hallo hallo everybody! Aiya, okay this will have to be a quick post because I have to meet my language partner, Lorenzo, at 5:30 for un caffe' and even though I didn't have class at all today I have been so busy with lots of things. I don't know where the time has gone! Today I have been looking up information for summer jobs. (Speaking of which, Tina and Tina, I may very well be asking you for contacts) Ha! Can you believe it? I totally cannot believe how ahead and on top of things I am. I'm sure that for those of you who know me you will also be shocked at my lack of procrastination. Well, we shall see how long this motivation persists.

Actually, my motivation has come from a revelation I had Saturday night that I just need to get up off my bum and do things for myself. So that's what I have been doing. I feel good about myself when I am busy. Yes indeed, like I am accomplishing something.

Eep! I really should go. But before I do, I will give a *quick* weekend update:

Friday
*morning walk in the Tuscan foothills to a beautiful Romanesque church and friary
*beautiful afternoon in i Giardini Boboli (Boboli Gardens, an immense Renaissance garden set up by the Medici family in the Palazzo Pitti)

Saturday
*beautiful walk into Fiesole (a neighboring suburb) with beautiful views of the city from above
*many ancient Roman and Etruscan ruins and exhibits

Sunday
*meandering around the city after church
*a wonderful lunch in a trattoria with Sarah (buono compleanno!) and friends
*the most fantastical hot chocolate (cioccolata calda) at the famous Gilli's. Seriously, this was like melted chocolate in a cup. I'll be chocolate-satiated for... a day or so. =P

I miss all of you in Cali!

Oh what beauty I have discovered these past two days! In my sunlit countryside walks around the south side of Florence I feel entirely enveloped in my own world. Ephemeral though it may be. Being alone I don't feel alone, but I am accompanied by all the city and all the country. I looked in the mirror and didn't recognize myself looking back.


***from my journal entry 26-09-02***

It rained and was very cold the past two days. But today, to my immense joy, the sun gratiously came out and we had a beautiful afternoon. When classes had finished I went up and up on a narrow stone street south of the school. On either side were the tall, weather-worn, faded-paint faces of what must have been apartments, indistinguishable from one another except by the laundry hanging in front of the windows or the flower pot by the entrance. Then suddenly after another turn in the road the world opens. And there I stand under the blue sky and the Tuscan sun. Elegant branches of olive trees peering over ancient stone walls. Vines and wildflowers in the path. It smells like a country in the sun and it warms me from the inside out and drawns me into its heart.

Not a week passes since I have arrived in Italy and already I have experienced my first bus strike (or "sciopero" as they say). Except that I didn't notice it because I decided to walk since it is only a 20ish minute walk and it is so much fun to go through the center of the town and see all the bustling excitement. This morning, for example, a university-aged italian guy approached me as I was walking through the nuovo mercato and asked me (all in Italian) if I was from Firenze and if I would sign a petition to get city money to supplement a center for students who have aids. Yes, I definitely love the morning adventures that I get in the walk to school much better than taking the bus. My roommate, however, wanted to take the bus, so we parted ways at Piazza San Marco, and I got here a good 15 minutes before her. This was sort of a hard morning, because I think there is some tension between me and my roommate. I'm not exactly sure what it is coming from exactly, just general annoyance on both of our parts. I am beginning to realize that it is a difficult situation to be plunged into a small group of people and basically start all over again making friends and deciding who it is that I get along well with. It is just like freshman year all over again! I realize just how lucky I was freshman year to have Bea for a roommate. I love you Bea!! You are the most wonderful friend in the whole world! And now, I must get some cookies as we learn about Puccini's Manon Lescaut which is the first opera that we are seeing, complements of Signora Bing. *beaming smile* I am happy.

Ciao tutti!

Ahh, yesterday I had the wonderful untintentional adventure of stumbling into the perfect Florentine neighborhood. Narrow streets and groups of students from the Universita' di Firenze on the corner, piccoli caffe' e fruttivendoli, panieri e un sacco dei negozie artisiani, stone streets and green-shuttered windows... so there I was just walking down the middle of all of this! It was surreal, yet so real! Ha! Here I am in Florence! I walk to school and pass by the Duomo, the Piazza della Signoria (where there is a replica of the David), the Piazza della Repubblica, and the Ponte Vecchio over il Fiume Arno. (if you don't know what these things are, look them up online or else send me your mailing address and I will send you a postcard to show you. On that note, I have my first class in 10 minutes. Haha, guess what? I have classes only Tuesday through Thursday. Yippee for 4 day weekends! Yay!

Benvenuta all'Italia!

Wow, I cannot believe that I am actually here! Already there have been so many adventures! I unfortunately haven't been able to post much because things have been so crazy trying to get things prepared for the start of school. In fact, in just a moment, my roommate Deborah and I are going to do shopping for school supplies and other essentials. So -- alas -- I shall have to depart soon. And you know what else? I have been trying to send an email en masse but (alas again!) something is weird with my remote connection so I haven't been able to send it yet. But I will soon!

Eep! I have to go. **Ciao tutti!**

hmm.... so many things going on in my head.... but where to begin? I haven't been able to do my typical 3 posts a day, but that is because I haven't been surrounded by high speed internet at my disposal for the past 38 hours or so. So wow, let's see.... what all has gone on since my last update?

Most of Friday and Saturday I spent packing. What a strange feeling it is to transfer your life into boxes! It really felt like I was washing my life; elimiating old things that I didn't need any more, shedding the things that were holding me back. Very much a healing process, I do believe. On Saturday as I was gathering up all my things to take downstairs to move into my dad's garage, I was so surprised by how few belongings I actually had. Seeing one's whole life packed into 7 small boxes is pretty shocking. But then again I forgot that I had already brought a load the weekend previous, so I actually had quite a substantial section of the garage set off for my shtuff. What can I say, I accumulate. =P

I spent the entire day on Saturday at my dad's house, moving my things into the garage, but also just hanging out with him and his wife and Bruno (of the hopelessly slobbering but so adoring and fun-loving dog variety) and Emmy (whose proper title should be Empress Of All... except for the fact that this title is already taken... ahem). It was actually quite an enjoyable and productive day. Not only because I got storage and laundry done, but also because it was just a good bonding experience for before I leave. I showed them my pictures from Sardegna, and my dad and I were watching the Stanford/SJSU game. Awww yeeeeaaah!! 63 to 26 baby!! Hah! San Jo is not a threat to the awesome unstoppable power of the mighty Cardinal! Shyeah! Okay, we'll just pretend that they didn't get a 97 yard TD after a kick off. sigh. that was pretty pathetic. But other than that, I ean 37 point lead -- hullo! That's what I'm talkin' about. Not to mention that the Giants also whooped on SD. Yeah, it was a good game day. I was supposed to go out dancing with little Tina and Graham and Karl, which unfortuately didn't happen since we were still involved with dinner (I made some reeeeally good guacamole, so ask me for the recipe!) and laundry. But y'know, it was okay. I'm glad that I got to hang out with my family.

Sunday was of course involving church in the morning. It was my last service at the river and I am going to miss it so much! Keith just started a new message series which looks so wonderful. I will be sad to be away from the river, but at least I got to hear the first message. And actually, it was I think a wonderful message to leave on. All throughout his talk I was thinking "that makes so much sense," and "oh my goodness, that explains sooo much." His message did explain so much to me. About what I have bee put through in my journey with God this year, and especially these past five months. The main lesson was that we were made with three distinct parts to us: body so we can relate to the world, soul so we can relate to each other, and spirit so we can relate to God. The difficulty is that so many people relate to God exclusively with body and soul, but not with the spirit which is unique to us and which allows us really to communicate freely with God. So we get trapped in feelings, or in intellect. Of course we are trapped because this world is all about body and mind and there is so little out there that encourages spiritual growth or that really nourishes the spirit. This concept of three distinct parts of my own self made so much sense to me, with what I have felt sometimes with my mind knowing one thing, my body and my heart wanting something else, and still another sense in me -- almost undescribable -- leading me in another way. What a precarious life! And I realized how little time I actually spend in my daily life growing and feeding my spirit relative to all my other intellectual and extracurricular activities. And yet it is my spirit that is the most significant of everything! It must be so difficult to be a pastor. To describe what is a spirit to everybody. I don't think that I could describe it. But maye it naturally defies description. Sometimes when I really release myself into prayer or into worship I feel a tingling sensation like goosebumps run through my body. I wonder if that is my spirit meeting my body. Oh God, I do so want to grow in my spirit and as a result e released to be freely with you and you with me. It is certainly a process. But God is so awesome and so amazing, that there is nothing he can't do for us! How cool! We had a perfect song to close for worship:

Release me Father

to dance like a child again

Lead me Jesus

to grow in passion's flame

I love this song! Especially for the dancing bit. =) Ah, speaking of dancing, I haven't said about this evening's adventures in downtow Palo Alto. But, as I am sleepy and have to get up early tomorrow, I will save that for another time.

--ciao amici!

I was at a talk yesterday given by the former Majesty's Chief Inspector. In England, the Chief Inspector evaluates all the schools. His talk was about education reforms in England, their tenuous step forward followed by three steps back. It was very interesting to listen to him because he came from a very conservative viewpoint. It's all politics though. I could tell that he wanted what was best for the children, he wanted to help them learn as much as possible. I couldn't help feeling, though, that in his subtone was the idea that teachers prevented this from happening. Which is completely anti-intuitive. Of course he didn't come out and say that. But he suggested that the teacher opposition to vouchers and national testing was entirely self-interested. As far as I'm concerned, education of our children is the number one priority for teachers. Not only is it their job, but how devoted are our teachers to be so often underappreciated, and grossly underpaid? Teaching and children must be a life's passion because what else could keep them? And what do the politicians have personally invested in education, save for an intellectual and abstract interest, or promises to their constituents? I just think it is easy for them to theorize and be self-righteous in their assertions when they aren't personally in the classroom day after day, involved with the students and seeing how they learn. When the politicians aren't the ones who are spending their own money (who knows where it's coming from in such a pitiful salary) to buy school supplies. How then are teachers opposing the education of their students?

Whew, this has definitely been a busy day! I am a little sleepy at the moment from staring at a computer screen for an hour or so (ah, but you notice the wonderful new additions to my site, yes?), plus not having slept all that much last night, plus needing to go to work (yes, again) at 6:30 tonight. Eep! That is very soon! Okay, need to get going now! Ahh, and then I get to go to PopScene! Woo hoo! I will most certainly have stories for you about that tomorrow. Ciao i miei amici!

Whew, this has definitely been a busy day! I am a little sleepy at the moment from staring at a computer screen for an hour or so (ah, but you notice the wonderful new additions to my site, yes?), plus not having slept all that much last night, plus needing to go to work (yes, again) at 6:30 tonight. Eep! That is very soon! Okay, need to get going now! Ahh, and then I get to go to PopScene! Woo hoo! I will most certainly have stories for you about that tomorrow. Ciao i miei amici!

Adventures in San Francisco (and the getting to and from):

11:34AM-- Final paperwork needed for visa arrives at the PO Box. Bike back to hoover and furiously xerox many many copies.

11:50AM-- Bike as fast as my little legs will carry me to the Palo Alto CalTrain Station to catch the 12:06PM train.

12:02PM-- Arrive and park bike. Squeal "*shit*" under my breath as I see a train pull up before I have a chance to purchase a ticket. Breathe easy again as I realize it's for San Jose. Buy ticket and proceed to cross to San Francisco platform.

12:06PM-- Board train. Spread out paperwork on surrounding 3 seats and triple check that I have everything and many photocopies of everything. I do. Relax a little; listen to music (woohoo!), and think about if I am going to try and speak to the consulates in Italian.

12:36PM-- Munch on my spinach-plum-walnut salad. Forgot a fork. Dangit. Notice a policeman who has boarded in Hillsdale has treked through my car at least three times. Am afraid he will make me stop eating on the train. Must be a conspiracy.

1:08PM-- Arrive in San Francisco. Contemplate buying some popcorn. Realize that am still chewing gum and besides train station popcorn is probably pretty bad anyways. No time to waste.

1:17PM-- Board Bus 45. Curiously enough no sleezy men or otherwise shady characters try to make conversation with me (although one old man kept muttering about "the blasted French"). Think maybe I've finally perfected the you-really-don't-want-to-talk-to-me-cuz-I-may-be-little-but-I-carry-mace look. Then again, maybe it was my sunglasses.

1:35PM-- Pass through Chinatown and at least six different Chinese markets on Stockton. Inconspicuously scan the markets for any fresh lychee nuts. Alas, none to be seen. Reminisce about the glorious day spent this summer in the city gripping onto Eddy as he pulled me through one of the markets and consuming at least a pound of fresh lychee.

1:40PM-- Repeat to myself "Union and Buchanan, Union and Buchanan" in hopes of not missing my stop. Hold breath and hold fast to my seat as bus flies dow streets at near verticle slopes. Am certain this thrilling experience rivals any modern-day rollercoaster.

1:47PM-- Frantically strain neck at every intersection to look for Buchanan St. Am comforted by sign saying "Pacific heights" something-or-other since that is where Consulate is. Miss Buchanan St.; get off at Filmore and walk back to Webster. Stare up in horror as I see before me the same hills that the bus had flown down previously. Except uphill. Suck it up, and accept the day's 5 block buns-of-steel workout.

2:03PM-- Arrive nice and sweaty and a little nervous at Italian Consulate. Procedure is thankfully pretty painless, and all of my paperwork is in. Very comforting.

2:14PM-- Realize that have to do this all over on Monday to pick up the visa. Head back down hills to go home.

2:21PM-- Pass by "Amici's pizzaria". Crave slice of pizza. Bus comes by; decide to get on instead of stalling at pizza place. Besides, can do it Monday.

2:27PM-- Bus boarded by 3 obvious tourists trying to get to Union Square. They seem to think they should get off at Stockton. Tell them that will put them in Chinatown, not Union Square, but that it is walkable distance from Union Square, and a good experience for visitors anyways. They decide to stay on longer.

2:38PM-- Chuckle silently as one of the tourists holds her nose while bus passes fish and meat market in Chinatown. Think for sure they should have gotten off at Stockton.

2:55PM-- Arrive at CalTrain Station and think am clever for getting ticket to Menlo Park and saving 75cents. Realize bike is at Palo Alto Station. Think "*shit*". Wonder if train ticket boy will notice if I stay on for another stop or if I should just get my bike later.

3:56-- Arrive Redwood City Station. Still haven't decided...

3:57PM-- Fiiiiine. Darn this honesty of mine. Figure can at least go to Trader Joe's and reward self for a successful trip.

4:18PM-- Arrive in Trader Joe's, pick up spinach and plums, plus a usually-$3.99-but-free-today-for-me-special rice drinky thing. Ah! What a nice reward!

5:06PM-- Arrive at home after warm walk from Trader Joe's. Drink special rice drinky thing. Yummmmy.


Wow! What a wonderful day, and so full of adventures!
The End!

Off to the city to get my visa! Pleeeeeeeeeease let this work! Pleeeease!! *knock on wood* Update to follow...

This morning in the car as big Tina and I were driving to work we heard President Bush come on the radio to make a speech remembering September 11th. It's hard to believe that it has already been one year. I remember so clearly where I was on that morning a year ago. Physically and just personally; how I felt; who I was... And now it seems that so many things have changed. I think that as individuals, people have seen much personal growth. Maybe it takes such a tragic event to shake things up and lead us to examine what is really important in our lives. Like Keith said at service last Sunday, God whispers to us in times of pleasure, speaks to us in ordinary times, and screams at us in our hardships. It really does seem that tragedies like September 11th bring people together and closer to God. We are in such need of healing, as individuals, as a nation, and this entire world. I really pray that things are going to get better. I know that is pretty vague... it's just so hard to see all this hurt and pain in the world, and so daunting compared to just one little person. But it is also comforting to be secure in God, to know that there is nothing he can't do. God is so awesome!

update on my sniffly-status: This is a much better morning. I am feeling still a little sniffly but nothing compared to the past couple of days. So that is good. Plus there were no drugs involved so that is doubly good.

update on my work-status: now I hear that 115 folders for LA need to be stuffed and ready to be shipped by Friday. Hahahahhaaa! *groan* Well, better get to it...

Ugh, I really don't feel well. I want to go home and hide under the covers. Plus I didn't get the paperwork in the mail which is really stressing me out. What if it got lost?! *knock on wood* I don't want to be sick. Aiyaaaa! I just want to run away from everything. Ugh, this is so frustrating!

Goooood Morning. Aiya, I am definitely having a cold. Last night at Monday Night Dance I couldn't stop sniffling and sneezing. It is very hard to dance when you can't breathe, let me tell you! I still feel drugged from the Nyquil I took last night. So, today should be a super fun fun day at work! I might be going up to SF today to get my visa. That is if I get the last of the paperwork in from my mom in the mail today. We'll see. All I can do at this point is trust that everything will work out. Eeep!

Whew, I am surrounded every which way by so many folders and xeroxing and stuffing and eeeep! At least there are only 138 more folders to go. That is for the Wednesday breakfast briefing. Not counting for the one on Thursday which I think is 200 folders. And then there are the two for next week too. Oh my. *Plus* I am all sniffley and stuffy! What is up with that? Why oh why am I sick in the summer? Aiya. I think all the stress is getting to me. Luckily the office has advil cold and sinus so my head is floating in medicine-land and my tummy is filled with blueberry coffeecake. Wheeee! *sound of Erin going insane*

Well goodmorning everybody! This will have to be a quick post because I am at work right now and there are 300+ folders that I have to stuff today-- eep! But I just wanted to say what a wonderful morning it has been so far. We had our roommate breakfast today at Hobee's. It was so yummy! And so much fun to get together with my very special summer roommates Tina and Tina. It has been such a beautiful summer, and I have been so blessed to be living with them! On another note, waking up in the dark this morning at 6:15 to make it to Hobee's by 7ish was such a flashback to high school days. How on earth did I do that every morning? And how am I going to do that again once I get into the working world? Eep!

Hallo! And welcome to my story. I can assure you that it will be quite an adveture-- where near-danger lurks with narrow eyes in the shadows of each paragraph; suspense tingles in each sentene; and, pure thrills race through the lines. oooh! *squeal* I can feel the excitement ready to burst from these pages!

Well, mostly this story is about my life. And I honestly don't know how it is going to turn out, but I *do* try to be certain that each and every day is an adventure in its own way. So I hope that you will not be disappointed. So now, without further ado, I humbly present to you my Adventure Story...