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| Pipe Organ At Christ Church, Naples, Italy |
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| Over 113 years old |
I connected with a couple people after the service who are interested in a mid-week Bible Study. Hallelujah!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Communion Sunday at the Anglican Church in Naples
Yesterday I celebrated the Lord's Supper. or the Eucharist as they call it, at the Anglican church. The service reminded me of some Roman Catholic communion services I have attended, where the priest blesses the bread and the wine, and the parishioners come forward to receive them at the altar. It was real wine but don't get too excited -- you just got a small sip.
Once again I was amazed and blessed by the powerful voices of the small choir, the lovely pipe organ and wonderful acoustics that filled the place with beautiful music. I took some photos of the organ.
I connected with a couple people after the service who are interested in a mid-week Bible Study. Hallelujah!
I connected with a couple people after the service who are interested in a mid-week Bible Study. Hallelujah!
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Musings on the Little Things - Sept. 2011
Last night, for the first time in over 40 years, I slept on freshly ironed sheets. It is very nice. Since I was a very young (maybe 2nd or 3rd grade), we had a dryer and permanent press sheets. This really brought back memories of early childhood when Mom hung the clothes outside to dry and had a mangle ( I think that is what they are called -- a large flat surface ironing machine she operated with her feet) where she ironed all the sheets, pillowcases, etc. There is a smell and feel to freshly ironed sheets that is unique. Most traditional Italians don't use dryers, and so permanent press here is not as popular. Sheets are typically all cotton. You can find dryers and permapress, mostly as an accommodation to the ex-pats that live here or the younger Italians that are becoming more global. I may stick to the Italian style though, its pretty nice!
So I now have a housekeeper that comes once a week to the apartment, cleans, does the laundry and my ironing. Boy, I am going to really be spoiled at the end of this gig! When we get our permanent villa, I may have to hire someone to do my laundry and ironing, which by the way, is very reasonably priced. I may hire someone to do the cleaning also and relieve Johnnie of that chore. He will be so busy fishing and roaming around, he can't be bothered by housekeeping! Ah the life of a man of leisure....
Here, household help seems to be mostly North African immigrants, many escaping the tyrannical governments and ethnic/religious purgings of the last decade. (Christians are being persecuted in North African on a scale that has not been seen since the early days of the church). Because of limited jobs in Italy, they tend to be the population who takes on the menial jobs just to get into the country. Geographically, Italy is one of the closest places to escape. I have no idea how many people end up in Spain, Greece or other Mediterranean countries.
Watch where you walk on the Italian sidewalks. Not only are they uneven from the variety of stones and pavers used over the centuries (and I do mean centuries!) but people don't pick up after their dogs, and you find piles of garbage and rotting food in places also. Now there are many places in the US like this as well, I just got used to the Seattle area which is so particular about people "scooping poop" after their own dogs. I was especially surprised in the upscale area with shops like Armani and Gucci where you can spend 3000 Euros for a purse!
Walking along the streets here you catch the alluring smell of the local bakery as you walk by---Yum-- and the outdoor cafes that are grilling fresh fish and meats. An occasional whiff of a cigarette or cigar -- different smelling than American tobacco, and also the incense lingering after a Catholic Mass. Smell is a funny thing; you tend to not key in on that sense as much as sight and sound, smell takes a backseat but, when it is different, it can be just as powerful of a trigger for emotion and memory as either sight or sound.
Appliances in another country pose an additional challenge to what would seem the simple things in life. Get home from work and throw a load in the washer -- maybe not! This wonderfully efficient, water saving, space saving Hoover took some sorting out before I figured out how to get a delicate cycle/ cold water load. It has many controls for temperature, time, and speeds-- it is just the language barrier (again!) that caused a bump.
So 1 hr. later after consulting the translator several times, we had laundry! Unfortunately I got pink lingerie from a red shirt in what turned out to be a warm water cycle, not a cold one. Luckily, it wasn't Johnnie's drawers that turned pink or I would have heard about that! Oh well, try again.
My oven here is also a bit of a mystery. It is quite fancy with many settings and cycles, and I believe is also a convection oven. But deciphering the buttons and dials on it is quite a challenge and I have not yet mastered it. All I want to do is bake a meat loaf!
One thousand and one ways to have coffee or caffe all over the world! And indeed there may be more than that! I have a traditional Italian coffee pot which you put on the stove top and boil. It reminds me of camp coffee but a little more sophisticated than that. My landlady (and new friend) will give me a proper lesson in Italian coffee-making. In the meantime, I will use the drip machine left by a former ex-pat, and then order Italian caffee from the bar.
Did I mention the yolk of the eggs is orange? Some is certainly much brighter orange than even my example here, but definitely not the lemon yellow color of American chicken eggs. It must be the diet of the chickens as these eggs taste fine. I have not tried baking with them yet. Also the shells are all brown -- no white eggs we have found. At the Royal Continental Hotel they serve "scrambled" eggs that are bright orange, grainy textured and watery. I thought they must have added something to make the eggs so orange but maybe not. I still think they are powdered eggs though.
Sidewalk étiquette in Naples: there is none similar to the US. Now you might think that elderly people or women with baby strollers, or someone with crutches or an obvious physical limitation might naturally be given right of way on a narrow sidewalk in the city but that is not so. Of course there are some who do step into the street for those to pass, but others will just barrel right into you and force you into the wall or onto the street. An Italian would not consider this rude at all, it just is how it is. The same sort of rule applies for getting into lines: don't politely queue up and wait your turn or your turn will never come. You muscle your way to the front and stake out your spot and don't budge (sort of like those days when we went to rock concerts).
Two Italians will also stand in the middle of a roadway and have a conversation and expect everyone to drive around them. They will ignore honking and everything else until they are ready to move. It is almost a game here, I think, a sport that everyone can play.
Now yesterday at Auchan (the big store) I let a woman with two young children go in front of me in line, and I think she was surprised. At the same time, without my Johnnie to help sack my groceries, I took my time and sacked it like I wanted and everyone else had to just wait. It is not good or bad, just different.
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| My clothes line |
So I now have a housekeeper that comes once a week to the apartment, cleans, does the laundry and my ironing. Boy, I am going to really be spoiled at the end of this gig! When we get our permanent villa, I may have to hire someone to do my laundry and ironing, which by the way, is very reasonably priced. I may hire someone to do the cleaning also and relieve Johnnie of that chore. He will be so busy fishing and roaming around, he can't be bothered by housekeeping! Ah the life of a man of leisure....
Here, household help seems to be mostly North African immigrants, many escaping the tyrannical governments and ethnic/religious purgings of the last decade. (Christians are being persecuted in North African on a scale that has not been seen since the early days of the church). Because of limited jobs in Italy, they tend to be the population who takes on the menial jobs just to get into the country. Geographically, Italy is one of the closest places to escape. I have no idea how many people end up in Spain, Greece or other Mediterranean countries.
Watch where you walk on the Italian sidewalks. Not only are they uneven from the variety of stones and pavers used over the centuries (and I do mean centuries!) but people don't pick up after their dogs, and you find piles of garbage and rotting food in places also. Now there are many places in the US like this as well, I just got used to the Seattle area which is so particular about people "scooping poop" after their own dogs. I was especially surprised in the upscale area with shops like Armani and Gucci where you can spend 3000 Euros for a purse!
Walking along the streets here you catch the alluring smell of the local bakery as you walk by---Yum-- and the outdoor cafes that are grilling fresh fish and meats. An occasional whiff of a cigarette or cigar -- different smelling than American tobacco, and also the incense lingering after a Catholic Mass. Smell is a funny thing; you tend to not key in on that sense as much as sight and sound, smell takes a backseat but, when it is different, it can be just as powerful of a trigger for emotion and memory as either sight or sound.
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| Hoover Washer |
So 1 hr. later after consulting the translator several times, we had laundry! Unfortunately I got pink lingerie from a red shirt in what turned out to be a warm water cycle, not a cold one. Luckily, it wasn't Johnnie's drawers that turned pink or I would have heard about that! Oh well, try again.
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| More settings on the Hoover |
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| Siemens Oven It seems that all fruit it Italy has seeds. They are keen on natural, organic, and un-modified fruits (and vegetables) which are very tasty but have seeds! Now as most of my family and close friends know, I am not a seed-eater. I don't like having to sort it out in my mouth and spit the seeds. Yuck! I guess the seedless grapes, seedless tangerines and oranges, seedless watermelons in the US are all genetically modified, and you simply won't find that here. So yesterday I bought peaches and bananas! Ha! I love oranges and will have to cut them up and remove the seeds by hand before I eat them, but I draw the line there. |
One thousand and one ways to have coffee or caffe all over the world! And indeed there may be more than that! I have a traditional Italian coffee pot which you put on the stove top and boil. It reminds me of camp coffee but a little more sophisticated than that. My landlady (and new friend) will give me a proper lesson in Italian coffee-making. In the meantime, I will use the drip machine left by a former ex-pat, and then order Italian caffee from the bar.
Did I mention the yolk of the eggs is orange? Some is certainly much brighter orange than even my example here, but definitely not the lemon yellow color of American chicken eggs. It must be the diet of the chickens as these eggs taste fine. I have not tried baking with them yet. Also the shells are all brown -- no white eggs we have found. At the Royal Continental Hotel they serve "scrambled" eggs that are bright orange, grainy textured and watery. I thought they must have added something to make the eggs so orange but maybe not. I still think they are powdered eggs though.
Sidewalk étiquette in Naples: there is none similar to the US. Now you might think that elderly people or women with baby strollers, or someone with crutches or an obvious physical limitation might naturally be given right of way on a narrow sidewalk in the city but that is not so. Of course there are some who do step into the street for those to pass, but others will just barrel right into you and force you into the wall or onto the street. An Italian would not consider this rude at all, it just is how it is. The same sort of rule applies for getting into lines: don't politely queue up and wait your turn or your turn will never come. You muscle your way to the front and stake out your spot and don't budge (sort of like those days when we went to rock concerts).
Two Italians will also stand in the middle of a roadway and have a conversation and expect everyone to drive around them. They will ignore honking and everything else until they are ready to move. It is almost a game here, I think, a sport that everyone can play.
Now yesterday at Auchan (the big store) I let a woman with two young children go in front of me in line, and I think she was surprised. At the same time, without my Johnnie to help sack my groceries, I took my time and sacked it like I wanted and everyone else had to just wait. It is not good or bad, just different.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
First worship service in Italy
Today I attended church service at the Christ Church Anglican/Episcopal church of Naples, about 5 blocks from my apartment. It is the only English-speaking congregation I have found, although I heard there was one at the US Navy base. Anyway, I was intrigued by the church. We walked by last Sunday and met the pastor. I took a couple photos. I suppose it would hold 300 people or so but today there were about 50 in attendance. It was a commemorative service today for the 71st anniversary of the Battle of Britain, 1940. Many of the people in attendance were in UK military uniforms, with a couple USN as well.
The service was very structured with all the prayers, readings and responses, and words to the songs written out in a booklet they give you when you come in.
There was a small 9 person choir which sounded magnificent with the great acoustics inside this large domed sanctuary. I thought to myself, "Wouldn't our Double Quartet sound terrific here!"
The stain glass windows are beautiful as well. I was moved by the service in spite of the unfamiliar style of worship, and the formalized manner of it. The Holy Spirit was there! And the pastor gave a very good sermon as well.
There doesn't seem to be any Sunday school and the few children that were there squirmed around a lot. I don't see any Bible studies or other gatherings during the week. It is not exactly what I was looking for, but, you never know what the Lord has in mind.
I plan to call the vicar and see if he would like to meet for coffee this week sometime after work. "Meeting for coffee" in Italy can mean you have tea, coke or any other beverage, and you might end up eating as well!
The biggest surprise of the whole service was the closing hymn: God Save the Queen, sung to the tune of My Country 'Tis of Thee. Wow! I never had any idea it was the same tune. I suppose we stole the tune and some American put new words to it. Hm.
All in all it was a lovely, hot Sunday in Italy in September. The congregation gathered in the garden behind the church and shared a "biscuit" and glass of cold water or cold tea after the service. Poor Father Kingsley was sweltering hot in that long robe and vestments he wore during the service.
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| Christ Church, Naples, Italy |
The service was very structured with all the prayers, readings and responses, and words to the songs written out in a booklet they give you when you come in.
There was a small 9 person choir which sounded magnificent with the great acoustics inside this large domed sanctuary. I thought to myself, "Wouldn't our Double Quartet sound terrific here!"
The stain glass windows are beautiful as well. I was moved by the service in spite of the unfamiliar style of worship, and the formalized manner of it. The Holy Spirit was there! And the pastor gave a very good sermon as well.
There doesn't seem to be any Sunday school and the few children that were there squirmed around a lot. I don't see any Bible studies or other gatherings during the week. It is not exactly what I was looking for, but, you never know what the Lord has in mind.
I plan to call the vicar and see if he would like to meet for coffee this week sometime after work. "Meeting for coffee" in Italy can mean you have tea, coke or any other beverage, and you might end up eating as well!
 |
| Sanctuary of Christ Church |
The biggest surprise of the whole service was the closing hymn: God Save the Queen, sung to the tune of My Country 'Tis of Thee. Wow! I never had any idea it was the same tune. I suppose we stole the tune and some American put new words to it. Hm.
All in all it was a lovely, hot Sunday in Italy in September. The congregation gathered in the garden behind the church and shared a "biscuit" and glass of cold water or cold tea after the service. Poor Father Kingsley was sweltering hot in that long robe and vestments he wore during the service.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
In country - getting down to business
With Johnnie's return to the US, the next few weeks will be intensive focus on work for me. I have a lot to learn as well as a lot to organize to get my team up to fully functioning. My position has been vacant for awhile and my predecessor had a totally different style and approach to the job. In between, another lady was a temporary manager of the team and did what she could to get some structure in place and processes going. It is going to definitely be a challenge and will require some long hours at the office and quite a bit of travel between Italy sites. Probably good in a way that Johnnie is not here since I will not have much time for home life. It also means my sightseeing and investigating the wonders of the area will be postponed until he returns and can share in those with me. Actually I might take in a few museums while he is gone since that is not his thing. About 20 min. in a museum is his limit! Ha!
Before I sign off for the night, I want to publicly give praise to the Lord God of all Creation. He has made all things and makes all things possible. He does care about each of his creations and has especially blessed me and Johnnie with this wonderful experience. I know some of you may not believe all that I have said, or you maybe unsure of whether God pays attention to you and your life. I can assure you he does!
Before I sign off for the night, I want to publicly give praise to the Lord God of all Creation. He has made all things and makes all things possible. He does care about each of his creations and has especially blessed me and Johnnie with this wonderful experience. I know some of you may not believe all that I have said, or you maybe unsure of whether God pays attention to you and your life. I can assure you he does!
Friday, September 16, 2011
In Country - the Beginning part 2
As of Monday we decided to go ahead and make an offer for the house on the sea. It is beautiful there and Johnnie is in love with it! The villa itself needs some work and some updating so we have asked the Landlord to do some repairs and we will make some upgrades ourselves. Let's pray this is acceptable to all concerned.
Here are more photos of the villa and the view file. One of the most amazing things about this location is how you feel like you are in another world entirely! The breeze is fresh and the scenery is to die for.
Here are more photos of the villa and the view file. One of the most amazing things about this location is how you feel like you are in another world entirely! The breeze is fresh and the scenery is to die for.
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| Entry way to the villa |
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| Steps to our own private beach |
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| Our own private beach |
Sunday, September 11, 2011
In Country - the Beginning
Wow, some of you have been following my Facebook comments this week and will know what I am talking about. It has been an interesting week: missed flight connection in Paris, long airport lines, lost luggage, hotel A/C that doesn't work, move to an apartment, two days spent going through Italian Immigration, a day house hunting, and finally a couple days of good sleep and peace. What a whirlwind! But we are here now and doing ok.
We continue to revel in the wonder of this lovely apartment we have for temporary living. God is so good to us! We don't count our own ingenuity for anything but rather the kindness of many other expatriates and Italians alike, and the blessing of the Lord that has put us here for a time. It is terrific and something we absolutely could not afford on our own but we will enjoy it while we are here!
Here is an interesting tidbit about parking at the new apartment
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| Johnnie is Business Class |
- We have done a bit of exploring the neighborhood around our Palazzo and located some key landmarks like the grocery, a few restaurants, the Anglican church (only English speaking congregation we can find except perhaps on the Naval base), Sunday flea market, a hair salon, the local pub, a wonderful walking area, and best of all the Tabacchi shop which operates kind of like a convenience store and sells everything from stamps to super glue and you pay your utility bills there and buy cell phone minutes there too.
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| Castel Del'Ovo (The Egg Castle) |
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| Bay of Naples - where the ships come in |
We continue to revel in the wonder of this lovely apartment we have for temporary living. God is so good to us! We don't count our own ingenuity for anything but rather the kindness of many other expatriates and Italians alike, and the blessing of the Lord that has put us here for a time. It is terrific and something we absolutely could not afford on our own but we will enjoy it while we are here!
Here is an interesting tidbit about parking at the new apartment
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