bowl version here as well. While that may seem safe and normal, there are several types of flushers. The small button on top, the knob that requires turning on and off, two buttons (a small one for #1 and a bigger one for #2), a funny little knob above the toilet that requires weight training to push, etc. If you are like me and don't like to touch a flusher with your hand, this can cause a problem. It is difficult to get a foot at some of those angles (especially if you are pregnant)! Keeping all of that in mind, here are our two latest toilet stories.

1. When we were eating lunch in Udine, Kwame used the restroom. He came back telling us to be careful of the broken flusher. We asked him what he meant and he said that it was booby trapped. As he was trying to flush the toilet, the flusher fell off and went right into the toilet. He then had to fish it out - unflushed - and try to reattach it to the wall. Maybe this was a time he would have preferred the hole-in-the-wall! Moral of the story: flush lightly or hope that there are adequate hand washing facilities nearby!

2. As I mentioned before, there are many different mechanisms for flushing a toilet. However, the flusher is usually near the toilet. I was in a handicap bathroom on base. After using the toilet, I looked all over for the flusher. It was not on the toilet, not on the wall, and not in the remote vicinity of the toilet. There was a string coming out of a button on the wall. Now, I know what you are thinking: it is the emergency pull for the bathroom. I thought that too but had no idea how to flush the toilet so I thought I would give it a chance. Of course, as soon as I pulled the string a loud buzzer went off. I tried to pull it again to stop it but it didn't help. At that point, I turned around and found the flusher on the other side of the stall! What the heck what it doing over there? So I flushed the toilet, washed my hands, and tried to decide if I should run off or wait until someone came to check on the buzzer. At that moment, I noticed a buzzer reset button near the door and hit it. The noise stopped. I snuck out of the bathroom and went into the office across the hall. Kwame asked if there was a loud hand dryer in there. I told him what happened and we both laughed that no one even bothered to check if there was a problem. Moral of the story: don't need help in a public restroom.

*Kwame may kill me when he realizes I wrote about this. . .

Italian Outakes

When we got here we had to get an Italian "social security" card. We went to the Pordenone 'city hall' and believe it or not they certainly had a better process than we do in the States. We only waited an hour. Anyhow, we are waiting there, and Christy elbows me and says: Are those flesh colored pants? Well...no, they weren't...

Below in a previous pic, I was caught taking a drink of the famous 'Sropino' beverage that is simply sensational. Since, Christy was there, she really likes the toilet humor so I tried to get a pic of what she was talking about. Apparently, here in Italy, if you have to "take the Browns to the superbowl" you have to prepare with a little yoga before attempting. Yes, those are toilet bowls in the floor. I guess that is par here in Italy.

On our trip to Udine, Christy forgot to include my video documentation of the view to Slovenia. Well, for your viewing pleasure I present to you our 'capolavoro italiano'.

While in Venice, Christy tried to take me to this party...well, I think it was a party. There were masks, and hats, and glitter. I think I passed out with my "Eyes Wide Shut". Dude, it was weird.


Ok, enough of Christy getting me in trouble, Kwame signing off.

Udine, Maniago, & Barcis

We spent another Saturday afternoon exploring places that are close to us. First stop was Udine, a town about 31 miles east of Pordenone. It was beautiful and had a nice plaza with lots of fancy shops. We also got there in time to go to the market as well. I was most excited about finding clip-on earrings there. My grandma wears clip-ons (which can be impossible to find) so I was excited to find a good selection for Christmas shopping purposes. Okay, maybe that wasn't the most exciting thing at the market but it was a perk. Udine has an awesome city hall, the Loggia del Lionello, and a huge castle as well.

Next, we went to Maniago, a town about 12 miles northeast of the base in Aviano. It was up in the mountains and had a huge center square. People were setting up for a weekend festival so we got to look at booths selling everything from vats of marinated olives to those t-shirts you can find in the northwest of the wolf howling at the moon (yes, I was shocked to see those there as well).

Finally, we traveled further up the mountain to Barcis. The trip included a 3500 meter tunnel through a mountain! Barcis is somewhat of a remote resort town highlighted by a huge lake. I can't wait to spend an afternoon up there. It looks so relaxing! I would love to spend the weekend up there at one of the cute hotels but that probably won't happen since we only live about 25 minutes from the lake.

We thoroughly enjoyed the day. One of the best parts is that we finally have a car so we were able to go around at our own pace! Stay tuned for next weekend's adventures.



Loggia di San Giovanni (16th century) - You can seen part of the castle to the left of the tower



On our way up to the castle (a very long and windy walk!)



View of Udine from the castle grounds. A storm is coming in over the mountains.



Lake Barcis - this picture does not do it justice. Come visit and you can see it for yourself!

Our House!

We found a house in Pordenone. It is cute and I think it will do for the next three years. The architecture is very 60s/70s and doesn't look much like the cute houses you will find in the small villages here. However, we have great access to the train station, market, and downtown area so I can look past the dark green and brass accents! We have a tiny garage for our not-so-tiny car and a huge wine cellar too. Once Olly arrives, she will get to enjoy the fenced in yard. Our land lady has added her own decorations as well including a huge poster from New York and several small statues of the Virgin Mary. She didn't say anything about the posters but asked that we do not remove the Madonnas! I guess we will just decorate around those as well. While the good news is that we found a house, we still can't move in until August 1. If anyone has some free time around then and wants to help unpack, come on over!



Our lovely house



Kwame and the landlady, Carla. Property manager, Giancarlo, is in the background. Thankfully (for now), they both speak English.

First Trip to Venice

We ventured off of the base last Saturday and took the train to Venice with our new friends, Kevin and Hannah. The train ride takes about 1 - 1 1/2 hours depending on which train you get on. We didn't realize that on the way there and ended up on the long ride. However, it gave us the opportunity to see all of the little towns on the way. The other mistake we made was going on the hottest day since we arrived in Italy. We found out later that it was 101 degrees that day! And I was wondering why I was sweating like a pig the whole day (not to mention that most regional trains don't have AC). Other than that, we had a great time. Venice is so beautiful. Around every corner is something photo worthy. We took several pictures. I will post a couple since the internet is so slow. Can anyone tell me how to create a picture slideshow on here? That may be easier than adding pictures one at a time. Anyway, the only organized thing that we did was go through Doge's Palace. Even though I didn't want to spend the money to go in (because I am incredibly cheap), it was huge, totally over the top, and worth it. Excessive sweating aside, we had a great day. It is amazing to think that we can spend the day in Venice for less than 10 euro roundtrip.

Outside San Marco's Basilica and Doge's Palace

The courtyard inside the palace. Since we did have to pay to get in here, it was MUCH less crowded than San Marco Square.

The Grand Canal

Just a random pretty street:)

Benvenuti Tour

The Air Force sponsored a tour of the region near the base, Fruili Venezia Guilia, on Friday. It was fun, very interesting, and free to do again if anyone wants to do it on a visit. As you can imagine, it included a trip to two different wineries and a typical Italian (large and two hours long) lunch. By the way, I think we have eaten pizza or pasta everyday since our arrival. They may have to roll me out of here in three years. Thank goodness for all of the running trails through the mountains. Here are some pictures* from the trip:



Wine from the first ancient winery we went to in Porcia. Six bottles for 24 Euro or $31. We found out that most of the bottle are at least this cheap!



Our first attempt at ordering coffee in Italy. Kwame ordered a cafe freddo. It was semi-cold, very strong, and sort of sweet. Kind of like a caramel macchiato in a shot.



City Hall in Pordenone, the capital of the region. We will actually be living in Pordenone so it was fun to get a tiny tour by locals. Our house is about a 10 minute walk from the City Hall. I actually think driving will take longer since parking is a disaster. The street that leads up to City Hall is full of fun shops. Plus, most of Italy is on sale in July so you can get some good deals.



Grape vines at the second winery of the day. You can find grapes and corn growing everywhere around here.



Kwame got a little excited about wine tasting here!

*If you are interested in more, let me know. The internet is extremely slow here and uploading pictures can be painful.

Cultural Fun!

The spritz apertol that Kwame had a dinner the other night. It is a local or regional drink and was very tasty!



Who needs to use the restroom? Men's and women's looked the same.



House wine out of a small jug. Kind of looked like a syrup container from Craker Barrel

Pics from the plane

Our first view of the mountains just before we landed. (And our only real view since the mountains have been cloudy since we arrived 4 days ago).

Benvenuti sul nostro Blog!

We moved to northeast Italy on July 12. This is going to be our attempt to keep everyone up to date on our new life abroad. As most of you know, I am terrible at correspondence so this is going to be my attempt to improve at that! Stay tuned for more news and pictures!