Korean Italians

My couch host and another surfer that's staying with him went to Bologna today, and tried to convince me to go with them. I had the time and address written down for a church in Milan and said I planned to go there today. They told me we could all go to mass in Bologna, and it was difficult for me to explain to them why that doesn't work for me. Finally they relented and went on their way. I left the apartment and took off to find the church. I got to the address listed online, at the time listed online... but there were only Koreans there, all speaking Korean. They were running around with food setting tables. Finally I found someone who knew enough English to help me, and they explained that the American church isn't until 5pm. I thanked them and started to leave, but all the women preparing food stopped me and said, "no no no, eat!!" and sat me down at a table. They had made Bibimba, which means mixed rice. You put all the meat and vegetables on top of your rice, and then mix it all up before eating it. It was so good! It was still raining as I started to leave, so they made me take an umbrella to bring back later. They just would not let me leave without it!

My host does not have wifi and I wanted to get in touch with people back home and work on my blog so I stopped by a McDonald's for a while. They offer free wifi so until it got busy, I just enjoyed some time out of the rain. Once it looked like my table was needed by paying customers, I left and went to the Duomo. This cathedral is quite impressive! It's over 100 meters tall, and stands out among the surrounding buildings. Pigeons fill the square in front of it, and will land on your arm and hands if you hold them out.

I wandered around random streets for awhile just enjoying the Italian atmosphere until I came across a metro station. I decided to head back to my hosts house to do some laundry before going to worship.

Finally, after all the adventure of the morning, I was at church with ENGLISH speaking people. The service was slightly different than what you would expect from a church of Christ, since they had some women praying and leading communion. The songs were in Italian, but I knew what they were by the tune. The lesson was in English, with Italian translation. The congregation was full of amazing and kind people! One interesting thing is that they kept asking "So are you a disciple?" And about my family "oh, are they disciples too?" This is definitely a biblical term, but you just don't hear people asking that in the US.

After the service ended, a group of the single people were going out for apertivo. Apertivo is where you pay around 10 euro, and get a drink and all you can eat. They have platters of food set out with all kinds of stuff! I ate more than I have the whole trip... everything here is so expensive, so it was awesome getting a real meal for a good price. During the meal, Fabiola got a text saying that the American girl left her bag at the church... yea... the bag with my BRAND NEW CAMERA. We finished eating and went to the house of the people who found the bag, and then Fabi dropped me off at my hosts house. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't of been out with Fabi and the other singles! I don't even want to think about it!