Well it’s been a few days since I’ve written. I guess it’s good because I’ve been busy and having an incredible time. It’s kind of sad to think that my days here (for this year) are winding down. It’s now less than a month before I’m back in Henderson. It will be nice. I have a lot of friends I’m excited to see and also my sisters and their husbands and their kids. I’ve learned a lot while over here. Mainly just the simple lifestyle. I’m excited to get back to the states and implement what I’ve learned into my American lifestyle. I’m excited about living simple in a society that pressures you to work to make money just so you can spend it. I know money is a necessity but I also feel like being over here has taught me that it’s not everything. Make enough to pay the bills but live life so as to enjoy it.

Sunday morning after church we took off for Pompei and Sorrento. After a 6 hour drive we got to the beautiful city of Sorrento just in time see the sun set over a beautiful city. As we dropped everyone off at the hotel a car trying to pass the bus while parked hit the back corner and scrapped up the bus and tore apart his rental car. It was an old British couple that had just gotten to Italy so I felt really bad. However, he did get renters insurance so they will be just fine. I spend an hour translating for them and Giorgio, our bus driver. We got all the paperwork done and then I walked into town and met up with Mom, Dad, and the boys. Monday morning at 8 we all got on the bus and drove to Pompei and spent the entire morning and part of the afternoon touring the ancient city. It’s truly amazing how one little city can be completely covered by a volcano. The archeologists found cavities where people had been laying when they were covered by the lava. They poured liquid cement and have plaster casts of the bodies in various positions. It was really amazing. A couple of them were mothers and fathers covering up their kids as the lava poured over them. They didn’t have time to escape. Monday afternoon we went back to Sorrento and most took a nap before heading out after dinner. Andrew Jenkins, Sarah Holt, James Cook, Neil Hillis, and Ryan Bush and I all went down to the port and had fun goofing around near the pier. There was also some pretty amazing ice cream in Sorrento so of course I took advantage of that several times.

Tuesday morning, due to the fact that 4 people got food poisoning we headed back to Citerna around 7am and got in around 2. Most people studied for the big Italian test and rested that afternoon before an incredible dinner here at Sobaria. The food here is simply amazing and I’m really going to miss it when I head back to the states. Tuesday night we played calcietto. This is the Italian word for mini soccer (6 versus 6). We rent a little soccer field that has lights and make 3 teams of 6 people and whatever team scores stays on the field and plays against the other team. It was raining and the clouds were riding low so the field was cloudy and it was just simply incredible. It was a lot of fun just being out and having a good time playing soccer. It was also a nice stress relieve for most of the students since they had been studying most of the week getting ready for the big Italian test. Last night we had our Halloween dinner. Mom made 2 huge pots of Chili with Cheese and we hat hot apple cider as everyone, including Dad and Dr Hicks, bobbed for apples and carved pumpkins. There are some pretty talented artists in the group.

I got several great answers to my question that I posed last time and here’s one that I though stuck out pretty well so I thought I’d share it with you. It’s from my older sister Katie.

“In my opinion, the best way to show you care is different with each person, which is why the ultimate compliment you can pay a person is to really pay attention to them and what they need and enjoy. I read a book once called "The 5 Love Languages" that talked about the idea that there are different ways of showing love and we all have preferences and sometimes our problem is that we show love in the way that we want to receive it and not in the way that the other person wants it. For example, I'm not a big touchy feely give me lots of compliments and cheesy showy stuff person. On the other hand, Tim is. I feel most loved when someone just spends time with me doing the things I love and just being there and really listening. When we first started dating, Tim was always writing poems and bringing me flowers, and though that was sweet, it didn't mean near as much to me as simply spending time together. Over the years Tim and have really learned to give each other what the other needs and not what our first instinct is. If you watch Mom and Dad, they do the same. Dad showers Mom with favorite little things while Mom maintains the home that Dad really needs to come home to. They've learned the things that matter to each other. I think this applies to all relationships, whether it be dating, family, or friends. The secret to caring is unselfishness and thoughtfulness. It's paying attention to everything a person says or even their facial expressions until you understand what means most to them. It's remembering the little details that show you're doing this for them, not for you. “

What a great reminder to us all.

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so I was thinking about my past and some of the good memories and this one came to my head. When I was 12 we were still living at the Villa in Florence, Italy. A new group had just arrived and I decided to set out on a quest....to build a regulation size soccer goal out of empty coke cans. The Villa was equipped with a coke machine used by students therefor the collection of Coke cans would be quite easy. I simply set out a couple boxes next to the machine and also around the Villa. After a month of saving i finally had enough. I then acquired (stole from my dads office) several roles of clear packing tape. It was important that the tape be clear or the logos on the coke cans would be covered. I then started building. It took me several hours of taping to build my massive soccer goal. I built it in pieces then moved it out onto the tennis court where brother (brandon) and i played soccer. He came out as I was finishing up the taping, with a ball at his foot. I told him not to shoot. He responded with a "hurry up, i want to shoot on you". I finished taping and slowly ran towards him so as to persuad him not to shoot yet, i wasn't ready, and I wanted to look at what I had worked so hard to build. There it was, in all it's glory. Fanta cans, coke cans, diet coke cans....the list goes on. It was beautiful! We then said we would take turns taking shots. He got the first. I got in between the pipes (cans). He stepped back and slowly ran forwards....i faked left then started to dive right...he hit the ball....i had guessed the right side but it was going wider than I could reach....I watched the ball flying through the air, cutting the wind....until finally it struck the post. Now if you are picturing this in your head, imagine a shot going about 50 miles an hour hitting a soccer goal made out of empty coke cans. The goal bent over in half. We performed surgery for 10 minutes and got it standing again but over the next couple weeks my brother and i hit the post many, many times. The goal lasted, and it was amazing while it did. I'm considering building a new one. Ahhhh. what great memories!

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great week so far. I know some are busy with tests and some are recovering from pledge week last week. I bid you all a good night.

Buona notte

the Pumpkin Brother and I carved...

 Well another day down in Citerna. I got up and led singing in chapel and then worked on some stuff for Dad until lunch. After lunch I drove some people down to the bus station but they missed the bus. So, I ended up driving them the thirty minute drive to Arezzo. I hung out in Arezzo for a bit before driving back and relaxing until dinner time. After dinner me and 17 others climbed into the van and drove to the mini soccer field and played for two hours. It was awesome. Soccer, under the lights, in Italy; It doesn’t get much better. Tomorrow will probably be just like today except we’ll play soccer after lunch. I’ve been really pleased with the amount of soccer that I’ve gotten to play. Playing with the students is more for fun and also getting to practice with A.S.C. Citerna helps me get better and work on speed and skills and such. The students are always asking to play so I’m more than happy to organize.

 I think I might start watching more. I sometimes get the feeling that people get frustrated with me playing and that takes away the fun for me.  It’s supposed t be about the students and I want t to be about them. So, if any of you read this, and you’ve gotten frustrated with me playing, I’m sorry. I’ll try to be better.

So here’s a question that I present to anyone that might have time to  share their thoughts with me. You can either send me a private message  or just comment. Either or works.

What is the best way to show someone that you care? This could be someone that you see every day or someone that you don’t get to see very often. What’s the best way to show someone you are dating that you care? And what about someone that you aren’t dating?

That’s one question written out in several short ones. Just looking for some stories from other relationships, ideas for future relationships, and simply wanting to enjoy sweet moments in people’s lives.

Have a great night everyone.

Well it’s been another very nice and peaceful couple of days. I’ve been sick so therefore spending a lot of time in my room. A couple days ago a couple front came and by Italian law we still weren’t allowed to turn the gas heat on. They are strange about that kind of thing. We had to get special permission to get it turned on yesterday instead of November 1^st which is the first date you are supposed to have it on. I’m pretty sure that I got sick because it was so cold in my room. Then Piera, the manager of the hotel, got me a space heater for my room which is amazing. I turned it on Sunday night and then Monday morning they turned the regular heaters in the hotel on so when I woke up Monday morning my room was burning up, and I love it. The rest of the hotel is chilled but I know that at night when I go back to my room there is going to be a heat wave awaiting. It’s 15 minutes until midnight and the hotel is pretty quiet. Most of the students are still pretty worn out from free travel and or are doing Italian class homework that’s due in the morning. Today I pretty much stayed in my room until lunch. After lunch I played with Christian and Grandma and Grandpa Simpson for a bit then went downstairs and read for a bit. I also made a couple trips during the afternoon down to Monterchi to take students to the bus station. For those of you that don’t know we live in Citerna which is about 1500 feet up on a hill. The closest bus stop is a 7 minute drive down the hill. This is a serious hill! My 9 passenger van has a difficult time making it up, even in first gear. Tonight I drove 6 girls to the Mexican restaurant in Citta Di Castello and then I went to soccer practice. Practice was really good. We only ran for a little bit tonight. Just a bunch of full field sprints and then we played. I had a goal and a couple assists but felt very much “under the weather” so I didn’t feel like I played that well. Anyway, it’s time to shut down the hotel and get all the lights out. I hope you all are having a great day back in America.

well, it has been 963 days since I joined Xanga and once again I find myself restarting to write on it. Last night in a moment of serenity i re-read every entry since I' started writing on Xanga back in March 2005. It was back right as the whole soccer thing at Freed-Hardeman blew up that I started keeping track of my every day thoughts. Some are pretty stupid and noone cares about but some impacted people lives (including my own) and that's why I've decided to start again. Many of you know Mark Elrod. He teaches at Harding and has an incredible blog that I read very often. To be honest I only go about once a month to his site. Here is my reasoning behind it. I used to check every day. He has a lot of useful and also useless information. But I would get upset that there had only been one past each day. I therefor decided I would rather wait and have 20-25 posts to read at one time. Anyway, life has been very up and down since my last post. I'm no longer in a relationship, no longer working at Dell, no working living in Nashville, and for that matter, not even living in the United States. So as most of you know, I'm working with Freed-Hardemans Internation program in Citerna, Italy. It's been incredible so far and we're still lacking the second half of the semester. The students are on free travel until tomorrow night. Most get back tomorrow night around 8:30 and the rest around 11. The biggest part of my job is driving students to and from the train station, organizing soccer games, trips to businesses for the business classes, translating, organizing trips, and basically just anything that the Director, aka Father, is too busy to do. I fly back to Henderson Novermber 28th and who knows from there. That's still very much up in the air. I'm currently training with A.S.C. Citerna. They are a 4th division team here in Italy. We are working on getting my player pass together so I can play but it's looking like it'll be next year, if I come back, before I'll be able to play.

I don't even know if anyone else will read this, but I love being able to go back to what was going on in my life two years ago so I figure two years from now i'll feel the same way. Life is good and God in in control. I miss you my friends, old and new. Have a great night!