my new favorite word is "pinguino"

last weekend went great! all the preachers had warm beds and hot meals and i think they had a good retreat. during the day last saturday, ryan and i had a really fun day once again exploring florence and scandicci. then sunday, we went to prato (a little city about 30 minutes away) for church. they are such a warm and welcoming group and their service was wonderful. lucky for us, that sunday was the sunday of their potluck and of course we were invited to stay...this is how a potluck is done.

mom, you know this one is for you (look at those cheeks)

sunday was the opening day of the annual scandicci fair and our very own angela and emily were a part of the festivities (being in the band and all). they had a concert, conveniently, right outside of my personal favorite gelatteria.

see emily in the front (also the only blonde in the band)

look at our little angela go

the most famous of all tuscan fair foods..."the bambolone" (something like that)

basically a hot donut, full of chocolate and rolled in sugar

the rest of the week proceeded as normal. the price for saying an english word at lunch has gone up to 5o euro cents now (we almost have enough for a pizza night). ryan and i did more exploring in florence (i can never see enough of this city) on tuesday.

had to do it (this photo is amazing...go hubs)

one of my new favorite things to do in florence

is watch this man recreate classic art

with chalk on the street

and our classes were all great english and italian (we learned the animals in italian class the week and it was really fun). oh and thursday afternoon we went to the academia with our school to see this man...

even more amazing than i remembered...

our weekly monday night women's/men's bible study and thursday night church bible study were both so welcomed and uplifting, as usual. those weekly rituals have become so important to me and i'm so thankful for the people involved, the insight shared, and the bonds that are growing even stronger when we study like that together. i'm so thankful for my family here in florence and i'm equally thankful for my physical and church family at home. without the support of all of these, we would be nowhere. we are so blessed.

this afternoon at the scandicci public library, ryan, jessica, eric, and i read "rapunzel" (the real story of rapunzel is actually terribly dark and scary, so we had to change the ending a bit) in english to 2 different groups of kids and did crafts with them. it was so fun and hilarious.

as far as this weekend is concerned, ryan and i are headed to san gimignano tomorrow to enjoy a beautiful and relaxing day in the tuscan hills. we are just taking a book, the camera, and each other and i am very much looking forward to it.

my big italian blunder this week: "jesus and the risotto" instead of jesus is risen :)

until next week...