Catania, Sicilia: Day 3, 4 and 5.

Day 3

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.
Day 4Aunt 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.

Day 5Our 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.

Catania, Sicilia: Day 1 and 2

Where do I start? This is going to be difficult. An in-depth day to day post would be too much for both you and me. And as much as I want to remember everything that happened, the posts that will follow will recount the best of the best.

Because I've come to know and love just a little bit of the Italian language and culture, I will refer each city to its Italian name rather than it's English one. Rome will be Roma, Florence will be Firenze and so forth.

Catania, Sicilia: Day 1In true Darjeeling Limited style, I brought drugs with me on the trip. I had a little cough, so I went to the pharmacy to get cough syrup. I didn't want this cough to spoil the trip. Anyway, I know that we'd be greeted by warmth and sunshine in Sicilia and that I'd finally leave the last days of Paris's winter.

Arrived in the afternoon in Catania where Adriano, Keisha's bf, picked us up with his cousin Francesco and Agata, Francesco's fiancee. Francesco and Adriano are really close and it's been three years since they've seen each other. Adriano and his family are Sicilians that immigrated to Paris. In fact, most of the family including Francesco, his Mom Rosa, his sister Amara--they all speak fluent French. So it was a bit odd yet cool to arrive here and to speak French to this Sicilian family--it was the only way we could communicate since their English was limited and our Italian was non-existent.

Met Adriano's grandparents, an elderly couple who live by themselves a floor below Adriano's aunt Enza and her husband Maurizio--they're hairstylists and own a salon around the corner. We met them too and their dog Max. Everyone was really sweet and welcoming, offering us food and coffee--best espresso I ever had had been in their homes.Ate tavolo calda style in Downtown Catania--so good. Had arancine, fried rice balls stuffed with meat and cheese. So tasty. We met Francesco's sister Amara and her boyfriend Eratzio. Amara spoke French and Eratzio only speaks Italian and very little English. They took us around the city at night, we got shots at a bar--their thing is a shot of gin and then this juice--and then we went home. We were pretty tired. We finally got to the house and we were all slightly disappointed that it was nowhere near the beach. When an Italian says that the beach is "right behind the house" in French, it means that it is 2 kilometers away. Keisha seemed pretty disappointed, but I didn't really care--we got free room and board in this amazing place. We were staying in the countryside, far from that incessant buzz of the city.

Catania, Sicilia: Day 2Early start. Got granita, a flavored slushy, and brioches for breakfast with all the cousins and their significant others. Lucia and I went in Amara and Eratzio's car to drive to the coast where the Cyclops Riviera was located. The Cyclops from Odysseus since legend has it that the Cyclops came from Mt. Edna. Eratzio was speaking Italian and Amara translated to French and he talked about Odysseus and Hercules--it was pretty cool. I used to read a lot about this stuff when I was a kid, and here I was seeing it up close. Eratzio was hilarious, I almost wished he spoke English just a little more. He parked on the dock in front of this huge boat and said, "This is my (insert Italian word for boat here)". Went to Amara's and Francesco's parents house and met Adriano's aunt Rosa. She prepared this amazing lunch with bread, deli meats, and salad. Obviously, I'm going to be talking about food A LOT. Rosa also speaks French. Her husband, Rosario, came home and we met him too--he's a fire captain and works at the Catania airport where we arrived. He knows little French, and he spoke to us in Italian even though we didn't understand. He kept telling us to eat more and more, "Mange! Mange, les petites filles!" We later got to bond with him more--he was super cool. After, hung out at Enza's hair salon, and Lucia got this great haircut. Enza used to work in Paris and has won awards as a hair stylist. They asked me if I wanted a haircut, but I said I wasn't sure. They have an open spot for Tuesday, the day before we leave for Roma, and I said okay.For dinner, we all went to a Sicilian pizzeria. Oh. My. Gosh. You have not eaten pizza until you have eaten pizza in Italy. We got potatoes first--the best fries I have ever tasted ever. Even better than the fries I've had in France. Then we all got different pizzas to share. I got the same one as Amara--tomatoes, ham, mushrooms. Lucia got a spicy one.
That night, we drove to Taormina. It reminded me of Mont St. Michel except with bars and nightclubs and high fashion shops. It was surreal walking through these old cobblestone streets at night and seeing brands like Gucci and Prada and Burberry in store windows and then an old church around the corner.