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Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Back to School!


The past 2 days have been quite eventful! We have been, and will continue to, meet with David and Debbie each morning to discuss and plan. Today, we went into town to enroll in language school! I had to take a test to figure out which level class I would be in, and was pretty nervous. Once, I answered a question in Spanish. I didn't even know I knew Spanish! The school seems really great, and I am so excited to get started on Monday. Being able to speak the language is crucial to this type of work.

We will also begin our English teaching sessions in the next week or two! David already has a list of people who are anxious to get started, and will start calling tomorrow to get them set up with times to meet with us. Each person will come for one hour at a time to practice their English conversation using the Bible as the text. This is the core of our work here, and is very important to sharing the message with others. There will potentially be a group of kids that Chad and I will teach together. We plan to take them to the park across the street and help them learn in a fun and more active atmosphere using games, songs, and crafts.

We also brainstormed about some ideas for having all of our students together to meet one another and visit in a less formal setting. We are thinking about having a meal during the week of Thanksgiving and inviting everyone to come. We have a lot of ideas, but I will share more as they come about.

While we were in Florence getting signed up for school today, I took everyone to Hemingway's. It is a really neat place near my old apartment (from when I studied abroad here 2 years ago) It has all kinds of desserts, especially chocolate. I accidentally ordered "fish" juice instead of "peach" juice because the words are so similar in Italian. One of many language mistakes that I will make, I'm sure :) Also, the owner said to David and Debbie, "I know you live in Scandicci and work at the Bible School." We still have no idea how he knows. He said that he had met them in Hemingway's before, but today was the first time they had even been there! It was very bizarre. He did say, though, that his wife took English lessons at the Bible School about 20 years ago! But David and Debbie have not even been here for a whole year yet.

We also got our new Italian cell phones and monthly bus passes, so we feel like we really live here now! Getting the cell phones was not an easy task. I won't even try to explain the whole process. I will just tell you that my head hurt when we left. The problem is not that the system is at fault, only that I am not accustomed to the system.

I am really getting comfortable with getting around town and figuring out how things work. I didn't have to ride the busses much when I was here before, so this is all new to me. The real test will be when Chad and I set out on our own for language school on Monday!

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