On this beautiful Sunday while Taylor was at work I temporarily turned into Susie Homemaker. Seriously, I cleaned the house, did about 5 loads of laundry (and I'm only half done), worked in the yard, went to the store, and made homemade lasagna...I'm not sure who I thought I was...but it was nice to have such a productive day. It's amazing what some good country music and gorgeous Spring weather will do to you!
While looking at my yard, that has begun blooming dandelions in this nice weather, I decided something needs to be done with it. I'm not quite sure what to do...but I've got to do something. This is my first yard (thank goodness it's tiny) and I'm trying to remember what my parents do in their yard. Since I own no garden tools, I decided to start pulling weeds that are sprouting up EVERYWHERE. As I'm pulling along, disrupting the ants and earthworms that call my yard home, I'm consciously looking for prickly weeds before I pull them. After pulling for an hour I've found no prickly weeds and I get careless. I reached under a hedge to pull the weed and the stinkin' prickles attacked my hand!! It stung so bad! My mom said, "you know they have these things called...gloves...they're very useful". I mean, I don't even own a shovel, let alone some garden gloves, but those very well might be my next purchase!
Anyway, it felt like I still had the pricklies (I may have just made up a word) in my hand even a few hours later. But after examining my hand closely I couldn't see anything, so I had to just get over it. But the whole situation reminded me of a story that my family knows well...especially Mama, my grandma.
When I was about 5 or 6 I was staying with Mama and Papa, my grandparents, in Siesta Key while my parents were in Naples. As I was playing outside at the condo I was chasing a lizard and ran right through a cactus garden, barefoot. Inevitably I got the pricklies all in the side of my foot. I had to go to the foot doctor to have them pulled out of my foot because my grandparents couldn't get them out. Now anyone who knows how well I do at the doctor's will understand what a miserable experience this was for Mama and Papa. I freaked out, I threw up all over the doctor...twice. They really loved me there. Anyway, they got all the pricklies out after two visits, as I cried and moaned for my parents and meanwhile they enjoyed a great trip to Naples...poor Mama and Papa.
Needless to say, I didn't need to go to the doctor today and my hand is just fine, but I couldn't help but be reminded of that lovely story! Just thought I'd share.
Alright, back to the VOLS game, half time is over! V-O-L-S, GO VOLS, GO!!!!!!!!!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
March Madness
Wow, I know I said it last time, but my job just isn't good for this blog! Sorry for the lack of updates lately! I really don't have anything TOO exciting. Just day to day life. Things are going great right now. We're in the middle of our volleyball season, I won't mention our record, but I will say we're still having a ton of fun!
Below, I'm including some pictures of some recent events. Monique's mom, Sandy, was in town for about 2 months and they had us over and taught us how to make salsa and guacamole. It turned out delicious! The secret ingredient to the guacamole? A spoonful of mayonnaise, it made it perfect!
Here are a few of the officers in the squadron: Eric, Greg, Chris, Chris, and Taylor. We have one deployed (Monique's husband) and there were 3 missing that night...I think that's everyone. It's a fun group :)
Below, I'm including some pictures of some recent events. Monique's mom, Sandy, was in town for about 2 months and they had us over and taught us how to make salsa and guacamole. It turned out delicious! The secret ingredient to the guacamole? A spoonful of mayonnaise, it made it perfect!
Monique also held the St. Patrick's Day party the weekend before St. Patty's. Taylor had to work on Sunday and so he only stayed for a little while. I fully planned on going back home with him because I had a busy Sunday, but a few mojitos later I changed my mind and stayed the night with everyone else! For some reason my mind got confused and temporarily thought I was 21 again...but don't worry...my 26 year old body took over in the morning and fiercely reminded it why we don't regularly act like that! Boy I paid on Sunday!
Pictured: Sharity, Monique's landlord, Monique, and Eric. Monique had glowing green glasses for everyone. And please notice the pots of gold she put on her wall! Such detail!
Our St. Patty's picture :)
The girls, we were missing Jenni and Courtney. There aren't many of us!!
We had a fire pit outside we sat around all night. Or in Chris' case, jumped over. Oh the wise decisions a few drinks inspire!
Last weekend we went on an Outdoor Rec ski trip to Corvara, Italy to go skiing. It was a day trip on Saturday. We left at 6am and returned around 7pm. It was a 2 hour drive to the slopes in the Dolomites, part of the Italian Alps. There was a big group from work who all went and we had a ton of fun! Minus the bus ride. We rode in big vans and the road was straight up hair pin turns the whole way up the mountain. Our driver drove like a bat out of hell, I'm not even kidding. We were flying around the turns, I at first thought we were on a one way road because the road was so small and we were all over the place...nope, it was two way. We luckily took a break half way through because a kid in another bus got car sick. We stopped just in time because 3 people on our 11 person bus got sick outside when we stopped. Yeah, it was that bad! But we made it, all in one piece...sort of.
The place we skiied was HUUUUGE. There were so many slopes interconnected all over the place! We seriously decided you could spend a week there and never take the same run twice. The slopes were WAY easier than Austria and I was a big fan of these mountains! Here are a few pics from the trip.
Taylor and Greg. We skiied down a slope...notice the road. Yep, cross the road, then you can keep skiing! Talk about a ski town, huh?
I'm holding Flat Brian in this picture. I'm sure most of you have heard of Flat Stanley, well we had Flat Brian with us for a week or two to visit Italy and take some pictures. He got to go on a few adventures. Anyone who is not familiar, Flat Stanley is a book character of a boy who gets flattened by a bulletin board and then can fit in an envelope and go on cool trips. So the kids create a Flat Stanley and send it to someone to take pictures with him and then mail him back and teach the class about the place he visited. A cool way to learn about different cities, countries, etc.
The preferred pose for a bit of rest. Crazy boarders...Taylor and I stuck with skiing!
Flat Brian enjoying the scenery again!
A few other places Flat Brian got to visit...the market. He hung out with the fruits. The person behind the produce stand gave me some funny looks and got a good laugh out of me taking pictures of a paper boy!
And the cheese guy really thought I was crazy! I did buy some formaggio from him. There's nothing better then some fresh grated parmesan...yummm.
And Brian hung out in our town square, piazza, in San Quirino.
And this might be my favorite picture with Flat Brian :)
That's all for now! Yay for spring time...had our doors open for the first time today, hope to do it tomorrow as well!
Ciao, bella!!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Who's Ms. Katie??
Let's see, I haven't been posting much on the blog, my house isn't quite as clean as usual, I haven't made it to the grocery store lately, I'm much more worn out, and I actually have to set an alarm.
What does all this mean?
I've started my job!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm now 30 hours a week busier then I was last month, and boy does that make a big difference.
I am working in the Youth Center with the School Age Program. My job is pretty much an official hall monitor :) But I actually stay very busy besides the rare 2-3 minutes here and there when everyone is in a classroom! The School Age Program (SAP) usually has around 58 children age 6-12 we pick up everyday after school. We walk them to the Youth Center and they meet with their counselors in the classrooms. My job is to verify we have every child and if we are missing anyone I go through a list of sources to try to find them. 2 weeks ago we couldn't find a child and the school had no record of him in an after school activity and the mother had no alternative plans for the child. So I went with my boss looking for the child around the base (a very small portion of the base where the schools are located), but I seriously felt like the Trunchbull from Matilda on a search for a run away child...searching through the rows of the library, the school, etc. We did find the child, he walked himself over to the Youth Center (bc he's not a regular and didn't know) and was playing in the gym until his karate lesson.
But anyway. After everyone is accounted for and signed into the program we begin opening classrooms for the kids to go in and out of as they please. Each child has a magnet with his/her name on it and they are free to move between classrooms whenever they want by putting their name on a board designated for that room. I stay in the hallway and open and close rooms, allow a certain number of spots in each room, ensure counselors are in the rooms, handle hallway issues, keep an eye on the older kids (9-12) who are allowed to hang out in "Big House" without a counselor, call parents about accidents, deal with issues between children if a counselor is having trouble, and speak with parents when they arrive to sign out their children.
It is quite an extensive program and while there are not a lot of rules allowed to be enforced in the facility because of Air Force regulations (i.e. can't force the children to stand in a line...yes, I'm serious), the program is quite structured. We have a Homework and Science room that is for Homework time the first hour, it is also full of science experiments, computers, a pet rabbit, and all kinds of stuff. Fun Zone has legos, games, a Wii, and other toys. Creative room has puppets, instruments, a stage, "house" materials, etc. Art is full of arts and crafts stuff. Big House is for the older kids with a pool table, computer, foosball, Wii, PS2, keyboard and instruments, and an arts and crafts area, and Cafe where snack is served every day for an hour after school. Each room has a curriculum for the week with a project that gets completed at some point during the week. And the kids have free reign to move between rooms as they please as long as there are spots available on the board.
So it has been a bit crazy and my first week was tough (well, my first week on my own after the girl who trained me left) But I've now finished my third week on my own and it is getting easier and easier every day. Actually easy isn't quite the word, but it's getting better and better every day. I have learned almost every child's name which helps tremendously when you're trying to speak with them or get their attention in the hallway among 15 other kids. And I'm working on matching children with parents when they come to pick them up, I probably have a little more then half of them memorized, so not too bad. And along with that I'm working on ensuring the kids who leave for instructionals (karate, ballet, gymnastics, piano) make it to their programs on time and keeping up with the sign out sheets for kids coming and going, that's getting better and better too. So it's just a slow process and I have to give myself a bit of slack, but it's coming along.
I really love the group of girls who work in the SAP, actually at the Youth Center in general. They have all been very welcoming and helpful, which is exactly what I needed! We've all signed up for a ski trip with Outdoor Rec on March 20 that I'm really excited about. Hopefuly it goes through since our boss just informed us TODAY of a workday on that Saturday to get ready for the upcoming inspection. But hopefully we can work around it and put in our hours on another day. There are 7 of us going (out of about 15 employees in the facility!) I have also started playing intramural volleyball with the girls and we have our first game next week. We are the "Bruisers", yep our name pretty much sums us up. And it's not our opponents we're bruising :)
So things are good, I'm busy, but things are good.
Thomas (Taylor's brother) FINALLY made it in town on Monday afternoon. I'm really thinking his trip just was not meant to be. He was supposed to arrive Saturday morning, but between flight cancellations, re-routings, and delays he was 2 1/2 days late and without luggage. Taylor had to pick him up and drive straight up to Austria for their ski trip. Since being in Austria, Thomas lost his wallet (luckily he has his debit and credit cards and driver's license still with him), Taylor wiped out on the slopes and lost his wedding ring in the snow, and the next day his brand new skis he got for his birthday (in January) were stolen from outside the lodge. Yeah, this was a VERY pricey trip! They come home tomorrow, please pray they don't wreck the car, that's what's next at this point!! Phew. My cousin Megan is our next visitor and I hope her trip is a bit smoother. At least in June a snow storm shouldn't be a problem, in fact, snow won't be a problem at all since there will be no skiing :). And along with Meg my brother might be coming over to visit at the same time! I'm SUPER, SUPER excited and really hope he can make it over!!!!
Alright, over and out.
What does all this mean?
I've started my job!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm now 30 hours a week busier then I was last month, and boy does that make a big difference.
I am working in the Youth Center with the School Age Program. My job is pretty much an official hall monitor :) But I actually stay very busy besides the rare 2-3 minutes here and there when everyone is in a classroom! The School Age Program (SAP) usually has around 58 children age 6-12 we pick up everyday after school. We walk them to the Youth Center and they meet with their counselors in the classrooms. My job is to verify we have every child and if we are missing anyone I go through a list of sources to try to find them. 2 weeks ago we couldn't find a child and the school had no record of him in an after school activity and the mother had no alternative plans for the child. So I went with my boss looking for the child around the base (a very small portion of the base where the schools are located), but I seriously felt like the Trunchbull from Matilda on a search for a run away child...searching through the rows of the library, the school, etc. We did find the child, he walked himself over to the Youth Center (bc he's not a regular and didn't know) and was playing in the gym until his karate lesson.
But anyway. After everyone is accounted for and signed into the program we begin opening classrooms for the kids to go in and out of as they please. Each child has a magnet with his/her name on it and they are free to move between classrooms whenever they want by putting their name on a board designated for that room. I stay in the hallway and open and close rooms, allow a certain number of spots in each room, ensure counselors are in the rooms, handle hallway issues, keep an eye on the older kids (9-12) who are allowed to hang out in "Big House" without a counselor, call parents about accidents, deal with issues between children if a counselor is having trouble, and speak with parents when they arrive to sign out their children.
It is quite an extensive program and while there are not a lot of rules allowed to be enforced in the facility because of Air Force regulations (i.e. can't force the children to stand in a line...yes, I'm serious), the program is quite structured. We have a Homework and Science room that is for Homework time the first hour, it is also full of science experiments, computers, a pet rabbit, and all kinds of stuff. Fun Zone has legos, games, a Wii, and other toys. Creative room has puppets, instruments, a stage, "house" materials, etc. Art is full of arts and crafts stuff. Big House is for the older kids with a pool table, computer, foosball, Wii, PS2, keyboard and instruments, and an arts and crafts area, and Cafe where snack is served every day for an hour after school. Each room has a curriculum for the week with a project that gets completed at some point during the week. And the kids have free reign to move between rooms as they please as long as there are spots available on the board.
So it has been a bit crazy and my first week was tough (well, my first week on my own after the girl who trained me left) But I've now finished my third week on my own and it is getting easier and easier every day. Actually easy isn't quite the word, but it's getting better and better every day. I have learned almost every child's name which helps tremendously when you're trying to speak with them or get their attention in the hallway among 15 other kids. And I'm working on matching children with parents when they come to pick them up, I probably have a little more then half of them memorized, so not too bad. And along with that I'm working on ensuring the kids who leave for instructionals (karate, ballet, gymnastics, piano) make it to their programs on time and keeping up with the sign out sheets for kids coming and going, that's getting better and better too. So it's just a slow process and I have to give myself a bit of slack, but it's coming along.
I really love the group of girls who work in the SAP, actually at the Youth Center in general. They have all been very welcoming and helpful, which is exactly what I needed! We've all signed up for a ski trip with Outdoor Rec on March 20 that I'm really excited about. Hopefuly it goes through since our boss just informed us TODAY of a workday on that Saturday to get ready for the upcoming inspection. But hopefully we can work around it and put in our hours on another day. There are 7 of us going (out of about 15 employees in the facility!) I have also started playing intramural volleyball with the girls and we have our first game next week. We are the "Bruisers", yep our name pretty much sums us up. And it's not our opponents we're bruising :)
So things are good, I'm busy, but things are good.
Thomas (Taylor's brother) FINALLY made it in town on Monday afternoon. I'm really thinking his trip just was not meant to be. He was supposed to arrive Saturday morning, but between flight cancellations, re-routings, and delays he was 2 1/2 days late and without luggage. Taylor had to pick him up and drive straight up to Austria for their ski trip. Since being in Austria, Thomas lost his wallet (luckily he has his debit and credit cards and driver's license still with him), Taylor wiped out on the slopes and lost his wedding ring in the snow, and the next day his brand new skis he got for his birthday (in January) were stolen from outside the lodge. Yeah, this was a VERY pricey trip! They come home tomorrow, please pray they don't wreck the car, that's what's next at this point!! Phew. My cousin Megan is our next visitor and I hope her trip is a bit smoother. At least in June a snow storm shouldn't be a problem, in fact, snow won't be a problem at all since there will be no skiing :). And along with Meg my brother might be coming over to visit at the same time! I'm SUPER, SUPER excited and really hope he can make it over!!!!
Alright, over and out.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
"RoMA, Ro MA MAAA..."
Goodness people, so much to post.
First of all I finished up a fun trip back to the States last week. It was nice to spend some time with the family and see all my friends. I had a fun lunch with Drew, got to watch his intramural basketball games, and even meet Jessica, his girlfriend. And to make it all EVEN better I was in town for Youth Sunday at my church. And it just so happened that my baby sister was giving the sermon and singing a solo at church. She did an absolutely beautiful job and I was/am very proud of her. We got a family picture after church and then had a nice lunch at Pucket's in downtown Franklin. The trip was a much needed re-energizer :)
First of all I finished up a fun trip back to the States last week. It was nice to spend some time with the family and see all my friends. I had a fun lunch with Drew, got to watch his intramural basketball games, and even meet Jessica, his girlfriend. And to make it all EVEN better I was in town for Youth Sunday at my church. And it just so happened that my baby sister was giving the sermon and singing a solo at church. She did an absolutely beautiful job and I was/am very proud of her. We got a family picture after church and then had a nice lunch at Pucket's in downtown Franklin. The trip was a much needed re-energizer :)
But by the end I was ready to get back home and get started on work! I was VERY lucky to actually make it back to Italy. I was scheduled to fly stand by out of Baltimore on Monday night. If you remember, Baltimore had a record setting snow storm on Saturday. The airport had been closed for two days and it just opened Monday morning. All flights had been cancelled from Saturday all the way through Monday morning. My flight was in the afternoon and was delayed a few hours, but I made it into Baltimore. I got my bags (2 large rolling suitcases) at 6:30pm...the time I was supposed to be at the Air Mobility Command terminal to check in to (hopefully) fly Space Available (stand by). So me, my 20 pound backpack, my purse, and two 50 pound rolling suitcases were BOOKING it through the airport. Literally from one end to the other hoping to make it in time. I got to the counter out of breath, sweating, with my arms shaking...but I made it! And luckily because of all the crazy weather most the people on the flight didn't make it to Baltimore and not only did I get a seat, I got two, and a window! Success.
Funny little side story. As I'm sitting in the terminal in Baltimore waiting on the (delayed) rotator I decided to get a bottle of water. So I walk over to the machine and put in a $5 bill to pay for the ridiculously priced $2 bottle of water. As I'm watching the mechanical arm go up and grab my water, I start hearing my change coming out of the machine...literally. Quarters are shooting out of the machine at me and spinning all over the floor! So I'm trying to step on the quarters to stop them from rolling as if I'm stomping bugs, one after the other. Twelve quarters shoot out at me, to be exact. By this time I am dying laughing, out loud, by myself as I'm picking up all my change off the floor. Major design flaw. I seriously then start thinking it might be like a hidden camera thing to see how you react. Someone is getting a good laugh somewhere.
Anyway, I made it safely back to Italy. Phew, what a trip. And I'm happy to report, I got home on Tuesday night, got in-processed for work on Wednesday, went to employee training on Thursday and had my first day of work on Friday. Yes people, I really do have a job. I know my family was starting to doubt I was ever going to work or that I would still have a job available after waiting 2 1/2 months for paperwork to clear. But I do!!! And I'm a working girl now. And Taylor is loving it! As am I.
So I mentioned previously that we were planning to take a trip for President's Day and it was my job to plan it. We were going to leave the country, but when looking into travel options Rome worked out much better then a few of the others because of time contraints. So Roma it was. We booked an overnight train on Friday night leaving Pordenone (train station 10 min from our house) at 10pm and arriving in Rome at 7am. We got a sleeper car and we were set to go.
So Friday night after work we both are packing and getting stuff together for the trip. I mentioned to Taylor I thought something was wrong with the washer because when I opened it earlier the clothes were still soaking wet like the spin cycle hadn't run right. I ran the cycle again and this time I couldn't open the door (of our front loading washer). So Taylor is in the basement and I hear him say, "I got the door open". As I'm sitting on my computer looking stuff up I realize I'm hearing what sounds like lots of water being poured into the sink in the laundry room. So I go downstairs to see Taylor with the trashcan as water is gushing out of the door of the washer. Yikes. He says, with an unpleasant look on his face, that he thinks I've been stuffing the washer to full. I'm not entirely convinced this was the problem, and I'm now pretty sure that it, in fact, was not the reason for the flooding, but it probably didn't help. (Today, Wednesday, we had the washer technician come out and tell us the filter was clogged with two coins and some crazy rubber thingy that must have come from the previous people...it's now working fine)
So anyway, we take out all the soaking clothes and put them in the utility sink in the laundry room and soak through lots of towels cleaning up the mess and just leave them in the sink, close the door and leave for Rome. What timing...but nothing we could do that night, and we CERTAINLY weren't missing our train for it!
So we spent the night and attempted sleep in our little...and I mean LITTLE sleeper car.
But really, it's all you need. Taylor got a few hours of sleep, but I hadn't recovered from jet lag and got maybe an hour. Last I checked the clock it was 4:30am. Luckily we were busy, busy, busy all day Saturday and I didn't have time to be tired. We hit the ground running. We stayed in a hotel about a 5 minute walk from the train/metro station. We checked into the hotel first thing in the morning and they let us leave our bags in a locked storage area since our room obviously wouldn't be ready til much later. And off we went with a map and a list of reccommended sites to see.
We started with the Vatican Museum/Sistine Chapel. The Vatican Museum is the largest museum in the world with a collection of art and artifacts that is just unbelievable. We weren't quite sure how to approach it and chose not to do a guided tour. Looking back, we would have taken a guided tour, as much of it would have been more significant with the stories behind the art and pictures. History just comes to life that way. We were very wary about being ripped off in such a touristy place, but really I think it's beneficial. None the less, it was an incredible place. Every ceiling was painted/decorated, the columns, and mosaic tiles, and marble pillars, sculptures hudreds of years old everywhere. Just unbelievable. Here are a few pictures from the Vatican below.
Every hallway and room was decorated with the elaborate design and detail.
One of the many intricately decorated ceilings along the way to the Sistine Chapel.
There were no pictures allowed in the Sistine Chapel. As I've done before, I am including a link to my Facebook album that includes many more pictures from the trip. I can't include them all on the blog or this post would be an even bigger novel then it already is! And it would take me FORever to upload them all to Blogger.
Next we went into Saint Peter's Basilica. It is the largest cathedral/church in the world. It was both of our favorite part of the trip. This church was UNBELIEVABLE. It is the church in St. Peter's Square. You would recognize it from Angels and Demons, among other things I'm sure :). The basilica took 120 years to build and much of the church (granite, marble, gold, etc.) is taken from the former palace and other buildings from the Roman ruins.
This view is from first walking in. We both were speechless, I had chill bumps all over my arms. I encourage you to click on the pictures to enlarge them and really look at the detail. There are sculptures carved in the top of all the columns and paintings, designs, and gold all the way up the walls and ceilings.
Along the left aisle. Notice the ceiling with a gorgeous painting.
Towards the front of the basilica. This canopy is called the baldacchino. It was built by Bernini (the same man who built the pillars in St. Peter's Square) in the mid 1600's. "It is made from 927 tons of dark bronze taken from the roof of the Pantheon" (another building from Ancient Rome). It is a shelter for the papal altar and also serves to fill the large space below Michaelangelo's dome (in the ceiling above).
I know I'm a super nerd, but I had to look up the information about this and couldn't think of better words to describe it, so I'm siting a website in my blog. The info came from http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-st-peters-basilica Okay, phew, I feel better.
This is Michaelangelo's sculpture "Pieta". It is now behind glass because of an attempt to vandalize it with an axe in 1972. It is a sculpture of Mary holding Jesus's dead body after the crucifixion. Michaelangelo completed this sculpture at age 24! Absolutely beautiful.
This is a view of the basilica from above in the dome on the way up to the cupola. Sorry a part of it was blurry, I was taking the picture through a gate/fence like thing. You can get an idea how tall it is though, and we weren't even at the top of the dome!
This picture is taken in St. Peter's Square. The pillars that encircle the Piazza (the town center) were built by Bernini. The pillars are built out of limestone taken from the Colosseum! They made up a plaza type ground outside the Colosseum.
Getting a little artsy with my pictures...but it was just so pretty against the blue sky.
After seeing a whole list of sites on Saturday and Sunday, on Sunday night we went back to many of them to see them all lit up. Rome was very easy to get around, it wasn't a HUGE city, distance wise, and we were able to make quick stops at all the sites. Taylor was the talented night time photographer. He took all of these pictures, mine kept coming out blurry!
This is a picture of St. Peter's Square from above. This picture was taken from the Cupola on top of St. Peter's Basilica notice all the statues at the bottom of the picture that are located on the top of the Basilica. We waited about an hour and a half in line to go up to the Cupola, but we had no idea what we were waiting for. We decided we wanted to do everything we could at the Basilica because we didn't have a tight time schedule and we really loved the Basilica. So we walked through the tombs of all the former Popes and then there was a second line we got in, but had no idea what it was for. When we finally got up close enough we read a sign that said "After taking the elevator you will still need to climb 320 stairs, must be in good health". What in the world were we waiting for??? We soon figured out it was to climb to the top of the dome. We both agreed it was worth the wait.
The front of the Basilica.
And the gorgeous building at night. Love it!
On Sunday morning we started off with the Colosseum. We chose to take a guided tour as a good sales person convinced us as we were walking into the ticket line. We were very happy we did this because it made the experience much better. It also included a complimentary guide to Palatine Hill, which we really enjoyed. The company was Romaround if you are planning a trip I recommend looking them up online. Our guides were great.
This is a picture of the inside of the Colosseum. It was built in approximately 30 years by 40000 slaves. The portion you are seeing only shows the bottom two levels. There is a third section above it (where it isn't torn down). The bottom level was for the wealthy men of society and the third section was for the women, who had to stand for the whole event.
Women were the lowest class of citizens at that time. The only women who were worth anything in society was a cult of 6 virgins, the Vestal Virgins. Their job was to keep the eternal flame burning in the temple of Vesta. It represented Rome's eternal life. They were chosen through a beauty contest at age 6 and they served for 30 years. The first 10 years they were in training, the second 10 they were tending the flame, and the final 10 they were training the new group. If they failed to keep their vow of celibacy they were buried alive. This actually happened to 10 women. They had many perks though and got to live a luxurious life in a mansion with 50 rooms and lived a much better and respected life then most women at this time. After their 30 years they were free, although their life span was only about 40ish years, so really, they dedicate their whole life to the tending of the flame. Anyways, I just found that story to be interesting.
And again, Taylor's magnificent photography skills.
Part of the ruins. Many of the ruins in this picture within the grass are part of the house/mansion the Vestal Virgins lived in. The large arches you see are part of an old political building. You can see the Colosseum on the right, next to the trees. As well as one of the Arches in front of it. Arch of Titus or Constantine...I'm not sure which, they both looked the same to me!
This is Trevi Fountain. Fontana di Trevi. This was one of my favorite things, it was so gorgeous. The fountain was completed in 1762. It is said that if you throw a coin in the fountain it will ensure your return to Rome. There are other myths about throwing 3 coins in and hoping for divorce or marriage...not really sure about all those. I'd say it's a myth created by the city to generate some revenue! Taylor was curious how much money the fountain actually made, and I just looked it up and it says the fountain makes about 3000 Euro (approx 4300 dollars) a DAY! It says it funds a Roman food pantry for the needy, but that they have a problem with people stealing the coins from the fountain. I threw my one coin in and hopefully I'll make it back to this cool city.
And again at night...
This is a building built to honor Emmanuel Vittorio, the first King of a unified Italy. It also houses their tomb of the unknown soldier. The building is made out of pure white marble. The left side is currently under construction...something is being fixed, I suppose. We have a day time picture, but you'll have to click on the Facebook link to see it. This blog is taking WAY too long, I started it on Wednesday and it is now Saturday night!
And one last picture...
Another archaeological site in the Forum, the Roman Ruins. So many cool things through out this city. And this one looked even better at night!
Anyway, as you can see, we had a great trip! Oh, and we are expecting our first visitor next Saturday! Thomas (Taylor's brother) is coming in town on Saturday morning. T&T are skiing in Austria all week, Monday through Friday...I know they're excited about that...and I'm just excited to have a visitor!! We're four months in people...start making your plans!!!!
Oh and can I mention I love the Olympics? And how cool is Shaun White? USA, USA, USA!!!!!
Okay, check out more cool pics from my Facebook album!!
Ciao, bella!!!
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Weddings, Sledding, and Foooood
So much to tell in this post, but I have to retrace for a bit. Beginning with my hubby's birthday that got overlooked in my blogging due to my spontaneous trip home. Although he would much prefer I overlook it all together...apparently he's too old or cool for birthdays, I haven't figured out which. But I'm not okay with that and we celebrated anyway! So a very Happy Birthday to Taylor as well as Thomas (his brother)!! It's their golden year, 27 on the 27th...whatever that means!
And as I was deciding what treat to make for his birthday I decided this could be my first opportunity to decorate a cake!! So cake it was. I baked the cake, broke it as I took it out of the pan, iced it back together and proceeded to let it sit in the fridge to set the icing. I had big plans of making an orange Power T in the middle of the cake and doing an orange and white checkerboard on the ends like the endzone. How cute, right? It looked so good in my head. I excitedly head to the store to buy some food coloring to bring my plan to life and as I walk up and down the cake aisle searching for food coloring, I sadly realize they only have red. Really? Only red? That's AAFES for you. I decide to try an Italian grocery store...they had even less...shocking. So plan B. A white cake with sprinkles.
So my friends, I present to you my first cake...
Haha...can't you see my potential? Don't worry I'll be taking orders soon! No, but really, imagine that Power T in orange icing? How cool would that have looked? And granted I used a ziploc bag with an icing nozzle and a rubberband around it, but you have to start somewhere, right? Taylor really liked the cake and thought it was quite humorous that my plan B was green and multicolored sprinkles, but I thought it was better than all white!!
I tried and tried to get a picture of the birthday boy, and he just wasn't having it. That was the best I could get! Taylor, babe, you may as well smile next time and things would go much easier for you!! :)
Anyway, on to the trip back to the States. As I mentioned before I had been waiting and waiting for my paperwork to clear HR. Well it got down to Tuesday and it still hadn't cleared. I finally went and talked to my boss and told her my situation and she was very supportive of me going home for the wedding and spending some time there. There was a rotator (a military chartered commercial flight) leaving from Aviano on Wednesday and if there was room on the flight I could fly into Baltimore. Well there was room on the flight and 36 hours later I made it to Nashville!!
I am so thrilled that I made it in town for the wedding, which as expected, was absolutely gorgeous! I have been getting worse and worse about my camera and sadly I took zero pictures at the wedding. The wedding was held at our church, First Presbyterian. It was a nice service with bagpipes and all (my favorite!!!) And the reception was held at The Hermitage Hotel in Nashville. I had never been there, but it was an exquisite place with painted ceilings and grand wood work that needed no decorations to be beautiful. Others not in the state of Tennessee may not be aware of this, but we happened to have our biggest snow/ice storm in 7 years on the Friday before the wedding. We got between 4-6 inches of snow/ice. One inch shuts down the South, so you can only imagine what 4-6 will do! Poor Bishops did a lot of worrying and preparations, but the guests arrived and the party went on as planned!
Even though I don't have pictures from the wedding I have a few from the rehearsal dinner held at Boxwood Bistro.
Here I am with Jennifer, my new sister in law. Who would have guessed when she was my neighbor as a newborn baby we'd ever be related one day? Funny how things work out, huh? Our parents (who are good friends) have decided they are going to make "Outlaw" tshirts for themselves.
Look at these good looking guys!!! Taylor, Thomas, Brice (BR, their dad), and the groom Phillip! I'm loving all the teeth in the picture!!
Love this picture. He's so handsome :)
Hopefully I'll get a link to wedding pictures later and I can post them so you can see the beautiful bride and groom.
Along with all this snow came a little sledding. Well okay, it was attempted sledding. By the time we tried the snow was iced over and instead of quickly sliding down the hill, the ice would break, we would sink down and then get stuck. But if you could hit it just right without breaking the ice you could slide.
Haven't worn those since I was a kid. Funny, they didn't quite fit the same.
I might have a better looking snow outfit back in Italy...but who knew I'd need it in Tennessee??
Look at that, you can't even see the grass! Now THAT'S a snow!
Can't you see the speed??
Anyway. The snow has now melted and school is back in session. Besides weddings and sledding I've been eating my way through Franklin, literally. I had a whole list of food I was hungry for and it is slowly all being checked off my list. My embarrassingly long list. I really wouldn't be surprised if I gained 10 pounds in the 10 days I'm here. I'm getting to see everyone and catch up and what better way then over lunch? I'm also bringing an extra suitcase back to Italy with me. Because A) we have room in the house, B) I'm flying Southwest and you're allowed 2 bags (and on the rotator too) and C) there are so many things I've found I NEED back home that I left here! Good times.
Taylor headed back to Italy yesterday (Tuesday) He has to go back to work tomorrow (Thursday). And I head back home on Monday and I'll arrive on Tuesday (hopefully). Alright, that's all for now!
Peace.
And as I was deciding what treat to make for his birthday I decided this could be my first opportunity to decorate a cake!! So cake it was. I baked the cake, broke it as I took it out of the pan, iced it back together and proceeded to let it sit in the fridge to set the icing. I had big plans of making an orange Power T in the middle of the cake and doing an orange and white checkerboard on the ends like the endzone. How cute, right? It looked so good in my head. I excitedly head to the store to buy some food coloring to bring my plan to life and as I walk up and down the cake aisle searching for food coloring, I sadly realize they only have red. Really? Only red? That's AAFES for you. I decide to try an Italian grocery store...they had even less...shocking. So plan B. A white cake with sprinkles.
So my friends, I present to you my first cake...
Anyway, on to the trip back to the States. As I mentioned before I had been waiting and waiting for my paperwork to clear HR. Well it got down to Tuesday and it still hadn't cleared. I finally went and talked to my boss and told her my situation and she was very supportive of me going home for the wedding and spending some time there. There was a rotator (a military chartered commercial flight) leaving from Aviano on Wednesday and if there was room on the flight I could fly into Baltimore. Well there was room on the flight and 36 hours later I made it to Nashville!!
I am so thrilled that I made it in town for the wedding, which as expected, was absolutely gorgeous! I have been getting worse and worse about my camera and sadly I took zero pictures at the wedding. The wedding was held at our church, First Presbyterian. It was a nice service with bagpipes and all (my favorite!!!) And the reception was held at The Hermitage Hotel in Nashville. I had never been there, but it was an exquisite place with painted ceilings and grand wood work that needed no decorations to be beautiful. Others not in the state of Tennessee may not be aware of this, but we happened to have our biggest snow/ice storm in 7 years on the Friday before the wedding. We got between 4-6 inches of snow/ice. One inch shuts down the South, so you can only imagine what 4-6 will do! Poor Bishops did a lot of worrying and preparations, but the guests arrived and the party went on as planned!
Even though I don't have pictures from the wedding I have a few from the rehearsal dinner held at Boxwood Bistro.
Hopefully I'll get a link to wedding pictures later and I can post them so you can see the beautiful bride and groom.
Along with all this snow came a little sledding. Well okay, it was attempted sledding. By the time we tried the snow was iced over and instead of quickly sliding down the hill, the ice would break, we would sink down and then get stuck. But if you could hit it just right without breaking the ice you could slide.
Taylor headed back to Italy yesterday (Tuesday) He has to go back to work tomorrow (Thursday). And I head back home on Monday and I'll arrive on Tuesday (hopefully). Alright, that's all for now!
Peace.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Independence
First of all, Happy 24th Birthday to my bubba, Drew! His birthday was yesterday. I told him it is weird to think he is 24 because I still feel 24! Oh well...it sounds as if he had a fun day and a great family dinner at Shane's with homemade turtle cheesecake afterwards. Mmmmm...jealous :) So I'm glad he had a special day, and I missed being there with him!
****
I consider myself a very independent and fairly brave person. I drove from Knoxville to Philadelphia by myself in college, I've made the Florida to Nashville drive alone a few times, I traveled the Northeast by plane, train, and bus solo...and I feel very able to take care of myself.
Then I got married. I find myself being so much more dependant on Taylor for things that I know good and well I can do on my own. I couldn't get the dishwasher closed the other day...I fiddled and messed with it for awhile, then asked Taylor to do it. Embarrassingly enough, it was a tall cup hitting a low hanging part of the dishwasher, and I would have figured that out if I was on my own.
I have been putting off a trip to Ikea (about an hour and a half away) because I was nervous to go by myself. Mostly I was nervous to be able to make it there on my own. When determining what to do today, I decided to suck it up and head to Ikea by myself. When I weighed my options...tackling the trip alone beat out listening to Taylor's complaints about having to shop with me.
Now I feel my nerves to go alone to Ikea are PARTLY justified due to the language barrier...that makes everything much more difficult and a bit more nerve wracking. But, we've been there before, so I had a good general idea where I was going. So I loaded up myself, my nerves, and my pillow (to match curtain colors) and headed out around 12:45 today. Of course 12:45 is right in the middle of reposo (the 2ish hour break in the middle of the day for lunch/naps when everything closes) And I had a quarter of a tank of gas. Yes, the gas stations close too. Some of them have machines that allow you to pay in Euro and pump gas, but we buy gas with coupons that we pay for on base to help even out the cost of gas over here as compared to the States.
For example: We are allowed 300 Liters of gas coupons per month. We buy coupons for all 300 liters of our gas for approximately 270ish dollars on base. We have a year to use the coupons, so right now we have lots of extra. We then take the coupons to the gas station and give it to them in payment for our gas. There are two types of gas stations that take the gas coupons through out Italy. So I decided to hop on the autostrada and hopefully I would come across one of those stations on the way to Padova (the city Ikea is located). The gas stations on the autostrada don't usually close for reposo.
Well I'm driving, driving, driving, gas is under a quarter of a tank, I'm getting more and more nervous, and finally a gas station, but of course it's not one of the brands that takes coupons. I decided I needed the gas anyway, I'd just have to pay. Just to make you feel better about what you pay. I bought a half a tank which is about 7 gallons and it cost me 30 Euro...that is about 40 dollars. That equals out to almost $4.00 a gallon!! Thank goodness for our coupons!! But anyway...I was feeling much better. I pulled out the GPS, but I think it was more for my mental comfort rather then actually needing it because we discovered last time Ikea's address doesn't register on our GPS so it doesn't take you right there.
Anyway...point is, I made it to Ikea just fine. Just because I take a few more wrong turns and drive in a few more circles then with Taylor, doesn't mean I can't do it on my own. And thank goodness I was alone for the shopping, I made the right decision since it took me an hour to pick out two sets of curtains (I already had my mind set on two I'd seen last time I was there) and two plants. Ha! But I had to make sure I was making good purchases! I checked out about every plant and size and price and settled on a small tree and a tall palm like plant. And guess what...they're LIVE! What? Who knew Ikea carries LIVE plants. It seriously took me about 15 minutes to determine if they were real or not because they're all indoors, they are a perfect green and look full and fake! I walked around to all of their plants touching a lot of them before finally convincing myself they were real plants. I had intentions to go and buy fake ones because last time I was there I saw them and thought they were all fake!
So I packed my two trees with dirt and all in the trunk of my little Accord (with the seats folded down so there was room) and I headed back home. And I have to say, I was pretty proud of myself. No parle Italiano can't stop me!
And funny story, when I got home I unloaded the trees and put one in our bedroom and the tall plant in the guest bedroom. So an hour later Taylor comes home from work, goes upstairs in the bedroom to change and comes back down. He said nothing, which I thought was odd because he thinks my love of trees and plants indoors is crazy and usually comments when I mention needing one for the bedroom! So I asked him if he noticed the new addition to the room, he didn't have a clue what I was talking about. I said, "there is a TREE in our bedroom!!!" He says, "oh, no way, really? Where did you put it?" It's right in the corner next to our dresser- and can I mention that we ONLY have a bed, a dresser, and two night stands in the room and the tree is about 4-5 feet tall??? He said, "I put my bag right there, I don't know how I missed it!?" Awhile later he went upstairs and said, "I'll be...there sure is a tree up there, and it's about a foot away from where I dropped my bag!" Such oblivion!!! We both were very amused at his lack of observation!!
And speaking of brave...I must have been on a roll this week. Yesterday I went to the Aviano Officers and Civilian Spouse Club (AOCSC) luncheon. It's pretty much a spouse club that does social events and charity events and it's a way to be involved on base. I went alone, knowing no one! As you can imagine it's tough to go to a luncheon alone...just picture me walking around a bit awkwardly attempting to find a seat at a table. I finally did and ended up at a table of wives from the Maintenance Squadron. I found out that most the ladies congregate by squadron (Pilot, Medical, Maintenance, etc) but none of the officer wives from Security Forces participate in the group, so no one was there. But the ladies from the maintenance squadron were very welcoming and nice to me! We had a good lunch and I got a couple girls numbers. They go skiing on Wednesday mornings at Piancavallo (the mountains right by base- about a 20 minute drive) so hopefully I'll try that out! And I made plans with one of the other girls to head down to Nove to replace some ceramics that broke in the mail to my parents! So it was a productive lunch, but the jury is still out if I will join the AOCSC, I'm still thinking and debating it.
And now on to something totally opposite of what I have been talking about. In fact my post will sound quite frivolous and mundane in comparison...
In my last post I asked for advice and suggestions and I appreciate all the responses for places to visit as well as blogs to read. I have to mention on here one of the blogs that was recommended to me by my friend, Leanne.
This blog is written by a girl from Brentwood. For those non Tennesseeans, Brentwood is a neighboring town to Franklin. This girl, Katie Davis, graduated from Ravenwood High School in 2006. She took a year "break" to work in an orphanage in Uganda after high school. She fell in love with the country and the children of the deprived country. She ended up staying over there. She just turned 21 and in the last 3 years she has started a non-profit organization that sponsors 400 children to go to school, provides them with school supplies, medical care, and meals, she feeds approximately 1000 children a week from a shunned, poorest of poor village, she has bought a house, and has adopted 14 girls of her own. She knows with all of her heart that she is doing God's work with the children over there. She speaks so beautifully of her faith and her confidence in her calling to live and LOVE in Uganda. She is unbelievable and her blog is so inspirational. I started reading it from the beginning, two nights ago and after two nights of staying up until 2 am readin, laughing, and crying I have finally been caught up to her recent post from today. Anyway, point is I HIGHLY, HIGHLY encourage you to check out the blog and read a bit. I am going to include one of her posts on here so you can see a clip of it.
The blog address is: http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/
SATURDAY JULY 19, 2008
"there once was a woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children, she didn't know what to do..." (from an old nursery rhyme)
Actually, I think that shoe is a small African house and I am that woman. So many children. So much joy, I don't know what to do. Last night 140 children spent the night on my floor. (well about 17 slept in my bed) Lauren, one of my visitors, said, "I have never seen so much chaos!" Oh, its good to be home. Yesterday at Friday Bible study, all the children sang me a song that they made up and practiced all month. They sang : "We the children of Amazima, we are happy to see you mommy. We missed you mommy Katie. We love you, We love you, Welcome home!" And I was afraid that my heart might burts. Yes, what we lack in money, and medical care, and food, we make up for in joy.
On the topic of lacking in medical care and food, money is tight as always. This morning I noticed a rash on little Zuula, one of this kids in my program, that I thought was syphilis. Upon inspection of her other brothers and sisters though, we concluded it was scabbies, a skin disease caused, basically, by constantly being filthy and not bathing. It sharts as a rash and then grows, open wounds festering on the skin. Eventually it looks like somthing has been eating the flesh. Scabbies can be spread through skin contact so six out of the eight children from that family were infected. I have been to their house a while ago and remeber it being one of the worst living conditions I have ever seen. All 8 children live with their widowed aunt and dying grandmother who do their best to provide, but often all their hard work is not enought to keep 8 children healthy. They live 6 miles from the nearest water hole, so they use the same water over and over. all the children sleep in a pile like dogs in the corner of the small dirt house. Somehow, these children dance and laugh and sing just like any others.
The on call nurse at the nearest hospital told me that to cure scabbies the kids must bathe twice a day in warm water and then rub a certain ointment on their skin. They can not share water, towels or ointement, obviously. But you have read the description of their home. How in the world will these children get enough water for all six of them to have their own bath. If they can get the water, how will they make it warm. They dont own one towel, let alone six. This is where I come in. I have running water, a heater when power is on and a fire in the back yard when it isn't. I have extra towels and sheets. I have strong hands that can rub ointment all over these darling children. And the truth is, I couldn't be happier to help them. Yes, if I had it my way, I would just bathe children with sabbies all day every day.
So now, instead of just my seven gils, there are 13 children living in my house. To a mom of 150, this shouldn't be a big deal, but it still feels overwhelming at times. The six children : Moses, Saazi, Vivian, Bashir, Zuula and Shadia were delighted by their warm baths. They seemed nervous as i rubbed their peeling decaying skin with ointment and for a brief moment I was too, what if i catch it? But my fear lasted only a split second. Didn't Jesus sit amoung the lepers? Yes. Hasn't He assigned me to "do unto the least of my children"? Yes. He has given this assignment. He has given me these hands that have the ability to help and heal. I am simply blessed to be able to use them.
Needless to say, we could use your prayers. It is going to be a challenge to bathe and dress six children's wounds and find them clean towels and at the same time keep them far enough away from my own children that we don't all get infected without making them feel like outcasts. It will be near impossible to come up with all the money I need to pay for all these children's medical bills, pay my employees, and feed my family.
Yes, it will be brilliantly, wonderfully difficult.
"But who, being innocent, has ever perished?"
****
I consider myself a very independent and fairly brave person. I drove from Knoxville to Philadelphia by myself in college, I've made the Florida to Nashville drive alone a few times, I traveled the Northeast by plane, train, and bus solo...and I feel very able to take care of myself.
Then I got married. I find myself being so much more dependant on Taylor for things that I know good and well I can do on my own. I couldn't get the dishwasher closed the other day...I fiddled and messed with it for awhile, then asked Taylor to do it. Embarrassingly enough, it was a tall cup hitting a low hanging part of the dishwasher, and I would have figured that out if I was on my own.
I have been putting off a trip to Ikea (about an hour and a half away) because I was nervous to go by myself. Mostly I was nervous to be able to make it there on my own. When determining what to do today, I decided to suck it up and head to Ikea by myself. When I weighed my options...tackling the trip alone beat out listening to Taylor's complaints about having to shop with me.
Now I feel my nerves to go alone to Ikea are PARTLY justified due to the language barrier...that makes everything much more difficult and a bit more nerve wracking. But, we've been there before, so I had a good general idea where I was going. So I loaded up myself, my nerves, and my pillow (to match curtain colors) and headed out around 12:45 today. Of course 12:45 is right in the middle of reposo (the 2ish hour break in the middle of the day for lunch/naps when everything closes) And I had a quarter of a tank of gas. Yes, the gas stations close too. Some of them have machines that allow you to pay in Euro and pump gas, but we buy gas with coupons that we pay for on base to help even out the cost of gas over here as compared to the States.
For example: We are allowed 300 Liters of gas coupons per month. We buy coupons for all 300 liters of our gas for approximately 270ish dollars on base. We have a year to use the coupons, so right now we have lots of extra. We then take the coupons to the gas station and give it to them in payment for our gas. There are two types of gas stations that take the gas coupons through out Italy. So I decided to hop on the autostrada and hopefully I would come across one of those stations on the way to Padova (the city Ikea is located). The gas stations on the autostrada don't usually close for reposo.
Well I'm driving, driving, driving, gas is under a quarter of a tank, I'm getting more and more nervous, and finally a gas station, but of course it's not one of the brands that takes coupons. I decided I needed the gas anyway, I'd just have to pay. Just to make you feel better about what you pay. I bought a half a tank which is about 7 gallons and it cost me 30 Euro...that is about 40 dollars. That equals out to almost $4.00 a gallon!! Thank goodness for our coupons!! But anyway...I was feeling much better. I pulled out the GPS, but I think it was more for my mental comfort rather then actually needing it because we discovered last time Ikea's address doesn't register on our GPS so it doesn't take you right there.
Anyway...point is, I made it to Ikea just fine. Just because I take a few more wrong turns and drive in a few more circles then with Taylor, doesn't mean I can't do it on my own. And thank goodness I was alone for the shopping, I made the right decision since it took me an hour to pick out two sets of curtains (I already had my mind set on two I'd seen last time I was there) and two plants. Ha! But I had to make sure I was making good purchases! I checked out about every plant and size and price and settled on a small tree and a tall palm like plant. And guess what...they're LIVE! What? Who knew Ikea carries LIVE plants. It seriously took me about 15 minutes to determine if they were real or not because they're all indoors, they are a perfect green and look full and fake! I walked around to all of their plants touching a lot of them before finally convincing myself they were real plants. I had intentions to go and buy fake ones because last time I was there I saw them and thought they were all fake!
So I packed my two trees with dirt and all in the trunk of my little Accord (with the seats folded down so there was room) and I headed back home. And I have to say, I was pretty proud of myself. No parle Italiano can't stop me!
And funny story, when I got home I unloaded the trees and put one in our bedroom and the tall plant in the guest bedroom. So an hour later Taylor comes home from work, goes upstairs in the bedroom to change and comes back down. He said nothing, which I thought was odd because he thinks my love of trees and plants indoors is crazy and usually comments when I mention needing one for the bedroom! So I asked him if he noticed the new addition to the room, he didn't have a clue what I was talking about. I said, "there is a TREE in our bedroom!!!" He says, "oh, no way, really? Where did you put it?" It's right in the corner next to our dresser- and can I mention that we ONLY have a bed, a dresser, and two night stands in the room and the tree is about 4-5 feet tall??? He said, "I put my bag right there, I don't know how I missed it!?" Awhile later he went upstairs and said, "I'll be...there sure is a tree up there, and it's about a foot away from where I dropped my bag!" Such oblivion!!! We both were very amused at his lack of observation!!
And speaking of brave...I must have been on a roll this week. Yesterday I went to the Aviano Officers and Civilian Spouse Club (AOCSC) luncheon. It's pretty much a spouse club that does social events and charity events and it's a way to be involved on base. I went alone, knowing no one! As you can imagine it's tough to go to a luncheon alone...just picture me walking around a bit awkwardly attempting to find a seat at a table. I finally did and ended up at a table of wives from the Maintenance Squadron. I found out that most the ladies congregate by squadron (Pilot, Medical, Maintenance, etc) but none of the officer wives from Security Forces participate in the group, so no one was there. But the ladies from the maintenance squadron were very welcoming and nice to me! We had a good lunch and I got a couple girls numbers. They go skiing on Wednesday mornings at Piancavallo (the mountains right by base- about a 20 minute drive) so hopefully I'll try that out! And I made plans with one of the other girls to head down to Nove to replace some ceramics that broke in the mail to my parents! So it was a productive lunch, but the jury is still out if I will join the AOCSC, I'm still thinking and debating it.
And now on to something totally opposite of what I have been talking about. In fact my post will sound quite frivolous and mundane in comparison...
In my last post I asked for advice and suggestions and I appreciate all the responses for places to visit as well as blogs to read. I have to mention on here one of the blogs that was recommended to me by my friend, Leanne.
This blog is written by a girl from Brentwood. For those non Tennesseeans, Brentwood is a neighboring town to Franklin. This girl, Katie Davis, graduated from Ravenwood High School in 2006. She took a year "break" to work in an orphanage in Uganda after high school. She fell in love with the country and the children of the deprived country. She ended up staying over there. She just turned 21 and in the last 3 years she has started a non-profit organization that sponsors 400 children to go to school, provides them with school supplies, medical care, and meals, she feeds approximately 1000 children a week from a shunned, poorest of poor village, she has bought a house, and has adopted 14 girls of her own. She knows with all of her heart that she is doing God's work with the children over there. She speaks so beautifully of her faith and her confidence in her calling to live and LOVE in Uganda. She is unbelievable and her blog is so inspirational. I started reading it from the beginning, two nights ago and after two nights of staying up until 2 am readin, laughing, and crying I have finally been caught up to her recent post from today. Anyway, point is I HIGHLY, HIGHLY encourage you to check out the blog and read a bit. I am going to include one of her posts on here so you can see a clip of it.
The blog address is: http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/
SATURDAY JULY 19, 2008
"there once was a woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children, she didn't know what to do..." (from an old nursery rhyme)
Actually, I think that shoe is a small African house and I am that woman. So many children. So much joy, I don't know what to do. Last night 140 children spent the night on my floor. (well about 17 slept in my bed) Lauren, one of my visitors, said, "I have never seen so much chaos!" Oh, its good to be home. Yesterday at Friday Bible study, all the children sang me a song that they made up and practiced all month. They sang : "We the children of Amazima, we are happy to see you mommy. We missed you mommy Katie. We love you, We love you, Welcome home!" And I was afraid that my heart might burts. Yes, what we lack in money, and medical care, and food, we make up for in joy.
On the topic of lacking in medical care and food, money is tight as always. This morning I noticed a rash on little Zuula, one of this kids in my program, that I thought was syphilis. Upon inspection of her other brothers and sisters though, we concluded it was scabbies, a skin disease caused, basically, by constantly being filthy and not bathing. It sharts as a rash and then grows, open wounds festering on the skin. Eventually it looks like somthing has been eating the flesh. Scabbies can be spread through skin contact so six out of the eight children from that family were infected. I have been to their house a while ago and remeber it being one of the worst living conditions I have ever seen. All 8 children live with their widowed aunt and dying grandmother who do their best to provide, but often all their hard work is not enought to keep 8 children healthy. They live 6 miles from the nearest water hole, so they use the same water over and over. all the children sleep in a pile like dogs in the corner of the small dirt house. Somehow, these children dance and laugh and sing just like any others.
The on call nurse at the nearest hospital told me that to cure scabbies the kids must bathe twice a day in warm water and then rub a certain ointment on their skin. They can not share water, towels or ointement, obviously. But you have read the description of their home. How in the world will these children get enough water for all six of them to have their own bath. If they can get the water, how will they make it warm. They dont own one towel, let alone six. This is where I come in. I have running water, a heater when power is on and a fire in the back yard when it isn't. I have extra towels and sheets. I have strong hands that can rub ointment all over these darling children. And the truth is, I couldn't be happier to help them. Yes, if I had it my way, I would just bathe children with sabbies all day every day.
So now, instead of just my seven gils, there are 13 children living in my house. To a mom of 150, this shouldn't be a big deal, but it still feels overwhelming at times. The six children : Moses, Saazi, Vivian, Bashir, Zuula and Shadia were delighted by their warm baths. They seemed nervous as i rubbed their peeling decaying skin with ointment and for a brief moment I was too, what if i catch it? But my fear lasted only a split second. Didn't Jesus sit amoung the lepers? Yes. Hasn't He assigned me to "do unto the least of my children"? Yes. He has given this assignment. He has given me these hands that have the ability to help and heal. I am simply blessed to be able to use them.
Needless to say, we could use your prayers. It is going to be a challenge to bathe and dress six children's wounds and find them clean towels and at the same time keep them far enough away from my own children that we don't all get infected without making them feel like outcasts. It will be near impossible to come up with all the money I need to pay for all these children's medical bills, pay my employees, and feed my family.
Yes, it will be brilliantly, wonderfully difficult.
"But who, being innocent, has ever perished?"
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Suggestions Appreciated
I just have to say that I have now been writing the blog for about 10 months and I LOVE when people tell me they are reading it! I started it for my family to keep up with my travels in April and May and decided it could be very helpful when we moved to Italy, so I should keep it up. This has proved true and I know my family enjoys reading it. And it is just a nice bonus when other people tell me they enjoy reading it as well! It takes me quite awhile to write the blog updates so it helps reaffirm the time and detail I put into it...so THANK YOU for reading! I mean, let's be honest...it's not like I have anything else to be doing right now with my spare time...but it's still a lot of work!!
And on a side note...I love reading people's blogs too. Even when it's friends from high school that I haven't seen in awhile, I just really enjoy blog style writing, and it's even better with pictures! The other thing I started looking at the other day was cake decorating blogs. For about a year and a half now I have had it in the back of my mind that I would love to do cake decorating. When I went to meet with the lady who did our wedding cake I was very fascinated with how she started cake decorating. She said she started by taking a class with her friend and she kept it up and her friend quit...and about 10 or so years later she now has this huge portfolio of gorgeous cakes! I keep thinking I have just enough artistic ability that I might be able to do this...and I certainly have a love for baking! I need an excuse to try this out...something to bake a cake for. But for now it's staying as a thought in the back of my mind...I'll let you know when I take it further. I know I just went on a little cake decorating tangent...but my original point was about blogs and if anyone reads any good blogs I'd love for you to share...I'm always up for some new reading! (Along with Harry Potter I'm currently reading for the 3rd time!!)
I know I never really ask for opinions or recommendations on here, but I am now and would love any and all responses...please!
So Taylor planned our whole Christmas trip to Austria, and last night I asked where we should go for President's Day weekend. He said he wasn't sure, but he thought it should be my turn to plan this trip and come up with some places to go. So I'm looking for suggestions from anyone who has traveled to Europe or has friends who have, or heck, maybe you watch a lot of Travel Channel and you have some good suggestions...whatever...I'm not picky! We would like to leave Italy, but besides that...no other requirements. We will probably leave Friday night and return home Monday. So we would have 2 good days in the city. Let me know what you think!
So Taylor had a great time on his "guys weekend" trip. I think he enjoyed his time away...and anytime he's skiing, it's gonna be a good trip! Taylor's mom asked him if I enjoyed my alone time...my response was, I enjoyed a bit of it, but I have lots of alone time these days so it's really not a hot commodity for me! I did have a girls night on Saturday which was fun.
And I'm still waiting on work...still waiting...still waiting. AHHHH!!! I had this big dilemma. As I mentioned previously, Taylor's brother Phillip is getting married on January 30th and he is heading home for the wedding next week. I assumed I would be working and didn't think I could ask for time off work when I just started, so I decided to stay here. Well we are now a little over a week away from the wedding and I'm still waiting on a local clearance from Family Advocacy to go through Human Resources before I can be in-processed and start working. They can't give me a definite time of when that will come through, but they say ideally I will be in-processed by Friday. But it is now Wednesday and I have yet to hear from HR. I would LOVE, LOVE to be at the wedding and to be home with family and friends for a week, so I'm torn! I just don't think I can risk going home because I don't want to ask for a week off, in case all my paperwork goes through. This process has already taken 2 months, I hate to extend it any more time then necessary. I just don't think I'd be starting off on the right foot if I left my first week eligible to work. But on the other side, I'm going to be very upset if I missed the opportunity to go home AND I haven't started work.
Taylor and I have very different views, he says "we've ONLY been gone three months", while I say, "we've been gone a WHOLE three months". Time at home is much more vital to my well being then it is to him...he puts up a strong front! But I CAN DO IT. No worries, I'll be fine, just maybe a bit jealous and bitter...but fine, none the less!! I'm excited to hear all about the beautiful wedding and to see lots of pictures!
Alright, I'm off to spend a little time outside. Five days of sunshine over here. I'm not sure if we've had five days in a row since we've been here! I told my mom (and Leanne), but I'll tell you why it's sunny. I just ordered my first pair of rainboots from Target and they arrived on Friday...it's been sunny ever since! Go figure!
Ciao, bella!!
And on a side note...I love reading people's blogs too. Even when it's friends from high school that I haven't seen in awhile, I just really enjoy blog style writing, and it's even better with pictures! The other thing I started looking at the other day was cake decorating blogs. For about a year and a half now I have had it in the back of my mind that I would love to do cake decorating. When I went to meet with the lady who did our wedding cake I was very fascinated with how she started cake decorating. She said she started by taking a class with her friend and she kept it up and her friend quit...and about 10 or so years later she now has this huge portfolio of gorgeous cakes! I keep thinking I have just enough artistic ability that I might be able to do this...and I certainly have a love for baking! I need an excuse to try this out...something to bake a cake for. But for now it's staying as a thought in the back of my mind...I'll let you know when I take it further. I know I just went on a little cake decorating tangent...but my original point was about blogs and if anyone reads any good blogs I'd love for you to share...I'm always up for some new reading! (Along with Harry Potter I'm currently reading for the 3rd time!!)
I know I never really ask for opinions or recommendations on here, but I am now and would love any and all responses...please!
So Taylor planned our whole Christmas trip to Austria, and last night I asked where we should go for President's Day weekend. He said he wasn't sure, but he thought it should be my turn to plan this trip and come up with some places to go. So I'm looking for suggestions from anyone who has traveled to Europe or has friends who have, or heck, maybe you watch a lot of Travel Channel and you have some good suggestions...whatever...I'm not picky! We would like to leave Italy, but besides that...no other requirements. We will probably leave Friday night and return home Monday. So we would have 2 good days in the city. Let me know what you think!
So Taylor had a great time on his "guys weekend" trip. I think he enjoyed his time away...and anytime he's skiing, it's gonna be a good trip! Taylor's mom asked him if I enjoyed my alone time...my response was, I enjoyed a bit of it, but I have lots of alone time these days so it's really not a hot commodity for me! I did have a girls night on Saturday which was fun.
And I'm still waiting on work...still waiting...still waiting. AHHHH!!! I had this big dilemma. As I mentioned previously, Taylor's brother Phillip is getting married on January 30th and he is heading home for the wedding next week. I assumed I would be working and didn't think I could ask for time off work when I just started, so I decided to stay here. Well we are now a little over a week away from the wedding and I'm still waiting on a local clearance from Family Advocacy to go through Human Resources before I can be in-processed and start working. They can't give me a definite time of when that will come through, but they say ideally I will be in-processed by Friday. But it is now Wednesday and I have yet to hear from HR. I would LOVE, LOVE to be at the wedding and to be home with family and friends for a week, so I'm torn! I just don't think I can risk going home because I don't want to ask for a week off, in case all my paperwork goes through. This process has already taken 2 months, I hate to extend it any more time then necessary. I just don't think I'd be starting off on the right foot if I left my first week eligible to work. But on the other side, I'm going to be very upset if I missed the opportunity to go home AND I haven't started work.
Taylor and I have very different views, he says "we've ONLY been gone three months", while I say, "we've been gone a WHOLE three months". Time at home is much more vital to my well being then it is to him...he puts up a strong front! But I CAN DO IT. No worries, I'll be fine, just maybe a bit jealous and bitter...but fine, none the less!! I'm excited to hear all about the beautiful wedding and to see lots of pictures!
Alright, I'm off to spend a little time outside. Five days of sunshine over here. I'm not sure if we've had five days in a row since we've been here! I told my mom (and Leanne), but I'll tell you why it's sunny. I just ordered my first pair of rainboots from Target and they arrived on Friday...it's been sunny ever since! Go figure!
Ciao, bella!!
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