My girlfriend Jess P. always has the right things to say. Usually it's a phone call or a sit down conversation or a lunch that could easily last for hours. But, with me being overseas and 6 hours ahead of everyone her advice was simplified into three mini-sentences. "You're depressed. Get out of the house. Do something new once a week." And with that... I was off. Why didn't I think of that?! I could do something new every day (a little ambitious, yes, but why not start off big) and blog about it - maybe even give it a title. So, that's exactly what I'm doing, friends... a Something New Challenge. This being the first week, I did something new every day - no matter how small it may be - and from here on out I'd like to try to do something new every week while I am here in Italy. Who knows, maybe this challenge will last me the rest of my life (that would be super cool, actually). There is no reason for me to mourn the past life that was once mine. While I miss 2am McDonald's drive thrus with college friends and late night talks with Binghamton students, I love my life with Tyler living in Italy. Yes, the military aspect of everything can be frustrating and don't you dare worry - I'll blog about it to the high heavens - but there is no need to enter that dark place I have been in the past few months. I could get on a whole society-expects-women-to-be-in-an-apron-and-have-a-career tangent, but I'll save it for another day because this, my friends, is a very happy and inspiring post. Let me take you through the new things I did for Week #1 of the Something New Challenge!
Monday
I started off my challenge with a Skype date to my amazing friend Ani. I've spoken about Ani before throughout my blog, but never in enough detail to truly explain what her friendship has meant to me over the years. I'd never be able to put it into words, but Ani has truly opened my eyes to so many different aspects of life spiritually speaking and there is no way to thank someone enough for that. She has always been one of the most supportive and truly, genuinely happy people I've ever met. Our Skype date lasted for almost two hours as she sipped her morning coffee before work and I thought about what I should make for lunch. Typically, she had me crying within 12 minutes of our conversation but by the end I felt inspired enough to write a book on life. I had confessed to Ani that I'm not connecting with many people here and I miss the deep and powerful conversations I once had on a daily basis with friends and students. The most influential part of our conversation was when Ani talked about how important it is for us to see the fruits of our labor, but how sometimes - it just may not happen, we may only be able to plant the seed. It was a completely new concept to me. Truly, daily I would have conversations with students or coworkers where I knew either they were leaving a better person or I was (or sometimes, thank God, both of us were). I could sit back and watch students and myself grow as people as if, as Ani said, seeds had been planted. However, Ani's right - maybe in meeting different people here and explaining to them that Jew jokes and racial slurs offend me - maybe I'm planting a seed. Maybe they'll think the next time they use certain words to be funny and remember that they can really be hurtful. Or, maybe they'll think I'm a pompous jerk from CollegeVille who should go to the kitchen and make them a sandwich. Either way, I have not sacrificed who I am or my beliefs and that feels good.
Tuesday
Wednesday
If you've been keeping up with my blahg, you know that there are markets every day in Italy. For the most part I go to Aviano's on Tuesdays, about 10 minutes from where I live and when I'm feeling frisky I take the 30 minute drive to Sacile's which is on Thursdays. With the Something New Challenge in my mind, I looked up the other markets around me and decided to try a new one. This week I went to the market in San Daniele, about an hour away from home. I took my dear friend Sarah along for the ride and we enjoyed the sites that my GPS decided to show us. San Daniele was actually right on the way to the Zucca Festival I shared with you before. That place is like proschuetto capital and I'll be sure to go back for another week's challenge. The San Daniele market was decent in size and had a few different vendors than I'm used to seeing like socks and my personal favorite Moo Moos. We also met a little chuwawa named Nano who was freezing even in his tent and jacket. The fish market was extreme and had huge squid and eels I had to capture.
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| My pretty friend Sarah & her son Mac! |
During our two hour round trip I talked to Sarah about my new found love of life (Thank God) and shared my frustrations with her about not connecting with a lot of military people. Sarah's been married for over a decade and has so much wisdom to share it's unbelievable. In talking with her, she pointed out that Tyler and I are sort of in limbo as far as what group of people we really fall into. We're young and newlyweds, but we're not exactly eager to take shots every weekend and be out until 6am. However, we don't have children and that can really affect who you end up being close friends with. While Tyler may not realize it (because let's be honest, Tyler is friends with everyone!), there aren't many young-but-old-but-still-young-but-is-it-nap-time-yet couples for us to hang out with. I think Tyler would be content in just having Sandy and I day in and day out and you know, I'm just fine with that and may adapt the same attitude.
Thursday
Over the weekend I had been contacted by MyMilitaryLife.com, an awesome website with tons of military and milspouse information. One of the sections of the site is a blog compiled of a diverse group of military spouses updating the world on their daily lives, giving great advice for military spouses everywhere. I was honored (and shocked) when the creator and editor asked me to write for their blog, seeing that I feel brand spanking new and had absolutely no clue what I could possibly bring to their very seasoned table. But after a few emails back and forth I felt so inspired I couldn't wait to get writing - about my adventures, my transition, and even my gripes with this whole military-wife-life thing. I'm not sure if that means this blog will have less rants because I'll just take out my frustrations over there or if I'll just cross-blog, but whatever the case, I am now an official blogger for MyMilitaryLife. My first post was published today, on Thursday, and that is an awesome Something New.
In addition to that success, Tyler passed his PT test! We celebrated with carbs. After losing 11lbs and being able to fit into my clothes, I didn't have the heart to eat the whole pizza (best believe I ate all the cheese and mushrooms, though). And not being able to eat an entire pizza is DEFINITELY something new:
Friday
Today was more of a something old reNEWed day. I've been to Ikea twice before, which is about an hour away very close to Slovenia. However both times I had went with Tyler and spent a massive amount of money. With a new car, new dining room set and new couches (post coming soon!) - my spending habits are limited. So today I took the journey to Ikea with my lovely Sarah sans our husbands and enjoyed an adventure fit for queens. We spent hours there and I only bought 4E worth of goodies (I know, I'm proud of myself, too) and enjoyed great conversation the whole way there and the whole way back. I know I vented to you all about not being able to find many friends here, but I tell ya, I'll take quality vs quantity any day!
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So - are you up for it!? Do you want to do the Something New Challenge with me? Comment or tweet me on what you did NEW this week!
Great advice especially living in Aviano.
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