Leaving Naples

So our final day in Naples is here. I am currently sitting in Paul's office while he is running around JFC doing the last bits and bobs.
I can't believe how fast our time has passed here and it feels like we just arrived. Well, come to think of it we didn't arrive here until mid September last year so we haven't really been here that long. Normally a army posting is 2 years but the office where Paul has worked in are now being replaced by Canadian staff so all the Brits have been posted elsewhere.
Even thou it's been alot of work and very long hours Paul has truly enjoyed his worked here and I know that he is going to miss his collegues.

I wonder why even thou you know that you are leaving on a certain date you leave some things to the very last minute... Yesterday we spent all day running around JFC trying to sort things our that could have been sorted weeks ago but I guess we have just been too lazy...!
Once back at the hotel we packed our suitcases and I do wonder if BA will charge us overweight.. We are allowed 2 suitcases each however all 4 of them are quite heavy but oh well...as long as they don't go over 32 kg we just have to pay the fine I guess!

I had planned to spend my two last days here lounging around the pool but that did not really go according to the plans either as it has been pouring down rain the last couple of days.
Italy is of course not equipped with handling rain so the streets they flood after only a little bit of rain and today it was like driving in a river at some parts of the street!
We actully left the hotel at 0630 this morning due to all the water and the bad streets which was good because it took us almost twice as long to drive down to JFC as it normally does.

Our last night at the hotel yesterday was spent with good friends who came out for a meal with us. We have enjoyed our stay at the hotel even thou 17 nights is a bit long but at least it was a nice hotel. I am not sure I would have like to have stayed 17 nights at the Agora or the Best Western...!

I better end this one as it is almost time for us to leave. We have given a collegue of Paul's power of attorney to sell my little purple car and the money will all go to Help for Heroes so we need to deliver the car before we get picked up for the airport.

So I guess this is goodbye to Naples for now. It has been a fun ride however I can not say that I would like to come back to Naples again. I don't mind Italy down to Rome but south of Rome is not really my cup of tea. I think I've seen enough garbage for one lifetime during my year down here.... :)

I have to say thou that it is a great opportunity and a privilige to be able to live and work here because I think that many of us would never have come to Naples otherwise. We have also made alot of new friends whom I know we will see again at some point in our life so overall it has been a very good posting for us out here.

Now it's time to go back to the UK for a few weeks of vacation before we start our new adventure in Brunei!

FC Napoli Mania...!

After a crazy hectic week at work for both Paul and I decided to have a lazy day at the hotel doing bugger all all day! It started out well by a nice and relatively quiet breakfast. As with any normal Italian breakfast you have the choice between your marmalade or chocolate croissant.. I have to admit thou that they do try and make an effort here and have a breakfast buffet (even thou al ot of it is cakes...) and you can even get fresh fruit which I like.

I talked Paul into going to the pool for a couple of hours. Paul's idea of fun is definitely not associated with any kind of water activities but me being Swedish and having a mum who worked all her life as a swimming teacher, well let's just say that I do like to be in the water!
We actually ended up having a nice relaxing time down there and apart from a big frog, I had the pool to myself.

At lunch time we took our books and went into the main bar for a light and quiet lunch, but oh were we wrong. 10 minute after us the entire FC Napoli team comes in and within seconds young crazy girls came out of every corner!

The poor football players tried to have coffee but where attacked by crazy Italians who all wanted to have their photo taken. We had a great time watching this madness as it seemed like the fans did not even bother to ask for permission, they just frankly jumped into the laps of these poor guys.
As a true Italian all the players are carrying their man bags and Paul is dreading that I am gong to buy him one... :)
We sat just behind some of the more popular players and I was very tempted to make funny faces when people took photos but I managed to behave...but it was very very tempting...

At one point someone was filming them and I had this urge to jump up and do my pengiun walk but I managed to restrain myself...

Life at Holiday Inn Castelvolturno

Last Tuesday we moved into the Holiday Inn which is nice but feels kind of weird since you have that vacation feeling when you are in a hotel - but we are still working!
The Holiday Inn at Castelvolturno is one of the few 4-star Holiday Inn in Italy and I have to say that even thou Italian hotel standard is way below the rest of the world, this is very much a 4-star hotel.
Of course you have everything else that belongs in an Italian hotel - the rude Italian waiters, dinners who take 2 hours even if you only order one little meal... but still it is a very nice hotel.
We asked kindly for an upgrade and got a very nice room with a wonderful view over the ocean, nice large balcony (just too hot to sit outside on it) and also a nice view over the spa pool.
The hotel has two large swimming pools one in the front and one in the back. The back one is attached to the beauty salon and even thou you might not do lap swimming in it, it is a very very nice pool and much more relaxing that the bigger one in front.
Luckily the army is paying for all our meals and that is a very good thing because the hotel is extremely expensive! A small starter (like a salad) and a normal main course (pasta, chicken) costs around 40 euro and then you add a drink on top of that. Well this is ok every once in a while but not if you have to pay that every day for 16 nights.. and that is only for one meal!
Since we are in Italy breakfast is not included and we have to pay 15 euro for breakfast... (well the army does, but still...)
I have now started my last week at work which I today spent combined with doing laundry. Since we are at the hotel there is no laundry (unless you want to pay a fortune for dry cleaning) so I brought our stuff with me to the Canadian centre where they have laundry facilities. Carole and I had a good laugh before we managed to figure out the laundry machine and I ended up washing my clothes for a good 2 hour cycle... (they sure must be clean by now..)

Packing

So the dreadful weekend is here with means that we need to pack and sort out our house. Pickfords (the moving company) are packing everything up for us but you still have to pack a few things and prepare as much as possible so that it will go reasonable fast once the movers are here.
We started the day off with the two last episodes of Dexter before we got started but now to my big surprise we've been very productive for a couple of hours (hence the break..).
The guy who is moving into our house is already in Italy so he's coming around in an hours time to have a look at his home to be - just hope it won't scare him off considering the mess at the moment...
I am very sad to leave my beautiful plants behind but my neighbour Geraldine will look after them so at least they are going to a good home :). Oh well, I am sure I can buy plenty of new plants in Brunei to fill the house with. Talking of house, we still don't know what we are moving into in Brunei so it will be either a house or an apartment. When we moved here to Naples we did not find out where we where going to live until the day of our arrival... (there is just no such thing as planning....)
We are also waiting to hear that our flights to Brunei are confirmed because now we have arranged everything back home for our departure on the 11th so hopefully that will not change (although.. you never know...)
I guess I should drag myself from the sofa and continue with my packing. The sooner I get done the sooner I get to have a Bellini as a reward.. or two :)

The movers are finally coming

After almost a year here in Naples, Italy it is time for us to move on to Brunei.

Paul is posted here to JFC which is the joint allied headquarters for Nato.
Originally we where meant to stay here until Oct 2010 but the Brits decided to leave the post of DCOM (Deputy Commander) to the Canadians which means that the Brits working in that office gets sent elsewhere. The General is going back to the UK, Andy and Linda are going to Holland, Chris and Marcie are going to Jamaica and we are soon on our way to Brunei!

So we finally got the call yesterday, Pickfords are coming to move our furnitures - on Tuesday! Oh well.. there is no such thing as the present and at least they are giving us 5 days notice.
I guess this means that we now have the weekend planned for us and we will be spending it hopefully productively sorting out our organized mess!

We are only allowed to take 9 cubic meters to Brunei so we need to decide what goes and what stays behind in storage. In Brunei everyone gets a furnished house so there is not really any need in bringing anything apart from washer and dryer. Luckily we don't really have alot of things with us out here and the only big piece of furniture is our sofa and the treadmill (and yes the treadmill is definitely coming).

At work everything is now a bit chaotic and people seem to realize that I am actually leaving in two weeks (and no.. still no replacement for me). I am really hoping that they are hiring someone to train with me before I go and I am curious to hear who it might be (interviews where made last week).
For those of you who do not know I work full time for the Canadians (Canadian Military Family Resource Centre) as a program coordinator. So what do I do... well a little bit of everything.. from organizing language training, kids activities, seminars, trips, courses, etc, etc... basically whatever you can think of I probably do in this kind of strange job...

Paul has been really busy since we got back from vacation and of course he caught my bad cold so he has been a bit under the weather these past days. Today the General invited all his staff over for curry so Paul came home quite cheerful after a fantastic Gurkha curry (thank you Pawan for sending me leftovers).

The good thing about going to Brunei (well there are several good things) is that it is a Gurkha regement so I am sure I will finally learn how to cook the perfect curry!