Got a package from the State yesterday. I’ve been waiting to get my original birth certs, the last piece of documentation that I should need, so I open up the envelope and………. they sent me four copies of the amended birth cert, rather than the original, pre-adoption cert. Talk about disappointment. I could have gotten those simply by walking up to the counter and asking. So I called the state today, which is never any fun: it took me 53 attempts [yeah, I counted], and about an hour to get through and speak with someone, and I was told I should send everything back to them for an exchange. Hopefully it won’t take so long this time, but I’m not counting on it. At least I don’t have to go through the court process again.
Archive for June, 2007
this is what I was waiting for?
Thursday, June 21st, 2007tornati a milano/back in milan
Friday, June 15th, 2007Here are some photos of us back in milan. Ecco delle foto di milano.
Tuesday morning we drove back from Treviso and saw this castle off to the side of the road. You just don’t get to see this kind of thing in the states. Martedì siamo tornati a milano da treviso. Non mi ricordo dov’era, ma abbiamo visto questo castello… cosa mica normale per noi in America.
This is the face of the famous Duomo in Milan. Duomo means the principal cathedral of the city. Every major and midsize town in Italy has one, usually the center of the city. Milan literally radiates outward from this central place. The top pic is at dusk, the lower one was taken wednesday after we got back when it was still raining. Il famoso Duomo di Milano. la foto sopra è ovviamente di sera, mentre quella sotto è di giorno, ma con la pioggia.
This is from inside the Duomo. It’s hard to express just how impressive this is, but the architecture is meant to draw you vertically as if reaching up to God himself. It actually accomplishes it’s mission. Da dentro il Duomo. È veramente impressionante il Duomo. L’architetture fu disegnato ad attirarti verticalmente come se uno si stendesse verso Dio stesso. E si riesce.
In the Piazza of the Duomo. Milan has a large immigrant population. Several African immigrants stopped us to tell us how beautiful our wives were, slap a thread on our wrists and then demand money for the honor. One guy wanted 10 euros out of Ronnie for the unwanted approach. Just then the Italian police went running after a few and they all scattered to the four corners of the earth. La Piazza del Duomo. Milano ha un grande flusso di immigranti e qualche africani ci hanno fermati a dirci quante belle nostre mogli, metterci a polso un filo colorato e poi esigere i soldi per l’onore. Uno volevo 10 euro di Ronnie quando un polizia comincio a cacciarli. Subito si sono scomparsi.
To the north of the Duomo is a large shopping mall called the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. I love the place because in the center of the mall, which is shaped like a cross, there is a Prada store, Louis Vuitton, a high end crystal shop and the fourth esteemed business as a cornerstone? McDonalds. All the high end shopping you can want. Pick up some Prada and then eat at McD’s. Classic.
Al nord del Duomo c’è il famoso Galleria Vittorio Emanuele. Nel centro della galleria, ci sono: Prada, Louis Vuitton, una gioelleria di nome scordato ed un quarto negozio stimato ed elegante- McDonalds. Sissignore, tutto lo shopping elegante che si può fare. Compratevi delle scarpe elegante a Prada, poi mangiare a McDonalds. Classico.
A few night pics of Milan. Qualche foto di notte sempre milano.
sempre le foto del viaggio/more trip pics
Friday, June 15th, 2007I got some more pics from Pastor Ronnie of Montebelluna and Treviso.
This is of the Calvary Chapel in Montebelluna. As you can see the place is really rocking. Just kidding the service hasn’t even started yet. It actually fills up. There are seats for about 80-90 inside plus whatever is in the childrens ministries too. About 100 some on a regular sunday. Questa è Calvary Chapel Montebelluna…. prima che iniziasse il culto….. non durante ; ). Ci sono posti per 80-90 persone più quelli che lavorano coi bambini. 100 più o meno.
Afterward we ate at a restaurant with Pastor Craig and his wife Silvana, and their three kids, whose names escape me right now. The little guy in front is Josiah if I remember right, but don’t hold me to it. The brother we met before service in a coffee bar is David Downs. He is here in Italy from socal. Dopo il culto abbiamo pranzato ad un ristorante con Pastore Craig, sua moglie Silvana, ed i loro tre piciotti, i quali loro nomi non mi ricordono ora. Credo che il piccolo centro davanti si chiama Josiah, ma non sono sicuro. Il fratello a sinistra si chiama David Downs, il cui abbiamo incontrato in un bar primo del culto. Lui abita in Italia ma è proprio da California. Left to right- sinistra a destra: David Downs, Shelly, Io [me], Kristi, Pastore Craig, 2 of his kids [2 dei suoi ragazzi], Silvana, the waitress [la cameriera] and Josiah front and center [sempre Josiah nel centro davanti]
Kristi with a calzone that is bigger than her head. A calzone is basically a pizza folded in half and baked. It’s actually pretty hollow, not nearly as much food as it seems. Kristi con un calzone più grande della sua testa. Ma non c’è niente da preoccuparvi, l’ha condiviso.
Another pic of Treviso downtown where we spent time with Pastor Mark Nigro. Ronnie took this one and the pic captures some of the great colors you find in Italy. And I love the mix of the old and modern that you find so abundantly in Italy. Il Centro di Treviso dove facevamo una serata con Pastore Mark. Questa foto cattura dei colori incantevoli d’Italia. Amo il mischio dell’antico con il moderno che si trova dappertutto in Italia.
More fotos later. Più delle foto a venire. ciao,
dave
Shelly’s comments on the trip
Thursday, June 14th, 2007Our trip to Milan was great and as Dave said, I dont want to be home. I really enjoy being on vacation and seeing new things. I suppose once we move to Milan and it becomes my home that I wont find it quite as fascinating but hopefully that wont happen.
Anyway, an update about the job situation. I met with three of the people that I used to work with at 3M Unitek Italy. All three have moved to other positions within 3M Italy. Alberto and Francesco both seemed genuinely pleased that I wanted to move to Milan; Alessandro had no comment but he is high up in management now at 3M Italy and he probably needs to be circumspect.
When I talked to Francesco, he mentioned that 3M Italy is currently reducing their workforce by about 70 people. Since our move is at least a year away (and probably closer to 2 to 3 years), things may be very different when I try to get a job there; but right now it doesnt bode well for me to be able to transfer. I will have to leave this completely in the Lords hands since Im not really sure how to go about getting my existing job transferred, and dont know if thats what I should try to do anyway.
But back to the trip. I was excited when talking with Pastor Quam from Montebelluna. He mentioned that there was a woman he had talked to that was asking for a Calvary Chapel in the Milano area. If I understood correctly, she had a relative that was attending the Calvary Chapel in Rome and had visited Montebelluna. Pastor Quam is not sure if she is attending church now, nor how to reach her. I just pray that we will be able to find her and that our dream/goal will be a blessing to her. Also, there have been other Christians that have been in Milan in the past that may be able to offer us some support/suggestions. I believe that Pastor Ronnie is following up on those leads.
Dave mentioned in his post about the two women we met in the store who are Christians. Both of these women are from America and are attending a church in Milan that reaches the English speaking transplants in Milan. It is encouraging to know there is an evangelical church already in Milan but they are not reaching out to the Italians. Hearing about this confirms to me that there is a real need to reach to the Italians and not just offer support to the English speaking transplants; but it also encourages me that there are other evangelicals in Milan who will be there for emotional support if we need it.
So, hearing all this, it sounds like there is a real need and Im encouraged that we are to go there. I know there will be many additional hurdles well have to go past before we can get there but hopefully it will be quick.
le foto di Venezia/Venice pics
Thursday, June 14th, 2007Ciao a tutti. Lunedì il 4 giugno siamo andati a Venezia, un sogno particolare di Kristi. Hi everyone. Monday 4 June, we visited Venice, a dream of Kristi’s.
Da Treviso, abbiamo preso un treno a Venezia dato che trovare un posto a parcheggiare è quasi impossibile e si uno riesce a trovarsene uno, costoso. Dalla stazione ferroviale abbiamo preso un vaporetto a San Marco. Ecco delle foto.
From Treviso we took a train into Venice since the parking is rare and expensive when you can find it. Once in Venice, we took a water taxi, called a vaporetto, to Saint Marks Square. You can walk it, but the streets are a maze and it would take some time. Here are a few pics from the ride.
San Marco pieno di gente. This is the famous San Marco square, full of people. Seems there is always some construction going on these famous sites.
Io qua sono… pensieroso. o forse annoiato. o guardando un insetto. o perso. chissà!
Here I am meditating on something. or bored. or watching a bug. or maybe lost.. who knows.
In corsa verso il taxi all’isola di Murano, siamo entrati nel labirinto delle strade piccolissime di Venezia. Murano è molto amato delle donne, ma per noi uomini… meglio una partita. We went through the maze of tiny streets from the square to take a water taxi to Murano. Murano is an island famous for its artisan glass. The ladies love the stuff… but for us guys… let us watch a game.
Ronni ha molto foto. Gliene chiederò altre da lui. Ronnie has ALOT more pics. Hopefully I can get more from him.
more pics/sempre le foto
Wednesday, June 13th, 2007OK we drove to a city called Treviso on the saturday after we arrived and stayed there for sunday and monday. On Sunday we drove from Treviso to Montebelluna, about 30 kilometers north to attend the Calvary Chapel there. And after we met with the Pastor, Craig Quam, we drove back to Treviso and met with the Pastor there, Mark Nigro. We went to Venice, about 40 kilometers to the south on monday.
Il sabato dopo siamo arrivati nell’Italia, siamo andati alla città di Treviso. Siamo rimasti là domenica e lunedì. Domenica abbiamo guidato a Montebelluna, 30 chilometri al nord ad assistere il culto a Calvary Chapel. Abbiamo incontrato il pastore Craig Quam, a dopo siamo tornati a Treviso ad incontrare il pastore di Treviso, Mark Nigro. Lunedì siamo andati a Venezia, 40 chilometri al sud.
Ecco due foto del Calvary Chapel Montebelluna.
The church is set in an industrial building. Go through the blue door at the end of the building and you’re in the church.
Shelly is standing on a bridge over one of the 2 rivers that meet in Treviso and flow through the old city. The old city of Treviso is surrounded by a moat and a wall. Yep, I said a moat. But I love the water and found the city irresistable.
Shelly su un ponte sopra una dei due fiumi del Treviso. La vecchia città è circondata con un muro ed un fossato. Adoro sempre i fiumi ed ho trovato fantastica la città vecchia.
Here are the four of us standing on the monte in montebelluna. There is a church up there and it overlooks the city. One of the brothers at the church, David Downs, showed us around town and took us up to the top where we got some pics of the city.
Eccoci in piede sulla «monte» di montebelluna. Lì si trova la solita chiesa sorvegliando la città. Uno dei fratelli, David Downs, ci faceva conoscere il paese ci portava là a fare delle foto.
Ecco una foto di Dave Downs. Here is a picture of Dave Downs and I.
Here is a picture of Pastor Mark and his wife Renata and thier little baby. They took us to dinner in the old town and then walked us around and shared about life in Italy and ministry there.
Ecco il pastore di calvary chapel Treviso, Mark Nigro con sua moglie Renata e loro bimbo. Abbiamo mangiato insieme nel centro ad un ristorante elegante, poi facevamo una passeggiata parlando della vita italiana ed il lavoro di Dio là.
Pastore Mark ed il bimbo con Dave e Kristi. Parliamo di non so che cosa. Pastor Mark, Dave and Kristi talking about who knows what.
2 pics of Ronnie and Kristi. Due foto di Ronnie and Kristi.
Nice picture of the center and one of it’s streets.
Il centro di notte ed una sua strada.
Venice tomorrow. Domani, Venezia.
some pics
Tuesday, June 12th, 2007
This is the view from the Hotel dei Fiori where we stayed in Milano. The block of apartments is typical of the housing in the city. The parking is typical too.
This was taken as we went from the hotel to the metro station to get into the downtown area. There is a “Milano” sign above us that the local kids modified.
This was our rental car, a Fiat Idea. The cars in Italy are typically very small. This is considered a midsize. More to come.
first post back from milan
Tuesday, June 12th, 2007OK, I’m back home now, and I thought I’d do a few more updates on the citizenship drive: I got my mom’s amended birth cert with the apostille back from Michigan AND I got a receipt from California state telling me they got the birth cert request and it would be 12 weeks from when they issued the card until I should expect the thing back. Does this take a long time or what?? But at this point the only thing I’m actually waiting on is the original birth cert from Cali, so when that comes in, I should have all the necessary documents. The next step after that is to take them to the consulate and figure out if they will want me to file a petition in Rome for the adoption or not. I still don’t think it is necessary, but it seems like the government workers don’t want to take responsibility for saying OK to anything out of the ordinary. Hopefully it all turns out OK.
The flight home was uneventful. Long and uneventful. But we are all glad to be back…. except maybe Shelly…. she never wants to come home. I too feel like I’m just kind of biding my time until we can finally go. But it is nice to be back where I can understand everything natively. We plan on putting a few side links to our pictures but I also want to put some up here on the blog. I’ll give more info later. For now, thanks so much for your prayers, everything turned out fine. God bless.
dave
ciao from milano
Sunday, June 10th, 2007OK, I’m in my hotel room right now, I paid the 9 euros to have internet access for 24 hours and thought I’d write an update. The weather has been fantastic here for most of the trip. We got heavy rain for the first two days, some on and off rain for a few days after that, and since then, it has been nice. It is actually starting to get pretty hot now. We met with the pastors from Montebelluna and from Treviso last Sunday and were encouraged. We also met some other americans living here while we were in the grocery store that were christians and they encouraged us as well.
We had our first milano church service from our hotel room this morning, but we are looking forward to seeing the real thing happen. After some initial rough patches, it seems like everything is coming together. God has definately blessed our stay and our path.
Anyway, we head back tomorrow, and should be back in town around 5ish. Looking forward to seeing everyone again. God bless.