Our Second Honeymoon

Normally I spend a few days figuring out what I am going to write my blog about. This time I knew what I was going to write about, I just spent a few days procrastinating it. Writing my posts has become one of those things that I put on my to-do list and that sits there staring at me until I get a moment of free time that isn’t devoted to anything other than blog. This happens to be one of those moments.

I’ll pick up where I left off. The bugs were dead and we were being moved to another house. As always, there was a huge language barrier, so we weren’t exactly sure what was going on. They kept saying something about “California” which was confusing. Turns out, they took us to a town called “California” which is 5 kilometers away from Cecina. They dropped us off at a tiny house, even smaller than the bungalow, which was attached to another house where an Italian family was living. We had hardly any space and we were also basically living with another family. We would typically be fine with that sort of thing, but we had paid extra to have our own place for a month with an acre and a swimming pool close to the beach and within a city. They took us 5 km outside of the city (5 km further away from the coast) and took away our spacious yard, and worst, any and all internet access. It was about 5 PM when they dropped us off at the tiny house in California, and we had about 8 hours to kill until we could fall asleep. After about 30 minutes we realized that there was no chance of our USB picking up any internet signal and that we would not be able to work. We found different ways to fill our time that night. I made dinner, we ate slowly. We played cards, listened to music, talked, gave massages, took long showers, painted nails (well, just me), etc. It was kind of nice to have no way of getting anywhere and no internet signal, but obviously internet is vital to our lives so we had to figure out an alternative, and with no internet signal we could not look up other options. We deeply considered buying plane tickets home, but realized what a waste of money that would be for us since we already have already purchased our tickets home for July 2nd and made that a last resort. We talked about calling Thomas and going back to Switzerland for a while. We ended up deciding that moving would be much too stressful and we would try everything possible to stay in Cecina.

We designed a plan and as soon as we woke up we put it into action. We rode our bikes into the tourist office where Sandra (Rosella’s translator friend) works and talked to her about what we may be able to do. She offered us information on internet and suggested that we ride our bikes into the city every day, but round trip that is 8 miles every day on a bicycle. Plus, we didn’t know of any internet cafes (yet). The café that advertised internet didn’t actually have internet, which was frustrating. Sandra also said she would look into the hotels in the area and find out if they offered internet and reasonable prices. We continued on our bikes into the center of Cecina and ran smack-dab into a café that actually does have internet! We were starting to get worried about not getting our work done, but God provided, as he always does. We sat there for part of the day and worked and then made our way back to Sandra who had found us an alternative place to live in Cecina Mare (on the coast of Cecina) in a studio apartment at a resort. She said she would let Rosella know and that we could cancel our reservation with them and get the refund for the days we did not stay, which seemed fine by us. She said she would call Rosella. I asked if Rosella could drop us at the resort since we had no car and two big suitcases, and Sandra said it should be no problem. We were supposed to meet Rosella at the house in an hour, but she showed up an hour late. I tried asking her in the little bit of Italian that I know and with some hand motions if she was okay with dropping us off in Cecina Mare (after all she did put us in a bug-ridden house with a terrible internet signal that she promised would be good, and then took us even further away from the city and put us in a tiny house with absolutely no internet) at our resort. She looked at me and rolled her eyes and then went off on me in Italian. The only thing I understood was "Mama Mia!" I guess she was really stressed from the whole situation, but somehow she had made it out in her mind that it was our fault. I don’t think she ever really understood that if we don’t have internet we would lose our jobs. I think she just thought we were high-maintenance Americans. Anyway, I offered to call a taxi, not even sure if Cecina had taxis, but she shook her head and said she would take us.

The drive there was completely awkward. The only thing she said was that the internet in Cecina Mare wouldn’t be any better than in California. I guess I can understand her frustration. She just lost a month’s worth of business. Hopefully she can learn from the situation to better her future service to renters. After we unloaded our suitcases at the door of Hotel Silioni I gave her a hug and a sincere apology for the inconvenience that we were and then she drove away. We went in and negotiated a price with the owner and took our bags up to our apartment. It has an awesome shower with never-ending streams of hot water, a kitchen, a king size bed with down pillows, and a balcony. It is also about a 5 minute walk down the stairs and across the street to the ocean. Most importantly, it has high-speed, wireless internet! We are feeling a bit spoiled this month.

Jared and I really lucked-out with the whole situation. Crazy bugs attacked us, and we had a stressful couple of days, but it lead us to renting an ocean-side apartment at a resort for nearly the same price. We have been working on the balcony of the apartment with our laptops and then spending all of our other free time walking on the sandy beaches, eating gelato and pasta, and riding our complimentary bicycles (that came with the room) all throughout the city. The weather here has been in the 70s and 80s with constant sunshine and a light breeze. The evenings are comfortable, and perfect for taking walks. The sunsets are bright colors and completely stunning. The city is decently small with lots of restaurants, 2 grocery stores, multiple beachwear shops and souvenir shops, and bike paths along all of the roads. There are 4 gelato shops on one block! We are both having a hard time realizing that we will be spending an entire month here. We agree that it feels like a second honeymoon, only it is going to last for 22 more days!

We went to the beach today and I listened to my audio book on my kindle while Jared listened to his ipod and we watched the sail boats and the people while getting a tan. Our month of May is most likely going to be blissful. I think it will be a much-needed, out of the city, break from being so busy and moving around all the time. I actually got to unpack my clothes and hang them in a closet and know that I have an entire month before I will have to stuff them back in my suitcase! What a comfort. Also, I have some pretty impressive tan lines already. Jared’s are probably better than mine, though… of course.

I am going to go make dinner now. Fried potatoes and chicken tenders. So American. We need some America in our lives. It’s strange that we are spending so much money and time to see all of these places only to realize that the place we are most excited to get to is Danville, IL. Every time we talk about it I get a longing in the pit of my stomach for my family and for Lily and for Buffalo Wild Wings (LOL), and for multiple other little comforts that I won’t mention now. I am finding that the biggest change this trip has made in me is that is has made me look at Danville in a completely different light. It’s not so bad after all.