Angels Are Around; Angel #3

Introducing angel #3 - David

I had to go to uffizi Anagrafe at Piazza della Liberta that day to get the Stato di Familia form, it's one of a step to make before applying the stay permitt from de Commune. I had a piece of paper with all steps I had to follow to get to the Piazza della Liberta and to find the uffizi. I had the address and it stated that the building is round and red. 

I checked my map and bus route to finally hopped into bus no 12 to get to the Liberta. I stopped at fermata Leonardo da Vinci #3 which was too far from where I should. I could have just stopped at Liberta but was so stuck to the route explanation that said I could stop at another bus stop which much closer to the uffici than Leonardo da Vinci#3. Anyway, I stopped and had to walk back to get to the piazza Liberta. 

I searched and looked around to find the red round building to find that all buildings at Liberta are square. I finally asked a magazine seller and he pointed to a road on the right side of the piazza, and it was not Liberta, it was a different road. I crossed the road and got there still puzzled of where the uffizi located exactly. When I turn on that road appointed by the magazine seller, I finally saw this round building and entered the yard. 

Angels Are Around, Angel #2

How would you feel? If a good looking man in suits, drove his Mercedes, came to you and helped you dump your garbage..............

Another blessing we received was that we had our own garden, a backyard and a little shed. We knew there's a small balcony but we didn't expect the house would have a garden since it's a 2nd floor apartment. So we considered that as a surprised bonus from God.

All Goods Have Arrived and Unpacking Frenzy

After about a month of waiting for our personal effects to be released by customs in Milan. Finally we have all 23 boxes arrived in our house. 

Angels are Around Angel #1

It is not easy to live abroad as a foreigner where everything is new and often surprising. It is quite of an adventure, yet terrifying and challenging at the same time. It takes a while to adjust to so many different things such as culture, habit, rules, language, weather, environment, and people. Despite of fear whenever I thought of things that might come my way, as Christian, however, I believe that God will always help me. This is the time for me to really putting my believe into practice. I keep His promise, "I will never leave you nor forsake you!" I am learning how to live fully depend on Him and I amazed every time I found He helped me in His unique ways. It's so true that He remains faithful all the time. His love never fails. Somehow this thought came across my mind "angels are around" and every time I thought of it, I smiled and whispered,"Thank You, Lord! You are awesome!" 

Introducing angel no#1 - Angelo

After more than three weeks of waiting for Italian customs to release our personal goods, after all hassles of calling and submitting extra documents. Finally our personal effects of 23 boxes arrived in our house. 

One Day in Sienna

Sienna

It was a hot summer. Surprisingly 40C , hot and steaming.  One of our plan was to visit Sienna during our 3 days visit in Florence with Alex before we continue to Switzerland. 

We took a bus ride from Stazione Firenze S.M.N to Sienna. The trip was pleasant, despite the heat. We arrive in Sienna about an hour later. Unfortunately, the bus stop a bit outside of the city, and we were suggested to take a local bus which will bring us to the center in about 15 minutes.  Instead of taking the bus which according to the Dutch very inefficient (in term of time; because it would take the same time compared to if we would go by foot) and unreliable (since you’ve never known whether the bus would really come or not due to strike that -we heard- happened often in Italy), so we decided to walk to the center and we got there after 30 minutes walk.

The Arrival

Finally we arrived in Florence on that afternoon of August 10th, 2012, after about 4 hours trip back from our awesome holiday in Switzerland. It was a safe and fast trip, even on the swift train that connected us from Milan to Florence. 

We were so amazed of how fast the train goes…the speed was 300km/hour. Fortunately the process of getting the house keys in a café at Porta Romana was also smooth. Plus a cup of espresso for refreshment after a long trip made the whole trip a perfecto. As we walked across the giardino pubblico next to the famous giardino di Boboli to get to our house, we felt the sunlight piercing our bare skins. It was nearly 40°C in Florence. As many have told us, August 2012 is the hottest month of the summer; and it turned out that this summer 2012 is the hottest summer in Florence. So welcome to Firenze! 

The Dutch Style of Chillin' at Lago Di Idro

The sun was high when we got up our bed. It was a good night sleep, I slept like a log. I woke up from the cute voice of a little girl who camped with her parents in front of our caravan.

That was the first daytime at Lago di Idro on the north of Italy about 2 hours drive from the border. The weather was so great that day, so Jos and Alex decided to bike around the lake and I chose to stay and relax. Sitting in front of the caravan and read a novel “A World I Never Made” by James LePore. It was not a great novel, it’s kind of Dan Brown’s style of story, but yeah it’s just me, I had to finish what I have started, so I began to read it, found it not my favorite but kept on reading and aimed to finish it.

A Ride to A New Chapter

The first day we arrived in Florence this summer was still fresh in my mind. It was the hottest summer of 38°C- 40°C. Humid and hot, like I said to myself, this is another Surabaya.

We left Zaltbommel on July 31th, early morning on a car ride with Alex all the way to Italy. It was summer time but as usual summer in Holland, the temperature that early morning when we left the house was cold even for a real Dutch. 

The traffic all the way was smooth it was a great pleasant ride through some European borders until we finally entered Austria. I was so amazed with the view of my surrounding.  It was an awesome place of hills and typical Austrian housings. We stopped for sometimes at a house of our friend’s relatives for a cup of coffee and a little chat in a mixed of Deutche-French-German language, and then got his skiing gears.