So I am beginning to see a trend in my blogging. Silly, often crazy, things happen in my life. Perhaps my blog should be titled the misadventures of Kim, but because of His steadfast grace I am blessed to say I am here to speak of another day. I would love to say crazy things happen to me because I am so carefree and spontaneous, but it is probably more related to the fact that I tend to "look before I leap." Case in point on my recent trip to Venice. First, I need to educate you on European elevators. Although they have the familiarity that comes with the OTIS nameplate (just like those handryers ;), they really have no other similarities with the elevators I was used to prior to moving here. They are small, they often have those doors that fold in and out, and they like to give you a little jolt whether you are going up or down. Floor numbering can also be confusing as floor 1 is 1 floor above the ground floor. In my school, I teach on the floor one floor up from the ground, my room number is 208 and the elevator calls it the 4th floor! Anyways, (have you noticed that I sometimes go on rabbit trails? I have started to notice this in my classroom teaching...oops), I recently took an overnight trip to Venice with some friends. We decided to drop our bags off at the hotel before heading out to dinner. After climbing four flights of stairs with our bags, the manager kindly showed us our room and the elevator we could use when we needed it (hmmm...). There were five of us. As the elevator door opened to welcome us, we all marveled at how big it was for a "European elevator." We stepped inside. Two of the ladies in our group stepped back and considered the stairs, but I (in all my innate wisdom) prodded them back on the elevator..."no, no, it's fine....it says it can hold a max of 5 persons...we'll be fine..." So back into the elevator they stepped. So there we were, the five of us, neatly tucked (alright somewhat stuffed) into the large European elevator. The doors closed and we pushed the button for the ground floor. We started moving down and within a few seconds came to a jolting stop. We tried pushing the button again, but to no avail. We were stuck. One of the ladies began endlessly pushing the alarm button and we all laughed at the situation we had gotten ourselves into. The manager started yelling down the elevator shaft to see what was happening. He asked us how many people we had in there and we said five, like the sign says. His response: "Yeah, but really four." I love Italy :) He said he was sending for help and to wait a few minutes. We sort of hoped the Italian fire department would come, but thirty minutes later we were manually lifted to the floor, where we were greeted by a bunch of Italians (not the fire department) laughing at us. Good times. Below, please enjoy a couple pictures taken with my friend Heidi's phone during the Venice elevator debacle of 2011 ;)
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| Help we're stuck! |
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| Hannah's corner seat |
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| The view from Hannah's seat |
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