Sunday, November 28, 2010

FOTOS!


Nov 3- Festa per Ester dell Cameroon
Teme della notte (Theme of the night): CIRCUS!
ECCOLA!
Eccochi! (Here we are)
Con Clarinha di Brasile e Ceci di Paraguay

Nov 4 - Autunno!
Con Aninha di Brasile
Ancora con Clarinha!
Nov 4 Sera- Il Compleanno di Elsy
MY BOSS MORENA!
Nov 10- Lezione sul "Rosso"


Nov 11- Basket!
IO (ME)!
YEEEAA
GUARDA (Look)!
CHE BELLE! (How beautiful!)

Nov 12- Festa per Tefy di Ecuador e Anna di Australia
con Rayassa di Brasile!
Nov 13- Raccogliere le oliva (Olive Picking)
OLIVE
Nov 13 Sera: un Battesimo (Baptism)
IO e Maria Chiara (Calgary)
CIBO (FOOD!)
Con i ragazzi e Rayassa di Brasile
Nov 14- Festa per Maria
suo piccolo fratello (her younger brother)
awww PUPPY DOG FACE
Mi piace  questo bambino! 
Con Rayassa di Brasile
Nov 17- Qui LINDO! (Portuguese)- How Beautiful!

Nov 18- Festa per POPE (not PAPA BENEDICT)!
Con Paola (my Godsister!)

Nov 19- Festa per Ana Maria (Calgary)
Teme della notte: Yoga! 
Ana Maria!
Espanolo!

siamo state "MC" (Me and Ceci were the MC's)

Nov 22- Pranzo con le Pope
Pollo con Prunes?  (Chicken with prunes and something else)
 DOLCE! (Sweet)
CIAOO di TUTTO IL mondo!


Sunday, November 14, 2010

Starting again.

living with 50 girls has been lots of festas, cake, chocolate, candid moments...but obviously not everyone I will become best of friends with...but i have definitely gotten really close to a few :)

so there's a girl from Ecuador, I stay in the same room with her and she has a personality that is hard for me to get along with because at times she says things that she means good, but the way she says it has a bossy tone. But I still try to love her the best I can day in and day out, every time she says something I try to listen ...but I failed a few days ago...

She said something to me which I didn't understand the reason behind it, and the words I used to respond to what she said were very straight forward and could have been taken as rude. It was really a miscommunication between both of us; but I knew the way I responded to her wasn't the right way. After that, she left and I just did as she told me. But obviously I was wrong in the tone that I used to respond to her...but I guess it was a buildup of just constantly trying to love her in all the moments before this one...that I just failed. So later on that day I went to mass, and this is what I was reminded of...

"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift." (Matthew 5:23)

So after dinner, I wanted to speak with her. But funny enough she approached me and she says to me, "Do you want to talk with me?" And then we talked and I apologized firstly...and it was a beautiful moment of reigniting the unity between us because it was really lost. I explained to her about some problems I had with her, and the same she also talked to me about her problems with me. It really helped me to take away the barriers I had to love her because she was getting harder and harder to love.

It really reminded me of "reality" because there are always people we deal with on a daily basis that we are the best of friends with, but still those are the people we "need" to love because it's "difficult." It's only real love when it's difficult. So it was a reality check and a moment of starting again as I failed, but most importantly I was able to begin again. 


So apologizing is the first step. Words mean nothing if they aren't put into action. So these past few days, I've been extremely attentive to show her that I am truly ready to start again with her. In the small acts of love such as her leg was hurting and I helped give her a massage or the other day I was going to give this chocolate cake to my good friend but I decided to give it to her. They are just small steps I'm trying to make to rebuild our friendship. We can only really do small acts with great LOVE.

some thoughts

CIAO tutti :)
questa settimana, io ho fatto una promessa con Clarinha delle Brazile per uno giorno- no posso parlare inglese. SOLO ITALIANO.

okay that's about it for my italian...probably not grammatically correct but what i said there was that: this week, i made a promise with Clarinha from Brazil for one day- I can't speak english - only italian. I failed a few times, but other than that I was actually able to commit to it. So since coming to Italy...I've just fell in LOVE...
with learning languages...in my "stanza (room)" I'm with two girls from Ecuador...and they said they would teach me spanish once I master italian...seriously anybody that comes from a spanish speaking country begins to understand italian within the first day, and starts speaking within the first week. I started to understand the basic italian after around 3 weeks, started speaking around that time too. Now I can mostly understand everything...not when they speak super fast, and speaking is improving...but It's unbelievable how easy it is for them...also the portuguese speaking girls. I have found a passion in just learning about the culture and language of all the girls that are here...

interesting things...

1) south americans all brush their teeth after every meal ..at least 3 times a day
they think I'm so "dirty" because I brush twice a day...
2) south americans for every single thing they eat have to add salt before even trying the food...they enjoying clogging their arteries :)
3) brazilians are extremely loud, crazy, love to bite people (or a few of them do)
4) when people greet you they will kiss you on the cheek...not actually touch your cheek, but a kiss..even strangers you just meet...hugging isn't common
5) when I went to florence, there were gelato, panini, and cafe shops EVERYWHERE...like we have mcD's or timmy's
6) in europe...they have a sesta midday...after lunch until around 3pm where everything is closed except supermarkets or convenience stores...its their break to sleep, eat, and relax...i LOVE IT
7) Koreans here love their...THEIR food...and whenever they can they put spicy taste in their foods
8) Vietnamese are conservative and i love when they speak italian or english...i can't help but imitate it in my head.
9) When the girls from Jordan, Palestine speak arabic...even when they are calm speaking to eachother...their language sounds like they are angry at eachother
10) all these things i mentioned are all things that i've learned to love and admire because every culture is so different ....but I have to say that i love brazilians....and I will definitely go there one day because ...

they are wild, crazy, loud and get so excited over CHOCOLATE.
and you probably have seen a lot of pictures with me and Clara (Clarinha) from Brazil...she's kinda awesome and a new found bestie :)

Friday, November 5, 2010

Spread the love.

It's been crazy these past few weeks as the weekend before last weekend we went to Assisi, where St. Francis and St. Clair are from. I uploaded the pictures from that trip on facebook.
And this weekend, we get to take a trip to Trent (5 hours away), where the Focolare Movement started. So it's getting harder and harder to find time to post. But nonetheless my experience here is a gift for me, and evermore I want to share it with you...

So as most of you probably know I'm really close to my grandma (my mom's mom). When I was in Toronto or Hamilton (where I go to school), I would visit her at least once a week. Also I try my best to call her everyday, but since I'm in Italy I call her every other day. My chinese is definitely improving, but it's still pretty crappy. So our conversations are just about the same thing everyday..."Grandma, did you go swimming this morning?" What are you doing now? What did you do today? What are you watching on TV? 
The same thing each day...day in and day out.
But there's so much more of me that I want to share ...especially about my faith. She knows that I'm part of the Focolare, but that's about it.

It's really hard since she doesn't believe in God, so I've never tried sharing about my faith or anything to do with God. 

However, last week the grandma of Michelle (from Philippines) passed away, and I was really touched by how at peace she was with the situation. That's probably because she understood it was God's will for her grandma and that her grandma has really lived to her fullest. So I thought that the part of my faith is so important to me, and it defines who I am. I really have tried my best to show her my faith through my actions and I can see the difference in my grandma throughout these years. She always tells me that she loves me and misses me to death, hugs me and kisses me. This is something she doesn't do, even to her kids. So I can really see the love she has for me because I really try my best to make her feel loved. 

So in my heart I always have a great desire to show God's love to everyone through my life, but my grandma is someone whom I also wanted to do the same. So I called her as usual and I began as usual asking her the same questions I do every time I call her, but then I started to tell her...

"Grandma, I want to tell you how happy and joyful I am being in Italy. There's no other place I would want to be but to be here. But you know why I'm so happy, it is because everyone here, all 50 people I'm living with around the world know how to "LOVE." Everyone tries their best to always put others "first." Putting other's needs before their own. Something that is contrary to the "ME" society we live in. And Grandma you know how much I love you always, coming to visit you and calling you. This is because I believe that God loves you. I know you don't believe in God, but I always want to show you his love."

Before telling her I prayed to the Holy Spirit that He would give me the words to share with my grandma as my chinese is so bad. It was truly God's grace that I was able to share with my grandma...in a very very simple way, but anything we do if it's out of "LOVE" then it's all that matters.

This was our conversation in short, as I had to repeat and explain it a few times before she understood. But at the end I asked her if she understood what I had said and she responded with a simple yes. And a few days later I called her, and asked if she remembered what I had said, and she said, "You are happy there, everyone's happy around you." And I repeated, " because everyone knows how to love and put other's needs first.

Also I started to share with her small experiences of how I try to love the people around me....sharing with her that I gave 5 people haircuts, and even though I was tired one after the other, I told her I still continued to do it happily because I wanted to love them. And my mom told me that my grandma had also made a small act of love as she brought her friend groceries because her friend has pain in her foot. So in a small way now, my conversations with my grandma is not about the same thing everyday no more, it's more than that as now I can share with her just like I share here on my blog of how I put the Gospel into practice.


Wednesday, November 3, 2010

pictures :)

Oct 9- My Gen Unit (infront of the Church)



Oct 17- We took a trip into the forests and picked raw CHESTNUTS

On our way...

From left: Laura, Marci, Froila, Cissa, Ceci
Raw chestnuts!
This is the chestnut shell!
Elsy (from LA) cooked Tacos!..but with crepes shells

CLARINHA from Brazil...one of my close friends :)
From Left: Laura, Joslyn, Rayassa, Lucia, and Stephy
View of the Mountains
olive trees...are EVERYWHERE here
Te amo

Vietnamese food :)
Vietnamese food: Chicken broth soup with egg, and corn
Oct 20- Festa for Marianna from Israel
Theme of the Night: Fashion Show
she stayed for 1 month after Chiara Luce
with Brazilians....they actually are always so LOUD in the house.
you can always here them everywhere...
and I will definitely visit one day. i love them<3
with one of my FAV brazilians CLARINHNA!
Kaye + Anna
Center: Marianna (with black scarf)- FESTA for her!
Hosts of the Night: Stephy + Laura
Liberta + Froila +Fiuma
First Performance: Philiphinos singing with their amazing musical talent
Second Act: South Americans performing a skit as old ladies
HAHAHAHAH
one day they will all look back
Third Act: Vietnamese performing a song
Fourth Act: Brazilians :):):)
and dancing to something
Fifth Act: our group ..i forgot what it all said...something like Ti Vogliamo Bene (we love you)
Sixth Act: East Europeans performing some game
and Brazilians AGAIN because they are that awesome and wild
doing some type of game
with my fav lovers<3 Ceci +Clarihna
Oct 24- cooking food as it was my turn to help
it was potatoes + beef & tomato
with Maria Chiara + Marci
we love posing :)
Oct 30- we decided to venture out into the beautiful nature:)
From left: Cissa +Me +Ceci +Laura +Gaby+ Anna
All brazilians except me, Laura and Ceci (Paraguay)
<3 with Ceci

Mi piace:) <3 (I like)
Clarihna +Laura +Cissa +Anna
:) love this picture!
Arabic Food
so that was the day I was the official hair stylist...
before this I cut Cissa, Clarinha and Fiuma's hair...
now Andrea (in the center) wanted a bob cut from long hair originally
having the garbage bin on my lap with kitchen scissors
how epic
and the final product :)
I cut Anna Maria's bangs
Arabic rice
Oct 31- Halloween Night
I dressed up as a nerd...and guess who this is beside me


...MJ (Laura)
I'm gonna post more Halloween pictures on Facebook..I'll link it later
Nov 1- Festa for Claudine because she was leaving back to Burundi
Theme of the Night: Safari
Elsy (Tourist) and Clarihna (Clara) was the Tour Guide

Claudine playing a little game :)
there she is!

we (my Gen unit) made a slideshow of pictures and sang a song :)
with Clarihna (Clara as everyone calls her)
finished for now... as there's just soo many pictures