Sorry for Dropping the Ball

         Well it has been a while since i have last posted anything so I guess I will have to start at Halloween.
Halloween in Italia is the same and different in some ways. In one way the only people who go trick-or-treating are very very little, because everyone else think that the tradition is a bit ridiculous. For me I just watched horror movies with the host brothers. This was basically Halloween. The day after Halloween is called 'The day of the Dead' where you remember all those who have pasted in your family. There is a type of food that is special to Halloween and originated in Siracusa. It is called zippole. It is like dough that has fish or nutella or other such things inside. They are really good and I think you can find them in true Italian bakeries back in America. This is Halloween in a nut-shell.
         The next holiday of course would be Thanks-Giving. First, if you have asked yourself..." I wonder how they celebrate Thanksgiving where Austin is?".... you need to go back to school and educate yourself and realize that it is only an American holiday and that no one else celebrates it. With that said, I celebrated officially 3 Thankgivings. The first was at the girlfriend of the brother of my host fathers house. Her name is Karen and she had a very nice Thanksgiving dinner. I met a pair who were named Martin and Simon who brought something I never thought of before, but it was a whole cake/roast made out of nuts. It was amazing. I talked with them alot and they introduced me to the show Modern Family which I watch all the time now. The second dinner was at the house of my friend Jasmine Schatz who is another exchange student here in Italia. She lives in a town called Modica which is famous for its chocolate. That was good and I have to say the dish of the day was Jasmines stuffing. She then took us around her town which was really nice and we went inside a giant butter-fly house. The third Thanksgiving was at the house of another exchange student named Savannah Baker. This gets the award for most traditional Thanksgiving dinner and award for the nicest turkey. That was really nice and I ended up sleeping over there that night with the rest of the exchange students from the area.  The next day we all took a trip to Modica to see a nice flee-market type thing. After this we all headed back to our respective towns. This concludes the Thank giving season.
         The next holiday is something that is only in some parts of Sicily and Italia. This is the festival for Saint Lucia. She is the patron saint of Siracusa and in general the saint of light. I had all the girls from around Sicilia come to my town for the two days of the festival and we all had a good time. On the 12th of December I showed them all of the town and all the historical stuff. We went to the shopping district and I was stuck giving opinions on things, but I don't mind. After all this we headed back to the hotel room to relax for a while and do all the Christmas stuff such as the secret Santa and eggnog and such. We did that and my secret Santa was the girl from Corleone who got me a leather bracelet. It was very nice. After all of this I had made dinner reservations for a very nice restaurant outside of the Piazza Duomo di Siracusa. We all paid 20 euro a person for dinner and got course after course after course after course of food, and then they finally said that the appetizers were over. The next day was the festival, but before we all went to my host house-hold to decorate a Christmas tree and have a great lunch. Everyone had a good time, and then we made our way to the festival where the Rotary President of Siracusa has an apartment above the square where everything happens. What happens is that the fingers (literal fingers) of Saint Lucia come out first, then a giant silver statue of the saint that takes about 50 men to carry comes out and the cardinal of Siracusa then gives a speech while it passes by. They then walk it across the whole city to a church that is named church of Saint Lucia. It then rests there for 8 days until making it's return trip back to Piazzia Duomo. Me and the girls then just hung out again and had dinner hole in the wall place that had really good sandwiches. Valerio then picked me up and I headed home. The next day I had to go to school, but afterwards I went back to Ortigia and hung out with everyone until they all had to leave around 6 on their buses. That was the day of Saint Lucia in a nutshell.
         For Christmas there isn't really that much different. On the 24th we had a big dinner and did the opening of the presents on that night. I got for Valerio a Maroon 5 cd and the film 'Into the Wild', for Francesca a cd of Andrea Bocelli doing a Christmas concert, for Pierluigi greatest hits cd of Blink 182, and for Alle a cd that had alot of cinema music on it. I got a dvd concert of Adele with the cd to go along with it and a nice red scarf to match my p-coat. Also I got a few gift-cards to a local sports store. Christmas was good overall. On the 25th we just went out to lunch at Francesca's sisters house. This is Christmas in a nutshell.
         Other than that nothing else is really going on and I'm just sitting in my room typing this and listening to 'Modest Mouse'. Ciao

North Americans and a Raven

         Well my internet's been down for a week, go figure. In my absense I have done a few noteworthy things. Number1.... I have met all the lovely ladies from North America who are on this island with me. I thought there was going to be a wide range of different countries, but only North America. Let's see if I can remember the states... they are from Idaho, Washington State, California, Michigan, (can't remember the others in America), and there is one girl from Vancouver. Where is Vancouver you may ask... it is on the western shores of great Canada. Also this is where the 2010 Winter Olympic Games were held. Unfortunately she did not go to them, go figure. I'll describe the day I guess. The trip to Catania was normal as always. I had some time to get in a good fill of 'Alice's Restaurant'. Did you know you can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant, accepting Alice of course. Anyway, the night before I read that I would need to give a speech at the meeting, so with grand tradition I went to the meeting and winged it, but I always turn out fine with these things and it went off without a hitch, just have to remember to breath. After wards I got some time to get to know everyone and we talked about how we are doing with the language, it turns out I am doing incredibly well. Say what you want, but Mr. Olivo is teaching Italian and lays a great foundation for future study of the language. Overall, everyone is good and we will be setting up hang-out weekends and stuff like that.
         Secondly.... I have read 'The Raven' to my class in school and to my family. Unfortunately student in Sicily don't have control of themselves and couldn't pay attention to me, so I feel it was a bust over-all. Now if I took an Italian student and brought him to America, everyone would pay attention and be quit out of respect. Afterwards I let one of them read it in Italian with the same result. I then gave them an explanation of E.A.P.'s life and why he was so good in depressing writing. Then tried to show them the crux of 'The Raven', but still no enthusiasm. I guess a guy can't read 19th century poetry like the old days. When I read the poem to the family though it great :) We talked about it and read it in Italian and English. We then went to the movies to see a film called 'Il Peggior Settimana della la mia Vita' (The Worst Week of my Life). It was hilarious but was so close to 'Meet the Parent' that I almost think it might be a bit plagarized.
         Again I am sorry about not posting for a while, but I would like to point out that I have 4 new countries to add to the list of countries that have viewed this blog. We now have Norway, Belgium, Mexico, and Brazil. Thank you for looking and don't be afraid to comment if you feel the urge. Tomorrow I'll write about Halloween in Italia, don't worry.

Response to the Death of Gadaffi

         It is difficult to explain the mixed feelings that this part of Italia and the country in general has for the Gadaffi Regime and their feelings about his ever so present demise. The country of Italy does not believe in death. This is a blunt statement, but through the next few sentences I will clarify. As shown threw the Amanda Knox Trial, the country of Italia does not have a death penalty. When I asked Valerio what he thought of her trial he wisely replied that he does not want to give verdict on matters he doesn't know the whole story to. Also he said that she should be glad this happened in Italia and not a county with death penalty for this very reason. This lack of belief in capital punishment comes from a belief that killing is in general bad. This is a belief that Americans say through their 'protection' of abused nations, but rarely follow at home in our ever-growing debate of the death penalty. (You know it's true Texas) I first heard of this after school on the way to ping pong practice. Valerio said that there were unconfirmed reports of Gadaffi's death, but he didn't believe them at the time. After returning to the house later we were still sketchy about these reports, but slowly saw through different news channels and that he was dead. Through this disbelief in capital punishment, the general feeling here is that he should of stood trial and gone to prison for the rest of his days. This will differ for every person you meet as do all issues in the world. Before WWII it may intrest you to know that the country of Lybia was an Italian colony. Many Sicilians moved there for economic prosperity. They did very well for themselves built a thriving Italian community. After WWII though they became independent of the motherland and became a separate country. Eventually Gadaffi came along, and with his rise to power he force all citizens of Italian descent to leave the country, those who resisted were jailed. This created a foundation for the ill-feelings towards the dictators regime. Sicily has also lived in constant awareness that they are the first to be invaded if Gadaffi did as he said and marched into Europe. In general, I would say that Italia is content with his death.

The Prince of Italy

Now this is the story all about how
My life got flipped, turned upside down
And I'd like to take a minute
Just Sit Right, Si
I'll tell you how I became the Prince of Great Italy

Near Philadelphia, born and raised
In the classroom there I spent most of my days
Chillin' out maxin' and relaxin' all cool
And studin' my Italian after highschool
When a couple of Rotarians who were up to no good
Asked me to go to Europe if I could
I went to one little meeting and got some flair
And said, "I'm movin' to Italia, I'll see you there"

My family whistled out and when they came near
They said," Your one of us now, don't have any fear".
If anything I can tell that this family's rare
But I thought, "Now forget it, Yo Italia, don't stare"

We pulled up to the house about 3 or 4
And I yelled to the family, "I can't ask for more"
I looked at my kingdom
Alla fine sono qui
To sit on my throne as the Prince of Italy

(To all Italians who read this, I am not your Prince or anything, but this is a joke Americans will find funny)

Me on Italian News

So I was in Italian news today, no big deal.

O're the Rockets Red Glare

         I know I haven't posted anything recently, and those of you I talk to have made sure to tell me. The problem I haven't done anything big in the last week, just school. Two things are that I started band yesterday, and ping-pong today. Band is the same everywhere, enough said. Ping-pong was good, but I'm not that good yet.
         What I want to say is not going to be long, but something I've noticed since I've been here. I am proud of my countries history and how our system works. Do not get me wrong, I still hate all the horrible things America has done over the years and am not dismissing the racists, bigamists, and religious fanatics that take part in these problem, but I am appreciating the way our system was made and people who made our government. The reason I bring this up is the topic of national anthems came up in dinner tonight. They told me about theirs and I told the story every American learns as a child. I am talking about the battle of Fort McHenry and Francis Scott Key. If you who are reading this is American and doesn't know this story, go in the corner and put on the 'I'm a bad American' hat. While I was telling it it was weird explaining the story of the battle and how the song portrays the battle, because I took the whole ordeal for granted. The symbolism or the flag still being there in the morning and his viewpoint from a British war-ship. I just feel pride for our history a bit more since I'm not so close to it. Also I will be reading the family some Edgar-Allen Poe on Halloween. This is good cause he was a great American and also a great Philadelphian. So I'll keep you posted on how everything goes.

P.S. Gloria, when I return we are going to NYC to see the 'Book of Mormon' I have been listening to the music and I think you would love it, I definately want to see it. Dad, tell Gloria about this post.

Andiamo al Cinema

          Well yesterday was a good treat. I went to my first movie in a movie theater in Italia. I'll explain it from the start I guess.
         Me and Pier left the house around 8 because the film was at 8:30. Now something about this movie theater at least... you make reservations online before you go to make sure your seat is secure for you. When we arrived (by foot), the place was mobbed!!! I've never seen so many people crowding into a movie theater. It's one of the main things to do around I guess. When we got into the theater we got our tickets and went up to the second level to get popcorn and stuff, the norm. Now going to the movies is one of three things in Italia. One, a gigantic family outing with everyone. Two, a place for friends to hang and see a film. Finally, three, a place for a date. Now 2 and 3 are normal for us, but when I mean a gigantic family outing, I mean it. Now we went into the theater to see 'Super 8' (I didn't need to know Italian to see that it wasn't good, don't waster your money). When we got into the theater I saw that they take pride in the space. The seats are all pleather with cushioned seating and alot of room for each seat. It is hardwood floor that looked like it was polished recently. It was very very nice.
         When the movie started, you could see that the video quality was that of a 70's or 80's movie with the resolution. I personally really liked it.It gave a nostalgic feel to the film. So it was pretty interesting when the tension got high in the film, Italians say very loudly what they want to happen, and get aggrivated when it doesn't happen. It was good for my first film in Italian. I have to say I was expecting a old blind man in the camera room and a little boy named Toto running around with the scraps of a film reel, but it was pretty modern. (that was a pretty big reference to get off the top of your head, watch 'Nuova Cinema Paradiso' to understand). After going out too eat I went home and slept.

         The next day I had school, ugh. Now I know it's about 3.5 hours less than Oakcrest, but it feels like the 10 hours my friends have to do in France. Something good that happened that day though is that I had my first interrogation. This is what teachers do to see if your studying. They think it works better because you are given no choices like on a test, you just have to get up in front of the class and say what you know. My interrogation was of the story of Orfeo and Eurudice. I did really well everyone said, for my first that is. I then got invite by some of the kids to go out for gelato later. I gladly accepted and went home until I had to go out again. We had the ice cream and they took a few photos with me for Facebook. Then we played a Sicilian card game that I have never even heard of before, but it was kind of like a 'who-ever has the best card wins' game. Then it started to rain so we went home early, but we all are going to the cinema again tomorrow to see 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes'. Ciao


P.S. To all you Russians, Pakastanians, Bangladeshians, and Germans reading the blog (yes I can tell). I'm glad to have you reading my blog, and tell others where you are about the blog :)

A Day in the Life

         I wanna walk you through a school day of a Siracusian (I think that's right). This is at least my school day for the moment and it's great.

          I wake up at 7:30 int he morning (already better than the normal 5:30). I get ready like normal.... drag myself out of bed, brush teeth, comb hair (though my hair is still short), shave if I have to. Then me and Pier ride the motor-scooter to school and get there in about 2 minutes. We hop off and have about ten minutes to hang out and talk to each other before the teacher gets in. Now what I like is that in school you have a coffee machine in the hallway, which though it is a machine, the coffee is still pretty good, so I start my day with a cappacino. When anyone of importance walks into the room you must stand until they say you may be seated. This includes teacher, principals, and special guests I think. The day is mostly mobbed by science and math classes since it is a scientific school. They aren't that hard to understand for me since math consists of alot of words like "meno= minus" and "pui= plus". Math is easy to get by in. During each class you have a small 5 minute break for bathroom and coffee and drink purposes. Then the next teacher comes in and starts everything again. Before the last class of the day starts you have a 15 minute break to go to a little table with a little lady behind it passing out sandwiches. It is a madhouse. It's 30 kids crowding this lunch lady. I usually get a Caprese sandwich, which is tomateo, mozzerella, and basil put altogether. On top of that they put ketchup and mayo on it cause kids put ketchup and mayo on everything here. That is a really good sandwich. Then we have one class after that and we get to go home. It's great cause this whole thing is only 4 hours long. It's like when parents say "I didn't like going to school at your age" except here in Italy the parents take that into account and don't make their kids go to school for that long. All the kids in class are good, and I'm getting along fine. I'll talk to you later, ciao!

Attention

Until further notice you will have to click the links on the side of this blog for photo's.

Real-Life Masquerade

         My first day of school was fine. I had trouble in history, but that's about it. Math is a univeral language until you hit word problems, so that's not to bad. The true meaning of this post is to talk about my recent mini-vacation to.... Venice. Yes, Venice. This is by far the most beautiful city that I've ever been in. That's the best way to put it I think. I'll start from the beginning I guess.

  We packed our bags last night, pre-flight. Zero hour, 4am. And we were high as kites by 7am. (Just felt like useing that) Anyway, we arrived at the Venice International airport around 8:30, 9 in the morning and walk a kilometer to the water taxi's. I was dead tired for some reason, so I slept the whole flight and the whole water taxi ride, which was just as long as the flight for some reason. Once we arrived we went to the hotel and dropped our stuff off. I left everything at the hotel except my camera. The first thing we went to was a bridge named the Accamedia. It is special cause it is almost completely made out of wood and still standing. I got some great pictures of the grand canal from that. I forgot to say that before we did this we took a tour of a theater named 'The Venician'. It's a tad expensive to get in, but we did and got to sit in a box for an hour watching a rehearsal of Mozart's 'Don Giovanni'. It couldn't of gotten closer to the actual performance if I do say so myself. All that was missing was costumes. After this we headed towards St. Marks Cathedral and ate at the local HardRock Cafe. I ordered a good burger because I've been craving a burger for about a week now, even though the food is amazing. The two boys got burgers also and they though they were really good. Francesca got a pulled chicken sandwich, and was baffled on how to eat something so big. It was a good experience, and I bought myself a pin there to keep with tradition. (Tell me-pop to put it on the list of places we have pins from) Then after this we made our way to the Accamedia. From the Accamedia we hopped a water-bus to 'Ponte Rialto'. This bridge is neat because on it are a full set of stores and venders. It's like if the bridge connecting JFK Boulevard to the 12th Street Station in Philly had a Macy's on it, just not as big. We walked around here for a while and came to a set of stores. Now I have to talk about one of the best parts of Venice... the mask. Each mask is hand-painted and each is individual as far as I could see. Their are thousand of upon thousands where-ever you go in the city. They aren't as expensive as you may think, though I will tell you now that if you came to Venice and bought a mask for 10 euro, you could bring it to the U.S. and sell it for a few hundred. This has been added to my list of business idea's . I personally got four that I thought were really nice. By this time it was about dinner-time so we headed to the grand-canal for a good meal. I asked Valerio to order for me, just nothing big cause I was stuffed from the burger earlier. So I had a sort of salad with cuts of raw meat, but it was really good, and I've never had a problem with raw meat, so I liked it. We headed back to the hotel because Pier and Alle wanted to watch some Italian comedy show, but I didn't mind because I was pretty tired. I read a bit and fell right asleep.

         In the morning we woke up and went down to the lobby for some bread and coffee. Now this is my first Italian cappacino and it was the best cup of coffee I've ever had. We then walked to a winding staircase in a piazza that was pretty neat, I have pictures to the left. We headed to St. Marks Cathedral and found that the line was ridiculously long, so instead me and Francesca waited in a shorter line for a giant tower that is in St. Marks Square. I had an interesting conversation with a man from Australia which made the line shorter. Now the best feeling so far is being able to translate for another English speaker, know that exactly a month ago you were exactly like him (yes, I am writing this on my one month anniversary) We then went into the Doge's Palace. It was huge and had alot of different artwork in it. I went on that little bridge you always see when you look up Venice, the one that leads to a prison. The prison was nice also, but I would hate to be on the other side of the bars. We then went into St. Mark's It wasn't as big as the Duomo in Milan, but I think it was more artistic. The whole ceiling is a Mosaic. This is when you take little pieces of stone or glass and put them together to make a picture. You can see an example in one of my photos. We went onto the balcony and then came down for lunch. The dinner was clams with a white wine sauce and then a assortment of fried fish. Afterwards we went to the hotel where Valerio met us from a lawyer conference about cross-examination. We walked around some more then headed finally to the airport. While on the plane I got some good shots of Roma as night. I came home and fell right asleep. I woke up and am now writing this. See you later. Ciao!

Where's my Monster?

          Well nothings really happened in the last two days, but I still want to talk to all you fine people. At least the ones who weren't scared off by that monster of a post about Milan (expect another one for Venice). So I figure I'll do a post about some comparisons and strange things here.

1. Driving: If you see a stop sign in America you stop, right? Well here all driving laws and signals are pretty much optional. They stop for their lights, but it is common for them to get sick of waiting and go through. Also, in America, if your doing 100 on the Turn-Pike for a good stretch chances are you will get pulled over. People speed like crazy here, and I think it's because I can count the number of cop cars I've seen in one month on one hand. That being said, 100mph/150kmph is an average speed on the highways here. (I wear my seat-belt Mr. Olivo)

2. They eat horse, enough said. I've met one person who doesn't eat horse and she made me swear that I wouldn't do it again. She's the only person that rides them though that I've seen around here.

3. I haven't had breakfast since I left Jersey. They do not, I repeat, do not eat breakfast here. They don't see a point to it because people don't go out until after lunch anyway.


4. Divorces are rare here, because if you do get divorced they judge makes you live together for a good 3 years to try and work it out anyway, so they don't really happen. Isn't that nice.

5. I have pasta for lunch every...single...day, no exceptions. Then dinner usually consists of a meat or fish

6. School is 6 days a week, but only for 5 hours a day. This is better than the 8 hours I'm used to :)

7. There is no monster, I've searched 2 department stores and have been to 2 airports looking for the drink. They do not have it, all they have is red-bull. Anyone who reads this and is thinking of sending a gift or package or what-not, put a few monsters in the box, please and thank-you.

8. Tradition is still prevalent here. Women mainly grow to have families and become good cooks. Make-a the sandwich. Scherzo

9. Kids at age 14 are allowed to drive scooters to get everywhere. These things are perfect size for Italian cities.

10. All kids here know their classical music like an encyclopedia.

11. All women are drop dead gorgeous here

I'll be sure to post again soon. Ciao

Ferrari for a Weekend

          Well... Milan... AMAZING CITY! Everything there was good looking. The shops were all clothes of course, but I kind of figured that. I'll recount the whole trip I guess.
          We got up at about 4:30 Saturday morning and drug ourselves to the car to get to the airport (Valerio and I). Neither of us was talking at this point cause we were so tired, because Italian are not used to getting up really early, at least not this early. When we got to the airport we already had the tickets printed out online and checked in, so we just headed through security with no problem. When we got through this we got croissants and drinks, then boarded the plane. The ride wasn't that bad, it was kind of uncomfortable since it was a only a regional flight, but I'm not complaining. The plane landing in a town named Berguga, so we had to take a bus to make it to Milan. When we arrived there we took a cab to the hotel. Driving through the city was really nice looking at all the shops and what-not. We dropped our stuff off at the hotel and I got my camera then we were off.

          The first thing we went and saw was a church named Duomo. It was the most intricate thing I've ever seen. Valerio gave me the background on it and explained its Gothic roots and how paintings and sculptures were used to teach when the population couldn't read, so that's why it was so well done. There are pictures on this blog of the church and you can see for yourself. When we walked inside I couldn't believe how frickin big the place was! I could hold a football game in here if it wasn't for the pillars. There were many tombs and gravesight around the inside of the church, and even some of them you saw the actual body which many were hundreds of years old. We then went into the underground part of the place which wasn't very large, but had some old artifacts. Before leaving I bought myself a coin that had pictures of the church engraved on both sides. Then we went into a kind of mall which was also huge. It is called the Galleria. It was open-air, but it had a ceiling, its weird to explain, look at the video. We walked a ways until we hit a theater that I had never heard of before, but apparently it is very very famous. It is called 'La Scala'. Many different peoples and groups have played here such as Pavoratti, Rossini, Verdi, and others. We took a tour of this building and after being inside, I do remember it from movies and pictures and such. A good word to describe the venue is regal. We then went to the shops. Now let me explain something...my eyes were falling out of my head at the prices. We went to a store called Boggi. It is a store for suits and casual menwear. If I spent all the money I have brought to Italy, I couldn't of bought a jacket at this place. For work Valerio bought a really nice suit though. It's neat when the people at the counter say 'Is that all Mr. Vancheri, and how about you Mr. Russell' (even though I didn't tell them my name, but I bet they have their ways). We went out to lunch while we were waiting for that to be taylored. We went to a small Bistro, but across the street was a McDonalds. I didn't get anything (though if they would of had iced mocha coffee I would have gone crazy), but I was curious at what Italian McDonalds have. They have basically the same stuff, but they have other stuff like shrimp and mozzarella balls stuffed with vege's. All McDonalds I have seen have a section for cappicino and expresso. They are actually good too. Then we went to a spanish castle in the middle of the city. We took a tour and saw many fresco's done by Da'Vinci, and there was a huge section for musical instruments that I looked at. Then we went back to the hotel and slept for an hour or two (in accordance with a type of siesta). We went to dinner that night and I had the best steak of my life! It was the meat around a piece of spine from the cow that was really really tender. The side was safron rice (it's much more common here). I have a picture to the left if you can find it. We met with a friend of his and got gelato, then we back to the hotel for the night.
         We woke up and packed everything we had and made our way to the Milan train station. The train to the city of Monza was free for ticket holders of the Grand Prix, but it was so stuffed. There was a British couple right next to me and Valerio who were talking their heads off. I made sure to only speak Italian to Valerio so they wouldn't hold back their conversation, cause it was kind of funny. Then the man asked a rhetorical question and Valerio answered it in English. They talked then the man turned to me and asked really slow...' whats...your...name? Do you understand English?' and he gave a thumb's up. At this point I couldn't hold it in and I spoke and said that I understand English fine and that I was the American of the two of us. We all laughed and then we talked about the Grand-Prix and different European events. Then the man said that it was a pretty big day in America, and it took me a second because I completely forgot about 9/11. Then I said yes and changed the subject, cause I was having a good time and I didn't want to get caught in a 9/11 conversation, I just wanted to watch cars go fast. We got of the train and had to walk about 2 miles to our seats and we sat down and watched. We were about 2 hours early, but when the race started, it was great. These cars are going over 270 miles an hour on an actual circuit, not just a giant oval in the middle of nowhere. There were a few crashed, but nothing serious. Something to know is that Italians have national pride in Ferrari. Every single Italian was wearing red (including myself) and yelling their heads off for the Ferrari team. In the end Red-Bull came in 1st and 2nd, and Ferrari in 3rd, but that didn't stop thousands of Italians (that rhymed) from storming the track to pay homage to Gods of Ferrari. After the race we walked a good 4 or 5 miles to a bus which took us back to the train-station in Monza central. We were in such a hurry that we bought tickets and boarded the wrong train headed in the complete opposite direction. We rode to a town named Lecco and I got to see the Alps cause if we had gone any further we would have been in Austria. We quickly hopped on a train going back to where we came and weren't even charged cause the conductor said we've had enough pain by going the wrong way. When we made it back to the airport we had to wait a few hours till we could check in. When I went through security the buzzer went off. I realized I had coins in my pockets and showed them, but I still got a full-body patdown. (I thought later it would of been funny to say it was my heart of gold, but I didn't want to test my limits). Valerio was laughing to the side and made some jokes like asking me if the guard took me to a nice restraunt first or if I gave him my number. I couldn't help but laugh too, then he asked if they found my bombs. I laughed my head off and told him that if he said that in an American airport, especially on 10th ann. of 9/11, he would of been in Guantanimo before he could say 'I'm joking'. Still we laughed because European airports haven't lost the fun of air travel like American airports have. One thing I noticed was that all women who worked in the airport and on the flight were good-looking. I harkened back to the glory-days of Pan-Am when it was a unspoken law for looks to be part of a woman's resume for stewardship. We got back to Catania around 2 and to the house around 2:30 an I fell right asleep.
          I woke up and am now writing this blog. The pictures will be to the left. Ciao!

Two funny Things

This isn't going to be a real post, but I want to show two things I think are interesting. The first is the strange similarity of my host father to Al Pacino. As seen here. Just give my host father darker hair and a smug face, they could be brothers.

Second, I want to show the Italian devotion to religious rituals through these youtube videos. These are real commercials on tv. You have to know some bible parabols to get what they are making spoofs about.

Nascar...but with Poise

         Well, I apologize for my failure to post in the last three days. There has been only about two things that have happened. I will describe my day of two days ago first. This is the same day as the historical trip to Ortigia. I spent that night at the house of Gianmarco. This wasn't bad, we spent the night watching a horror movie called 'The Descent' which had a horrible ending. The next day we woke up around 11 and hung out around the house till pranzo (lunch). We had chicken, but Gian was making jokes about it being cat, though this got on my nerves cause the only reason he did was because he knew I would get caught up with the language. I think he likes the control. Anyway, after this some other people came over and we walked to the local soccer field. Now when I say we played almost all day I mean it. We started around 3 and didn't stop playing until the sun started to go down. We got in about three games. I told them that I played defensive back in gym class with Mr. Petty, so that's what I did. During the game I got the nickname 'mura di rocca' (wall of rock) because every person that came with the ball I either stole it from them or they kicked it away when they saw me coming. After the game I got mvp for that game, so I was happy. That was the one thing that happened.
         Yesterday Alessandro came back and he slept all day, but I don't blame him, he got up early to catch a plane in Florence. While he slept I watched 'Tootsie' with Franscenca. Now one thing over here that's strange... they don't really get the full affect of movies cause all the actors voices are dubbed over with someone trying to imitate that actors voice in Italian. For example, I've watched 'Forrest Gump' in Italian since I've been here, and I found myself saying all the words to get the affect. So watching 'Tootsie' without Duston Hoffmans voice was weird and unfufilling when he came out and said "I'M HER BROTHER".
          Now the highlight of my week happened last night. While preparing the table for dinner, Valerio asked me if I knew what the Grand Prix is. I said yes, I've seen pictures and such things. He said I have two tickets for next week, wanna go? I first asked if he asked Pier and Alle first, and he said yes, but they don't want to go. So on Saturday Valerio and I are taking a flight to Milan and going to see the city, then the next day going to watch the Grand Prix of the world, though I think it lasts for more than one day if I'm right.  For those of you who don't know what the Grand Prix is... it's kind of like the older and wiser brother of Nascar who warned him to watch out for the drink and not go to the American south, but he didn't listen. Actually its a race that's held in many different countries and is on a course that is set instead of a constant circle
          Today I am waiting for Francesca to get home then me and her are going out to get ingredients for me to make 'sizzilin prosciute'. So I'll be sure to post later probably next week after the Grand Prix. Ciao!

It's History Dear Watson

         I'll start with yesterday. I have a dilemma sometimes in the morning when I wake up. My father and mother are at work and when Pier isn't here I don't really have a way to get around. This is because, though it is truly killing me, I am not permitted to ride the Vespa's and motorcycles, even though I am of right age for both. I just don't have a license. So when this happens I am stuck in the house for a few hours. I can still go out on the street and everything to look around, but at around this time all the shops in my area are closed so there's nothing to see anyway. This is usually when I find time to talk to you, dear reader. After being in the house, I went to the local river and went kayaking for about an hour. That's always pleasant because at the end of the river where it meets the Porto Grande (Big Port), you can see Ortigia in its glory. After rowing back, Francesca picked me up and home we went. When we got home Valerio was waiting for us and we stayed there for about 15 minutes then out we went again. Mr. Valerio said it was only going to be about a 20 minute ride, but knowing the traffic at that time, it turned out to be more like an hour, but no worries, I brought my Nook and got a good 20 pages done in 'The Two Towers'. We arrived at a house on the sea where there was a party being held with some of the different players from Valerio's water-polo team. Now it may be just a team, but these guys have basically been a band of brothers since they were little and started playing in their teen years. The party was fun, there was alot of different food and gelati and granite.
         I want to take a second to describe someone I met who is a new friend of mine. He is also one of Valerio's friends (once school started I'll work on friends my age, this is more beneficial for now). He is the father of one of Pier's friends and the nicest guy you'll meet. His name is Caruso Concetto, but everyone just calls him Concetto. Valerio and he introduced me to everyone at the party, and then he went to talk to women. He is good-hearted and very generous.

         After the party we went home and I quickly fell asleep from exhaustion (it was 1:15 when we got back). This morning I woke up and me and Valerio hit the historical town. First we went to the fish market in Ortigia. This has to be one of the worst smelling places ever, but it's neat to see all the fish lined up. There are pictures to the right if your interested. We also looked at the old Sicilian Temple of Apollo. It is basically in ruins, but is good to look at. Did you know that all Greek Temples built are facing East? This is because they wanted to be right with nature and they set their temples to face the rising sun. The Christians later on to break off from the old religion made sure to face their temples and churches west as to not be confused with the old temples. After this we rode his bike to a museum named, Piazza Belluomo. We went inside and looked at all the old artifacts from the Spanish, German, and Bourbon eras. It was mostly all medival, but some of it was renissiance. Then we walked to the old castle on the tip of the island. It spans over many centuries and was built by many different rulers. There is one room that was funded by the Siracusa Rotary club. They build replicas of a ram that was lost and that there is only one of that is in Palermo. After leaving the castle we went over to the Piazza Duomo and walked into the Church of Saint Lucia. She is the patron Saint of Siracusa because when she lived there was a famine in the land and the people prayed to Saint Lucia for food to be sent soon. The legend is that she prayed to God and pleaded to save her people. He said yes and days later ships from the mainland came with food and saved the town. The church is very beautiful and one of the pictures on this post is that of the church. Afterwards we came home and I am now typing this. Be sure to comment and look at the pictures. Ciao!

The Milemarkers We Keep

     As you have noticed, dear reader... I have made the original theme of my blog have a Lord of the Rings trend. You can see this in the title which is the true name of the book, 'The Hobbit'. The quote on the side is from the first book in the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy. My first post's video was that of one of my still favorite instrumental songs named 'Concerning Hobbits'. So as you can see I am pretty smitten with Lord of the Rings.
     Now why is it that I like Tolkiens works.... I don't know. As a junior Rotarian half-way around the world I think that I have a love for adventure and travel which can be seen as a trend in other Rotarian Ambassadors and also in Tolkiens works.I am just a south-jersey-ian (jersey-ite) and come from normal background, but when I had the opportunity to cross my own Brandy-Wine River (you have to read the first book to get it) I didn't pass the opportunity.
     So as homage to the theme of my blog and the life-theme of my Rotarian adventure, I will finish the Lord of the Rings series while I am away. I have finished 'The Fellowship of the Ring' this morning and I will keep on going until I finish 'Return of the King'. After this I will come back to 'There and Back Again... A Hobbits Tale' for a better pre-story of the the series. After this I will have to find somewhere to get a English copy of some of his other works, because though I do believe that I will be profficient by that time, these books are written in an older English which may be difficult in Italian. This kind of thing wouldn't usually take me a whole year, but when school starts I do not know how preoccupied I'll be with my studies, so this may be more difficult than you think. Anyway, just wanted to make known this little side-quest that's tied to my exchange year. Ciao

P.S. Be sure to look at new pictures and leave comments, I'm always curious to what you have to say.

Wally's World... no no no, were going to Etnaland

      Today was soooooooooooo much fun. But first I'll explain yesterday. I woke up at 10 and had a meeting with my rotary counselor finally. We talked about insurance and other such things. He asked me my first impression of Siracusa, and the only thing I could think of is hot, but there are so many better things to say. After that I went back home and waited for Pier to get up cause he sleeps in late, but I'm not saying it's a bad thing cause I'de do the same thing in a heartbeat. Once he got up we had lunch (pranzo) and then Pier, Gianmarco, and I went to a huge soccer field out in the almost deserted part of town (or so it seems). I wasn't going to play in their match, but next time I've been invited to play, so I'm gonna go defensive like in gym class. They did the full hour and a half then we left and went back to the house for a while. At 8pm we went back to Gianmarco's house and met up with other people and all went out to a panineria. I had a sausage and pepper sandwich, but there was alot of stuff to choose from. After waiting forever for the food to be done (everything with cooking takes forever because it's all done fresh), we went to a gelateria then back to Gianmarco's house. Now something funny about Italian boys, they talk and talk and talk in Italian, but curse in English. I don't mind except for the fact that their English grammer is not good, so they don't use the curses correctly. So after singing 'Getting to Know You', I became teacher and help them out a bit. Well to say, now they know a bit more about Englishes bad side.
      Me and Pier got back to the house around 12 and hit the hay. We both woke up around 8:30am and left for a Sicilian water-park called Etnaland. Needless to say, it's less than 10 miles from Mt. Etna and has the regal mountain hovering right over it. I slept all the way there and woke up with a WOW finally being next to the mountain that on the new yesterday was erupting. We got into the park and found a spot to sit down, and I didn't bring my camera in for fear of theft and water, so go on google and you can find Etnaland. Now what, pray tell, is better than a wave-pool in a water-park. I'll tell you.... almost 1000 Italians in the same pool going crazy over outragious club music. This will be my video of the post, and would like to say that I was in this very pool and was in the middle of all the hustle and bustle. Afterwards we went on home and now I'm sitting here typing, so I'll see you later.... yes I mean you at your computer. CIAO!

A Parden for a Friend

On my post that talked about going swimming and riding on a Catamaran, I forgot to mention a new friend named Giovanni. He is actually a friend of Valerio's and Francesca's, but I consider him one of mine also. He lives on the Mediterranean and we went to his house the day we went swimming. He is a good person and I will make sure to mention him in future posts where he is concerned. Preggo Giovanni :)

Easy-Peasy Lemon Squeasy

      One week down....easy-peasy lemon squeasy (super corny). It is sometimes hard to explain something that I want to say, but I always get it done. After one week I really do feel that I've improved much. For example, I can always understand what the people are talking about now, but just have to guess who they are talking about and when the subject changes using context clues. I can also reply in broken Italian, which is better than jsut saying 'ciao' and 'pizza'. We have an unspoken rule in the house to only use English when I or they have no idea how to say what we want to. I want to use most of this post to describe my host-father though.

       I couldn't of been paired with a better host-father for me. I will describe him first. He is about 5"5' or 5"6' with black and grey hair. Kind of rough feature I guess you would say. His proffession is that of a criminal lawyer who also deals in civil suits but only when he has to, cause he prefers criminal cases. The first thing that he said about his job was that when he is training new interns he shows them the part of 'A Few Good Men' where Tom Cruise really goes down on Jack Nicholson during the code-red trial. I happily did my impression of 'I eat breakfast 300 yards from 4000 Cubans who are trained to kill me.....'  and made everybody laugh. He went on to say that his father was regarded as one of the best criminal lawyers in Sicily, and vividly described a few of his best cases.

       The best part is not the amazing stories from an interesting job, but that he is an intellectual who is basically a living, breathing, encyclopedia of knowledge about everything from music to 3000 year old stone theaters. My favorite thing that happened so far was when we sat down and had a discussion about the English translation of the Divine Comedy and how it doesn't keep the same pentameter as the original old Italian translation. Also we did a critical analysis of the first paragraph and of the title of the work itself. Then he gave me the happy news that during school this year we will be going through all of Inferno word by word. He has written two books that can be bought online. The first is a book that's named 'La Parola all'Accusa'. This is about his cases in work and I hope to read it when my proficiency in Italian is a bit better. Same with his other book named 'Casi Miei'. This is about the different stories and legends that go along with living in Siracusa, which I'm sure I've only scratched the top of.

        The book he is working on now is a thriller full of suspense, passion, music, and murder. I will go no further as to not ruin the story for those who may read it, though you have to learn Italian first. I am looking forward very much to reading that, for if he writes as well as he talks, then it will be good.
         Now I want you go on google right now and type in 'Valerio Vancheri' and you can find alot of articles with him and links to buy his books.


         Now I'm sitting here with Pier and listening to My Chemical Romance and finishing this blog right about.......wait for it.......now, CIAO!

The Boys are Back in Town

      So yesterday I went to the Mediterranean Sea and swam and rode catamarans there all day. It was a really good time and I met friends of Valerio and Francesca. Afterwards is when me and Pier when out to hit the town. We rode on his motor-scooter and first went to a boy named Matteo's house. Now I will describe Matteo, but only people who know the kids at Oakcrest will get this. Take the cunning and crazy mind of David Poley who graduated 2 years ago, but is still in my opinion the most fun person I have met at Oakcrest, then I want you to take the sheer loudness and craziness our Schyller Da'Boss and then you have Matteo. He seems to be the leader of the gang and I've already pledged my help with his English class if he promises to only speak Italian around me. Then there is a boy named Lorenzo. He is basically Danny Matera in a nut-shell, except Lorenzo has a bit more common sense.

      Then after we told Matteo where to meet up we went to the house of a boy named Gianmarco who is a replica of Schyller. We told him where to go then we left and all met up at a pizza place. We got a table and ordered. I ordered a pizza that had prosciutto and arugala greens on it. That may sound expensive, but prosciutto is so common place here that is was one of the cheaper pizzas. We sat around and talked and Matteo had many questions for me about America. Some of them were about the schools in America and others were about drinking ages and things of that sort. Everyone in Siracusa thinks it's the neatest thing that I am allowed to drive at 16. They are only allowed to drive at 18. Matteo laughs a bit as he reminises about last week when he crashed his grandmothers car on a test drive of his. After the pizza of proscuitto and pizza that was kind of like a dessert came out that was sliced into 6 pieces and was stuffed with nuttella. That was really good, and afterwards we went on the scooters and Vespas and went around town and just basically hanging. They showed me the different parts of town and later on we all went our separate ways and went home. That was about at midnight which is normal here.

      Now I haven't really taken a moment to describe the town, but for any kids reading this.... I want you to get on your xbox and go onto multiplayer Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare. Go onto a level called Crossfire and walk around in it. This is exactly what my area looks like. The video I put up on this post will be of the level also. Now I don't want to get the wrong idea though. My area here is not a war-zone at all, and all the buildings are in one piece here, but the buildings are built exactly the same and the graffiti is in Italian instead of Arabic. Also none of the shops look bad like on the video-game.
      Today I also had my first cannoli. It was amazing and a bit different from the ones at home. Later today I am going with Francesca and Valerio to watch Valerio play water-polo. It was the sport of his youth and many of his friends went on to play on the Italian National Team. I'll be posting soon and make sure to look at the pictures on the side next to this blog. If you don't want to watch it as a slideshow, click one of the pictures and you will be taken to a page to look at them as a photo album. Ciao!

By the Sea

           With Mt. Etna on the horizon and the Ionian Sea two or three blocks away, Italia is living up to many expectations. I want to take a moment to describe the local swimming area. The area is commonly known as the Zen. It is a bar built on the side of a cliff which you have to walk down to on many stairs. Once you walk down I think it is about 5 euro to enter the bar and swimming area. Then you walk down another set of steps to the swimming area where you drop your stuff and climb down a set of rocks to the water. Now you have to be careful when going into the water because if you step the wrong way you will go in too fast and hit the rocks. Now I'm not an expert but I think that the rocks are a combination of chalk and limestone that when they are washed away by the local water they become sharp. So falling in almost assures a cut. Once you are in you walk to the edge of the rock underwater and jump in. The water is so clear that you can see 30 to 40 feet all the way to the bottom. As many of you know this is the complete opposite of New Jersey beaches. This is also ironic because a local export that is very close to us is a huge petrolium refinery. Now you swim out about 20 to 30 feet to a huge rock sticking out of the water. You then climb 15 to 20 feet up these sharp rocks and jump off. It doesn't look high from the ground, but it is, trust me. Then What I did was use a mask and snorkel and looked at all the wildlife underwater. Holding my nose and blowing every 10 feet I was able to make it all the way to the bottom.  A while later me and Alle spent a while looking for a local animal called 'Riche', which we know as a sea urchin. They live in the cracks of the rock and are hard to catch not because there fast, but because they are very sharp and have to be handled carefully. My finger with many cuts are evidence of that. After swimming you go and get a gratina which I described earlier.

           Two things I haven't said..... I have a maid. Her name is Ambi. She is very nice and comes every morning to clean the house and make all the beds and wash the clothes and so on and so on. She says she comes from a country close to Madegasgar. She is very nice and speaks English, so it is easy to talk to her. She brings her daughter who is about 4 or 5, but I don't remember her name. Second.... on top of going to Naples soon, in September we are all taking a holiday for two day in Venice. My goal is to ride a gondola, see St. Marks Cathedral, and buy a Carnivale Mask. I can't wait to see the city. Alessandro is leaving tonight for Milano to be part or a caneoing team that is representing Sicilia in a national caneoing tournament.
       Ill be sure to post again soon ciao.

Mamma Mia in Siracusa

Last night me and Alessandro spent about an hour and a half working on the song Mamma Mia by ABBA. I wrote the music and he helped with Saxophone writing. Here is what we came up with.

Paradiso in Sicilia

First what I have to say is that I completely condone the steriotype of Italian food being amazing. Everything here is fresh and tastes great. I will give an account of my first dinner.... Mrs. Vancheri cooks whole shrimp with heads and all (Gamberoni...and take that crumby old Red Lobster). That was finger-food and very good and was followed by a salad (insalata) with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. After that was an assorment of fruit that I have never heard of. My favorite was a fruit called Fichi d'India (Figs of India) which has the texture of a very soft apple but is much much sweeter. Also we had a fruit that looked like honey-dew but was also much sweeter. Afterwards we went to the ancient part of town called Ortigia which is a small island to the south of central Siracusa. There are three bridges to get to the island and we used il ponte vecchio. Now one thing I do have to say that the roads are very small, but easy enough to get around in. I rode on the back of a smaller harley davidson with the father to Ortigia. There we got gelato in the Piazze Duomo....and this is the best ice cream I have ever had... no joke.
      The mythical story of Siracusa beginnings go like this.... there was once a beautiful woman in Greece named Aretusa. One day she went down to the river to bathe and the river god, Alfeo, saw her there in her full splendor. He transformed into a young man trying to seduce her because he was so madly in love with her. She did not feel the same way right away, so she pleaded to Diana the Huntress (a Greek Goddess) to protect and conceal her, so Diana said yes and brought Aretusa all the way to Siracusa to protect her. She also transformed her into a beautiful natural fountain to further protect her. The water of the Fontana Aretusa run into the sea. So Alfeo searched through Greece, but could not find her. When he heard the news that she was transformed into a fountain he made the sacrifice of turning back into a river so that as a river his waters would eventually meet the waters della fontana di Aretusa and man and woman would be together as one. Now next to a fontana di Aretusa there is a statue that is Alfeo and Aretusa together inside of flowing water.
        The true story of Siracusa is much less romantic. A powerful Athenian came here when Athens was destroyed and founded the town.... thats about it, but there might be more, but I dont remember. Today I awoke and we went to the store to buy supplies for school. The children here are required to have 20 notebooks and 20 books of graphing paper because of all the work that is done. After that we went to the local cliffs for a swim in crystal clear blue water. There I tried a drink made of Almonds... kind of like a pina colada except of almonds. Did I mention a local product is Almonds and almost everything has a Almond flavor, but it's the best thing I've ever had. Now I am here listening to Alle (Alessandro) piano and sipping an Italian energy drink that is like a very weak Monster (oh how I miss Monster). I will post again soon. Ciao