Troppe cose nuove

Several of you have already asked out what it's like out here and I'm going to be honest-after checking in late Saturday night I only first left my hotel room this afternoon, and no, I haven't left the gates yet.

Yeah. I've done more sleeping than I've done in a long time and despite trying to get adjusted, 2pm just seems like the right time to wake up. Why 2pm? That's 5am back home. The worse part about waking up in the middle of the night is that I realize it's not really the middle the night, but mid afternoon for all of you back home so then I start the "I wonder what mom and dad are up to" and the "oh, I'm missing the Fresno BBQ."

Fighting the urge to crawl back into my bed this afternoon I decided it was time to go check out the gym, so with my running shoes on and my favorite workout mix motivating me to move I left my hotel room. I think I put the housekeepers in shock when I removed the "do not disturb" sign from the door, well maybe just startled them.

First shocker- the sun was out and it was warm! Like in the 70s warm. As in, oh wow, maybe it is summer. I will be happy as this continues- I don't think you all realize just how many summer dresses I have in my wardrobe that I've had to wear jackets and sweaters over to prevent from freezing to death in Monterey, in the middle of "summer."  And hey, with all this sun (even with my SPF50) I just may discover a new tone of beige for my skin :)

My gym rat sense kicked in and I was able to locate it again after it being pointed out in passing in the dark Saturday night. It sure wasn't the gym I'm used to, but after a few more days I'm sure I'll get to chatting up the workers behind the counter and actually figure out just where everything is. Nothing like a little AFN to motivate you while you stare out into a parking lot of people coming and going and hold your breath to prevent from gagging on the cloud of cologne passing by. Not quite the lake with all the birds acting as traffic hazards but again with time it will be my new normal. 

New Normal...whatever that means. I actually was contemplating that while grocery shopping earlier (see, I went out 2 times). There is so much newness going on right now- new time zone, new language, new country, new people, new job, new temperature scale, new places...new, new, new. New doesn't necessarily mean that it's that different but it's still new.  In fact, had I arrived here in Naples and found it just like Monterey, I may have been inclined to fly back. I'm excited about all things new, but it's still nice to pull some familiarity into my schedule- gym trips, chatting on Facebook, grocery shopping.  I know that as time passes, more things will fall into place creating a better sense of new normal but we all know I'm not the most patient of people so it's a good thing I start work tomorrow.

So yeah, tomorrow I'll brave outside these gates and go see a little more of my new home. The view from my window is very promising, but requires a zoom much higher than my camera is capable of to be impressive so you're all going to have to wait.