so, after gentle but persistent nudging from mom edwards and mary edwards/sanford (depending on which form of id you look at: passport vs. drivers license), i am finally blogging!!!
and can i just say that i had a crazy summer???
it was amazing, life-changing, hilarious, stretching, so much fun, pricey, priceless, beautiful, peaceful, busy, relaxing, informative, awe-inspiring, and a million other things. it truly was the best summer of my life! here's a little snapshot of the trip...
my favorite things from italy:
(people in attendance: me and mare-woo!!!)
-drinking $2 bottles of wine in cinque terre
-swimming in the clear blue mediterranean sea
-enjoying one of the best lunches (of my life) of pesto pasta and cold white wine on a hot day in rome
-walking where paul walked (and millions of others! the history was overwhelming!) in rome
-waiting for our delayed train in cinque terre, intending to "buy groceries for dinner" in a little shop while we waited for the train but instead coming out with a bottle of limoncello (lemon-flavored liquer) and two matching shot glasses!!! ha!
-running for aforementioned delayed train and celebrating by singing the german national anthem with school group of 2 chaperones and 40 teenagers as we stood in a squished compartment-i got in their video-hilarious!
(quote from my journal: "all of the sudden, we saw a train (now over 3 hours late) going by on a track on the side of the mountain. we looked at each other in disbelief, gathered up our bottle and glasses and made a run for it--gradual incline, mind you-- back for the station, which was a good quarter mile away. mary took off like a running maniac while i flopped behind with my flinging backpack, trying not to break the limoncello bottle or shot glasses."
-nutella gelato-nothing in the world is better!!! this was our lunch on a couple of days...
-pompeii-ruined city (death by volcano) excavated--amazing!
-tiny town of riomaggiore in cinque terre, italy.
here's what i wrote in my journal "so beautiful and quaint. lots of old italian men and women sitting on benches, chatting and gossiping. clothes hanging out on clotheslines, people sweeping balconies and storefront steps, different colors of apartments all stacked on top of each other, stone steps going up, down, twisting around corners, archways, fishing boats lined up below our balcony on the street, teeny markets with fresh produce and wine, people constantly out on their balconies, arms folded on the railing, looking down on the street below, green shutters on the windows, a bell clanging in the distance (a church?), people stopping to talk to each other on the streets, and so on...
i feel God telling me to
slow down.
settle down."
-journaling and reading/laughing about entries with mare on an almost daily basis...
welp, there's a little taste for you all. i plan to write highlights of each leg of the trip, but you'll have to be patient!!! :)
see ya!
tracey
p.s. i started a new job within san diego city school district. i really like it and it is WAY less stressful than last year! yay!