finally finished digging out

For all of you who were a little worried about my existance, no need to be any more. As you may or may not know we have had the storm of my life in the mountains the past 2 weeks. About 7 feet of snow in three days, we spent several day without power and heat, and when we were finally able to get out of our house we spent the rest of the week trying to help others dig out from avalanches and things of the sort. I'm happy to report that there is now sun and the snow is melting at a slow steady pace. Here are a few pictures of the craziest snow I've ever seen. More to come...

This is the tunnel we had to dig to get out of our front door.

The view from my bedroom window

Us trying to clear a path to the center...

The snow was so high we were able to jump off of the bell tower and land safely in the snow below...

Although we all worked like never before in our lives we managedto have alot of fun too!

I wish you all a happy and wonderful holiday spent with family and friends

I miss you all.

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas

Most of the time we think of the Christmas season starting right after Thanksgiving and although we celebrated Thanksgiving here in the mountians the rest of the country didn't so it seemed a little difficult to determine the actual beginning of the season. But I'm happy to report it is officially the beginning of Christmas at our house as we have finished decorating our Christmas tree and it is proudly on display in our front hall. A few of us were in favor of taking a trip into the surrounding forest and digging up our own tree but unfortunately that got vetoed due to the highs of -3 we'd been having. In the end we settled for a fresh tree dug up by someone crazier than us. It's a little Charlie Brown Christmas but we love it all the same, it is one of those with the sharp pointy needles that the Djupe family loves so well. We hoped that this would help keep the cat away from all our hard work but in the end it didn't seem to do much good. Fortunately for a majority of the time we were decorating Jack looked alot like this:

It was only after all of the ornaments and tinsle were on that he decided the tree would be a wonderful new playground, unfortunately I couldn't get a picture of this, Jack doesn't like to share his new playground with pesky photographers it seems.

After all our lovely decorating we moved the tree into our front hall, turned off all the lights, and admired our work. It's a pretty good tree if I do say so myself. And all our hard work was promptly rewarded with a warm dinner of cabbage stew. It was a good day here in our house. I hope all of your tree and house decorating adventures bring you all the same laughter and happiness we've had at our house this year.

Giorno di graziemente!

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was a wonderful time spent with friends, family, and those you love. Here in the mountains we made our own Thanksgiving, and since Paul recently told me "Thanksgiving is where ever the pilgrims land and make nice with the natives" it seemed more than appropriate to have a giant dinner with those who are special to me here. Francesca and I cooked up a storm for the entirety of the day and around 7:30 friends came by for an apartivo, not a normal part of the American Thanksgiving dinner, but I am living in Italy so it seemed to fit the part. We had a great time, eating, chatting, building a giant fire, and making up Thanksgiving day songs since no one could believe that I didn't know any. Here are a few pictures from out dinner:

My prize winning turkey...it was pretty delicious if I do say so myself.

Vale and Jacob trying to break the wishbone...this year we made a new rule, the person who loses has to help make the winners wish come true.

A couple visits

This week I was lucky enough to have been visited by a group of American Waldensians who have been traveling around Italy. It was fantastic to finally meet Brian Paulson who was a great help to me in getting to Italy in the first place. Along with Brain came about 14 Americans who were interested in the workings of the center. It was great to meet with all of them, I think I spoke more English in that afternoon than I have since I arrived. It was nice to finally speak without being conscious of the words I was using or having to try to think of the Italian equivilant. They were a lovely group of people and were kind enough to invite me to lunch with them in the village, which I happily accepted. At lunch I had the pleasure of speaking in depth with several members of the group, including some others who helped me get in contact with Agape and the Waldensian society both in the US and Italy. It was a wonderful visit and a nice little dose of America in my village, always helpful in getting adjusted to life in a foreign country.

After the American Waldensians left we were paid another visit here at the center...a really beautiful snow fall on the tops of the mountains. The snow should reach us here in the valley sometime this weekend but for now I'll leave you with the photo of the snow capped mountains and the news that all is well in Italy. I miss you all but am having the time of my life getting to meet and know everyone here and really settling into my home for the next year.

No foggy days in London town

Although I was anxious to get back to Italy I had quite an amazing time in London (Thank you Abbott family your generiosity, it's amazing. While I was there Nic and I decided to go have tea with the queen one afternoon.

Well I suppose in reality it was a bit more like us eating cream cakes outside of the palace while most likely the queen was taking tea inside, but it still proved to be a really good time. Lots of tourist watching and laughing at groups of school children on field trips, all the while trying to not make a mess of our incredibly smashed cream cakes. It was worth the trip.

After out cream cake adventure Nic and I followed up on a suggestion of her mom to make a visit to Hampton Court, one of the palaces of Henry VIII. Although not as popular attraction as one of the palaces currently inhabited by royalty and despite the cold weather that day it was a really beautiful trip. We walked through unbelievably furnished bed chambers and drawing rooms, though immaculate gardens, and learned quite a bit while we were at it as well. Not only a feast for our eyes but also one for our brains. A good dose of history for us while we were out having fun, a win win situation.


Learning about all this history of other family got me to thinking a bit about my own and ffter our successful outtings to Buckingham palace and Hampton Court I decided to make a trip to my own family castle. I would have happily flown all the way to England just to see the castle. As a kid my dad always used to tell me fantastic ghost stories of the family castle somewhere in England, of the curses placed on objects in the castle and the children who still haunt the towers. When I was about 14 decided that I would see the castle and it's been on my life to do list ever since. Well I can happily say that it is now crossed off and it was a wonderful experience. I took the train from London to Birmingham to meet my friend Don who taught English with me in Spain (thanks Don for going on this crazy trip with me, it wouldn't have been the same without you). After getting to Birmingham Don and I drove north a couple hours to the border with Wales to a little town called Whittington, in the province of Shropshire. And there in front of us as we drove into town was the caslte I had heard stories about for my entire childhood.

I have to admit I was a bit overwhelmed when we finally pulled up in front of it. How often do your childhood fairy tales come true? Here I was standing in the middle of mine, looking at the tower that the ghosts of children haunt, walking over the moat that held out centries of invaders from Wales, and laying my hands on the physical history of my family.

Don and I walked the grounds for a bit and then decided to find an inn to stay in for the night. In the morning we walked across the street to the castle and had a great meeting with the castle director. She filled me in on the actual history of the castle and I relayed stories of my family to her. lt was absolutely fantastic to hear how the stories that I thought were merely fairy tales actually aligned with what had happened at the castle hundreds of years ago. After a lenghty chat we had tea in the manor house and then walked to grounds a bit more before heading back to London. Words just can't do justice to what I felt or saw there that day. It seems a bit silly to be overwhelmed by the site of an old crumbling building but I absolutely was. It was just fantastic. I was the first person in at least 3 generations of my family to see the castle and now I get to be the person to hold the family history. I get to the be crazy cousin who tells the ghost stories to the children and to tell them of the actual place, of the town, of the people I met along the way, and of the true history of what happened there. I feel incredibly privledged in that resposibilty. It was a great experience and a big thank you to everyone who helped me get there. If you want to read more about the castle or see more photos than my slow internet connection will allow me to post you can visit the castle website at http://www.whittingtoncastle.co.uk/

My life at Agape

Even though many of you were able to see my photos and hear stories of my village while I was home changing my visa I thought it a good idea to post a few of my favorites for all to see and to be immortalized on the interweb. So here we go. Here's a brief photo journal of what happens in a day at Agape.

In the morning I wake up to a view that looks something like this. I generally take a few minutes pinching myself to be sure that I really live in that place. After I've convinced myself that it's real I Happily walk down to enjoy breakfast with the other residents, campolovoro, and campisti

After breakfast we all get to work...

There's always alot of work to be done at the center sometimes there is cleaning...

Sometimes there is work to be done on the center itself...

But always there is cooking to be done.

After cooking is finished and on the days that there is no camp all of the workers head outside to enjoy a nice lunch al fresco.

After lunch we all take a long break from all of the work and it usually looks a little like this...

After we have a nice nap in the sun it's back to work for the afternoon.

And we do the whole thing again for dinner.

It's a good life I have in Italy

A long over due update

I'm so sorry for the lack of posting, I promise I will be better about it this time around. As I'm sure most of you know I was offered a residency position for a year at Agape which I gladly accepted. I'm headed back to Europe for a year and couldn't be more excited. This time around I will spend 10 days in London visiting some friends and hopefully taking a trip to visit my family castle. You can see more info about the castle here http://www.btinternet.com/~whittington.castle/ I'm really looking forward to this trip. I'll be the first person in my family in at least 3 generations to have visited the castle. Not only will it be amazing to see this piece of family history but I'll also be able to cross of one of the items on my life to do list. It makes me feel quite accomplished. I'll be sure to post photos after the trip as I'm sure all of you will be anxous to see them. Please continue to send me news from home as I won't be making it back to the States until at least mid June of next year.

Que Rara!!!
I hope everyone's Friday night was as intersting as mine. Last night I spent the evening doing traditional Italian dance wiht some women from Slovakia, the US, and men and women from Italy, while a friend of mine from Agape played the accordian. After dancing we decided to head outside to build some human towers with the help of a boy here who used to be a clown and is soon heading to France to study theatre. After several hours of dancing we all decided to head outside to put up some lights and play a game of volleyball in the dark. It was quite the eveing. Needless to say, I'm having a great time, I miss you all dearly and still love to hear of news from home. Please keep sending me e-mails about all of your exciting lives back in the States.
All my love!

Its been so long

Sorry its been so long everyone, the internet has been down in my village for a couple of weeks. In case you havent heard from some one already I have safely made it to my village in Italy. I am loving every second of it! The villiage is beautiful and I am making friends with an amazing group of young people from all over the world. Unfortunately my internet connection is rather slow so the photo upload will be a bit lacking. But for all of you dying to see pictures you can go to photobucket.com and view photos posted by people from my program in Spain the usename is LaAlberca335 and the password is fireman. Hope you all enjoy the photos of my antics in Spain. love and miss you all!

Estoy in España

Just wanted to let you all know that I have safely arrived in Spain. I´m currently in Salamanca at the Pueblo Ingles program and truly enjoying myself. I have met some really lovely people from all over the English speaking world as well as spaniards from all of Spain, but mostly from Madrid. The first day was a bit overwhelming trying to get to know everyone and at least make a connection with everyone here. Tomorrow we begin the normal schedule of the program...4 hours of one on one sessions, one english speaker with one spaniard and then a few hours of group programs in the afternoon and then 2 more hours of one on one conversations in the evening. The program is surely intense for the English speakers I can only imagine how difficult it must be for the Spaniards learning English. I am having a fabulous time, the Europeans certainly know how to make a girl feel welcome and exist much more on my time schedule...lots of late evenings with chatting and drinks and long meals where everyone has a chance to get to talk and no one is in much of a rush. I can´t wait to find out more about those in the program. I´ll keep you all updated as the week progresses. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers. I love you all.

And I'm off

The day has finally come. I've got all my Euros and my giant pack all checked in and I'm just waiting on my plane. All those months of prep for a day that felt like it would never be here, and now here it is. This time tomorrow I will be in beautiful Madrid, eating tapas with all the other crazies who decided a trip like this was a good idea, and watching flemenco dancing! How exciting my life has become. Thank you to all of you for all your support, prayers, well wishes, and help to get to this place. I would have never had the courage to embark on a journey like this without all of your support (and even those who aren't so sure that what I'm doing is a good idea, you've encouraged me to prove you wrong!). I love you all deeply and will miss you all more than I can imagine I'm sure. So...please continue to keep me in your prayers, send good thoughts to me and keep faith that the universe will protect me in order to carry out all the wonderful adventures I am planning for this phase in my life.

Salamanca

Well yesterday morning I received a lovely and long awaited e-mail from Pueblo Ingles. I have been accepted into their volunteer program so I will be hanging out in La Alberca chatting with a bunches of Spaniards and some other crazy Anglos for 8 days in June. My official date of departure is now June 11th, giving me a day or so to run around Madrid. June 13th I'll head out of the city with the other 15 volunteers and drive 4 hours to La Alberca which is located in Salamanca. La Alberca is a small and historic village with beautiful rolling hills and historical sites. Although I won't have much time to amble about the village it will be a fantastic setting for me to get to know all of these incredibly brave souls who are embarking on an intense immersion program. I'm unbelievably excited! After I finish in La Alberca I'll head back to Madrid for the night and then early the next morning start my journey to the Italian Alps to spend the rest of my summer.
Here is a news story about the program I'm participating in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLzF0QjnuEo

and for all of those who think you might like to participate in the program here is the website
http://www.puebloingles.com

Phone calls from Italy

Well this week I got some great news from the centers I'll be working with in Italy. Monday morning I awoke to an e-mail from Casa Cares (the center in Tuscany) that said they would love to host me from mid August until the beginning of January! This fantastic news was promptly followed by a phone call by one of the directors from Agape (the center in the Alps) who told me that they would be able to offer me an extended stay at the center, so I will be staying in the Alps from early June through mid August. This much awaited news was followed by even more good news...I had received a scholarship to attend the theological conference at Agape in August and that because I was doing so much work with the Waldensian society they would be able to help pay for my travel costs! So now the work on booking flights and applying visas begins. Hopefully some time in the next two weeks I'll be making a drive to Detroit to visit the Italian consulate and interview for a long term visa. So please be sending all of your prayers and well wishes my way that I get approved!

The annual trip to California with Jake, this time we did a little hiking and visited an old fort by the ocean. This trip was followed by a little side trip to New Orleans so Jake could give a paper at a political science conference and I could do some more eating. Despite the stress of going from the laid back nature of the farm to the city it was a great trip. It's always wonderful to spend time on the farm with the family and we had a great time meeting up with Paul in New Orleans for some great wine and good news of Kate's pregnancy.

Kelsey and I decided to take a little drive to the Smokey Mountains. We climbed our first mountain together and Kelsey claimed it for the motherland. After our conquering of the mountain we came across an upside down house which warrented a few photos. There is nothing better than road trips with best friends.

As you all know this winter I spent part of my semester break working in Guatemala. It was by far one of the most beautiful places I have been. I met an amazing man named Padre Gregorio who totally changed what I thought was the relationship between sociall justice and the Church. I had a chance to help build a women's center that will serve as a center for women to learn new cooking techniques, provide a place of social support, and opportunities for women to participate in the formal economy. I spent one morning working on a coffee farm, picking beans, and wandering through the Guatemalan woods. It was beautiul. I can't wait to go back and do some more work with this community. I've never felt so closely tied to a group of people I just met, it was like coming into a family who was just waiting for your arrival. An amazing experience.

This summer I surprised Jake with a trip to Gettysburgh. Although I was quite sick for most of the trip it turned out wonderfully. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the cemetaries and the female soldier who was my hero for the trip.

Some photos Katie and I took on our visit to the botanical garden in Atlanta. It was an amazing orchid show!

Hot-lanta

This Spring Break Katie and I took a road trip to Atlanta. What an adventure! I will certainly never forget the blizzard of '08 which made what was supposed to be a 4 hour drive to Kentucky into and 8 1/2 hour drive. Thankfully we finally made it to Atlanta and had ourselves a great time. We visited the aquarium and the art museum and spent most of our days deciding what to eat, and boy did we eat! If anyone is heading south I have some great restaurant recommendations.