Here’s a broad outline of how the year 2006 has unravelled:
January: sell the great majority of our furniture, put the rest into storage and move out of our house to prepare it for rental.
February: finish up being a Management Accountant at SDS and Tui Na Therapist at Newstead Holistic Medicine, last flurry of goodbyes and panic before flying to Melbourne to greet newborn nephew Lachlan and farewell family. Fly to Thailand for a week of eating, shopping and the amazing city that is Bangkok.
March: arrive in Naples, and stay with Gi’s mother and sister in their one bedroom apartment at Casalnuovo. We spent a day in the snow on the nearby Vesuvio Volcano. Then we took a train north to Udine to visit Gi’s relatives living in the small village of Lavariano. The toddler that we last saw 12 years ago is now a budding 13 year old, Marianna. She wants to go to Australia. Who can blame her?
April: Gigi trying to complete the relevant bureaucracy so he can work. We took a Sunday drive and found ourselves in the lovely Sant’Agata de Goti. A weekend trip to Paestum, the site of the best preserved Greek temples, and celebrated Jenny’s 36th (tick tock) birthday watching the sun set over the Mediterranean Sea from the small harbour in Agropoli.
May: Moved into our urban cave, raided IKEA and rediscovered our independence and personal space. Gi starts working at New Form Care clinic, giving Tui Na massage by appointment. He later joins the Centro Shen association and is allocated all day Tuesday to work from their clinic. Both clinics are within the historical centre. We flew to London and spent ten days visiting friends Garo, Sonya, Tom, Ciro, Fulvio and Sophie in Wantage. Had a great trip but arrived home with what was probably a broken hand after an incident with a bus arm rest.
June: Hannah, AFS’er from Brisbane, came to visit just weeks before returning home. We also had a visit from Doeng, Jenny’s Thai friend Doeng. We took him on a day trip to the gorgeous Procida Island. Danced and sang at a fantastic outdoor Sting concert, held in the biggest piazza in central Naples, for free. Started asking Australia Post ‘where are our three big boxes that we sent in January?” Gigi starts giving early morning Qi Gong lessons twice a week.
July: Witnessed the pomp and ceremony of the inauguration of the new Archbishop of Naples. Jenny photographed New Form Care clinic activities, five of the photos were used in colour promotional brochure. Watched the World Cup, Italy beating Australia remains a contentious issue, and Italy taking the finals against France saw the city of Naples explode – literally and figuratively – with excitement and pride. Met three Sydneysiders and played local tour guide including a day trip driving along the Amalfi Coast.
August: Italy closes for the summer, except for the high tourist trade areas. Jenny’s mum and dad arrive in Naples for the start of a three week tour of Italy. We visited Naples, Amalfi, Florence, Siena, Udine, Parma, Pompeii, Macerata, Abruzzo National Park, Assisi and Rome. Three nights in Tuscany were a highlight. In Rome we met up with our Swiss AFS daughter Lucie, and friend from Brisbane Cieon who returned for a few days of the Neapolitan experience.
September: Jenny completed induction and training at inlingua School and commenced teaching English as a second language. Learning grammar on the fly and drawing on what must be an inherited ability to teach and manage a large group of attention deficit Neapolitan adults (thanks Mum, aunts and sisters). The lovely Peter Turner came to eat pizza with us mid September. Jenny witnessed the biggest religious festival in Naples on the 19th when they celebrate San Gennaro.
October: Day drive up Mt Taburno, where we raided prickly pears, apples trees and chestnut trees. Another visit to Procida Island with Dana and Seb, teacher friends, while Gi gave a Qi Gong demonstration. Gi’s sister, Irene, has enrolled in, and commenced her tertiary studies in Fashion Design. We have been told by both Australia Post and Italiane Poste that our three boxes of stuff can’t be located. Australia Post claims it left the country and Italiane Poste claim it never arrived. Now we start the process of claiming the insurance, and discourage anyone from sending anything to Italy that isn’t registered post as theft seems to be a big problem.
November: Day trip to Sorrento, in an unusually miserable day of rain. It continues to be unseasonably warm for this time of year. Spending time with teacher friends, especially Dana, and have hosted a number of dinner parties. Gi and I seem to be the only one’s who (really enjoy) cook(ing) from this group of transient ex-pats. We are both working and getting on with daily life in Naples. Gi’s sister, Irene, has now successfully got her driver’s licence and has started working part time over the Xmas period. I have started attended Italian language class on Monday nights.
December: Celebrate Dana’s birthday and Irene’s birthday. We attended a jazz concert with musicians from Naples, Israel and Palestine. Jenny had in-classroom observation, received good feedback and finished the teaching year with gifts of jewellery from the attention deficit group, sparkling wine and Pandoro (traditional Christmas cake, a kind of sweet, light bread). Doeng visits again for two nights, bringing fresh lemon grass and tiger balm amongst other goodies from Thailand. Gi’s mother moves house. We have been looking for a new place to live, as we need to move by January 6th. Naples is awash with people shopping and preparing for Xmas.
January: sell the great majority of our furniture, put the rest into storage and move out of our house to prepare it for rental.
February: finish up being a Management Accountant at SDS and Tui Na Therapist at Newstead Holistic Medicine, last flurry of goodbyes and panic before flying to Melbourne to greet newborn nephew Lachlan and farewell family. Fly to Thailand for a week of eating, shopping and the amazing city that is Bangkok.
March: arrive in Naples, and stay with Gi’s mother and sister in their one bedroom apartment at Casalnuovo. We spent a day in the snow on the nearby Vesuvio Volcano. Then we took a train north to Udine to visit Gi’s relatives living in the small village of Lavariano. The toddler that we last saw 12 years ago is now a budding 13 year old, Marianna. She wants to go to Australia. Who can blame her?
April: Gigi trying to complete the relevant bureaucracy so he can work. We took a Sunday drive and found ourselves in the lovely Sant’Agata de Goti. A weekend trip to Paestum, the site of the best preserved Greek temples, and celebrated Jenny’s 36th (tick tock) birthday watching the sun set over the Mediterranean Sea from the small harbour in Agropoli.
May: Moved into our urban cave, raided IKEA and rediscovered our independence and personal space. Gi starts working at New Form Care clinic, giving Tui Na massage by appointment. He later joins the Centro Shen association and is allocated all day Tuesday to work from their clinic. Both clinics are within the historical centre. We flew to London and spent ten days visiting friends Garo, Sonya, Tom, Ciro, Fulvio and Sophie in Wantage. Had a great trip but arrived home with what was probably a broken hand after an incident with a bus arm rest.
June: Hannah, AFS’er from Brisbane, came to visit just weeks before returning home. We also had a visit from Doeng, Jenny’s Thai friend Doeng. We took him on a day trip to the gorgeous Procida Island. Danced and sang at a fantastic outdoor Sting concert, held in the biggest piazza in central Naples, for free. Started asking Australia Post ‘where are our three big boxes that we sent in January?” Gigi starts giving early morning Qi Gong lessons twice a week.
July: Witnessed the pomp and ceremony of the inauguration of the new Archbishop of Naples. Jenny photographed New Form Care clinic activities, five of the photos were used in colour promotional brochure. Watched the World Cup, Italy beating Australia remains a contentious issue, and Italy taking the finals against France saw the city of Naples explode – literally and figuratively – with excitement and pride. Met three Sydneysiders and played local tour guide including a day trip driving along the Amalfi Coast.
August: Italy closes for the summer, except for the high tourist trade areas. Jenny’s mum and dad arrive in Naples for the start of a three week tour of Italy. We visited Naples, Amalfi, Florence, Siena, Udine, Parma, Pompeii, Macerata, Abruzzo National Park, Assisi and Rome. Three nights in Tuscany were a highlight. In Rome we met up with our Swiss AFS daughter Lucie, and friend from Brisbane Cieon who returned for a few days of the Neapolitan experience.
September: Jenny completed induction and training at inlingua School and commenced teaching English as a second language. Learning grammar on the fly and drawing on what must be an inherited ability to teach and manage a large group of attention deficit Neapolitan adults (thanks Mum, aunts and sisters). The lovely Peter Turner came to eat pizza with us mid September. Jenny witnessed the biggest religious festival in Naples on the 19th when they celebrate San Gennaro.
October: Day drive up Mt Taburno, where we raided prickly pears, apples trees and chestnut trees. Another visit to Procida Island with Dana and Seb, teacher friends, while Gi gave a Qi Gong demonstration. Gi’s sister, Irene, has enrolled in, and commenced her tertiary studies in Fashion Design. We have been told by both Australia Post and Italiane Poste that our three boxes of stuff can’t be located. Australia Post claims it left the country and Italiane Poste claim it never arrived. Now we start the process of claiming the insurance, and discourage anyone from sending anything to Italy that isn’t registered post as theft seems to be a big problem.
November: Day trip to Sorrento, in an unusually miserable day of rain. It continues to be unseasonably warm for this time of year. Spending time with teacher friends, especially Dana, and have hosted a number of dinner parties. Gi and I seem to be the only one’s who (really enjoy) cook(ing) from this group of transient ex-pats. We are both working and getting on with daily life in Naples. Gi’s sister, Irene, has now successfully got her driver’s licence and has started working part time over the Xmas period. I have started attended Italian language class on Monday nights.
December: Celebrate Dana’s birthday and Irene’s birthday. We attended a jazz concert with musicians from Naples, Israel and Palestine. Jenny had in-classroom observation, received good feedback and finished the teaching year with gifts of jewellery from the attention deficit group, sparkling wine and Pandoro (traditional Christmas cake, a kind of sweet, light bread). Doeng visits again for two nights, bringing fresh lemon grass and tiger balm amongst other goodies from Thailand. Gi’s mother moves house. We have been looking for a new place to live, as we need to move by January 6th. Naples is awash with people shopping and preparing for Xmas.
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