week uno - italian for dummies (suffer through it, the end is the best part)

we started language school on monday at Lorenzo di Medici Italian International Institute in downtown florence. we ride the bus into town in the morning and have class from 9 to 1 every day. we have 2 teachers who each teach for 2 hours, and they are both so much fun! there are only 10 people in our class: the 6 of us, a brother and sister from ivory coast now living in italy, and 2 brothers from vietnam (we don't know what they are doing in italy, but we do know that one of them did tell us that his favorite american country music artist is brittney spears). the only language that we have in common with the other students is italian, and seeing that i only have about 200 words in my italian vocabulary, our class is very interesting to say the least. we really do have so much fun. i burn calories for my gelato by laughing in our italian class.

this is our school, it's so pretty

this is the medici chapel right

down the street from our school

it's one of my favorite structures

in florence

after class monday we came back for lunch and had a proper AI orientation all afternoon. different people spoke on relevant topics that david suggested...all very interesting. we heard from robbie and mona shackelford, 3 past avanti workers who are still living in italy (1 married an italian man and 1 married an albanian man but they both live and work here now with their husbands), and 3 present avanti workers (1 has moved to vicenza to work and the other 2 still live with us at the bible school). it was wonderful and they all had so much encouraging advice for us all. it made me so excited for all the things we are going to do and all the ways we are going to be involved in this community.

tuesday after class ryan and i went with david to do some paperwork and check in with the police here (something you have to do) and then he dropped us off at the HUF villa because i wanted ryan to see it before the harding students got there. andrea came with us because she had never seen it either, and we hung out there all afternoon. we walked back to the bible school from the villa because we thought it was only 2 miles away, but it took us 45 minutes to walk back so i'm not sure about that. anyway, it was a beautiful day and the walk was so nice. so nice that after dinner we went for a gelato down the street for all of our hard work.

our HUF mural

walking down the "HUF" hill

wednesday after class we got lunch at the indoor food market and had a field trip to the boboli gardens at the pitti palace with our school. one of the teachers was our "tour guide" and the tour was in italian so we really had to pay attention. the gardens are so nice and it was another beautiful day...so pleasant to just walk around and enjoy the scenery.

caprese salad!! mi preferito

there is a beautiful and almost panoramic

view of the florentine countryside from the

top of the boboli gardens

the boys...

will be boys

and i will be me :)

thursday after class we had another AI orientation but just with the 7 of us workers and david and debbie. they taught us how to use the bidet and properly flush the toilets, haha. they really did but we also talked about our living quarters and how everything should be done here at the bible school. very practical and useful information. thursday night we had a meet and greet session with our new and returning bible/english students and it was AWESOME!!! we met most of the people that we will have in our classes. there were men and women of all ages, background, and understanding of english (unfortunately we were all so excited to meet them that no one took pictures). i'm definitely a little nervous because this is obviously the fist time i have done anything like this, but i know that GOD will be guiding what i say and for that i can be thankful. i don't have to have all of the answers. also, after meeting everyone last night i feel so much better, because i really just want to make a relationship with these people and let them know that i'm just here to love them and learn what i can about them and their culture. through this friendship i want to show them Jesus.

today we came back for lunch after school had a continuation of our AI orientation from yesterday. it too was just with the AI workers and david and debbie. all of these little meetings we have together are so beneficial because we are all very open and honest with each other. i feel like we are getting so close, which is so important in "stressful" times like this when we are all dealing with culture shock and limited privacy/space issues. everyone is so understanding and genuine and i really treasure the times that our group has time to spend together just talking, because i know soon when classes start, that will not always be possible.

this weekend we are planning to wash clothes, go to a florence soccer game, go to the saturday market, go to church, go to a "beatles" concert at the HUF villa, study italian, prepare english/bible lessons, get a cell phone, eat sushi, walk in the park...who knows what else? i love not having a schedule. i haven't known the date any day this week and it hasn't mattered, i love that!

extra, extra

this has nothing to do with anything, but it is hilarious and so many people in my life will love it. enjoy:

during training and our first week here, we have been told so many stories about learning italian, and the many ways people have embarrassed themselves by saying the wrong word. in many instances the people didn't even know about the blunder until hours later or in one case an entire sermon had been preached. i have laughed until i have cried after hearing these stories and i feel like i need to share them. i don't feel like explanations are needed so i'll just list them out. ps i know all the people who have said these things and i will make sure and record ours when they do occur. if we can't laugh at ourselves, we would never make it through a day.

"don't be farted"

(instead of "don't be discouraged")

"do you need a new (private part)?"

(instead of "do you need a new pen?")

"conversion of the rabbit and his family"

(instead of cornelius and his family)

"i would like to order a large (private part)"

(instead of "i would like to order a large pizza")

"come on, let's eat the old people"

(instead of "come on, let's take the bread")

and last but definitely not least...

"my wife's genitals are deaf"

(instead of "my wife's parents are deaf")

i hope this makes your weekend, ciao tutti!