Looky here!

Piazza di Unita... Gentleman enjoying wine and snacks in the afternoon. 

Sunset by the boats

we went to a Reggae Concert, "Desnuda Playa" in the Canal last night!

(Left to right: Kaitlin, Me, Liz, Kristin, Lizzy)

The guy in the gray sweatshirt made it to the "let me take a stealth picture category"... He had interesting facial hair that i didn't get a good picture of!

Testing my Italian

Testing my Italian...

This morning I made a little mission on my own called: operation wallet return... I left  my apartment at 8 am expecting to make a ten to fifteen minute walk to 'Trieste Transporti' and forty five minutes later I arrived!!!

My phrases that got me through five conversations: dove es... No parlo italiano.. Palare español o inglesse? And I found all my "I like..' and "I can count to.." an random words I know in Italian Just didn't cut it!!

All of my helpers:
An old lady I met in a park--yes I wandered into a sort of park,  who just finished her shopping--she told me something I kind if understood but then didn't really follow

And then an older gentleman who was super kind but I think was born with or had surgery to remove a big part of his head (there was a big concave inwards cavity in the place where your forehead normally curves out). I wished I  weren't loss and that I could speak better italian to have talked to him more

Then there were the three people in the caffe the old man directed me to. The owners and another elderly lady who took my hand and told me to walk down this steet. I learned, "diestre" and "avanti" from her (right and straight which I probably just spelled wrong).

Last- when finally I had begun tot get frustrated and I finally knew what street I was in but not I was going in the right direction, I stopped this lady with a cute dog that was the color of chip (our old min pin) and looked like Chip but just a slightly bigger breed and asked another new phrase, dove questi via dei lavoratori? ( where is...) an pointed onto my map.

I told her I was going to "trieste transporti" as well and she took my hand and showed me after saying a few things in Italian that I didn't understand. I saw the sign and sighed with relief and gave her a huge "gratzie" smile. I made it!

And by the way people, maps are deceiving, I guess I had been looking or a road which was actually a highway that I actually could not walk on.

Anyway, I just have another reason to be thankful and give the Lord praise this morning. I have my wallet and everything back!

Lost becomes found

My wallet was found!!! Apparently people in Trieste turn in lost things!!! I am so thankful!!! Tomorrow I get to go pick it up!! I hope money is still in it!!! PTL!!!

By the way, posting from my itouch at school again :)

you win some you lose some...

I have now been in Italy for a little over a week and I'd like to report my first episode of what I'd like to call, 'you win some, you lose some...' Trieste style.

Let me start with some wins (because I like to stick with the positivity of all situations always!):

Win #1. My two roommates: Liz and Lizzy... Did I mention them? what yes, they're awesome, they like to travel, we have an open door policy--which really means open door and we like a lot of the same things, which makes buying food and deciding what to do very easy. They both also speak Italian and have been the best teachers yet!

So, Win #1, definitely the sweetest roommate matchup--Bravo girls you rock !

(Here are Liz and Lizzy with the fantabulous Carrie picking wild berries on our nature walk)

Win #2. Church: It's called "Tre." it's a little church about five minute walk from my apartment that looks like any old shop you would pass on the streets of Italy. It is a very cozy two story space. Everyone is awesome, meaning they genuinely look at you, see you, and welcome you with open arms and the songs that were sung this morning I recognized as some that I have sung back home, but here they were in Italian! I completely shed tears (surprised?) this morning at church as I recognized the tunes and thought of how one day in heaven it will really be a gathering of people from every tribe, tongue, and nation praising the Lord. It was awesome to sit and just soak in all the words and the message! I hope it will also help me as I learn italian. But for real... moving to a new place and meeting a new church family has completely helped with the transition :)

(this is the catholic church near our house--San Giacomo--i don't have a picture of Tre yet)

Win #3. People watching and the introduction to "Trieste-orialist/Mocktorialist"-- (yep a mouthful):

Before I left for Italy, I started following the blog, the Sartorialist (try it it's awesome). On this blog you can find street fashion pictures posted daily with some comments in four major cities: Milan, Florence, Paris, and New York. Obviously, you can see my worry at the fact that Trieste, Italy is underrepresented in the mix of fashion--so today as I traveled around the city, I began to steathily snap photos of people's get-ups. I am happy to say, I would like to post them for opinion. Also happy to say, that I may have a lot of shots of older people--seeing as how the population in this fabulous city is a little older then other Italian places.

Look at pictures below:

Gutsy see through dress--awesome blue heels--sorry couldn't get a front shot...Typical male.

two men walking with canes and bright colors...

Liz-with let's face it--awesome angled bangs, and a flattering patterned t-shirt dress from a fun store in the city that will not be named...

And the Reason for Trieste-orialist/Mocktorialist:

Guy on the right walks into "Il Pinguino" with popped collar, burnt orange pants, green socks and some type of loafers. He looked awesome!

The guy to the left of him was sporting a nice collar too...

Here he is folks--look at that belt! the popped collar! Hope to find many more inspirations while I'm here :)

Win #4: Having Princess Status in Trieste...

Liz and I were exploring the Castello di San Giusto (yes we have castles about ten minutes from our apartment) and we asked a German family to take our picture. The mother said, "Yes, I'll take your picture as long as you tell my daughter you are princesses." I say, "of course, I'm the princess of Puerto Rico!" and her daughter's face lights up... the mother says, "Heels and long hair... its got to mean princesses!"

(so here I am!)

So yea... awesome--a four year old German girl thinks I'm the princess of Puerto Rico--and yes... that made my day! :)

Ok a brief stint on the "Losses" will now be permitted:

Loss #1 (of one i hope):

I LOST MY WALLET on the Bus on the way to school! Yes! I did it... I'm a penniless, nameless, identity-less pauper now in Italy--take a moment and sympathize with me...I sympathized with myself :)

(one of these bad boys took my wallet--actually it was a bus not a tram!)

My mom said, at least you have your passport! (and I agree!)... and my director and other school veterans said its' a possibility that when everything opens on Monday, somebody could have turned it in in Lost and found--we'll see!

So there you go... you win some... you lose some... and I'll call it a day :)