things that make us go hmmm.....

born to run?

2008-10-04T23:57:00.009-04:00

last weekend jonathan and i (along with a bunch of our friends) completed the Ragner Relay (http://www.ragnarrelaydc.com/). it was a 183 mile relay race from cumberland, md through the heart of washington, dc and ending in the booming metropolis of crystal city (a section of arlington, va). i am happy to report that our team placed 47th out of 109 teams...and we beat the all girl team the dirty dozen (not that i care, but some of our teammates did....).

now, for those of you who know me, you know i'm not much of a runner. ok, you know i'm NOT a runner. HOWEVER, i am also happy to report that i reached my 2 goals: RUNNING (not walking) the whole time during my 3 legs and FINISHING all 3 runs!

even though i was more of a tortise than a hare, it was a great challenge physically and mentally and hygenically -- think no shower, no sleep, riding in a van or running for a 24 hour period!

i must give mad props to my dear husband, jonathan, for cheering me on to the finish. my last run came right at one of the most humid parts of the day. i was tired, it was hot, my legs were heavy, and my asthma was kicking in. but just at the right moment our race van leap-frogged me and there was jonathan jumping out of the van like a knight in shining armor brandishing my inhaler and a water bottle! i don't usually like it when people cheer me on because it makes me feel like i'm not doing well, but seeing jonathan and receiving his encouragement (and the albuterol) made such a difference. i am sure that i was able to finish because he (and others) were encouraging me. now how is that for a nice picture of community and friendship?

speaking of pictures....here are some more highlights from race day....

201 great questions

2008-09-16T23:18:00.013-04:00

this past weekend, jonathan and i took a trip to NYC. we saw the yankees play (poorly), we went to bryant park to glimpse a bit o' fashion, and we dined at the new family restaurant owned and operated by jonathan's cousin called Red Egg (which i HIGHLY reccommend if you are in NYC/Chinatown not far from Little Italy). if you don't trust me, read this review. when we weren't traipsing around the city, we stayed in jonathan's childhood home. jonathan's parents have quite a collection of books and i had the opportunity to browse their shelves. i concentrated on the one's that weren't in chinese (my chinese is REALLY bad), and of these, one in particular jumped out at me.

the book is called 201 great questions and the author is jerry d. jones. you can check it out here.

the cover let's you know it was published in the '80's. the book is not really a surprise - it has 201 questions in it (i have yet to determine if they are all "great" as we only made it to question 4. the questions are to spur conversation, get to know people better, and discuss your ideas about interesting topics. jonathan said we could take it for the car ride home, and when jonathan and i got stuck on question 4, i immediately thought it would be interesting to pose this question to my friends/family/whoever else is reading via this blog....soooo....here we go!!!

Question: If God put you completely in charge of creating heaven, what would it be like?

i'd like to hear/read some of your responses and then i'll post my own. not fair? well, ok. here's what i think.

DISCLAIMER: when i thought about this question i had to figure out if my heaven would be different than REAL heaven. i believe there is a REAL heaven with a REAL God. i don't know much about real heaven, but i know some about REAL God who created real heaven, hence my answer below.

ANSWER:
my heaven would essentially be a perfect earth. to be clear, it would not be earth as we know it now. my heaven would be earth without sin, suffering, selfishness, and separation from God. my heaven would be a place that is perfect, without suffering, each person serving and loving each other, and united together to glorify God.

on the surface that might sound kind of impossible but it's my heaven so it's possible. this idea might also sound kind of boring, but here's where it could be exciting! upon entry into my heaven, each person would learn why they were created and what made them unique - they would learn their purpose. each person would be FULLY KNOWN. i don't know about you but i wish i could be fully known right now and not have to wait until heaven. not having to explain and wonder and think so much. that sounds really nice.

after that, in my heaven you would get a nice one-on-one with God. you know, a time to reflect on your life, relive the highlights where maybe there would be some embarrassing video footage of you in coke-bottle glasses and a bad perm (hypothetical). and you could ask all of those questions for God you have compiled over a lifetime.... i'm starting a list so i don't forget. here's my top 10 so far:

1. cockroaches....WHY?
2. where exactly IS the garden of eden? the ark of the covenant?
3. how old are you? <-- hahaha trick question! 4. what was the most fun non-human thing you created? 5. what's the funniest joke you ever heard? 6. how big is space exactly? 7. what is stonehenge anyway? 8. of all the actors that have played you over eternity, which one was your favorite? 9. bugs in general....WHY? 10.

ok so after the question/answer session (assuming God is patient enough with me), is when the seemingly scary part would come where we would go over all of my mistakes, but WAIT! we don't do that!!! because jesus died on the cross for my sins and i accepted him into my life as my lord and savior i have a clean slate. it's as if i had to pay a fine for my mistakes/imperfections to enter into heaven, but jesus already picked up my tab so i look perfect and i'm free to go in! so now i get to experience heaven in all it's glory and not be separated from God at all. this is the part that would be overwhelming because you would realize that you are FULLY KNOWN and FULLY LOVED! plagerism fully intended here because i think this is really where my heaven and real heaven are pretty spot on the same. let's ponder that, shall we?.......

finally, my heaven would be FULL OF BEAUTY. i love the natural earth and being outdoors. i remember my first experience with God was in a summer camp where i looked around at nature and thought "this is pretty, therefore God loves me." so in my heaven everywhere you look would be beautiful and amazing. think of the best sunset, the calmest beach, the most magnificant mountain with breathtaking views - and then multiply it by an imaginary number like eleventy kagillion and that's how beautiful my heaven would be. there would be perfect weather, the purest water, the clearest skies, the most healthy and plentiful animals (except bugs), and no suffering - the potential of the natural earth would be fully realized - everything in perfect equilibrium.

so what do we DO in my heaven? well, for a looooong time we are so overwhelmed by being fully known, fully loved, and being in a place full of beauty we just praise God. we use whatever God has purposed us to be to praise him. the artist paints, the singer belts 'em out, the speaker inspires, the thinker meditates, the cook makes amazing dinners. every person fully known, completely loved realizing their fullest potential in the most beautiful of spaces.

what do you think? is your heaven like mine? different? do you think there is a REAL heaven? let me know your thoughts....

occupational hazards

2008-08-16T01:13:00.003-04:00

so it's after 1am est, and i am unable to sleep. as i was lying in bed, i began to think that my insomnia is a bit of an occupational hazard. it's the consequence of constantly flip-flopping from days to nights and from weekdays to weekends...it can really undo one's personal clock. i once heard it said that leonardo da vinci would only sleep for 3-4 hours at a time (no wonder he was so productive!), so maybe that worked to his advantage....but for me, the shift change doesn't work as well. but it did get me thinking...as a nurse, i have a lot of occupational hazards...it would seem that i have a quite dangerous job...besides insomnia, here consider the following bad things that could happen to me on the job:

1. insomnia
2. a needlestick - esp. from a patient that has HepC or HIV
3. getting goo'd by bodily fluids (pee, puke, poop, snot, blood, plasma, brain matter, etc.)
4. accidentally killing someone via a medication error
5. being attacked by a patient
6. varicose veins from walking 12 hours straight
7. dehydration from being so busy that i can't take a break
8. injury to arms, shoulders, back from lifting, pushing, pulling, etc.
9. dehydration --> fainting --> hitting head on hard surface --> subdural hematoma (a type of brain bleed...ok that one is a long shot but it could happen)
10. getting sick

the list would probably be longer if i was more awake and alert, but it did remind me that there are worse jobs out there than mine. on a recent trip to west Africa - a country i'll call MCO - we went to a job site where they tan leather. early on in the process they place the animal skins in a vat of pigeon poo (yes, pigeon poo) to separate the hair fibers from the animal skins. as we were touring this rather odoriferous job site, i noticed that there was a man standing in the pigeon poo. after questioning our barely-English-speaking guide in a combination of french and English, i discovered that this mans job entails standing in the pigeon poo all day swishing and agitating the poo under and over the animal skins. this man apparently stands in the poo for 8-10 hours a day subjecting himself to numerous health hazards in shorts and thin rubber boots so that we can all have nice leather handbags and footstools and wallets.

i've heard that there is a book called "50 jobs worse than yours" or something like that. i wonder what is in it. maybe nurse is on the list, maybe not. maybe #1 is a moroccan poo swisher. that being said, i am don't mind anymore that i have the opportunities to expose myself to the potential hazards of my workplace - insomnia, brain matter, psychotic patients, and the whole lot. i don't mind because maybe it will sharpen my skills enough to help the moroccan poo swisher when he gets sick.

so what do you think? is my job more dangerous than yours? if not, what "occupational hazards" plague you in your workplace? let me know....i need something to read when i'm not sleeping

why write?

2008-07-01T15:14:00.005-04:00

"you need to start a blog," said our friend brad one night during a marathon game of mexican train dominos. (yes, i play dominos and no, i'm not a dork. focus, people!). my immediate response to brad's statement was something to the effect of "no, i don't need to start a blog" or "blogs are stupid." but brad's question left me wondering....

so here i am putting my blogging insecurities aside and picking up our blog from where we left it after our travels abroad. when we were travelling, i felt as if we HAD something to say. it was writing with a purpose. we were going to exotic places and living out new experiences. we had legitimate things to write about, and it kept our family and friends up to date on what we were up to and informed them that we weren't dead (that's for you, mom). but writing just to...write? that sounds like something they made us do in high school english class (note: i really DID like high school english class). so why should i entertain brad's idea. he is my friend, but he is often wrong. so all of these musings begs the question "why write?" and TADA! my first blog topic is born.

why write? here's a quick list of thoughts:
1. to communicate
2. to share knowledge
3. to share an idea or opinion
4. to be creative (writing as art form)
5. to remember things (or in my case i write so i won't forget things)
6. to store information (writing as function)

"Daniel Boorstin, the former librarian of Congress, used to rise at 5 each morning and write for two hours before going into the office. "I write to discover what I think," he explained. "After all, the bars aren't open that early." Mr. Boorstin's morning sessions were even more valuable than he realized. Writing not only clarifies what you already know; it is also an astonishingly effective way to learn something new."*

huh. writing to discover. to organize. to clarify. to learn. to think. i like all of those things. so here i am, writing. my english teachers/professors would be so proud! so this blog is for you, dear friend and reader, but more importantly, this blog is a little bit for me -- to discover, organize, clarify, communicate, share, create, remember, learn and think.

(and just for the record, mr. boorstin, the bars ARE open at 5 in the morning...but only if you're in the right city.)

*Daniel Boorstin quote from:
Students Discover Economics in Its Natural State by ROBERT H. FRANK
NYT, September 29, 2005

epilogue

2007-10-20T13:46:00.000-04:00

it's crazy to think that we've been back a couple of weeks already. our transition home was pretty hectic with unpacking, a friend's wedding, jet lag, and the start of my new job. we continue to reflect on a lot of the things we saw and experienced. i think that we will try to adapt some of the things that we learned on our trip into our life in the states as much as we can, however, there are some things that, unfortunately, just don't translate. how can we slow down and enjoy "la dolce vita" when things in dc are so busy? how can we walk everywhere when there are no sidewalks? and where the HECK can i get a decent cup of coffee and a non-greasy croissant?

so times are bittersweet in the shiu household. our trip has made us view life here through a different lens. we were suprised when we realized that we miss so many of the european traditions that we had grown accusomed to. in the same way, it has been sweet to return to the familiar - home, henry, friends, church, and neighbors.

i have a 2 year contract at my new job, so we know that we will be in this area for at least that much time....but after that, who knows? i expect that this won't be the final resting place for the shius. there is still so much more to see! now if i could just find a good cup of coffee......

la vie en rose

2007-10-02T11:30:00.000-04:00

bonjour from paris...our last stop on this adventure of a lifetime! paris is a beautiful city, and it has been bittersweet to wrap up our time here. interestingly enough, it has been raining about every day since we arrived....i think that europe is sad that we are leaving it! enough melancholy. let me catch you up on what we have been up to since our arrival.....

we are staying in the rue cler neighborhood on the rive gauche. it's a sweet little neighborhood with views of the eiffel tower peeking out from each street. since we are staying near the eiffel tower we have walked to the eiffel tower a lot. we have also spent some time just sitting in parks. these have been some of my favorite times. we've also done a bit of sightseeing of course: Notre Dame during mass, walking over the Pont Neuf into the Ile St. Louis, wandering through the Louvre, taking a night cruise on the Seine River, drinking lots of coffee and attempting to become "regulars" at a cafe....the list goes on. i won't bore you with all the details, but i will tell 2 funny stories before i go.....

story 1: this story takes place during one of my favorite times in a park. jonathan and i were in between things to do so we thought we would kill some time in a park. we went in, sat on a bench, and decided to watch the world go by. we watched some people walking through. we watched a black cat. we remarked at how cats always seem to go straight to jonathan who is highly allergic to cats. we remarked that the black cat that we were watching was walking right to jonathan. we started laughing. we started laughing harder when the cat walked up to jonathan's shoe. jonathan sat there with his arms crossed and tried to give the cat the evil eye. it backfired. the cat jumped up on the bench beside jonathan. i began searching my bag for tissues because i was laughing and crying. and then i turned around and the cat was on jonathan's lap. have you ever had one of those belly laughs that make you feel like you just took an hour abs class? well, yeah, that's how hard i laughed. the cat was on his lap for about 20 minutes until he got up. don't worry - we have pictures.

side note: i think that i know why they don't have coffee to go in europe. coffee is a part of life and life is something that you don't just rush through. for this reason i think that this is why the french excel at many things: fashion, cheese, wine, coffee, and cooking to name a few. these things are not to be done just to get it done, they are things to work on, enjoy, and perfect. just my little observation. and if you haven't noticed i really like paris. now onto story 2.....

story 2 doesn't involve a cat, but it does involve someting less intelligent than a cat. story 2: on a recommendation from my best friend and IU pal, Liza, we visited the Orsay Museum. the Orsay showcases art from pre-Impressionism to contemporary art. it's a great museum and much more managable than the Louvre so go if you get a chance. now i'm not a fan of impressionism, in fact, i think that it is a bit overdone. nevertheless, after spending so much time in this museum it was growing on me so jonathan and i stayed a while and decided to explore some of the other exhibits. my story starts while we were walking through an interesting exhibit on furniture and decorative arts from the art nouveau period. i was admiring a lovely wooden wardrobe with beautiful inlaid metalwork in the shape of leaves. the "leaves" were in the wood as well as springing out of the wood making it look almost organic. it was lovely. apparently the man beside us also thought it was lovely because he walked straight up to the wardrobe, past the roped off section and started boinging the metal leaves! i'm not joking! it was amazing that they didn't disengage from the wood and fall off. why did this retard do this? i don't know. to make sure that they were metal i guess??? it was unbelievable. i had to tell him that you aren't supposed to TOUCH the art, only to LOOK at it. he looked me up and down like i was the crazy one and then moved on to the next room. i couldn't follow him. it was unreal. who are these people!?!?!

despite crazy-art-molester-guy we have had a nice time in paris. paris is a great city. but paris is a city and yet it is not. maybe it's all the tree lined streets. maybe it feels smaller because everything shuts down from noon until threeish for lunch. maybe it feels more like home because there are tons of parks, dogs walk off leash following their master, people sit in long lines along the sidewalk sipping their coffee and watching the world go by. the metro here is exceptionally clean, and, if you're lucky, your car will have someone playing "la vie en rose" on the accordian or the violin. i know that it's probably something cheesy that they do for the tourists, but i don't think i would ever get sick of it.

actually, we have had a nice time everywhere. each place has been fun to explore and get to know. each place has helped us to better know ourselves. and we have learned so much about each other on this trip as well. we've talked about what we love (the language, the history, the food); we've talked about what we will miss (the walking, the coffee. the adventure); we've talked about what we're looking forward to when we get home (henry, my closet, peanut butter.....and seeing friends and family of course!). still, i'm in denial that we leave tomorrow. i haven't told jonathan yet, but i might have to fake a GI illness so that we "accidentally" miss our flight (shhhhhhhh). let the fake stomach gurgling begin!......until then.....a bientot......and thanks for following along with us.
sara(&jonathan)

Expecto Patronum!

2007-10-02T11:26:00.001-04:00

It has been a while since you all last heard from me. Sara's been doing the heavy lifting on the posts lately, but for those of you who were concerned about my absence, Sara has not left me behind in some small town in Italy.... I am in fact still a part of this trip.

So... after our few days in Taize, we left for a day and a half in Beaune. Beaune is in the Burgandy region of France, famous for its wines, Dijon mustard, and some regional dishes. Once again God provided us with the perfect little place for our time in town. One day ahead we called a number of different places that did not have rooms available, but I think both Sara and I were glad that we ended up where we did. For starters, as we pulled up to the little bed and breakfast, we were greeted by Oscar, the owners' giant black lab. Like I said, Oscar is one big dog, with a HUGE noggin. He was, however, friendly and even hung out with us as we sat outside and read our various installments of the Harry Potter series that we were working on.

ASIDE: Our friend Megan gave us a copy of the first Harry Potter book for trip, as Sara had not read any of the books and wasn't sure what the big deal was. Well... she's a believer now. We have had to find bookstores that sell English books all across Europe so that we could buy each of the books in the series as Sara finished the previous book.

So... back to Beaune. It was another quaint town with a lot of old stone buildings, narrow streets, and a lot of little shops and cafe's. A perfect place to kick back and relax a little bit before hitting up our last stop in Paris. The first night we sampled some of the regional specialties for dinner... I had beef bourguinon (beef simmered for hours in red wine with mushrooms and onions) and Sara had the coq au vin (chicken stewed in red wine). Both of our tummies were very happy after dinner. I have to admit, that my tummy has been happy very often throughout our trip. I think my bike trip across America a few years ago made me realize how much I appreciate food, and this trip has only confirmed those findings.

Our one full day in Beune was spent perusing the various shops. Sara found a nice tea set which we purchased. In the late afternoon, we decided to sample some of the wine the region is so famous for, so we went to a wine bar for a pre-dinner drink. I had no idea about anything they offered, but just chose a white wine because of the name. Well... the owner could not have supported my decision any more enthusiastically. He gushed about what a great little wine it was. I freely admit that I know nothing about wine, but apparently I have a spidey sense about these things.

After the wine bar, we headed back to our room to rest a little while before dinner. Well... Sara got to 'the point of no return' in the final Harry Potter book and had to finish it off that evening. Sara gets emotional sometimes, and after finishing the book, she was a puffy mess. The same thing had happened after she finished the previous book. After she had a good cry, she informed me that she was too emotionally drained to go out, so she sent me out into the rain in search of dinner for us. Being a good hunter gatherer, I wisely chose a Chinese restaurant just down the street from our hotel. Beyond hello, good-bye, and thank you... i'm pretty lost when it comes to French. But with my newly rediscovered Chinese language skills, I was able to get dinner ordered without incident. We enjoyed the delicious food and called it a night.

Arriving in Paris... sadness... we had to say a tearful goodbye to our faithful guide 'Penny' (our GPS) and 'Flash' (our car and home for the last six weeks). Sara is working on our Paris update as I write this, so I'll let her catch you up on the rest of our Paris stay.

oh, the farmer and the cowman can be friends

2007-10-01T06:03:00.000-04:00

hello friends! sara here to update you on our travels....probably our last update before we return :(

as i said in our last post, we left chamonix for taize, france. i had heard of taize from my kairos days (for those of you who don't know, kairos is a young adult group affiliated with The Falls Church). one of the old kairos guys, Bill Haley, had mentioned Taize as a place he went as a new priest to hone in on some key spiritual disciplines such as prayer, meditation, and silence. so with that information we set out to be transformed.....

taize has mostly catholic origins, but we met people that were from all christian faith backgrounds...and we all got along! taize is run by brothers (kind of like monks) who are committed to silence, prayer, and common work. they are also committed to social justice and serving the poor. they don't take any donations or money and even their inheritances are given to the poor. these guys know how to depend on God for everything. i know that i am not doing this community justice so if you want to know more, check out their website at www.taize.fr. then you can click to read about their site in english.

basically, we spent 2 days at taize taking in 3 church services each day, participating in teaching and small groups. the church services were more like prayer times - there was singing of many songs in many languages (latin, german, french, english and one in russian that i just listened to) as well as a long time dedicated to prayer. each day they would read the same scripture and a psalm in about 4 languages. sometimes the brothers would interject with prayers in their own languages - polish, spanish, italian, russian, chinese, etc. i can't begin to describe how special it was to be among believers of all nationalities. to me, it was a reminder of how big God is (and that He doesn't only speak english!). i also appreciated the songs because they were simple songs where you repeated the same words over and over. it really allowed for some great time to think about certain aspects of God....and it was a challenge to have 3 services a day with a lot of time devoted to prayer. the last service of the day was longer and afterwards they asked for silence until the morning service. i was really struck by how much you can HEAR when you take the time to be silent. it is definitely a discipline that we lack as busy americans.

in between the services there was time for a teaching as well as small groups. the teaching time was done by one of the brothers in 2 languages simultaneously! there was a large german group there during the week that we went so there was translation in german and english, but all around us we could hear people translating into other languages. after the teaching we met in small groups - we were in a group with 2 catholic germans who worked for the church, 1 italian who lived in croatia, 1 guy from belgium, 1 protestant german, and 1 canadian who worked for WorldVision of all places (it's base is in DC). we had some rich sharing and it struck me that we have such differences in how and where we may live, but we share many similarities because of our shared bond in Christ.

taize was a special place. we were struck by so many things that would make this blog entry way longer than it already is. but to take some time out to focus on God; to meet with him through silence and prayer; to meditate on aspects of his character through simple songs; and to share in the community of believers was such a gift. i hope to visit again someday....check it out if you can. next stop: beaune, france and the cote d'or - REAL wine country! until then...

chamonix

2007-09-26T07:41:00.000-04:00

after varenna, we continued on our relaxation binge by spending 3 days in chamonix-mt-blanc, france. for me, it was good to be back in france. chamonix is located at the base of one of the largest mountains in the alpes, mt. blanc. the drive to chamonix consisted of mountain views that take your breath away.

unfortunately, our first night in chamonix we had to do boring things like laundry. but laundry time turned out to be a sort of happy hour. we made friends with some canadians from BC (joel and laura i think), met some brits who broke the coin machine (they made a hasty escape), and waited for the laundrette owner to come fix it with some americans (randy and dave). turns out, randy did a bike ride across america - the same one that jonathan did several years ago - . it's a small world. randy was a great guy who kept us entertained with very colorful stories about every girl he met and seduced while on the bike trip as well as every person who died on the trip. who knew laundry could be so fun?

our second day in chamonix we decided summit the mountain. well not really, at least go halfway. we took a gondola ride up to the middle (do not go if you have any fear of heights), and hiked/walked across a ridgeline. we had breathtaking views of mt. blanc, the chamonix needles, as well as some of the glaciers (called mer du glace or sea of ice). we sung songs from the sound of music. we returned to the base of the mountain via rack-and-pinion train. it was all so very alpine that i wished i owned a pair of liederhosen.

our last day in chamonix we decided to go conquer the mountain. 2 gondolas took us on a crap-your-pants-and-make-peace-with-God ride to about 4000 meters. it was really cold. the views literally took your breath away (the air was thin). we had a panoramic view over chamonix, the valley, and several other mountains. my brother the geologist, courtney, would have loved it (don't worry, mom, we took lots of video). it was really amazing to look out over these mountaintops and wonder why God made this stuff so beautiful. it really was awe-inspiring. after the initial shock of where we were, we explored some. we found the place essentially where mountaineers took off for their summit of mt. blanc. it was really fun to watch them with all their gear: their crampons and ice axes; their caribeaners and climbing ropes. i really don't know of a place like this in the US where novices like us can get so up close and personal with mountaineers. it really didn't look all that bad as long as you had the necessary gear. it actually looked really, really, really fun. it made me think that i might want to try it sometime. i might look into doing something like this stateside. let me know if you want to come too.

in my opinion, chamonix is a must if you like nature or awe-inspiring-take-your-breath-away views. we'll have to go back in the winter when there is more snow and skiing! stay tuned for our next post on the mystical community of taize, france. until then....au revoir.

siena x2 and varenna on lake como

2007-09-26T07:12:00.000-04:00

hello friends and family! yes, we are still alive and kicking, although we have been unplugged for a while. let me catch you all up on our adventures....

after florence we had 2 free days to go wherever we wanted in Tuscany. rather than venture to a new location, we thought it best to return to Siena because we loved it so much. our 2 days there were full of good food and fun. on the good food front, we found an amazing sandwich shop with a view over Il Campo. we liked it so much we ate there both days for lunch. similarly, we found a quaint little osteria with narrow tables perched precariously on a very slanted hill. we liked it so much that we ate there both nights. on our second night, we shared a table with Jason and Amanda Phillips. turns out that they were Christians from Indiana, and we had a really good meal with them talking about church, community, and how far away they were from Zionsville where my cousin Becky lives (turns out they knew it....)

on the fun front, we did several things. first, siena is composed of many neighborhoods. the days that we were there just happened to be a celebration of the phoenix neighborhood. a little old italian man tried to explain it to me (in italian of course). from what i gathered, every 40 days each neighborhood takes turns celebrating their neighborhood...the phoenixes like parades so they had a parade about 5 times each day for the two days we were there. pretty neat.

the other fun thing that we did was attend a real italian soccer game. siena vs. milan and it was insane. italians are fiercely proud of their wine, their country, and soccer. we got tickets and got in line to enter the stadium. first observation: italians have no concept of lining up - they just push as hard as they can to get to the front. in fact, we would still be standing in line if we didn't allow ourselves to join in the mayhem. we finally got into the stadium and the game had already begun. second observation: the ushers/ticket takers are not there to do their job, they are there to watch the game and you can only ask them for help when the game is not being played. we had no idea where to go, but after a lot more pushing, we finally found our seats. third observation: italians will squat in whatever seat is empty - you get there late, you have no seat. we stood for the first half of the game next to a very friendly, drunk, chain-smoking italian guy. this guy felt like welcoming us by explaining things to us since we were out of towners. he would start with "youa speaka eenglish? va bene..." and then continue in italian. his fly was down, and he wore a shirt that said "**ck what i say." what a heartthrob. ladies, i think he's single. the game ended in a tie and there was just as much pushing to get out of the stadium and begin singing songs and chants for your particular team. what a cultural experience!

after siena, we made our way to lake como which happens to border switzerland. the lake is kind of shaped like a person. we called varenna, the right hip, home for 3 days. varenna is a quiet fishing village with pretty much nothing to do. it was great. we stayed in an old hermitage with a commanding view of the town and the lake, visited a lovely garden, read a lot, and kept our eyes peeled for george cloony (he lives on lake como...sadly, no george, but we did find out where he lived and for a small price, i may tell you). bellagio, located right in the crotch, is supposed to be the pearl of the lake. our 1 visit there was hilarious. we had a nice lunch and then they skies opened up in a torrential downpour that turned to hail. we got so soaked that i jonathan took a picture of me looking like a drowned rat ringing out my skirt. so romantic! despite the moist day in bellagio, lake como was a perfect last stop in italy as well as an experiment to see how low we could get our pulse.

Back on the road

2007-09-16T12:21:00.000-04:00

Hello again. We are back in Siena now (you'll get the full story later) and we're doing our best to get you all caught up again.

From Orvieto we were reunited with our car, which we decided to name Flash. It was a good feeling to be back driving again. I realized that for myself, the car is the one environmental constant that we have, so it is sort of like home to me.

We had a short drive to Assisi, home to St. Francis and the basilica that honors him. Driving up to the city, you see the basilica on one side and can't help but be impressed by the enormity of it. What is also noticeable, and becomes much more so as you walk through the town is that Assisi is on a large incline, and the whole town sits on the hill sloping from one side to the other. Our hotel room was at the low end of the hill, so sightseeing included a good workout for our legs.

St. Francis was a very interesting man, whose ideas Sara and I really appreciated and respected. He was quite counter-cultural. In those days, since the church was such a political as well as religious institution, being a priest also brought some measure of power and esteem with it. St. Francis intentially eschewed priesthood as he sought to build a "lower brotherhood" of monks who were not part of the priesthood. St. Francis was actually part of the elite growing up, the son of a wealthy fabrics merchant. But he turned his back on all of that, stripping himself naked in front of his father and the town and proclaiming God as his only true father, leaving a privileged lifestyle behind. Franciscan monks all take a vow of poverty as part of their vows. It reminds me of the story of the rich ruler who Jesus asks to sell all his possesions to follow him, except in this story, the ruler obeys and follows Christ. His story was really interesting and inspirational to both me and Sara.

From Assisi we headed off to the cultural mecca of Florence. As opposed to Sara's post on Rome, you will be getting the short version of the sights. Being back in a big city we were again greeted with wonderful Italian city drivers. Thankfully I have no problem practicing offensive rather than defensive driving, so we made it through to our hotel without so much as a honk or dirty look.

Florence is the home to many museums, historical sights, and items of cultural importance. We were feeling a bit burned out after Rome and after being on the road for so long, so we decided to focus on only the two major sights that Sara wanted to see. One was the Michelangelo's sculpture of David, in Galleria dell Accademia, and the other was the Uffizi Gallery, which has a vast collection of paintings including Botticelli's Birth of Venus (the one where Venus is standing in a in the clam shell).

We went to Accademia first and I have to agree, David is really quite impressive. David was sculpted by Michelangelo when he was just 26 years old. He was given a piece of marble that had been ruined by another sculptor, and he was able to create David out of that. Pretty amazing. Here's another note that I didn't realize, and helped me as a non-art savvy person. Many of you art buffs will know that David is not proportionally correct, that is, his head and hands are too large for his body, and his arms are too long. This is because the sculpture was originally meant to be displayed high up, with the viewer situated below. Michelangelo compensated for the fact that the head etc. would be farther away from the viewer than the legs etc, and would thus appear smaller. He made those parts of the body larger so that when viewed as intended, David would appear proportionally accurate. Pretty cool huh? The other startling thing is that the sheer scale and detail on the sculpture. David is huge, standing 17 ft tall (thanks Wikipedia) and Michelangelo captured such details as a vein that is visible running from his bicep down across his forearm (anatomically correct according to Sara). David was something that even I could really appreciate.

After David we made our way down to the Uffizi gallery. I feel obliged to offer a bit of advice for anyone of you ever planning on visiting these sites. Call ahead for reservations. Both Accademia and Uffizi run on a reservations system... else you have to wait in a LONG stand by line and hope for no-shows. Believe me when I say you do not want to do that. Those people did not look like happy campers. With the reservations, getting in was a breeze. Just show up about 10 minutes before your reservation and you are good to go.

Ok... back to Uffizzi. It was certainly an impressive building. It is a huge U-shaped building set right on the Arno river with views of the Ponte Vecchio bridge and the Duomo. We opted for the audio guide here, which at least helped me to see some of the progression in the paintings as we progressed chronologically. The artists' use of both perspective and expressions on the subjects faces grew more sophisticated over time. Sara I'm sure could give you pointers about lots more stuff... she especially enjoyed the aforementioned Botticelli's Venus as well as one of her favorite paintings, his 'Primavera'. I think the one thing that stood out to me was Michelangelo's "Holy Family" (I guess I like Michelangelo.... who knew). In it he depicts Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. But unlike his contemporaries, Mary is much more active and realistic looking, not the stoic and 'angelic' Mary seen in many other works. And the infant Jesus is not just sitting in her lap, but rather is climbing over her shoulder to get to Joseph. I can't even really say exactly why, but I just liked this painting.

The icing on the cake of Florence was our final dinner. We decided to just wander down some of the smaller alleyways to find a more off the beaten path sort of restaurant. Our efforts were rewarded. We found a great little restaurant that seemed to fit the bill. Our waitress was just great, really warm and welcoming. The food was excellent. Sara got the riboletta, a thick soup made with beans, spinach, bread, and olive oil... a Tuscan specialty. I got a thin steak and sauteed spinach. Sara finished with flan and I had panna cotta. All in all, a really wonderful meal... another one of our top three, and a must if you are visiting Florence.

Well... that's all for now. Thanks for hanging in with me.

Hasta la bye-bye to Rome

2007-09-16T06:14:00.000-04:00

Our last morning in Rome entailed navigating the mass transit system in their version of Grand Central Station. The line at the ticket booth was quite lengthy, and our train was scheduled to leave in 15 minutes, so we decided to use the automated ticket machine... thankfully they have an English option. Even so, once we got our tickets we were less than confident that we had done everything correctly. The tickets we had were much smaller and looked very different from the tickets we had used to get to Rome, and for that matter, much different than the tickets that everyone else in the train station seemed to be holding.

With not a lot of time to get help, we decided to just go with it, and hopped on the train that we thought was headed to Orvieto, where our car and night's lodging awaited us. Nervously waiting for the train conductor to come by (and tell us we were either on the wrong train, or had the wrong tickets), we poured over our guide book in the section about train travel. Again... the ticket in the book looked nothing like our ticket.

All our fears turned out to be unfounded however, as the conductor came by and accepted our tickets without batting an eye. I think we even got the "Nazionale" rate instead of the foreigners rate! So thank God, we made it back to Orvieto without incident.

We were staying in Orvieto for the night because due to our constantly evolving plans, we had accidentally skipped a night when booking rooms ahead, so we had a one night gap between our room in Rome and our room in Assisi. We figured our car was already parked free in Orvieto, and we were in no rush to get to Assisi, so we'd check out that town for a day. And boy were we glad we did.

Orvieto is a small Tuscan town known for its ceramics and its salami. Sara probably appreciated the ceramics more, and I'm sure that I appreciated the salami more. As it turns out, apparently we are on the festival tour, as we keep on arriving in town while there are big parties/celebrations going on. Orvieto's festival consisted of various performers doing there thing in the town squares around town. There were acrobats, drummers, jugglers, clowns etc. So we enjoyed watching one of the clowns do his schtick as we had a nice outdoor lunch on the main piazza.

Regardless of the festival, Orivieto is a wonderfully charming town on its own. It is another picturesque hill town with narrow cobblestone streets and lots of quaint, old town feel. There were a lot of little stores for window shopping and the aforementioned ceramics were neat to peruse through. Because it is built on a hill, there were some really awesome views. We found a park that is high up on the hillside and provided some great expansive views of the Tuscan countryside, which looks just like you would imagine them to. Rolling hills, vineyards and other plots of land clearly marked out across the countryside. Very pretty.

After a nice siesta nap, we were both ready for dinner. We found what would turn out to be one of our top three favorite restaurants to date. The ambiance was just right. It had soft lighting amid the wonderful stone walls and arches, and the natural wooden tables and chairs. There was relaxing, if a little bit new agey, music playing in the background. The only thing we would change would be perhaps the removal of the somewhat creepy 'mardis gras-esque' dolls that were positioned high along the ceiling.

The dinner itself was scrumptious. All the food was great, the bread being especially yummy (we asked for seconds). Orvieto is also known for its white wines, of which we enjoyed a bottle (much more than the half carafe that we usually split). I assert that it was more than just the wine that caused us to have a particularly liesurely and relaxing dinner. A wonderful end to an unplanned, but extremely enjoyable day in Orvieto.

The next morning we were woken around 7 am by the the banging sounds of construction, as the hotel we stayed in was in the midst of a major renovation. A bit earlier than we would have planned, but that was not enough to taint our experience and fond thoughts on Orvieto.

rome day 2 and 3

2007-09-16T06:13:00.000-04:00

Disclaimer: we have no idea how this contraband picture of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel might have been taken.

hello again friends and family. i'm continuing and finishing our post on Rome and will try to spare you some of the artsy comments. our second day in rome was full. we went to the Vatican and had a full day of St. Peter's basilica as well as the Vatican museum.

St. Peter's basilica was amazing. but before you go in, you have to pass the "modesty police" - they make sure that your shoulders and knees are covered. after waiting in line for so long, some people were turned away for having shorts or tank tops. there were posters everywhere so you think they would have known....anyway, we passed our modesty test and then went through what was like airport security. thankfully, we got there so early in the morning our wait was about 10 minutes total and then we were in!

St. Peter's is one of the most impressive churches on earth. it is also one of the largest - there are markers in the middle of the nave that show you where the next-largest churches would fit inside. the highlights of this for me were Michelangelo's Pieta and Bernini's starburst dove window at the alter. Unfortunately, the Pieta was behind bulletproof glass after some crazy tried to shoot at it, but i was able to get pretty close and get some pictures without glare.

the Vatican Museum was like running a marathon. the highlight here was Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel as well as Raphael's School of Athens. the museum also has an impressive collection of Egyptian and Mesopotamian art (complete with a real mummy preserved amazingly in her coffin - creepy but cool). of course, most people come for the Sistine Chapel so the museum kind of makes you walk through all the other stuff as a sort of crowd control. after about 2 hours we finally reached the School of Athens (jonathan has a great pic of me which he'll try to post). after that, it was about another hour to the Sistine Chapel, but it was worth it. it's been amazingly restored and there is nothing like seeing it in real life. in case you didn't know, these paintings are frescoes. a fresco is technically not a painting as the color is mixed into the plaster when it is wet basically fusing the paint with the plaster and making it a part of the wall. to make it more difficult, michelangelo had to complete these works on the ceiling. imagine lying on scaffolding with paint dripping on you for 4 years as you complete one little patch of the ceiling at a time. it was amazing. although photos are allowed in other parts of the museum, the company that restored the Sistine Chapel made a deal with the Vatican that forbids any pictures, videos etc. of the Sistine Chapel.....er, however if you turn the flash off of your camera and hold it on your guidebook at waist level, you can still capture this amazing work of art....

our last day in Rome was an ancient Rome day. this is what i had really been looking foward to. i took several classes on ancient Rome - one class was called the Roman Forum and all we did was study architectural plans of Italian forums and compared them to the Forum at Rome. poor jonathan. he was a trooper and willingly listened to me as we walked through the Colesseum and the Roman forum. i won't bore you with the details as you too may be experiencing an "art hangover" but we were able to walk on basalt stones that were the same stones that Cesar himself walked (june, you will be glad to know that i still remembered my piece from English class where we had to memorize that bit from Shakespeare's play...of course jonathan looked at me like i was mad when i started reciting it). other highlights included the grave of julius cesar, the temple of the Vestal Virgins and the House of the Vestal Virgins, columns leftover from the Temple of Saturn. if you want more detail, let me know as we have lots of pictures and notes on what we saw....i know, i'm a dork.

after a long day of walking around and rediscovering the past, we were pooped. our last evening in Rome culminated in an amazing dinner at a place recommended in our guidebook. we really have come to appreciate the way italians treat their meals as experiences....something to enjoy over hours at a time. well, we spent about 3 hours enjoying our last dinner in Rome. it was a great way to wrap up such a whirlwind time. Rome is a crazy city with too much to do and little down-time, but if you're an art/history nut like me, it's a must. you can do what we did and savor some more downtime for Tuscany....our next stop.

things we've learned....

2007-09-13T04:44:00.000-04:00

good morning faithful readers! as jonathan is suffering from what i like to refer to as "museum hangover" we thought we would take the morning to discuss some things we have learned while in europe. we hope that you find these amusing and that you can make your own list when you take your own whirlwind vacation someday....

1. COFFEE - coffee is better in europe than anywhere else. yes, this means that european coffee is better than starbucks. in fact, european coffee makes starbucks look like sludge. and starbucks doesn't serve their coffee in those cute little espresso cups that they use in europe. do yourself a favor and just come over for 1 cup of coffee and you will be a changed person.

2. THE EURO - one euro does not equal one dollar. even though the euro system is in similar denominations, that does not mean that is equal to one dollar. the euro, even though it may look like monopoly money, is not monopoly money. you can pretend that the euro is equal to one dollarhowever, be prepared for a shock when you check your bank statement online.

3. CROISSANTS - croissants taste better in France. we think that croissants should only be made in France because they just taste like bread everywhere else. you can order a croissant in other countries, but it will only taste like a croissant if it is made in France. we think that if the French really knew the power of their croissant they would patent it or something and make a killing on tourists coming to eat croissants.

4. EUROPEAN DRIVING - jonathan may have already touched on this, but let me reiterate that italians are bad drivers. additionally, europeans drive really small cars. believe it or not, there are cars even smaller than a smart car here - we like to refer to them as roller skates. these cars make those mini coopers look like an SUV. i wonder what europeans think when they come to the states and see the cars we drive....hmmm....think of that the next time you get into your surburban.

5. ITALIAN FOOD - there really are pizzarias on every street in Italy - yes! even in the small towns. and yes, even in spain and france. italian pizza is everywhere! pizza is an obsession here just as it is at home. italians also seem averse to international food. you are hard pressed to find a restaurant that serves something other than italian food. how can we be sick of italian food, you ask? well, if you eat pasta every lunch and dinner for about 2 weeks you will also be sick of italian food. i think jonathan is turning into a gnocci.

6. SIESTA or the 3 HOUR LUNCH - call it whatever you want, but the siesta (in Italy and Spain) and the 3 hour lunch (in France) is brilliant. towns really shut down from 12:30 until about 3:30 or whenever they feel like getting back to work. we love the siesta and we are going to start a movement to bring it to the states.

7. LANGUAGE BARRIER - speaking English with an accent will get you farther than you think! charades also go a long way - just ask jonathan to demonstrate when we get home. and when in doubt, use as many romance languages as you can at the same time. we had a delightful Latin American meal at a restaurant in Florence, Italy and i ended up speaking a combination of Spanish, English, and Italian - and it worked! and if you don't know how to say "thank you", just do as jonathan does and say the word "beautiful" instead - the nice cashier ladies will still smile and give you your change.

8. AMERICAN TV - american TV in other languages is funny. reruns of Beverly Hills 90210 in spanish are pretty hilarious. and it's creepy because Jessica Fletcher sounds kind of sexy when Murder She Wrote is dubbed into italian.

when in rome....

2007-09-12T11:30:00.000-04:00

hello! sara here to update our faithful family and friends on our travels. disclaimer: this post is the first of many that will include lots of reflections and opinions on historical art and architecture because i have a degree in art history, and i like reflecting on historical art and architecture. if you don't like reading about my reflections or opinions on what i spent 4 tedious and years of blood, sweat, and sleepless nights learning about and studying (i.e. historical art and architecture) go read something less stimulating. people.com is a good start. end disclaimer.

as jonathan said, our time in siena was heavenly. i highly recommend at least two nights in siena if you are ever in italy. we are so thankful to have a great guidebook which guided us to NOT drive in rome. instead, we decided to park in the quaint town of orvieto (which had free parking!) and train it into rome for a mere 12,00 euros each. this was definitely the way to go as our hour train ride took us through the beautiful tuscan countryside and right into the termini train station in the center of rome.

we found our hotel pretty easily and took it easy for the afternoon. it was back to the guidebook for a night walk through rome which started out at the Campo di Fiori. we had a great dinner at Magnolia where we had an American waitress (Julianne) from East Lansing, Michigan. we learned a lot about Roman/Italian culture from Julianne. Julianne told us she knew we were Americans right away because it was cold and Jonathan was wearing a North Face fleece. apparently only Americans and Canadians wear those types of things. if we wanted to blend in she said we needed to wear leather. hmm. she also told us that Jonathan could order the girliest drink they offered - with sparklers and umbrellas and fruit in a tall pink glass - and he would still be considered macho in Italy. who knew? but even after Julianne's pep talk, Jonathan still ordered a beer. thanks again, Julianne, for our introduction to Rome. we wish you all the best on your botany degree!

after our colorful dinner we began our walk. in my opinion, Rome is best at night. there is something magical about the way it looks after dark. anyway, our walk took us from Campo di Fiori through the Piazza Navona where there were lots of street painters and musicians. unfortunately, the 4 rivers fountain by Bernini which is located in the piazza was being worked on. from there, we weaved our way to the Pantheon. yes i did spell it correctly - the Pantheon is in Rome, the Parthenon is in Athens. if you don't know what the Pantheon is, go look it up. the Pantheon was constructed in the 1st c. AD (i think). it has a perfect dome that is 142 feet high and wide. even the renaissance guys couldn't figure out how to build a dome this well so the powers-that-be in Rome gave Brunelleschi permission to cut into the dome to see how it was constructed. (if you don't know who Brunelleschi is, shame on you! go look him up too.) across from the Pantheon is also the nicest McDonald's i've ever seen in my life. moving along from the Pantheon we saw an Egyptian obelisk which was taken from Egypt by Augustus after his victory over Mark Antony and Cleopatra. we then watched the secret service escort some important Italian cabinet members back to their home (i think they thought we were tailing them for a while - don't worry, mom, we didn't get arrested). after a near brush with the law, we found our way to the Trevi Fountain by Nicola Salvi. now i am not a Baroque fan. in fact, i usually detest Baroque art and its way of being too over the top and flashy, but this fountain, in my opinion, redeems the entire Baroque period. if you love Baroque, you'll love this fountain. if you're like me, go see it anyway, but go see it at night. legend has it that if you throw a coin over your shoulder into the Trevi Fountain it means you'll return to Rome soon. our walk ended at the Spanish steps which was good because i was tired of walking. unfortunately, the metro from the Spanish steps was broken so we cabbed it back to the hotel. day 1 in Rome was complete.

Mamma Mia... We're behind in our posts

2007-09-08T03:44:00.000-04:00

We've fallen a bit behind on our posts so I will try and catch you up to where we are today, which is Rome.

We last left you in Torino where we had a pretty low key day. The following days would also be filled with rest and relaxation, along with some great views and some hairy driving.

From Torino we left for Corniglia (pronounced Cor-Nee-Lia). Corniglia is on of the Cinque Terra... that is 'the 5 towns'. These towns each a short distance from each other sit in a remote region of the Italian Riviera. They are each quaint and tiny seaside towns with breathtaking views of the oh so blue Ligurian Sea. Corniglia is the only one located high up on a cliff which only added to the views.

Upon exiting the autostrada, the roads to the Corniglia got very tiny, and very curvey. At one point we weren't sure if we were even on a road anymore, or if it was just a cobblestone sidewalk. We had to pull in our mirrors for a little kink in the road that forced us between two houses. After much burning of the clutch, and literally inches of clearance on either side we slipped through. That's when a little old grandma came out to watch, standing right behind the car while we were on a pretty severe hill. I don't think cars are supposed to go through here, and we may have been the first one she had ever seen slip through that crack. In any case, we rejoined the main road after a short stretch and were back on our rollercoaster ride to Corniglia. I think penny may have steered us wrong, but for all the help she's been, I'm not complaining.

As already mentioned... the views to and in Corniglia were awesome. Our room, while a little small, was clean and bonus - had a view out over the town and out to the ocean. We spent the next couple days hiking on trails between each of the towns and exploring each town. Very relaxing. One final note... while Corniglia was very quiet and relaxing most of the time... beware of Tuesday mornings - what I can only assume is recycling day.

6:40 am - recycling truck rumbles up the one road in town and begins emptying the 7 glass bottle recycling dumpsters... there is no way anyone in town could sleep through this
7:00 am - small church bells chime seven times
7:03 am - large church bells ring for about 2 minutes straight
7:04 am - roosters start crowing

After our two days in Corniglia, which we thoroughly enjoyed... we left for Siena. Siena had been a rival city to Florence back in the day until the plague wiped out a third of its population. It never quite recovered its status after that, but we found it all the more charming due to its small, manageable size.

We had accommodations lined up at a convent in town (how cool is that!). We rolled into town after a rainy drive and began our quest for parking. Parking in Europe is a bit hit or miss, and generally costs you between 9 - 15 euros a day. There was no parking in sight as we neared the convent. We circled a couple times and were starting to get a bit discouraged. However, just when hope seemed to be lost, one of the FREE parking spots opened up and we pounced on it (Thank You God!). Siena is famous for having what some consider the best piazza in northern italy. There is also a large gothic cathedral in town that is quite stunning due to what some may consider gaudy use of different color marbles to create a white and green striped interior and exterior.

I agree with the assessment that the piazza is impressive. It's huge and is slightly slanted, ampitheater style, so people just sit themselves down on the cobblestone and hang out. I enjoyed more than one gelato relaxing there. In the piazza is the city hall, which has a huge tower some 10 stories tall tacked on top of one end of the building. We spent much of our time just wandering the small streets windowshopping. The old town of Siena where we were staying is just one restaurant and shop after another in between the major sites. It was another relaxing time and some much needed rest as we prepared ourselves for Rome, which we were sure was going to be a whirlwind.

Well... you're pretty much caught up to where we are now. Just some thoughts about our trip thus far. First off, Sara and I feel very blessed to have this opportunity to travel like this, and we are aware that the Lord has provided for us at every turn. We have been healthy and safe which is a blessing in itself. We have had wonderful accommodations along the way, and many pleasant surprises in that department. We have transitioned through three different languages (four if you count China) and have been holding our own. We haven't gotten lost, nor have we lost any of our luggage/stuff etc. Thanks everyone for your thoughts and your prayers. We think and pray for all of you at home, and as much fun as we are having, we miss you all a lot every day.

Until next time... Ciao

I'm Not Alone

2007-09-05T13:17:00.000-04:00

So... I've noticed something during my time to date traveling around europe. A lot of europeans have wrist injuries. I have noticed no less than 10 other people in the last two and a half weeks that have also been in wrist casts. Seems to me like a disproportionately high number given the time that we've been traveling.

Another side note before I take you back to our travels. This should give you an idea of what europeans think about americans. The other day in Arles I got "The American" for dinner. The American is a 14 inch hogie loaded with steak an piled high with fries on top of the steak. Add ketchup and/or mayo.

Ok... back to our travels. From Arles we "set sail" for our first day in Italia. We had a lenghty five and a half hour drive to Torino as we left Arles. As you all know, Torino (also known as Turin) was the site of the last winter olympics in 2006. Anyway, we were looking forward to another somewhat grueling time in the car, just getting from point A to point B. Boy were we pleasantly surprised. We had to cross the Alps to get to Italy, and it provided some truly breathtaking views... the best we'd seen to date. Huge mountains all around us. On top of that we passed through a little town that was situated on a high lake in the alps. The water was so blue, and while perhaps a little bit touristy, the surrounding town looked so quiet and relaxing. It made me wish we had not had reservations in Torino. If you are ever traveling to the area, this would be a must on your itinerary (I'll update the post later with the actual town name).

Torino itself was a bit uneventful, but there was one thing that was a bit of a rude awakening. Italian drivers are crazy. Sara likes to say that lane markers are suggestions, not rules. They don't seem to think anything about just meandering between lanes in the curves. Allow me to illustrate. We had just gotten into town, and were already a little bit stressed out as penny was leading us all over the place (sometimes she has a way of taking us down little side streets instead of the main roads). We pulled up alongside another car that was waiting at the light. It was a three lane road. By the time the light turned green, we were lined up five across... that's right. Two cars had just decided that there was enough room for them, lane or not, and pulled on up.

Sara spent much of the afternoon making reservations for our stays in Italy. She is a real trooper I tell you. Even though she had no prior experience with Italian, she powered through and got us places to stay in Corniglia, Siena, and Rome. Without her, I'd be staying on park benches and eating McDonalds all across europe.

The next day was somewhat of a day off, as I was feeling pretty sketchy due to a surprise allergy attack and thus didn't really feel up for running around to all the olympic sites. Even so, I would say we had a pretty good day. We spent the afternoon relaxing in a park in the center of town. I took a nap while Sara read and people watched.

We were heading out for a quick dinner, intending to return back to the hotel to rest up for the next day. However, we struck up a conversation with Ralph and Denise while waiting for our table, and ended up sharing a table with them. Ralph and Denise are from Toronto Canada, and have taken a trip to Europe every year for the last 20 years. Pretty cool huh. We each got a pizza and enjoyed some good conversation. We got to tell them about China, and our upcoming itinerary, and they shared with us all sorts of ideas for this trip and future trips. At the end of the evening they asked us where we were staying, and would you believe it, we were booked at the same hotel. So we strolled back together before calling it a night. Really a delightful evening.

Two other random side notes before I let you all go. First... it turns out that beer is a good treatment for my allergies, as I had a beer with dinner and my symptoms cleared right up (sara tells me this is not the first time this has happened). Also... I really like the way they serve cafe latte in Torino. They serve you a little cup of espresso, and give you a glass of frothy milk. You combine them yourself. Don't know if it adds to the flavor, but it added to the experience for us. Just a neat little quirk.

vive la france still.....arles

2007-09-04T10:38:00.000-04:00

hello again! we are reliving the memories of our trip to arles as we write this post. arles is an amazing city for many reasons. arles is in the provence area of france so you have a sort of country feel that permeates the city as well as it's food. arles was once home to vincent van gogh - he painted the majority of his works - about 200 total - while he was in arles, as well as the home of another famous painter, paul gaugin. one day in the light of the city and you know why these 2 artists called arles home for some time. arles also has a bit of ancient history as well - it houses an ancient roman ampitheatre as well as a decaying roman forum. and let's not forget the bull games as well....

our home for our 3 days in arles was the Hotel Voltaire. if you go to arles, consider staying here. we had a cozy little room with a balcony that opened to a view of a cute square and the old roman ampitheatre one block away. it was a perfect way to relax. now i know why people travel to provence and don't come home.

the food was amazing, we slept with the windows open, there were cafes on every corner beckoning you to just drink some coffee and read a book......but one of the highlights of our trip to arles was the bull games.

the bull games are held in the old roman ampitheatre. now this is NOT a bull fight. there are no swords or dying animals. instead, small ribbons are tied to the horns of the bull. the bull is announced and paraded into the center of the ring. then about 20 young guys in all white taunt the bull so that it charges one of them. instead of side-stepping the bull like a matador, they get as close to the bull as possible without getting gored for a chance to snatch one of the ribbons off of its horns. if they snatch a ribbon, they get some points as well as lots of bragging rights. if they get too close or if the bull comes too fast, they just catapult over the wall like it's no big deal. and you thought you had some cool hobbies. i am sure that all of these dudes have no problem getting the ladies, let me tell you. after a while the bull gets tired so it's apparently easier to get the ribbons. sometimes the bull is just ticked and snorts, drools, paws the earth, and bangs his head into things. if he's REALLY peeved, he runs full speed at the wall, jumps over it, and causes the spectators just outside of the ring to jump INTO the ring. if they don't have time to jump into the ring, then the spectators hide out behind these semi-walls that the bull can't go behind because he's too fat. jonathan and i were lucky enough to be sitting in the first row of "safe" seats, right behind the little spectator wall thingys. we were up by 1 row from the action, yet i still almost peed my pants when the bulls jumped the wall. if the bull does something cool they play that song from the opera "Carmen" and the bull gets points. suffice it to say, it was crazy!

overall, we left with mixed feelings. at first, the whole thing was really cool. but after a while, we started to feel sorry for the poor bulls. they looked kind of stressed out. some of them drooled a lot. and who knows what they do to get them all riled up - maybe it's just their instincts, but who knows. the game for each bull only lasts about 15 minutes, but some of the bulls seemed more scared than others. the guidebooks all assure you that these bulls are well taken care of and that they all die of old age, but we still felt kinda bad for the poor things.

the next day was pretty relaxing. the highlight was running into another traveler from the states. we shared a great dinner with jim. we found out that he was from palo alto, loves bike touring, and has had an amazing career in the medical field. he shared a lot of great stories with us and even paid for our meal! thanks again jim! we hope to see you again sometime back in the states or on another one of your adventures.

vive la france...carcassonne

2007-09-04T10:16:00.000-04:00

bonjour encore! although we are in siena, italy at the moment we realize that we are horribly behind on our posts. so let me take you back in time to a little medieval town in france called carcassonne. i don't know a whole lot about carcassonne. i never studied it in school so i will just give you my unbiased impressions. the city is awesome. it's like disney world for the big kids except the castle is REAL. the city is separated into two parts: the new town aptly named because it's -duh- new. then there is the medieval part of the city. it's completely surrounded by a moat and 2 layers of city walls. you'll remember this place if you grew up in the 90's and watched the robin hood starring kevin costner. yeah, they filmed it here.

we walked along one of the outer walls, around the ramparts, and then into the heart of the city. our guide book said that one of the 4-star hotels had a private garden with incredible views. we took advantage of it's open door policy and made ourselves at home. the garden was immaculately sculptured and a terrace allowed for an amazing view of the chateau inside the castle as well as the old city. i'm sure that this is where kevin costner stayed when they were filming. after feeling like a movie star, we re-entered the "real world" outside the hotel. this place really makes you feel like a big kid. big towers, courtyards, and little cobblestone roads make you feel like you are in a real life fairy tale. we took advantage of this special place and got lost wandering the streets. after roaming around aimlessly we realized that we had actually seen it all. as we walked towards the exit/entrance, we saw 3 people setting up for something that looked interesting. we had no clue what to expect, but we decided to hang around. i sat in one of those slits in the wall where you can pour hot oil down onto your enemies. then the show began. disclaimer: i know this may sound dorky, but believe me it was cool. it was a guy playing an accordian singing into a microphone that was hooked up to a megaphone. as he was playing/singing, 2 other people identically dressed -think mimes without the face paint-were pantomiming the words to his songs as a sort of theatre/dance. it was really french.

it was a full day. we took a stroll from our hotel to explore the new town, and we ate dinner in a small town square. i inadvertantly ordered fish which turned out to be calamari. sweet jonathan traded me and i ended up eating a traditional french meal called cassoulet. it's a lovely mixture of white beans, lamb, duck, and duck fat. i know that last part sounds unappetizing, but duck fat is amazing. besides the food, the highlight of the evening was watching a dog thoroughly enjoy himself by swimming in the fountain in the center of the square. the french really love their dogs. i think i've found my home. until next time...which should be in about 2 minutes....sara

Back to France

2007-09-01T13:00:00.000-04:00

After an enjoyable three days in Oviedo, we were ready to get back on the road. Our destination was a beachy town just back into France, St. Jean de Luz. On the way however, we wanted to give the Guggenheim in Bilbao a proper visit, not just the drive by we had had a few nights earlier.

In Bilbao we parked the car at the local mall and walked over to the museum. As you approach it, you are greeted by a huge "sculpture" of a dog, made entirely out of flowers. It stands about three stories high and is pretty impressive. The story goes that it was originally supposed to be displayed at the museum just for the opening, and then it would tour; but the people of Bilbao just couldn't let it go and insisted it join the permanent collection, so it did.

We took gobs of pictures of the museum from every angle. The museum itself is an architectural piece of art. It is made out of titanium and incorporates many fluid lines giving it a feeling of motion. As neat as I thought it looked, it was Sara who could really appreciate its artistic significance.

From Bilbao we had an uneventful drive to St. Jean de Luz (thanks penny). As we rolled into town, we saw that every Tues night they have a Pelote match and some display of Basque culture. Pelote is sometimes referred to as Hi Li... it consists of two, three person teams who use large scooped basket type "gloves" to throw a hard ball off a wall. Each team alternates shots until one misses or hits it out of bounds. It's sort of hard to explain but it was a lot of fun to watch.

After walking along the beach for a little while we headed off to the Pelote courts. When we first arrived at the match, we were told that we could purchase English instructions. As neither of us really had any idea how the game was played, we thought that it would be well worth the one euro price. We purchased the program from an old, beret wearing Frenchman at the gate. He told us we would get along great seeing as how we spoke "American". It turns out that he spent a number of years in the US working as an engineer. He even spent some time in Virginia.

As I said, I found the match very entertaining to watch. But almost as much fun, if not more, was that the program seller mc-ed the event, singing french songs and telling jokes in between points. Sara took a bunch of videos of him, and I think she has a not so secret crush on him which I'm sure she'll deny. The match ended 35 to 29, after which there was a dance troop for our entertainment. It appeared as though they were still working out the kinks in their program, so after watching a few dances, we snuck out between acts and headed back to the hotel for a good nights rest.

exploring my heritage

2007-08-29T09:14:00.000-04:00

hello friends! let me continue where jonathan left off. mom, don't worry - jonathan is no longer making me sleep at truck stops. after a restless night, we woke at 5AM and hit the road - what else where we going to do? it wasn't long before we headed into the rolling hills of the province of Asturias in northern Spain.

some of you may be wondering why we weren't going to more exciting places in Spain like Madrid or Barcelona or Seville. well, the reason behind our visit lies with my Spainish heritage. my grandparents on my father's side were from the town of Oviedo in northern Spain. i don't remember much about them as they passed away when i was little, but my 3 sisters filled in enough details to make me curious enough to journey here and retrace my Spanish roots. it was with a lot of excitement that we arrived in Oviedo. we were glad to be out of the Basque region - they are a proud people, and it was a beautiful region, but the Euskadi language hurt my head. horray for Spainish! well, kind of. northern Spain speaks a sort of Spanish dialect called (appropriately) Bable. it hurt my head as well. some of the words were the same and some of the words weren't. in those cases where the words were different, my Spanish phrasebook wasn't in the least bit helpful. we did a lot of charades and pointing at things.

anyway, we quickly found parking and hit the streets for a place to stay. we decided to book a place in the Hostel Romero right on the Calle Uria - one of the main streets right in the heart of Oviedo. we quickly dumped our stuff and got to business eating, drinking coffee, and walking everywhere. we quickly happened upon a flea market in the old town of Oviedo where jonathan bought his own umbrella from one of the umbrella vendors. no later than 2 minutes after his purchase it started to pour. as we walked the streets of Oviedo i realized several things about Spanish shoppers: they love shoes, luggage, and designer sunglasses. they also love high fashion - we saw no less than 20 ateliers selling amazing evening gowns on a couple of the main streets. apparently Spain has some of the best prices in Europe when it comes to shopping. alas, after entering several stores i realized something else: Spanish people are small - it was all i could do to find a pair of fun shoes that fit my big bozo size 9 feet, and pants in every store came to about my shin.

the second day in Oviedo we continued to walk everywhere. we found an old Romanesque cathedral in the old town, witnessed 2 Spanish weddings, and walked through the town park complete with wild peacocks. yes, there were wild peacocks roaming around. in spain. i had no idea. we also ate dinner that night complete with Spanish cider. the Asturias region is known for their hard apple cider, and the way that they pour it. they pour it just so it's frothy and full of bubbles, and after the pour, you have 10 seconds to drink it before it becomes flat. it's quite a sight, and i don't think they do this anywhere else in the world. we'll post a picture when we can.

our third day in Oviedo we made our way to an amazing pastry shop - Rialto. these guys have been in business since 1920. i even wondered if my grandparents had eaten there at some point. on our way there, we saw some people with bagpipes and traditional Asturian clothing. we decided that we should hang around to see what they were up to - they looked sneaky. it's a good thing that we did because we got a complete free concert of Asturian music and dancing. an interesting thing i discovered about this area is that it has a Celtic heritage. as such, there is a mix of Celtic and Spanish. the dances were particularly interesting - a mix of bagpipes and castanets - sounds terrible, but it was cool. anyway, we made our way to Rialto for a small breakfast. yet another thing this region is known for is this tiny donut thing covered with an almond sugar glaze. ridiculously sweet and ridiculously yum.

after our breakfast we drove to the towns of Pravia and Penaullan (pic above is of me in the town square in Pravia). my grandmother was born in the town of Penullan in 1894. I had some information basically tracing back to my great-great-great-great grandparents (thanks for the info, Sue!). unfortunately, we were unable to find a cemetary and no one spoke English anywhere we went in Spain so we spent our time wandering the small streets, taking in the fresh country air, and wondering which streets she might have walked as well. it was really special. i'll have to come back when i know more Spanish to actually talk to people.

even though we only spent 3 days in Oviedo it felt like home. my Spanish language skills are still terrible, but i think that this does not make me any less Spanish. i learned a lot about my heritage - the music and the dances, the importance of siesta, the sweetness of lingering over dinner and then taking a long walk afterwards....each day was like peeling a layer off of an onion. i think that i may have only scratched the surface....

Lost in Space... I mean Spain

2007-08-29T09:06:00.000-04:00

First off... let me just say thank God for the inventor of GPS.

OK, when last we left you, we had just explored and throroughly enjoyed the lovely town of Beynac. We then headed off to Bilbao Spain. Bilbao is known mostly for housing the Guggenheim Museum. As an art history major, Sara was quite excited to see that, and she would not be disappointed.

So into the rain we headed for what we estimated would be a five or so hour drive. Things were pretty uneventful until we got to Spain. We were sad not to get a Spanish passport stamp as the border crossing was unmanned. Penny reliably led us to our first stop... San Sebastian. San Sebastian is a resort town along the coast just as you cross into Spain with beautiful beaches and an upscale feel to the town. I hear it is quite popular with the celebrities, but there were no TomKat sightings by us.

It was raining quite hard when we rolled in to town, and parking was impossible. As it was already about 19:00 (that's 7:00 for all of you Stateside), and we had no accomodations lined up, we decided to just press on. We determined that taking the local roads to Bilbao would give us the maximum chance of finding a hotel. Things started auspiciously enough. Driving down the coastline was beautiful despite the rain. The first non-sketch town we hit was Zarautz.

I should pause here for a moment to explain that the towns along the border of France and Spain are in what is known as the Basque region. They are a bit separatist, and choose to speak neither french nor spanish, but have their own language, euskadi. Sara is the primary voice of the Shiu's abroad (except China where surprisingly I was able to communicate quite well). However neither Chambersburg Area Senior High School nor Penn State offer Euskadi as a language course. Jonathan was also no help in this department.

Back to Zarautz.... we saw a sign to a hostel and decided to give it a try. It was above a bar in the town square that was hopping. We spoke to the bar tender/reservations manager who told us that it would be impossible to get a room in any of the hotels in town. I guess it was booked for the end of the summer holidays. Now I was getting nervous. In Europe, you don't have your plethora of hotel chains on the interstates that are available for check-in 24 hrs a day. More characteristic is that you have to check in by a specified time (somewhere between 6:00 and 10:00) else you're out of luck.

We finally made it to Bilbao (about 22:00) after finding a number of other places either full or no longer open for check in. It was then that we passed the Guggenheim. Sara was so uber-excited and said that that made her day so she was happy. I was less satisfied and would much rather be winding down in a nice comfy hotel room. That's when we saw a sign for the Sheraton... we're savedm Woo Woo. Then we saw that it was a five star hotel.... Boo Hoo. It seems that Bilbao was having the festival of the century this particular weekend... complete with carnival rides, live music concert, and fireworks. The streets were packed and the hotels were all full.

After grabbing a light dinner (which we weren't quite sure of what we had ordered until it arrived at our table), we got back on the road, deciding to take our chances outside of town. (Side note.... there seemed to be polka/oompah loompah karaoke going on upstairs at the restaurant. Hilarious. Even I had to smile a bit at that). Timecheck - 0:15 (12:15 am). We exited the city on the expressway. Sara again prayed for a place to stay, even if it was just a nice safe parking lot where we could put in for the night.

Immediately thereafter we saw a sign for a rest stop. That looked pretty perfect to us. We pulled in, quite exhausted from the day. We thanked God for his swift answer to our prayers, Sara climbed in the back seat, and I put down the drivers seat. We pulled on our eye bras (a.k.a. sleeping masks) and put down for the night. I for one, had a great nights sleep.

Next stop, Garcia-ville.... I mean Oviedo.

the rain in spain falls mainly on...us

2007-08-26T12:44:00.000-04:00

greetings from Spain! today is the first sunny day in about a week. apparently the weather in Spain in September consists of rain, rain, and more rain. honestly, i don´t know why they have a weatherman on TV because the whole country is covered with the raincloud pictures. it´s so rainy here that there are entire shops devoted to the selling of umbrellas. it´s interesting to think that a family´s livelihood can be supported by selling umbrellas. who´d have though? but i digress....

to back up a bit, we wrapped up our time in paris with a tiny bit of sightseeing. i was starting to feel like meg ryan in the movie "French Kiss" where the eiffel tower keeps escaping her. thankfully, after our final hospital visit, we took the metro towards the city. as we got off, an accordian guy was playing "la vie en rose". i´m sure Parisian´s think it´s cheesy, but i finally felt like we were in paris. we walked in the direction of the seine river towards les invalides and voila! there it was - the eiffel tower. paris is such a great walking city. we walked and got lost and we didn´t care. we actually didn´t have a map of the city but relied instead on maps above metro stops. we stopped at a cafe and drank amazing coffee and ordered a whole plate of cheese. we people watched. and on part of our stroll we saw the security guard of a department store wrestle with an old lady who was trying to steal a shirt. surprisingly, the old lady won. ahhh paris!

the next day we headed to the paris ´burbs and picked up our car. jonathan was very excited about all of the features and gizmos. i was just glad that we had a place to stash our stuff. jonathan wanted to splurge and rent the GPS, but being technologically averse, i wanted to use maps. jonathan really wanted the GPS. thank goodness i caved. that thing paid for itself in the first 10 minutes of our driving. i´ve never driven in europe before. it´s tricky. there are roundabouts like nobody´s business. none of the streets have names in places that are visible to anyone whizzing by in a car. and if you can find a street sign on the side of a building, it´s too small to read. so jonathan was right - the GPS is amazing. i think we would both agree that the GPS may have preemptively saved our marriage. i can sit and enjoy the view, and jonathan can drive until the GPS tells him to do something. the GPS came with many different language options so we decided to make her a british woman. we named her penny. penny has been invaluable. sometimes penny gives us directions too late, but it´s ok because we can get mad at penny and then she recalculates our route. and directions sound so much more pleasant with a british accent. i have a picture of jonathan giving penny a kiss. don´t worry, i´m not jealous or anything....

so with our car and penny we were on our way to Beynac, a tiny French medieval town in the Dordogne region of France. we arrived at our quaint hotel a bit late for dinner, but the lovely hotel owners set up a private table for us by candlelight in the salon. it was very romantic. we had a great dinner and a great nights sleep in our twin beds. it was heavenly.

the next morning, we hiked to the chateau in Beynac that sits at the top of the town (view from the chateau in the picture above). it was awesome. apparently this was the chateau that they used for the movie "Joan of Arc". being at the chateau and church was really awesome for me being the art history buff. although i´ve never studied these buildings in particular, it gave me an idea of what life was like in a medieval town. very cool. i highly recommend visiting this little town or other towns in the region. there were things to see, places to walk, many other quaint towns nearby, and the river provided for scenic boat rides. we were sad to leave this little gem, but excited to head to Spain - the country of my people!!

Jonathan is not Jackie Chan

2007-08-24T15:07:00.000-04:00

I just realized that I threw something out there in my China wrap up that may have raised some questions.. namely, how did Jonathan break his arm and how is he doing.

So, let me take you back to August 7th......

It was our first full day running our program for the kids. I was assisting with some games in the afternoon. We were running a relay race and I had to participate as we had an odd number of people. I was on the anchor leg and did not plan on letting my team down.

I was just trailing Mary, a 15 year old girl at the school, at the final turn. I completed the prescribed 5 jumping jacks and sprinted for the finish. I should have kept my eyes up instead of down. As I crossed the finish line, out of the corner of my eye, I realized that everyone on my team who had completed the race was sitting down just a few yards from the finish, and I was about to kill, or at least seriously maim a few little Chinese orphan girls.

It was at that moment that all of my previous martial arts training kicked in... unfortunately I've never had any martial arts training. I lept over the girls, narrowly missing inflicting a serious headwound to one of them. From what has been described to me, I was completely horizontal and spinning through the air. I imagine it to look something like in a Jackie Chan/Jet Li movie when they kick one of the bad guys and that guy falls away, spinning. As you might have gathered, I did not land on my feet. In fact, I probably narrowly avoided a head trauma of my own and thousands of dollars in dental work by raising my right hand at the last second before impact.

All in all for what could have happened, I'd say that God really protected me. It has been diagnosed as a decent fracture of my radius by one doctor in China, then not a fracture at all at the public hospital in Paris, and finally as a small fracture of my wrist by the American Hospital in Paris. I'm trusting the final one. I'm in a wrist splint now and will be for about another three weeks. It really looks cool in every single one of our pictures. As I said, I feel pretty blessed to have gotten off that easily.

Hope that clears up any questions you´ve had. Thanks for your concern.

ahh Paris!

2007-08-24T14:52:00.000-04:00

greetings friends and loving family members. thank you for your comments. disclaimer: please note that sucking up to jonathan or sara will not necessarily get you gifts from abroad.

although i am writing this from spain, i feel the need to comment on our first parisian moments. we were reintroduced to the west during one glorious moment on the plane: dinner. now, i know what you´re thinking: plane food = toxic waste, however you would be mistaken. in this instance, the airplane food was amazing. what says "home" better than fresh vegetables, dairy products, and a fork! i was so excited that i even wrote a song about cheese....and no i´m not going to sing it to you. instead, i will tell you about our first 2 days in paris.

we spent the first day in paris recovering from our jet lag and addressing jonathan´s broken arm situation (he will explain the full story on how he broke his arm in another post). although i am thankful for the medical care he received in China, i questioned their cast application techniques so i thought we needed a second opinion.

we were directed to said hospital by the hotel staff. we should have known it was suspect when they said "i think it´s a good hospital." i checked jonathan into the ER after finally figuring out how to tell the story in my rusty french. we waited for about 3 hours to see the doctor, but oh what an entertaining 3 hours it was.

hour 1 i will call "crazy man with yellow pants". being that we were in a downtown, local hospital i should have know that it would draw the local crazies. the man with the yellow pants is aptly named as he was wearing banana yellow parachute pants circa1985. in the beginning he was doing benign things like making kissy faces at a korean women through the waiting room window. later, he started blowing bubbles (yes, he was carrying a bottle of bubbles). but the fun was just beginning.

hour 2 i will call "crazy man with yellow pants meets crazy man with surgical mask". crazy man with yellow pants was funny, but my harry potter book was more entertaining...that was until a crazy man wearing a surgical mask stormed through the waiting room, screamed at the top of his lungs in french, and then threw his shoes at crazy man with yellow pants. i must say that psychotic people sound much more pleasant when they rant in french. i digress. crazy man with yellow pants thought it would be a good idea to take off his own shoes, put on the "new" shoes, and wear his own shoes hanging around his neck sort of like mittens. this was funny.

hour 3 i will call "flashlight magic". crazy man with yellow pants had 2 pairs of shoes and must have decided that crazy man with surgical mask had some more goodies. he left and later returned with the surgical mask and a muffin. he dropped the muffin on the floor, but then after frowning he got an idea. he reached into his pocket, produced a keychain flashlight, and waved the flashlight over the muffin. he also used his magical flashlight to "open" and "close" the automatic doors to the ER for everyone who exited and entered. i think that some people decided their ailments weren´t worth passing crazy man in yellow pants. they went home. it was priceless.

so after this show we finally saw the doctor. she spoke a little english, took one look at the Xray from China and said, "I do not think is broken. Is sprained." so we left. and thanks to the French government, the visit was free! we didn´t have to fill out a form or pay a thing! cheese, forks, crazy people in yellow pants - i think i´m starting to like it here....vive la France!

Yes...We are Alive

2007-08-23T04:43:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the large gap in posts, but we were quite busy playing with little children, breaking an arm (jonathan) and giving medical check ups to quite a few kids (sara).

Our time in China was really great. The 14 hour flight (direct from DC...WOO!) was actually not as bad as we had been preparing ourselves for. Once in Beijing, we thought to ourselves...bummer, what a cloudy day. Then we were informed that it was not the clouds but the smog that was blocking out the sun. Yikes. From Beijing we took a chartered van to NanKou, where we were finally able to have a proper meal (not without some food culture shock) and lay our head down to rest. Thankfully, the accomodations were nice and clean, and even had air conditioning.

The next day, we went to the GWTC and met the kids. Everyone was a bit cautious at first, but Danny Katcher broke the ice by inviting himself into a game of Ping Pong. There is too much to write about the week we spent at the GWTC, but suffice to say that it was truly special and life changing. Each day we ran a program with some songs, skits, games, crafts, and English. One morning they treated us to a dazzling display of traditional chinese dances complete with fans, spinning handkerchiefs, kung fu, and bowls balanced on their heads. The kids were really great (and flexible). We returned the favor later that morning by teaching them the Chicken Dance. A fair trade if you ask me. We also introduced them to volleyball and ultimate frisbee. I had a blast getting to know the kids, and Sara was lucky enough to be able to spend a little one on one time with each of them through medical assessments. One other highlight here was that we got to climb some of the Great Wall (which we could see from our hotel). We found it quite challenging, but the Chinese woman in high heels ahead of us didn't seem to be phased. (As you might have guessed by my absence from the picture above, I´m the one behind the camera)

The next week we spent a couple of days at an orphanage south of Beijing in Zhao Xian. While we only had a couple of days with these kids, they again left quite an impression on us, as did the "best hotel in town, which sara wouldn't even let us put the luggage on the ground for fear of what might contaminate them. The place was pretty scary, but we survived. We again ran some games and stuff for the kids. It was a real priviledge to get to know them as well as our hosts.

The last few days we spent in Beijing sightseeing and shopping. We saw a couple of the "must see" sights (Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Chinese Acrobats) mixed in with a healthy dose of shopping. I have only one thing to say. Sara = ball busting price negotiator. The sellers kept on saying "you killing me lady" to her. I'm so proud.

We are in currently in Beynac, a quaint little town in France. It's really cool.... stone buildings, cobble stoned streets, and a awesome castle on the cliff overlooking the town. We will fill you in on France in our next post. Until then, Au Revoir.

the final countdown.....

2007-07-30T17:12:00.000-04:00

greetings friends and family! we are less than 1 week away from our mission trip and the longest vacation ever! the excitement around the house is palpable. our suitcases runneth over. strategic questions abound such as "how do you prepare for an adventure like this?" or "what should i pack to last me for 2 months and about 4 countries?" and more importantly, "if the speed of the plane travelling to asia goes faster than the speed that the earth rotates, would that mean that we're travelling into the future?" i guess that i will at least have some things to ponder on the 14-hour flight.

beyond these things, we also appreciate your excitement for us, your encouragement, and your desperate pleas for rescue from your cubicle, small town, crackberry, small children, window-less office, and/or boss. we apologize again that we cannot fit you in our luggage. all joking aside, we could not begin the first leg of our journey without your prayers and support! so thank you! we cannot wait to see what God has in store for us at our first stop and on the rest of our trip.

if you find time in this next week, please remember us in your prayers. pray that we will arrive safely at our first destination. pray that all of our luggage and supplies arrives with us. pray that our team remains healthy throughout the duration of the trip. pray that we will have the strength and energy to love on 100 orphans. pray for the logistics of our camp that it may run smoothly and that the kids have fun and think that we are funny. pray for good team dynamics. pray for anything else that i may have not mentioned!

we can't wait to update you all! until then, sara&jonathan