It is now day 4 of my journey.  Things here have gotten much better!  I am learning a lot of Italian from Elia, who is getting better at english every day.  We still have to work at understanding each other, but it makes for a good laugh sometimes.  I still miss home so so much, I don't think that will change, but I'm hopeful that it will get easier.  I talk to my mom every day and that has helped a lot.

The last few days, both Dani and Rosy have been at work most of the day.  So on Monday, it was just Gioele and me.  Yesterday I had both of the boys!  Our days have consisted of futbol, bicicletta e cibo.  All I hear from the boys is that they want to do one of those three things: play soccer, ride bikes, or eat.  It's been so fun though, and in a lot of ways they remind me of my own two little brothers.  Gioele and Elia have mixed qualities that I've seen in both Jon and Joe, so it's been so much fun getting to know them better.    

So I have taken loads of pictures! (Go me!)  But, I can't get my computer to connect to their internet...so when we figure that out I will post them!  If we can't get it figured out, I will upload them from this computer.  I just don't want to download my pictures onto their computer unless it's the only way.  So look forward to that!

Today I am all alone!  Dani and Rosy are at work and the boys are at school...it's weird that it's so quiet.  But I am enjoying my morning.  :)  My to do list consists of a few things: unpack (finally), take a nap, watch Tangled (for the 15000 time), ride my bike to the dock (but the weather is not looking good.. piove freddo!), and read my book.  As I said..I'm looking forward to my day.  :) 

Something that I have been thinking about lately is how I could go about making friends.  I'm fine being alone right now...but I know that eventually I will need some type of interaction with peers.  The thing is, the majority of Venturina's population are families and older adults.  I have yet to see very many people over the age of 16 and under the age of 30.  There are also very few, if any, who speak english.  I suppose I didn't think about it because most of the italians I had met before spoke at least a little bit of english..but that was in the bigger cities like Rome, Florence, and Venice.  Most people who live/work in those tourist hotspots learn english because so many english speakers travel there.  But people don't come here...which is nice because it is a great cultural experience for me, but hard at the same time.  I've met more children who can speak english than adults, and the two children that I met could only say a few things.  So I'm praying that I get the opportunity to meet people my age, people who can speak english.  But at this point, my odds do not look good.  So please pray that I do find friends...because, if you know me well, then you know how much having friends here will mean to me.  Gosh...talking about friends makes me miss all of mine from back home.  I MISS YOU ALL!!!  :)

Well that's really all that's on my mind...so I will leave you with this: if you have some time, please email me!  I am desperately wanting to hear from people and it helps my day so much when I do!  I am so thankful for all of you who are continuing to pray for me and encouraging me through this.  (Shoutout to the comments on my last post!  Thanks Graneys, ALLY, and Papa Rex!!!)  I love the comments so much!!  I hope all of you will have a great day today and know that I think of you often. 

Ciao ciao!!
Maddy