Color Me.... Italian
Monday, April 30, 2007
  Agrigento - Valle dei Templi
Yesterday, we drove to Agrigento to see the Valley of the Temples. Everybody said I would love it, and I did. It was breathtaking. It made me wish I could travel through time and see them in their prime. Some of the views made it almost possible to see what it might have looked like back then. To see the detail in the columns is unbelievable. I wondered how they shaped everything without machinery. Of course, by hand, but can you possibly imagine? Incredible. I'll post some pictures and some links, but I won't go on. My words do NOT do this ancient site justice.

I think we started at what most people do as the end of the trip, but who knows. There were no signs telling you where to start. And all we had was my travel book to go by, so I was reading and trying to figure out which temple we were at. I don't know where everyone was getting those nifty little guides... hehe.

We first started at the Temple of Jove/Zeus (Tempio di Giove). According to my travel book, (Frommers Sicily), it was the largest in the valley, until it was ruined by an earthquake. The giant in the picture was one of several that were used to support the lagest Greek temple in the world.

Then we made our way to the Temple of Castor and Pollux (Tempio di Dioscuri). It had 4 Doric columns intact. I loved this one, even though it was so incomplete because at the top, you can see so much detail that they worked into the rock. I cropped and enlarged the first picture so that you can see it too.

Our first attempt at daringly balancing the camera on ancient Greek rocks to take a family picture:
Another picture of the great detail:


My favorite, the Temple of Concord (Tempio della Concordia), simply because of how complete it was. The travel book said it ranks with the Temple of Hephaestos in Athens as the best preserved Greek temple in the world. It has 13 columns on its side, 6 in front, and 6 in back. I wish we could have walked through it, to see from the inside, but I can understand why it's not allowed. It would have been awesome though, to see it how they did.
There were a few others as well, and you can see my whole Agrigento album on Snapfish, and here's a link of history and information if you're interested: Agrigento on the wiki.

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Saturday, April 28, 2007
  Siracusa Day Trip
Last Wednesday, Carlee and I joined some friends on an impromptu trip to Siracusa. I found out about the details of the trip the night before around 9 pm. So, for me, this was a big thing. I'm never this spontaneous, I always have to have things planned out. Well, my friend B really wanted to go, and so did I, so I said yes, not even giving myself a chance to let it sink in that I'd be the one DRIVING! I guess this was a good reason it was last minute, otherwise I would have talked myself out of going due to the whole driving thing.

The drive was an hour and a half, and wasn't too bad, until we got into Siracusa. Then came the narrow cobble streets, with cars parked on either side, people crossing the road whenever they pleased through traffic, cars speeding out of an intersection trying to get in front of me... ahhh! Trying not to make eye contact with anyone (because that's when they know you see them, and they floor the gas to get in front of you) and keeping my eye on the car I was following, I made it to the parking lot. I was completely proud of myself, white knuckled, but proud. hehe.

As soon as we got out of the car it felt like we were in a whole different country, even though we were a mere hour from home. We parked by the ocean with beautiful water, almost a turquoise color when the sun hit it. The sailboats were out, the sun was shining, it was so pretty. We made our way to the aquarium. As soon as we entered the building, Carlee saw the first tank, and yelled over and over, "MemoMemoMemoMemo!!!" It was set up just like Finding Nemo. It was the cutest thing, and that reaction made the whole trip already worthwhile. She loved the fish! I didn't realize how interested she was going to be, and I'm so glad we went. After walking down the hallway, seeing a turtle, starfish, eel, and a variety of colorful fish, we went outside to look at the ducks.

Out back, they also have papyrus plant growing; Siracusa is the only place other than Egypt where the plant can flourish, and I got to see it. :D Afterwards, we went and ate lunch. I ordered a small pizza, and after eating that, Carlee and I shared a gelato. My Italian language class came in handy, as we actually understood eachother each time I ordered. (YAY!)

Next stop was a fountain, a well known one I'm sure, but not by me. Carlee splashed in the water for quite some time... yelling, "Bubbles! Bubbles!" We cooled off in the mist before heading to the Piazza del Duomo. Carlee had a blast climbing up and down the stairs in front of the Church and even made friends with a group of young adult Italians. The girls fell in love with her. We looked through the Church for a few minutes, before finally heading out. We decided it was time to go, against Carlee's wishes.

The trip back was fairly uneventful, except for the doubled amount of time due to a wreck and backed up traffic. The kids were passed out, so it was fine. The trip was so much fun, and I am so glad that I was spontaneous for once and went, driving no less! Hopefully I'll be brave enough to do it more often, and I already can't wait to go back to Siracusa. I really fell in love with the city. :D

Here are a few pics: I wish I had more of Carlee, but I had to hold her up the whole time since all of the tanks were at adult viewing height. Here is a link to my Siracusa Snapfish Album.

And a couple of links if you're interested: Siracusa Aquarium (a few pages are under construction, but there's a few pics and some info if you want to use a translator page). Siracusa on Wikipedia. Enjoy!





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Friday, April 27, 2007
  Newsclip
This is a newsclip of the Nicemi Artichoke Festival AFN report. You can see Tony in it. :D I've been really busy studying :( so I haven't had the chance to blog. Finals are coming up next week, and I've already started another class, Geology. I didn't realize how fast paced it was going to be.... Didn't realize how much there was to cram into an 8 week course. blah. I do have some pics from an aquarium that Carlee and I went to this past week. I'll try to get to that today. :D
 
Sunday, April 15, 2007
  Niscemi Artichoke Festival
Friday afternoon found us heading to Niscemi for their Artichoke Festival. We had low expectations, because apparently people who went last year couldn't even find an artichoke to save their lives. We were actually going specifically for the opening parade because every year the sailors who work out at Niscemi march in it.

Our first stop was meeting up a bar. We and the couple we had given a ride to were the first ones there. So, we ordered some delicious sandwiches. About five minutes til four, an Italian cop who had been hanging around the cafe for a while talked to one of the guys, who then informed us, that they were supposed to be there at 4 pm. Why the cop didn't say anything earlier, I have no clue. So, we left the cafe with a police escort driving down the narrow streets in the huge 12 passenger duty van. At one point the cop parked on the side of the street and left us there for a few minutes, with many angry Italians having to drive around the huge van. We finally made it to the main square where the parade was supposed to start.

I hung out with a new friend A while the guys, beautifully decorated horses, a band, and various groups of school age kids lined up. We snapped a few pictures, and the parade began, and thirty seconds later, it had passed us. Well, it was short and we looked around for what to do next. We noticed that all the Italian onlookers had begun to somewhat join the parade, walking next to the performers, following along. So, we decided to do the same.

We walked alongside the guys for the most part, trying to stay on the narrow cobblestone sidewalks, that unfortunately have rocks jutting out every few feet. Poor Carlee had a very bumpy ride. We went up hills, and around curves, cars honking every now and then, because apparently they could not tell that there was a parade going on.

The parade kept going, and while we were talking and wondering how long it was meant to last, a huge ostrich ran right in front of the parade. I had actually wondered if maybe it was from the front of the parade, and maybe we had missed it, but the Italians' reaction proved that it was indeed an unplanned visitor. The parade halted, and the entire audience and even some participants of the parade (mostly the kids) ran ahead to get a look at the poor bird being chased by the cops. They finally closed in on him, and a man who I assumed was the owner of the wandering ostrich roped him up and calmed him down. The parade finally started up again.

A few minutes later, after everything had calmed down, we found ourselves in front of a building. We waited. We weren't sure what they were doing, or what we were supposed to do at that point. It seemed to us that someone was getting interviewed. Suddenly, everyone started going into the building. A and I wondered if we were supposed to go too. Once we saw them usher the guys in, we decided to go for it. "Maybe the artichokes are inside," I joked. We had been wondering the whole day where the actual festival was.

We got inside... and there were no artichokes. Some people were going upstairs, some were taking pictures in the stairway, and many were just standing around, including us. Tony finally went upstairs to see what was going on, and eventually came down to inform us that it was a museum upstairs, and that this was the grand opening. "So, this wasn't the parade for the artichoke festival?" I asked. He shrugged.

It was sometime during this waiting for information period that we had a stressful semi parenting emergency. You see, the last time I looked for the wipes in the stroller bag, they were nowhere to be found. I guessed that when Tony put the stroller in the duty van they must have fallen out. I hoped that it would be fine, that since I had just very recently changed Carlee, and that she had already taken care of THAT business today, that hopefully (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE) hopefully, we wouldn't need them. (I also thought we were only going to be in Niscemi for a few hours, too.) Well, while we're standing there, I smell something. So, I look, and sure enough.... she did THAT business again.

We found the unmarked bathrooms down the hallway, and Tony looked at me as if to say, "What do I do?" "Come in here with me." I told him. There was no way I was about to deal with this on my own, and if any Italians had any problems with it, well they should have had the bathrooms labeled. So, he started his job of handing me wads and wads of wet toilet paper. I hope you have never had to change a dirty diaper with wet toilet paper. It's near impossible. But somehow, we managed, even with a few Italian women coming in to use the bathroom. Surprisingly, I wasn't too stressed. I guess with Tony's help, and knowing that Italians love babies, and don't even care where you change them, eased my worries.

We made it back to our crowd and eventually found out that the festival was being held right at that moment BEHIND the building. OOOHHH! If only we had known that a hour before, instead of standing around the exit of the building! We went and looked around a bit, but since it was only 7 pm, hardly any of the food stands were open, and it was pretty empty around. There was one food stand, however, that was giving free samples to the Americans, so we got to try artichoke bread, grilled artichoke, and some kind of artichoke quiche. The bread was my favorite, it was really good. Other people got to try an artichoke & rice side, and another kind of bread as well. After that, we split into two groups, those of us that wanted to head home and those of us that wanted to stay.

We would have loved to stay, but our jackets were in the car, and it had gotten pretty cold, AND earlier in the afternoon we were unable to find a working ATM so we only had about 5 euro on us, AND we were still out of wipes. But the cold was the main thing, I didn't want to keep Carlee out there any longer than I had to. So we headed home. But it was fun and exciting. I'd like to go back next year later in the evening, so that we can see it when it's really alive.

So here are a few videos and a link to the Niscemi Parade Album on snapfish. :D Enjoy!



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Wednesday, April 11, 2007
  Traditional Sicilian Pupi Show
They are NOT puppets.... you use your hands for puppets; nor are they marionetts. They are pupi, traditional Sicilian pupi. The Pupi Master went into much detail in the subject to make sure that we understood the difference. Last week, someone mentioned to me that some kids get scared at the puppet show, because they use drums and yelling to enhance the performance. I somewhat doubted Carlee would get scared... How loud could they be for a kids' puppet play? Well, I realized I could possibly be wrong, when the English translator (and granddaughter of the Pupi master) introduced the play as, "The Death of Orlando."

whoa. The Death of Orlando? We are at the family puppet show, right? haha. That we were. The pupi were taller than Carlee, hand painted, and wearing handmade clothes. And it was really awesome the way that they could make them move like people, you almost forgot that they were puppets... errr pupi. At least I did. I got into the play, even though I couldn't understand a single word, except for the translator's part: "Orlando, my love. Where are you?"

But even in Italian, I somewhat got the gist of what was giong on. The Christians were fighting.... someone. Not sure who.... and fighting they did. There was a lot of it. Quite a few of the characters even ended up losing their heads in battle! A few kids got scared, but Carlee was pretty much saying, "Whoa!" and "Uh-Oh!" and "Bye-Bye!" the whole time. Oh, and SSSSSSSS when the snake came out. She did pretty good, UNTIL it was time to take pictures with the Pupi on stage.

She was fine while the pupi were still. Then someone backstage moved the pupi's hand and put it on Carlee's shoulder and she FLIPPED out! Her facial expression made me laugh so hard. I swept her away and calmed her down, but it was pretty funny.

So the trip was a good one. Carlee did really well. After the play we went to McDonald's which is a treat for the kids, since there's not one at base. I know there's one in Catania, and Misterbianco, but seriously who drives an hour plus just to go to McDonalds? I don't miss it THAT much. hehe. But I was really proud of Carlee, and I'm looking foward to taking more trips with her. I think she'll do just fine... until the whole potty training thing. :D

My friend B took these pictures for me. She took video too, if I can borrow it from her, I'll post it for you, or maybe she'll upload it to youtube or something.

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Friday, April 06, 2007
  no title today
So, I've talked with family and friends. I'm feeling better about everything. I found out that my grandtip had a heart attack, before the boom (I put the wrong part last post) hit him. So, I still don't quite understand why, but I have accepted it. Thanks to all my family and friends who talked it out with me. I dread the day when I have to explain this sort of situation to Carlee. It already breaks my heart. sigh.... but, I'm doing okay.... Still wish I could be home though, but doing okay.

This weekend I will be trying to catch up on my school work. I'm not too far behind schedule, so I think it should be okay. My calendar is really packed this month. I've got a bunch of Mom's club things I want to go to, I have a weekly beginning Italian class, my school work, my normal house chores, I've got a garage sale planned for this month, and on top of all that, I've decided that I'm going to try traveling with Carlee. Only on ITT trips probably. Tony's work schedule doesn't allow for too many impromtu trips, and Carlee and I really need to start getting out more. I want to see more of Sicily, the culture, the sights, etc.

Our very first Mommy & Carlee trip is going to be a semi-short one. It will be an experiment so to speak. It's targeted for kids, so it's a good first trip..... It's a traditional Sicilian puppet play. :D I'm really excited about taking her. I think she's going to enjoy it. It's from 8am - 2pm so it's not too long. We'll be home by 3 I'm sure. If this goes well, I'll be looking into other trips for us soon. Perhaps this might become a semi-traveling journal? I've also got a friend stationed in England, and I really really really want to go visit her. Would that be incredibly brave to take Carlee on my own, or just plain insane? hummm.... :P

goodness.... especially now that potty training will be coming up very soon...........
 
Monday, April 02, 2007
  end of the day
Today ended up sucking. That's pretty much all I can say about it. It was really horrible.

I got a call from my dad this afternoon and found out that my grandfather passed away yesterday. He was out sailboating, which as I understand it, he loved to do, and some freak accident happened and his head was hit by the bow. Seriously... God. WTF? you know? I'm so confused and frustrated emotionally, simply because at times like this I suddenly feel like I'm two million miles away from where I should be. I felt completely disconnected and alone today. Tony had duty, so I didn't even have him to talk to. I feel helpless. There's nothing I can possibly do, but pray for my family and wish I was there.

RIP Grantip
 
  Long time... No Post...
I know... I've been M.I.A. for a while... We made it home okay after about 4 times trying to get on the mac flight. It was a little stressfull, but definately worth it. We've been keeping busy. I'm still working on my classes. My finals are coming up the first week of May, so I'm a little stressed about those. Accounting is a little harder than I thought it would be. Then again, if I had the time to just sit down and complete all the assignments I would probably understand it more. But, I just don't have 3 to 4 hours to sit down and do it all in one sitting. I try to break it up into smaller segments, but it takes a while just to figure out where I was at, what step, etc. It's a pain. But hopefully I will pass. I start another class this month also, Geology. I'm really excited about that one, it should be fun.

I've actually only been home for a month. I can't believe it. It feels as though I should have more to talk about, but really not that much time has passed. We haven't been able to travel this past month, because the weather was rainy and cold. But it's starting to warm up, and I'm really looking foward to getting out again.

This past friday we went to Ramacca for their Artichoke festival. It was a lot of fun. I tried the little funny looking veggie for the first time. It was roasted with garlic and some other herbs. Soooooo yummy! I really liked it. And for only 50 euro cents? Come on! We had to try it. We also grabbed some artichoke canoli on the way out. That was very tasty. I really liked it. I usually can't finish a canoli because they are way too sweet, but the artichoke took some of that sweetness away, and made it perfect I think. It didn't taste veggie-ish at all. It was delicious. There were so many people out, and the atmosphere was so fun. It really reminded me how much I had wanted to get out and see the culture when we first arrived here. So, now it's renewed that excitement about Italy all over again.

Yesterday, Carlee colored Easter eggs for the first time. She loved it. I'm going to post pics over on her page. And that pretty much brings us up to date. I will try to get back on track with my posting and picture sharing.... :P

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I'm just a girl... trying to be a good wife.. trying to be a good mom... trying to finish my degree... trying to adjust to living overseas for the first time... and always looking for new hobbies. :D

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Location: Sicily, Italy
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