Ciao!
This week wasn't phenomenal in any
seriously grand aspect, but I had some fun things happen and just some learning
experiences in general that apply to missionary work and life in general.
Nothing horribly profound, but good to know.
Pizzas eaten: 41
Gelato: 33
Books of Mormon: 55
The right kind of people to talk to
Well, as in might guess, on a mission
where you go about spreading the gospel and talking to people and in a place
where there have been missionaries for 20 years or so, it's only a matter of
time before people realize who you are by the tags you wear and in the way you
act. As a missionary, the people who sell nice clothes like suits and ties,
dress shoes and other things are very big on trying to get your attention and
they are the nicest pushy people that you'll ever meet. For example, last night
I wanted to look at ties during a period of time in the night where there
weren't many people around on the streets. I mentioned it to the lady who was
working there and immediately she told me that my shirt collar (which is very
American in style) would distract from the beautiful Italian ties that she was
selling.
Long story short, were roped into an
hour of trying on shirts that were too small for me because I'm very much
bigger then the average Italian. And then we were shown the ties after she got
our shirt sizes. That's the kind of person you talk to on preperation day.
There are other people that just like to get wasted or smoke and are always on
the streets because they either don't have a home or they just don't like their
home life. I almost started talking with one of these people before my
companion pulled me away telling me how he's one of the many like that. Later
on I saw that come to fruition through someone else's first experience with him
and was glad it wasn't me.
Then there are the people who act like
they want to talk about the gospel but then they start hitting you with lesser
known doctrine and end up just wanting to argue over a certain point. There are
less of these that are well known among the missionaries and usually that's
just what happens when you talk to people here that don't immediately shut you
down or walk away. It's good though because those that do talk to you are
usually interested and want to hear more, or at the very least invite you to
their house for food.
Grocery stores and Tellers in General
One thing I've noticed since I've been
here in Italy would be the lack of accuracy in the change given back. Something
you need to know about the money here is this: they have coins for 1, 2, 5, 10,
20 and 50 cents. They have coins for 1 and 2 euros. They do not have paper
bills for one and two euros. They have paper bills for 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200
and 500 euro. Also, everything is ade so that blind people can tell the
difference between the change that they have. Which means, the more something
is worth, the bigger it is. They also have a different design on the sides of
all the coins so you can tell just by feeling it how much it's worth. For
example, the 5 cent cin has a groove all around the edge while the 10 cent euro
has ridges similar to a quarter in America.
Nobody uses the 1 cent coin here and the
2 cent coin is weird to see. So if my change is for example: 23.23 I will get a
20 euro bill and either 25 cents back or 20 cents. Because the 1 and 2 cent
coins aren't really used here. Funny how that works, but there you go.
Agrigento in general
Family history is awesome because it
allows me to know where my family comes from, what they did during this life
and where they lived. I thought it was cool when I got called to Italy that I
was going back to where my mother's side of the family comes from and not only
the right country, but the right island as well. By car, I'm currently 45
minutes away from where my 2nd great grandfather was born and 27 minutes away
from where his wife was born. Cianciana Agrigento Italy for my 2nd great
grandfather is a very small place. It has a total of ten streets and is a very
small place.
I have to figure out a way to get there
before I leave but as for where I am at right now, let me take you on a written
tour. Our house is about a five minute walk from the church where I am
currently writing this email. The church shares a parking lot (and building)
with a dance studio on the left and a supermarket on the right where we buy our
Spesa (groceries) every week. If you go right out of our house, you then manage
to make it a big flight of stairs that you have to take in order to get to
where the people are and consequently, our finding area.
If you stick to the right side of the
street you will pass through a giardino (translates literally to garden, but in
this instance it means small park) here at night there are abut 15 ragazzacci
who are doing pull-ups, push ups and other exercises, usually shirtless. If you
kee walking after the Giardino then you will find a lot of beaches and then
nothing, so you cross the street and come back the way you came. You pass a few
gelaterie shops and then some cartolerie where you buy books, paper and other
things like that, they are very popular here in Italy and there are about 4 of
them within a mile of each other from our apartment.
They separate the trash here in
Agrigento as well. Technically we were supposed to do that in Castellammare,
but nobody did. Here, it's very much a big deal, and they only take certain
garbage on certain days of the week. Every Monday, everything is closed because
that's basically the Sunday here.
Cool thing that heppened this week
This week we invented a new food. I know
we are in Italy, but the thing we invented is still very American in idea.
Basically, we took two of America's favorite breakfast foods and made them one.
French Pancakes. It's exactly what you think it is. You make pancakes. Then,
you dip them in the cinnamon/egg mixture that you would normally put boring old
bread in, and then you recook them in the same pan that they were just in. It's
a little different, but this way everyone gets what they want. This might not
work very well with waffles, but feel free to try I suppose and let me know if
this idea is waffle compatible. Pictures would be nice, and appreciated!
1. My companion is showing us his jenga skills
2. French. Pancakes. (and eggs)
3. The super long flight of stairs we have to take to get
home or go finding.
4. A cool way to do your lights
5. A picture of a sunset that doesn't do it justice.
No comments:
Post a Comment