Yay for the weekend!!

Wow! I have so much to catch up on!! (Thank you Aunt Gerri for spurring me on)
On Friday, I went to the market and had a great time! I was supposed to meet Tatiana so she could help me find good deals and bargain with the sellers. Unfortunately, her son, Francesco, was sick and home from school on Friday so she couldn't meet me. That's okay because the Lord gave me beautiful weather and put some people in my path. I found a purple jacket!! That's my present for myself :o) It's difficult shopping for others and wanting to find something that they will like ... I passed one stand and was looking at the things he was selling, and he said, "Good morning!" I stopped, turned around to walk back to his stand, and said, "Well, good morning." I was taken by surprise that he was speaking English. There were a few things I was interested in buying from him, so I stayed while he helped his other customers. He spoke more English than I thought! His name is Andrea (that's what he's called here in San Benedetto), but he is from a small country outside of Ethiopia in Africa. He has lived in Italy for over 20 years. We talked about Italy, traveling by train to cities I should see, and then when I asked him if he was a believer. He said he is and we talked for a while about faith. It was a blessing and I didn't have money (Sergio was exchanging my dollars in Rome this week), so I will get to see him again tomorrow at the market to purchase the gifts.
Friday night I was going to attend a bbq at a girls home with Fabio, Marco's son (Monica's boss). He works at the movie theater and speaks pretty good English. But the bbq did not take place, so I stayed home with the family and we had a very good evening. Sergio brought the money I gave him to exchange ... The dollar is weak! Europe is expensive.


Saturday morning I slept in, then went on a bike ride to the library to return Robinson Crusoe, which I thought was a novel, but was a 2nd grade edition :oP I also went to this shop I've had my eye on for the past few weeks, but it hasn't been open when I pass it. Today it was open! I went in to look at the hand painted things. The woman, Elena, spoke English. Her shop is beautiful and her crafts are so neat!! I bought a gift and told her I would be back because her items are on sale for the month of October only.
I went back to the house for lunch with the family. It was great! After lunch, I talked with Sergio and Monica about Thanksgiving and Christmas traditions. Well, Thanksgiving and Christmas for me and just Christmas for them :o) They celebrate from the 24th until New Year's Day. Lots of food and family ... Sounds fantastic!! 
Saturday was the day I switched families because Sergio and Monica were leaving for Paris. I went to a neighbor's house just a few houses down. Danilo, Rosita, and their two sons, Leonardo and Francesco (they are about the same ages as Nicole and Greta, but boys so very different lol). They have an awesome cat, Artilyo ... He's got to be the most awesome Italian cat ever! He rules this neighborhood.
That night, I had an invitation by Giovanna and her boyfriend Matteo to his 18th birthday party at Pao (the same restaurant along the beach that the wedding party was). Danilo and Rosita dropped me off, and we felt like they were my parents :oD The party was really good because I met a lot of Giovann's friends that are also studying English, so I was able to talk with them during the whole party. They also said I would be able to come to the school :o) Everyone was really nice ... I felt so old being there with all high schoolers, but it was a great way to connect and get names and faces down. So, boys are crazy, right? Well, these Italian boys are really crazy ... I was sitting and visiting with a few of the girls and people started laughing really loud. We looked over to them and out the window a line of boys were going by mooning us!! I was soooo shocked!! I've never been mooned before lol ... Please be in prayer that the opportunity at the school will stay open so I can make a connection there with the students!


Sunday morning I went to church with Rosita and the boys. Danilo went to Romania for work. This church was more modern than the other two I have been to. The service went about the same, but there was a choir and more music, nothing I was familiar with :o) After church, we went to Rosita's parent's home in Cupra, which is just 10km from San Benedetto. Their home was beautiful and just along the Adriatic. Rosita's two sisters came with their families. Romena has a daughter, Bianca, that just turned 1 month on Sunday. Roberta and her husband Giovani have two children, Greta and Davide. They also have a woman from California that comes once a week to teach them all English. It was so great to have another opportunity to speak English! One thing that many of the older Italians I meet have told me is that they want me to correct them if they say something wrong. Giovani and Roberta told me that I speak English really well (I hope so! It's the only language I know! lol). But what they mean is that I am very easy to understand (no weird accent), and I speak slowly in order for them to understand what I'm saying. The lunch was so great ... a lot of food: pasta, ravioli, roasted chicken, bread, sweets, and fruit. 
I had told Rosita that I haven't had an opportunity to travel much outside of San Benedetto. Rosita, Roberta, and Giovani took me to Ascoli which is bigger than San Benedetto and very historic. There is white marble taken from the mountains in Ascoli that were used to build cathedrals, other buildings, and this square plaza in the center of Ascoli. The plaza dates back to the 1200's. On our way into Ascoli, Giovani pointed out an old Roman stadium that was in ruins, but you could still make out its shape and a few of the rows of seats. So cool! While in the plaza, we stopped for a snack. I had hot white chocolate :oP yummy!
When we got back to Rosita's parents, we had dinner: pizza, salad, cheese from Sardegna (the island near Sicily that also belongs to Italy), cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto, more fruit, and more sweets! There was a lot of food today lol ... and Rosita's father, Ugo, has a farm outside of Cupra where he has a small vineyard and some olive trees. Today, I got to try his olive oil (it was green because it was young oil) and his homemade wine (he started this wine 15 years ago). It was a very good red wine! Ugo will be 69 in December.
I had such a wonderful day with Rosita's family!! I really hope to see them again!!
I'm enjoying my stay at Rosita's house!


One of my favorite things about Italy is the closeness of the families :o)


Some Italian I learned this weekend:
Dai (sounds like 'die') means "Come on"
I hear Rosita say, "Dai, Leonardo!" ... It's funny :o)


Grace and peace,
Jodi