As promised in the previous post... my newest update is sure to please :D This past weekend was packed with tons of fun :D First, the annual Bella Bafana Bazaar came to base and we definitely took advantage of it:
Just in time for the Holidays, the Bella Befana Bazaar has been bringing a diverse shopping experience to the Aviano Air Base community for 45 years and has grown into one of the base’s most anticipated events. Encompassing an entire airplane hanger with an average of 85 vendors selling everything from furniture and rugs to small gifts and handmade items, the Bella Befana Bazaar is not to be missed!
While you stroll through rows of goods at this coveted event restraint need not be exercised, because when you purchase that fabulous persian rug for your living room, you will also be supporting clubs, quality of life programs, and events at Aviano Air Base. On average, the Bella Befana Bazaar brings in $500,000 over the course of the weekend. Last year, about $80,000 of that went back into Aviano Air Base. The high school club that your child is involved in, the Operation Yellow Ribbon team that greeted your husband when he came home, and the Airmen and Family Readiness Center that helped you get started here at Aviano are just a few of the groups that your purchases will be aiding. The Aviano Officers and Civilians Spouses’ Club hosts the annual event and uses the proceeds to aid these groups throughout the following calendar year.
And it was as awesome as promised!! There were items from Russia to France to Spain to India, and everywhere in between. The items were legit, not imitation or knock offs, and the majority of them were reasonably priced. We got to sample many types of wines, beers, liqueurs, cheeses, meats, and breads. We saw handmade dolls, leather bound journals, antique quill pen sets, handcrafted furniture, jewelry, soaps, local art, and much much more. Not only was it fun to just look around and see the amazing products, but it was a great opportunity to buy gifts for the upcoming holiday season. Of course since it was our first one, I didn't know what to expect and didn't come monetarily prepared to do that. However, next time it comes, I'll definitely go prepared to do my holiday shopping all in one place!
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| Our spoils :D |
We did that little adventure on Friday, and our Saturday was even more jam-packed :D An airman friend wanted to celebrate his upcoming birthday by going to this place called Rampy Park in Piancavallo, a little town about twenty minutes from where we live, and he invited us to join in. Being as we'd never done anything like that before, both me and the hubs were eager to try something new and hopefully fun!!
The adventure park is spread over 50 different platforms in 5 different routes according to difficulty.
They are usable by children (over 5 years of age and 1 meter in height) and adults (no age limit).
difficulties, described as skiing on the basis of colors, ranging from green (easy), to blue (medium / hard), to red(difficult) to black (very difficult).
Before going, I was under the impression that it was a zip-lining thing. We'd drive up to the tippy top of the mountain, get strapped in, and zip line down from platform to platform. I was certainly terrified at the idea, don't get me wrong, but I was ready and willing to step outside of my comfort zone! Plus zip lining had always seemed like the only way my husband would get me to do something daring while simultaneously having my feet off the ground - no skydiving, bungee jumping, or roller coasters for this girl! So when we got there and saw that it was more like an obstacle course and at the end of each "route" your reward was to zip line down to the ground, I was a little more intimated. One, I'm a big girl. It's hard for me to do things that require any sort of strength or physical skill - it's not that I'm unwilling, it's just that my body is incapable in the shape I'm in (my own fault, yes I know!). Two, I am petrified of heights and having to manage my way from one platform attached to a rickety ass tree to another one by simply tight-roping my way across a thin steel cable sounds like my idea of torture. Needless to say, I was shaking so badly by the time I got to the end of the green course that it took me about twenty minutes to regain my bearings on the ground. I knew from how difficult the "easy" course was for me, there was no way I'd be able to complete any of the other more challenging ones. Hell, the "easy" course was MAYBE ten feet off the ground at the highest point, and the other routes went anywhere from twenty to fifty feet off the ground. That alone was enough to seal my decision to stay on the ground and root the other guys on through the rest of the challenges, but add that to the fact that it had started raining - I didn't want to risk losing my balance and be dangling thirty feet off the ground with my puny upper body strength unable to pull me up and finish the course. I did have a blast, the best part definitely being the zip line at the end, but I was perfectly content with sitting out and laughing at the rest of them. I was proud of myself for what I accomplished, as were the other people for me, and I'll think about attempting the more challenging route another time in the future. In the meantime, we're definitely looking for a place around here where we can zip line without the obstacle course part!!
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| The whole gang out for a rainy Saturday afternoon of fun! |
Later that night, after we had lunch with the birthday boy and got home into some dry clothes, we went to the theater on base and got to watch Resident Evil 5! I'd been anxiously awaiting its arrival to our little theater here and was not disappointed (well with the movie - the operators of the theater had a hard time keeping the film reel in its place and they managed to screw up the volume at the most inopportune times, but that's a whole other story)!
Sunday was very lazy. The majority of the people who usually join us for Football Sunday Funday had to work and the ones who were off were either sick or too tired after a long week of exercises at work to join us. But we enjoyed some good food, some football, and some snuggling!
Things are certainly starting to look up for me here. I am making friends, busying myself with actually being social - something that I've never really allowed myself in the past - and starting to fall in love with this country. I still think the food here is seriously disappointing, which makes me even more eager to head farther south so I can hit up the REAL Italian food, but I'm learning to live with the everyday annoyances and just suck it up. The weather is lightening up, getting much cooler, and that makes me happy. Snuggling underneath a toasty warm blanket and wrapped up in a sweater with a book is my favorite way to spend any day and I think I've just needed that feeling of comfort. I miss my mommy more than I can comprehend and if I think about too hard I get all weepy, so I spend my time enjoying every opportunity I have here and hoping that I'll get to see all my family sooner than I hope :D
Thanks for reading! I'm sure I'll have another update for you all again soon, and hopefully it's exciting and adventurous!
Until next time...
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