Single Waiting

Where have I been? Excuse me, where have you been? Life has taken a turn for the crazy and the best. The changes that are occurring in me daily are crazy! I love the idea of being a changed individual in Christ. Knowing that I won't be the same after this trip. I can't be. The flame burns, and even if it dims again, it will never go out. My heart has been captured. I am completely smitten by the love that I see around me. It encourages me to keep pursuing God's desires for me and my life. I have been living with a woman, who is a beautiful person. She has shown so much kindness towards me and trust with her daughter. You know how things can happen in your life so easily and you don't think twice about how easily it happened because  certain things are just that way? That's what this has been like. When I think of going to a different country, and spending 2 and a half months with a family I have never met prior to the trip, it makes me very mindful and aware of ...

Tips on using an Italian laundry service. Story all true, formed last Saturday as a series of unfortunate events. Step 1: When using an Italian laundromat make a fool of yourself first by playing it cool when others are standing around waiting on their own personal belongings. Step 2: Get set up in a corner as if you're prepping for a long day of laundering. (laundry-not money, let's be clear!) Step 3: Wait for said people and any extra onlookers to slowly exit and be financially prepared for any extra money to be spent. Step 4: Fake read Italian signs all over the room, completely bypassing the signs above the washers that are in fact ENGLISH INSTRUCTIONS. So when you see a sign that says "Istruzioni per il lavaggio" ,you will understand it reads "washing instructions". You will also see the UK flag representing a "universal" English speaking dialect. But wait! It gets better! Step 5: Walk to the blinking lotto slot to choose your d...

In the words of Italians: Bo. Means I don't know. But fortunate for me, I do know. I just like saying the word. :) Whatever preconceived ideas you have matched up in your head for me and this Ugo character, put them to rest. Nothing is coming of it and I knew this minutes after meeting him and becoming flushed in the face. Cute faces does not make the heart want, only the heart race. In this case, only seeing a guy for the immediate looks grabbed me in, but I did learn he had a gf. Off limits for me. Always. If a guy is looking at me in any way to pursue, or play a game of pawn and knight  and are with someone else, en passant my friend.  En passant. Don't get me wrong. Ugo is very pleasant, easy on the eyes, probably someone I would swoon for after watching a Lizzie McGuire movie mixed with an Olsen Twin movie, and an Amanda Bynes flick. But let's be real, even if I were to meet a man like they do in the movies, it will tak...

Where were we? Ugo you say? Va Bene! Well we went on a wild es-ca-pade... Just kidding, bringing some Jackson to your ears. After dinner was the after dinner conversations. Jeannette asked me to guess Sir's age. I will not divulge it here, and I will let your imaginations go where they may and I will tell you if you must know. He asked whether I liked Chiavari, and how old I was, and this was shortly asked after he was asked if he wants kids. Oiy vey! See what I mean by awkward. I love AWKWARD. ( The show).  But, the other kind of awkward in front of men, about kids, and I don't even know their last name. awkward. After dinner, we all spent some time just chit-chatting and then Ugo was off. Fast-forward to a week later, and Ugo came up in conversation again. This time about how Ugo shows interest in the teachers and usually see's pictures of them before they come. It sounds creepy, but the Walti's treat Ugo like ano...

I know a lot of you are curious about the single girls' travels and romance and whether or not I've found any here in Italy of all places. Hmmm, should I let the pot simmer, boil, or overcook? Well, here he is. Ugo.  The 4-1-1: I went over to the Walti's for dinner this night assuming another couple I met earlier that week would be  coming over as well and got surprised with this. The Ugo that other previous teachers swooned over. The Ugo that had just gotten back from Brasil. The Ugo that is a physical therapist, and is also the neighbor across the way from the Walti's front door. Any physical therapy needs are welcomed by Ugo. I get to the house, pull off my layers of winter clothes and go meet up with Jeannette in the kitchen to see what she's preparing. She lays it on me, "Oh, I invited Ugo over for dinner, Katiya and Vito couldn't make it." Me: "Ugo, Ugo? The one the girls swoon over Ugo?" Jeannette: "Yes, it ...

Because I love you all so much, and I want to show you the views from where I walked, I will later show pictures. Just not today because I am probably going to be walking around a lot today. But the other day, I had free time before my Italian lesson, and I went for a stroll about a Catholic cemetery. Trust me, it couldn't have been less spooky since I went in broad daylight, and there were so many other people walking the grounds. I could have planned better to bring my camera, and leave my laptop, but I wasn't fully aware of my day, so I had to lug this laptop in my backpack, with my scarf and jacket on, for 1,300 stairs, and back down again. So now you can sense my reservations for having to go back up to the top and take pictures of this place. This place was massive, and if you haven't figured out the title by now, you can imagine what 2,600/1,300 steps looks like. It wasn't even that it was just straight up and down, these stairs went into old stone hallways...