My passport

When I was younger I used to wish for a passport full of stamps.

Today on my way to the airport I was glancing at my passport and I realized it is almost full. I remember wishing for a full passport when I was a kid. I remember looking at my dad’s passport and pondering all the places in the world that I have never seen. After fifteen years and an unexpected life later my prayer was answered. My passport is full of memories. My Italian visa, stamps from France, England (after dating Nickja from London half my passport is filled with stamps to england), Ireland, Germany, Switzerland and of course Italy. Each stamp has so many memories. I had so much fun looking back and reminiscing (rammentando) of my adventures.

I have left Italy. It has been heart-wrenching.

Will my clothes ever dry?

I am getting ready to leave and I am for once in my life starting early to pack and to get ready. Usually, I wait until the very last minute. I can't tell if it is because I am excited or if I have unexpectedly lost my procrastination. (Probably because I am excited). So, on Sunday I sorted through all the clothes I brought here. I have to wash everything in advance because it takes days to dry clothes here in Italy in the winter. There are no clothes dryers so everything is put up on a line. It is so humid here that nothing dries ever. My clothes have been on the line for three days and still not dry. I have to pack on Thursday, in two days and have no hope that they will be dry. I just don't know what to do at this point. I have started to bring clothing in and put them over all the furnaces but the state controls the furnaces and they only come on for a few hours a day and usually my timing is off.

Fashions shows are prime time viewing

I am really going to miss being in Italy these next few months. A part of me feels Italianized. I drink warm milk now for breakfast. When I was in England for one week, I was dying for a plate of pasta. I don’t like to eat on the run any more. I think in Italian and I dream in Italian. I wear a nightgown just like they do. I embrace their crazy ideas. I can argue and fight in Italian. I express my opinion even if it is against everyone else’s (something that is very Italian). I even got my own Italian mullet. I love watching soccer with them. I will miss it and as I am getting ready to say good-bye I am feeling quite sad.

I love doing artsy things. I feel like I have a real creative side to me that I just love to express. I love clothes; to me fashion is an art. Whether you are wearing a designer Gucci dress or designer jeans to a skirt off from the street markets, fashion is an art that people wear. So many people think that it is superficial or material but honestly it is a type of art that everyone gets to experience every morning. I love it! I love opening my closet (which has no designer, actually a tiny bit) and picking out what I am going to wear that day. Sometimes, I try to think of all the details from my clothes, accessories even down to my shoelaces. It is an art. Sometimes, I don’t have to think at all. This is the beauty of this type of art. Today in church I wore red shoes, a black shirt, a smart black button-up with a green vest and a purple scarf tied in the classic Italian fashion. I have seriously enjoyed this fall in Italy as I think the Italians have an innate sense of fashion. I love that in Italy fashion shows are considered primetime viewing and you can get your own fashion show just sitting in a bar and drinking my glass of warm milk. Italians just seem to get it right. Sitting in a piazza you can see such extreme styles. You can see the giovani or the young kids wearing a variety of styles. They usually wear short skirts with boots and tights accompanied by a tight leather jacket. They have the most extreme hair styles, very textured and very sleek. Even the old people in Italy take part. They are so put together. They only leave the house with their best on. They are much more formal. It is not uncommon to see elderly Italian women with fur coats and high gloves on the city buses. Since there are many ways of being stylish in Italy and I love a country that accepts that with open arms.


My favorite quote from the devil wears prada:



Miranda: I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean. You're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn't it, who showed cerulean military jackets? And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff.

There are so many gypsies in Italy. They are everywhere. I was in Florence giving a tour and a gypsie came up and asked my group and me for money. No one understand her except me because she spoke in Italian. She was just under five feet tall, had not showered and carried an old plastic cup with a weathered picture of Christ. This is a common occurance here in Italy. In my mission we were not allowed to give money because we used the consecrated money but now I could give money if I wanted. I rarely gave (yes, past tense) money for many reasons but that has now changed. This last gypsie who asked me money changed my life. In response to her question, I said "I'm sorry I don't have any money either." I feel content becasue I don't have work and I am very poor right now so it really is not lie. Usually this gets them to walk away without continuing and pressing. But this woman instead, took my hand and emptied her money that she had received that day. She gave me all her money she got that day. She looked at me and smiled and walked away. I was left there shocked, actually frozen or stunned. I could not believe what she did for me. I did not need her money as bad as maybe she did but she touched me in a way that no one ever has. I ran after her and said, "Listen I really don't need your money." She ssid to me, "Just as people help me I want to help other people." I was so touched by her and she would not take that money. With tearfilled eyes, I turned and faced my tour group and explained what just happened.

Yesterday in church there was a Halloween party. Well, as Halloween as you can get here in Italy. The missionaries organized it to take place just after english class so we could have alot of non members there. We went to the American base and bought Mountain Dew, Rootbeer, Grape soda, and Reeses Peanut Butter cups. There were pumpkins (also from the American base) that we carved. The party started slowly. I looked around and saw that everyone was just kind of standing around. I lead a group of people in dancing the Thriller. It was hysterical me leading a bunch of italians in dancing the thriller, acting like zombies. After that I kind of took control because no one else was. Then we bobbed for apples, played the egg on a spoon game, limbo and of course, something most italians love is line dancing. It was hysterical. Today, I have such a desire to watch a scary movie as it is Halloween. In Italy, they have started dressing up for Halloween but they only have the scary costumes. No spidermen or batmen only goblins, witches and zombies. It is much more graphic than our Halloween.

I come back to America in nine days and I could not be happier. I think it is easy for me to leave Italy now because I know that I will be coming back in January. If I was not coming back in January I would be devasted leaving at this point. I can't wait to be with my family. I love more than anything doing the simple things with them. I love doing errands with my Mom and Dad. I love driving my dad's car with Heather and Courtney and singing at the top of our lungs. I am so excited also because I will watch Star Wars with my brother Tyler. I found out that Brooke and Grant are coming home for Thanksgiving! I am so excited. I love my family and can't wait to be with them.

The backbone of the GOP

I love election time! The fact that after 200 years we are still using the same electoral process gives me such pride. So many countries have changed their electoral process in the past 100 years, the fact that we are still firm in our convictions that the founding fathers set up gives me such a defining sense of pride.

I developed a passion for it in 6th grade when we did a mock election with all of the fifth and sixth graders. I carried the electoral votes for Texas (I got really lucky). The candidates had to really butter me up to get my 34 electoral votes. It taught a 6th grader so many lessons about politics and elections. Ever since then my passion has truly lied in the same area, political science, history and economics. All are intertwined.

As I am trying to follow the election process now from a foreign country I am constrained to see everything from the internet. I have to be aware the different biases that each major websites carry. I did see a debate from Michigan and I was shocked to have seen that the Republican part has lost touch with its rich roots in the middle-class families. These roots run deep starting with Alexander Hamiliton followed by Abraham Lincoln and even up until Reagan.

I would think that every republican would start by putting themselves at the kitchen tables of middle-class families with ambitious kids. Their first questions would be: What are the barriers to their mobility? What concrete help do these people need to realize their dreams?

At this economic debate in Michigan this week, there was no talk of that. Instead they addressed, free trade, lower taxes and reduced spending. They talked a lot about the line-item veto and the Chinese currency. But there was almost nothing that touched concretely on the lives of the ambitious working-class parents who are the backbone of the GOP.

Sometimes the candidates seemed more concerned with massaging the pleasure buttons of the Club for Growth than addressing the real concerns of the middle class. They talked far more about cutting corporate taxes, for example, than about a child tax credit for struggling families.

At other times, they sounded as if they were running for a ceremonial post. The person who is elected president will need concrete proposals, but the GOP contenders scarcely have them. Mike Huckabee has some sketchy plans. John McCain answered one element of middle-class anxiety on Thursday with his new health care plan. Others seem to have decided concrete proposals are for geeks.

It has lost intimate contact with the working-class dreamer who longs to make good, the very backbone of the GOP itself.

Instead, this ground is being seized by a Democrat. Hillary Clinton has specific policy programs for members of the aspiring middle class. This shows great understanding and insight on her part. As she attains these essential votes she is positing herself very well for 2008. Under the Clinton plan, if a family making up to $60,000 a year put $1,000 into a new 401(k) account, they would get a $1,000 matching tax credit. The plan would create millions of new investors. Struggling families could choose mutual fund options and participate in the capital markets. They'd be encouraged to move away from a month-to-month mentality to a saving-for-the-future mentality.

Clinton's plan poaches on economic values that used to be associated with the Republican Party. This is why I think nowadays you can’t vote for a party, you vote for a person. Moreover, it undermines the populist worldview that is building on the left of her party. Instead of railing against globalization and the economic royalists, Clinton gives working people access to Wall Street and a way to profit from the global economy.

She will just have to secure the electoral votes of the correct states, such as California, Texas, Florida and of course, Ohio. Once representing Texas, I understand how imperative it is to secure it. I am not making a stance for Hillary. I truly don't think I will vote for her but I am just wanting to state my observations. I have not decided as of yet who will receive my vote.

Added on January 7, 2008. I am not supporting Hillary this was just an observation. I will not support Hillary.

Venezia, la mattina

When I travel I like to see each city at varying times during the day; early in the morning, lunch time, and of course the night. I have fallen in love with Venice. More accurately, I love Venice in the morning. Quite a romance has developed, I feel loved every time I go to Venice and I love Venice. It is a true love affair. There is nothing like Venice in the entire world. There are no cars in the city. For this reason it is the quietest city in the world. The whole city revolves around its location, meaning the canals. The mode of transportation is by boats. Try to imagine life without a car in the city. Mail, trash, ambulances and so much more are all parts of this culture that vary a great deal from other cultures. Because these are big projects that need to be completed these are all completed before anyone wakes up in the morning. Venice at 4 am is my favorite and I mean absolutely favorite place in the world. Mail is all delivered by boat to the correct neighborhood and is transported by hand until the actual address. Mailmen start work at 4:30 in the morning there. Most Venetians receive their mail very early in the morning. I still don't know how packages work yet? The next time I go I will have to make sure to ask. All the trash has to be brought out of the city by hand. The trash men don't drive trucks. They bring all the trash from the dumpsters to the nearest canal where depending on the amount is taken away in boat. I saw the trash men trying to drag an old desk which was thrown out. They had to transport this desk all the way to the canal where I am sure they had to call a bigger boat to come and get it. Venice is also the cleanest Italian city. They take very good care of the city. Every morning at about 6:00 am the city cleaners come out. They start with the streets; every street is swept and groomed. They then work their way eventually to the trash, bridges, and boats. They clean every ''waterbus stop.'' One of my favorite things to do in Venice is get lost, which is not hard. Every street ends in a different branch of the canals. It is virtually impossible to find your way around. Every little street in Venice leads you to a random canal where unless you want to swim across forces you inevitably turn around. I have been wanting to describe Venice for so long and I also want to explain my favorite other city. Piano piano.

Today was Sunday. It was the first sunday that I did not go to church in years. I am so sick. I have so much to write but today I just want to say that I missed church so much. Also, today was my first day with my new calling. I am the ward organist and my first day I had to find a replacement. I wanted to include a picture for a few days of the uber sleek school buses here in Italy.