Italy 2: Into Alassio

Alassio was the nearest town to the campground we where staying in. In the early afternoon we made the trip down the mountain from our campground to the main office to buy a bus ticket because if you bought them ahead of time the ticket was half the price. When we arrived at the office then attendant told us that the bus to Alassio was ‘finished’ for the day. This seemed very odd and we were quite disappointed by this fact and mused about what to do. As we were trying to figure out an action plan we say a bus go by headed to Alassio. We decided that we did not trust the attendant, so we would just ‘buy a ticket for tomorrow’ and then wait for the next bus heading into Alassio. Leona went to buy the ticket and the attendant told her that the tickets for tomorrow we also ‘finished’. We then realized that the attendant was using the word ‘finished’ to mean ‘sold out’. So we went and waited at the bus stop and paid the cash price. Good thing we did not walk up the mountain back to the campground.

The bus stop is on the main road, when I say on the road that is exactly what I mean. You are standing on the shoulder of the highway just enough space to make sure that your toes do not get run over. I do not think there is more than 50 cms between the wall and the white line. The bus came quickly enough and we made the short trip into the city. The economy of the town seemed to be dependant on tourism, but it appeared that most of the tourist who were there were Italian. We walked around the main sections of the city and along the way stopped off at a tourism office. Overall there was not too much historical artifacts to see in the city, but Rome was the next stop so that did not trouble us too much. We had supper at one of the restaurants along the water. It was nice. I had pizza and Leona had bruschetta. The crust of the pizza was crisp on the edges but doughy in the centre. The cheese was what really made the pizza good. We then caught the bus back to the campground. I was a little worried about getting the right stop as the highway was quite dark and did not want to end up in Albenga (the next city) so we sat at the front of the bus. We successfully got off on the right stop and made trek up the mountain.

Next post: Rome

Italy 1: Well first to Switzerland and then to Italy

The trip to Italy was excellent. I am going to blog about it over the next little while (maybe a week or so) to offer some of the highlights. We left on Saturday (August 23) and drove to a camping place in Switzerland that is located on the Genfer See (Lac Leman in French, as it is in the French part of Switzerland). We arrived at the camp ground fairly late on in the evening as we were somewhat tardy in leaving Freiburg. The drive was good, but we forgot to change the settings on the Navi system to main highways so it lead us on the side street route. We pulled over and changed it, but still had problems when we crossed into Switzerland because we also forgot take off the avoid tolls command. To drive on the highways in Switzerland you need a toll sticker, a yearly expense, but the Navi considers that a toll so it gave us some weird route to take. We basically just followed the signs to Geneva and then changed it on the way. After we arrived we went to the restaurant at the camp ground. Paying the bill was interesting as we forgot (it seems that I am saying 'we forgot' a lot so far) to pick up a couple Swiss Francs to pay with when in Switzerland. We did not get a very good exchange rate for our Euros. The camp ground was nice, nothing too special. I am not sure whether this was a year end party or just a regular Saturday night at the camp ground, but there was a dance party going on with a live band. It was very funny... one guy was in full Scottish gear and doing some sort of swan dance in the aisle.

We left in good time on Sunday morning and headed to Italy. The drive was quite something as we drove through the Swiss Alps into the Italian Alps. We looked it up after we got back and the highest point in the Alps is higher than the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia. At times as we circled the mountains it appears as if we were about to drive off the edge of the road, but then the road would take a 120 degree turn and we would ascend/descend again. At one point I had to pass a guy riding a bike with oncoming traffic, not much space left on either side. There were numerous tunnels on the way to Italy and the Swiss tunnels looked well taken care of and clean. Not so much when you cross the border as the tunnels become dirtier and appear that little bit more suspect. When we made it to Genova we drove along the Mediterranean in the direction of France. The view was very nice as we were not that far from the water through out most of the trip. We had made reservation at a camp ground called Monti e Mare (MeM) just outside of Alassio. We missed it the first time by as the sign said Monti e Mare apartments. The road to the MeM apartments looked as if we drove up a hill were there was no space for campers. When we came to Alassio Leona went down the street looking for someone who she could ask were is the camp ground. I illegally parked in a Bus stop at the side of the road. Luckily Leona found someone who pointed us back 3 kms and we did not get a ticket or get bumped out of the way by a bus. In Canada (at least in main cities, or the cities I have driven in) it is often that three rights and a left (or three lefts and a right) allow you to go back the way you came. Not so easily done in these small Italian villages, and European streets often do not operate on a grid system. It took some time, and some narrow two way (but really more like one and a half) streets to get us going back toward the direction of the camp ground.

It turned out to be the MeM apartments, as we discovered that the camp ground was more of an after thought as most of the places were 'movable' campers that were lived in all summer or perhaps all year round (like Wesley Acres). There were only seven spots for campers. When we pulled up, relieved to be at the camp ground, the receptionist said, "We [are] full!" I responded, "We have reservations!...?" It turned out that we did not have reservations, not sure what happened, but I am sure it was on there end. Anyways, I started looking in the camper book to see what our options were, but Leona, resolve as ever, did not take 'No' as answer and said, "You need to find some place for us to stay for just tonight at least." The receptionist had Leona hop on the back of her Vespa and they drove up the hill to see what they could see. They returned having discovered a spot that we could station ourselves for the evening. The next morning we walked down, it is quite the work out going up and down the hill as it winds back and forth and is pretty steep, and talked to a different receptionist who told us that someone had just left and we could move to their vacated spot. The view from the camping spot was excellent, very nice to enjoy coffee from. We spent the rest of the day at the beach getting burned...

Next posts: "Into Alassio."

Road Trip - Italy

There have been no new posts lately because life has been pretty hectic here, or maybe more accurately I have been to lazy to update the blog. Well it seems that every time I think I have handed in my last form there is another of waiting to be filled out. I have completed the admittance procedures at the Uni, but still have to wait until Sept. 22 to get my student card and register for my classes, this requires a couple more forms. Oh well, such is the German system.

Now for something you will really like (wink: Rocky and Bullwinkle)... we are off to Italy tomorrow. We will be driving in a Ford Nugget van which has its own kitchen and sleep quarters. Very excited about the trip. Here is a sketch of what we will do, but you never know what way the wind will blow. When we get back I will fill in the details. We are going to drive to close to Geneva and park over night near a lake that is there, I think there is like 17 different names for it (which is the problem in Europe sometimes because you have the name for the place in the predominant language[s] of country, the butchered English translation and all the surrounding countries call it something else in their language). From there we will head to a camp ground in Alassio which is midway between Monaco and Genova and right on the Mediterranean Sea. We will stay there for 4ish nights. The next destination is Rome. We are going to stay at a camping parkplace just outside of the city which has a shuttle bus to a train which brings you to the old city centre. We are planning to stay there for another 4 days. I think this is the part of the trip that I (Christopher) am most excited about. Mostly because the Apostle Paul was there and even thought his footprint will be underneath levels of dust it is still will be standing where he was 2000 years ago (Of course Israel would be the best destination for nostalgia such as this, but you can't do everything at once). There are also countless other historical sites which will be captivating. After we finish our trip to Rome, we will head back north and stop at a camp ground in Tuscany in a city called Viareggio. There we are about 1.5 km from another beach which faces the Mediterranean Sea. Here we will spend another 4ish nights maxing and relaxing.

So hopefully I have not lost all our readership because of not posting enough. After we get back I will have lots to write about.

Universität Freiburg - One

So I had my first Doctoral Supervision meeting at Universität Freiburg with Prof. Dr. Irsigler. I had received notice a couple days earlier that I had successfully passed the evaluation and was accept as a Doctoral student. For a German student this process would have been done after two years, but for internationals they make sure that you will be allowed to graduate before you move to a different country. I had received tentative acceptance and was pretty sure that the full would come, but it is nice to have confirmation.

The meeting was good and were able to discuss my area of research for the future. It has been refined some from the Book of Twelve theme I was going to work on. It is now directed more broadly to post-captivity writings (Second Isaiah, Third Isaiah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, and some Psalms) and the influence of Zephaniah as a bridge between the two periods. I will also be looking at the treatment of the poor and humble in this time period. The meeting was done half in German and half in English. He spoke German slowly and tired to use basic vocabulary and I spoke English. It was a good challenge for me and also an encouragement that I was able to follow and understand.

(Note: The picture insert has me standing in front of the building of Theologie Fakultät which is on the third and fourth floors.)

Doors are opening

The last month has been exciting but also difficult. It is now settling in that we are staying here and that we are not just on vacation. We have been trying to figure out what our life here will look like but it seems that patience really is a virtue. A virtue I do not have.

Before we left Canada I contacted my former boss, Laurie, and asked if World Relief Canada (WRC) had some contract work for me that I could do from Germany. While in Kenya I took a class on Sustainable Development and I was sad that I was not part of the relief and development (R&D) field anymore. Laurie had just heard about a job opening at Integral Alliance in England that did not require going into the office. I applied a couple of weeks ago and after the interviewing process was offered the position this week. It is an administrative position for the office of a global alliance of relief and development agencies (www.integralalliance.org). I am very excited to continue working in this field. I have learned so much at WRC and am thrilled to now be exposed to the international R&D community. So the pieces are coming together and life is becoming more normal.

Opfinger See (Lake) Bike Trip- Freiburg

The title sounds a lot more glamorous than the trip actually was, but it was a great way to spend the afternoon yesterday. The bike path system in Freiburg is excellent. You can “not just survive, but thrive” without a car (the quotation marks are from a title for a seniors’ group seminar at the United Church I worked at). It was a rainy sort of day but we did not let that stop us. There is a town outside of Freiburg that is about 5 kms to the west called Opfingen. Between here and there is a lake (some may say it resembles a large pond more than a lake) and we thought we would go there to check it out. There is a small lake that is really close to where we live, but it is not the swimming kind. It is nice to sit at, but we were hoping for something a little grander. The Opfinger See was not that exciting from a lake prespective but there is a very good bike path which goes all around the lake. If we had brought a blanket we would have sat and read for a little but since it rained earlier that day we decide against it. Then on the way back home we passed a Zoo/Farm which appeared to make up the entire town which was called Mundenhof. To our pleasure there was a really nice Biergarten there where we could sit and relax for a little while. So the cycle was about 15 or so kms long and we used plenty of energy. I think I managed the 1h30m of exercise recommended by Dr. Mai (Wink: Aaron).

Settling in Freiburg and visiting Köln

So it has been almost three weeks since I last wrote on here. Monday morning will mark the end of the third week in Germany. So far not much culture shocking or reverse-culture shocking, but I am sure that will come. The first week in Freiburg was filled with running around to different government offices. Registering as a resident of Freiburg was easy, but that was the only easy things so far. Everything else has been pretty complicated. Most of the people who are working the information desks seem to be clueless and instead have given either wrong information or no information at all. Oh well… things will be in order soon enough.

We were up in Köln (Cologne) last weekend to visit Leona’s brother. We had a good time up there. Everybody in Freiburg bikes and in a lot of cases it takes less time to bike somewhere than it does to drive. We went to a bike fleamarket in Köln and looked for some good deals. We both bought bikes, but for a Canadian we paid way too much for what we purchased. Because the demand for is so high, the cost is also. We have already put them to good use. On the Sunday we went to one of the many parks in Köln to play some fussball (soccer). We teamed up with a group there and played hard for a good two hours. I had not run like that in a long time. I did manage to score one goal in the game, but my team lost 6-4. I have finally recovered and my muscles do not hurt anymore. (Picture: I am in the grey shirt).

So that is the state of things at this moment.