mmmmm...... smells good! 

My nieces

After 3 attempts and probably an hour of work, i have successfully managed to change the picture on my profile. It is Cheyenne, Cherokee, and Celeste eating some Potica from Slovenija.

10 in 72

10 is the total hours of sleep that I got during my last 72 hours in Slovenija. Yep, that is about 3.3 hours of sleep per night. Crazy! I do not recommend this to anyone. And i don't think I will be getting this little sleep again anytime soon before I travel internationally. When I got on the plane in Trieste, Italy I was so miserable and agitated. Then I arrived here in the USA at 4pm local time, but it felt like 10pm to me.
I am still trying to adjust, but it has not been easy. This recovery attempt is not helped by my whirlwind, 14 day tour of the East Coast. Last night my brother and I drove down here to Atlanta. After driving for 4 hours we got into Atlanta at 2am. I was wide awake and could not go to sleep because I am still functioning on SLO time and it felt like it should be 8am and i should be starting my day, not ending it. On Saturday (tomorrow) it is back to Charlotte. Then on Tuesday it is up to Baltimore, Maryland. I am taking my nieces to see my Dad, brother Michael, and the rest of my family there. Then on Christmas Eve it is back to Charlotte. Five days later I get on a plane to fly to London. I will spend New Years in London and the next week in Glasgow, Scotland with my good friend Georg (that is spelled correctly without the "e").
I cannot wait to get back to Slovenija. Don't get me wrong, it is good to be back in the States and see some friends and family. However, I really like the people there (in SLO) and the work that I am doing. I just wish that my 3 nieces could have gotten on a plane and came over to Slovenija to see me for Christmas. Then I would not have had to leave.
By the way, I have a DVD of the work that we are doing in Slovenija. It has interviews of my teammates, myself, Slovene believers, and video of the cities. If anyone would like to see it you can send me an electronic-mail at dkrebello@hotmail.com I am not promising anything, but if I cannot get to you personally, then for a small contribution to my ministry there, I may be able to mail you a copy of it. It is professionaly done, and captures the heart of what we do in Slovenija quite well.
Well I must be going. I need to go meet my friend Shane. He works for Georgia Tech and lives right in downtown Atlanta. I think it is the 2nd largest city on the East Coast (after NYC). Later we are probably going to go into the city and break some stuff. We also will probably light some stuff on fire, and maybe get into some fist-fights! I think it will be a good day!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

And snowing it is. It started snowing here around 3p.m. and it has not stopped since (it is going on midnight). We probably have atleast 6 inches by now. Earlier this evening I walked out of the Mercator Supermarket and strolled home. It took me 50 minutes. Yes, that is not a typo (Back in the States I can't imagine walking anywhere longer than 10 minutes). I figured that if I was to hop on the city bus it would take me atleast 30 minutes with the rush-hour traffic. Besides, I knew that I would enjoy the exercise and the fresh snow and crisp, cold air were a bonus. As I was walking I was singing all the Christmas songs that I know. On the way home I passed two different "youth" snowball fights.
Tonight we had our usual Friday night prayer meeting at Ram and Sally's and then George and I headed towards the center of town to take some pictures and enjoy the beautiful snowfall. Ljubljana is really magical with snow everywhere. It was snowing so hard that we could barely see the castle. Think really large flakes that take their lazy time to get to the ground. Fortunately the weekend has begun so there was alot of people out tonight. The first snowfall of the season seems to revert everybody to a child mentality. People, old and young, were running around and making snowballs, and throwing them at everything in sight.
I am staring out the kitchen window and I can no longer see the apartment buillding that is two blocks over from here. This is awesome!

Turkey Day

Today is Thanksgiving. Slovenians don't know about Turkey Day. I went out for a run this afternoon (in the snow!) and it was the hustle and bustle, business as usual. Man they are missing out on something special.
Earlier this evening we celebrated with a feast at Ram and Sally's (with an emphasis on the word "feast"). We had about 40 people crammed into their apartment. It was an awesome time to eat, fellowship, and share with our friends. I'd say about half of the people were Americans, and the other half were our Slovene friends. Several of our friends there are not believers yet, so it was a great opportunity to continue in living out the Gospel before them. We had a meal with all the trimmings. Brooke slaved over the stove for 5 hours to cook this amazing turkey (20+ lbs.). The only thing missing was football on the television.
I think that I ate too much food. Usually I am strict with what I eat, and rarely ever eat desserts. Well, my friend, today was the exception. I piled on the food and rejoiced that I was blessed to be eating. I ate a small sliver of pumpkin pie, a slice of apple pie, and a piece of pumpkin bar. I love pumpkin pie. And pumpkin pie loves me!
All the slovenes thought that it was wierd that we would mix sweet stuff (cranberry) with our meats, and jell-o with our main meal. They kept saying "you guys really mix sweets with this stuff?" Yes we do, and it tastes delicious. But they also think that it is wierd that we eat bread with pasta. So that shows you how silly their eating habits are!!! What is pasta without some warm bread?
Here I sit at the kitchen table. It is 12:42 a.m. and i am trying to down as much water as I can to flush out my digestive system. I have so overloaded my body that I am not that tired, and I hesitate to go to bed for fear of the awful nightmares that I might have (g-ma always said never go to bed on a full stomach!).
I am thankful for so many people and things in my life. I could list them here, but I do not want to take the space, or time. So let me classify them in this order:
On this the one day reserved for thanks,
Thank God for,
God himself,
family and friends,
soccer/futebol,
everything else...
(Sorry if you did not make it somewhere in the above list. There is always next year...)

fish market in sicily. yep, that's a head from a swordfish on the left. 

venice... not bad, like everyone told me it was! a pleasent surprise. 

ponte vechio: the bridge where we almost got arrested and fined 10,000 Euros (see story below). you can see a guy selling fake designer handbags on a bed-sheet in the picture. 

hey jo-sepy, never thought you'd see this picture on my blog! i'm eating a crow right now (sorry everybody else, inside joke). 

painting from the vatican museum 

guisseppe at the lamborghini plant. 

inter milan ultras: boys san 

again 

richard marx and i in pompei with mt. vesuvius in the background. 

Italia 2005

Inspired by my cronie, Brooke Brown, who listed the highlights of her birthday on her blog: {b-slo-laughs.blogspot.com} Though not as funny as her list, here is a list of highlights from my Italia 2005 trip with my brother, Guiseppe:

Getting stranded near Bologna, Italy for over two hours after i put the wrong fuel into our rental car. I don't read Italian and i thought "gasolio" sounded close enough to gasoline.

Riding in the car down the interstate, while it was up on the tow truck flatbed (i am pretty sure that is illegal in the United States). Then having to still pay a 9 Euro toll at the tollbooth as we were being towed.

Almost not getting on a ferry to Sicily because the truck drivers were on strike, and the one exit we needed to get to the ferry was closed.

Eating a "real" canoli at a bakery in Siracusa, Sicily.

Doing a triple pass. (just like it sounds: a two lane highway, i pass a car, who decides to pass the car in front of them, so we pass three wide on a two lane road. crazy).

Waiting over an hour and a half to eat at a pizzeria in Naples. Not just any pizzeria, this city is the birthplace of pizza and this was the best place in town. About 15 tables, a kitchen the size of most peoples food pantry, and only two pizzas on the menu (marinara and margherita). It was well worth the 1.5 hour wait.

Going to an Italian soccer match. Inter Milan against Livorno at the San Siro stadium. We got to see our favorite player, Luis Figo, play. When we bought the tickets for the match they asked for our passports and put our info into the computer and our names on our tickets. Then as we entered the stadium, they checked our tickets and passports again, to make sure they matched up. And we also got "patted down" by riot police. I guess when you have to play four games in an empty stadium, because of fan violence, they take things seriously.

Going to see where the Ferrari headquarters are.

Going to find Lamborghini. In a town so small it is not on the map. My brother and i getting the royal treatment, including an all-access, personal tour of the plant that they make the cars in (speechless!).

Seeing everything in Rome that you can squeeze into two days. Especially the jail that Paul and Peter were both held in, when they baptized the jailers. I got to touch the pole that they were chained to (beyond any word description).

Eating at a student pub in Rome. Making friends with the owner, "Mickey", and him bringing "limoncello" over to our table. We later found out that this is a special drink that people will send over to your table if they really like you.

Getting to know a cab driver in Rome, who we discover really "digs" The Eagles (think music band, not cro-magnum man american football). When we get out of the cab Joseph says to the guy "Forza Italia" and the guy pipes back "Forza America!" Classy.

Finding a Nike outlet and scoring some sweet soccer gear really cheap (my sister would have loved that).

Almost getting arrested in Florence, for attempting to buy fake Armani and Gucci sunglasses (about 10 minutes after my brother just bought my sister a fake louis vutton handbag). Crazy, and not worth the 10,000 Euro fine that would have gone with it!

Paying 39 Euros for one toll between Naples and Milan. Also paying an average of about 9 Euros in tolls for each hour that we spent driving on the highways. It adds up quickly. And also paying about $6 USDollars a gallon for fuel.

Getting absolutely lost in every city that we attempted to drive into and find our hotel/hostel. All because there are no street signs in Italy. Just names on the sides of buildings, and half of them don't have any. Streets that change names four or five times over a 2 mile distance. And not helped by the fact that we were too stingy to buy a city map anywhere.

Eating way too many Rustichella's at reststops and spending just enough nights sleeping in the car.

These are just a mere glance at a few of the highlights.
I have over a million stories to tell and over 700 pictures. So if you want some more details, come find me or my brother Joseph. We will be more than happy to share them with you.

**A big "props" goes to Rick Steve's Italy 2005. Which saved us so much time & money, and offered so much insight, that it would be silly to fathom this trip without him.