well the lack of entries over the last 5 weeks has been due to me being stuck in Sardinia without any internet access, or anything else!!!!!!  the closest supermarket, if you could call it that, was a 30 min walk away!  as fantastic as it may sound being on a beach for 5 n a half weeks, i can assure you its not all its cracked up to be.  Im so glad to be back!!!!

I can kinda break the whole trip down from week to week so lets see how it goes.  Firstly i was really dissappointed when i got there because its no where near as beautiful and as tropical as australia, the biggest plants are knee high shrubs, so you cant really laze around in the shade.  the beaches arent nearly as big, the water is a gorgeous blue but all the beaches are little bays so theres no waves which gives these europeans a whole different idea about what you do at a beach.  you dont go out and body surf or jump in the waves, you take out your inflatable mattress and float around, like wed do in a pool!  they play beach tennis, or frisbee or they take their little plastic chairs and sit in the shallow water.  by the time we left the beaches were totally packed - august is the busiest time.  we stayed in this little house, and i mean it was tiny but it was right on the beach.  Seeing as the family didnt bring their usualy cleaner on the trip i was responsible for doing most of the cleaning so i had a typical day of making beds, sweeping, packing bags and spending a few hours at the beach in the morning and afternoon. 

I spent the first few nights in my room, just around the corner from the familys house, crying.  its such a different experience to be live-in.  there was no one i could talk to and even when you arent working you can get away from the screaming kids.  It has been the hardest time out of the whole 3 months.  So the first week was mainly working out the routine and getting used to everything, then in the second week we had a friend with 2 other kids come stay with us and that made it a lot easier becasue elisabetta and i both had someone else to talk to and the mother Paola would help me out a bit from time to time and she was great.  I got to try a lot of typically sardinian sweets and a few different pasta dishes.  Oh yeah, one of the hardest things was that we were eating pasta for lunch and dinner!!!!  the only food i got that wasnt carbs was the fruits i would make myself eat in between meals - mind you ive never had a peach or and apricot that was soooo yummy.  After paola left it all gotta a little stressful again, i got my hours increased cos now we had a normal 3 kids, plus one of paolas and it was just elisabetta and me there to look after them, and i was told i wasnt gonna get my day off at all that week.  I got snapped at a few time for forgetting things like putting teos cap on or not getting the kids completely ready for breakfast before i started getting mine ready.  It was really hard cos they would change their minds and the routine so often i was struggling to keep up let alone stay 2 steps in front of her so she didnt have to worry about things.  and by the end of the week i was ready to pack up and leave.  I ended up getting a half day off cos i think elisabetta could see how upset and unhappy i was (i came back to the dinner table in tears after a call from home) and she even offered to take me to an internet cafe.  It was till later when she couldnt understand why i said i didnt really need to go that i realised that that was her peace offering, whoops. 

I almost wasnt gonna get any days off  at all when i was there as elisabetta truly believe she couldnt handle her 3 kids without me there, but a quick conversation with one of the other mothers set her staight that it wasnt my problem and i needed a day off.  So i spent my first day off with one of the other girls i live with back in trento, Cindy.  i went over to her place and we went to a different beach, and found a little bar/restaurant and ate lots of ice cream.

Our next day off she came to my place and we hired a scooter.  I tried to drive it.  I practised in the car park and then she got on the back and we made the big step to get out of the car park and i ran it straight in to the curb.  we quickly swaped places and she drove for the rest of the day.  It was pretty good as it was our first ride on a scooter in italy and we got to go to a real supermarket and a couple of other beaches and it made it much easier to get to ice cream!!!  We went to one beach - san teodore which was more like the big white sandy beaches weve got back home , the was was so blue and thats where all the young ppl were. 

I will mention now that everyone had assured me not to worry about going away for 5 weeks cos i was sure to meet lots of people because sardinia is such a tourist destination.  well that maybe true, except when you go to isolated little rich trentino family area.  there are no young people in sight, only familys with kids and wrinkly, fat, topless ladies, eeeewwwww.  i was very disappointed.

My next day off was the world cup final day.  i was so glad i got that day off as my family isnt all that into the soccer and i was so annoyed because there was not a tv anywhere around where we were staying so i heard nothing of the soccer!!!  you all probably heard more than me, and i m in europe, 1 country away from where it was being held.  i only found out about the australia/italy match from the germans living next door to us!  Anyway cindy and i went up to her local bar and watched it on the big screen there.  it was a pretty big event for sardinia but the hype on the isliand would only measure up to a normal qualifying match back here in trento.  We had a good night as we met this other aussie girls who works at the bar (7 days a week, not one day off over the entire summer and she lives in a little room above the bar), and a canadian family, with a 14 yr old girls and 17 yr old boy who where just a blast to hang out with!  they were topping up our champagne glasses until i got a cal to get back to cindys place so i could get a lift home.

anyway after the peace offering it got heaps better and one of the new girls i will be living with for the next few months, Grace, arrived next door so i got to talk to her a lot more, and i started to feel like i actually knew what was going on and what i was doing.  Grace is 18 and from the Sunshine coast so we were about the only 2 ppl who could actually handle the heat.  we spent the last week going for romantic evening stolls along the beach and staying up talking till 1am.  the poor thing is such a young 18 year old she makes me feel like some party crazed psycho!  It was good tho, on a couple of our walks we passed a couple of parties that we got called over to, so i went over and had a glass of wine, which i still dont like all that much, and was talked at by these italian boys, in italian and i actually could understand parts of the converstation!!!!  i was so happy.  I really picked up a lot of the language over there and it helped so much.  now i can really boss a kid around!  its that 3 month mark everyone was talking about, things just finally start to make a bit more sense.

I had a day off with her on monday and we went back to san teodoro and to another supermarket and back to the long white sandy beach.  it was nice.

Mario finally came back about a week before we left, which meant we were going out in the boat a lot more which was great, i got to see sardinia for a different point of view and the boat rides were fun.  So the last week really capped it off and i can at least look back on it all with good memories, not like the hell it felt like at certain times.  Although i completely froze just as we were leaving and mario said "oh well we can get that later if we come back in september".  WHAT!!!!!!  it turns out that for the rest of summer our plans are pretty dependant on the weather.  if its good well stay in the mountains for a bit.  if it rains too much they might go back to sardinia.  if her sister makes plans then theyll do stuff with her, who knows and me being the help is always the last to know. we are going camping next weekend - with the baby so that will be interesting, especially seeing as i spent the whole time in sardinia looking after the baby.  she got so used to me she fell asleep in my arms a few times and was happier being with me that her grandpa!  although elisabetta knows i dont like the nappy thing so i usually dont have to change the nappies!

So now im back in trento with a pretty good tan.  seeing as theres no hole in the ozone over here the sun is no where near as harsh.  i would be sitting out in the sun for 2 hours and still not get burnt, i would hardly even get a tan line.  it was a real effort the get the tan i have now but every one has noticed how tan i am, even strangers i met out last night.  And my hair has gotten a bit lighted, so ive got the whole sun kissed look going on.  im not really used to it and kinda thinking i wanna dye my hair again and go dark. 

oh on my last few nights in sardinia i met this aussie guy from nsw who works as a nanny in switzerland.  that was toatlly random and i went out with him a couple of nights and it was kinda relaxing to be reminded that yes i do know what australian boys are like and im so much more happier with my ITALIAN boys!  but the aussie was nice enough and we exchange numbers in case we r ever in each others areas. 

so i got back yesterday and met up with another new girls in the area who has her own apartment.  chrissie is from the gold coast, is also only 18 but is a little bit older than grace.  we went out and met a few new people and just talked and got to know each other better.  shes pretty awesome and i can see us getting along really well.  i really wanna take her out with me for the next two nights - as tonight michele wants me to go see his band play and tomorrow Im gonna go see antonio at one of the good night club spots.  so hopefully it will all be fun.  will hopefully get a chance to update more soon. 

ciao