New Space, New Classes...Gladiator Throwback?

  Well goodness, this last week has been busy and the new semester has officially begun!  Thank you to everyone who was praying for the opening of our studio, it went extremely well! We had many more people show up to check out the artwork and meet us than expected, so that was exciting.  It's already so nice just to go to work in the studio and be able to schedule English appointments there. 

Sara and Silvia, two of my Italian friends who came to the inauguration

Half of our team at the close of the night, with our super professional Intercambio Italia sign
(our partner business to accredit our English tutoring)

     Next Tuesday, so one week from now, we will have our very first  Comunità Connection at the studio, the Bible study we're starting for university students..  That will be quite interesting, because for one many people here don't give God a second thought, and two, those that do are not accustomed to the idea of reading the Bible for themselves and having freedom to share opinions and ask questions.  We hosted the team leader in Milan for a few days who came to support the opening, and were able to learn a lot from talking with him on how they have started and kept their Comunità Connection going over time.

    In the midst of all our team excitement, classes have officially started at the university.  One of my jobs here is to help out in three of these classes, comparable to being a TA (teacher's assistant).  Now that classes are rolling, Taylor and I have already had requests from students for weekly or biweekly English appointments.  That's fantastic and will hopefully generate more Italian friendships, as team members have seen in the past years.

    To enjoy our last bit of beautiful weather before the rainy season and take a break between busy days of work,  three of the girls I hosted in Athens coordinated a picnic day on Saturday for us.  Sara, Silvia, Manuela and I have been trying to get together as a group since I arrived, so that was fun and a great opportunity for some pleasantly surprising conversations.  It was funny because we went to this park on the outskirts of the city, away from tourists, but somehow stumbled upon a gladiator festival.  Only in Rome, right?  Even better, the Romans the event attracted had trouble themselves understanding the re-enacters (accents vary greatly across Italy, and these ‘gladiators’ had strong Milanese accents), so for once I wasn’t the only one struggling with interpretation!

One of the fights we saw, with lots of Italian smack talk in the process