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.