Italian Holidays

Ciao everyone!  I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and New Years.  Well, the holidays here in Italy were quiet fun.  Christmas Eve I went into Firenze to get out of the house and see some of the decorations in the city.  While I was on the bus, I saw the line for Tiffany's, made up of only men who put off getting a present I guess, and it was out the door and around the corner.  It made me laugh.  As I walked around town I saw the Christmas Tree at the Duomo which was pretty cool as well as other trees in other Piazzas as well as the lights over the streets.  Christmas Day I got to open the presents that my family sent me and got to read the book I got for a couple of hours.  At noon we left to go to a church member's house, Mario, for Christmas Lunch.  It was Ryan and Laura, Matilda (a woman from church), Luli and Danielle (another couple from church who were staying at the school for the month of December), and myself.  Mario had a lot of food for us!  The first course we had a pasta with a red meat sauce, which was sheep meat.  Then we had the main course, the meat course, where we had pork, chicken, and rabbit with peas and potatoes.  It was the first time that I ever had rabbit and i really liked it.  Then we had the fruit course followed by the caffe and dessert courses.  We ate and talked the whole time and didn't get home until after 7 pm.  It was a long day, but it was a good day and a blessing to be with friends and my Christian family in Italy. 

The Christmas presents from my family

 Pictures from Christmas lunch at Mario's house:

Luli and Danille, the people who stayed at the school with us in December

Luli, Ryan, and I

Laura, Matilda, and Danielle

Ryan and Laura

Mario, the master chef, preparing the food

For New Years, I went to Milan.  I went to to the New Years party at the church there and to meet the church members.  I stayed with the missionary family, Lewis and Tammy Short and their three children.  I took the bus and when I got to the stop in Milan I was met by two teenagers from the church, Nicco and Gionfor, and the Short's seven year old daughter Miccela.  They showed me a few places in Milan; the Duomo, the castle, and the Galleria.  The Duomo in Milan is huge, one of the biggest in Italy, and the Galleria is right next to it.  The Galleria is a covered walkway, made in a cross, and has many of the biggest fashion names in the stores there and is the beginning of the fashion district in Milan.  After a while of walking around we headed to the church to get ready for the party.  The party had several members of the church there as well as many visitors that were friends of the members who came.  We ate, talked, and played games.  The games had a "Fruits of the Spirits" twist to them.  We had to walk with books on our head at different speeds to demonstrate self control, we divided into two teams with one member blind folded and we had to direct him to pick up two euros worth of change to demonstrate patience.  We played some other games like Bible Bingo, or "Tumbello" in Italian.  On Saturday, The Shorts took me on a walking tour of Milan and went to the Canal district, a few of the churches, and we tried to go to the Roman amphitheater but it was closed.  On Sunday, I met many of the other church members.  Many members of the church there are from the Philippines, one lady from China, one lady from Sri Lanka, and the rest were Italian.  They were all very nice and welcoming and it was a good experience for me.  I feel very blessed and encouraged by the people there.  I left Milan on Sunday after church and came back to Firenze last night.  

Duomo at Milan

Above and Below: inside the Duomo

The Galleria

the Castle at night

 Above and Below: Games on New Years

 Above and Below: playing Bible Bingo

Here are some of my favorite pictures from my walking tour of Milan:

At Church on Sunday morning:

After I got back to Firenze, David picked me up from the stop, the guys went to see Tron in Italian.  We went to a mall here that had a theatre, but we had some trouble with the tickets and by the time we had it straightened out we missed our time and had to wait another hour and forty minuets. So we ended up going downstairs and went bowling!  It was really fun, and David had fun with our names.  The girl at the desk had to type them in and David's name ended up being "Deven", Eric was "Erika" (don't know why), Ryan was "Elio" (suppose to be Leo, but that's not what the girl heard) and I was "Thragon" (as in Pete's Dragon).  We did get to see the movie, but i want to see it in English because it was kinda hard to follow all the dialogue. 

"Deven" going for a Strike

Eric bowling

"Elio" in the Zone

anxiously awaiting their turn

"Elio" winning the game

 As for my vacation travels, I went to San Gimignano one day and Fiesole one afternoon.  San Gimignano is a walled Medieval town in Tuscany about two hours away from Firenze.  It still has 14 of its towers remaining where as most of the other towns and cities have torn theirs down or have been destroyed.  I found myself in a former fort on top of the hill and from the wall there you can see a breathtaking view of the valley and awesome views of the town.  It is probably one of my favorite places in the world now and I plan to go back when I have another free weekend.  Fiesole is on a hill on the opposite side of Firenze and there are Etruscan ruins there, but I didn't find them.  Ryan and Laura went a few days after I did and found them, and we compared our notes.  It turns out that at a fork in the road I went left when I should have gone right like Ryan and Luara did.  If I had gone right I would, then I would have found the entrance to the ruins.  So i guess that some Saturday in the future I will try to go back.

Here are some pictures from San Gimignano:

 

Well, I ask that you will continue to pray for us over here.  Pray that we will continue to allow God to work in us and through us so that everyone we meet, whether our students or strangers in the street, we will reflect God's love and mercy.  Pray that we will also stay strong in our faith and that we will continue to grow closer to God and to the Italian people here.  Also, please keep praying for me because I have a decision to make: the church in Milan has asked me to come and work with them.  I don't know what I will do and need to think and pray about it.  Take care and God bless.  Ciao!