Shopping in Italy

There is no place in the world I would rather live then Italy. Where could you live and make a greater difference in the lives of others, sharing the good news about Christ's free gift to all who embrace his life and death!

However there are a few times a day when I wonder what I am doing here.

For example in shopping for furniture.

We have (had) fallen in love with a favorite store where we were able to buy a few very nice items at a great price.

Last April we decided to also buy a dining room hutch, a couch and a love-seat from them.

The hutch was readily available. Part of the offer included free shipping and a discount if we payed it in full right away.

The couches needed to be ordered (we discovered this halfway through the order). We were still OK with that because for two weeks in May we were to be in Israel.

When we got back, we received a phone call from the store, stating that the couches would be a week late.

We are now practically into August. Every week we call and the tune is the same: "next week."

We went there last week and begged them to give us at least the hutch. We had friends see it with our name written all over it in bubble wrap. That's kind of embarrassing!
First the lady said she would get it to us for sure.
She was a little concerned when I said the offer inlcuded free shipping, but she said she would make sure it got to us and even got an appointment to bring it to us that Wednesday.

Then they called back and said that would not be possible because the couches "will be here next week!" They really needed to save the shipping money making one shipment.

Do you know that they don't even have a customer service number you can call to file a complaint?

People were shocked when we told them that we had already paid it in full to save money.
"You'll never get it now!!" seems to be the common chant.

There is nothing more you can do then go look for a wild boar being roasted somewhere, or a pizza with Buffalo mozzarella. All is still good...but this dumb american who grew up here hopefully has learned another good lesson. NEVER PAY AHEAD!

Sagra del Cinghiale

It is now time to post my first REAL post... not a post about posting.
It's obviously going to be about the "Sagra del Cinghiale e dell'Arvoltolo".

Last night we took my parents (actually they payed!) to Migliano, near Marsciano - a small town in the lost hills of Umbria - to enjoy the finer cuisine of Umbria: WILD BOAR!

If you've never tried it you don't know what you are missing!
We ate wild boar EVERYTHING!! Antipasto, Pasta (Pappardelle and Gnocchi), Spezzatino (Stew).

Wow. And again... WOW! (I Like Caps and parentheses).

Wild boar is a bit like eating pork...just tastier and leaner. The poor hairy critters were probably hunted in the hills near this little town.

They did not die in vain.


I love going to Sagre (festivals) in the summer because you actually encounter the true Umbrian population.
Usually you will run in to more foreigners then Italians now days. Thank God for Sagre!

This is a test, nothing more than a test!

You might be asking...why a blog? After all there is already www.jonnywhitman.com, and facebook.
Don't you have enough of yourself???



Truth be told, I make a big assumption:
The people who read www.jonnywhitman.com want to know about our ministry, which is a BIG part of what we do.
However it is hard to share little cultural and educational tidbits.

For example, last night we experienced our first Sagra del Cinghiale (Wild Boar Festival)
How can you write about such undignified topics on jonnywhitman?

So...hopefully "Out of the Box" will bring the unscripted side of a personal public life.

I love opening packages...there is just something about opening the plastic wrapper and looking inside...the mystery, the smell of new, the discovery and hopefully the chance to learn something new and interesting. That is my goal.

Sound ambitious? That's why it's a test.
Let me know what you think.