WE HAVE A HOME!!!!

WE HAVE A HOME...WE HAVE A HOME...WE HAVE A HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!



But to start from where I left off...or at least where I think I left off. (The internet at our new hotel is so slow it took me 5 minutes just to open my blog...let alone read it to remember what I last wrote...I came straight to the "New Post" page!)



Anyway...Monday was Right Start, which is a lot of briefings from the military and as Taylor described it, "death by powerpoint". I only had to be there for the afternoon portion on Monday because they went over housing and a safety briefing for our driver's license. Nothing big went on...



Tuesday was my birthday! Taylor had Right Start in the morning and in the mean time Jenni helped me move out of our hotel on base into an Italian hotel in Aviano...Hotel Oliva. The hotel is nice, but much, much smaller. It's just a room, so no kitchen or anything, but we have a whole wall of windows with a nice balcony. After Taylor finished Right Start we finally had our drivers licenses and we went to rent a car so we wouldn't be so dependant on Mike and Jenni! They have been awesome, but it's a lot to ask to have someone tote you around for a week while you look for houses and attempt to get situated! We both took turns driving the stick shift on these crazy Italian roads...it will take a little getting used to, but it's not bad!



We attempted to go to a nicer dinner for my birthday...but both the restaurants we walked to were closed. They have a crazy schedule over here and they close for no reason...one of the restaurants we tried to go to was the same one we went to on Tuesday night LAST week...who knows why it was closed this Tuesday!!?? So we settled on the only one we passed that was open and it ended up being a Steak/Pizza House that blasted American pop music through out the restaurant. It was alright, although we're not sure how authentic it was since we were eating our prosuitto pizza listening to Rhianna and Jay-Z!!



Sadly, as I mentioned, the internet at our hotel isn't as good as it was on base and it isn't strong enough to support a Skype conversation, so I didn't get to really talk to anyone back home. But we did type back and forth on Skype, so that was good. I mean, it's not like I haven't talked to anyone...I've called home almost everyday as Taylor likes to point out!! :) But as great as everything is here, and it still is, and I still love it...it was a little sad on my birthday :( But a few tears later I'm still standing!!!



And on to great news from today!!! On Monday we were offered government housing. It pretty much means that the government/US military owns the home and they will take care of the rent and all of the utilities, but then we do not get any money put in our account for rent or utilities. If you "live off the economy" (non-government housing), you have an Italian landlord and you pay your rent to them and you pay your gas to the city gas and electric and so forth. And the military puts your housing allowance/utility allowance in your account and you pay from that.



It is generally very difficult to get government housing (aka GURP...Government Unit Rental Program) because if you qualify with dependants then your name gets put on a list and when something comes available you get called. Well somehow with Taylor's remote tour to Korea last year his name was put on the list last year so he was at the top of the list when we got here. (We don't really understand how that happened) When they offer it to you, you have the choice to accept or decline it. If you decline you can not put your name back on the list for 90 days...and you have to wait again. By 90 days you need to have a place because your Temporary Living Allowance (TLA) will run out before then! Basically, you'll be paying for a hotel out of your pocket!



So we were offered this and we agreed to look at it. You're probably thinking, as was I, government housing sounds like it's some low end cheap apartment complex with all American families living there...but surprisingly, it's not...at all! The house is located in San Quirino on a little street with about 5 other duplexes on it with both American and Italian families. The whole complex (for lack of better word...but not complex like you think in America) is not GURP housing...in fact, I don't quite understand how it works!



Anyway, Taylor and I were both shocked and very pleasantly surprised with this house (duplex)! It was built in 2005, so it is still very new. It is 3 stories (including the finished basement) 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bath, living room, kitchen, and basement. It is 1800 square feet, 2700 if you count the attached garage, storage space, and laundry room! Yes, you read that correctly, storage space!!!



You walk into the living room with doors that slide open into our fenced/hedged front yard (small) with a patio out there. The living room is open to the kitchen/eating area. The kitchen includes cabinets, (they're light yellow...but they're still cabinets!!!) a full size fridge, and a DISHWASHER!!! That's unheard of, and we wouldn't even have gotten that issued from base...we wouldn't qualify because we don't have 4 kids!!!



Moving on...There is a door to downstairs which opens into a large finished, tiled basement (Taylor's man cave...he already has big plans). The laundry room is off the basement and there is a storage room off the basement as well, probably as big or bigger than my upstairs room back home in Franklin. It is fully tiled and then there is a door from that into the garage that is also tiled!! This tile here is awesome! The garage is for 1 car, but is so deep you could almost fit two probably!



Then upstairs it is hardwood and there are 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths. The master bedroom has sliding doors that open out onto a balcony that is above the patio off the living room. One of the bathrooms is bigger than one of the bedrooms (that's gonna be mine...I already claimed it!!) and the other bathroom contains the shower, but is much more size appropriate for Taylor's needs :) The smallest bedroom is going to be our closet, since the Italians don't believe in building them into the rooms! It will hold all of our wardrobes (big ugly pieces of furniture that allow you to hang clothes...like a closet would do for you!!) Although my bathroom is so big, it currently has a wardrobe in it and there is still plenty of room...I'm deciding if I should leave it or move it.



So I think that's all of it...but we are both SO SO SO excited. I know my other posts talk about how much I love San Giovanni di Polcenigo...and I sure do, and all the houses we looked at were in that region except this, but we'd be stupid not to take this offer! We have yet to see a house this nice and updated with this much space. San Quirino is about 15-20 minutes from San Giovanni. It isn't right at the base of the mountains it is out just a bit in more of a farmland area, although we're only about 3 blocks from San Quirino's town square! And our internet service should be better...we've been told it's very spotty when you get closer to the mountains...and without Skype I think I'd be one sad girl. San Quirino is also where the vineyard was that we went to on Friday...plenty of good things in town :) We've already been looking at furniture (bc we'll need an extra couch now) and grills and all kinds of things. Some may be wishful thinking, but it's fun to browse!



We also met our neighbor already! His name is Rosario and he is 83 years old. While we were looking at the house he invited us over for a glass of vino. So we sat and talked with him for awhile. He gave me red wine, many know I'm not a huge fan of red, but I couldn't turn that down, you better believe I drank the whole thing. I'll be learning to like it soon! Rosario speaks good, but a little butchered English. He used to work on a US military base, but he is a very sweet, funny old man. His wife of 50 years died 4 months ago, so it was hard when he was showing us pictures. He said he'll teach us Italian, a lesson each day :) He tried to make spaghetti for us, but we had to get back to base to sign contracts and accept the house! I love it!!!

So we signed...it's ours! We move our bags in on November 3rd and they will deliver temporary furniture the same day...bed, couch, table, etc. In the mean time we are going to try to buy Taylor a car tomorrow and the plan is to go to Venice on Friday, just for the day. We're going to scope it out and see what we can find. Hopefully go to a nice dinner (birthday dinner!!!) and then take the train back that night!

On Saturday we have a Halloween party at the Piernicks. I was sure we wouldn't be doing anything for Halloween this year so I don't even have a costume. I'm gonna be that girl who is too cool to wear a costume on Halloween...when in truth it is due to lack of prep time and I left my costume box at home! If I had known I'd have this much storage the costume box would have come to Italy...but I had to prioritize!!

Sorry this post is so long, but I knew I had to give details to satisfy my family's curiosity!! I have pictures, but I'm not fighting the battle with the internet to upload them because I'm fairly sure I'd lose. They'll have to be posted on Tuesday when we move back on to base for 1 night...yeah...annoying! Oh well...hope this uploads!! We'll see!

Ciao, ciao!