It's a small world after all; no, really, it is!

So I tried to keep a running tally of the things I wanted to share from the past three weeks as I was debating whether to start a blog, but of course I’m having a tough time recalling everything on command when I begin to write. My apologies beforehand for straying from a coherent timeline; I will be jumping around from story to story as I am reminded of them.

Which brings me to this: Two weekends ago, my co-workers invited me to a poker game at this place called Carney Park (don’t worry, I’ll get back to the poker part). The rumored back story behind Carney Park is that the Navy bought a large, empty piece of land from Italy in the 60s and turned it into a recreation area complete with soccer and baseball fields, volleyball and basketball courts, a swimming pool, cabins, tent sites for camping, etc. It’s actually kind of bizarre, because all of this is enclosed in a large crater, with wall-like hills surrounding the flat park. And unfortunately, you need a car to get to it (I hitched a ride with a co-worker; many of the enlisted Navy guys buy beat-up old cars since they are here for two or three years).

It definitely did not feel like we were in Italy; we grilled hamburgers and ate s’mores! As for the poker game itself, it turns out that despite hailing from Vegas, I have no talent for poker (and no beginner’s luck) and ended up the second player eliminated. Side note: Will eventually won, after about 5 hours of play, although that is counting the time we spent lingering outside waiting for firemen because someone thought it was okay to smoke inside and set the fire alarm off! Genius.

And now for the truly crazy part of this story: I was talking to my co-worker, Colby, over hamburgers and somehow we got onto the topic of Northwestern and Illinois in general. He casually mentions that his family is originally from Illinois, so I naturally ask, “where?” just in case I’ve heard of it. Well, he says that his father is from Aurora and I say no way, that’s where my dad is from too! But it didn’t stop there. Not only are both our dads from Aurora, but they went to high school at Marmion together, only a few years apart! I asked my dad about it later and he remembers Colby’s father and uncles, although my dad’s friends were closer to them than he was. It was weird – of all the places in the world, of all the people I could meet/work with, and here is this connection. I’ve proclaimed it my “Small World Story #2” (I don’t think anything will beat running into a freshman year high school classmate in a Guatemalan hostel – but prove me wrong, world!).

Italian pop music

Ooo, I just heard this at the gym and it reminded me to share. To get my daily dose of Italian culture, I listen to the radio and have discovered this guy.

Not bad, huh? A little JT/Backstreet Boys-esque, perhaps, but I like it.

Today's Unintended Theme - Transportation. Or the Lack Thereof.

So as not to disillusion anyone, living in Naples has not been as glamorous as it may seem; I was sent here to work and I spend a majority of my time doing just that. Good thing I like my job (I’m basically doing the same work I did back in DC, except with a different audience – more about that later). Capo’s distance from the city center and my lack of personal transportation (e.g. rental car) also complicate things. I rely on the Alibus, which conveniently runs from the airport to two major piazzas in Naples proper, to get to fun places. However, it stops running comparatively early in the evening (flashbacks to the Purple line at Northwestern!) and once you get into the city, it’s an expensive cab ride back if there’s no more 3 euro Alibus. And watch out for the notorious Italian transportation strikes – this past Friday, Will and I had grand plans to get pizza in the city, but alas! The Alibus was only running during rush hours, so we ended up eating dinner…at the airport. To be fair, the pasta was decent and you can even buy an individual bottle of wine to go with it. Classy.

Not that I would want a rental car to drive myself around Naples anyway. The traffic here is not quite as bad as it was in Cairo, but the same principles apply – lines don’t mean anything, stop lights are a suggestion, and hey, let’s try and fit as many cars as we can into this narrow alley! At least the Neapolitan cars don’t have rusted through floorboards and are mostly from this century. Another difference is the scooters; I’ve never seen so many Vespas (and specialty Vespa paraphernalia stores), which seem to be the chosen mode of transport for many families here…yes, entire families on one scooter.

Although the transportation situation is not ideal, I have only myself to blame for falling into the routine of work, gym, cook, eat, on base and I am determined to get into the city more often. Plus, I saw these really fantastic boots in the city on Sunday that I want to buy...

day one...just three weeks on

Mark this momentous occasion – I, the infamously poor communicator, have decided to blog! After three weeks of internal debate about whether I should do it and half a week worrying about coming up with a clever blog title, I finally took the plunge. Hopefully, this will be the first entry of many chronicling my adventures in Naples, Italy and wherever else this three month rotation may take me.

To catch everyone up on my first 3.5 weeks here, I arrived in Naples, Italy on October 3rd as the next ONI analyst temporarily assigned to the US Navy’s 6th Fleet. I live in a hotel and work on base – a first for the civilian me – in Capodichino. Yes, it is next to the airport.

After successfully battling jet lag by accompanying the other ONI analyst here, Will, to the bigger and better “Support Site” (nicknamed by some as Fortress America), I quickly realized that culture shock would be hitting me from two directions – US military life and Italian life. The visit to the support site really drove it home for me, as we went from battling chaotic traffic and blinding smoke from trash fires on the autostrada to the perfectly organized commissary supermarket, fully stocked with American brands.

The subsequent three weeks have been an interesting mix of American military-Italian experiences, which I will get around to sharing when it’s not 0015 on a work day.

I’ll leave you with this: who can spot the double-meaning behind my blog title?