Rain& Hot White Chocolate.

Nothing beats a cup of Coccolata bianca con o senza panna on a cold rainy night with a friend at the tea room a few blocks away from my apartment.

I read this somewhere in a children’s book… and this is how I felt about my hair when I was much younger.

Andrea had curly hair.
It was curly on the top. It was curly on the sides.
It was curly down her back all the way to her bum.
It was curly when it was wet.
It was curly when it was dry.
And Andrea hated it.

But now… this is me:

Bethany had curly hair.
It was curly on the top. It was curly on the sides.
It was curly down her back all the way to her bum.
It was curly when it was wet.
It was curly when it was dry.
And Andrea loved it.

She loved to show it off whenever she can.

And she loves how her hair smells.

The carbs are starting to show… through my belly.  Dang...

“What should we have for dinner tonight?”

“Hmm.. I don’t know. What choices do we have?”

“Pasta, pizza, pizza, pizza or… pasta?”

“Uhhh, lets go with pasta… once again.”

That’s pretty much the dilemma I am enduring with. It’s actually more difficult to try to be creative with cooking, especially with the limited food offered in the grocery store. All they offer… is bread, bread, pasta, prosciutto, cheese, milk, vegetables and more bread.

Oh, how can I forget vino?!?!

  Wait, I lied. I had veggie wrap last night with friends. It was delish! Along with a cup of warm milk mixed with honey and whiskey for my poor throat and nose. It’s definitely not fun to have a cold in Italy...

  But its definitely fun to have a cup of warm milk with honey and whiskey.

Life, I like you…. A lot. 

I know this is not much to share, but honestly, I’m not too fond of writing. Alas, I made a vlog and split it into three short vlogs, so you wouldn't get tired of watchin one vlog for too long :) Each vlog is about 2-3 min.

I will post some pictures tomorrow. Come back later and check the pictures out! 

Vlog 1 of three

 

The reason that I am holding tightly to God... is He is the only one thing that remains same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Every single thing in my life has been changed, except for His love.

It's true.

“’Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,’ says the Lord, who has compassion on you” (Isaiah 54:10)

An extremely lazy sunday in Tuscany.

All emails are answered, my daily journal is updated, my clean clothes are hung to dry, and a cup of fresh brewed coffee… what else do I have to do…? 

Oh! Yes.. yes.. update my blog! 

It is not common for Italians to use dryers. There are no dryer in the apartments/ homes… except at Laundromats. My interpreter, Austin went to a laundromat a week ago or so to dry his clothes. It cost him nearly 16 or 18 euros to dry his two loads! Egad! 

 Out of everything I miss about United States, I miss using the dryer the most. Aside from having a living room.  Oh how I miss taking my warm clothes out of the dryer. But, I decided to look up online to see the pros of air-drying clothes. Here is what I found: 

http://www.earthlingshandbook.org/laundry

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/329919/air_drying_laundry_save_time_space.html

But to save time… really?!? It takes about two days for my clothes to be completely dried. It is taking foreverrrr!  I know, it saves time from not having to iron but I never iron my clothes. (Yeah, I know… it is obvious that I don’t have a real job, requiring me to wear ironed clothes.) I guess I like being a student for this particular reason.

Tomorrow is the official first day of my spring semester at Siena School for Liberal Arts

Yay!

Here's what my weekly schedule looks like:

Mondays: 3-6pm Drawing

Tuesdays: 9-10:30am Italian Culture, 10:45-4pm Art Restoration

Wednesdays: 9-11am Drawing, 1:45-2:45pm LIS (Italian Sign Language)

3-4:50pm Deaf Culture, 5-6pm LIS

Thursdays: 10:30-10:45am Tutti Insieme, 10:50-1:30 Painting

2-6:30pm Art Restoration

Fridays: 11:15-2pm Painting

And field trips to Florence for Art History on some Fridays

I still don't know when my Italian Language session will be. Throughout the semester, I will do an internship with the MPDF (Mason Perkins Deafness Fund)'s book project to create more educational picture books for the deaf children. It will be a good start for me in the books publishing world. I need to seize the opportunities to get involved with creating books as much as I can. I know this is what I want. But where do I begin? And how? 

My, my... my... to seize this grand opportunity in such a beautiful country like Italy? I am not going to waste any minute of my time, darling!

But wait.. Today is February 20^th already!? Time is flying too fast!

It’s almost March, and I haven’t gotten anything done yet.

There are two other community services that I am planning to participate once in a while throughout this semester and that is…. to help out at a nearby animal shelter and some kind of trail restoration somewhere in Tuscany. It’ll be fun! 

Asdlfkja;ksdfjafj!

Can you tell I’m excited?!?

No?

Lemme try again.

Omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg! I’m in ITALY! A;ksjfa;kjfkadjfkajslfj;afjj!

Asldkfjaklfja;lkdjfafja;dklfjakfjadkjfa!

SQUEALS!

Better?

Thought so.

As I was answering to my emails, I could not help it but become more worried about my plans for the upcoming summer and beyond. I applied for several internships in January and most of its deadlines are in February and March, hence, I won’t hear from most of them until April. UGH! 

It’s annoying to wait and wait. I much prefer to know NOW and get started on planning NOW. But, whatever, things will work out. 

Bethany, Bethy, Bethers, Beth, ByBy, B…

 please embrace every moment in Italy. It will be gone before you know it.

Embrace… it.

The more wonderful people I meet, the more I appreciate my life. I’m amazed how things tend to fall into its right place. I was recently encountered a dilemma that required me to really act like an adult, especially when I definitely did not want to do so. I had to step out of the situation and carefully analyze its impact on others before continuing with it. More than anything, I want to respect the others around me and yet respect myself as well. Respecting yourself is probably the most important thing in the entire world. 

If you cannot respect yourself...

who can truly respect you, for who you are?

Before coming to Italy, I made a promise to God that I would remain faithful to Him and maintain a strong spiritual relationship with Jesus. As I got busy with classes and exploring here in Italy, I started to ignore the small voice in my heart, crying out its deepest desire. A close friend of mine and I had a really good discussion last night, and without being straightforward, I was once reminded about my promise. I adored how God used my friend as a reminder. My respect for this certain friend has doubled after realizing how hard it was for the pal to be honest with me.

I love honest conversations--- the ones that each of us had to bring our raw emotions out, and yet challenge to overcome them with our logical decisions. I know I am being very vague with what I currently am experiencing and I intend to keep it as vaguely as possible.  

Living in Italy for a semester, I know that I would experience various stages of personal and spiritual growths. Some of it, I shall share with you, my readers, but some of them are for me to keep in my heart. I am inspired by Mary, Jesus’ mother by kept her treasures and pondered it in her heart. (Luke 2:19)

Here are some photos from last week:

Can you tell that I am extremely loving it here?

Yes! Spring is coming! Thank gawd!

it is definitely getting better... :)

life is so good here in siena!

     well... other than me still struggling with learning italian!

    I finally had an incredibly wonderful chance to meet more deaf Italians on Sunday. Barbara, my professor for the LIS class invited me to an orienting race she was participating with her Deaf friends. It was a fun experience for me to actual putting my LIS skill in practice. There were about 15 Deaf Italians at the race-- most are 30's or older, and some of them already learned some ASL. So, I already promised them that I would help them with ASL and English, as they will teach me more LIS in return.  I was not involved with the race, but I've decided that I will join them next month in Florence! Barbara is from Brasile, which was an amazing coincidence (yes, God was behind all of this ;) ) So, we were able to sign three different sign languages (ASL, LIS, and LIBRAS) all in one conversation! It was such a freeing feeling to use brasile sign language again. I miss it a lot. After talking to Barbara, I caught myself dreaming about returning to Brasile one day soon.

      I know it in my heart that I am definitely not done with Brasile. I've always known this since the day I left Brasile.

   Tonight, I went out for a drink with a new friend, Sarah. She is hearing, but is rapidly picking up sign language pretty well! I had such a good time with her, having girl-to-girl conversations. I also ordered a dolce (dessert)--- baguette with nutella and whipped cream. So delicious.

        Emotions amaze me. They have so much power over humans. Basically, emotions and attitudes definitely determine the mood of the day. Hence, we need to learn how to overcome our negative emotions with positive attitudes, in order to have a better day.

Oh those things make me want to dance...

Gelato... good laughs... champagne... and gorgeous scenery.

Definitely a good day..

 

Today, a bunch of us went to San Gimignano to try their 3 year-in-a-row world champion’s gelato. Before we left in the afternoon, we went to the local post office to send our residency permit (I think I said it right..?) There was a mini bookstore in the post office. Those who know me too well will say, “Oh dear. What did you get now?” I got an awesome pop-out book, Il Piccolo Principe (The Little Prince) by Antoine De Saint-Exupery. I need to have a children’s book in Italian language. I have like.. um 4-5 months left to look for some more books! I’m a children’s book frenzy. After that… A friend and I went to check some stores, and I’m literally drooling over the idea of owning a SLR camera. I once had a wonderful deal with a friend to purchase his SLR camera, but I thought that I wouldn’t be using it as much as I should… Heck, I was wrong! Now, I’m actually wishing that I bought the canon SLR camera from him for an amazing deal.  I love taking photos now! Below are some photos I recently took today.

My beloved readers… I have a favor to ask you- please let me know the pros and cons of having SLR camera and what’s the true difference between Canon and Nikon? Which kind I should consider buying…. (Just in case if I EVER buy one… they’re costly!)

The trip to San Gimignano… turned to be purposeless but FUN! Why did I say, “purposeless”? This gelato shop was closed. :( It won’t be opened until March… so we got the “second” best gelato. I had strawberry and lemon gelato. Oh my gosh…. It was sooo delicious! I’m actually still full from it! I had so much fun overall today with my wonderful friends, by walking around, eating some gelato, drink some champagne and continuing to be enthralled by the Tuscany's landscapes.

I had a chance to chat with two Deaf elders in San Gimignano, and due to my continuously learning LIS (Italian Sign Language), I was not able to catch some of their signs… or they had their own sign language? Austin and I began to wonder if regional variation in LIS were that STRONG in Italia, since they might do not interact with the other Deaf communities around in Italy. Correct me if I’m wrong? Also, I’m so excited- I was invited go to Castelfiorention for some Orienteering race with my LIS professor tomorrow. There will be more Deaf people there! Yipee! I feel like I’m very desperate to be around more Deaf people like a dehydrated person crying out for water.  More opportunity for me to practice my LIS skill! I believe that I will be able to pick up Italian language much easier, once I interact with the Deaf Italians. A friend had recently informed about a Deaf Comedy Entertainment in the south of Italy that will be held later in March. I AM GOING! But, I need to learn much much more LIS by March, so I can understand and enjoy the jokes, instead just sitting and being clueless as I attempt to understand their signs.

For a week, I was somehow lazy, trying to get myself comfortable in a new place- i've decided, "Enough of that," hence, I made a few goals for this week:

1.     Spend 30- 60 minutes to write (for children’s book) everyday

2.     Do 5+ sketches

3.     Run at least 3 times (there are a fortress nearby to run around)

4.     30 minutes extra practicing my Italian literacy (aside from my compiti… homework.)

I’ve been thinking about my plans for the summer- I really need to do an art internship and take some classes to be able to graduate on time in May 2012. I applied at several museums and art studios. I recently heard from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC… I’ve been selected as one of the semifinalists for their Mentoring Program for College Juniors (only six finalists are selected).

                                                                                                SQUEALS!

I’m excited!!!  I should hear from them about their final decision by April 1. Meaning while… I have some time to consider about my options for this summer. I’m somehow tempted to stay here for a few more weeks during the summer, to take more art classes at Siena School for Liberal Arts and do an internship with them (to create more children’s books for the Deaf Italian children). I don't know yet...

                                                          ...It’s all up to Him. We’ll see what happens.

Here’s some photos! 

an italian dinner cooked by... moi!

My homemade italian dinner!

   For the past few days, I've been grabbing a slice of pizza or whatever looks good, going to a restaurant or eating with my roommates. I haven't had a chance to cook some dinner for myself yet, so this afternoon, I decided that I was going to do it tonight after my Italian language session! I stopped by a bakery and got some spinach gnocchi. Being clueless with cooking spinach gnocchi, I asked around what kind of sauce I should cook with the spinach gnocchi. Parmesan cheese and butter. That's it?!
     And, that what I did! I made some garlic bread and salad on the side. To the salad, I added mozzarella (honestly, I don't think i can eat America's string cheese ever again...), salami, tomato, and olive oil mixed with several spices and garlic as dressing. The spinach gnocchi was so delicious! I also added some milk and a bit of garlic to it. I wish that I've gotten more spinach gnocchi to cook plenty for my roommates. Tomorrow night, I'm going to try to make some regular pasta. It shouldn't be hard, right?

On a side note, things are definitely getting better here... Italian language session is challenging but fun! I thought that I would only learn to write and read Italian, but nope! I'm also learning LIS and how to speak Italian. Boy. I certainly didn't ask for a speech class, but my professor is making it fun to learn speaking Italian. I know that I cannot pronounce it perfectly, but I can barely... just to survive. ;)

    I'll be updating some vlogs soon... come back soon! Ciao ciao! Buona sera!

Homemade Cafe (coffee)? Epic fail for this girl...

So i tried to make some coffee... Vincent had taught me how to make italian cafe, however, it didn't taste quite as good as vincent's. bummer. maybe i got the wrong kind, or need to buy a new coffee maker. there's an old one in the hostel. this cup of coffee is drinkable though... *shrugs* :)


if you cannot see the video below--- try refresh your browser. it should work 

Saluto da Italia!

It’s 9:05pm here, and I’m already extremely exhausted from the first two days in Italia. I’m going to keep this post very short this time.

My thoughts…?

 WOW. I’m still enthralled by the Italia’s exquisiteness, and I’m still pinching myself to see whether this is just a wonderful dream. BUT, fortunately, it’s not! J I’m also feeling very overwhelmed with Italian. I’m trying so hard to remember all what I’ve learned so far- it’s quite difficult! I have to remind myself that it’s utterly impossible to learn all in a few days. Last night, I was chatting with my friend’s roommate, well… should I say attempted to chat with him in LIS… I caught myself signing Libras, Língua Brasileira de Sinais (Brazilian Sign Language).  Boy, it’ll be a long semester for me to learn Italian and LIS (Lingua dei Segni Italiana), but I’m very enthusiastic!

I’ve only had a few hours to get some quick glimpses of my new town, Siena. It’s gorgeous. My god, I can’t stop praising about Siena, Rome and Italia in general! They’re sososo much more beautiful than photographs, and movies!

Here’s some photos from last night in Rome- My friend, Vincent was kind to take me to the Colosseum, the Column of Marcus Aurelius and few buildings in that area. The entire time, I was thinking about how it would be amazing if Dr. Glass could take her art history class to this city... actually the entire country on a field trip. Only if she had the magic school bus... and crazy shoes to match her crazy outfit.

Dr. Glass, if you ever plan to do that sometime in the future... oh please, let me be your TA for the class! ;)

Im so tired. I’m going to bed.

Buona notte!

Ready for Italy? Not really. Ready for God? You betcha.

Yesterday, I finally got my beloved Eggplant (my mac) back. It was with my 2^nd mom for a few days to install some software on it before I depart for my grand adventure. I’ve given my baby a full name- Eggplant Plum Gehman. Every laptop needs to feel loved just like every one of us. ;) I was overjoyed with all software that I was extremely blessed with- Adobe Design Premium CS5. I wanted those software for like... forever. I was actually leaping and squealing—obviously excited to play around with it and improve my skills with CS5 software. My first step was… to create an artistic resume to send along with my internship applications. Those internship applications really need to be sent out before I leave for Italy.  I’ve been meaning to send it last week….

                

                        I still have two more days…

        laundry, packing, filling out applications, and finish the painting project for my dad and uncles… all in two days- I CAN DO IT!

Just when I turned my Eggplant off for the night, I looked at the time. It said “1:58am”

Oh no…

         I was already planning on attending a church service on the next morning.  I don’t have an alarm clock- it’s all packed away. I have a good body clock. I usually wake up on time… most of the times. I thought to myself and made a deal with God “Ah, hopefully, I will wake up on the time. If I do, then I definitely will go to the church. There’s no excuse for me to not. If I don’t wake up on the time… oops, oh well.” That was my typical attitude for the past few years. I tend to go with the flow, with whatever works for me in the mornings.

Then I woke up this morning with a feeling that I was already late for the church. Just when I was about to say, “shoot… back to bed then.”, I turned to look at the time, it said, “7:31am”

“Aw. Seriously? No, I want to sleep some more.” My body whined as I snuggled just a tad bit more in my warm comfy bed, covered with zillion blankets.

I almost could felt God rubbing my arm, and whispered in my head, “Honey, we already made a deal last night. Get up! It will be a good day!”

Dang, I almost wished that I didn’t make the deal with Him last night.

       In less than 45 minutes, I was out of the house, on my way to Lancaster County Bible Church (the one that I attended for the Christmas Eve). I was alone this time. As I turned into the lane toward to LCBC, my stomach did a backflip from the sight of the church. The church was HUGE, surrounded with countless vehicles parking around it. The last time I was there, it was dark in the evening. God…I do not like this- being in a new church alone. I do not even know a single person there. I love to be alone in various places, restaurants, schools, and countries except… churches. I always feel somehow intimated in a new church filled with new faces.

Interpreter and the deaf and hard of hearing audience usually sit on the far right in the front. I found where I was supposed to sit and left my jacket there, with no clue what I should do next… I walked back into the lobby, and found a café. Pretty impressed with the café provided in the church. I love this church already, I thought to myself. For those who know me well, I do not make a good pot of coffee. Whenever you want a cup of coffee, please… for your health’s sake, do not ask me. I’ve tried and tried to make a good pot of coffee. It’s not in me. Nevertheless, I do have the incredible enormous passion for coffee. The taste… The ability to carry me throughout the day. MmMmMmm…

Ah… back to the point… I got my vanilla latte and wandered through the church to finish my cup. I had approximately five minutes before the service would start. I passed so many people, and yeah, I was still feeling a bit overwhelmed. Someone tapped my shoulder.

What? Someone actually tapped my shoulder? Who possibility can that be?

I turned right after I took one more sip of my coffee. I literally almost choked when I saw him.

He was my Algebra teacher from the high school!! What?!

                       Oh.. right... I've completely forgotten that he attends to this church with his family.

            Flashback On the first day in the high school… I wasn’t too fond of him mainly due to what he had said to my class. He claimed that whomever writes fairly large are not intelligent as those students who can write narrow and small. Immediately after seeing what the interpreter translated, I looked down to my paper and analyzed my handwriting… it was fairly average big, I gulped. I’m doomed. Now, I know that he was just joking, but you don’t joke with those poor freshmen on their first day in the high school. Gracious. If it wasn’t for his humor and him to lure me into the best sport ever, lacrosse, I probably still wouldn’t like him to this day. He was my coach for lacrosse, so I grew to respect and appreciate him. But as my math teacher, eh.

I surely felt God tapping my shoulder once again and joked with me, “You didn’t think you would see anyone you would know, huh?”

The funny thing is that the sermon this morning was about God talking to us in a small voice, in different ways, and how to filter whether the voice is really God’s or just some crazy voices in our head. Then it is up to us to call him and listen.

I think a part of me died when I got up in the morning by listening to his command. So, this is what it feels to die for Christ daily...? Bit by bit, and this is just a beginning for me.

     I like this feeling.

I wanted to post a picture of a cup of latte but found this... couldn't resist posting it up. Hopefully, a certain friend of mine will notice! :D 

Branches doing cartwheels- how I love them for it.

it's funny how quickly my surrounding transformed once i took my old photos, keepsakes, letters and books out of my boxes. I was supposed to do a deep cleaning, to downsize my ridiculous amount of boxes piling up in the basement awaiting to be unpacked and put away in a new home. When will that ever happen? With me, you will never know.

   I was sitting in my bedroom, with blue walls with a few photos and artworks hanging, books piling up around me, Riddles licking from my glass of water (it's one of her silly habits that make her irresistibly adorable), and my piles of letters, cards and stories awaiting for me to reread them again along with old photos. Instantly, as soon as after I read some crumpled, water-stained letters, my surrounding of a bedroom magically transformed into a forest, with some sunlight rays peeking through the green leaves above me. I looked up from the ground where i was kneeling recently, and glanced on the tiny path ahead of me. The path has several plants growing over it, and branches doing cartwheels from its trunks across the path.  A few years have passed by and the busyness of my life became more busier than I had anticipated. The visitation to this beloved trail of mine turned to once in a blue moon from frequently trips. This particular tiny path to my past looked lonesome. With a deep sigh and a smile, I knew it was time for me to take a walk on this trail once again. But, this time, I was able to appreciate every single thing that I've endured and enjoyed by taking a moment to smell the flowers and feel the textures of the massive trees' barks. There were some broken eggshells at the bottom of a tree, caused by an unfortunate nest falling off from a branch above. Observed this broken dream, broken heart, broken spirit, and broken chapter of my life... I've learned to truly embrace it and proudly proclaim that it was my life and I would not change a thing about it.

  Oh, how wonderful is it to feel such a contentment. To experience a true contentment is as wonderful as feeling the warmth of the sunlight upon my face.

   The hike was rather quick as I found myself at the end of the forest, facing a great meadow.

         A great meadow to the unknown.

   The direction of my new path... is entirely up to God.
 But, it is entirely up to me to take the first step.


                  Oh, you bet I am!

  Just one more thing.... I found my favorite picture of me and katie. It was during a prayer walk in Jamaica.

          I truly hope that God will grant me an opportunity to do a missionary work sometime soon in the future. This passionate candle of mine to do missionary works for the Lord has been lighted once again.

A Very Merry Unbirthday

I was watching Alice in Wonderland the other night and so much wanted to sing, "A Very Merry Unbirthday" this morning, but oh wait. it is my birthday! Dang! I'll have to wait until tomorrow to sing it..



     ...o wait, I can sing it to Angie until she pulls her hair out at the dinner tonight.

A very merry unbirthday
To me
  To who?
  To me
  Oh, you

 

A very merry unbirthday
To you
  Who, me?
To you
Oh, me

 

Let's all congratulate us with another cup of tea
  A very merry unbirthday to you

 

Now statistics prove  
Prove that you've one birthday
Imagine just one birthday every year
  Ah, but there are 364 unbirthdays
Precisely why we're gathered here to cheer

 

A very merry unbirthday  
To me?
  To you
  A very merry unbirthday
  For me?
For you
  Now blow the candle out, my dear
  And make your wish come true  
A very merry unbirthday to you

Franks and Frankness

I'm currently en routing to Pittsburgh to visit an old friend from high school... elementary school, actually. The trip is approximately seven hours long from Lancaster to Pittsburgh when it's only four hours for driving. Ridiculous, huh? However, I like riding the train tho. It's more relaxing. Until I encountered the food dilemma.

Few hours later on the train, I got hungry. I brought some snacks (apple, pretzel and yogurt) with me for the trip and naturally, I ate it in the first hour on the train. I strolled through cars to the last car, the wonderful cafe car filled with all "delish" food: hot dogs, cheeseburgers, sandwiches, chips, milk, soda, muffins, and all very healthy food. None of those food behind the counter looked very appealing to me. There was a friendly man waiting to take my order and he had a very patient smile. I tapped my fingers upon the counter and pouted my lips... A few clues to indicate that I was being very indecisive with what I should get to satisfy my howling stomach.

I wrote, "Is the hot dog good? Please be honest :)" on a sheet of napkin and showed it to the cashier. Yes, I even drew a smiley face with curls around her head.

His response?

"Eh... No"

Hmmm, okay... I then made some gestures by waved my hand toward the food, and asked any were good.

*Chuckling* "No" He added the emphasis on the "no" by shook his head and gave me a sympathetic smile.

How fabulous. Just what my stomach needed to hear.

Yeah, I appreciate his frankness. He just saved my four dollars by not ordering a sandwich, cheeseburger, or a Frank. I wish more people were like him, being honest about their merchants instead of screwing me over. Creating a ballpark with how much I could have saved with their honesty, I could buy a lakehouse and paid off the mortgage. (Yeah, I earn that much, and yet I'm still trying to complete my BA degree in Studio Arts just for fun.)

People... I was being sarcastic, okay? Otherwise, I would've rode a purple helicopter to Pittsburgh, instead riding the Amtrak at this moment.




Flatbreads& Hummus
Coffee

They seemed the most "appealing" on the menu out of all snacks. It may not be much. I shrugged and ordered a cup of "fresh" brewed coffee and "flatbreads" with hummus. I smiled and hummed as I added sugar and cream to my coffee and remembered how my dad would joke,"Bethany, would you like some coffee to your cup of sugar and cream?"

I strolled through several cars again, and observed exhausted moms sleeping in their chairs next to their peacefully sleeping angels, kids vicariously playing with their video games, college students watching a movie on their mac books, and business men typing something so important and business-like on their laptops.

At last, I found my seat and sat down. Did some wishful thinkings, and observed people surrounded me once again. I set my food on the seat back tray with a bit of eagerness to fill my tummy with at least something. Opening the food box, and to my dismay, it turned out that the Amtrak considered saltine crackers as flatbreads. I mean.. Really?? Geesh, I spent $2.75 for flatbreads and hummus. And I got this? I ate four saltine crackers in less than two minutes. I was that hungry, okay!? ... The crackers were very satisfying... goodness.

A friendly lady sitting next to me, offered me her bag filled with food. I politely declined it.

Dang, why did I rejected her generous offer?? I'm still hungry! Too late, she's sleeping soundly.

I could feel my stomach mumbling, "Good job, Bethany."






Countdown: 19 more days.

new years dinner at a diner in wellsboro

Egad!!! I'm actually leaving in 24 days and I'm excited? Yes but, I have to tell the truth, I'm terrified too.

Sharon (my dad's girlfriend) thought it was absurd: this curly-hair girl whom had gone to Brazil alone for six weeks when she was not even out of high school yet, and challenged herself on several different levels- is scared to study abroad in Italy for four months!?!

Well... yes, Sharon! I'm horrified at the thought of being the only Deaf American there at Siena. It's gonna be a grand adventure, indeed, trying to communicate with Italians with gestures. I've been there and done that plenty times with my own native people- hearing Americans! But, still!?! To go through it all over again? Oh boy. *banging my head against the wall* I think the movie, "Eat Pray Love" has triggered that button of mine. I was somehow envy of this Elizabeth Gilbert being able to speak and hear the Italian language. But, pbbt, I'm going to learn their beautiful sign language!

Take that, Liz!

The daring side of me is up for the challenge. Oh think of the crazy and out-of-the-world stories I will share with my nieces and nephews!

Anyways.. I'm somehow assured at the thought of having Austin (the interpreter) at my side on the journey. At least, I won't be alone this time.