Getting settled in.......... .

Some of you might be wondering if we fell off the planet........no we haven't. We're pretty much settled into our apartment. Getting settled into the culture and community is a bit more challenging. The biggest thing I need to learn right now is the numbers. Thank goodness for cash registers that show the sales total. Even when you do learn the numbers Italians speak very fast! We're getting a system down of how often to go to the market. Most stores are closed on Sunday and all the markets are closed til 4pm on Mon. So basically Friday or Saturday we need to make sure we're stocked up til Tuesday.
Doing laundry for 5 people is quite a chore but I don't mind that. With a small washer (holds 3 big towels....my new washer at home holds 10) and no dryer it's a steady job and when you have rain for several days in a row you are left to dry clothes inside on racks. We don't have a thermostat in our apartment so we don't leave the heat on. When it starts feeling chilly we turn the heat on for an hour to take the chill out of the air then turn it off as it's very expensive to run.
The kids are doing well. Homesick but dealing with it in a good way overall. I feel homesick at times too and know already that we will appreciate our life in America all the more when we go home. This is a good experience tho and we will see and do alot of neat things while we are here.
We've become friends with a couple, Dave and Sue. He works with DJ. They are older than us and don't have kids. They've been wonderful in showing us around and helping us become familiar with how things work around here. Friday they took me to a couple stores. A florist, a pottery store and a home decorating store. You can get beautiful cut flowers here inexpensively. They also took me to the cemetary. Wow, what an experience. You're not supposed to take pictures. I wish I could show each of you what it was like. Absolutely incredible. Because we are at sea level they can't bury people underground so everything is built up. The cemetary is like walking through a town. They have tombs stacked 7 or 8 high. It's very beautiful.
Anyway, we are doing good and hope you are too:)