During the past week and a half or so, I have gone to Pompeii, celebrated Easter with new friends, gone to see 10 apartments, had gelato, tried to "explore" the area- and gotten on the wrong train going in the opposite direction not knowing how to ask for help in Italian (that's always fun), experienced my first Italian market on a day trip, experienced my first Italian shopping mall, test driven two cars, went to Sorrento, found an apartment that we love, and probably made 20 round trips to and from the Commissary on base so that when I'm greeted with "What's for dinner?", I actually have something on hand. Whew! It is so funny that when one of Ben's friends took us out for the day we actually showed him how to get around downtown, that goes to show how many times we've been there in the past several weeks!
Our new home- if all goes well with the processing:
The pictures are of the entryway, the nice high ceilings, the view (the water from one side, the courtyard and square "piazza" on the other, and the enormous rooftop terrace attached to the apartment!
I think the most amusing experiences over the past few weeks have been my encounters with the language barriers. For instance, when my friend Darlene and I went to the Carrefour (large supermarket) at the Italian mall last week, we stood in line at the checkout to be told that we were the last people in line before the cashier was going close down her aisle. Simple, right? Not here! As we were standing in line about 30 people, no joke, came up behind us at different times to queue and we had to look helplessly at the lady standing in line ahead of us to explain to them that the line was closing because our charades game where we were trying to explain "CLOSED" did not seem to work at all. We even tried to say "Chiuso" several times, which means closed in Italian, but they still didn't get it. It's humorous that when they know you're American and speak English, children look at you like you're from another planet. They smile at you (and Italian children are absolutely gorgeous and better dressed than Ben and I put together) but stare while you're speaking as if it's some kind of entertainment because they're not used to it. Anyway, long story short the woman ended up having to open her aisle back up because no one would listen to us or understand what we were telling them. Obviously, we felt very, very bad but at the same time think they need to invest in some chains or obstructions to close down the grocery line like normal people do!! Apparently, Italy is still behind when it comes to certain things:)
Last week when Ben and I thought we knew it all, we hopped on the train to go downtown. I realized immediately that we were going the opposite way. We looked at each other, clueless as to what we should do because we didn't know how to ask for help and when we did ask for help no one could tell us what to do- where to get off and switch trains, etc. So we went about forty minutes out of our way, but I guess that's what we get for assuming that we had it all down this soon!
How about the fact that it took me a week and a half to do laundry because I can't figure out how to use the washer and dryer since it's all in Italian?! Or that I have to use Google translate to leave notes for the cleaning ladies otherwise we'll end up with no toilet paper?!
Did you know that the "funicolare" is actually a real word? I didn't! I was asking for directions from a (bar aka in the US, cafe) waiter the other day and he told me to go to the funicolare down the street. When I looked at him, confused, he said, you know, funicolare! And started to sing the "funicoli, funicola, la, la, la" song that I thought was a kid's nonsense song. It all made sense once he started singing! So now I know that "Funicola" means cable car or trolley in Italian and every time I see the sign for it I get the song stuck in my head.
Another funny experience is when we would be speaking with several landlords or other people and they would keep making the same gesture with their eyes. Where they would pull the bottom of their eyelid down in an "I'm watching out" kind of way. It was actually kind of a creepy thing but I waved it off as some kind of new expression or something. Funny enough, when I went in to sign up for Italian class with my teacher Giuseppe, he gave me a book of Naples hand gestures, which contained the weird gesture as, sure enough "I'm watching you or I'm watching out for you!" as an actual Neapolitan hand gesture. Not only do they really talk with their hands here but there is actually a class offered to teach "Naples hand gestures." Ben and I were laughing as we read through the booklet and were able to identify some of the non verbal "statements" we've seen people make.
Aside from the non verbal communication, when they do communicate verbally, they are LOUD! They speak loudly, passionately, and it's great. Except when you can't tell whether they are yelling at you or trying to explain something. We haven't had too many run ins so, so far so good!
We love Italians and their crazy ways.
I'm probably going to hear, "What's for dinner" in about ten minutes so I better run. I'm going to start pretending that I don't speak English and stare at him when he asks. Hehehe. We will post pictures of our day trips asap to make all of you jealous:)
Shopping in Italian markets! 
Ah! That apartment looks amazing and the area around it os simply beautiful!! So happy for you guys!!! Bellismo!!! :)
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