the id, the ego, & the single misfiring brain cell

Today is my 14th day in Ferrara, Italy. It's in northern Italy, and the local food specialty is a handmade pasta stuffed with pumpkin, served in a butter and basil sauce (or, of course, a tomato sauce). I haven't tried it yet, but I hear it's wonderful. It's on my list.

I'm here for work, so I work. Specifically, we do 12-hour days. Me and mine* get one day off a week and we're lucky to get that. I am, however, enjoying myself tremendously. I enjoy my job and the people I work with, and it's nice to have a strong mission focus again.

* I'm Branch Chief of A6, which covers Communications and Information Systems. I have three people working for me: a Turkish captain, a Norwegian major, and a Greek captain/major (I don't know yet, since he just got here). My boss is Hungarian, and his is Portuguese, and his is French, and so forth. I love NATO.

The cost of living here is high, and I hear it's hard to get a hotel. Most of the Americans who come here stay at the Ferrara Hotel (a four-star) or the Carlton (also a four-star). Apparently, you have to book far in advance to get such digs, particularly if you plan to stay two months. I booked my room two days before I left Izmir, so I took the first place that would put me up for at least a month and that offered air conditioning and free wi-fi. And so it was that I stumbled upon one of the best deals in town.

I'm staying at a bed and breakfast called the Il Bagattino. After I booked it online, I got a message from the owner/operator (Alessandra) asking when I'd arrive and if I needed anything. I said I'd fly into Bologna at a certain time, and would it be possible to get a ride from the airport? She said no problem. She and her son met me on the other side of customs and drove me to the B&B in Ferrara (about an hour away, depending on traffic).

You'd think the military would provide a ride, but this is NATO and it isn't quite that simple. The message I got was that they would pick me up only if I arrived with one or more other people who needed a ride, also. Otherwise, I'd have to arrange my own transportation to Ferrara, which would consist of a taxi (pricey) or a bus to the train station, a train to Ferrara, and a bus from there to my hotel, which can be daunting if you don't speak Italian, which I do.*

* Not speak Italian, I mean.

Alessandra and son showed me the two vacant rooms and let me pick one, then showed me the kitchen and common areas and urged me to use them at my convenience. I have a large bed (about American queen-sized, which is plenty large in Europe), a refrigerator in my room, my own bathroom and shower, and personal service.

I almost always eat a snack in my room after work (instead of going out to eat), so after the first couple of days, Alessandra began to leave a set of clean dishes with a wine glass in my room (in addition to cleaning it daily). Also, I usually don't get to have breakfast here. She serves it from 8 to 10 am, and I leave by 7. I didn't get the "breakfast" part of the deal until I'd been here a week. After that, when she saw what sorts of things I liked, she began leaving a couple of slices of cake or pastry in my room, as well. I get the use of a bicycle to go around town, as well. I plan to take it out today, after I sleep some more.

Another perk of this place is that my American counterparts don't really know where to find me when I'm off duty. Even if they know where I am, they can't get to me. I'm deep in a building behind three locked doors, so they can't even come knock on my door (or "knock me up" as a Brit would say). I get absolute privacy when I'm not at work, which is essential to my sanity.

The B&B is right in the center of the city. I'm a stone's throw from the cathedral and a block from the castle (complete with courtyard, moat, and drawbridges). I'm surrounded by sidewalk cafes and restaurants, ice creameries, and clothing stores. Ferrara has a city wall that goes almost all the way around (Paul, my Norwegian, said it's about 10 kilometers, more or less) which provides a shaded walk in the heat of the day and has wonderful views. I shop in the local grocery stores for dinner salads and bread sticks and Italian wine. I walk in random directions, down elegantly narrow alleys, through archways, on cobblestones. I work most of the time, but I'm in hog heaven.

I'd been here five days when the man doing the Newcomer's Briefing returned to Ramstein. He had no replacement, so my boss asked me to do the Newcomer's Briefings*, because I'm a native speaker. They were doing them once a day, but I took it over at the beginning of a huge personnel turn-over period, so I gave it four times in two days. An American lieutenant who just rotated in from Izmir took it the next day, and I did it again yesterday. Thankfully, we now have a Real Life Support team who took it from me (I have more than enough to do without the inconvenience of being a "native speaker," and thus overly-qualified for odd jobs like this).

* In the military, stuff like this is in every job description, worded as follows: "...and other duties as assigned."

While giving that briefing, I became familiar with one of the hassles foreigners face here: doing laundry. Hotels will do it for you, but they will charge you an arm and a leg and your firstborn child. There's one self-service laundromat, but it's also pretty pricey, time-consuming, and too far away from the town center to be reasonably accessible. There are "lavaseccos" and "trattorias"* around, or so Google tells me, but I haven't yet actually located one where Google says I can find it.

* I think these both mean something like "dry cleaner," but they'll clean your clothes with water, if you wish, as well. You take them dirty laundry and you pick it up the next day clean and pressed; I hear they cost something like 10 Euro per bag (and I imagine the "bag" we speak of here isn't very large).

Since I was off work this morning, I had some breakfast here and asked Alessandra where I can get laundry done. She said she'll take it on Monday, wash it herself, and return it to me the next day or two. Apparently, it's just another service she provides.

I already extended my reservation through the end of my TDY, of course.

It's now noon, and I can hear the cathedral bells clanging. I expect it's between 35 and 40C* out. I think I'll luxuriate in a nap, then take the bicycle to explore the city some more. Later, I'll have a nice meal somewhere.

* Or, in Fahrenheit, "hot."

Unlike almost everyone else I work with here, I eat out only once or twice a week, but when I do, I do it without a pang of guilt. I thoroughly indulge, as I will for this evening's meal.

I'll post pictures soon. Ciao until then.

d