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After spending the morning in my last class, my classmate Sarah and I took a taxi to the train station from Orvieto back to Rome. The train ride was uneventful and we arrived at the Rome train terminal only 5-7 minutes before my train was to leave for Frascati where the hotel was. I found the platform number and found out it was behind the other platform so I had to run down the platform way down at the end to get to the Frascati train. A nice Italian man helped me with my luggage or I never would have made the train on time. As we rode the train, I told the guy that helped me with my luggage that I was flying to Prague very early the next morning from Rome. He told me that I had better check the train schedule for Sunday because some trains don’Äôt run on that day. (I’Äôm thinking, ’ÄúUH OH! Hope I can find a way to get to the airport tomorrow.’Äù) The train ride took a little over an hour. Thank goodness the guy told me where to get off because there were no signs that said ’ÄúFrascati’Äù anywhere. When the doors to the train opened I stuck my head out and yelled, ’ÄúFrascati? Frascati?’Äù and some people nodded ’Äúyes’Äù. At that point I pushed all my luggage out of the train and got out. The train station was really small and NO ONE was there’Ķit was like a ghost town. Not one person working at the place. There was one man in the train station and he happened to be French and spoke English. I asked him about the Sunday trains leaving from Frascati. He had a schedule with him. ’ÄúNo, there are no trains leaving that early in the morning on Sunday’Äù. I am thinking to myself, ’ÄúUH OH! How am I going to get to the airport tomorrow?’Äù I pushed the thought out of my mind and proceeded for the immediate goal at hand...to get to the wedding reception. I rolled my luggage out the door of the train station. All I could see was a deserted town. I looked at my watch’Äî2:00pm’ĶSiesta time in Italy. NO ONE AROUND. I wheeled my luggage down the cobble-stoned street trying to find an open shop. I finally came across a little grocery store where a woman was sitting and reading. I poked my head in and asked ’ÄúTaxi? Taxi?’Äù with my arms raised in frustration. She nodded her head ’Äúno’Äù and kept pointing up and saying, ’Äúpiazza, piazza’Äù. I took all my luggage (2 suitcases and a backpack) and wheeled it back to the train station. Mind you, I was exhausted and it was about 95 degrees and 95% humidity. I looked around for a ’Äúpiazza’Äù and saw before me what she meant by ’Äúup.’Äù There was about 6 flights of steps’Äîa cliff more like it. I’Äôm thinking to myself, ’ÄúWhy would they put a taxi stand on the top of a hill and the train station at the bottom of the hill?’Äù Having no alternative, I started my trek up the stairs with one month’Äôs worth of heavy luggage. Man, am I getting old. I took it in sections, rested, sweated, grunted, still’ĶNO ONE was around. On the stairs I had to maneuver my suitcases around the trail of dog poo. Good thing I bought a suitcase with wheels that spin 360 degrees around---but that doesn’Äôt help to go up steps, (I should have gotten the suitcase with levitating wheels! HA). I kept pretending I was Thomas the Train and repeating to myself, ’ÄúI think I can, I think I can, I think I can’Äù as I went up each step. Finally, I reached the top of the stairs. ’ÄúConveniently’Äù there was a sign right at the top of the stairs that said ’Äútaxi’Äù. There was NO taxi anywhere in sight though. There was a phone number posted right above the phone box to call for a taxi’Ķbut the phone box was locked. I looked around and hardly anyone was in the town. At this time it feels like 150 degrees and I’Äôm asking the few people I do see, ’ÄúTaxi? Taxi?’Äù and they all shook their heads ’Äúno’Äù and gave a snicker. (I would find out later the meaning of the snicker). I stood there for a long time trying to figure out what to do next. I couldn’Äôt leave my luggage and I couldn’Äôt get far hauling it around so I stood there in the hot sun wondering what to do for 30 minutes. As time passed, I was losing more hope but praying, ’ÄúLord, please guide me and protect me’Äù. By this time it was 3:00 and I’Äôd missed an hour of the reception. All I was hoping for would be that I would make it to the reception before it ended. Finally, a woman’Ķ.AN ANGEL from God’Ķcame up to me and spoke in perfect English (really rare in a little Italian town). She said, ’ÄúI’Äôve seen you struggling with your luggage for awhile and I want to help you.’Äù I was soooo thankful! God is so good! She stayed with me for 1 1/2 hours trying to find a bus or a taxi. She called the taxi number many times and no one was answering. Our next plan was to take the bus. We walked all of my luggage down the street in the sweltering heat and waited 45 minutes for the right bus. It never came. Then this Italian woman came up and acted like she was yelling at me and then walked off. My ’Äúangel helper’Äù Hilda said that the woman said a taxi showed up right after we left! So’Äîwe decided to call the number again for the taxi. Finally! Someone answered the phone. She said a taxi would be there shortly. Hilda is originally from Guatamala. She married an Italian man and she lived in San Francisco for a few years. She said, ’ÄúItalians are lazy and love to sleep’Äù (not my words, hers!) ’ÄúYou can’Äôt rely on taxis here because they work in the morning and if they think they have made enough money, they just go home for the rest of the day.’Äù (At that moment, I realized what the meaning of the snicker was!) Finally, the taxi driver showed up. It was a woman named Rosanna. I asked Hilda if she could ask Rosanna to take me to the airport the next day as well. She said, ’ÄúYes!’Äù Hooray! (I don’Äôt know what I would have done without Hilda. No one spoke English, not even Rosanna the taxi driver) One trial down’ĶNow I had to get to the hotel to drop off my stuff and head over to the wedding. Rosanna found the place fine. We agreed the next day through sign language my broken Italian that she would pick me up and take me to the airport at 6:30 am the next day. 70 Euros’Ķbut at that point I didn’Äôt care and had no other option. I got to the hotel and discovered that the address to the wedding had flown out of my pocket in my struggle to lift my luggage up all of those stairs. ’ÄúOH NO!’Äù I’Äôm now 2 1/2 hours late to the reception and no address! I asked the lady at the front desk of the hotel if she knew where the wedding was and she had no clue. ’ÄúNow what do I do?’Äù ’ÄúI’Äôve come all this way and taken all this time, I’Äôm not quitting now. I am determined to get to that reception with the Lord’Äôs help.’Äù An idea occurred to me...I needed to find an internet cafˆ© and get the address off of one of my emails. I asked the receptionist, ’Äúdo you have internet?’Äù She said, ’Äúno’Äù. I asked ’Äúdo you know where I could find an internet cafe?’Äù and she in her broken English said, ’ÄúGo down and see hospital and internet is near there’Äù. Okay, that sounded simple enough. I went back to my room and freshened up and changed for the wedding. It was still 150 degrees so there was no way my hair was staying down one more second. I got ready and headed on my trek. I walked and walked’Ķthere was no hospital anywhere! I walked on this highway that seemed deserted. I passed by a couple of sheep in a field but not much else. I finally found a building that looked like a dilapidated hospital. I walked in’Ķbut apparently everyone in there must have been diagnosed terminal because there was not a soul in the place. There was no one at the reception desk, no one anywhere. ’ÄúThis is freaky’Äù I thought. I walked out of the hospital and saw a teenage girl across the street and asked ’Äúinternet?’Äù but she didn’Äôt know any English and pointed somewhere non-specific. I walked up this steep hill repeating ’ÄúI think I can, I think I can’Äù and found a hotel. There was a living human at the front desk!! I asked again, ’ÄúInternet?’Äù and she said, ’ÄúUp Hill’Äù and pointed upward. I thought, ’ÄúOh no! Not again!’Äù I walked up this empty weird street alone and it seemed like it went on forever’Ķuphill. I was praying, ’ÄúLord, I know you will take care of me and everything will work out.’Äù I started singing hymns to myself, ’ÄúOnward Christian soldiers, marching as to war...’Äù I finally reached the top of the hill and found an internet cafˆ©! Hallelujah! One and a half hours of searching for an internet cafˆ© and I finally found it! The woman working there was screaming at someone on the phone. She kept saying, ’ÄúUno momento’Äù to me. Well, ’ÄúUno momento’Äù ended up being 15 momentos of me waiting for her to finish screaming at someone. The Lord was really testing my patience but I stayed calm and collected and took some deep breaths. The moment finally came when I was able to get on the internet to check my email. I opened up the email from Chris with the wedding location. He wrote, ’ÄúThe wedding and reception are in the town of Finnochio. Just get a taxi to get there.’Äù ’ÄúOH NO! Another taxi search?! Okay, Sonserae, you are going to be fine. Keep your cool, everything will work out.’Äù My time on the internet was 5 minutes. I had to pay a whole 20 cents! I asked the screaming woman at the internet spot where a taxi stand was and she pointed ’Äúuphill’Äù. I’Äôm thinking ’ÄúOH NO! Is this town in heaven or on top of the tower of Babel?’Äù I start climbing and climbing. I get to a place that has about 100 steps and I’Äôm hot and sweaty, tired and my legs are like spaghetti---BUT I’ÄôM DETERMINED TO FIND THIS RECEPTION. I get to the top of the stairs and what do you know, it was the same piazza I had found Rosanna and had climbed with my luggage from the train station’ĶI walked to the taxi stand and what do you know, there was Rosanna again. Apparently, she is the only ’Äúworking’Äù taxi driver in the town. Rosanna to my rescue again! Praise God! I told her the address to the reception and we drove. The town disappeared and all I saw for miles was grapevines and beautiful scenery! Just me and Rosanna not really sure where we are going. I’Äôm thinking, ’ÄúOkay, now it’Äôs 6:00. What if no one is there? All this effort and what if I get there and it’Äôs all over?’Äù I pushed that thought out of my mind and prayed I wouldn’Äôt miss it. ’ÄúLord, you are in control’Äù I kept saying. Rosanna found the street that looked right. We drove to the end and suddenly heard music. There were cars parked along the street and I could hear someone saying something over a microphone. We drove to a gate with a sign that said ’ÄúBiblio Evangelico’Äù’Äî’ÄúYAY!!! I think I found it!’Äù I got out of the taxi and told Rosanna in my American tourist sign language to wait until I made sure it was the right place. I looked and saw Chris and Erma and Barry and Angela dancing. (What a blessing to see Barry dancing at his son’Äôs wedding!) I gave Rosanna two thumbs up and confirmed the next day to take me to the airport and joined the festivities. The relief I felt to finally make it there was unbelievable. I was so happy and thankful to the Lord for getting me there. The bridal party was dressed so nice, Erma looked so beautiful and Chris looked handsome. They are very much in love and gave each other kisses all during the reception. They had funny games that are apparently an Italian tradition. They made Chris hold a spoon in his mouth with a lighted candle embedded in the spoon. The object of the game was for Erma to put the candle out with a squirt gun. (See photos) Another game they had was to line up the wedding party, blindfold Chris and he was supposed to have guessed his wife by touching their noses. When they blindfolded Chris however, they switched the bridesmaids with the bridesgrooms and Chris was feeling all the guys noses! It was really funny. They eventually switched back to the bridesmaids and Erma. Chris guessed Erma’Äôs nose and when he removed the blindfold, there his bride was standing before him. It was so sweet. The evening was beautiful and it was so great to see familiar faces. The Lord had been with me and guided me the whole time. The celebration made the trek well worth it. I felt privileged to be able to help celebrate such a happy occasion with such a lovely, Christian couple. June 24, 2006
Getting to the Wedding
Getting to the Wedding
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