Naples, Capri, Pompeii Weekend

Friday, July 30- headed out on the night train to Naples...10 pm-930 am on the train. I was able to sleep a bit and talked to some Italian guy as much as I could using the few Italian phrases I know and trying some Spanish. He didn't really know any English but we could figure out the basics without getting too frustrated--name, age, where from, where traveling to, job, etc. I was surprised I could even understand that much in Italian!

Saturday, July 31- got to Naples and took a taxi to our hotel, then headed to find the ferries to get to island of Capri for the afternoon. We got to ride on the top of the ferry for the hour ride to the island. It ended up being a great day to visit because it was sunny and only about 80 degrees.

When we got there, we just decided to look around a bit at the little shops, took a cable car/bus thing up the steep mountainy part of the island, looked around and then found a beach area

that was free for the public. At one of the little stands there, we were looking at the little souvenirs and jewelry the old, Italian man had, he asked us where we were from...which state and I said Iowa (thinking he wouldn't

know anything about it). He paused and thought for awhile and described some movie he had seen about a guy visiting a family and 'a vehicle for the land'. I got to thinking and asked him more questions and sure enough he had seen 'The Straight Story'!! That was a random small movie filmed across Iowa and some at my aunt's house. So crazy that he had seen it! Anyways, we stopped and got some food before heading back to Naples on the ferry (this time we had to sit below so couldn't see much). We just walked back through Naples a bit on our way back to the hotel for the night.

Sunday, August 1st--We headed out early to get to Pompeii and have time to look around. Pompeii was a neat place to look around...it was an ancient city that was buried when the

nearby volcano, Mt. Vesuvius erupted suddenly. Most of the city walls, streets, and buildings are somewhat intact after all these years because for many, it was covered in ashes I think. They even have casts of the bodies when they found them they were still in the positions they were when suffocated by ash from the volcano! The city was really ahead of it's time because you could see that each house/ building had specific purposes like a bakery, food things, pottery, etc. Their streets were well organized and had built in stepping stones placed so people could cross and wagon wheels could still get through when they flooded/washed the streets each day! It was neat to look around the Pompeii and learn a little while there. Afterwards, we headed out on the train in the afternoon to get back to Vicenza by night.

Italian Cooking Class

A few weeks ago, a bunch of us attended a cooking class on base. We paid to attend and got to help prepare the meal and eat together at the end! It was a lot of fun...

Here we are mixing flour and eggs to make the pasta

Then we made little balls, put them through the press things several times and then through the cut-y part of the press to make strips...this is the end result drying while we worked on dessert and other courses.

Here is most of the finished meal menu:

Homemade Tagliatelle Pasta with Ragu

Prunes Stuffed with Goat Cheese

Chicken Scaloppini

Stuffed Zucchini

Tiramisu (dessert with layers of cream and cookies soaked in coffee)

This is the proud group of Camp Adventure girls with our meal! yum!

Switzerland & Canyoning!

5 of us decided to head to Switzerland for the weekend to see Interlaken and go canyoning. We headed out on Friday night taking the slow overnight trains (which are cheaper and we will get there earlier) for our 16 hour journey! We had switch and take 5 different trains…we had over an hour in Milan til the next train so went to get milkshakes at midnight while waiting…then we had a 5 hour gap from 1-6am in a little train station along the border of Italy and Switzerland. I actually slept really well on the floor, clinging to my backpack! We got up at 6 to catch the next trains and were to Interlaken before noon on Saturday!

Once there, we set off to find and checkin to the hostel we booked (called the ‘Funny Farm’ hostel). It didn’t take us too long and the place looked really nice but we couldn’t go to our rooms for a few hours so we stored our stuff in room there and went to look around the downtown area and find the chocolate factory place we heard of to take a tour. The town of Interlaken is very touristy and mainly about the outdoor adventure sport things they offer (hiking, skydiving, white-water rafting, canyoning, etc.) so there are lots of hotels, restaurants, and souvenir-type shops. We looked at some of the shops and found the chocolate place but tours only ran at 5 or 6pm. The other 3 we traveled with went back for the tour while Rachel and I went canyoning. It was such a crazy change in temperature for us when we were there! Cloudy and only in the 60’s compared to temps over 100 and humid in Italy! I really enjoyed the break from heat and seeing all the mountains around in Switzerland. So as we looked around, I bought some Swiss chocolate to bring home and then headed back to find our room and change to go canyoning. We were informed that our rooms were not in the main hotel/hostel building we saw….we had to walk outside, around back through a business/storage place with wetsuits, boats, etc and then got to our place…the ‘barn style hostel rooms’. It was funny! Our room was teeny with 4 bunk beds, the showers were downstairs.

So at 4 Rachel and I went to meet our group for canyoning! I had registered us earlier online so we were ready to go. We met our guides who were both Australian—they rushed us to change and then get into our wetsuit things, boots, life jackets, harnesses, and a helmet (each had a random name on it that they called us…mine was ‘Pee Wee’). They took us on a 5 minute drive to the place, then a 10 minute hike up to the beginning of the canyon place. We then started to crawl through the

raging water on rocks, up a little to big rock cliff things, sometimes they helped us repel down, other times they made us jump straight off the rocks into the water below! (It was super scary and they always gave us all these specific instructions like jump to land on your side in superman pose so you don’t hit the rocky edge, etc.). Other times we got to lay down and slide down the slope-y waterfall rocks! That was fun until I went underwater for a but and swallowed a bunch. Overall I’m glad I did it but it was pretty scary since I just learned how to swim a few months ago. Afterwards we went back and got hot showers (the water was really cold since it came down from the mountains and it was cloudy and 60degrees!), a free drink, and got to see the pictures of the trip. They were super expensive so I didn’t get any. Later all 5 of us went out to eat and got burgers and fries, then went to sleep in our barn hostel.

We got up on Sunday to go hiking by the mountains nearby. We took a train to Lautterbrunnen, a few minutes away where we hear there was a trail we could walk to the mountains and behind a waterfall! It was so pretty there and nice out, even a little sunny. We walked and took tons of pictures…then we found Trumelbachfalles where we paid a couple franc (Swiss money, 1franc=about 1$) to go on a lift up into the mountain (instead of walking over 600 stairs), there we could walk through paths and stairs to see the waterfall that ran through the middle of the mountain. Afterwards, we walked back and caught the train back to Interlaken, got some food at a grocery store, andcaught the train heading back at 3. We had a few issues getting back because we had to switch trains a lot again…one train was

weird because they told us we had to get off at the next stop and walk down below down the tunnel and the street a bit to get to a bus thattakes us to the next station…we were confused but everyone did it so we did too. Once the stupid bus got to the station in the next town, we had missed our next train to Milan! So we had to call our Camp Adventure director and have her help us make a new plan, finding a different train to get home since we missed the last one back to Vicenza! She ended up picking us up in Verona (only about 30min away) with her car at 11. It all worked out but a long trip getting back late and working at 6 the next morning!

Vicenza!

Last weekend we were planning to stay close-by to save some money with our train passes running out of days soon. A couple of us were planning to go back to Venice to wander around and look for the day on Saturday...we decided to scratch that idea when we heard the the humidity and heat would be continuing and Saturday would be record high heat here! and rain possible later on...not the best for wandering outside. So on Saturday we planned to just hang out on base, go to the pool, and look around downtown Vicenza.

Oh wait... on Friday night a few of us went to the 'Soldiers Theater' on base to see one of the ladies some of the girls work with at the daycare (she was supposed to play the bongos in her band but didn't end up coming). It was still fun anyway--I guess once a month they have 'music cafe night'. There was one girl who was scheduled to do a mini concert playing the piano and singing and then the stage, equipment, guitars, drums, etc. were open for whoever wanted to play that night. There weren't very many people there...maybe 25-30 and we sat at little cafe tables and they gave us free snacks as we watched! Most of the audience was filled with people who would eventually sing or play or something...we didn't know what was going on and they kept asking us if we had anything (jokes or songs)--we didn't. There was one guy who played the guitar, a couple who sang and played, and then a crazy family who kind of took over the show. The three siblings were home from college in California in Italy with their parents for the summer--they played and sang..sat down, but then kept popping back to play with other people, on the piano, and suddenly one had a trombone. It was actually cool to watch and everyone was really good.

Saturday: We went out to the pool for awhile because it was SO hot! A few of the families who we knew from watching their kids every day were there so we played with them in the pool and Megan and I played with one boy in the playplace at Burgerking later. At night we went to check out downtown a bit and saw some interesting things! In the picture below I am trying to pose like the statue of Palladio--some super famous architect in all of Europe who was from Vicenza and designed most of the city here!

Later, walking downtown we saw this lady walking her dog--and the dog was wearing little red shoes to match the collar and leash! It seems like everyone here has cute dogs that they walk around

the streets, parks, and go shopping with.

The tower and building below are from the main square part of downtown Vicenza.

The strangest thing we saw was in the main square when a group of guys came marching down a street with a torch thing, a guy in a caveman outfit and bamboo cage! They were yelling stuff and tried to talk to us in Italian--I couldn't understand much and they were crazy so we walked away and then watched from farther down. The guy's friends put him in the cage thing with a ball and chain and then ran farther off--some people stopped, took pictures, wrote things on paper, and on his arm, then he started running around the cage--his friends laughed! We had no idea what it was--maybe publicity for a play or a bachelor party or something--finally one of the guy's friends came to explain to us in a little English that he knew--he would be married in a week...he was supposed to stand in the cage, we could write things, and draw on his arms if we wanted. I guess it is their form of a bachelor party thing always a week or so before a wedding, I was right! The two of us decided to walk back to base instead of using a bus pass and we got to see more too...on our hour walk back we stopped at a grocery store place and got cheap pasta to bring home and some ice cream to eat.

On Sunday, Megan and I decided to hike up the Monte Berico hill thing to look over the city and

mountains because it looked really clear out since it rained and cooled off overnight. By the time we got all the way up there though, it was a bit cloudy but still a good walk and view! We got back to base, ate, and later went to the bowling alley to take advantage of their Sunday deal--bowling for $1 ! Three of us went and had fun bowling a few games and got some pizza there.

Vicenza & Slovenia Beach Day—July 10-11

On Saturday morning we planned to look around Vicenza and go shopping a little but we just saw the bus we needed pulling away as we walked off post. Oh well, we would wait for the next one!...we waited in the heat (well over 90degrees I think and in the sun) for 45 minutes and then when the right bus still wasn’t in site, we decided to walk back to post since we would only have a little bit of time to shop anyways since we wanted to be back for a movie later. So that was a bit pointless! Hahaha We got some ice cream at Burger King on base and then got our tickets for the Eclipse movie, went to the pool fo

r a bit, then back to actually watch the movie. After that we hung out and figured out how to get to the restaurant and outlook area on the big hill overlooking Vicenza.

We headed out on the bus and then had to walk for about a half hour up this hill (Monte Berico) to get to the outlook and restaurant area. It was really pretty to see the town from way up above and I got pizza at the restaurant (Sette Santi)!

Sunday-We headed out at 6am from base to go to the beach in Slovenia. The trip was through the Outdoor Rec company on base so we took a pretty full charter bus. I was surprised it was only about a 3-hour drive to get to Slovenia! The town we went to is called Portorose which is along the coast, a ‘resort area’, and famous for the beaches and I guess the casinos!

It was really pretty of course and we could look around and swim or do whatever we wanted until 5pm when we had to meet the bus again. We looked around the shops, ate lunch, swam, and relaxed/read books. The beach was kindof weird because the sand area where people sat didn’t slope down into the water—there was sand, then a sidewalk and cement wall thing you had to go over to get into the water, which was not to cold but had a lot of grass floating in it. We still enjoyed swimming around though. We were back to Vicenza early (because traffic wasn’t bad) by 9pm.

Germany (July 3-5)

Since we had a three day weekend (Monday off for the 4^th of July) we decided to get our of Italy and go to Germany! 8 of us Camp Adventure people traveled together on the trip and headed out on the night train from Vicenza around 11 Friday night. We were hoping to get some sleep on the train since it was supposed to arrive in Munich at 7am Saturday. The train was rickety, hot, humid, and we were sitting with 2 smelly guys who we were afraidwould steal our stuff if we all fell asleep (we took turns staying up). The train stopped and sat for an hour in Verona to fix something we think—it was so hot and uncomfortable because no air moved even with windows open. Oh well, once we got going I stood with my head out the window looking at the scenery for a few hours and then tried to read an Italian newspaper I found because I couldn’t sleep.

Once we got to Munich in the morning @ 6, we took awhile to figure out the Metro tickets to get to our hotel. Kristine’s dad has some sweet connections in the hotel business and got us cheap rooms and half off food in a really nice hotel in Munich. We found it, dropped our stuff,

and changed clothes before heading out to the Dachau concentration camp on the edge of the city. It was free to walk around the camp and through the museums. It was really sad but worthwhile to see the barracks, crematorium, and read about the site in the museum. Afterwards, we called Kristine’s cousin who lives in Munich to meet up and go watch the World Cup quarterfinals (Germany vs. Argentina).We went to the largest beer garden where therewere over 8,000 people outside at tables, food stands, and a few screens with the game playing.We tried to fit in and be as German as possible with flag facepaint and cheering. It was extremely hot and we couldn’t get a spot in the shadeeven though we were there 2 hours before the game! Germany won 4-0 and we were ready to head back to the hotel after 5 hours of sitting out in the heat. Since we were all exhausted, we just relaxed at the hotel pool and sauna area for the night.On Sunday morning we headed out to Mariplatz (Munich’s center city square). We planned to look around the main attractions and touristy things walking from there. Everyone was gathered around watching this huge clock singing with figurines dancing so we watched too! When that was done, we were standing in a group looking at the buildings and coming up with agame-plan when 3 different bike tour people kept giving us fliers and information-we must have looked confused! ‘Lenny’s Bike Tours’ was only 10 Euro for bike rentals, a guide, and 4 hours seeing the main attractions so we decided to do it. I am SO glad we did! It was really fun riding on our bikes from siteto site (12 I think)—we would stop, listen to our guide (with a British accent), and take pictures before heading out again. We stopped at Munich’s 2^nd largest beer garden on the tour for lunch—all the food was delicious! Germans know how to eat with meat, potatoes, and yummy pastry funnel cake things. The tour included royal palaces, stuff about Hitler, churches, the royal brewery, the river (with people surfing), and a huge park-English Gardens. 3 of us climbed up the 300+ stairs of a church to see the view of the city! Then we went to meet up with the others to look around the Haufbrauhaus (royal brewery). We took the Metro to another part of town to see the BMW museum (but it was closed) and then walked to the Olympic Park & Stadiums! It was where the Olympics were held in the 70's--everything was huge. Back at the hotel, some of us at more VERY scrumptious german food at a restaurant in the hotel before going to the pool for a bit.

The plan for Monday was to go to Neushwanstein castle (like the Disney logo). We found out that it would be nearly impossible to get the right trains and busses to get there and back to Vicenza by night. L So we scratched that off the plan and went to hang out in Garmisch (a city in the mountains) for a few hours since we had to go through there on the trains to get back to Italy anyways. Garmisch is fairly touristy so we looked at the shops, got food, and then

headed on the train back home. The trainride home was one of my favorites because it was through the mountains so it was beautiful! I could actually see everything since it was daylight and even got some good pictures! We had to switch trains 3 times to get home—one time we only had 4 minutes at the station to switch and some Slavakian guy told us our first train was delayed so we would only have 1 minute to catch the next one! We had a pep talk and the 8 of us dead sprinted from platform 21 to 3, yelled to the conductor who was blowing the whistle and shutting the last door. Luckily he let us on or we would’ve been stuck in Austria for hours!

We have a short 4 day work week. I am figuring the kids out and it is more fun now. Some of the infants are starting to walk and crawl. One baby tried to eat a bee the other day though and it stung his lip so it puffed up! His mom works at the center so it was ok. One of our pre-toddler kids is moving up to the toddler room so we are transitioning him and are sad to see him go.

Rome! (June 26-27)

Last weekend 3 of us went to Rome. We had to take the night train from Vicenza to Rome Friday night and left around 10pm. We left right after Rachel got off work though so we could get to the station by 8 when the ticket windows close (she had to get her train pass stamped). The buses took forever and we were crazy and ran into the station at 7:58! The guy was flipping the sign ‘chuiso’ (closed) but we barged up there and persuaded him to stamp the pass which only took 2 seconds! Woo that was close! Hahaha We had seat reservations on the train and were planning to sleep and get there at 6:10am. That unfortunately didn’t happen because our seats were next to crazy people! The train had little cabins with 6 seats—we had 3 seats, an older Italian guy in one, a middle-aged talkative Italian in one, and an empty seat. They were trying to talk to us but we couldn’t understand much…I tried using my Italian Jiffy Phrasebook but could only say basic things. Suddenly the crazy talkativeguy got up and brought back another guy who he figured spoke some English…then made him translate his life story to us. It was interesting but we didn’t really care and the translator kept saying I don’t know why he is telling us this…I don’t know him! He was funny and we talked to him awhile and found out he was from Rome but in the Italian Army in Verona-going home for the weekend to visit family. He was interested in the U.S. base we work on and talked about the army in Italy. He also taught us some Italian words and placesto go in Rome! So we didn’t really sleep but I felt pretty excited and hyper when we got to Rome at 6:09am!

We had some breakfast, bought a map, and reserved our seats for the way home right away before heading out. Since we were there and going so early, we got a pass for the double-decker tourbus and had to wait for it to start running at 8:30. It took us to all the main attractions where we could get off and then back on since a different bus came around the route every 10-15 minutes. We saw the Collosseum, walked around Palantine ruins, and then up to a huge palace

with a free National Museum of some sort inside with historic army uniforms, flags, etc. it was cool and they had the changing of the guards on the tomb ofthe unknown soldier. We rode the bus again and headed to the Vatican. All three of us agreed that we wanted to spend time there and paid for a tour in English. It was a bit pricey and extremely long but worth it because we were able to see everything and skip some of the long lines! During the 4.5 hour tour Saturday afternoon I was pretty drained because of the heat, crowds elbowing, and being awake since 5:30am Friday! Afterwards we ate at a little place nearby with really good lasagna and gelato. The bus took us around to some more attractions (churches, fountains, and plazas). It rained pretty hard for awhile in the evening and my camera battery had died by the time we were to the Vatican earlier. It one of the plazas I spotted Teresa (a friend I go to college with who is doing Camp Adventure in Naples)! We had no idea we would both be in Rome the same weekend and actually ran into eachother!! Crazy

Because we were so tired, by 8pm we decided to head towards the hostel for the night. I knew it would be a little bit of a walk when we booked it but it was even further up and hard to find even with a good map! Most of the walk was fun , pretty at night, and we saw a lot of Rome we hadn’t planned to. I was able to ask a few places (using Italian) where it was and they kept saying straight. We were getting frustrated and some French people asked us in English if we knew how they could get a taxi! I said No, and you need to help us! Luckily the guy had a GPS in his pocket and showed us the way! Too bad we weren’t any help to them!

We didn’t get to the hostel until about 11pm—it was really big and we had 3 bunk beds in a room with 10 people. It wasn’t too bad and we could lock our stuff up at night. I am not sure, but I woke up somewhat sleepwalking looking under beds because I was having a dream that the kids I work with (infants) were there and climbing on and under all the beds!!! I hope nobody woke up and saw me crawling around-that would be freaky! We got up around 9 and had breakfast at the hotel (only 1 Euro and nothing great). We took the city bus back to sightsee more and found out our hostel was really close to the edge of Rome and the Olympic Statium complex! During the day we saw the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. Our train left at 2:30 that afternoon and we played cards/slept on the 7 hour way home.

Wow I wrote a lot! Sorry! I will try to keep it more brief next time.

Florence & Pisa Weekend

So here was the plan:

Head out early to catch the train to Florence, check into our hostel by 2pm, look around Florence for the day, sleep, head out Sunday morning to Pisa (to see leaning tower) and other places in Tuscany on the way back to Vicenza by night.

& Here’s What Actually Happened:

We headed out a little late Saturday morning because a few girls overslept and one other girl and I needed our passports back from our director (who borrowed them to copy for records, had them in her room so we had the hotel people let us in). At the train station they told us all the trains to Florence were full until 3pm so we debated and decided to reserve seats on that one from Padova. Since we had time to kill, we took the train to

Padova and looked around there for awhile (there wasn’t a lot to see but looked at some shops and ate pizza). Since it was so late, we decided to check out Pisa and its leaning tower Saturday night and save all the stuff in Florence for Sunday. It worked out well because we had plenty of time in Pisa to take ridiculous pictures holding up the tower, walk around, and ate really good

food at a restaurant. They had a random meal deal that came with lasagna, roast beef, (both tasted like grandma’s!), French fries (weird combo I know), water, and wine (which I still think tastes nasty!). We were full and happy as we took the train back to Florence to find our hostel (hoping that we could still get in since we missed check-in by many hours!) We had really vague directions to get to the hostel so it took a bit and some asking to find it but there was room to stay so it all worked out! My first experience in a hostel was not bad…it the cheapest one we could find and had some not so good reviews online but we risked it. The rooms were teeny with weird bathroom and little cots but it worked for me (better than sleeping outside or on a train). We went out to check out the town at night and found this little restaurant pub place that was cool—we met many people (some from the Livorno & Aviono military bases, a girl that works in Vicenza, and some nice Italian people). They showed us another place to check out for awhile and then we headed back to the hostel to sleep around 2.

To get an early start, we got up and were in line for the museum (Galleria dell’Accademia) where the statue of David along with a bunch of other ancient religious paintings are held. It was cool to see and crazybecause most of the pieces were from the 1300-1400’s! We had a map of Florence so we headed around to find the main sites. There were lots of pretty, old buildings again like all Italian cities. We found the huge palace (Pitti) with gardens in the back but it was really expensive to look around each part so we actually just peered in the gates and played with the pigeons for awhile. It down-poured there, was raining on and off all weekend and a bit cold but my umbrella held up the whole time. We did a little shopping on the tent market things on the streets (they all sell the same main things-scarves, t-shirts, leather: purses, belts, wallets, etc, World Cup stuff, and jewelry). We saw the Ponte Vecchio bridge where the shops line the bridge across the water

selling jewelry and expensive gold…and waffles for the tourists! There were Piazzas (plazas) everywhere with statues andfountains…the Piazza della Signoria had too many statues (one replica of the statue of David), a church, and a fountain. The statues started to freak me out after so many of them! On the way back to the train station, we stopped at the main Florence attraction, The Doumo. It was a huge cathedral with a giant dome—the decorations on the outside were crazy elaborate in marble I think! The line was way too long to wait to go inside so we settled for walking around it. We headed back on the train and got to ride one of the cool high-speed trains (though fast, the inside wasn’t as cool as an earlier one where we got to be in our own little nook cabin with 6 seats and a door that slid shut from the aisle!) That was cool and there was even a cute little snack cart that went down the train aisle.

---This week for work I am down for the 6am-3pm shift in the infant room because the main teacher person in my room is gone on R&R with her husband. Work is getting better as I figure out how the room procedures work and which babies need what when.

---There are a lot of acronyms I am learning from the military base...they use them even when it would be just as short to say the words themselves! MP=military police, CDC=Child Development Center, SAS=School Age Services, R&R=rest and relaxation, PCS=Permanent Change of Station (moving), TDY=something moving temporarily, DFAC=Dining Facility, PX=Post Exchange (store),

Verona

Verona is less than an hour’s train ride from Vicenza so we thought we would head there for the day and see what there was! The plan was just to walk around and see what we saw but we headed out of the train station the wrong way…oops. So we went back to get a cheap tourist map of the city with the key sites to see. Now we were in business…or so we thought. We didn’t really know where we currently were on the map so we just started walking and then decided the best approach was to follow the cute old touristy looking couple I spotted up ahead (they looked knowledgabe, had a map, and were pointing—see picture :) We hung back so we weren’t too creepy and they headed for the main piazza so it worked out great! Hahaha

We saw the ‘Arena’ a huge, old coliseum theater which we paid a couple Euro to go inside. It was so neat! We saw them setting up a huge stage for some sort of Egyptian play/ show later. Next we set off to find Juliet’s house w/ the balcony from Romeo & Juliet…easier said than done even with

a map it was hard to find. I’m glad we did though because the entrance arch walls were covered with little love notes on random scraps of paper and most stuck up with gum! We saw the balcony but I didn’t bother to pay to go up onto it. There were a bunch of other sites to see in the city and we walked past most—old buildings, bridges, and churches. One of the churches was gorgeous and I went inside to look for a bit. We were all tired of walking so took a break and had water and I got a delicious fruit cup they must sell everywhere in Italy! I could definitely get used to people selling fresh fruit (especially pineapple) on every street.

Vicenza-Sunday

On Sunday I got up and had breakfast at the hotel (discovered I like blueberry yogurt!) and then swam and hung out with the others by the pool on base for awhile. Later a few of us went to eat in Vicenza—we found a really cool Chinese restaurant within walking distance. The floor was clear glass with an aquarium below!! We were planning to look around the sites in Vicenza more on Sunday, but it was raining on an off quite a bit in the afternoon/evening so we will wait til another day…

Work @ CDC

Last week we started working in the CDC’s (Child Development Centers=daycare on base). We are just put on the schedule wherever they need us to fill in when staff move or go on R&R with spouses or whatever. We also found out that they can try to be sneaky and use us instead of staff because we work 8 hours a day and only get paid a bit (stipend, housing, plane tickets) compared to what the staff is paid working full-time.

During the first week usually worked in the infant room in the morning, had a short lunch break and then would come back to work in one of the toddler rooms or float wherever I was needed. I liked working with the Pre-K class and even got to help with their graduation rehearsal which was fun…but soon enough they pulled me back to the infant room for extra help! Don’t get me wrong, the babies are cute but intimidating at the same time! I didn’t really know what to do at first but by this week am getting the hang of when to feed them, how the bottle warmers work, whose parents are who, who eats what, and writing down everything (the time they eat, sleep, diaper, and specifically what they eat). It is a bit tedious but can be fun at times. I am starting to enjoy it a little now that I don’t feel like I am always doing something wrong or that I am going to accidently hurt a baby or something. I am a bit disappointed because I have a feeling that I will be in he infant room the majority of the summer as the schedule is looking…we’ll see! People are always coming and going (staff & kids) so you never know!

During the week we are pretty relaxed, working and then just hanging out or doing whatever at night. I went to the library on base and got my own library card and we used it to check out an Italy travel book. It looks helpful and even has a lot of stuff about our city, Vicenza. I guess Vicenza is known for its architecture and a world leading city in the gold industry-they have gold shows here periodically?... The base is still pretty dead—not many people live here right now because just about everyone is deployed and many will get back in December. It is crazy to think that they are in Afghanistan! We met a few guys who had just gotten back 2-4 days earlier from Afghanistan one was on medical leave.

Kayaking at Lake Garda

On Sunday, my roommate Rachel and I went on a kayaking trip put on by the Outdoor Rec program on base. There were 13 people that went--it was an interesting group--2 instructors, a new instructor in training, a few soldiers, a married couple, and 2 wives whose husbands are currently deployed. We left at 6:45am and took a van with a kayak trailer behind and drove to the lake. I think it was only like 1.5 hours to drive.

Lake Garda is Italy's largest lake (30 miles long and 10 miles wide in some places). We unloaded and learned the basics of getting in and paddling the kayaks. We were off and going in no time. Because there is a lot of boat traffic, we paddled near the shore and stopped a few times along the route at beaches and rock areas until we got to Sirmione (a town along the lake).

We pulled up our kayaks and because we paddled so quickly, we had about 1 hour until our restaurante reservations. Rachel and I decided to look around the town which was a bit of a walk but very pretty. We came back after a bit and laid on the dock thing and checked out the beach--there were a ton of people laying out to tan and swim--i guess for many Italians Sunday is a family day and many go to the beach. We had a good lunch in the outdoor part of a restaurant close to the shore.

We headed out towards the castle that was built in Roman times...I was surprised when the instructors led us paddling around the castle in the moat, under a drawbridge thing and back out! It was really cool because you could see inside the castle walls where the water still flowed and they used to keep the ships inside until ready to fight! There were lots of tourists taking pictures of us in the moat--they were quite a ways above us on the streets/sidewalks around the castle. We headed back through a boat harbor and had to paddle really fast to get through before more of the speedboats took off! it was a bit scary. We got back, loaded, and drove home. I was surprised that my arms weren't even too tired but it was a good workout!

Venice

* The high school on base had their junior-senior prom on Friday!---We all had the perfect view for watching all the parents take pictures and check out all the dresses because they got on the bus to go in front of our hotel! We also met one woman who's son was going to prom...she was from Waterloo, IA!!

* Friday night most of our Camp Adventure group went out to eat. Afterwards we saw a community event outside a church...there was food and music so a few of us stayed to check that out for a bit. I think the old people were doing th

e Italian version of polka/line dancing! Brittney and I tried it. Then we walked around awhile a

nd then got gelato....because it is so good!

*Saturday we headed to Venice:

-It was interesting and exciting to figure out how to get off base, find the bus stop, figure out when to get off, which train to take,etc. but we didn't do too shabby for the first time! There was a nice English speaker and his grandma who helped us figure out the ticket machines a bit.

-Because we wanted to take the cheaper train, we had to wait in the train station awhile but I was entertained by watching trains and feeding the pigeons bits of the peanut butter sandwich I had brought along.

-Once in Venice, our plan was to walk and wander until we made our way to the Piazza San Marco Basilica (the main plaza and tourist attractions). We saw so many little vendors selling masks, pasta, wine, gondola man hats, etc. The streets were really windy and cool because there aren't any cars on the main part of Venice--only boat traffic around the canals.

-We found the main piazza and took lots of pictures! We wanted to take a gondola ride in the canal but the man said they cost 80 Euro! We said no way and were a little disappointed....until we found a little later a gondola that would take us across the main canal (very short!) for only 50 cents--that was good enough for us (we just wanted to ride one, not really go anywhere)

- It was quite the walk back to the train station after walking for about 5 hours already that day...but on the way back we were in a more residentia

l, quieter area and even saw the University of Venice-Architecture School.

- While waiting for the train, I finally bought one of the fruit cups we saw at the beginning of the day! It was cheap and filled with pineapple, watermelon, and kiwi!

-On the train back we met some guys who visited Venice that day too and were heading back to post as well. We thought there would be more of a chance of finding our way back with their help, but they didn't know any more than us! We all figured out when to get off and the buses back together.

Week #1

This first week has been pretty relaxed so far, we are in training/orientation for the week before we can actually start working full 8 hour days in the CDC (child development center) next week. On Tuesday we finally got our military ID passes so we are able to leave base AND get back on! yay! So since this was pretty exciting, a bunch of us went out to eat at an Italian restaurante down the street--and of course had some wonderful pasta! Later we walked and found a gelato shop but I was too full to have any--I feel that will be a frequent stop for me though throughout the summer!

* I am going to try to learn some more basic Italian...it is similar in many ways and some words to Spanish so I am hoping I will pick it up fairly quickly!

* Living on a military base is interesting--It is like a AMERICAN small town only smack dab in the middle of Italy! It is a bit bizarre. The base includes schools, daycares, a gym, bowling alley, hotel, restaurants, a Target-like store, a library, bowling alley, grocery store, etc....it is probably bigger than my hometown Hawkeye only less residential.

* Working in a daycare is interesting also: there is a procedure for everything and the kids are of course funny and energetic and usually getting into a bit of trouble! It is a bit frustrating so far because I don't know how the staff runs things. Most of the staff is made up of wives of the soldiers--many who are deployed right now.

* I learned that the people on base move around from base to base, country to country a lot and some even say that they don't know where they are from (kids especially) they get a little of the host country's culture, American culture, and also the culture of a military base/family...it's interesting. I think the term is "Third Culture Kids"

This weekend, we are planning to head to Venice--about 1 hour train ride away! hopefully I will have some great pictures to share afterwards!!

We're Here!

We finally made it to Italy and then to the Army base in Vicenza earlier today. We started from Cedar Rapids to Chicago and had no problem wasting 5 hours in the Chicago airport until our flight! It was a long flight from Chicago to Madrid, but we road a really nice, big plane and some of the people next to me were friendly. I talked to this old lady and her daughter from California throughout the flight and by the end the mother was sure I was from Ohio and the daughter said "No mom, she's from Idaho." Sadly they were both wrong, but close....hahaha Anyways, we were only in Madrid for about an hour before our flight left and had to rush to get there on time because of going through customs, security, and riding the tram to the right gate!

The flight to Venice was shorter and there were le

ss people so we could stretch out. I think I may have been sitting by a famous person

thought because all the flight attendants were super nice to her and she would say no thanks to pop and newspapers, yet they gave them to her! They also brought her a blanket and pillow without her asking...it was a bit suspicious.

So our Camp Adventure project director picked us up after we got our luggage and

we rode a bus to Vicenza (about 1 hr. away). Once on base, we went to the hotel 'Ederle

Inn' where we are staying, dropped stuff off, and then went to get some food/look aroun

d the base. Because of Memorial day, most things were closed so we got some food for tonight

at the gas-station type store. I have 2 roomies and we have 1 room that is divided into 2...one half has a small kitchen and the other half has the bathroom. It's really nice and we put our stuff away

already!

So tomorrow we are getting up to eat breakfast and then have orientation for the CDC's (military lingo for daycare centers) and also get our ID's to get on and off base. So far, the base looks pretty American except all the buildings are painted tan with the tanish clay room things. Also, it is pretty quiet on this base right now because most all of the soldiers usually here are deployed right now.

1 week left..

I will be leaving in one week for Italy! I fly out on May 30th and will be gone until August 21. I, along with 15 other students in the Camp Adventure program will be staying on the U.S. Army base in Vicenza and working with the CDC and youth programs there during this time. We will be working during the week and will have most weekends free to travel!