Moving day!

As you can imagine, the road to finding a place here in town is long and fraught with heated negotiation. We have been cooped up in the hotel on base for nearly two months now...though to be fair, we have been comfortable. Needless to say, we have been anxiously awaiting our move and all its benefits: more square footage, a central location, a happy reunion with our home goods...a place to call our own (for the time being).

Yesterday, after many hours of house-hunting (and being shown sub-par apartments for American-sized prices), then about as many hours of negotiating a contract and filling out paperwork in multiple offices, we finally joined the realm of the Neapolitans!

As always on the day of any big event--I don't remember sleeping a wink the night before our wedding, and I didn't do much better before first days of school--I did not wake up rested and refreshed. My stomach was churning with anticipation much of the morning. When the movers finally showed up, they began setting up what seemed like a precarious ladder-elevator-pallet contraption, which they attached to the balcony. We had a brief scare when they plugged in a long cord running up from the ladder and I had to tell them the electricity wasn't working. Fortunately, we were able to scout out a magical box in the basement which turned everything on, and we were back in business.

You have to hand it to the Italians: for all their shortcut-taking and espresso breaks, they come up with some brilliant plans for an efficient workday. (This contrast could explain a lot about the rise and fall of their ancenstors...) What could have been a very intensive move up several flights of stairs turned out to be a smooth succession of deliveries up a motorized ladder and into the hands of a diligent crew, who then had only to go from balcony to designated room. Every single box and piece of furniture was lifted up into the apartment via this system. (After numerious failed attempts to get our biggest piece, the mighty couch, into the door, they did the only logical thing: try to unhinge the adjacent window, which was much wider. Eventually the couch did have to come up through the stairs, but hey, you have to hope for moving miracles!) Our movers were expert and friendly, deftly handling the problems posed by the narrow, 1.5-[Italian] car lane in front of our building. (Solution: park the big truck on the main road, and open the crates one by one into a smaller shuttle-truck, which, mirrors tucked safely in, will squeeze through said tiny lane and deliver its contents to the pallet.)

All in all, we couldn't have asked for a better move. I slept much better last night, though I was up again at five: the excitement of unpacking today had gotten the best of me. (The spirit of Christmas lives on!) We can't wait to get Hotel Presley up and running. :-)

And to anyone who may eventually experience an Italian move: the movers will run, not walk, to the beer and cigarettes you have laid out for them (per the advice of Alan's coworkers), while you will content yourself with the water and snacks left over. Oh, and they have a particular affinity for chocolate chip cookies... ;)