Hello all!
I felt like it was time for another update!  I have been here for almost 4 weeks, and things are going great!  Italy is exactly what I thought it would be...I am having such a great time!
This past weekend was a definite highlight - I did lots of fun things!  Friday night I went out with the fam and we met another family for dinner at this fabulous pizzeria.  I had the Cuatro Formaggi (Four Cheese) and a coke!  (My first since leaving the US!)  It was such a great meal, and to top it off I was (practically) forced to order dessert, which was also very good!  We then made our way to this fair that comes to Venturina that has everything a person could want.  Rosy told me that people come from all over Italy to sell their goods - the best cheeses, meats, leather, cars, etc.  It was so cool to walk through and just look at everything, as well as sample some of that yummy cheese!  I was also "force" fed Italian cotton candy (it was okay), these dessert chip things (not so good), and an Italian donut (VERY good).  There were so many people there and the atmosphere was just so exciting and fun!  I absolutely loved the experience.  If that wasn't enough, we also made another trip to the Luna Fair with the fun rides and games!  It was a blast to enjoy the carnival with the other family as well.
Unfortunately, I forgot my camera that night...so I don't have any pictures.  I'm very sad about it, but I do have other pictures to share with you all!
On Sunday, my friend Marianna and I went to the beach to soak up some sun!  We spent all afternoon there, and since the sun doesn't go down until around 9pm here...we were able to stay until 7!  It was such a nice day to get away from the kiddos and just relax.  It was much needed and I am excited to go back soon!  It's still so weird to me that a beach is so close to where I'm living...it's practically a dream come true!  I plan on spending a ridiculous amount of time out on the beach.  :)

Marianna and I at the beach!  (Couldn't get the pics to flip - sorry!)

So the other day I was really wanting to play a card game.  If you know my family, then you know how much we love our card games...and I missed it!  So I decided to teach the boys some games.  I wanted to start out simple, so I taught them a game my Aunt Mindy and I love to play - Go Fish!  They absolutely loved it!  The only rule I added was that they speak only in English (it was our English lesson for the day) - and they did great.  We've played almost every day since I taught them, they really can't get enough of the game.  So here are some pictures of us playing our very first game!

Gioele

Elia

We had tons of fun playing together...and Gioele has pretty much beat us every single time.  We play this memory game as well - and I feel like I have a somewhat good memory.  But even though I really do try to win, Gioele has beat me almost every time!  (I've won twice out of around 15 games)  He is one good game player.

Overall, things here are still going great!  I miss home, but haven't been homesick since the first few days - so that is a huge blessing!  I feel like the Lord really prepared me for this trip over the last couple of years.  He's taught me a lot about how I need to rely on Him and not always on the people around me, and that has definitely come in handy this summer.  Coming here and not knowing a soul was extremely scary - but I knew that the Lord was still with me and that is a comfort I really can't describe.  He is so good to me - He brought me to this beautiful country AND is here with me to comfort and protect me...how cool is that?!

Lastly, I have a prayer request.  I have gotten a tad bit frustrated with the boys lately - silly tantrums over silly things...you know how it goes.  I just really want to show them love, patience, and to not lose my cool over their behavior.  They are such wonderful boys, but I need them to realize that I expect more than that - more than tantrums, yelling, disobeying.  Being in classrooms for school the last couple of years, I have found that when a teacher expects the best out of her students, they are more likely to work harder and try to be the best version of themselves.  That's what I want these boys to realize, is that they have the potential to be obedient and kind and helpful.  So just pray that I can communicate with them and have patience with them.  :)

Thank you all so much for reading and for praying for me!  I appreciate it so so much!  I love love love the emails and comments I have gotten - keep it up! :)
Love you all,
Maddy

Happy birthday Jon!

Jon - I don't really know how else to get this message to you....so here is a post dedicated to you!

Well, it's my little brother Jon's 16th birthday today!  I am so sad I can't be there for it, birthdays are my absolute favorite!  But Jon - know that I have been thinking about you lots today!  I can't believe you are so old already...time sure does fly.  I am sad I'm not there to throw the baseball with you, go to the Taq whenever and as many times as possible, watch HIMYM, and just chill with ya being all cool.  :)  I hope you make dad take you to dinner or something soon to celebrate!  I will make sure to get you a really cool birthday present over here to make up for my absence.

Jon, you have grown into such a neat guy.  I love just hanging out with you and laughing at your sarcasm...which has definitely gotten real real good.  As your sister, I can say that you have your annoying moments, as we all do, but you are so much fun to be around.  You are freaking hilarious, kind, gentlemanly, strong, real, thoughtful, respectful, loyal, and so much more.  You are so special and I just love having you for a brother.  I love going to your football and basketball games, I love laughing at your nonstop jokes, I love showing you up in baseball (jokes), I love attempting to throw the football with you, I love going to the Taq with you, I  love how you tell me you'll beat up guys for me, I love supporting you, I love talking with you, and most of all I just love the man you are growing up to be.

Okay, I know...you want me to stop with the mushy stuff.  :)  So I will end this post by thanking you for being such a great little brother and know that I think of you every day and pray for you so much.  You are such a blessing to our family.  I love you so much Jon-o!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! :)

Jon and I at the OSU Homecoming 2011 football game!

Peeling and Healing!

Hello all!

I know it's been a while since my last post...and for that I apologize!  You see, last Thursday I was able to add something to my Stupid Things I've Done In Italy list.  Without really thinking, I sat out for 4 hours in the sun...without sunscreen.  Some of you may be thinking that that's not really a big deal.  For me, however, it was a pretty idiotic move - I happen to have the palest skin in all of Italy.  No joke.  So, as you can imagine, I have been in massive amounts of pain the last few days with the worst sunburn I have ever had.  That is saying something too...I get sunburned a lot.  Anyway, I could go on and on about how awful it was and how I couldn't sleep, blah blah blah.  Instead, I will just show you some pictures I took the other day.  It had already faded some, I think it was 3 days after I got the burn that I took these.  Plus, these are just of my upper body...I won't even mention my legs.  I'm convinced they will be a certain shade of red forever...

I want everyone to know - my back used to be all one color.  No joke!
The reason there are two different shades of red is because I was really really smart
and went back outside before I was healed and got sunburned again. Nice, huh?
Something else I added to my list of stupid things. 

So, if you sent me an email..I haven't replied to any yet.  But I will get to it soon!  I really love hearing from everybody!!  :):)

I also have some pictures from last week.  I brought my camera with me to dinner at Rosanna's parents house.  We go there every Friday night for a fabulous meal.  Her mother is a mean cook, and last week she made lasagna just for me!  It was the best I've ever had!  And we also had bread, artichoke salad, lettuce salad, potato omelet, and fruit!  It was so good!  I love how they eat so many vegetables over here, and they are so much better and way more fresh than anything in the US.  So this is a picture of their garden:

I have some pictures of the route I take to Gioele's school.  All the houses are so beautiful, especially the gardens. I just love all of the plants, flowers, herbs, vegetables, etc that everyone grows.  Here are some:

Lastly, I have some pictures I took from the driveway here at mio casa:

So there are the pictures.  :)  I hope you like them!  But not much has gone on here mainly because I've been at home most of the time.  Oh!  I was able to to go a little carnival they call a Luna Fair.  It's only open at night and has a few rides and tons of games!  I rode the bumper cars and died laughing because I was terrible at driving those little cars.  I was also able to amaze everyone with my mad baseball throwing skills...they couldn't believe that I could throw and actually hit the cans.  I won the boys prizes too!  It was fabulous!  

Well, I will make sure and update again soon!  But thank you to everyone who commented on my last post and for those who emailed me!  I just love hearing you and I promise I will answer those emails soon.  Love you all!

Maddy

BONUS PICTURE!!  My little "home" corner...things I brought to help me when things get rough.  :)

Drum roll please...PICTURES!!

So the computer tech guy finally came and helped me connect my laptop to the internet!  Yay!  So now...here are some pictures that I have taken thus far...enjoy!

I woke up during my London to Pisa flight and this was outside my window!
I definitely gasped audibly! :)

Gioele loves drawing...he is so gifted!

I wanted to draw too!  A house is always my go-to when drawing. 

What a little dude!

Brooke, the dog.

My first meal that I cooked!  Just pasta with olive oil and fresh Parmesan!  It's so good!
Tuscany is famous for their olives, and that oil is delicious!
Also, please notice the fresh bread...so good!

Poor Brooke..

Second meal!  Spaghetti with red saucy stuff!  It was way better than marinara.
I still have no idea what it was, but I will learn gosh darn it!

Sophia, a little neighbor girl who loved my camera.

Bedtime sillies!

My only picture of Elia so far...I will get more!

Love them so much!

So, as you can see, I am having a fantastic time!  I am feeling more and more at home every day and falling head over heels with these little boys, as well as Italy itself!  I am still in awe of the fact that I get to spend every day of my summer in such a beautiful place.  I was walking home from picking Gioele up from school and I passed a wheat field, and in the distance was a hill with an ancient castle looking thing at the top...it made me giggle a bit.  How cool is it that I get to be here?  I feel so blessed and so lucky to have this rare experience.  I am trying to soak it all in every single day.  I plan on doing a little bit of walking around tomorrow...I have yet to work up the courage to walk around town alone, but we will see how it goes.  I have learned quite a few Italian words, but can't really communicate yet.  I can do it though!! :)

Well, I am sleepy and ready for bed, but first I wanted to thank all of you for your prayers and thoughts!  It means so much to me to read your comments and emails and know that I have people who are behind me and supporting me.  Also, a big praise!  I went out with a couple of ladies last night for a night out on the town!  We went to such fun places and met some interesting people!  Rosanna also said she knows a girl my age who speaks English and helped one of their other au pairs from a little while back meet people.  She said they became great friends!  So I am excited to meet her soon!  Will update more about those next time!  I love you all and look forward to hearing from you!

Ciao ciao! 

Maddy

NOTE:  To answer a question from the Kelly family...I am not on Facebook and won't be again until August. :(  But you can email me at maddyschultz@ymail.com.  Thanks for asking!  Loving the comments!!

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

Well folks, I made it!

I am here!  In Italia!
It is as beautiful as I remember too!  After a longggg day and three connecting flights, I made it to Pisa Airport (with both of my bags...thank you Lord!!) where the Mascia family was there to greet me.  The flights were pretty uneventful, with the exception of almost colliding into another plane AND sitting next to a Richard Dreyfuss look alike!  Other than that though,I just tried to sleep as much as I could.

When I arrived in Pisa, the family took me home to unload my stuff and then we were off again to a lunch with Mr. Mascia's family to celebrate his niece's confirmation to Catholicism.  (I believe that is right, not 100% though)  Anyway, it was a very cool and exhausting experience.  The length of my traveling had, at this point, surpassed 24 hours and I was completely exhausted.  Plus none of them spoke english, so it made it a tad bit scary too.  The funny thing was that I knew they talked about me, I just have no idea what they were saying.  Rosy (Mrs. Mascia) was trying to translate, but there were like 20 people there and they were all talking at once it felt like...so I really just have no idea what went on at all.  I was so tired and emotional after a long day of thinking about not seeing my family for 2 1/2 months, that I was so close to bursting into tears throughout the whole dinner.  Plus I was nauseous from the crazy driving skills of Mr. Mascia, gross airplane food, and because of lack of sleep.  So I missed out on an awesome 5 course lunch.  Dang it.
So there I was, about ready to burst into tears and throw up all at once....and then I was saved!
Little Elia came and tapped on my shoulder, asking me to come play outside with him.  I immediately saw my chance to get some fresh air and escape how overwhelmed I was by it all.  So I went outside and talked with Elia and Gioele.  They are absolutely the sweetest and cutest little italian boys on this planet!  They made me feel so much better and so welcome, I immediately felt more at ease. 

I really think I am just tired and emotional from saying goodbye to my family for the entire summer, otherwise that experience would have been very different.  Thankfully I will have another chance at enjoying that part of the italian culture - the boisterous family meals.  Today though, I'm okay with being a little sad. 
Yes, I will miss my family dearly.  And yes, I may feel lonely sometimes or like an outsider because of the language barrier.  But, even with all of that, I am determined to make this experience the best that it can be!  I know it will be a great summer and I know that the Lord has so much He wants to teach me.  I am so excited to see how it all unfolds!  His plan is perfect, and I have to trust that. 

I ask that you all pray for me...pray that I don't let the homesickness take over.  That I learn to take it one day at a time and enjoy these precious little boys and enjoy the BEAUTIFUL creation that surrounds us.  And please pray that I get rest tonight!  I definitely need it!  It's going to be a great day tomorrow!  And hopefully I'll have some italian words to share with you all...the boys have been trying to help me, but end up laughing at my accent..  :) Until next time, may the Lord fill you all up with joy!

CIAO!
Maddy

Preparation

Well, the time has come folks.  I am officially starting to pack.  Well, I'm actually about to go to bed...but I will start packing tomorrow!  :)  Packing is not exactly something I enjoy.  It's an exciting experience, don't get me wrong.  But I can never seem to escape the haunting feeling that I will most likely forget at least one thing I will desperately need.  It's a terrible feeling.  So, to solve this little problem of mine - I have started to make lists.  Lots and lots of lists.  I have written down every little thing I will need while in Italy.  Of course, it's impossible for me to know what I will need exactly, but I can do a little guesstimating, right?  Anyway, let's just say I have a very very long list of things needing to go in my (two) suitcase(s).  (My father thinks it's ridiculous that I am taking two suitcases...what can I say?  I am who I am. ;) )

One thing that was on my to do list this week that I found quite enjoyable was figuring out which books I want to read over the summer.  Reading is my most favorite of past times!  It makes my heart so happy to get completely wrapped up in a good story.  So I looked at which books were on the recent  Best Sellers lists and some that I purchased were The Help by Kathryn Stockett (I've seen the movie, but am excited to read the book!), The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks, The Maze Runner series by James Dashner, and a few other random ones that caught my interest.  I am very excited to start them!

Well, I will update you all again soon!  But I better get some sleep so that I have a clear mind for packing tomorrow...I don't want to forget anything.  :)

Ciao!

Maddy