House hunting and phones

Today was a much needed break from "having" to be somewhere, and instead we focused on getting things done.
This morning we got our AFI licenses, then Chris went and picked up a rental car for a few days. While he did that I worked through babel fish to improve my VERY rudimentary Italian to set up housing appointments. A word that we are all getting used to hearing is "Domini", tomorrow-tomorrow. As one of our Italian right start briefers said "any good Italian knows to put off till tomorrow what doesn't have to be done today." As frustrating as that is when you are trying to get things done, it's also adding up to be part of the charm and relaxation of living here.
During house hunting we got to visit several small towns near here. Including Maniago, home of excellent cutlery and known for supplying all the swords used in Lord of the Rings, Braveheart, and the Rambo movies. We're still pretty stuck on the original house, and we drove around the village it's in today. Small (not even a one stoplight town), but really cute, and close to base.
For all of you facing this in the near future-let me help you out by giving you some AT&T tips coming over here. 1. they can put you on a military suspension that will allow you to save your numbers for when you come back 2. they can usually supply the unlock codes for your phones 3. American cell phones can usually be used over here-just buy a new SIM card. We have a temporary pre-paid plan so that we can get by and decide what we want to do. Most people stay with a pre-paid plan here, we may go contract-the min. prices are a little better.
This evening we mainly played outside after dinner. The little (!!!) TV, no radio (rental car had it but through user error or circumstance it wouldnt work) we feel a little isolated, but relaxed and good.
After yet another storm last night it was so cool today that I could ahve worn a light jacket with jeans. Between the time change and the fact that we all feel that it must be at least October, our minds have been thrown for a loop. No complaints, it feels great!! It's nice to be able to be outside all day long without feeling that you are about to keel over.