An exciting 24 hours

I'm sure most of you have either heard or seen our posts on the big win Tyler's team had on Sunday night, but I need to share more on it! It was such an exciting game and this is the type of game that athletes live for and fans can only hope to witness. 

They were playing the number one team in their league so going into it, everyone knew this was going to be a tough game. Tyler's team started off very strong. They lead pretty much the whole first half and were up by 8 at half. They continued to play strong and were up by 10 at the end of the third. I was feeling very hopeful but I also knew that Tyler and his teammates had to be feeling a little fatigued. They have a couple of teammates that are hurt right now and they only had 6 or 7 guys who were consistently playing in the game. The crowd was going insane though - chanting songs and cheering, so I knew that this was going to give them some adrenaline to feed off of. The other team was determined to fight back though. They came back and tied the game with about five minutes left and then pulled ahead and were up by six with only 2 or 3 minutes left. I started to mentally prepare myself on how I was going to attempt to make Tyler feel better if they lost this game. I realized nothing I was going to say would be able to comfort him if they lost because he would tell me that they should have won this game - which he would have been right about. I started praying and hoping that they would somehow pull it together... And they did just that! 

Get out of here!

Doing what he does best!!

They were down 3 with 1:26 left in the game and they got the ball to Tyler who scored a lay-up to bring them within one. The other team answered though, and we were back down by three again. It was now about 50 seconds left and we brought the ball back down the court. The other American on Tyler's team (His name is Jazz) shot and hit a big three! It was now a tied game with 36 seconds left. A timeout was called and this is when I started to get extremely excited! I knew they could do it but they HAD to get a stop on defense now. After the timeout, the other team brought the ball up and after a few passes, Jazz stole the ball! (Enter freaking out by Kayla here) 26 seconds left now. Tyler's team brings the ball down and they are using all 24 seconds of the shot clock. With a couple seconds left on the shot clock, Tyler's teammate shoots a three and misses. (Enter a big UGHHH - overtime) But wait, there is still 2 seconds left and Tyler rebounds the ball! He shoots at the final buzzer and gets fouled. At this point, it takes me a couple seconds to comprehend what's going on. I see the ref signaling a foul and I realize Tyler is getting a chance to shoot free throws to win the game. The crowd was going crazy and I am one big goon now jumping up and down and yelling at the top of my lungs "OH MY GOSH!!! AHHHHH, TYLER!!!" I then begin to laugh because I am so happy for Tyler and I am thinking how awesome this is that he is getting this big moment. Tyler gets to the free throw line and everyone is saying "SHHHHH!" and it is silent. I can see Tyler's confidence and he shoots and makes it! Enter crowd going wild and Kayla jumping up and down like a kangaroo, throwing up my arms like I am about to do the YMCA. (I hope no one was watching me make a fool of myself!) He shoots his second free throw and makes that as well! The atmosphere in the arena was amazing and I know this is a game Tyler will not forget.  I am so proud of him and so lucky I got to experience that moment with him. 

The Free Throw!

HE MAKES IT!!!

Excited Team!

After the big win!

Tyler had yesterday off which was much needed. We have been discussing that we really need to start taking advantage of being here in Italy and travel! We are in a great location to visit some popular cities: Venice, Florence, Pisa, Milan. They are anywhere from 1-3 hour train or car rides away! We decided yesterday though to go to Vicenza (Vih-chen-za). Tyler met someone when he first got here who has been working for the US Dept. of Defense in Italy for many years. He works in Forlì a few days a week but his family is in Vicenza and there is also a US Army base there. He has told Tyler that if he ever wants to come to Vicenza, he would take us to the base to get American groceries and products. We decided that with Thanksgiving coming up, it would be ideal to get everything we needed there. It's a two and a half hour drive with numerous toll booths along the way, but it was so worth it and I am so glad we went! 

Being at the base was, in a way, like being in America. People were speaking in English, signs were in English, and American stuff everywhere! I am only a few weeks removed from the States so I am not missing things we have there like Tyler is. He has been gone for almost three months now so he is definitely missing American products. We walked into the exchange and we see a fast food court that had Subway, Popeyes, Taco Bell, Burger King, and Charley's Subs among others. Tyler looked like he had no idea what to think! He was like a kid in a candy store and I could immediately see the wheels turning in his mind trying to decide what he was going to eat. I told him I would get a footlong from Subway so he could have half of it and he got two tacos and a burrito from Taco Bell. I've never seen him eat so much so fast! Everything was gone in less than ten minutes and I know he enjoyed every single bite. 

Although our intensions were to get things for Thanksgiving, we went way above and beyond that! We went into the exchange store and stocked up on some American made toiletries. And even though we are able to find all the basic things we need in European grocery stores, it's still not the same as American grocery stores! Tyler was so happy to see everything and anything we have in the States. And I was happy too! I wanted to stock up because I knew this was a rare opportunity. We started grabbing so many random things at the commissary just because we could. At one point, Tyler put jello in the shopping cart and said "Why am I getting jello? I don't even eat jello in the States. I am just getting it because they have it!" 

After a couple hours on the base, we had our fix of fast food and a ton of American groceries. Tyler was so happy the whole time we were there and that made me happy for him. It was a taste of home for him that he doesn't get to experience while he is in Europe. Being away from home for 9 months out of the year starts to take a toll and I am glad he got to experience the closest thing we could get to America. I think if we can make the trip to Vicenza every couple of months, it will be nice for the both of us to have a reminder of home! 

Driving into Vicenza - Beautiful mountains!

Our haul!

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! Enjoy every minute you get to spend with your families - we wish that we were able to spend it with ours!

A silly story to share

Friday morning, Tyler and I had to go to the police station to turn in some paperwork associated with me getting my visa. People that work for his team have been putting everything together for us since we obviously can't speak the language or know all of the rules that go along with this process. They have been very helpful and on top of things and they met up with us at the police station to help things run quickly and smoothly.

We found out prior to meeting at the police station that I needed to bring pictures with me (just like the picture in your passport). I just got passport pictures taken in September to update my passport with my new last name, so I wish I would have known that I was going to need to do this because I have extras at home that I could have brought with me. Plus, I now knew that this was going to be quite the experience going into an Italian photo store to get my picture taken. 

We walked into this tiny shop in the center where this cute, petite middle aged woman stood. The first thing that ran through my mind was "I guarantee she is not going to speak English". Honestly, Tyler and I typically have found that people can speak English at stores or restaurants and have no problems communicating, but this obviously is not the case 100% of the time and the older the person is, the more unlikely they are to speak English. I also am very shy and bashful when it comes to speaking to someone in English. I typically cower behind Tyler and make him do all the talking. This is something that Tyler is trying to break me of and I know that I should be more confident, but I just freeze up and get extremely nervous when I need to speak to someone! This was one of those times where I stayed one step behind Tyler and hid behind his arm like a little child and made him do the talking.

"Do you speak English?" Tyler asks.  The lady laughs like Tyler has told her the funniest joke she has ever heard and says "No". Tyler says "Ok. Passport. Photo. Quattro" and points at me. The lady understands that I need 4 passport pictures and says "Ah! Si! Si! Ok!" And motions for me to follow her. She is speaking to me in Italian but I see that she is showing me where I can put my jacket and that there is a mirror for me to check myself over before taking the picture. I decide that I just want to keep my jacket on and look in the mirror for one second and take a seat on the bench because I just want to get this over with as quickly as possible. The lady looks at me sitting on the bench and points again at the mirror like I obviously need to recheck how I look. Oh boy.  She clearly must think I don't look nice. I get up and go to the mirror to check my appearance. I fluff my hair and press my lips together to even out my lip gloss. Hopefully she approves now and I take my seat again. 

She gets the camera out and is speaking to me like I understand her and is giggling like I am her old friend that she is catching up with. I sit there and my eyes dart at Tyler and he is laughing and smiling at me because he knows how uncomfortable this is making me. She looks and me and motions for me to turn my body at an angle and have my face forward. She is also motioning for me to get a strand of hair out of my eyes so I fix it quickly and sit still so she can snap the picture. She is looking at me as if she is still not satisfied and walks over and fixes my hair as she thinks it needs to be. Bless her heart, she obviously just wanted me to look nice! Finally, she must think I look ok and stands back and takes my picture. She looks at the screen and says "Ok ok" and starts speaking to me again like I will respond right back. She holds up the camera again and I begin to laugh because I have no idea what she is saying. She then obviously begins to scold me for smiling because you can't smile in passport photos so she shows me that I need to be serious which makes me giggle even more! I try to hold it together so I can just get this over with and she snaps another picture. She looks at it and says "Ah, Bene!" (Good) I begin to thank God that this is now over but in a true womanly fashion, she says "uno altra" and takes another picture for good measure. 

She then brings the camera to me so I can review the pictures she has taken of me and pick out which one I want copies of. "Uno, Due, Tre". She shows me each of the three pictures. They all honestly look the same and I really don't care which one I use because no one is really ever going to see this picture. "Uno" I say, indicating that I want the first picture. "Uno????"  She is questioning my choice and by the tone of her voice, I pick up that she thinks this is a bad picture of me. She shows me uno again and goes to the second picture and says "Due!!!" (Pronounced doo-ay) She is stating that she thinks due is a better picture of me but I don't think so, so I say "No, uno" and hold up one finger. " Uno?? Ok......." She says this in clear disappointment that I picked uno over due. I probably should have just agreed with picture number two since she thought picture number one wasn't attractive. 

Finally after my mini photo shoot and her disapproving my every move, we had the pictures that I needed and thanked the little lady. We walked out of the store laughing just because of the situations we sometimes encounter with the language barrier. And it was also funny how critical and serious she was in taking these pictures. These little, funny situations happen all the time to Ty and I and I'm sure I will be sharing more silly stories in the future! 

Adjusting to new things

Being in a new country, you will encounter things and experiences that will be new and different to you. I thought I would share a few things that are a bit different than America. 

Flying in Europe - Unless you are on a big international flight back to the States or outside the EU, you will not board your flight at the gate. In hindsight, I am glad that the first time I visited Tyler, he gave me a heads up on this otherwise I would have been completely confused as to what was going on. When boarding for a flight from one EU country to another, everyone stands in line and goes through and gets their ticket scanned. Instead of walking down the jet bridge and entering the plane, you wait in an area for a bus to come. Everyone crams onto the bus and it drives you out onto the middle of the tarmac to wherever your plane is. You get off the bus and everyone walks up a mobile set of stairs to the plane. (Somehow, I always fly on extremely cold days and am at the end of the line. Happens every time.) When the plane lands at your destination, they park again in the middle of the tarmac and you walk off, load onto a bus and they take you the airport doors. 

Grocery carts and grocery bags - You are going to have to pay for these. When grocery shopping, all the of the shopping carts are chained together. If you want to use one, you have to put 1 euro into a slot on the handle bar and it releases it from the other carts. You get your euro back at the end of your shopping trip as long as you bring it back to the other carts, chain it back up and your euro pops out. It's actually a pretty good system - there aren't random shopping carts all over parking lots because people have to return them in an orderly fashion to get their money back! A lot of people bring their own bags to the grocery store but if not, you will need to purchase them. Grocery bags typically cost around 5 or 10 cents each.You pick up however many bags you need for your groceries at the register and pay for them just like anything else. You also have to bag your own groceries as well.

Milk is not refrigerated - Yes, you read this right and I can imagine what you are thinking. This was probably the hardest for me to get used to. My first visit to see Tyler, I was looking for something and I saw extra cartons of milk in his cupboard. I was like "Tyler!? Why is there milk in your cupboard?!" He had to explain to me that you don't buy milk cold and it only gets refrigerated when you bring it home and put in in the refrigerator yourself. I could not wrap my mind around this! Milk is just sold on the shelf like soda or juice - how can milk be sold at room temperature and not spoil!? I don't know how it works but the process of making milk must be different here! It took me until my next trip to Europe when I was with him for three months to get more comfortable with this. I drink milk all time in the States. I can go through about 3 gallons a week by myself (should I be proud of this or is it weird that I drink that much milk!?) but here, I am taking baby steps and only use milk for my cereal.

Ovens and dryers - Two major appliances not commonly found in European apartments. Not having an oven really gets me. There is only so much you can do on a stove top! You realize how limited you are in making meals when you only have a stove! This year, Tyler and I decided it would be a good investment to buy a countertop oven. It was a good chunk of change but it's definitely worth it. We use it every day and I can make entire meals and bake! This is exciting, guys! Fortunately, this year Tyler got an apartment with a dryer. This is also very exciting! In previous years, we have just had this big tri-folded rack to hang all of our laundry on to air dry. You truly don't appreciate the value of a dryer until your freshly washed and dried towel you grab after showering is hard, stiff and feels like sandpaper on your body. Also, air dried socks are the worst too. Nothing like putting on a pair of crunchy socks and breaking them in for the day! I am thankful my towels and socks are going to be soft and fluffy this year! 

Items that are rare and expensive - You really don't realize how much stuff we have in America! We have entire aisles for soda, chips, cereal, etc. Here, there are only sections of these items in aisles. While we are able to find what we need and have plenty of options, there are some things here that are rarely found and if they are found, it will be a small quantity and cost a pretty penny. Here are some examples of things that are cheap and easy to find in America but if you are able to find them here, this is approximately what you will spend:

6 oz bottle of maple syrup - $12
6 oz jar of peanut butter - $6
3 oz bottle of vanilla extract - $14
8 oz bottle of BBQ sauce - $7
6 oz package of strawberries - $12 
6 oz bottle of salad dressing - $5

Those items are just a few random things that we commonly use in America but are not common here! We obviously get by without having these, but we will splurge sometimes on peanut butter or salad dressing just because there is really nothing we can do about the price!

These are a handful of things that we experience here. Just a little different way of life but when I share with my friends and family, they are always so intrigued. Hope you all found this interesting as well :) 

My first few days

Am I really in Italy??? I think it is still hard for me to comprehend that! I left on Halloween and got here Friday afternoon around 1pm local time. At this time, I had already been up for 24 hours as I can't sleep on planes whatsoever. I knew that if I came to Tyler's apartment and tried to nap, that nap would be about six hours long and I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. I fought to stay up and made it to about 9pm before going to bed. Jet lag, the seven hour time difference, and that 32 hour period of no sleep has really been kicking my butt! I am having a terrible time adjusting to a new schedule and I am a big, lethargic mess! I am hoping that by the end of the week I will feel more caught up!

Besides feeling tired, I am having an amazing time so far and absolutely loving Italy! It is so beautiful here. Driving from the airport to Tyler's apartment, we must have passed dozens of little vineyards. It is so quaint and peaceful that it was pretty much lulling me to sleep on the car ride home! The apartment Ty has for the year is very nice. We even have a spare bedroom if any of you want to come visit :)

Friday night I was obviously useless and Tyler let me be a big bum. On Saturday night, we went to dinner with some people from Tyler's team. Let me tell you - this was an event! We drove up into the hills to this little restaurant. I am sure if it were daytime, the view would have been breathtaking. They said on a really clear day in the summer, you can see the sea. As we were seated, we were handed menus and I tried so hard to understand what I was reading. Can't even lie - I don't think I understood one word! The Italians we with were so helpful at letting us know what everything was. They told us that we would order an appetizer, then pasta, then meat and potatoes, then dessert, then coffee. UMM WHAT?! How in the world am I supposed to eat all of that?! And how do people stay in shape eating like this?! They decided to order some appetizers for the whole table and I just went with a pasta for my meal. They brought out 2 big bread baskets and they told us that in northern and southern Italy, they don't typically eat bread with all of their meals but here in Forli, they eat bread with everything. Hello Kayla - you are in heaven!! Bread is like candy to me so I am perfectly fine with this tradition! Soon after the bread was brought out, appetizer after appetizer was brought out. I couldn't even keep up! I think in the end we had 7 different appetizers. This is only the beginning people.

Next was pasta. I got a pasta with a red, meat sauce and Tyler got a pasta with mushrooms. The meat in my pasta was so tender and Tyler's mushrooms were so fresh (of course I tried his!). The noodles were also fresh and I am sure they were made right in the restaurant. The pasta was amazing. My first experience with true Italian pasta did not disappoint. Next they brought out steak and potatoes. I wish I would have taken a picture of how big these steaks were. They had to have weighed at least 4 pounds and bigger than my face. I was already full after the appetizers and pasta but I had to try this steak. Best. Steak. Ever. My gosh! It was so tender and you could just tell how fresh it was. And the potatoes?? Ok I will try that too. Just as good! They were seasoned with butter and garlic and they were fantastic. I have died and gone to food heaven aka Italy.

I also got to experience my first Italian wine. I think by the end of Tyler's season, I am going to be so picky with my wines! I couldn't even tell you what wine I had but I know that it was wonderful! It isn't that ten dollar bottle that I pick up with my girlfriends from the grocery store for wine night! Don't worry girls, I will share my new knowledge on wine when I get back :)

Tyler and I at our first Italian dinner together

My first glass of Italian wine!

I couldn't even think about dessert after taste testing all of these amazing foods but they insisted that I must try something. Italians do not take no for an answer! So Tyler told me he would split something with me (which means I try it and he eats the rest haha). We got what was almost like a custard that had a lemony taste with nuts and berries. Again, very fresh and although I am not a huge lemon fan, I really liked it.

After three hours and being put into a food coma, I had my first Italian meal. Since then, everything I have tasted has blown me away. How is everything sooooo good here?! I think that I could make this whole blog solely on the food that I eat here!

Besides eating and sleeping, I have gotten to experience a few other things. Tyler had a game on Sunday and it was so nice to finally see him play again! Forli has some very passionate basketball fans and they support their team win or lose. There was so much energy in the arena and I am happy that Tyler is on a team where the fans are excited about basketball. The fans are so proud of their team and they love watching the players work hard. They cheer for everyone but boy, if they don't like something they will let you know that too! There were a few iffy calls that the refs made and the crowd was enraged. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, was screaming at the refs. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but I can just about imagine. Here I am, this little American girl sitting in my seat wide eyed, while everyone else is on their feet screaming. Even though the atmosphere got a little intense, I would rather the fans be so supportive of their team than just sit there and not care at all.

Trying to get an action shot of Tyler (#8)… This is about the only one that wasn't so blurry!

After Tyler's game, we went to dinner (again I could share how AMAZING the food was, but I am sure you get the picture by now) and walked around the center. The center is not the biggest but it is beautiful. It has lots of little shops, bakeries, restaurants etc. Tyler insisted that we get some gelato so that I could try it (I think he secretly just wanted it himself). Once again, I can't explain to you how sweet and delicious it was. Sitting in the center in Forli, Italy with my husband, eating Italian gelato on a gorgeous 60-something degree night in November, I realized once again how blessed we are. Tyler and I both realize that this is an experience that we will forever cherish. We are both so happy to finally be together and and we are enjoying every minute of it. We have already made wonderful memories in just the past few days that I know we have a lot in store for us to come!

Gelato :)

                           

The Center at night