Monday, November 29, 2010

Brief Post

This will be brief as it is being typed from our Kindle.  We spent a rainy day yesterday in Florence and half the excitement was getting there as we decided to drive.  No problems though with this duo of navigator and driver.  We parked at the train station and than toured in the rain.  it was also the day for the Florence matathon with the run ending in the same area.  we did visit the Mueseum of Academia with a lot of church art and the statue of David.  Again it appeared to be a lot of mans efforts trying to reach a god instead of just accepting the gift.

Tomorrow we head further South so hopefully wil have better wifi access.  All for now.  This little bit took 15 minutes .

Saturday, November 27, 2010

A day of Rest



Friday –Nov 26
We decided last night to take a day of rest and hang out around our apt. and the place we are staying.  The name of the town is Tiglio Basso (lower section of Tiglio) and we are in an agritourism I' Cerretelli.

This is our car above the field Friday morning
We heard loud thunder throughout the night.  You could almost picture it rolling over the  surrounding mountains because it would rumble on for quite awhile.  When we woke up we were surprised to see snow everywhere and it was still coming down some.  It is gorgeous.  It gave the surrounding villages a new look.  We were glad we had decided to stay close to home as we are not sure what our little car would do on snowy roads that have signs all over the place with a picture of a tire covered in chains!  We spent the morning reading  and after a late morning snack we went out for a walk around 1.  The snow had mostly melted and it was cold but comfortable.  We decided to walk up the mountain further where we had not been.  We were aiming for the top of Tiglio where there is yet another amazingly old church known to have  an amazing view from.  After 40 min of uphill walking we realized it was further than it looked and with low clouds all around we would not see much so we turned around and headed back.  It just felt good to get out and walk.  We often see people out walking at a stroll.  They don’t’ look like they are heading anywhere in particular…just out walking…

This is the width of the road we drive through town on to our appartment
When we got back we put together a meal of sorts.  Fresh fruit (clementines, kiwi and pears in particular) are in abundance at road side stands as well as fresh veggies.  We had bought some things yesterday when we were out so stir fried a few veggies, added some sausage, pesto and olives and put it over the yummy fresh pasta …made a delicious Italian meal :)

We finished the day off reading till we fell asleep…a lovely much needed rest day.
Tomorrow is another adventure…

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving from Lucca

We have been wandering the streets of a wall city called Lucca on Thanksgiving.  It feels like Thanksgiving with the chill in the air.  We are so thankful for our family and friends and sat in a restaurant with four tables and 3 of them were Americans eating Pizza for Thanksgiving.  Pizza in Italy we should stress.  That is something to be thankful for.




We spent the morning driving in the country looking for an old monastary that was carved into the side of the mountain.  It was way up in a rock cropping and quite impressive.  We enjoy wandering the little mountain roads and looking at the scenery.  We saw a road sign to Lucca and decided to go for it since it was only about a half hr drive.  It is a very old town with many more and different shops than in Barga...more like Michigan Ave in Chicago with all the fancy shops but they are in little stores in ancient buildings.  We are heading home again soon and hope to connect on wifi soon.  Such a luxury that we take for granted in the states.
Last night while laying in bed I was thinking about how I had asked the Lord to give me a fresh and new understanding of what our overseas friends experience in where they live and I felt a pang of homesickness and longing for the familiar and to be able to just carry on a conversation in English with someone (other than Roger...ha ha ) and the Lord reminded me that so many friends who work in other countries experience that so much more and longer than I am and I forget to pray for them and remember them in that way.  In most countries, mostly asian and south american I feel more at home then in the US so I don't think it was a mistake we came to Italy for vacation where everything is sooooo foriegn (except pizza) to answer that request...
thanks for listening...more soon.

Exciting Excursion to Barga - Sorry, posted out of sequence

Tuesday Nov. 23--another adventure!!  
First View of Snow on the Mountains
We left our first "home" near Bologna and headed out about 9Am.  We had been given directions sent us from the new place but it was mostly on a main toll road and did not look as fun as the back roads so we started out early knowing it would take us longer than the supposed 2 and half hrs we were told.  Especially with our experience of confusing maps and road signs.  Anyone want to guess how long it took?  Only 6 hours!!  We were on winding mountain roads most of the time...and I mean winding.  Our avg speed was about 40 mph...so 200 kilometers took awhile .  We did stop frequently to gawk at the amazing views and had lunch in a little pizzeria along the way but overall it was scooting down the roads. We were so thankful we found all the roads when it was time to turn on a new one.  


The most amazing view we saw was of the snow covered mountain tops.(one mt we went up was at over 10,000 ft)  Followed by the different greens in the valleys and the hillsides dotted with farm houses and then an amazing little village on the side of a mountain with a tower of some sort from the big church in the center of the town....how in earth did people settle there in the first place?  and why?  and how in earth would you get up there?  I am not sure what makes it so different but Italy is beautiful and has a different look about it ...that is for sure.  

Mountains out the opposite side from our apartment
About the time we thought we could not stand the car any more we arrived in Barga, the town near where we are staying. We got out the directions given to us by the owners of the "agritourism bed and breakfast" out to read and followed them to the T...well it took us up a curving road that was quite narrow for about 4 kilometers and then we turned off at the sign where it said to turn off but it was such a narrow road thru the thick woods we just could not believe it was right.  It said to go 1 and half kms but at that point we came to a narrow scary looking bridge so we turned around to go check our signs and roads etc.  we were on the right road...okay we will go further...went over the bridge and came to another turn after a total of 3 kms that you would not believe.  I took a video (wait to you hear my comments) that we hope to post if we ever get good Internet connection.  It was a sharp turn down an extremely steep road that was about 8-10 ft wide (we will measure tomorrow to verify) and had very sharp turns with buildings on each side the whole way down.  Granted it was only about about 200 yards but it felt like a mile.  I could not believe this was where we were staying.  The place we are at is a walled city or village called Tiglio.  Its very cool...very Italian...on a hillside...overlooking Barga which is beautiful.  When we got to the bottom I sighed a great sigh of relief and said yeah we are really in Italy and I love it.  We have a small apt with kitchen so we hope to eat some meals here.  In fact after we got settled we actually turned around and drove up that hill and back to Barga to buy some groceries and I made pasta and veggies with sausage...delicious if I say so myself !! I was kind of missing cooking and overtime I would see the wonderfully fresh veggies and fruit in the stores I just wanted to fix a meal with them.  I know...strange huh?
  So there is much exploring to be done.  We are unpacked and settled in for a week and there are so many places around here to see.  Not sure I look forward to driving back in the dark each night up that winding road and down the "driveway".... But its home so of course we will!!

Yesterday in Barga

Wednesday – Nov. 24th
A view from the apartment window
We had a good night’s sleep and woke up to gorgeous views from every window in our apt. and the sun was shining brightly.  There are 5 windows in our apt. and you can see the town of Barga with mountains behind it  from one side and the Alps on the other.  The snow seemed to melt some today  but is still there.  I am not sure why it makes the sight of mountains so much more majestic but its an amazing thing to see ….maybe its because I lived for 7 yrs in texas and 9 and SC where you just don’t see things like that often.
Picking Olives with Owner
We had breakfast about 9 this morning and while we were eating we saw owner of this place and his parents harvesting olives in the field near where our car was parked. They had rakes they used to knock the olives out of the trees onto nets that were around the base of the tree on the ground.  We stopped to watch on the way to our car when we were getting ready to leave.  They said it has been a terrible crop this year for olives because they have had so much rain…so if you use it you might want to stock up as I have a feeling the price is going up.   Before we knew it we were helping pick the olives and we made up conversations in English of what we imagined they were saying about us in Italian…Roger’s commentary kept me laughing.  After about an hour and half and 2 and half trees later we headed into town.  They would be working all day to get their crop in to town to have it pressed into oil.  I would love to see that. 

Walking the Streets of Barga
We spent the day in Barga exploring the old city part.  It is so cool to walk the narrow streets…all stone..and look at shops along the way.  I found my first fabric.  For those who don’t know that is all I am buying on this trip as a souveneir…a half yard of fabric from each place to make a memory quilt someday…or have someone make it for me more likely…ha ha…  We had lunch at a nice little cafĂ© and then came back to our place to rest awhile since we decided it was time to eat dinner out in the evening.  They eat soooo late here for my liking…and it’s a long affair…not the hour rush at Olive Garden.  We went into town a bit early to walk around and happened to finally find the place people had been telling us about where we could get on the internet.  We can’t use our computer but at least we will be able to connect.  It means a lot to us to keep up with everyone just because we will be gone so long.  After a few min on the computer we disconnected and went back to old town and found a restaurant that was open at 6:45!!  Amazing.  Of course we were the only ones there but we didn’t care…the owner kept us company coming to watch a nearby tv with Italian version of who wants to be a millionare.  The food was by far the best we have had since we arrived in Italy and maybe we will go there again before we leave.
So back at the apartment…still calming my nerves from the harrowing ride back from Barga…narrow road…narrower road thru dark forest and one way rickety bridge…then the worst…the narrower yet drive down to our place…you have no idea how scary it is STILL after doing it about 6 + times already!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Ferrara and Bologna

November 21 after Ferrara (we will add more pictures later just wanted to get this posted.  thought we lost as we input it at the train station in Ferrara and lost the signal before we posted.  Dont have all our info now)

So…Sunday night trip home….was crazy funny.   I don’t think writing it will nearly give you the picture of what happened.  It was dark and rainy and rush hour for starters.  We had our route planned… the navigator..me was right on top of things.  The only problem was the route was not quite right.  We passed a familiar place and sign (ikea) where we should have exited and began to realize we were on the wrong road heading to Florence with very few exits nearby…so we drove on till we could turn around…missed another exit…went further…finally saw the airport sign so we went there knowing we could figure it out from there…sort of…then got out the original directions which we talked about them before …clear as mud…but things started to look familiar and we found the very curvy foggy road up the mountain to our “home”….only an hour and half later than we thought we would be…not to mention going around a curve to find a van across the road trying to pull a car out of the mud that was down in the field on the side of the road.  They finally gave up and let us pass and THEN we made it home.  What an adventure !!


November 22

We are sitting in a “community center” resting after hours of walking around the old town part of Bologna.  Its pretty amazing architecture.  Roger loves it even more than I realized.  The camera was clicking all day.
Just to back up a bit …we slept really well all night last night and feel we are acclimated to the time change.  We have settled into a routine of sorts…breakfast at about 8:30 to 9 and then head out for the day to explore.  Our breakfast has been assorted breads, yogurt, cheese, ham etc.  I was really glad to see whole wheat bread in the selection put out for the two of us…quite a spread really of sweet breads and rolls etc.   The place we are staying is a very old farm house that has been remodeled and updated by a young couple.  The husband is the manager of the opera costumes…not sure what that job would entail but he is gone long hours.  They have 2 young boys who are gone most of the day to kindergarten and school.  They have been so kind and helpful to us and our room is very nice. 
After spending the day out exploring the area we come back to our room and have a snacky dinner.  We have had a big lunch each day and are to tired to go out to eat late as they normally have dinner here about 8pm.  We bought some sausage and cheese and crackers, pears and clementines for our snacky dinner and have really enjoyed it.  We spend the evening playing card games.  We have quite a competitive tournament going on right now…mostly playing 5 crowns…the score is even for win and losses. 
Today was another drizzly day but not to cold.  We are so thankful for the rain jackets we brought.  It seemed like a big luxury when we were cramming our suitcases but worth it now after 3 rainy days in a row.  We hope tomorrow is sunny!!  We took the train this morning from near where we are staying into Bologna.  We could not for the life of us figure out how or where to pay for the train ride so when it came we just got on.  No one ever asked for our tickets or came to collect money so…that was kind of nice!!  It took us about 30 min.   So we have enjoyed a taste of the city…more cathedrals, statutes, museums and interesting shops. 
Tomorrow (Tuesday) we head to our next location….more to come.  We love the comments you leave.  It is a way of feeling connected with you…and we want to stay connected since 5 months is a long time…

Sunday, November 21, 2010

After the Day in Ferrara

We are now drying out in the car as we get ready to head back.  We are wet from head to shoe (at least our feet aren't wet) and we are drying off in the car as we get this blog in.  We had a fun lunch at a "typical ristorante" where we had some curry pumpkin with almonds starter and a main course.  It was a nice cozy place and kept us warm for an hour.  We walked the street in the old part of town and enjoyed the brick and cobblestone streets.  Only if the sun was shining.  We went in the Castle of Ferrara which you saw a picture of earlier and spent some time in the Cathedral.  It is sad to see all the altars to the different saints and people spending time at each station to burn a candle.  It is good to know that grace is sufficient and there is no need for these actions.  We are off to the roads again with Jan as navigator.  She has done such a great job seeing as we know no Italian.

jan here-  the navigating is killing me....almost ...if the traffic doesn't first.  I have been in many countries where we don't know the language but not many where hardly any one speaks even a little english and all the signs are in Italian.  We guess at what they are saying and hope we are close .  We have had a great day  even with the rain.  The cathedral brought back the same thoughts and memories of catholic churches I visited as a young girl.  I remember being saddened by the fact that people were praying to the idols and alters and the picture of Jesus still on a cross always saddens me.  I am so thankful my Saviour is not on the tree but overcame death and is risen.  It was fascinating to hear that the cathedral was built in the 11 hundreds.   Quite a bit of history there.
I am so enjoying the gelato here.  They have the best dark chocolate ever.  Yummy...my goal..have some every day.   :)
So as Roger said we are heading back to our "home" and now its in the dark...an hr drive approximately, assuming we don't get to turned around somewhere.  Talk again soon...

We are in Italy

It’s Saturday morning and we are just outside Bologna.  Our luggage arrived with us on our 4 connections and every plane was on time.  A good start I would say.
View from the room window
The first hitch was when we looked for the thrifty car rental booth we found out they were no more.  But there were plenty of others and we got a cute little Nissan.  I understand why the cars are so small here…the roads are narrow and curvy so they fit better !!  it was crazy trying to find out way out of the city.  The streets are marked but not to match the directions we had.  Roger had fun before we left looking on line at the google maps where you drive it as if you are in a car and he had printed off some pictures of each changing point of our directions.  I thot he was nuts but it came in very handy a couple times.  One particular picture caught my eye because it had an English sign that said “sexy shop” with an arrow and said to take Roma road.  That was on one of the roads we needed but it took us 3 loops to realize the sign was on Roma rd.  But it became our landmark as we figured out where to go in that section of the directions and believe me we would not have done it with out it…well we would have but we might not have gotten to our B & B before dark.  There were a couple of other pictures that were very helpful along the way too and we arrived at the place we are staying at about 3. 
Can I just say that the area of Italy we have seen so far is gorgeous…the view from our window in our room is so pretty…mountains or large rolling hills I guess with villas dotting the tops to the hills, vineyards on the hillsides etc.  Hope we can get some good pictures before we leave this place.  It’s been a bit cloudy .  We went for a walk when we arrived, played games for awhile trying to stay awake , but ended up going to bed about 6.  We slept till 7:30 AM.  Still feeling droggy tho.  Jet lag.. ugh
We drove around a small town before coming here and found a small pizzaria to eat lunch in.  they did not have a restroom which was much needed so when we left we kept looking for one.  We decided to try a hotel but next to it was a restaurant. So we stopped in there and a lady speaking English said yes there was one and we could use it.  We chatted a bit and then were about the head out and the owner of the restaurant was aobut to seat us and we said no thanks we already ate.  Boy was she upset.  The lady told her she gave us permission but that did not help much  .  The restrooms were for customers only…we promised we would return the next day and eat there …she had a big enough scowl on her face when we left that we aren’t sure we want to go back.

Roger is busy looking at maps as  I write.  We hope to go out and explore soon..more to come later.

next day....we are in Ferrara and exploring as we go...we found a place where we are able to hook up to wifi for a few min so wanted to send this out.  There is a food festival of sorts taking place near a castle and we enjoyed taste testing sausage, cheese and olives etc.  the weather is drizzly but not to bad to keep us indoors .  too much to explore...talk again soon.

Friday, November 19, 2010

In Copenhagen

It's 2:00 AM home time.   Just want to do a quick post while we have a connection.  We are sitting in Copenhagen waiting for our flight to Bologna and it is snowing.  Fortunately we are heading South from here and our hope it is warmer.  The snow changed to rain as we watched.

We are tired as with any transatlantic flight but are doing fine.  The first realization is we are no longer in an area where english is the primary language.  It will be awhile until we are where our native tongue is the primary language.  The realization that communication will take more effort and thinking.  

We had to go through security after deplaning here and had to dump the water we had saved just like any security clearance.  What a bummer.  Water is so valuable when you are trying to stay hydrated.  We are only here a short time and do not want to exchange money to buy a couple of bottles of water.  We will board our next flight soon where we will get a drink and will be in Italy in 2 hours.  All for now.

Interesting.  Just tried to check the spelling and almost all words were misspelled.  Turned out it was checking my spelling against Danish.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

On our way

Our only chance to blog today.  We are at Chilli's in Charlotte airport with our only layover of more than an hour so time to blog.  We left Liberty with her cousins and she is already fitting in.  We went for a walk on the farm and then had a good time just chatting with Marsha, Joe, Mark and James.  It is always refreshing to go for a walk and enjoy the great outdoors.

Marsha dropped us off at the airport this morning and we were on our way.  We now have our boarding passes all the way to Bologna and praise the Lord we were able to book our luggage all the way to Bologna from
Chattanooga.  The tag had to be handwritten as there are 4 stops and the normal tag in the printer can only print off 3 tags (a bit of trivia for you).  We sure hope that does not impact its chances of the luggage making it all the way to Bologna.  One thing is for sure, now that we have a picture of the luggage,  describing it to someone and spotting it in the sea of luggage should not be an issue.  We have a couple more hours here and then off we go.  That time will be spent getting our walk in before the long rides and working off some of the chips we just had.

At the last minute we had to add some items to our suitcases and found out we could go to 50 pounds.  The extra was good to have.  When we got to the airport, each suitcase weighed exactly 50 pounds.  What a relief!  Someone must have been lifting one corner.

We are not sure when the next time wifi will be available so we will write our blog in Word and copy it to the blog when we get wifi.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

The Day Before Launch

We left Columbia this morning… and I cried.  Silly right?  The last week I have been grieving and it just came out in tears.  I will miss knowing right where a cup is to make a cup of tea and where the crackers and cheese are when I need a snack and where my toothbrush and toothpaste are.  I know that sounds funny but if you saw how my backpack is packed and how many pockets it has you would understand what I mean about wondering where the toothpaste is….anyway I walked thru the house and said “goodbye house”…and got in the car and started to cry. I do feel a bit sorry for Roger.  I know if its hard for me to understand my emotions he must be pulling his hair out (nevermind -he doesn’t have hair J )
  I have been grieving a lot of losses this week and its just the way I deal with things.  So after a good cry and a long time of interce and acknowledging I was missing my kids, my friends, my normalcy and thinking of Lucas and Jamie as they have moved this week to Siberia and realized they must feel what I was feeling times 10 (which made me cry again ) I gave things over to Him…releasing it all and gave myself permission to let  go and look forward to what is ahead.  When you think about it…nothing is ours to begin with..it all is  and so why is it hard to let go of it and trust Him with the people and things in my life?  Long ago He taught me the principle of thanking Him for all things and when I do that it all makes sense.  It is so freeing to thank Him for it all and so that is what I did as I took my turn driving.  He was faithful in taking it from my heart and so I thank Him for that too.
So we made it to my sister and brother in laws beautiful farm. I love it here.  It is so peaceful and pretty.   A good way to start a trip.
So tomorrow we fly out .  I am EXCITED now.  We are going to Italy.  I can’t believe it but we are….really!!

Monday, November 15, 2010

The Time has Come - Almost

Not only are we leaving but we are thankful that Lucas, Jamie, Sam and Sophie were able to get their visas and are on there way.  We will give them a two day head start as they leave tomorrow and we will hope to catch up with them next April.  Flights are scheduled, bags are packed, and everything on our list to do is about done but there is the nagging thought in the back of your head "what did we forget to put on the list.

We did have a great weekend of camping with Ben and Sarah at Calhoun Falls State Park last weekend and enjoy perfect weather.  If you haven't been camping Orner style, there has to be a big fire going the whole time, cooking over the fire, s'mores perfectly cooked to melt the chocolate (after setting a least one or two marshmallows on fire), and just sitting around the fire sharing stories.  It was a very special time especially considering we will not see them for over 5 months.  That is the longest we have gone without seeing Ben ever.  You would think that would not be an issue but we have had the privilege of having them around while Eileen and Lucas travel the world.

On Wednesday we take a trip to my (Roger - Jan wanted to make sure you knew I was writing this one) sisters to take Liberty to her favorite farm (Mandel's note we said farm, not place.  She still loves you) and there she can play with her cousin dogs and enjoy the great outdoors.  Thursday morning we start our journey filled with one way tickets around the world.  The first leg is Chattanooga to Charlotte to Washington, DC to Copenhagen to Bologna.  One way tickets some times flag your ticket as "special" and we hope to minimize that as we don't want anyone "messing with our junk". 

We're off.  Stay tuned as there will be plenty to share.  We hope you enjoy this blog and will pray  for us as we journey to see our friends around the world.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Wake up call!!

I have been in denial for a couple weeks.  Denial that I need to prepare to be gone for the next 5 months…denial that I will be leaving behind my dear friends…denial that I will not get to fellowship on Sunday mornings in our fellowship… or enjoy being with my community group on Sunday evenings…denial that I will be experiencing other cultures and things that are not familiar, denial that I won’t fall asleep in my very comfy bed every night for the next 5 months as I have for the past 5 months (for the most part). Or have the option to go buy a new shirt when I grow weary of wearing what I have…or denial that I will not have my homemade granola every morning waiting for me when I get up :)  
  
So I was in denial and then I am not sure what happened but on Sunday I kind of woke up to the reality that I have 10 days till I really do leave and lots to do before then…and now its time to focus and do it.  As I write…I realize it is really a week from tomorrow that we leave!!  Wow…it is really going to happen…it’s not just our dream anymore but going to really happen.

 Everyone asks me if I am excited and of course I think I should say yes but since I have been in denial it is not the first thot that pops in my head.  Usually I say..uhhh sure I am excited…I should be…I am going to get to visit 9 countries and lots of friends and be with Roger, my best friend all that time but deep down inside I realize I am grieving a bit…grieving the goodbyes mainly…and all the above.  So now that I snapped out of the denial stage I think I am starting to get really excited.        
       
The house sorting and cleaning is well under way….the piles of clothes are being sorted and resorted as we try to figure what is really necessary and not necessary as we want to only have a suitcase each…its ridiculous how many pairs of shoes I keep thinking I need.  We have cool weather…cold weather…hot weather…a wedding…beach stay…working at a retreat for 2 weeks.  How does one take shoes for all that :)  and clothes too of course :)         
     
So yes…in spite of all the details still to sort thru we are ready to go…I am looking forward to seeing friends on the other side of the world, fellowshipping in different fellowships, eating yummy food from many countries, so hoping mangos are in season wherever I go J  And though I am still sad about leaving friends here I am beginning to be over the top excited about our adventure!!   
      
It’s REALLY going to happen and I am so thankful to the Lord for the blessing of being able to do this!!  I wonder what He is going to do along the way…I can’t wait to see!!