A few random updates

These are a few random pictures that I wanted to post.  They are kind of old and out of order, but oh well.

This is my friend from high school, Julie Blossom!  She and her boyfriend took an Italian vacation and thanks to getting back in touch through facebook, we were able to meet up in Florence!  It was great to see her, it had only been... 10 years!

The day before we left on our European vacation in June, we went to the final match of the season - Fiorenta v. Milan.  AC Milan is probably the most famous team in Italy (mostly because they are rich) largely due to the big names on the team, including Kaka and David Beckham.  This is our friend Kim from Amsterdam.  She tells us she came to visit us, but we know the truth that she came to see her fantasy boyfriend, Mr. Beckham.

J. watched this game from the field!  He loved being down there and thought it was fun to see the game from a different perspective.  (He kind of blends in with the bald men, but he still sticks out with his white hair - he is right over the "V")

Since it was the last game of the season, the players and staff took a "victory lap" after the match to thank all the fans.  It was fun to see J down there.  This was really funny because most of the players gave away their jerseys to screaming fans... but when the jerseys were gone, they started giving away shorts, undershirts, socks... a number of players left the field wearing only their underwear!

J and the two other doctors waiving to J's biggest fan... ME!

This pictures I got by accident.  I was busy being a proud wife taking pictures my husband, I took this one and Kim asks "oh, good you got a picture of David, did it turn out?"  I said "um, no Kim, I was talking a picture of my husband..."  But sure enough, I got both of them!  J says he didn't even notice David walking 3 feet in front of him!

That night, to celebrate the end of the season, there was a big party for Fiorentina.  It was at this fancy bar and we were given the VIP treatment all night!  There were dancers and singers, it was really fun!

This is a picture of J and the head Dr. - Paolo.  

This is a picture of Martin Jorgensen and J.  Martin is from Denmark and speaks excellent English, so J has gotten to know him pretty well.  He is also the only player with blond hair on the team.  J said that during training camp, the fans would call to him "Jorgensen!! Jorgensen!!!"  They wanted autographs and pictures.  So J went to the fence and said in Italian "I am not Jorgensen, I am his brother!"  So now Martin and J call each other "fratello" (brother).

After our vacation in June we were back in Florence for one night to repack for our trip back to Minnesota.  That night we got together with my friend, Jenny.  She plays flute in Encore with me and was staying in Florence for the month.  It was too bad that we only crossed paths for one night, but it was still fun to see her and her friends in Florence.  

This is a picture of J with some of the staff from Fiorentina.  We all watched the match together and then went out for a beer.  

3 Wonderful Years Together! 

J and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary on August 13th.  This was right in the middle of training camp, but J was able to convince the team to let him come to Florence so we could at least have supper together.  He got to Florence around 8:30 pm and had to leave the next morning at 7, but we were so happy to at least eat together.  We had a wonderful meal at a beautiful and romantic restaurant.  It was a very nice anniversary dinner!

A day at work in the life of J.

For those interested, here is a little glimpse into J's daily life at work.

J. heads to work, with a big wave to his wife.

Walking down our street, Borgo Degli Albizi.  Usually this street is much busier, but this was later in the afternoon during the heat of the day, so most people took refuge in the air conditioning.

Every day J. walks by the beautiful Duomo.  In the summer this has become more of an obstacle course dodging tour groups and lost tourists.  You can see he is wearing his headphones, he does this so the gypsy beggars leave him alone.

Waiting at the bus stop for bus number 17.  It usually comes every 10 minutes, but Italy is notorious for having unpredictable public transportation.  Once J was waiting and waiting for the bus only to find out that the buses were all on strike.  Apparently they strike fairly often, even just for a couple hours.

On the bus.  This trip takes "about" 17 minutes.  J usually has to stand because he gives his seat up for the old Italian women.  The buses are always hot and usually very crowded.  Drivers don't seem to care that people are standing, they start and stop suddenly and try to hit every bump in the road - you must hold on or you get seriously hurt. 

J gets off the bus and walks for about 5 minutes to the Fiorentina stadium.  Right across from the stadium (straight ahead) there is a little bar that is referred to as "the university."  Old Italian men gather here and talk Fiorentina calcio every day, all day.  But when J walks by, they stop talking and stare at him, wondering why this white haired kid goes to the stadium every day. 

J pushes a doorbell to be let in.  There is tight security at the stadium and there are ALWAYS fans waiting outside the gates to see players and get autographs and pictures.  They also look at J strangely and some even ask for is autograph, just because.  

Once in the stadium, J is required to change into his work clothes.  He is number 53 and everything is laid out for him each day - everything from his jersey to his underwear!  

This is J in his treatment area.  This is where he treats all the players.  He tests each player at least every four days to make sure they are in balance and after every game.  He treats the injured players every day.  Right now there is only one injured player, and it is a new player that the team bought 2 days ago.  This player came injured.  So the team is very happy with the results J is having and the players are getting very attached to having him there to fix them.

This is a picture of Mauro.  He is a trainer for the team and helps J do ARP treatments on the players.  Sometimes J has to treat 30 players in 1.5 hours! 

Then J got really busy at work...  so he was not able to take pictures during that time.

After all the treatments, he enters all his treatment notes into the computer to keep track of the progress for the team medical Doctor and also for statistical purposes.

J has to be to work two hours before practice until the end of practice.  Sometimes during practice, J has free time to exercise or study Italian.  Other times he will treat staff members and a few family members - he is in pretty high demand here!  

 On Wednesdays, the team practices two times.  This makes for a long day for J taking the trip to and from the stadium twice.  These days he comes home very tired and sore.

This is J at the end of his day, leaving the room... with a big smile on his face!  The door in the background is J's private locker-room with a shower, bathroom and TV.

Leaving the stadium.  The grass in the background is the field (the pitch) where all the matches take place.

Back on the bus.

Walking back down our street.

Key #1 - the outside door.

Key #2 - main gate to our building

Bypass key #3 by riding the elevator (key #3 takes you up the stairs).

Key #4 - gate for our floor

Key #5 - door to our apartment - the deadbolt locks on all sides of the door (sides, top, bottom).  There is no way someone could "sneak" into our building.

And J is home where his wife is eagerly awaiting his arrival!

Verona

This past weekend (8/8 - 8/9) we traveled to Verona, Italy to spend a weekend in the "cita dell'amore" (the city of love).  Verona is supposedly the city of Romeo and Juliet.  There is really nothing to confirm this however.  In the spirit of things, we stayed at Hotel Giuletta i Romeo.

The main reason for our visit, however, was to see an opera at the arena in Verona.  This is the 3rd largest ancient colosseum in the world.  It was not nearly as big as the Colosseum in Rome, but it was still very impressive. 

The arena was an amazing setting for the opera, Aida.  We are not huge opera fans, but this was no ordinary opera.  Everything about the show was extravagant and over-the-top.  They even had bowing horses... it was all very crazy!  It must have been all of the action because this opera held our attention for 4 hours!!  By the time the show ended, it was after 1 am!

Before the show starts, it is tradition that everyone lights a candle.  It makes for a really beautiful sight!

The next day, we set out to walk around Verona.  Unfortunately, it was really hot and crowded.  We managed to get into what is supposedly Juliet's courtyard.  Yes, this is a pictures of J feeling up Juliet... it's ok, I did it too!  Now, according to legend, we will stay lucky in love!

We ate lunch at a great little restaurant and had a nice time sampling a few different kinds of regional wines.  Verona is a nice city to wander around.  We really enjoyed finding nice places to rest in the shade!  

We had a nice weekend together in Verona.  J left the following day to go back to Mugello for training camp.  Hopefully this time will go quickly so our lives can get back to "normal" and we can actually see each other on a daily basis!

Back to Florence and Visitors!

I arrived back in Italy and somehow managed to drag my really, really heavy bag from Pisa to Florence alone.  J arrived in Florence later in the day, it was good to hang out after being apart for 3 weeks.  

The next afternoon we met up with our friends Fabio and Veronica.  We originally met them while they were in Minnesota being treated at J's clinic.  They live in Milan, but Veronica was transfered to Sydney, Australia just before our vacation here last summer.  So, they were back in Italy for their summer break and we were happy to meet up for an afternoon!

That same evening, we went to the train station to pick up my friend from college, Nikki, and her nursing friend, Jen.  We had a great dinner with everyone!

The next day (with J back at training camp) Nikki, Jen and I went on a castle wine tour in the chianti region.  It was absolutely beautiful landscape and the wine was fantastic.  We all had a great time.  We also got to taste olive oil, and I am sure this was the best olive oil I have ever had!

View from inside the courtyard. 

The next morning, we woke up early (before the heat set in) and walked up the hill to Michelangelo's Piazza to take in the gorgeous view of Florence.  

That afternoon Jen and Nikki went to the Uffizi while I tried to catch my breath after a whirlwind "welcome back to Florence."  Nikki and Jen went to Milan that evening to see other friends.

That night, J was in Florence for a friendly match with Fiorentina.  I went to the stadium and at least got to sit with J for the second half of the game.  Before the game started they officially announced the 2009-2010 team.  So J was down on the field officially being introduced to the Fiorentina fans.  The announcer absolutely butchered "Pietila" but it was still pretty cool to see J down there.  He definitely stuck out with his white hair!

After the game, J was required to go back to training camp with the team.  He is about 40 minutes away from Florence, but he has to stay there all week.  He only has a few days off throughout the entire 2 months of training camp.  It is pretty hard on him, and it is difficult for both of us to be apart from each other for so long.  

This is a picture of J at the first training camp.  This one was held in the Dolomites, which are the Alps northern Italy.  He said it was really beautiful there.  Hopefully, we can go there together someday.  I would like to see it too!

Summer Re-cap

Hello all!  Sorry to anyone who has been missing our updates on the blog.  After a "hiatus" in Minnesota for the summer, we are now back safe and sound in Italy to begin the season.  

We had a really nice time in Minnesota, although our time there went by too quickly.  J spent most of his time working at his clinic giving vacation time to the Dr who is running the clinic while he is away.

We of course had a wonderful time seeing our family and friends.  We were able to go to Lake Park to help celebrate J's parent's 40th wedding anniversary.  It was fun to see so many family members, and we had a good time telling everyone about our life in Italy.

John giving Connie and Caleb a ride on the mower getting ready for the big party!

We stayed with my parents in Bloomington since we have 2 chiropractic students renting our house.  It was really weird to see people living in our house and having to knock before we went in, but it was also great to stay with my parents and help out.  My mom had her last round of chemo while we were there.  She got excellent news from her Dr that her most recent scan showed NO evidence of cancer!!  We were thrilled with the results, and we were happy to be around to celebrate.

We had a wonderful time with our little baby Buster.  It is so hard being away from him, but we know that he is very well taken care of by my parents.  I am worried that they are getting too attached to him though.  I keep reminding them that we will be taking Buster back when we move back to Minnesota!  

J. had to return to Italy at the beginning of July to start training camp with Fiorentina.  I chose to stay in Minnesota for a few more weeks since he would be away with the team.

I was able to take a trip to Las Vegas for my good friend Laura's bachelorette party!  The nine of us girls had such a great time.  The only bad part was that it was SOOO hot!!  Just walking from one place to the other drained us!  We spent a lot of time by (and in) the pool!

One night we got a limo and took a ride all along the strip!  Of course, it was a blast!!

After my fun time in Las Vegas, I took a plane directly to New Mexico to get my chili fix!  Oh yeah, I also went to visit my brother and for my 10 year high school reunion (gasp!!)  I stayed with my brother in Albuquerque and rented a car for the very first time (I guess it is official, I am an adult...)  Andrew just stared his chief year of residency, so he was really busy and unfortunately I didn't get to spend much time with him.  We were able to go out for some good meals together and I got plenty of chili (my mouth is watering just thinking about all the yummy things I ate!)

Being back in New Mexico sure made me miss it even more.  It had been so long since I had been in the state and even longer since I had been up to Los Alamos.  I definitely missed the beautiful landscape.

On the day of the reunion, I drove to Santa Fe to meet my great friend Johnny and his wife at my favorite restaurant, Tomasitas.  It was so so yummy!!  It was so fun to see Johnny and Yindra again and we had a good time hanging out and wandering around Santa Fe.  Then we headed to Gabriels for the reunion.  It was a pretty small turn out for the supper, but it was really fun to see some people I haven't seen in, well - 10 years!

Then the following morning we went up into the Jemez to a beautiful campsite to hangout.  It was a really small group, but we all had a great time catching up.  

After a fun week in NM, I flew back to MN to spend a couple more days with my family and friends before heading back to Italy.  It was a wonderful "summer break" and it was difficult to leave.