Wednesday, September 10, 2008
church in siena
We attended our first Sunday in our new branch in Siena today--what a wonderful experience. They have two sets of missionaries that are assigned for the area and they all speak english. What a great moment it was to hear english when we first arrived! Church was conducted by the Branch President named Anziano (Elder) Welch who is the most senior missionary for the area I believe. We all sang the hymns in italian which is sometimes a struggle with pronunciation of words but overall the same spirit comes with singing despite the language barrier. It was fast Sunday today and so obviously that means an open testimony meeting. Anziano Welch started out with his; that was really touching even though he spoke in italian the whole time. After him another elder got up and said his first in italian and then in english for us which was nice to be able to understand him. Following him there was a local italian man that got up and bore his testimony in both italian and broken english which was so nice--sometimes hard to understand but still such a strong spirit with it that it didn't really matter. A mom in the branch shared hers about trying to be a better member and stay true to her testimony of the gospel despite her desires to sometimes just do the things she wants to do not what she knows she should be doing. She talked about how welcoming the youth in the area were to her daughter and how much that meant to her. She obviously has such a strong desire to follow the truths of the gospel and I know that she will continue to make the right decisions. I feel like our presence in the ward will help her to be able to have such a large group of girls that all have such strong testimonies and for her to see that there are people our age in the church that live the standards. A couple of the girls from our group even got up and bore their testimonies today which was so special. Even though the might not have been able to understand fully the spirit that was there today was undeniable. It is such a testimony builder for me to be able to see that no matter where you are in the world the church is the same--the gospel is true and wonderful. It blesses so many lives. I know that this is the true gospel and I am so grateful for how it has blessed my life. The spirit I felt today at church was wonderful. On Friday there is a relief society activity that should be fun--I think it is a service project and I am pretty sure most of us will be going. I hope that I can be a good example to the members in the branch and help strengthen their testimonies. Oh and they also have a genealogy center there at the chapel that they really need help inputting over 600,000 names from paper into the database so I will probably have a couple opportunities to serve in that way which I am looking forward to.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
english, please?
I arrived in Siena tonight. What an experience!
The bus pulled into the bus station and we all awaited the moment that we would finally meet the people we would be spending the next 2 1/2 months with. It felt like we were being picked off for teams like 3rd grade again as one by one the families arrived and the names of the girls paired with them were called out loud. The suspense grew as more and more girls left with their hosts. Then ours arrived. Gioseppe (the father) is an older man In his 50's and came to pick us up alone in his green station wagon. Luckily our we as well as our luggage were both able to fit inside. We said our "ciao's" and that was pretty much the extent of our understandable conversation. The silence that filled the car on the way to the apartment was unlike any I had ever experienced before. It literally was almost unbearable as I sat there in the front seat knowing I would be unable to get to know this man, even a little, before we arrived to his home, due to the fact that I know NO italian and he knows NO english. This definitely presents a problem. Well maybe his daughter and his wife speak a little, right? Wrong. Not one word. Gioseppe continued to try and explain things to us in Italian but it was almost impossible to understand even the topic of what he was trying to get across. The only tool that came in handy were hand motions. Thank goodness those are pretty self explanitory. The apartment they have here in Siena is a good sized one with a nice bedroom here with two twins and a decent amount of storage space for our clothes and belongings. Luckily there is a private toilette and sink in our room that will help us be more private and give us a place to store some of our things. Gioseppe showed us to our room and motioned something to do with food and closed the door and left us to put our things away--at least we assumed that’s what we were supposed to do. Downstairs there was plenty of clinking and clanking of dishes in addition to loud and vigorous Italian being spoken. After getting almost settled we were informed that dinner was ready. This would be my first interaction with Fiorella (the mom). She had her hair rolled in curlers, pearl dangly earrings, a house dress, and red crock look-a-likes on. She came across very nice and friendly and showed us some places in our room that were ours to use- such as wall closet space for dresses and coats- then she took us downstairs to dinner. Dinner proved to be a somewhat awkward experience as well…they tried to give Autumn lessons on how to properly swirl her spaghetti pesto onto her fork. I luckily had that down and it wasn't until the second course that I had any problems. It consisted of quite spicy cooked carrots- to be eaten alone with a fork I discovered, some mystery meats that were some sort of salami types, lettuce- with no dressing other than oil?, cucumbers, and some mystery vegetable that I have never before seen in my life. The carrots were quite nice but I had some difficulty with the rest. I tried to force myself to deal with the plain lettuce and resorted to combining the bread, meat, and mystery veggie together as to not cause my gag reflexes to respond to it. It was a little green tear drop shape that could possibly belong in the squash family and was soft on the outside and filled with sweet brown gooey seeds on the inside. I think it might be a fig? However- I have never seen nor tasted one so I have no idea. Overall dinner was tasty, I enjoyed to pesto very much. We got a map out and they were able to get the point across of where we were to meet our group for church in the morning which is about a 20 minute walk away from here. We helped carry some dishes in and had a small discussion on coffee and tea in the morning where we had to describe as best we could that we don’t drink them. They showed us what I am assuming is a type of postum that they have which we said would be ok. Breakfast could be an interesting experience. I am so overwhelmed with the language barrier I don’t know how to even describe accurately how all this is playing out. I totally have sympathy for missionaries who go to foreign countries to serve- what an obstacle! I can only hope that with our 5 hours a week of Italian lessons and total immersion into the language here at home that we will pick up basics soon and start to transition into some normalcy in communication. For now we will just do our best to try and pick out words here and there in italian when we are talked to and deal with the awkwardness. It feels good though to be all moved in and unpacked which is nice. After the long 10 1/2 hour bus ride we went through today plus stopping in Paestum to see the old greek ruins my shower felt very refreshing to say the least. Tomorrow morning starts at 9 am with breakfast, leaving for the Piazza Gamchi (?) at 10 and sacrament meeting at 10:50. Hopefully we make it through this experience one day at a time until things start to flow easier.
The bus pulled into the bus station and we all awaited the moment that we would finally meet the people we would be spending the next 2 1/2 months with. It felt like we were being picked off for teams like 3rd grade again as one by one the families arrived and the names of the girls paired with them were called out loud. The suspense grew as more and more girls left with their hosts. Then ours arrived. Gioseppe (the father) is an older man In his 50's and came to pick us up alone in his green station wagon. Luckily our we as well as our luggage were both able to fit inside. We said our "ciao's" and that was pretty much the extent of our understandable conversation. The silence that filled the car on the way to the apartment was unlike any I had ever experienced before. It literally was almost unbearable as I sat there in the front seat knowing I would be unable to get to know this man, even a little, before we arrived to his home, due to the fact that I know NO italian and he knows NO english. This definitely presents a problem. Well maybe his daughter and his wife speak a little, right? Wrong. Not one word. Gioseppe continued to try and explain things to us in Italian but it was almost impossible to understand even the topic of what he was trying to get across. The only tool that came in handy were hand motions. Thank goodness those are pretty self explanitory. The apartment they have here in Siena is a good sized one with a nice bedroom here with two twins and a decent amount of storage space for our clothes and belongings. Luckily there is a private toilette and sink in our room that will help us be more private and give us a place to store some of our things. Gioseppe showed us to our room and motioned something to do with food and closed the door and left us to put our things away--at least we assumed that’s what we were supposed to do. Downstairs there was plenty of clinking and clanking of dishes in addition to loud and vigorous Italian being spoken. After getting almost settled we were informed that dinner was ready. This would be my first interaction with Fiorella (the mom). She had her hair rolled in curlers, pearl dangly earrings, a house dress, and red crock look-a-likes on. She came across very nice and friendly and showed us some places in our room that were ours to use- such as wall closet space for dresses and coats- then she took us downstairs to dinner. Dinner proved to be a somewhat awkward experience as well…they tried to give Autumn lessons on how to properly swirl her spaghetti pesto onto her fork. I luckily had that down and it wasn't until the second course that I had any problems. It consisted of quite spicy cooked carrots- to be eaten alone with a fork I discovered, some mystery meats that were some sort of salami types, lettuce- with no dressing other than oil?, cucumbers, and some mystery vegetable that I have never before seen in my life. The carrots were quite nice but I had some difficulty with the rest. I tried to force myself to deal with the plain lettuce and resorted to combining the bread, meat, and mystery veggie together as to not cause my gag reflexes to respond to it. It was a little green tear drop shape that could possibly belong in the squash family and was soft on the outside and filled with sweet brown gooey seeds on the inside. I think it might be a fig? However- I have never seen nor tasted one so I have no idea. Overall dinner was tasty, I enjoyed to pesto very much. We got a map out and they were able to get the point across of where we were to meet our group for church in the morning which is about a 20 minute walk away from here. We helped carry some dishes in and had a small discussion on coffee and tea in the morning where we had to describe as best we could that we don’t drink them. They showed us what I am assuming is a type of postum that they have which we said would be ok. Breakfast could be an interesting experience. I am so overwhelmed with the language barrier I don’t know how to even describe accurately how all this is playing out. I totally have sympathy for missionaries who go to foreign countries to serve- what an obstacle! I can only hope that with our 5 hours a week of Italian lessons and total immersion into the language here at home that we will pick up basics soon and start to transition into some normalcy in communication. For now we will just do our best to try and pick out words here and there in italian when we are talked to and deal with the awkwardness. It feels good though to be all moved in and unpacked which is nice. After the long 10 1/2 hour bus ride we went through today plus stopping in Paestum to see the old greek ruins my shower felt very refreshing to say the least. Tomorrow morning starts at 9 am with breakfast, leaving for the Piazza Gamchi (?) at 10 and sacrament meeting at 10:50. Hopefully we make it through this experience one day at a time until things start to flow easier.
Friday, September 5, 2008
sea glass
i love the beach. i spent the day in amalfi--a little coast town off the meditteranean. it is glorious. i have a nice little collection of sea glass! it is so so so wonderful here...i really must return someday. we walked up and down the main street and even got to see a wedding at a church there in town! i love it. we head off to siena tomorrow to meet our host families and start classes on monday. i am so nervous! its all such a new experience and all so new at one time that it is very overwhelming to think about. but i am sure that it will all be great and i am mostly just looking forward to not having to live out of my suit case. and to do laundry...i am really excited about washing my clothes. i know mom- hard to believe- but true. i want to do laundry! haha anyway i am off to bed for one last night in paradise before our 8-9 hour bus ride tomorrow! i'll post as soon as i am able.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
minori
minori--its my new most favorite place in the whole world. its on the amalfi coast here in italy and it is so picturesque and beautiful. however- in order to get into town we had to spend 2 hours on a tour bus climbing up and over mountains on a super skinny, steap, winding road that really only fits one car-let alone bus- on it at a time. i thought we would die. thank goodness for our amazing italian bus driver who doesn't even break a sweat when he is taking a complete 180 degree turn on a huge bus filled with 24 nervous girls, while just about slipping off a huge 20,000 foot cliff. amazing. anyway, we spent the last two days looking at old ruins preserved from the explosion of mount vesuvius in 79 A.D. in Hurculaneum and Pompei. they are so incredible. it is so crazy to see the frescos on the walls and the incredible, intricate, mosaics all over the floors and the pillars. things were left just exactly as they were so long ago...the faces on the moldings of the bodies in Pompei still had the shocked and tortured expressions on them. then today when we got back into town in Minori we went to the beach! i am in heaven. total paradise. the water is so clear and so salty that when you lay back you float! i love it. i spent lots of time just sifting through the black sand for sea glass...love it. tomorrow we have the whole day to just stay here and relax with no bus rides of schedules--we are all so pumped to have a day to ourselves. we are planning on taking a trip to amalfi- a really touristy town just 10 minutes and 4 euros away on boat.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
roma
roma roma roma.
when in rome right?
well pretty much words fail to describe things here in rome. absolutely amazing. the first day i was here it started off with church. all of it was spoken in italian and it was definately an experience for sure. i've never been in a place so foreign where the people surrounding have a hard time understanding me. it puts things in perspective a little bit...after church we walked through the city and went to see st. peters cathedral. by far one of the most incredible things i have ever seen. the size of it cannot be captured by a picture or a description. we walked up 570 steps, which still has my calfs burning, to the top of the inside of the dome. being able to see the artwork on the inside of the dome was amazing. how people have the talent to do things that are so massive but yet still perfectly in proportion is beyond my comprehension. we then traveled outside of the dome on a viewing deck at the very top of the cathedral and were able to have the most amazing view of the whole city. the old structure that was used to plan cities is so impressive. there are two 'arms' that extend down from the catherdal that have a long road that leads into the the piazza in front of the cathedral. in the piazza are two bigger fountains on either side of a tall column.
a side note about rome- they have fountains and water coming up from the ground all over. it is unbelievable. apparently they found under water aquafirs (?) and so they built tons of fountains for display as well as tons of drinking fountains that all continuosly flow. the water is clean and refreshing--i don't know how we would survive without it. it is one of my most favorite things about rome.
i saw the cistine--sorry spelling is rough cause its all in italian here so nothing looks right in english--chapel. the cistine chapel! it is much much larger than i imagined. i didn't realize there was more than the god touching adam's finger scene...that is one square of hundreds. i don't have any way to describe how incredible it was. the colors are rich and the figures are larger than human size. how it is all in proportions is unknown to me. the feeling when you look at something that you have heard of your whole life but never thought you would actually see is quite the experience. my mind is so overwhelmed with all the things i have seen i can't quite express how i feel about them all and its frustrating. the days blur into what seems like months. i am still trying to process all the paintings, sculptures, and buildings i have seen and the hands that have made them. we looked at a banini statue today of the capture of percephine--the white marble figures looked real to say the least. the grip that pluto had on her was so lifelike and the stuggle and emotion shown in their stone bodies was undeniable. pluto had veins and muscles and so much power and authority while percephine was radiating such pained emotions. the struggle that played out from the tears on her face and the struggle she was putting up with as well as an overrall resignation to the inevitable was so moving. never before have i thought it possible to be so touched by something made from stone. every angle of the statue provided the eye with more movement and emotion to take in. banini's attention to fine detail makes the textures rich and so life-like.
i walked in the colloseum today. walked where ancient romans walked and watched people die for plesure. its hard to think of a time where that could be possible but then i can't help but think of the entertainment we have today. video games and movies that are filled with violence- yes it is 'pretend' but still fills our minds. its unfortunate that the colluseum wasn't better preserved, much of the white marble that was used to build it was harvested for other things around the city. it is still such an amzing structure that is absolutely mind blowing how something of that size could have been constructed and used so functionally.
as you may have noticed--size is a major theme of rome. everything we see here is on such a massive scale it is hard to describe. pictures can't capture the magnificence of everything we come upon. the only way to start to comprehend is to see it in person...something i feel very blessed to have the opportunity to do. this is such an amazing life experience. even just the seemingly insignificant things that go on here are meaningful. the friendships being made are all so unique--i love it. all being away from home in such a strange place pushes you to form close, intimate relationships with those around you. i already feel so connected to the amazing girls i have speant the last 3 days with.
italia.
when in rome right?
well pretty much words fail to describe things here in rome. absolutely amazing. the first day i was here it started off with church. all of it was spoken in italian and it was definately an experience for sure. i've never been in a place so foreign where the people surrounding have a hard time understanding me. it puts things in perspective a little bit...after church we walked through the city and went to see st. peters cathedral. by far one of the most incredible things i have ever seen. the size of it cannot be captured by a picture or a description. we walked up 570 steps, which still has my calfs burning, to the top of the inside of the dome. being able to see the artwork on the inside of the dome was amazing. how people have the talent to do things that are so massive but yet still perfectly in proportion is beyond my comprehension. we then traveled outside of the dome on a viewing deck at the very top of the cathedral and were able to have the most amazing view of the whole city. the old structure that was used to plan cities is so impressive. there are two 'arms' that extend down from the catherdal that have a long road that leads into the the piazza in front of the cathedral. in the piazza are two bigger fountains on either side of a tall column.
a side note about rome- they have fountains and water coming up from the ground all over. it is unbelievable. apparently they found under water aquafirs (?) and so they built tons of fountains for display as well as tons of drinking fountains that all continuosly flow. the water is clean and refreshing--i don't know how we would survive without it. it is one of my most favorite things about rome.
i saw the cistine--sorry spelling is rough cause its all in italian here so nothing looks right in english--chapel. the cistine chapel! it is much much larger than i imagined. i didn't realize there was more than the god touching adam's finger scene...that is one square of hundreds. i don't have any way to describe how incredible it was. the colors are rich and the figures are larger than human size. how it is all in proportions is unknown to me. the feeling when you look at something that you have heard of your whole life but never thought you would actually see is quite the experience. my mind is so overwhelmed with all the things i have seen i can't quite express how i feel about them all and its frustrating. the days blur into what seems like months. i am still trying to process all the paintings, sculptures, and buildings i have seen and the hands that have made them. we looked at a banini statue today of the capture of percephine--the white marble figures looked real to say the least. the grip that pluto had on her was so lifelike and the stuggle and emotion shown in their stone bodies was undeniable. pluto had veins and muscles and so much power and authority while percephine was radiating such pained emotions. the struggle that played out from the tears on her face and the struggle she was putting up with as well as an overrall resignation to the inevitable was so moving. never before have i thought it possible to be so touched by something made from stone. every angle of the statue provided the eye with more movement and emotion to take in. banini's attention to fine detail makes the textures rich and so life-like.
i walked in the colloseum today. walked where ancient romans walked and watched people die for plesure. its hard to think of a time where that could be possible but then i can't help but think of the entertainment we have today. video games and movies that are filled with violence- yes it is 'pretend' but still fills our minds. its unfortunate that the colluseum wasn't better preserved, much of the white marble that was used to build it was harvested for other things around the city. it is still such an amzing structure that is absolutely mind blowing how something of that size could have been constructed and used so functionally.
as you may have noticed--size is a major theme of rome. everything we see here is on such a massive scale it is hard to describe. pictures can't capture the magnificence of everything we come upon. the only way to start to comprehend is to see it in person...something i feel very blessed to have the opportunity to do. this is such an amazing life experience. even just the seemingly insignificant things that go on here are meaningful. the friendships being made are all so unique--i love it. all being away from home in such a strange place pushes you to form close, intimate relationships with those around you. i already feel so connected to the amazing girls i have speant the last 3 days with.
italia.
london town
unfortunately i don't have a whole lot of time to write this because i am sitting on my balcony in rome picking up some random internet connection with a low battery on my laptop. however--i wanted to get a few things down before we head to naples...
first i will start with some adventures from london--
amazing.
seriously.
everything was absolutely beautiful.
lynzie and i stayed in a hostel in the "royal burrough of kensington and chelsea". hyde park was just steps outside of our door...we spent our days walking our feet off and sight seeing to the point i thought my head was literally going to explode. we ventured out to the tate modern museum where i was able to see the most magnificent monet i have ever seen. it was so breath taking. i stepped on the london eye- which is a massive beyond massive farris wheel inspired wheel with big enclosed pods instead of seat baskets- and i was blown away with the size of wonderful london town. the buildings of parliment, westminster abbey, big ben, buckingham palace, the list goes on and on. the age of the buildings in incredible and nothing in provo can even come close. it is so hard to comprehend the amount of people that have been there before you and walked on the same cobblestone sidewalks and layed on the same spot of grass.
while in london lynz and i enjoyed the most divine waffle with melted chocolate and ice cream. so so wonderful. especially after walking for the last 4 days straight. buckingham palace was magnifecent and it was so fun the think they have a queen and a royal family- imagine marrying into that! we also spent many countless hours in museum after museum looking at things that i don't even have time to describe. but all wonderful.
oh london.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
bonfire
so last night me and some other friends went up to canyon glen park to have a bonfire. we had just started our perfectly built tee pee-scout fire, with a little help from our friend "gasoline", and we were all enjoying the glowing heat of the flames, when out of nowhere this guy just storms down a dirt hill, over our pile of wood that was yet to be burned, and through our tee pee, through the fire that was still burning on the dirt, and away. what would possess someone to do that? stupid. i don't understand what goes through peoples minds sometimes. but the rest of the evening was quite nice despite our struggles to reconstruct our fire to its initial magnificence. i love fires. but somehow i always think that i can walk away after not smelling like smoke, like somehow this time is different and it magically won't adhere itself to my skin, clothes, and worst of all hair. i have yet to come across a fire that can resist.
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