Sorry this has taken awhile.

Dear friends,
I apologize for the tardiness of this latest entry.  The only excuse I have to offer is that I have been a survivor.  For those who have made overseas moves (and the subsequent frustration of the housing office to say the least) know that to survive is everything.  I have been apartment hunting in the Pozzuoli area of Napoli.  This was told to me to be where the youngish non-married officers live.  Being one such individual, I naturally gravitated to that area.


But not alone.


With my trusty Courtney at my side (the only married youngish person in Pozzuoli), we went forth to seek and decide what apartments would be the ones for me.  


I learned some valuable lessons.
1) Never expect the realtors' cars to be air conditioned.  That is a silly assumption.
2) Never travel alone.  Courtney and I were afraid of certain abduction at one point and she actually texted Dave to have a last known whereabouts on us if we never returned.
3) Italian women wheeze.  Yes, like instead of breathing.  I was trying to breath out when one realtor was breathing in so as to avoid as much harmful toxin filled air as I could.
4) If the realtor has a son, she will pawn you off on him.
5) If the said realtor's son already has a girlfriend and you try and explain that maybe she will end up liking his girlfriend, the realtor may stop stop driving on a highway to stare at you as if you are insane.  
6) If a place looks like its in the middle of nowhere, no matter what the realtor says, it IS in the middle of nowhere.
7) When you give a realtor your number, and they happen to like you (and hope to eventually get you married to their son) they will call you in the Navy Lodge once a day to check on you and remind you that they still don't like the son's girlfriend.  How could she? she asks me.  The girlfriend doesn't go to church!
8)Just because you have selected a place and you put a contract on it does NOT mean you will move in soon.  On the contrary, it means they now have a starting point for all their meetings, inspections, coffee breaks, more meetings and more inspections and one last coffee break.  Then you may move in to the apartment in 2 months.  God willing.


These are just a few of the hard earns lessons to getting an apartment in Naples.  It's even more fun to go to the housing office.  They all stare at you (tall girl in uniform...they call all their friends in to stare)  and then they keep sending you to different counselors til you finally sit down with one who speaks a little English.  Conversations include various "ummm...ehhhhh...how you say....ummmm....ehhhh....ahhh...ok?"  that's a good sentence.


There will be more to come.  I am just burned out reliving those experiences.