A little Spain, a little Jana....yes please!

Leaving Italy was very hard: I didn't realize until I left how much I had fallen in love with the country, and i don't think I could have left it for anything or anyone less than Spain and my favorite girl, Jana. It was the first time in 4 months and 10 flights that some one actually met me at the airport. We embraced and then spent the next week going to classes, taking a lot of walks, trying not to die from the heat (it was about 100 degrees every day) and riding the metro into Madrid.

I had to fly out Saturday evening from Madrid, so Jana and I spent the day touring around Madrid. We saw Picasso and took a boat on the small lake in one of the major parks. It is one of my favorite memories, but unfortunately, all of the pictures were on Jana's camera, which was stolen a week ago. So the memories are we have to hold onto.

It was one of my favorite memories from Europe hanging out with Jana, because for the first time since flying abroad, I was with a friend that I was comfortable being around and we were able to relax and go crazy at the same time. We had such a fun time together...and parting was bittersweet. But I am so glad that I was able to experience her YWAM dts and meet all of the people that she has spent the past 3 months with.

The most beautiful side of Italy

Italia 058
Originally uploaded by The Enforcer.

I am so tired right now, because I ate WAY too much food. For dinner tonight, I went with my friends, the Picconis (which means pigeon in Italian, haha--yes i make fun of them for that) to Fiorellas (the mother, my moms friend) parents house. At dinner were Fiorellas mom, dad, both grandmas, one grandpa, brother and his wife, and us. Excluding us, all of them live in the same house. The idea of community is very important to them. The grandparents have their own little farm and Fiorellas mom and dad take care of them. It is such a cool concept. Anyway, dinner was everything any American could hope for of Italian food and more. The pasta I had was cooked in chicken broth from a chicken that the family raised and killed, eggs from the chicken, homemade pasta, and then homemade flatbread--which was incredible! Fiorellas mom kept pushing food at me and I ate too much of course, but that is the same pattern for the whole week. Fiorella told me that Italian women believe that "a guest has not been treated well if he/she doesnt leave their house having gained weight"!!! Haha, well I am sure I have gained, because the food is so good, there is always a lot of it, and the women "force" you to eat a lot!

This week has been an amazing experience, from the huge grandeur and amazing history of Roma to the more relaxed lifestyle of the country here in Assisi. Today, Emanuele and Fiorella didnt have work (they are both teachers) so they let their daughters, Valeria who is 9, and Martina, 11, skip school (kind of ironic since they are teachers, pretty funny) and we went to Florence (or Firenze). Yeah, its true I actually went to the county of Tuscany--more than I could have hoped for--and spent a day in Florence. The most impressive things I saw there were the tombs of Michaelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli, and the house of Dante. And the beauty of Florence is almost too much.

Tomorrow is my last full day here. The girls have school--oh yeah, in Italy children go to school on Saturday. I told the girls I think that it is a crime to have school on Saturday and they agreed. Anyway, they will leave after school for a small trip with girl scouts, so I will spend the day with Fiorella and Emmanuele and then Sunday afternoon I will take the train to the airport and fly to Madrid, Spain to spend a week with Jana. Too much excitement for me to handle. I must leave.

Roma, Roma, Roma!

Wow,what a long day of travelingç I cannot really believe i even made it. After all the connections and methods and forms of travel.

bus--train--bus--airplane--airplane--bus--train--metro--hostel

Walking around our hostel and getting lost did suck, and developing blisters on the feet--I guess that was good to get over. But dinner was so nice. For 8 euros each, Paj Ia and I had past and 2 glasses of white wine (vino bianco)ç we sat outside (and it was warm!) and an old Italian chef brought us each our meal. Can you get more Italian?? No, not for your first attempt in Roma!

I felt kinda tired after dinner, but I knew that Paj Ia and I should go out. So we took the metro to see the colloseum at night--BEA-UT-I-FUL! I couldn't believe it though, that we were actually standing outside the Colloseum. P. and I went crazy. we skipped around taking pictures and being complete tourists, saw some ancient sites, and just relaxed. Then we found the Trevi fountain and ate excellent gelato there. We were given some roses and took more pictures. We got hit on by 2 different men--Paj Ia said she was from Thailand and I told a man he could buy me pizza if fate brought us together again! Yeah, Italian men are too romantic ;)

Oh and a lady spit on Paj Ia for taking a picture--she was a bitter Italian woman, very unusual. After a couple of buses we made it back, exhausted but we had an amazing night.

Wow,what a long day of travelingç I cannot really believe i even made it. After all the connections and methods and forms of travel.

bus--train--bus--airplane--airplane--bus--train--metro--hostel

Walking around our hostel and getting lost did suck, and developing blisters on the feet--I guess that was good to get over. But was so nice. For 8 euros each, Paj Ia and I had past and 2 glasses of white wine (vino bianco)ç we sat outside (and it was warm!) and an old Italin chef brought us each our meal. Can you get more Italian?? No, no for your first attempt in Roma!

I felt kinda tired after dinner, but I knew that Paj Ia and I shoud go out. so we took the metro to see the colloseum at night--BEA-UT-I-FUL! I could believe it though, that we were actually stanidng outside the Colloseum. P. and I went crazy. we skipped around taing pictures and being complete tourists, saw some ancient sites, and just relaxed. Then we found the Vince fountain and ate good gelato there. We were given some roses and took more pictures. We got hit on by 2 differen men--Paj Ia said she was from Thailand and I told a man he couldy buy me pizza if fate brought us together again!

Oh and a lady spiut on Paj If for taking a picture--she was a bitter Italian woman, very unusual. After a couple of buses we made it back, exhausted but we had an amazing night