The week in review:

Rainy days are in season apparently. Not good for trying to document an area with photographs!
Kala is sick anyway, so we have not had many productive days. There was one really nice day that I got a chance to go back to Parco Floridiana (a blog in itself) and enjoy the sun there.

One highlight of the week was going to talk to an English speaking girl that I met a couple weeks ago at “coin”, a department store in Vanvitelli. Her name is Simona and we exchanged phone numbers so we can hopefully hang out. This was a great achievement in my mind. It is really awkward to try and ask someone to be your friend and not come off as really strange…. It was difficult, and I felt really stupid. But she did not seem to think it weird and was seemingly into the idea.
Just so you know, it is totally normal to do that here… ask a stranger to get coffee or talk.

I had an interesting culture experience today as well, in going to the post office. There where about 20 people waiting for their number to be called and get waited on. Italians do a number of transactions at the post office. They pay bills and receive their pension there. The only impressive thing about it all was that they actually where orderly enough to take numbers and wait their turn. Quite impressive actually.

This is the end of my third week in Italy and I can say with confidence that I am adjusting more and more to life here. However, language is very difficult and I feel like I will never get it at all! I really desire to be able to communicate, even at a very base level, with people.

I am excited to say that I feel like I am growing closer to God and am hopeful about what He has planned for the rest of the time.

Things I have really noticed this week:

Graffiti is EVERYWHERE

PDA is the most appalling thing here

The sun is wonderful

There is such a huge contrast between old and new here. And it is amazing how much it changes throughout the city as you go from place to place.

Teenagers here are really loud and hyper

Fruit and vegetables are one of my favorite things and here I could eat them non-stop because they are AMAZING!

I am thankful for what I have been blessed with, especially the knowledge of a loving savior.

32 Gusti


2nd February, 2010


Can I recommend the jar sauce by Barilla? It makes delicious pasta so easy! There are lots of flavors and even more pastas to put them on.
With my food comment done for the day I will move on to the lovely walks that you can take here in Napoli to work off all the delicious (and plentiful) food!

Starting in the neighborhood of Aranella you can walk for about 30 minutes of tree lined roads, shops, apartments, and past the football stadium where there seems to be a perpetual group of sweet old men playing some kind of game around picnic tables.
You will eventually come to piazza Vanvitelli, a sensational neighborhood more in the European style. Wide pedestrian streets and higher end stores are characteristic of this quartiere.

Once in Vanvitelli you have a lot of great options. You can walk the quartiere of Vomero, full of beautiful and unique architecture and views of the bay and Mt. Vesuvius through the close buildings as you wind through the narrow streets.
Or you could ride the funicular (incline train) down the hills to the bay. There is a nice park down there and across from the park is the lovely bay of Naples. On a clear sunny day it is great! Views of two (or more) of the castles, views of the many buildings, the islands and of course, the imposing Mt. Vesuvius.

The fish market is a fun sight too! The fishermen bring in their boatfuls of fresh caught fish and sell them right there on the rocks by the water. I hate fish. But this made me wish that I liked them.