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* :)


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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.