A little renovation...

Today was pretty productive for me. I swept and mopped the whole house, got the laundry done, chased the cats, did the grocery shopping, went to the gym...and then I started working on the yard. What a mess! They say that the soil near the base of a volcano is the richest soil on earth and that anything can grow. Well, we gonna find out. :) I checked out a shovel today from the Self-Help office here at our housing complex and commenced to churning up the soil in my yard that was dryed up and hadn't seen a plant in Lord only knows how long. I guess the people that were here before us didn't like to garden. After I churned everything up I watered the soil to get it ready for some new plants and then I attempted to knock down the tree in the front yard. It is dead and just standing there lifeless while all the other trees around it are green with leaves. I couldn't budge it, so when Luis got home I asked him to dig it out; but instead he knocked it down. Either way, it is out now and tomorrow I get to cut the grass. Whew! I get tired just thinking about it.

New Furniture!

Who doesn't love new furniture. I mean really, let's be honest. :o) Luis and I bought a new hall chest the other day and it was delivered last week. I just fell in love with it! Although this piece wasn't specifically made for us, I found out that there are a lot of places around here that can and will make just about anything you want if you just provide them with a drawn picture and dimensions. Jackpot! Luis is getting me a island for our kitchen for my birthday and I get to design it! How exciting! I can't wait to get started on the design.

Our New Home

We are finally in our house here in Sicily and it isn't at all what I thought it would be. Actually I am impressed because I didn't think it would be as big as it is. We have three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms, a washer and dryer, a big kitchen, dining room, living room, and all of the closets are a decent size with overhead storage. We also have storage under the stairs and outside in a gated area that is covered from the weather. Our back yard is fenced in, and the best part is that our house is on one end of four so we only share one wall which is actually concrete under the part you can see so you can't hear anything through the wall at all. I think we will enjoy our new home for the next three years. I just have to put some serious time in on the garden...

My Little Beater...

We bought a little VW Polo not too long ago so I could go to the store and work. Mostly just to get around the little towns here. The roads are really narrow. Even Luis' civic is too wide! The side mirrors on my car fold in because when you part on the side of the street if you do not fold them in, they won't be there when you come back. (lol) Even though it is an older car, it has a sun roof which I absolutely love because...with no air conditioning,,,every little bit helps. Luckily it isn't really humid here so even though it gets hot, it's not too sticky. I love my little beater. (Never thought I'd say that!) It gets great gas mileage and for around here that is a must! At $6.50 or so a gallon, give or take a quarter, it had better get good gas mileage.

Catania (Take Two)

Today was what I would have to classify as a little nuts. Well, traffic wise anyway. As I mentioned previously, Luis and I went back to Catania today to an art show where we thought we might find some art to buy for the house...and we did, sort of. We didn't know that the art at the show was going to be from world known artists and that the pieces would cost a few thousand dollars each. Needless to say, we did not purchase any pieces to take home. After the art show we went to a small Gelateria and ate some icecream and relaxed a bit. I had Strawberry for the first time. Man I could have eaten that all day! Then we started heading home and I spotted a stand on the side of the road with sculptures for the garden and pedestals and such. So I swung off the road into a parking spot across the street and we ran over to check it out. We ended up buying a pedestal and a statue to go on top and a planter bowl with grapes on it...all absolutely stunning. The statue is on the pedestal in the garden and the bowl is on the front porch so that I can put some flowers into it. Love them....Anyway, overall I'd say it was a successful day, because even though we didn't get any art for the wall, we did manage to find some for the garden. :o)

Catania

We took a "field trip" to Catania while we were still in our orientation class here in Sicily and it was a really neat place. This was two weeks ago or so, but we went back today again to check it out some more because there is a lot going on there. It isn't too far from where we live here in Sicily, maybe 45 minutes or so but it doesn't even feel that long really. The town's mascot is the elephant because they say that a long time ago a tiny elephant came into town and scared all the bad animals away. The is a square known as Elephant Square (when translated to English) and they have a statue in the center. This is a picture of Luis standing in front of it with his icecream cone. There is a small bar behind the statue where we got the icecream. Icecream here is so different and so good! There is not so much sugar in it so you can really dig in and you don't feel sick. They say it is better for you than the icecream we have in America and I have to say I believe them. :o) Yummy. The second picture is of a large church in Catania that the statue of the elephant faces. We were told the significance of the church, although I can't remember completely what it is. I do know that the body of a very important man can be viewed at the church through a glass case. I believe he was a Cardinal but cannot remember his name. I could never be a History Teacher!

The Sheep Dog

I had heard about the sheep dog before...Even seen one on the cartoon shows..But I had never actually seen one work in real life until we got to Italy. Wow! They really do know what they are doing. Every day in the morning the sheep would be hearded one way down the hill to graze and a few would be sheared for their wool. Every afternoon they would come back up the hill past the hotel and head back to their stalls. There was a guy on a horse with a rifle, two dogs, and a man waking in the rear to make sure all the sheep got where they were suppossed to be going. Very smart dogs!!!

Motta S. Anastasia

Our TLA here in Sicily for the first 18 days was in Motta S. Anastasia. A lot of the towns around here are named after Saints. I have a few pictures from the town when we were driving up one of the steep hills.
The streets are very narrow here, so your car must be small to get through without a scratch, ding, or a side mirror being ripped off. Most cars that are parked on the side of the road have their mirrors folded in to avoid being ripped off from passing cars.

A New Place to Roam...

We arrived in Sicily on May 1, 2006. It is now the end of May, so as you can probably tell, it has not been easy to get my hands on a computer for more than a few minutes at a time. A lot has happened since Luis and I got here. The first two weeks we had class everyday. The purpose, I think, was to help us to understand what to expect and what types of things we were going to see, the reality of the easiest task being extremely difficult, and basically to let us know that we will be frustrated and not to be surprised. I definitely have to agree with that last part. The first time Luis and I went to the mall I was almost in tears because I couldn't talk to anyone. Horrible! So, now I know what it must feel like to be a foreigner coming to America and not speaking English....Well let me rephrase that. I have an idea, because America can be way more intimidating in a lot of places I am sure.

We moved into our house last Friday. Actually, we got the keys on Thursday but had no furniture yet. We had to get loaner furniture from the base for the first month or so because ours will not be here until the end of June. :o( But it is alright..Actually it was better than I had expected. The house is a good size...About 1300 sq feet with three bedrooms and two and half bathrooms, a washer and dryer, plenty of storage space. The kitchen has a gas stove and the back yard is fenced in with a small patio. All in all a nice place. The only part I am not thrilled about is the floors. They are all tile....And they get dirty SO quickly.

I ventured into the town of MisterBianco yesterday and found a place called Auchan (something like that). It is the Italian equivalent of Super Walmart basically. I bought a wash bucket, mop, and several mop heads...And this morning I picked up about 5 bottles of floor cleaner. We live a fair distance from the main base so whenever we come here, we stock up on things we need so we will not have to come back to the base. I have to go back to MisterBianco again today though because we need to fill our propane tank for the grill. I might as well while I'm over here, you know? :o)

All in all I'd say things are going good so far. I will get some pictures on here shortly..Probably this upcoming weekend. Luis and I are talking about maybe going to Naples this weekend since it is a four day weekend for him at work. I'm not sure though....