Mae Abroad

It was super hot out today! Which didn't work out well for me when the power decided to go out on me. Mom you would have been miserable. Apparently you can't have more than 3 things on at a time. I had the washer and dryer both on at the same time and I guess that was too much for this poor apartment. Not good on a hot day because that means no AC! I had just come back from my walk too and so I was overheated from that and to come back to a hot house, oh not cool. Literally. (See what I did there, Findley's/Fabrizio's I know you'll appreciate that one)  Ok so I knew we have things on the wall that have something to do with something but the problem is A. I know very little if anything about these things and B. Everything is in Italian. So I pull out my phone and started translating all the boxes we have on the walls so I could figure out which one had to do with the power. I was super nervous because one also has to do with the alarm system and I didn't w...

It was such an early morning this morning! I'm used to waking up early every day but usually I get to go back to sleep after Kyle leaves for work. This time we both had to get up and leave because we were going to Capri! The second we saw who our tour guide was I got so excited because it was Aldo from Pompeii!! We knew then that it would be a good trip and well worth it! First we took a bus down to the docks where Aldo worked it out for us to board an hour early so we got an extra hour on the island. Nice! We got on a catamaran called SNAV that reminded me of the Catalina Flyer. The boat ride to Capri from the bay of Naples is about 50 minutes, I think. I actually wouldn't know because I slept the whole ride over. Capri seriously is the Catalina of Italy. It's really pretty and they have a main tourist harbor where everything is then residential on the back side. We went on this tour once we got there that took us to the Blue Grotto. You took this motorboat o...

We actually slept in till about noon today! It's been a busy week and yesterday at Pompeii was a lot of walking so we were exhausted. I made us chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast with nutella. Since people are coming over tonight we needed to clean up the place. We bought a bunch of bowls and Tupperware stuff last night so I needed to wash those so I spent most of the day in the kitchen. Kyle had a ton of trash piled up from all the boxes he had to unpack and what not, also he hasn't figured out yet what he's supposed to do with his trash at his place so he gathered it all up an took it down to his friends to dump it there. We needed some things for tonight so we headed over to base to go to the market there. We were having Kyle's friends over tonight for a BBQ. Andrew, Jesse and his girlfriend Emily came over for dinner. Kyle grilled burgers outside and I baked cookies. We sat out on the balcony in the back to eat and got an amazing display of a firework sho...

This is the look Kyle gave me when he pulled out his camera and saw that there wasn't a memory card in it...which was my fault. But the look didn't come till I pulled out the card reader from my purse that had the memory card still in it, that is when this look came. Kyle actually had today off which was so nice! Our tour today wasn't until 3:30 so we had a small breakfast then headed over to base so we could go to the Navy Exchange (NEX) which is pretty much the Walmart of the Navy. They have everything there. We bought a bunch of stuff that Kyle needed for his place that I've been make shifting all week without, like hot pads...poor kid the Navy really doesn't teach them much about living on your own, but he can tie a knot like no ones business and get a ship underway no problem. Essential life skills right there. We went over to the tour bus on base and it was us and a lady and her baby. We figured it would be a small group. But the bus went over to the ...

I had another Italian market experience today, I needed to make brownies for tonight so I headed downstairs to Conad. These are all the ingredients that I got today, such a different experience. Sugar is Zucchero, and vanilla comes in little powder packets instead of a jar of liquid. Tonight was my first time on base. We had to go on because we were going to dinner at Kyle's friends house, Sean. He lives in base housing with his wife Ann and two kids Tess and Joe. They are super cute and were so excited to have company to play with! We had a lot of fun, they are really nice people and everyone knows that I love kids so that was nice, made me miss some kids from back home though. Tess got ahold of my camera and took about a hundred photos of everything haha here are a few: Kyle Sean and Ann Tess Joe We went to Madigans when we got back and Jesse and his girlfriend Emily came to meet up with us. Jesse works with Kyle too and they live right up the street. M...

Since I couldn't be here for Kyles actual birthday, I made him a cake today instead! Today was the first day I went out on my own. I accomplished ordering a cappuccino and going to the market all by myself! Such an accomplishment. I loved going to the market and looking at everything. I'm pretty sure I was asked like 10 times if I needed help because I would just stand there and stare at all the packaging. This is what I bought to bake a cake with, they even had candles too! It took me about an hour to figure out how to use the oven though. I pretty much took the whole thing apart (not the first time I've taken an oven apart) to find out that you need to light it with a lighter. Luckily the internet was working today so I also went online and searched for the manual for about 30 minutes. Once I decoded that I was ready to bake a cake! Now baking in another country, not terribly difficult...but baking in Kyles kitchen?! Thats another story. The poor guy doesn't reall...

I believe it was my father who jokingly asked me what about the 17th Chapel when I told him we went to the Sistine Chapel. I miss that humor! Our hotel provided breakfast but we slept through it so we grabbed cappuccinos and I got a chocolate croissant from a cafe down the street. We checked out and packed up the car then headed toward the Metro so we could go over to the Vatican. We made it there and the line was pretty small so we made it up to the front door fast and were instantly turned away because my dress wasn't long enough. Stupid California outfits. I wore my longest dress too! But it was just above my knees and needed to be way below them, which I'm pretty sure doesn't exist in my wardrobe. So we went back up to the shopping area and bought some leggings. It worked out perfectly actually because we grabbed lunch right as it started to pour hard. Once it cleared up we worked our way back to the Vatican and this time made it inside. The line moves fast because...