Venice is a great place! Rick Steve's says it is like a cookie jar of unique souvenirs for grown ups- he is right! The last few times I have been to Venice I have been eying a Murano Glass ring. Each time I saw it- I loved it more. But it was a little pricy (everything in Venicw is) so each time I would end up going home without it. Well after three trips to Venice to get that silly ring and three trip home without it, I decided it would just be cheaper to buy the thing and get it over with- so I did!!

Anyway, here it is.

I was so thrilled this morning when the garbage guys came to pick
up my trash. It had only been 13 days since the last time they picked up (I was beginning to feel spoiled). Unfortunately my excitement was short lived! While mowing the lawn and straightening up in the back yard a bit I noticed a really terrible (almost sickly) smell. After a little investigating I traced down the culprit- a dead rat in my garbage can!! The trouble is I didn't realize what it was until I PICKED IT UP!!! Oh, the thought of its feel in my hands makes me ill. I am not sure I will ever fully get over the experience!

Anyway, I have been pretty wound up about the whole thing. I mean hello- am I wrong to think that this is completely unacceptable!?! Besides being totally gross- this is a major health hazard, isn't it? Seriously, thoughts of the Bubonic Plague and other rodent transmitted diseases have been running through my mind all day. And what about the flies that have been feasting on that dead rat for the last 13 days and then landing all over my kids when they are outside playing. Honestly the thought of it all makes me sick.

So I need your opinion, am I totally over the top to think that "rats" are the limit for me as far as the garbage in Naples is concerned? Should I make a big fuss about this? Or should I have expected it? I mean- there is a huge pile of garbage outside my back door and rats do like garbage, don't they? Was I silly to think that our garbage was somehow cleaner than most? I've tried to suppress my feelings on the garbage issue here for a long time but this experience has really really got me worked up. AHHHHHH! Help me out here friends, what should I do?

I just walked in the door but not before I noticed that THEY ACTUALLY PICKED UP THE GARBAGE in front of my house today!!! I am so excited I can hardly contain myself!!! Seriously, my very own rotting, stinking garbage pile (less that 20 feet from my back door) was really starting to grossing me out. It is kind of scary what can accumulate in just three weeks. Anyway, next time you have to wheel your garbage can to the curb and you think, oh, what a pain! think of me and be thankful you have a regular trash pick-up day at all!

We had the best watermelon EVER this week! It was one of those old fashion watermelons- you know the huge oval ones with big black seeds (kind of like the old fashion carrots that are big and dirty and have green tops)! Anyway, it was awesome! It was cold and sweet and really juicy and big enough to feed an army!

Apparently they haven't caught on to seedless watermelons here in Italy yet. Or maybe they know something we don't- the old fashion kind are better!

For the last 10 months or so I have tried really hard not to mention much about the trash problem we have here in Naples- I figured that 1. talking about it won't make make the problem go away 2. It makes me mad (sad, frustrated, disguised etc.) every time I think about it and 3. you simply can not comprehend how bad it is until you have experienced. However... yesterday on our way to Carney Park we passed a section of road lined with garbage- it was rather stinky so I said to the boys, "Hey guys can you smell that stinky Naples air?" Spencer said, "Yeah Mom- its gross!" then he starts singing a "song" that he made up about the garbage. I didn't know if I should laugh or cry that he had noticed the problem enough to make up a song about it but I promised him I would blog about it anyway, so here it is!

Trash, Trash all over Naples,
Trash Trash all over Naples.
On the sidewalks, on the street,
Always under my two feet!
On the mountains, on the cars,
All the way from earth to mars!
You can find it everywhere
except in garbage cans!

(This is a picture of Spencer by the trash pile in front of our house. Believe it or not we live in one of the areas that is better about trash pick up than most! Scary, hu?)

Clearly Spencer has given the trash issues here a lot of thought!

We have two pet turtles- Oscar and Emily. They are so little and so fun! They live in the bidet in my bathroom (the perfect use for a bidet as far as I am concerned)! Here is a look at their current living conditions.

This a picture of the Temple in Bern Switzerland. Isn't it beautiful? It is like a haven to me in so many ways. It is the nearest Temple to Italy (at more then ten hours away) and it is worth every sacrifice we made to get there. I love the Temple and feel so blessed to enjoy the blessings God gives his children there. I am thankful for the perspective of eternity I have gained through my Temple worship. I am grateful to know that our time on earth is just one part of our eternal progression. And that through obedience to temple covenants our families can be together forever!

I am going to Venice this weekend with a few of my friends- I am SO excited!! I am currently taking orders on any Italian jewelry, glass, or pottery you might be interested in- just be sure to place your orders before tomorrow morning as we are rolling out at at 7:45 am! I will be on the look out for birthday and Christmas gift but if you have an special requests I am all ears. I will not have internet access while I am away but if you need to call me- I'll have my cell. Love you all. Happy weekend!

Yesterday at the market a man was selling 15 artichokes for 2 euro. I thought it was a great deal and since I love artichokes and had recently taken a class on how to prepare them the Italian way, I decided to buy some. I brought them home and washed them and since they looked so colorful and pretty I decided that I would not only make my own homemade marinated artichoke hearts the Italian way, I would photo blog the whole process too so you could see how fun and easy it is. I began the process with high hopes. I washed the artichokes and snapped my first picture. This is fun, I thought. I should do this more often. Then the trouble started. I picked up the first artichoke to pick off the outside layers and discovered that these were not your average artichokes (that is probably why the guy was selling so cheap). I struggled (maybe wrestled is a better word) to pick the leaved off the first artichoke for, I kid you not, 15 minutes. I looked at the 14 other artichokes in the colander and seriously considered eating the one and throwing the rest away. No, I thought it will get easier and faster as I go. So I pressed forward. While trying to de-leaf, peal, steam and quarter the second artichoke I broke not one but two figure nails. Ahhh, I just had them done! Hello? What is the problem here I ask myself, I just made marinated artichoke hearts in my cooking class a few weeks ago and it was easy and fun (then again, I was with friends and we mostly watched while the teacher did the work but never mind that). I decide that it may not get faster or easier but it will definitely be worth it in the end, so I press forward. One hour and thirty seven minutes later I have a small pan full of beautiful artichoke hearts. I quickly turn on the stove to let the water start to boil as I run to check on the boys who have been entertaining themselves downstairs. The boys were playing nicely but both started in immediately with stories about their stuffed animals and Lego cities and computer game adventures and questions about how long an elephant trunk is and how fast the earth is traveling around the sun and can I go outside and play and on and on and on. Needless to say, amid all the chatter I completely forgot about the artichokes. By the time I remembered and ran up stairs they were completely overcooked. Now if there is one thing I can not stand it is over cooked vegetables BUT I was determined to make this a good experience. So I drained the artichokes and set them aside to cool. I sauteed some onions and red peppers and some great Italian sausage then added the artichokes and Parmesan and put it all over pasta. I thought we were in for a real treat but... it wasn't even palatable, seriously! Not even with all the other good stuff. The artichokes were terrible- the flavor was bad and the texture was disgusting! None of us could eat it. In the end my silly 2 euro artichokes cost me dinner and the better part of my Saturday! So next time you think about trying to make marinated artichokes from scratch (because I know you think about it often) remember this story and DON"T TRY THIS AT HOME!

Is this a gorgeous picture or what? I love it and will never forget the boat ride back to Venice when we took it! On our last day in Venice we decided to explore the surrounding Islands, Murano, Burano, Lido, Etc. It was awesome. I love the surrounding islands because the are quaint and uncrowded. In any case, at about 6:30 pm we were still on Burano and realized if we didn't leave soon we would miss the last boat back to Venice. So, he hopped on the ferry and headed back. Dad and Spencer and I sat on the top of the boat, outside and this was our view! It really was breathtaking!

We recently visited the Uffizi Gallery in Florence- it was quite the experience! My Mom's post on the day is fantastic and I thought you might like to read what she has written. Click here to view her post.

These are some of the great people we have met in Naples and feel blessed to call our friends!

Terry and Janee

Evan and Rayna

Tonja and Jimbo

Great people, great times!

I was late because...

Saturday, February 23, 2008

I was late because...

I had a dentist appointment yesterday and I was a few minutes late because I got stuck behind a herd of sheep walking down the middle of the road and I couldn't get around them. I know, I know it sounds as unbelievable an excuse as the dog ate my homework, but it is true! I even have pictures to prove it- take a look!Isn't this the craziest thing you have ever seen? I love it though- it made me smile all day!

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Scary... but True!

This is a picture of the control panel on our Italian car. I am ashamed to admit that after FIVE MONTHS of driving in Italy, I recently discovered that the semicircle on the right is NOT the speedometer! It is actually the RPM gage. In every other car I have ever driven, the speedometer has been on the right and the RPM gage has been on the left! Admittedly several times (before I made this startling discovery) I looked down at the RPM gage (thinking it was the speedometer) and thought, "Wow, I thought I was going a lot faster than that!" SCARY...but true! I can't explain how this is possible other than to say, switching the placement of the gage, converting miles per hour into kilometers per hour, trying survive driving in Italy (and yes... blond hair) are not a good mix!

Friday, February 8, 2008

Local Transportation

When we found out we were moving to Italy, we sold our van in the U.S. and decided to buy a "Naples Beater" as our primary mode of transportation here. Once we arrived however, we found that good "Naples Beaters" are hard to come by. After a few weeks of diligently looking we finally decided on this beauty.

It is an older Italian car (a 1993 Lanica, Thema) and though it is not terribly comfortable, it does run reasonably well. It has four doors and a trunk which we didn't realize were "accessories" until we got here and discovered that many cars don't have either one. The best part about the car though is that behind its wheel it takes the other Italian drivers a minute or two to realize that I am not Italian! This is a HUGE benefit when you are fighting for a place in line or squeezing between two cars on a two lane road. It also comes in handy when you accidentally bump into someone or side swipe their mirror!

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Italy and the Internet

We moved to Italy just after the first of August 2007. We moved into our house right away and immediately signed up to have internet service in our home. I wrongly assuming that since it is the twenty first century and Italy is not a third world country, our service would be hooked up in a jiffy. Well, it wasn't. More than four months later, five attempts by the local internet company, and many tears of frustration on my part, our internet was FINALLY hooked up.

We were of course, delighted to have internet service once everything was said and done but I have wondered to myself these last few months, "how can a place like Italy that calls itself a modern and civilized country not have ready access to basic services like telephone and internet?"
Well, I think I may have, at long last, figured it out (at least in part) and I thought I would share what I have discovered.

Italy is, as you know, a very old country and as such is filled with VERY old buildings which were not originally wired for telephone or internet. So you may ask, we have the ability to wire old buildings, why not do it here and give the people the services they want? Well, the buildings here are made entirely of stone, tile, brick and concrete. Making even minor home projects (like holes for telephone and internet wiring) a major undertaking. In addition it is quite expensive and general speaking the people here are very poor. And even if you did made the effort to properly wire your home, many towns and villages are not yet set up to deliver telephone and internet services anyway. Because it is physically very difficult to get these services to the people, they have learned to live without them. And since they have learned to live without them they are not terribly motivated to provide them to people like me who are convinced that they are essential everyday living.

Anyway, I am sure there are many MANY more reasons for the local internet company's lack of interest in serving frantic American women who are desperate for internet service, but even this tid-bit of information helps me to understand the great people here and the unique challenges they face as a country.

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