Bella Italia!

WOW, so another week has passed and a quick one at that.  I got settled into another hotel room and tried to put myself into another routine, which is a little more difficult that it seems.  Our hotel just happens to be about 5k from the city center so I don’t have a car to drive anywhere; my wife takes it to work.  I can’t walk anywhere because we’re next to a highway with not much around.  So, I just spent most of the week trying to work out in the smallest of gyms and getting my school work done so that I could focus on a research paper for next week.  All in all, it hasn’t been that bad for me; however, you may receive a different response from my wife who seems to be having some communication difficulty with the Italian refinery workers. Of course, it doesn’t help that her main contact just happened to be gone this week.

The bonus part is that we’re not in China or India, so the food is basically awesome. My wife has been here before, but to the mainland and traveled all throughout northern Italy.  Her comparison of the food thus far has our circumstance rating below her previous encounters; but my take on it is that whatever we eat here, it sure beats pigs’ feet and beef lungs covered in traditional “Chinese Herbs.” 

Regardless of our TINY hotel room, the even smaller gym, and my inability to head into the city except via taxi (€15), we’ve had a decent week so far.  My wife gets home, and unlike the Chinese, the Italians eat late, much like the Indians, so our “feeding time” has changed a bit.  We now just stroll around the city for a bout 30min before we start looking for a restaurant, which usually opens at 7:30pm, at the earliest.  Now once dinner is over, its time for one of my favorite things in life…Ice Cream!  My wife has exposed me to “Gelato” before, when we we’re in Greece, and it was amazing.  Fortunately for us, they have “Gelaterias” on every single corner. Gelato is basically whole milk/fat/cream etc. that makes ice cream so awesome, and a slight (rather HUGE) difference from the “non-fat, non-sugar” stuff we’re used to in the states.

I know that since I put one of my favorite “things in life” parts in this blog, I must reveal my most devilish fears.  I HATE, and am SCARED SH!$less of Spiders…long childhood story which can’t be detailed, or exposed, without the fear of certain humiliation.  The point is, you can’t trust them, and as a matter of fact there is one on the ceiling just above me, probably trying to look into my soul and read my mind, (thankfully I have my aluminum foil helmet on). I’d normally try to kill the thing, but when they’re positioned on the ceiling within 3-4 inches of the ceiling/wall corner then when you go for the hit, they only fall on you, which instinctively triggers my fight or flight response…I faint!!  So, I know this guy’s game…I’ll wait him out, just like he’s doing me right now.  Once he moves out of the “no shoe zone” I have a size 15 Nike with his name ALL OVER IT.  Granted, my size 15 may be the reason there is a 3-4 inch “no strike” zone but that’s not the issue here; the issue is that the dirty little prick will try too attack me before I can find an alternative solution (yeah, I’ve read the “Art of War”) and I know what he’s trying to do, therefore I anticipate…….with a hairspray can.

 My apologies for the random verbal vomit on my spider issue.  I do need to mention my unexpected trip up the coast today to Villasimus and Costa Rei.  My wife had to go in this morning for her 7^th day in a row (pulling that 70hr work week again), but the other managers didn’t show, but instead decided to sleep in, AND  NOT call my wife.  She shows up, nobody’s around and finds out that there had been a problem the night before.  A phone call would have been nice!  Regardless, this gave us the opportunity to take a day trip and see some of the amazing beaches that Sardinia has to offer.  We found about 5 beaches, hiked down a cliff to one, and drove up to others.  It was an amazing day, minus the fact they called my wife into work at 4pm.  We saw some great sights, had some more great food and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity we had to see the scenery and countryside of Sardinia.

Now, I’m trying to get NFL highlights on the computer, and having our slingbox located in Greensboro, NC only gives us the 2 WORST games in the NFL, Carolina vs. Tampa and Kansas City vs. Washington…wow, why not watch figure skating, it’s has just as much talent.

I’ll keep you guys posted on the “Mussolini Spider” situation; chances are I have to revert to some sort of chemical warfare!

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You Can Always Go Home!

Normally I would kick off another blog by describing the useless tricks I do to keep my sanity in that remote area in China called Jio Kou River Town, BUT…I’m not there anymore and rest assured I’ve done the victory celebration that probably rivaled Ochocinco’s shenanigans in the end zone (if he ever gets there anymore).  That’s right; we FINALLY left that tiny village in the middle of nowhere and were sent to Xi’an (notice the Terracotta Soldiers on the right) to await our next assignment.  My wife got word that we were heading to Quanzho, China.  It’s in the south eastern part of China in the Fujian province and the city we were listed to go to was, by any standards, pretty nice so I didn’t complain at all.  However, my wife got an e-mail the next day saying the project was delayed two weeks so we were thinking of taking some vacation and going to Thailand, but wouldn’t you know, her boss told her to come home.  Given we haven’t been to the U.S. in over a year we weren’t upset at all about not getting any vacation and missing out on Thailand; I’m sure there are plenty of people who are glad they missed out on vacation for one reason or another, and probably plenty of sailors and marines who WISHED they had never went to Thailand. (we’ve all heard the stories). 

            So after we got the go ahead to come home I began to plan on how to surprise my parents; they still thought we were in China.  Another phone call came in with some even better news.  We we’re NOT heading back to China for the next assignment, but heading to Italy, specifically Cagliari on the island of Sardinia.  Of course, that just made up for the 5 months I spent wishing myself out of China and into a hallucinogenic dream world so I could forget the daily irritations and potential aneurisms I knew were coming (I can feel the BP and stress dropping).  So not only are we going to a good location but I get to sneak into NC and visit my family.  Unfortunately my wife had to stay in Chicago for the week to prepare for the next job, but her mom flew up and spent the week with her.  I flew into Raleigh, had my good friend pick me up and we headed to Carolina beach where my dad and brother were fishing.  I knocked on their door and the surprised look they had was priceless, especially considering I just talked to them two days ago from the other side of the planet.  We did some fishing, had some Miller High Life, and wished I had my surf board there b/c the water temp and waves were awesome.  I then proceeded to head home to give my mom the same surprise; she looked like she just saw a ghost.  I had actually called her that morning just to say hi and told her I was still in China, so it was a big shock, probably not one you should give your _9yr old mother. (Yeah I left the first number blank b/c I don’t want to get a phone call from mom tomorrow) Anyways, I spent the week relaxing, catching up on sleep, and doing school work in between kicking the soccer ball around with my niece and nephew.  I don’t know what age you transition from soccer to rugby…but I hope it’s soon.

            I flew back to Chicago Saturday, grabbed some more great American food and then started packing.  We left Chicago on Sunday evening for Italy.  It took forever considering we had two layovers in Munich and Rome, and then when we arrived they had lost two of our four bags.  Fortunately, we got them back late last night and now it’s back to the routine of school work, exercise, and some hopeful sightseeing in between, granted I minimize my uncanny ability to get lost using the simplest of directions. (I’ll keep you posted on that)  So far, this place looks promising and exciting.  Even though this assignment is only 2-3 weeks, I’ll try to take in as much sights and food as possible, because there’s always that very promising option of heading back to China.  I’m just glad I’m doing my MPA online b/c there is no way I’d be able to do it any other way considering we always make travel plans at the last minute and having never been to Colorado, I’m sure I’d get lost there as well.

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Worst Trip EVER!!

So, last Saturday my wife gets the go ahead from her boss for us to leave the country to renew our visas.  Since I’m here on a tourist visa and the refinery has already provided me with two extensions, I can’t get any more.  But, I have a multiple entry visa with 30 day stays, hence the reason we had to leave.  My wife’s visa is a business visa so she can get unlimited extensions from the refinery.  The problem was it was last minute notice, so we had to call the emergency travel services and book a trip from Xi’an to Seoul, Korea. The only problem is that the direct flight only operates on select days of the week.  We had a direct flight on the way back from Seoul, but a connection on the way there.

            Since this was supposed to be an “in and out” trip (we were supposed to arrive Sunday around 1:20pm then fly back Monday morning at 9:20am), we didn’t pack anything except my book bag, with laptop, change of clothes, and my wife’s purse.  We leave Jiao Kou River town Sat. evening on a 3hr trip to Xi’an (closest airport).  We arrive, walk to get some McDonald’s—it’s amazing how good a McDonalds burger is after so much time out in the middle of nowhere,  then get some bootleg DVD’s (got to love these things).   We wake up the next morning at 5:30am, get ready, check-out of the hotel, actually found a taxi (sometimes difficult in Xi’an), and made it to the airport with plenty of time,….everything is going great.

            Here’s where the trip starts going wrong.  We board the plane, and we sit on the tarmac for one hour because of “air traffic”…isn’t that what air traffic controllers are for?   (Hence the name.)  Controllers….control the air traffic, it’s your job! The problem is really China’s market for airlines—it’s constantly growing, and I couldn’t even count the number of airlines they have and routes they fly.  Xi’an is a fairly big city, but the airport only has one runway and waaaay too many flights coming into and out of it.  So, that fun little delay got us to our connection exactly 5 minutes before departure.  Needless to say we missed our connecting flight, for more reasons that I care to explain right now.  We had to call our emergency travel services—of course, after a long argument with Korean Air staff—and schedule the next flight out, obviously tacking on lots of fees .  Fortunately, there was another flight to Seoul from Yantai (located on the coast and only 45 minutes from Seoul) 3 hrs later.  We booked the flight, had a few beers, waited, then got on our way to Seoul.

            We arrive in Seoul, very tired and a little pissed off, then we have to take a 1-hr bus ride to our hotel. We decide to get some Domino’s Pizza…tastes like you were eating the wings of an angel it was so good. We decide that since it’s already 8pm to just hit up some bars, and see what’s going on in the night life of Seoul.  We hit up the second bar, called the Beer Garden.  We figure it can’t be a bad place with a name like that.  Once we arrived, we ordered the 3L pitcher of beer to share and sat back to chat.  10 minutes into our relaxation, we noticed a drunk guy stumbling around trying to say something to us. Needless to say he was tossed out, and the picture is the result of the toss.  This guy was out like the Cubs in the playoffs. Eventually the cops and paramedics came to take him away…hate know what his hangover feels like the next day.

            So, in an effort to liven our spirits, I decide to take my wife to Itaewon, a district near the U.S. military base in Seoul, which is actually pretty close to downtown.  I’ve been to Seoul before and knew that if any place would be lively on a Sunday night, it would be this place.  We arrive, hit up the first bar a GI recommends, and it’s only got about 10-12 people hanging out.  We sit in, have a beer and see two guys having a blast, just “actin a fool” (as my friend G. Paige would say).  Somehow one of them comes to talk to us, then both, and we find out they’re Marines stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul; one of them serves on a “special” detail and has diplomatic credentials (a.k.a. diplomatic immunity).  Believe it or not, I check out his ID and sure enough it’s legit—he travels with the Ambassador and has actually served on some important U.S. government personnel’s security detail (our previous and current Secretary of State).  Both are young, served a tour in Iraq, and are obviously out for a good night. Since both my wife and I have family members that were in the military, we bought them a round and made friends for the night.  We left to see what else was happening nearby.  We arrive at our new location, we have some drinks, shoot some pool, talk for a long time and then the night starts heading south.

            I’ll skip the long details but it involved some pool, a few rounds of beer, and the son of the Irish Ambassador to Korea and his two body guards.  Yadda, Yadda, Yadda, you can see where this goes, so I excuse myself from anything and everyone within 50ft of those shenanigans. I know finding yourself in a situation where two people are in some way involved with a foreign diplomatic embassy sounds like BS…but its ALL real, just ask Sancho, he was there). 

            We leave the bar and find a street vendor outside selling what appears to be souvlaki, maybe Chicken, who knows. (FYI, eating street food that you can’t identify is NOT a good idea)  I grab one and we hail a cab.  We make it back to the hotel, get into our room and I make a call for a 5:30am wake-up call.  And, as you would guess, the wake-up call never comes and we oversleep. So, again, we have to call the emergency travel services, book the same flight for Tuesday, take on the same fees and charges, and then my wife has to call the refinery and tell them what happened.  In the end, I guess it was a blessing since I believe the street vendor food we got made my wife sick.  She spent the entire day in the bed and the bathroom regurgitating anything that she tried to eat or drink.  How bad would that have been on a plane?

            We spend the entire day inside and we rest up, minus my excursion to Outback Steakhouse, making sure to set three alarms for the next morning.  We get up, do the bus thing, check in, and head back to Xi’an.  When we arrive of course we have to sit on the plane because the Chinese gov’t has to check us for swine flu, and that takes another 30 minutes.  We hop off, go through customs, meet our driver…and then we find an English note on the back of his sign that states “please wait, picking up another passenger”. We had to wait another hour and a half for this German engineer to get there.  Finally we loaded up and headed off for another 3hrs trip with another crazy driver. And, here we are, back in Jiao Kou River Town for more fun and excitement!!

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