Lots of hanging out and lounging around. Big lunch at Adriano's grandparents. The grandmother cooked pasta, meats, and prepared salad, and we ate it in that order. I love how they have salad last. I'm going to start having salad last. It just feels right. I can imagine that going over well in the states, "Can you bring out the salad after my main dish?" Yeah, right. They'll think I'm a total weirdo. Adriano's grandfather was HILARIOUS when Keisha couldn't use the cheese grater correctly. The block of parmesan fell into Keisha's pasta and got sauce all over it. He'd put his hands on his head and laugh and mutter things in Italian. He tried to guess my nationality. "Spanish?" No, filipino. "Indonesian?" I just laughed.
Went upstairs and hung out with Enza and Maurizio's dog, Max for a while--we were all in a food coma. Then we took Adriano to the airport. He could only stay in Sicilia for the weekend. For the next 2 days it was going to be just us girls and the family.
Going around Sicilia is like being in the Philippines, almost. At least the Philippines I remember. A bit run down, but extremely beautiful nonetheless. Things are a little bit harsher, but we dealt with it, we didn't complain. That night we didn't have any running water--not in the shower or the kitchen. But we thought of it as an adventure, a small sacrifice. We called the family who was super helpful and slightly worried that we'd be in the country without Adriano. They said that maybe it would be on tomorrow. And it was.
The house we were staying in is sort of...weird. The windows have iron bars, and then it has these shutters, kind of like the kinds that stores have that go completely over the whole front of the store when a store is closed. And then finally the glass window. The door, and there's only one, gets super, super stuck, and it it's hard to open from the inside. If there was a fire...well, it'd be really hard to get out. Lucia once said, after we tried so hard to open the shutters but utterly failed, "I don't like how we can hear everything going on outside and not see it." I said, "This house has the makings for a horror film. 3 girls alone in the Sicilian countryside and things go wrong right when the big strong man leaves." Lucia laughed uncomfortably at my reference to the water not running.
Aunt Rosa and Uncle Rosario picked us up at the house. Rosario opened the door from the outside for us. We drove to Mt. Edna and walked along the Silvestri crater. It was really cool. On the ride, Keisha told Rosario that I studied film. He looked at me through the rear view mirror and said, "Fellini." I said, "Yes, Fellini" in Italian cuz I didn't know what else to say. 
Rosa made us sandwiches, and we pulled off the road and had a picnic near Mt. Edna. Then they drove us to Syracusa to show us the Greco theater there and the Ear of Dionysius. On the drive back to Catania, Rosario drove by the beach. He must've heard of our disappointment. We pulled of the road and into this small neighborhood by the beach. We got weird looks from old fishermen as we walked toward the ocean and took of our shoes to feel the water. Rosario and Rosa watched from the car, smiling.
They took us home and Rosa had extra sandwiches for us to eat later which was really sweet. I'm just astounded by this family and how well they treated us. Since day 1 I was seeing all these similarities between this Italian family and most Filipino families and how they treat complete strangers as family. Since there was still light out, Keisha and Lucia went to go look for the beach while I stayed in and drew and wrote.
Our last day in Catania. Amara picked us up and we went shopping around the city center. Had my first taste of gelato: pistachio and coconut. So good. Baskin Robbins is garbage compared to this stuff. Amara showed us around the city. We went to Vincenzo Bellini's house which is now a museum. He's an opera composer from Sicily. Went to the Ursino Castle, saw some religious art, and I got my haircut at Enza's.
For our last night, we stayed at Rosa and Rosario's house since Rosario can drive us to the airport in the morning when he has to work. Our place is hard to find and the whole family was worried about a taxi not being able to get there. We had our last meal with R. and R. and Amara and Eratzio. Chicken, potatoes, salad, and ice cream. Yum. We talked about languages and literature. Eratzio had said, "Why did God have to make so many languages?" Sometimes he would just speak to us in Italian and then when he looked confused he would ask Amara to translate for him. Rosario taught us some Sicilian words and proudly displayed his English skills. It was a great last meal.
