Festival of Santa Lucia and Agrigento

Most of the month of December is celebrated as the Festival of Patron Saint Lucia in our town. Each town in Italy has their own Patron Saint and have a festival during the year. The festival goes on for a few weeks, with cannons and fireworks like I said last time. On the day of the Patron Saint, Dec 13th, everyone in the town and surrounding towns gather at the mother church to present the statue and have a procession through the town. We went to church and were then in a crowd of probably 5 or 6 thousand people watching as 30 or 40 people in white robes carried the statue out of the church and placed her onto a carriage ( think Cleopatra) and pulled her along the streets of the town from church to church for 24 hours. It was unreal. The christmas lights through the center of town are pretty awesome too- big arches of colored lights the entire length of the street.There have been street vendors every day with candy, italian christmas sweets which I can't remember the name of but are like fried dough with honey and sugar and crepes. Nativity scenes are a huge deal here, we went to a contest where you voted on the best one that people made by hand.











On Saturday we took one of the base tours to the city of Agrigento, on the southwest side of the island. It is famous for the ancient Greek Temples. They date all the way back to 463 B.C. and most are still in pretty good condition. It was a really cool trip.

Addendum to last blog.

Julie- the turtle's name is Loafie. He only comes out when it is sunny and we can't figure out his cold weather hiding spot yet.

Mom- You can absolutely spend a whole week in Sicily. We have been here for 2 months and have only seen about 10% of the Island. The really awesome thing is because it has such historical significance, every city is very very different. Influences from Greek, Arab and Roman architecture are so different and present all around the island.

O.k so we figured out a few more things, the 'Truck fair" Is actually called "Blessing of the Vehicles". We are in the middle of the celebration of our town's Patron Saint. Each town in Italy has a Patron Saint that becomes equally important and represented in each church like Jesus or Mary. As part of the three week long celebration each day there are canyon blasts ( at 4:30 am), fireworks, and random events such as the vehicle blessing. We have been attending Mass in town at the "Chiesa Madre" ( Mother church) and since figured some of these things out.

I still don't have a picture of our new car, because 10 miles into Gabe's drive home on the first day, it died. Shit. So after a lot of frustration and a little negotiation the guy who sold it to us chipped in and contributed to the 472 euro repair. We dropped it off at the repair shop that was recommended to us near base, the man was very friendly and said he would call with an estimate. Apparently as estimate means "this is how much you will pay later", not necessarily " let me check with you before i start the work", because I stopped by after work to get the estimate and he had already taken apart the car and sent a part to Catania to be welded. Ay Mama Mia. Hopefully we'll get a little more life out of our new crappy car, should be ready by Monday but we are on Italian time, so that may mean next month.

Large trucks and fireworks??

So sorry its been a while, we've finally gotten into a groove of a normal routine over here and I can say its pretty nice. I was feeling a little crazy with the whole unemployment business! We've been getting out and about every weekend and every once and a while can get somewhere without getting lost! But let me catch you up on a few things;

Our home: We finally have all of our belongings! It was like christmas and torture on the same day. It's so nice to have our bed and couch and other comfort items. However, we packed up our good ole American 3 bedroom home with a garage and shipped it here to our 2 bdrm Italian apartment with no basement, no attic, no garage, and ONE closet. Thats right folks, ONE. In the whole place. So our living room and kitchen are pretty well unpacked, but our extra bathroom and extra bedroom are a makeshift garage/storage. We can't wait for visitors, but please give us plenty of notice so we can sell half of our belongings. We've discovered that we have a pretty awesome rose garden in the back, and another family pet.



Vehicles: The volvo is doing great, we've been carpooling to work on base everyday which is somewhat of a pain because our hours don't always match up, so as of this week we are now the proud owners of a 1999 Lancia Y. Your standard European teeny tiny crap box. Just to give you some perspective, my car gets 240 HP. Gabes new ride- 56 HP. It will be a big adjustment for him coming from his big truck! Haha. Pictures soon to follow.

My job: Started last week. I work for the Fleet and Family Support Center on base. Most larger military bases have one. Its a collection of social services including counseling, parenting support, life skills, advocacy programs and deployment support. So far I am totally loving it. All of my coworkers are friendly, helpful, professional and a pleasure to work with. I think its going to be great! My role is a home visitor with the new parent support program, offering education, suport and resources to new Moms on infant care etc. Its a little different for me, but a good challenge and very rewarding.

Traveling- Two weeks ago we visited the village of AciTrezza. Its a small fishing village and its beautiful. The three rocks are the Island of Cyclops and are very famous in Greek Mythology we are told. The town is only about 30 min from us and has lots of great seafood places to eat.





Last weekend we visited Taormina and did all of our christmas shopping. It is by far my favorite city. It is so clean and beautiful, you feel as though you are walking through Epcot or something. It is one of the more touristy areas of the island, so many restaraunts are open all day ( usually places do not open until 8pm, it is hard to find a place to eat lunch in most towns). This is where most scenes for the "Godfather" were flimed and where celebrities come when they come to Sicily. Its about 45 north of us on the coast.






Holidays: We spent Thanksgiving with friends from Gabe's kennel, and had a really good time. We will probably do something similar for xmas. Its nice because everyone is in the same boat, as far as being away from family, so people really bond together and support each other for the holidays. Our town where we live is also preparing for the holidays with some traditions we just can not figure out. Every morning since last weekend there are fireworks. Big, loud, booming fireworks, at 5am. Today they brought in about 30 tractor trailer trucks, and set them up in the town center square . Almost like a car show? Everyone gathered around and looked at the trucks. ( Think : Target or Shaws delivery trucks. On display) There were no food vendors or anything else, just trucks. And people looking at the trucks. Merry christmas.

All and all we are still adjusting well, missing some modern conveniences of the states, but enjoying every minute of this awesome experience. Today we went through the Drive in at the Mcdonalds just to order fountain sodas because I haven't had one in two months. With the exchange rate, I think I paid about 4 dollars for a medium diet coke. On the other hand, I paid about 3 dollars for a half carafe of red wine last night. I promise to post more often from here on out!!!