my first day of school!

Well, my friends...I went to my first day of school today at Centro Italiano. Above, you will see a picture of what it looks like outside. Thankfully, Antonello had a test at his school so both of us were able to take the bus together this morning and my precious fiance walked me to the front door of Centro Italiano, which resembles what hobbits would walk through!

I was a little early, so as we arrived, a woman did as well. It turns out she is one of the teachers and her name is Monica. Antonello asked if he could drop me off with her and she said of course; I was in good hands. Monica and I went through the hobbit door and entered the courtyard, which is shown above. We climbed 3 flights of stairs and found our floor; she unlocked the door and I walked into what my life will look like for the next 4 weeks.

After meeting a girl from Austria, named Ursula, who speaks English, and taking both a written and oral placement test, I was placed in what seems to be level 3. There are 5 other people in my class and we are only allowed to speak Italian in class...wait a minute...is this my life?

Am I really doing all of this? Did I really move over here to be with Antonello in a whole new world and am now studying in Italia? Am I really going to wake up tomorrow morning and leave the house BY MYSELF and take two buses, for a total of 45 minutes, to travel to school and speak Italian for 4 straight hours without any english help and then hop back on the bus, straining my brain even more to push the little red button on the bus for my correct stops to make it home okay?

All I can say is, "Sono pronta per questo avventura!"

a trip to Bari

I went to my first Italian wedding...well, my first Italian Catholic wedding that is. Antonello's cousin, Dario, got married so I met even more family as we traveled 2 hours to the east side of Italy, called Bari. Marina's brother, Mino, lives over there with his wife, Maria, and their three children. It is definitely smaller than Naples and is located more in the country; it was nice to see another city other than Naples, but we were happy to get back home on Friday.

We had a lot of fun eating the 13 course meal (which wasn't that great) and dancing the night away. The whole night lasted almost 12 hours so needless to say, we were very tired.

The next morning, Antonello's aunt, Maria, took us to the "The Grottoes of Castellana" which was discovered in 1938. It was absolutely breathtaking and unfortunately you weren't allowed to take any pictures except in the first cave, which you will see below.

Franco, Emanuela and I before the wedding

My handsome fiance

Emanuela, Franco, Marina, me, Antonello & Nonna (Grammy)

outside the restaurant where we had appetizers

Dario and Katia...the newlyweds another view from outside the restaurant...the party moved out here for dancing and the cutting of the cake

the tables inside the dining room Marina and I
Mom and son
the best food of the night; lemon sorbet in raspberry sauce"I wanna dance with somebody!" outside pics

outside of the grottoes...houses called "trulli"inside the grottoes

2 stories

Story #1:

On Monday, Antonello and I went to downtown Naples and shopped around their street fair they have daily. We ended up around the movie section, looking at a huge pile of them. At this fair, because Naples sun is so hot that it can burn your skin off, they have huge umbrellas set up all along both sides of the street to provide some much needed shade. As I was walking around the huge bin that contained the movies, my feet found the gigantic umbrella pole and and since it was a little lopsided, it felt like a trampoline. Well...of course, I started jumping on it and after a few seconds of fun, the umbrella started to fall over! With my huge muscles and of course some adrenaline, I braced myself and grabbed the pole with all my might to bring it upright again. All the commotion caused a few Italians to run over to my aid; I showed them my muscles and they laughed. After finding a movie, we decided it was time to go home so we headed to the bus stop...this is where Story #2 comes alive so keep reading.

Story #2:

After the street fair, Antonello and I (and our four bags full of goodies from a successful shop that afternoon) got on the bus to head home. The bus was absolutely packed and we barely found seats. The bus system here requires you to pay for a ticket ahead of time and when you first enter the bus, you are required to put your ticket into a machine which prints the time/date and spits it back out to you. As much as this is required, many Neapolitans end up taking a chance and riding the bus for free...as long as the "controllore" (or ticket checker guys) don't catch you and make you pay money (usually 40-80 euro) for cheating the system.

On this particular day, Antonello decided to take a chance and not stamp our tickets so we could use them for another day. Lucky day for us because through the sea of people came one of the ticket checker guys!!!!! (I forgot to mention that it is rare to see them on the bus.) Coming up to us and asking for our tickets, Antonello handed him our blank ones and this ticket checker guy was not happy with us. Thinking it couldn't get worse, it did. My wonderful fiance started speaking english and saying to the guy, "I don't understand you. What is happening?" I couldn't believe my ears...he was totally pretending to be American not understanding what was going on so maybe we wouldn't have to pay. Antonello kept looking at me and saying, "What is happening Sarah?" I started kicking him and telling him to speak Italian but he kept a straight face the whole time and wouldn't stop. Well, this ticket checker guy thought that BOTH of us were Italian and were lying to him.

By this time, EVERYONE in the back of the bus was listening to what was happening with us and was telling the ticket checker guy that I was American but he didn't believe anyone, including me. He was pretty mad at this point and said to both Antonello and I, "Andiamo polizia!" That means, "Let's go to the police." He made us get off the bus with him and at this point, my heart was in my throat and I thought I was being taken to jail. I started saying, "Mi dispiace, mi dispiace!", which means, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He proceeded to write something on both of our previously blank tickets and walked away. After turning to Antonello with a surprised look on my face, he explained to me that we had been given "warnings" and if we did it again, we would have to pay 80 euro for our shenanigans.

We escaped, but just barely. Criminals on the run.

culture shock

Definition of culture shock....

1. The mental shock of adjusting to a new country and a new culture, which may be dramatically different from your own.
2. Being in a strange place and losing the power to communicate can disrupt a person’s world view, self-identity, and systems of thinking, acting and feeling.

I think it would be fair to say that these 2 definitions sum up EXACTLY what I am experiencing.

• mental shock...check
• dramatically different culture...check
• strange, unfamiliar place...check
• unable to communicate (fully & effectively)...check
• questioning my self-identity...check

Sometimes, on grammy's balcony, amidst the noises on the streets of Napoli, I close my eyes and picture what my life used to look like. I know I have only been here for a little over 2 months, but it is comforting to sense the familiar, to remember faces, to cherish times of solitude I once had, and to breathe in my previous independence that now seems so fleeting.

• His plan is bigger and better than my plan...check

we're back dudes!

I never thought being connected to the internet could make me, could make us, so happy. We checked about 2 hours ago on this hot, Friday afternoon and we are officially connected again; we are back in the game coach!

Here are some pictures from our time on Ischia, a little island off the coast of Napoli. We (meaning his family and I) had to take a huge ferry over and despite the 100 degree weather and almost throwing up (both Antonello and I...oh, and his sister) from a long and windy bus ride over to the other side of the island called Sant'Angelo, we settled down and had some lunch. Sant'Angelo is an old fishing town that allows no cars on it's little streets. After taking the bus as far as it could go, we had to walk the rest of the way down into the village where many colored houses lined the hills. Even though Capri is more famous and well-known, people consider Ischia to be more beautiful. Both are amazing in my book.

a view of an old lighthouse from the ferry on the way to Ischia

more amazing views of the hillside on our journey to the island

Emanuela and I

*cheese* on the ferry

the hillside on the harbor at Ischia

our ferry, the "Medmar"
lovin' the taxis

the village in Sant'Angelo

more views...
a beautiful mosaic leading up to the hillside

This video is taken on the ferry back to Napoli and I love it because a guy was walking around with his accordion playing music for us ferry folk. Only in Italia.

17 days and counting until I start school. Excited, yes. Ready, AAAAAHHHHHH! I just found out I have a test on the first day of school and this has left me a little worried. My mom said I came out of the womb with a furrowed brow but I think it's time to unfurrow (word?) it.

Living here the past 2 months has taught me more about myself than a lot of other things I have gone through. Going through culture shock and being so far away from everything that has been safe and comfortable and familiar in my life, is turning out to be the most beautiful thing that could have happened. I am truly finding myself and more importantly, finding out who my beautiful Creator is.

There are days though, where I want to run back to the U.S. to find washers AND dryers instead of hanging ALL my clothes outside on a line; or going to my favorite coffee shop/bookstore instead of looking down the street to find run-down stores and garbage; or to turn on the t.v. and watch reruns of "Friends" instead of soccer, soap operas, & more soccer; or to have my studio and independence back instead of being around family every day.

....each day I am beginning to thank God for the simplicity of hanging my clothes and how peaceful it is to help grammy. I look at the streets and see people who are trying to survive and who need Jesus in a powerful way; an opportunity to share. I can't wait to go to a soccer game now and when I think about it, I don't really miss my shows. Independence will come but right now, I am surrounded by people who love me and care for me.

God is amazing. I am going to go watch the sunset and talk with my Dad...

...no internet

Sad news...we lost internet connection at grammy's and can't add to our blog at Antonello's parents house. AAAAHHHH!!! I am updating our blog from Doug Valenzuela's house, a missionary from Twin Lakes Church. Antonello and I are having cheeseburgers and french fries for dinner tonight at their house and I am OH SO EXCITED!

Pray we get this figured out soon; I can't be away from contact with the U.S. (I might lose my mind) :)

Love to all of you.

photos galore!

We got back to Napoli yesterday afternoon and definitely miss waking up to the beautiful sea. Some good news though: They are picking up the garbage here EVERY DAY and they are starting to RECYCLE!!!! Woo-hoo! Bravo Napoli!

Here are some pictures of the last couple weeks at the vacation house. It's now time for both Antonello and I to start getting ready for school. Both of us start in September and are looking forward to experience that part of life together. It is definitely scary for me to think about taking the bus by myself in the crazy city of Napoli and still not being able to completely speak sentences fluently, but I will try. Prayers are greatly appreciated! :)

the view of the piazza in a beautiful little town called Maratea

I found the coolest doors which led to people's homes...this one is in Maratea

the best dessert croissant filled with nutella called a "bomba"

a beautiful statue in Maratea outside an old Catholic church

Marina and Emanuela

a house which I fell in love with...the history of this place was beautiful

a narrow walkway leading to houses and stores

who is that hot man? Oh...my fiance :)

Here are more pictures from Diamante, a little town we went to which means "diamond". They are known for their peppers, as you can see on this woman's balcony.

Antonello's family from a balcony in Diamante

...another beautiful door

the streets were lined with beautiful narrow walkways

sunset in Diamante

view from the main street

*smile*

photos from the Arco Magno...our 3rd trip there

dad Franco, friend Raffaele, me, friend Rosaria, and cousin Nunzia

umbrella's galore!!!

view from the top of the mountain at the Arco Magno...our beach was in the little cove in the upper right-hand corner of the picture

on the last day at the beach, my flip-flops broke so I had to wear Franco's aqua shoes...

I know, my feet are lookin' hot!