Getting out on our own...

Today was our first attempt at driving in Sicily, farther than between the two bases and our housing. Well, Billy's first attempt at driving, and the first time riding in something other than a bus for the rest of us!

We started out to the NEX depot on base first, and one of the employees told us that Billy might be able to get some baseball equipment at a store in a nearby town for the upcoming adult baseball league. Our directions were, "Toward Catania from Motta, it's down the hill to Misterbianco on the right."

Okay....I have been halfway down that hill to a winery and olive oil press, I can get there! Never mind that I have only been into the city of Motta once so far, and it was on a van, and I wasn't paying extremely close attention. But...we found our way through Motta easily enough--without even hitting anyone or anything on cobblestone streets about 20 feet wide--and went down the hill to Misterbianco. Where the road promptly split about 50 ways. After a few frantic lane-changes and squinting at the road signs stacked 10 high, we managed to find Zacca! Annnnnd it was closed.

Next plan, let's try Porte de Catania, which we have driven by numerous times and shopped at once. It should be easy enough, it's right off the autostrada..........we end up nearly in downtown Catania, with the crazy roundabouts and streets that really ought to be one-way when you're driving an American mid-sized sedan! So we turn around and manage to get back on the highway heading vaguely toward home. Then our GPS decides to mess around with us....we exit onto a little country road with a great view of the brand-new IKEA store! Now I really want to go to IKEA, but we have no clue how to get there and our GPS is telling us if we just take a right in a few hundred meters, we're almost home.....so we take a right. Onto a barely-paved "un-named road" with deep potholes, which appears to go absolutely nowhere. Soon we come to an old, rusted gate with a "private property" sign, and have to turn around. Thankfully, with no witnesses! What GPS sends you down an "un-named road" in Sicily that apparently just goes through orange orchards??

So we get the GPS to calculate an alternate route, and it takes us right to IKEA! Where we get lots of rugs and a cute lamp for super cheap, of course.

All in all, our first independent venture out into the "real" Sicily was a success. We DID locate the sports store, even though it was closed; we DID make it to Catania, even though it wasn't exactly the part we were aiming for; and we DID get to IKEA!!

Our First Sicilian Weekend

It's now Monday, and we're finally starting to adjust well to our new time zone. Which is fortunate, since we were all up at 0600 today to begin indoctrination. Landon is spending his first day at the youth center here at Sigonella, and is loving it so far. He's already made friends! There was no space for Logan, so he got to spend part of the morning with a PO2 while Billy and I sat in for the CMDCM's address. Later will be our Italian driving safety course, a must if we want Italian drivers' licenses.

We've done quite a bit in the few short days in Sicily so far. On Friday, our sponsor gave us a tour of the base, which is beautiful and very clean. After the tour, we were pretty much wiped out since we'd just arrived. Saturday, the four of us spent time in the arcade, tried out a snack bar/restaurant, and saw Madagascar 3--for $7.50 total! The kids also discovered a park. (Logan: "Paarrrp!!")

On Sunday we got to see a little more of the area surrounding the base, as our sponsor drove us to Porte de Catania, a mall. We bought bicycles for ourselves and Landon, with a seat for Logan. Now we won't have to walk everywhere until our car arrives! Both the boys love riding, and weren't ready to stop. We also went back to the park, where Logan acquired a girlfriend who ran around holding hands with him the rest of the time. They hugged each other when it was time to go.

It was a much clearer day Sunday, so we could see Mt. Etna emitting a cloud of smoke. I tried to take a few pictures on the road to Porte de Catania. This one was the best.

We can't wait for our car to arrive. It's hard having all of this beautiful countryside and places to see all around us when we can't leave the base without a chauffeur!

We've Arrived!

Unfortunately, this blog has been abandoned while we were visiting family in NC and making final preparations for our move....but it is back in operation now!

We arrived here in Sicily around 3pm local time, after a 7 hour flight to Spain and then a 2.5 hour flight into Catania. We're all settled into our hotel, and we got a quick tour of the base yesterday evening. We were all exhausted from flying!

The kids were practically perfect on our flight; Landon loves airplanes now and Logan slept for the vast majority of the time. Billy also slept, but I had the pleasure of a little girl kicking and pushing on the back of my seat all night....

Today we plan on getting bicycles and a cart for the kids to get around on base until our car arrives. We'll also be exploring a bit and will be adding some photos soon!

Here's Landon on the plane before take-off....