me blog #9

Gabcast! me blog #9

from a friend at work...

"They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it's worked for over 200 years, and hell, we're not using it anymore."


Heh.

love this child.

Please watch this.

playing catch-up

So my dear Uncle Phil pointed out (via my mother) that I haven’t blogged for FOREVER…so I thought I’d take some time to catch everyone up on my LIFE. Basically, I haven’t blogged because I’ve been BUSY! It’s been quite a whirlwind since Sicily (my last substantial post…YIKES). So here goes…an update…which will probably take FOREVER…(to read AND write).

Sicilia, part 2.

The morning after our HUGE accidental dinner, we were, of course, still stuffed. However, we managed to drink the homemade persimmon juice and enjoy all the homemade jams with our typical carb-ful breakfast. We headed into Siracusa, having decided to go to Siracusa but return to Noto to sleep (because it was a small town and a really great hotel). Before going into the city, we went to Cava d’Ispica, This turned out to be a slight letdown, with a few minorly cool sights. We mostly enjoyed the huge canyon, but we know we had bigger and better things ahead, so moved on. We had read that there were tombs here, but were disappointed by the lack of creepiness, to be honest. Heading into Siracusa, we decided to drive straight to Ortigia, a little island which is the historic part of the city. We got lost (of course, we were in a city) but shortly afterwards figured ourselves out, parked, and started to walk. We enjoyed the Temple of Apollo, the oldest known temple in the world (!) and then checked out the duomo. This was really cool because it had been converted from the old Temple of Athena. Within the church, the original Doric columns are still part of the construction of the church. That was really neat because we actually got a sense of what those temples may have been like whole, with the air of spirituality within. It was really excellent. We checked out the Fontana Aretusa (a lovely pool with papyrus plants) and had a coffee by the shore. Then, we hopped back in the car and headed out to the Archeological park, just outside the city. This was really excellent, with a HUUUGE theatre (one of the biggest in the ancient world), a crazy man-made cavern called the Ear of Dionysus, an alter big enough to slaughter like 450 oxen at once (it was huge) and then the remains of a Roman amphitheatre. Eric and I were, of course, totally enthralled. We decided to take it easy that night and headed back to our hotel for some quality relaxation. We both watched the sunset on our balcony (I can’t remember the last time I watched a sunset…it was very relaxing) and read for awhile. Dinner was easy, we just decided a pizzeria was fine enough, and got our daily cannoli, of course (mine was lemon inside instead of ricotta, kinda interesting). It was an early bedtime.

The next day, we got another great breakfast – this time with fresh ricotta and honey and then cut up prickley pear (it was REALLY good). It was Etna day! We drove up to the volcano (not too bad of a drive) but it was SOO foggy…we were totally bummed. The landscape driving up the side of the volcano was really incredible – Eric commented that it’s just like Mordor in the Lord of the Rings…totally true, Etna is Mount Doom! We even saw a half-buried house on the mountainside. Crazy! It was REALLY cold at the top, we bundled up and decided to take the lift up even though we couldn’t really see anything. From this point, many people were taking huge SUVs up to the highest point people are allowed to go to. Eric and I started walking without real hope of seeing anything (the book said the hike to this point was 4 hours so we weren’t sure we were down) but then we saw a couple who said the fog cleared and the view was great a bit higher up. So we kept going…it was true, 10 minutes later the fog cleared and the view of the summit and the main crater was fantastic. It was REALLY windy and cold, but Eric and I hiked all the way up, got our picture taken, and headed back. It was a really excellent walk and amazing to realize we were hiking on Etna. Wow.

When we got down from the summit, we decided to take a little drive around the volcano to see the hill towns…it turned into a VERY long drive, but pleasant – we saw some churches made of entirely volcanic rock, very cool. We got into Taormina a bit late but found a pensione owned by a verrrrrry ooooooooold woooooooman, Diana. I was pretty amazed she was alive, to be honest, but she was charming. After checking in, we found a nice ristorante and shared gnocchi and cannelloni. The couple sitting beside us apparently thought it looked good, because they ordered the same thing after asking us what we were eating! For dessert, we got a casata, apparently a Sicilian specialty, it was basically an ice cream cake with fruit pieces. I was not overly impressed. We wandered the town a bit (it was beautiful and charming) and then decided to hit the hay. The next day was designated as a day of RELAXATION. We’d been on the move so much that it was time to take it down a notch. We got breakfast (cappucini and croissants) in a very cute place decorated in a garden theme…then checked our email (the first and only time all week!) before heading out to the Greek theatre. It was really stunning – poised right over the ocean with an amazing view of Etna (which we sadly did not get to enjoy, as it was foggy again, GRR). Eric declared it his favorite theatre (and that’s saying something, as he’s seen a lot of ‘em). We wandered town a bit, got some latte di mandorla (almond milk, it was good, really sweet) checked out the Piazza IX Aprile and the duomo. We got caprese sandwiches at a cute little store and carried them to the botanical gardens to eat them…what a spot! Gorgeous gardens, right overlooking the ocean. Taormina is built on a cliff, so it’s pretty hard to find a bad view there. Eric headed back to the hotel for a little nap and I took a lift down to the beach and hung out there for awhile. On my way back to the hotel, I decided I should get a brioche con gelato – a pastry with gelato, a Southern Italian specialty. Well, it was quite a shock…the thing turned out to be the size of my HEAD. Panicked, I carried it back to Eric and forced him to help me eat it, much to his chagrin. Then we went on some missions – to a bookstore to buy me a book (I ended up getting The Godfather) and back to the little place we had gotten lunch to buy some giftys – many many bottles of olive oil! Eric was a little hungry so we got a little snack of bruschetta and then went to see The Legend of Zorro. It was in Italian, so Eric couldn’t’ understand any of it – I explained certain intricacies of the plot, but he insisted (and was right, I’m sure) that this wasn’t really the type of movie that required serious plot help. It was your basic action movie…terrible! But definitely a good time. We found a dinner place and split dishes again – this time, gnocchi with pesto and speghetti with garlic, oil, and hot peppers. The restaurant gave us little aperitifs after our meal, kind of almond wine or something. Eric, of course, didn’t want his, so I had to double fist it – all for Grandpa, of course. Then, we headed back to our room to eat the previously purchased cannoli (we had bought them before before because they looked SPECTACULAR and didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity).

The next day was a designated driving day – we had to get back to Palermo, which was a ways off. We got breakfast in the same place and then hit the road. The drive actually didn’t turn out to be so bad, I read to Eric basically the whole way (mmm LOVE the Godfather!!!!) We stopped off in Monreale first, hoping to check out the cathedral, but it was closed til 3 and we didn’t feel like hanging out. After a somewhat ho-hum visit to the cloister, we headed into the din of Palermo. Dropped off our stuff – dropped off the car – and we were stuck in Palermo. I really hate that city. We checked out the Palatine chapel again, got some gelato…but basically just killed time til dinner (pizza, mm) and then headed to the hotel really early. I read some more Godfather out loud and we hit the sack by 9 – we had to get up at 5! Ewww. The early morning wake up call came, well, early, after a fairly restless night, and the bus ride to the airport was uneventful. Eric checked in, we got breakfast, and Eric was off – I read the Godfather until my flight time arrived, and got to Rome. Well, my flight from Rome to Florence was apparently cancelled, so instead they put us on a BUS to Florence…what a nightmare! I made a little posse of friends (basically to complain about the situation) and we got through the bus ride. 5 hours later…I got to Florence and hightailed it back to Antella.

What a great trip! It was really excellent to be at home again, of course, but the trip was fabulous. Thanks, Eric!

another bus experience.

I am so behind in posting on my blog that I am almost ashamed to post here...but never you fear, there are upcoming posts on part 2 of Sicily, Bolzano, and my second weekend in London. Just don't hold your breath.

However, despite my lack of posting, this is a story that just must be noted. I feel like all of my funniest experiences are because of the bus system. Last night I was riding home on the bus (6pm on a Sunday night, an adventure in itself!), pretty tired, having just been in London for the weekend. I was minding my own business, being pushed every so often (every 5 seconds) but basically just listening to my iPod and reading while leaning against a wall. Just before my stop, (literally, JUST out of walking distance) the bus stopped for no apparent reason. Immediately, my mind is flashing to past experiences (most specifically, to when the bus I was on broke down). All of the passengers were yelling at the driver, so I pulled off my iPod to listen in. Apparently the driver had just decided to make his bus a deposito, which means he randomly decided his shift was over and he wasn't going any further. "C'è un'altro bus dietro di questo!" There's another bus behind this one! He shouted at us. We all clamered off the bus, pushing and shoving to get there first (I will never understand this about human nature). After I boarded the second bus, I stuck my headphones back in but pulled them out quickly because there was a HUGE commotion going on in front of me. An entire crowd was hovering around old signora, who was...lying on the FLOOR!?! What the heck was going on? Everyone was shouting, gesturing wildly, and then suddenly I realize BLOOD is spurting all over the place. The signora gets herself up and everyone is screaming, get some towels! Call an ambulance! The woman is wandering around on the bus, circling, shouting at everyone, while meanwhile blood is GUSHING from her leg. People are urging her to sit down to stop the flow, but no! She, too, must be a part of the fray, and paces the bus while blood flows on to the floor everywhere she steps. People decide to get off the bus because the driver won't leave until an ambulance arrives. The old woman is PISSED! She wants to go home! She doesn't even seem to notice that there is literally a LAKE forming around her! All of the signore on the bus are standing around her, a little protectice flock, all discussing the situation. Apparently in the dash from the other bus, she tripped on the step into the bus ("una scalina altissima!" "a HIGH step!") and must have hurt herself pretty severely for the amount of blood that was going on. Well, it was abundantly clear that the bus was going nowhere fast, so I got out and called Marcello...my hero on a white horse (rather, in a silver Citroen) who immediately came and picked me up out of the madness.

Viva la Sicilia! part 1

Ok, everyone, brace yourselves….this is going to be a long post. This is primarily for myself, however…I’m using the blog to preserve my memories, so if you aren’t interested in intense detail about my trip, be prepared for some skimming. I am also attempting to paragraph better (I was informed by someone *ahem*Eric*ahem* that my paragraphing leaves something to be desired) so let me know how I do.

I pulled into Palermo on an Alitalia flight on Friday night. After reading in my guidebook on the way down that “Women should avoid walking around alone at night in Sicily, specifically Palermo” I was really stoked to walk by myself at night to my hotel. I bussed to the train station then found my (really, really sketchy) hotel by myself. I considered starving and not eating dinner, but around 8:30 I decided to suck it up and find some food. Sitting down to a dish (I had ordered something that was pasta and “spada,” which means “sword”…so I was slightly nervous about what I was eating, but it turned out to be swordfish) my mom called, so it was like I got to have dinner with her. Nice.

The following morning, I got up and showered before striking out onto the streets of Palermo. I did some of the typical sites, San Giovanni degli Erimiti has these lovey red domes and amazing cloisters, I checked out the cathedral and the crypt and treasure there (and witnessed a wedding…it was SO bizarre, though, NO one was paying attention at all, including the couple getting married…seriously, everyone was just talking as if the priest wasn’t saying anything at all). I spotted a great pastry shop and enjoyed a cream filled croissant before going in to the Cappella Palatina in the palazzo. This was actually really stunning, a cross of Norman, Byzentine, and Arab art, all done in these fabulous mosaics. I was really impressed with this, and I was also really impressed with myself when I went on a guided tour of the palazzo in Italian and understood it all. I hung out in the Piazza Vittorio Emmanuale (all swaying palm trees under this fantastic sun…amazing) and then napped before hopping on a bus to meet Eric at the airport. I was REALLY excited to see him! His plane was right on time, and I spotted his Blogger sweatshirt right away =) We headed back to the (sketchy) hotel and he sacked out, I read for awhile.

We got up on Sunday morning and found a good place for breakfast. For those of you who don’t know, breakfast in Italy is sadly lacking. There is coffee, of course (faaaabulous, you can’t get better) but they generally just eat a pastry of some type along with that. For a breakfast fiend like myself, this a serious problem. However, I’ve been coping so far. So E and I got a cappuccino (he drank coffee the WHOLE TRIP, it was phenomenal. I feel like I’ve accomplished something serious) and a apricot filled croissant. Then we wandered off to find Avis and rented our cute little 2005 Golf. Driving in the city was certainly an adventure, but we peaced out of Palermo pretty quickly and set out towards Segesta, a great site south of Palermo with an amazing Doric temple. This was my first temple since Greece 2 years ago, so I was really excited. Eric was stoked too. It was really great to be with him and get re-invigorated about Italy. I’m so used to seeing lovely views and quaint balconies over narrow streets…hearing him exclaim over things that have become common in my life really has brought new appreciation to my experience here (so thanks, Eric!) We walked to the Greek theatre also on the site at Segesta (it was hooot but there was a great view) and then set off to Erice, a tiny medieval town perched on a cliff over the west coast of Sicily. Eric and I were charmed immediately. There are some minor sites in Erice, a nice duomo and a neat castello, but we were basically just enjoying small town Sicilian life. We had a great lunch of pesto trapponese and pasta alla norma (a Sicilian dish, pasta with eggplant, red sauce, and cheese) and then found a hotel (randomly, a one star paradise…just our style). We wandered the town and shared a cannolo from the café bragged as owned by Sicily’s foremost pastry chef, and enjoyed a macchiato (yep, Eric’s first). We walked down by the castello at night, which was beautiful, then relaxed a bit and I enjoyed reading all of his ENGLISH reading material. After another walk around for a gelato, we sacked out.

Monday, we had a breakfast at our hotel then headed out to Selinute, a major site for some Greek temples! Our guidebook suggested a detour to Cava di Cusa, the place where all of the stone for the temples at Selinute came from. I wasn’t expecting a whole lot, but this actually turned out to be amazing. We could see several columns that had been carved out of the rock but were not yet extracted…and they were HUGE. I was totally shocked and all the more excited to get out to see the temples. In Selinute, we had fun wandering among the intact temples (very impressive) but I had even more fun climbing on the ruins of the temples that didn’t make it. I just like climbing on rocks, but these were EXCITING rocks, so I had even more fun. Eric had determined that a trip to Corleone, the site of the GODFATHER, was absolutely pertinent, so we set off inland and north to Corleone. When we finally got there, there was this interesting rock that sort of jetted up out of the city, so we walked around that and got some juice at a bar (and made friends with the bartender, he was really nice). It was a pleasant little town and we hung out for an hour or so before heading south to Agrigento (after returning home, I told my host mother that we went to Corleone and she was shocked…apparently this place is really dangerous. None of our guidebooks warned us for THAT! But we made it out ok.) Agrigento by night is a nightmare, for anyone who cares. Do NOT try to navigate this city. All the roads are one way, and not going your way, either. After about a half hour (or more) of unsuccessfully finding our hotel, we gave up and stopped at the first hotel we found (Hotel Pirandello, which was fun because I’m reading some Pirandello in school). Then we headed into the centro to get some dinner, which was terrible again. The man at the restaurant was SCARY…we got our cannoli for the evening (we promised each other we’d eat one every day!) after being ignored for quite some time by the shopkeepers in favor of a family, the father and son were sporting matching mullets (uuugh). Eric and I quickly agreed to avoid staying in a big city again at all costs. Deal!

Tuesday morning we had breakfast in our hotel (it was uninspiring, to say the least) and then got VERY EXPLICIT instructions from the guy at the front desk as to how to get to the Valley of the Temples (we were NOT about to drive around aimlessly like the night before). We parked the car in the car park and started out around the site, but I think we were both pretty unimpressed, we got involved in a conversation about Halloween costumes. I was actually pretty bummed about the whole thing, it just looked like a bunch of lame rubble to me, when I examined one of the little info stands. The only (slightly) interesting thing to see in this part of the site was this huge statue of a man, which Eric described to me saying, “Oh yeah, I read about this in my book…there were like, 8 of them and they did something but then…whatever.” Incredibly informative. It turns out they were actually 8 meters tall, and there was a picture on the board of a reconstruction of the temple. This huge statue of a man, 8 meters tall, was actually one of mannnnny holding up the temple – but the fantastic part was that this was maybe, MAYBE a quarter or a fifth of the height of the whole temple. Surveying the grounds, I realized the WHOLE area I was in, all of the pointless rubble, was part of what was one a fantastically huge temple to Jupiter. It was, in fact, the biggest temple in the Greek world. Suddenly the whole thing didn’t seem so lame. I loved this moment of recognition, though. The size of the temple was so far beyond my own small human understanding that I couldn’t even really understand how fantastic it was…when it finally sunk in what surrounded me I was completely dumbfounded. After explaining it to Eric, we both had a lot more respect and excitement for what we were seeing. On the other side of the park, there were 3 pretty interesting temples, the Temple of Hercules, the Temple of Concord (the most intact Greek temple remaining, I’m pretty sure) and the Temple of Juno. We then walked up to the museum and wandered around there too, some pretty cool stuff. We jetted out of Agrigento with a short pit stop at a grocery store for some necessary food purchases (mmm Nutella) and headed up to a Roman villa which had some pretty amazing mosaics. The mosaics had been under piles of mud for like 700 years, which actually turned out to be a good thing, because it allowed the preservation of the mosaics. They were pretty fantastic. We called a hotel in our guidebook in the small town of Noto and set off…the man on the phone gave me instructions on how to find the hotel, but when we actually got there we could NOT find the place. It was terrible. Finally, Eric realized that the number in the guidebook was wrong and we were looking for the wrong signs! The place turned out to be fantastic – we had our own little private terrace in a reconstructed farmhouse. The man who owned the hotel was really sweet. Then…we set out on a mission of the impossible…to find a restaurant open on Ognissanti, All Saint’s day, a holiday here in Italia. On the drive back down from the villa we had seen the celebrants, tons of people out in cemeteries saying hi to their saints…it actually seems like a lovely holiday to me, to gather the family round and go out to visit the cemetery. Unfortunately, it’s not really feasible in the States, where people move around so much…but it still seems like such a lovely holiday to me. So anyway…Eric and I searched all around Noto, and were extremely pleased to find a nice-looking restaurant open. And thus began the accidental 15-course dinner. Yikes…but it was an experience…and we had a lot of good conversation and a LOT of laughter during those 15 courses.

more to come!

the weekend.

Friday, Liz, Piya, and I talked our teacher into letting class out early so we could catch a train to PERUGIA. Now, Perugia is a lovely city and all, I'm sure we'd've gotten there eventually, but it was particularly pressing to get there because:

THERE WAS A CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL.

This is no joke. We needed the chocolate. We were excited. We were RUNNING to the train station. We got our tickets, got on the train...and sat. And sat. And ssaaaattt for 50 minutes after the designated departure time of the train.

Grrr, we thought. But no big deal. We'll still get there.

We were so excited about getting there, we missed the fact that we were supposed to change trains in Arezzo. We were on a Rome-bound train and I happened to glance at my map...and realized we were SOUTH of Perugia, heading towards Rome. Whoops! We got off at the next stop, bought tickets back up to the change point. So this took awhile...but it was ok! We were going to get there! When we got back to the appropriate station, we hopped off to find the other platform with the train headed to Perugia. A few frantic moments later, we figured out we should be on binario 4...which was, in fact, the train we had just. gotten. off. Cool.

So we finally got to Perugia. We needed to find the appropriate bus to get up to Piazza Italia. People were all around us wearing chocolate crowns...we were extremely excited. We got on a bus...but it wasn't going anywhere. We waited for awhile, then got on another bus. Yes! We were just about at the Piazza Italia...when a CAR on the side of the road caught on FIRE. Our bus driver pulled off and ran over with a fire extinguisher. Whew. Thrills and chills.

The chocolate festival was AMAAAAZING!!!! We just ate...and it was amazing.

Saturday, Marcello and Giuliana took us roomies to a piano concert, which was excellent. Good times.

SUNDAY, Liz and I decided to take it easy and head out to Fiesole, about a half hour outside Florence. It's even on an ATAF bus line so we were in the money. Very cute -- we had a 2 hours walking tour in Liz's guidebook so we took that but not very seriously. Hung around for mass in the church, took our time in the Etruscan and Roman ruins, hurried through the musem (we were hungry!) We had heard that there was an Indian restaurant in Fiesole and sought it out -- but it was CLOSED (we'll have to go back). The views of Florence were fantastic, despite the haze, and we took a slow walk down to San Dominico, where we checked out the graveyard of the church (weird, huh?) and caught the bus back to Florence. It was perfect - we got out of the city and enjoyed the PERFECT weather but it wasn't a very big trip. Very relaxing!

professore...

Allow me to tell you about our art history professor.

The first day he came in, he had, (this is the Truth) hair just like Kramer, from Seinfeld. All crazy with the one random puff on the top of his head. But he seemed like a relatively normal guy, dubious hairdo, but pretty serious and scholarly.

Apparently the Uffizi releases him from his shell. We’re waiting in line to get in and all we can hear is his mumbling about the “cattivi giapponese,” the evil Japanese. Hmm. He turns to a guy in our class (the first time he’s actually recognized that we exist, usually he is off in his own fog of art or whatever) and says, “Hey, you look just like Joe Pesci” in Italian, then stutters, “Are a-you talking to meeeeee?” (p.s. he doesn’t speak English.) We stare at him, stunned. Who is this man? 10 minutes later, he’s admitting his grand passion for one specific type of music. $10 to anyone who can guess.

Motown.

The man likes Motown. He’s going on and on about the “Cinque di Jackson” and “Diana Ross! Stop! In the naaaame! Of LOVE!” and he’s SINGING in the UFFIZI. He’s singing Motown in the Uffizi.

On the walk back to school, he goes on and on to me about American actors. Turning to me, he says, very seriously, “Frankly my deeeeear, I don’t give a damn.” I wish I could type in heavily Italian-accented English…because it is the funniest thing in the world. He then told me how he was planning to get his hair cut “military style” (this is EXACTLY what he said, in English and everything) and then showed up to the next class practically bald.

Last Tuesday, he opened class with, “Are you a-talking to meeee?” before launching into Donatello and his sculptural styles. Then, the gem of yesterday’s class: we’re waiting around in one of his long pauses (he does Powerpoints and just stares at the slides for very long periods of time. We’re not sure what he’s doing during these long periods of time.) So, he’s staring at a slide. Then he turns to us and announces, “I push the button.” In english. So we look at him. He goes on, smiling slyly. “My finger. Is. On the. Button.” And he is just waiting for praise. He looks so proud of himself. And pushing the button, he turns to the new slide and continues the discussion on Brunelleschi.

I am a Puritan American.

It’s true. Last night, I decided to go out and watch some TV with Marcello and Giuliana. They watch TV every night, but it always seems like they’re watching films, so I just thought I’d join in. Well, the movie ended…and on came a show, “Porta a Porta.” This is apparently a show about discussing hot topics. They bring on all kinds of people (professors, actors, authors of books, etc.) to discuss whatever subject.

Last night: Sex and Love.

At first, I’m like, whatever, sex and love. No big deal, right? But this was NO JOKE. They were talking about EVERYTHING. Does sex come before love or should it only come after? How old does sexuality begin? What is the older generation’s role in teaching healthy sexual activities? Yeah, that’s all fine and dandy…before I know what’s going on, the conversation has SWITCHED and they are suddenly talking about masturbation…wait! They’re talking about POLYGAMY. And how it’s ACCEPTABLE. One of the guests on the show (this is awesome) is a PRIEST. A priest is on a show talking about sex. Marcello checks in with me to make sure I’m understanding all the words. Whoops, there’s one I don’t know – he’s miming it to me…and oh. He’s miming a THONG. This is no big deal! Here’s another I don’t know – and now he’s telling me all the rules for playing FOOTSY.

Oh man. I’m pretty sure I didn’t stop blushing the whole time. Marcello turns to me and says, “They don’t have TV shows like this in America, do they?” I affirm his observation. “You know why, don’t you?” he says. “You guys are too moral. Puritan Americans.”

Yep, that’s me. Puritan American. I think I’m still blushing.