From Pizza to Fish and Chips

After finally getting our Volvo out of that parking spot, I now have a chance to share a few more pictures.

These next few are from Paestum, which has well preserved Greek ruins. (Isn't well-preserved ruins an oxymoron?) There is a museum, with many of the relics that have been excavated, and vestiges of what was once a city.

This was painted on the inside of the tomb referred to as the tomb of the diver.

Men in black Italians take their coffee as seriously as we in the Pacific Northwest do.

One of the still standing buildings at Paestum.

Afterwards we went to the nearby beach.

We've enjoyed a couple of outings with the Hank and Lorraine B family. With the birth rate being so low in Italy, children get a lot of attention. With their 8 and our 3, we looked like a parade.

On most days, Josiah (Mr. Extrovert) would make the rounds to visit his Italian friends. The one he probably spent the most time with was a shop owner, Fabio, pictured below. He is a very nice man that we all enjoyed getting to know. Fabio plans to move to Connecticut in the near future, where his American girlfriend lives.

This picture of Mt Vesuvius is taken coming back from the Amalfi coast.

One day after church we took 3 of the B children with us and hiked around nearby Lago di Averno (literally, "Lake of Fire"). This lake has prominence as the mythical entrance to hell from the time of the Greeks. The perimeter is (I'm guessing) about 3 miles.

The area has a lot of geologic activity, and as a result has changed significantly in the past 3000 years. It used to be accessible from the sea, and about the time of Christ a large Roman Fleet was homeported there. About 500 years ago the newest mountain in Europe errupted and got the name Monte Nuovo (literally, "New Mountain"). That erruption choked Lago di Averno's access to the Mediterranean.

There is a tunnel there that is sometimes open to visitors. At the tunnel entrance, a very old man provided lanterns and led us into caves that were supposedly used by the Sybill (Oracle of this region). Underground water goes into the caves, and so locals claim this is River Styx. The water is quite warm because of the geothermal activity.

Gayle and the boys have said their goodbyes. On 3/12 we had our packout from the Pozuolli apartment, and on 3/14 boarded an airplane for England. We have been staying with our dear friend Marcie H, who lives in Garstang. Or more accurately, we have been staying in her home, visiting her church and getting to know her people while she is away on work-related travel. Fortunately Marcie returns tomorrow, 3/20, so we will get to see her too.

The worship, the preaching and the fellowship at Garstang Free Methodist were wonderful. It was clearly the same Spirit that guides Sure Foundation Minstry, our english speaking, charismatic african and african american church near Naples. However, that is where the similarity stops. What a wakeup to cultural differences!! (What! no whistles and tamborines??)

On Monday, we left for Scotland. The first night we spent at Glasgow and the second near Inverness near Lochness.

It is lambing season.

In the below picture, Hadrian's Wall is in the background. This wall was built by direction of the Roman Emperor Hadrian to separate the relatively civilized Roman territory of England from the unruly barbarians who lived to the North of it, in Scotland.

And of course, we had to look for the monster.

We had a couple of very nice hikes and saw some lovely countryside. (I typed that in my very best English accent.)

So what is next you ask?

Thanks for asking. Over the next couple of days we will go on outings, including a trip to a Norman castle after Marcie gets back. But this is pretty much it for the Crabtree's in Europe field trip. On 3/26 the rest of the family flies home to Bellingham. I return to Italy on 3/22 for two more weeks on this set of orders, then home for approximately a week.

After that I will go back to Naples for another 6 weeks, but this time with a completely different purpose and focus; this will be a chance for me to re-enter the world of information technology. I will be on a short-term assignment to help a department establish their knowledge management and tasker workflow. In the evenings and weekends I will be doing computer based training to sharpen my skills. After that I will go back to my regular work, refreshed and hopefully with a better skillset.

This whole experience has been awesome, and I want to thank God publically for every aspect of it. I'm overwhelmed with his goodness and grace. We have met some top-notch people, learned lots and had wonderful experiences. I believe each of our kids has been significantly impacted by their first-hand exposure to history, art and other cultures.

Am wishing I could give you some pithy summary statements of what the takeaways are for Gayle and I personally. Unfortunately, we are still sorting through what they might be. Certainly we are refreshed and rejuvinated. But as far as life-changing lessons, we are reluctant to call anything life-changing until some months or years pass and we can see that our lives have changed. We know we want them to. Maybe in a future blog I will better be able to articulate a summary of this adventure. But for now, I just want everyone to know how grateful we are to have had this opportunity.