Cooking "Lessons" ...

Oh, I am so lucky!  At Orange Park, the owner is Giuseppe and his wife Troudy are so kind.  I had asked them to teach me how to cook something and they were nice enough to say yes.  To say I learned to cook something is probably not exactly the right words because I couldn't go home and make what they taught me to because they used their tomato "salsa" that they can themselves in the summer and they don't have a recipe for it, of course!  But it was so wonderful to sit and talk with these people, learn their stories and try to help them learn some English words and they teach me some Italian words.  It is amazing to be in a whole different normal than what I am used too. We made "drowned broccoli" and it was super yummy, even with the anchovies he put in there.  I never thought I'd say THAT!  In Sicilian dialect, broccoli is Jume.  It was our word of the day!

I had the girls hair in french braids and Troudy and the secretary here, Stephania, thought it was the coolest thing...made me feel good!  They also thought my kids were so well behaved (which they were super good at that moment in the day).  Troudy asked me what kind of reverse psychology I was using to get them to be so good.  It made me laugh.  What fun memories!

Syracusa Half Marathon

 When Jake found out we were going to go to Italy, he wanted to find a race he could do to get that experience!  Who could blame him?  There were quite a few going on while we were here but he chose the one that was closest to us.  He went back down to Syracuse to run the race down there.  He said it was quite the experience running through the beautiful city, through the industrial part and then out into the orange tree country side.  He came home quite happy with the experience and very glad he did it!

Dongione - Castle of Motta Sant'Anastasia

 Another adventure in the beautiful country of Italy!  On the way to and from work Jake said he keeps seeing a 'castle' on a hillside.  So, we looked into it and found out it was the Dongione - Castle of Motta Sant'Anastasia.  As soon as we figured out where it was we decided to take a quick trip there to see it before dinner time.  So glad we did, it was amazing!  When we first got to this little city of Sant'Anastasia we were not sure we would make it through the city in our car.  The streets were the tiniest we have seen and there were cars parked right on the street too making it extra tiny.  On the way up the road to the watch tower, it was clearly only big enough for one person to go one way, we ended up coming upon someone who was trying to come down and we were trying to go up.  He backed up enough that we could duck into a little alley way (typing it makes it sound easy, it wasn't) and then they went by, we backed back out and got up to the castle to find that there was a funeral going on in the chapel that was right there...oops.  Talk about poor timing.  We found a parking spot, by some miracle and decided to just go around the back for a while because the funeral was just ending and we didn't want to be in the way.  We got to hear the bell tower ringing so that was a fun treat.  It was so windy and cold up there that we figured we might not stay very long, but decided to take in some of the sites first.  It was a beautiful clear day, even though it was windy. 

We started on the back side of the tower and it is no wonder they built something right there, you could see FOREVER.  We decided to go around to the other side to see that way and discovered a door to the watch tower.  It had 'free admission' on the door so we decided to head on in, one to get out of the wind and two to see what was in there.  We are so glad we did.  It was really cool. There was the welcoming room with lots of chairs set up and a big TV.  The nice little lady had learned the few phrases that were needed to help us get the movie going in English and that was the extent of her English, but at least we got to watch the 10 minute movie about the watch tower's history.  It was very neat.  The cliffs that this tower was built on where created by the volcano long ago when there was a lake in this area.  It didn't have enough power to erupt all the way out of the water but it created these cliffs and when the water went away it made a perfect look out for an army!  You could see everywhere in every direction and would immediately know if someone was coming to battle.

 There were a set of stairs, so we asked if we could go up and the kids were so excited with what they saw.  Real swords, daggers, spears, helmets, chain battle gear, rings, examples of 14th and 15th century dress, toys, dolls and so many other things.  It was amazing how many things they had on display.  They even had papers explaining what everything was in English!  Yahoo!  It ended up being a really cool excursion to this little tower.  I didn't get a picture of it, but it even had a HUGE cistern below it that used to hold their water and it was quite large.  They also would throw prisoners in there too.  The kids really liked this place, almost as much as I did!

 The view from the ground level, you could see even further once you were up in the castle.

The above picture shows it from the outside.  We got to go up all the way to the little windows at the top.  There was one more set of tiny stairs, but it was closed off.  Not sure what it would have gone too, but I was plenty high for my liking.  The below picture is of the tower and church next to it making it look like a big castle from a ways away.  You can really see the cliffs it is up on and why it would make a good place for a fortress and watch tower!

 

Dinners ...

During the week, we are lucky enough to have dinners catered for us instead of us trying to find a different restaurant to go to, as I haven't fully figured out shopping for food yet. It has been quite a fun experience each night, not knowing what we are going to have and hoping we like it.  We have been very blessed in liking most of the meals so far.  We have had a few things that not everyone likes, and only one that nobody really liked except Lydia, but overall it has been very nice.  They actually bring you out bread and sometimes meat first, then the next course is pasta (although we have had rice once) and then they bring you out the meat, sometimes accompanied by lettuce or potatoes.  Then our favorite part, dessert.  We have gotten to have gelato twice and the kids love it, the basically lick out every last drop of it from the glasses.  Yum!  I hope I will be able to learn to cook a few dishes, but not sure when that will happen since we get our meals for us!

Lido dei Ciclopi....

 We went for a Sunday evening drive to see some of the beautiful seaside.  It is really amazing how many pretty places there are here.  Some of the hillsides are not amazing, but others are truly magnificent.  It is also amazing to me how many buildings, houses, et cetera they can fit on a little mountain side.  We found a fun little 'beach' that was full of lava rocks.  There was even a little bit of lava formations from a long ago eruption.  That was unique for sure.  The kids found some sea glass, glass made super smooth from the motion of the sea and a bunch of very cool rocks along with a few shells.  Funny how no matter where you are in the world children love to throw rocks in the water. 

 As you can probably tell from us wearing coats and shivering, it was quite cold.  It has been super windy here so it makes it cold.  But once the wind goes away it is amazing!  The sun shines nice and warm and it is beautiful.  I guess we cannot escape the wind, even in Italy!

 The above picture is of Mt. Etna in the distance, still spewing ash everywhere.  In fact, the airport is closed here in Catania because of how much ash is coming out of the volcano.  Pretty crazy.  We consider ourselves lucky for getting to see it erupt!

Lido dei Ciclopi (Beach of the Cyclopes) is quite a popular location for the locals.  It is the culture here to dress up in your Sunday best and stroll through your city, beach side or wherever is the popular place near you.  Apparently this beach is the place to be on a Sunday.  Once we found a parking spot, we walked over to see them. I guess this is where the Cyclopes was chased to or something in the book Odyssey (or so they say). Whatever the case may be, these rock formations sticking straight out of the ocean were quite pretty!  We even got to see some of the fishing boats tied up in the harbor and local fisherman throwing a fishing pole in to see what they could catch from the dock.  It is quite a different experience here than from what we are used to but it is amazing.  It makes me think about places all over the world that are different from our normal but are somebodies normal.  Grateful for what we have, but so grateful we get to experience a different normal for a while.

Syracuse continued...

 What a beautiful little 'city'.  As far as I can tell, the island of Ortygia is still part of Syracuse.  It is a beautiful little city, my favorite so far. It was just what you picture when you think of an old Italian city.  Old narrow cobblestone streets, fountains, ancient ruins, balconies with clothes drying on them, just beautiful!  Loved it.  We parked on one side of the island and walked through the town.  We first walked through the local farmer's market, which was very cool, especially for the kids who only have shopped at a grocery store.  They like the live octopus the best.  There was fish of every kind and even more fruits and veggies and nuts, olive oil, olives, every kind of produce you can imagine.  Fun!  When we got out of that, we were right at Apollos Temple ruins.  It is funny how after seeing the valley of the temples with all of their magnificent temples, nobody is too interested in seeing these type of ones.  I still find it super interesting that these ruins are just right in the middle of where everyone lives today.  After we saw a bit of this, we walked up to the fountain that is below.  The fountain of Diana.  It is really pretty.  I think the US should have more fountains!

 We ate lunch from a pizzeria here where the kids got a HUGE slice of pizza and gobbled it up.  They were starving after walking around the theaters.  It was pretty cold outside, but we still enjoyed eating on a table outside of the pizzeria and watching the people, cars, pigeons, and everything else there is to see!

 After we were done eating, we walked along some of the streets to get to temple of Athena or the Syracuse cathedral.  They built their cathedral right on top of the old ruins of the temple of Athena.  I thought that was so cool.  This was part of the Piazza Duomo and it had to be the prettiest place I've seen yet.  I felt like we were in a painting.  It was nice that we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  I am sure during peak tourist season it would be swamped, but it was truly gorgeous.

 The picture above just doesn't do the Piazza justice.  It is pretty in the picture, but it was surreal in real life.

 We were all freezing by this point, so we decided to go back to the car and see the rest of the little island by car.  The wind was blowing pretty bad and if that wasn't there, it would have been a gorgeous day.  Jake is running a half marathon in Syracuse so we had some time to kill before he could pick up his race packet, so we drove around and saw the harbor where the cruise ships come in.  We got to see the above castle from a distance.  We didn't go in because of how tired everyone was, but the reviews say it isn't anything special inside, the outside is cooler, so we took our chances.  I'm sure we will see more castles. 

As we were driving through the city, I had Jake stop so I could take this panoramic photo.  It is so beautiful. It shows a little guy fishing in the left hand side, Syracuse main land in the middle and Ortygia island on the right.  It is truly a beautiful world!

Syracuse, Italy ...

 Another site seeing adventure under our belts.  This time we didn't have too many 'learning' experiences, so maybe we are getting the hang of things.  We did learn that they move museums around and don't always tell you (and trip adviser doesn't know).  Oh well, we missed one of the things we wanted to see most, but the rest made up for it.  We wanted to see where they make the papyrus paper.  Apparently this is the only place outside of Egypt that makes the paper, because the city was gifted some plants back in the ancient days and it grew really well here. If it would have been warmer we would have taken a boat out to where it grows too but yesterday was COLD.

Anyway, we went to Syracuse yesterday which is about an hour south of Catania.  Syracuse is actually a place that the Apostle Paul visited.  Look it up in Acts 28:12.  Kind of cool! It wasn't as pretty of a drive as when we drove through Sicily, but it still had some pretty views.  We got to see the harbor where the huge boats/barges come in and that was quite the site.  Those ships are HUGE.

When we got to Syracuse, there was the above church, that you could see from just about every aspect of the city.  It is a modern church built over some ancient ruins.  It is the Santuario Madonna delle Lacrime.  We didn't take the time to go in but it was a very unique building. 

 The next stop just down the road was the Zona Archeologica.  After we finally found the ticket office, a LONG ways from the entrance of the park we made it in to see the ancient ruins.  We also had our first experience of paying for the toilettes.  Very clean and worth the .50 euro.  We walked over and saw the Roman Theater (above).  It was huge.  It was fun to be able to walk on the path that people have walked on for thousands of years.  Then, we headed down to see the Greek Theater, not too far away.  It was even more grand, in my opinion.  This is actually still used during the summer months for concerts and plays and such.  We got to walk down to almost where the stage is, sit on the huge seats (which are not comfortable) and pretend like we were watching a show :).

Behind the Greek Theater was this beautiful little spring that was pouring out tons of water!  Around it was what appeared to be catacombs, or was the quarry to get the rocks out to make the theaters, either way, the kids enjoyed going in them and 'playing'.

In this same zone is a HUGE cave called the Ear of Dionysius. The acoustics were amazing.  The minute you walked to the entrance of the cave, you could hear the massive amounts of echos.  It was very cool. The kids thought it was super neat to hear themselves.

Now onto the island of Ortygia...

Mt. Etna erupts again ...

We are so lucky!  Mt. Etna erupted again!  Almost everyone we have talked to said we wouldn't get to see it again after the little one the other night.  When we were down at the beach, I saw smoke coming from the mountain side and wondered if it would erupt again. Not sure of when it would happen, I told Jake about it when we got home.  So, after we got to Skype with my parents (love technology), Jake looked out the window and said (again), I think it is erupting. Sure enough!  It was, but from a different location.  This time it was from a different area of the volcano.  Apparently it has many places the lava can come from.  It was a lot larger this time.  It was close to dinner time so we had to stick around, but right after dinner we got the kids in the car and drove up to see it closer.  The eruptions into the sky had stopped, but the lava was still flowing.  It was really cool.  We drove up SO high onto the mountain that when we opened the windows we could smell the burning, but not close enough to feel it being too hot ;).  It was a beautiful site.  Not something you get to see too many times in your life and we got to see it twice!

It is super hard to get a good picture in the dark of flowing lava, but the one below is the best we could get.  At least it stirs up a memory for us.  The kids thought it was super cool to see lava coming from the mountain.  I think Anthony liked it the best and was so good and helpful.  He told Jake "Thanks for taking us up so high to see the lava".  It was cute.  They got to bed late because of it, but I hope it was worth it in their little minds. 

A trip to the beach ...

Above is Mt. Etna in the background with the city of Catania in front.

 I took the kids on our first solo adventure yesterday while Jake was at work. We went down to the beach, La Playa.  It was down by a the pier.  There was basically a boardwalk street.  Lots of bikers, runners, walkers, skaters.  There is even a circus down there and the kids got to see a camel as we drove by.  They were excited by that!  I thought it was freezing at the beach, but they all wanted to pull up their pants and let the waves hit them.  They had a great time and want to go back every day :).  Good thing it is an easy drive down and back.  I didn't even get lost...hooray!

 Owen traced all these lines into the sand with his thumb.  He was making a river that he wanted the ocean to run through.  It was cute.  We came home with quite the shell collection.  Anthony even found a skeleton of a crab.  It was a little broken up but not entirely, he was super excited by his find since Jake brought one home from one of his work trips a while ago.  I am sure we will be going back to the ocean very soon.

Downtown Catania ...

 When Jake got home from work yesterday we had a few hours before we had to be back for dinner so we decided to go downtown Catania to see some things.  We actually went downtown with the intention of going to an old Roman amphitheater, but it was closed.  Things around here close at 3PM.  Nobody likes to work late!  But, we didn't just want to go home so we decided to just walk around.  I had done some research online so I knew that by one of the plazas was the symbol of the city, a fountain with an elephant status carved out of lava on it.  We got super lucky and walked to the University Plaza and then turned around and saw the fountain.  It is called the Fontana dell'Elefante.  It was created in 1736.  

 In that same piazza there is the Giovanni Battista Vaccarini's Duomo which is an example of the city's Sicilian Baroque architecture.  It was beautiful.  So much detail in the columns.  We went inside and walked around too.  It was a HUGE building from the inside.  The podium and the organ were quite the sites. I am sure the sound acoustics in there would be spectacular.

At the far side of the Piazza is the Fontana dell'Amenano fed by the waters of the underground Amenano River.  The Mercato della Pescheria (fish market) lies just behind the fountain but is only active in the morning hours.

It was another wonderful time!  We got blessed to get to the right spot, even though we were not planning this excursion.  We also got lucky to find a parking spot, a parking meter and enough euros to pay for our parking.  I had to ask someone in a corner market if he spoke English and what I spoke of Italian, we communicated what we needed to do to pay to park and not get a parking ticket.  Yet another thing we learned!  Can't wait for the next adventure.

Orange Park ...

 A quick picture of our home away from home.  It is in a beautiful location!  Orange Park has about 10 acres of orange trees surrounding it and there is a shopping center close!  If you look off to the right of our house, that mountain is Mt. Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe!  It is very cool there looming in the background.  Yesterday when we woke up and could finally see it (it has been cloudy and rainy here), Jenna noticed some smoke coming from it.  I dismissed it thinking it was just a cloud going by, but when Jake got home from work he told me that it really was the smoke.  We looked some things up and were expected to see it erupt within the next 2 days or so.  Exciting!  Before we came over and we heard there was a volcano near by, we had hoped it would erupt while we were here.  This is a very non-threatening volcano, it just flows lava and not quickly.  So it would have been amazing to see it!  Well, right before we went to sleep last night Jake decided to just look out the window to see if by chance it was erupting.  Oh boy!  It was!  We could see little spouts of lava coming on and off like a light in the sky.  It was so cool.  Jake woke up each of the kids and let them see it because really, how many times in your life do you get to see a volcano erupt?  He then decided to go a little closer to see if he could see it better.  He drove up closer and got a little picture of the red lava flowing, but it was still a tough picture to take off a phone camera.  I will put it on later, if it looks good on the computer.  Still super cool to say we got to see the volcano erupt.  Hopefully it will do it again ;).

Below is our car.  We are spoiled here too. Everything in this car is automatic, even the windshield wipers.  When they sense that there is something to wipe, they wipe.  It is pretty cool!  It fits us just perfectly with very little room to spare when we have all of our luggage in it.  It has been very nice so far.

One week in and what I've learned ...

Well, it has been a week since we left our Idaho home.  I have already learned an incredible amount of things!  I guess when you jump right in you will learn or you will cry :)...or both!

Here are a few of the things I don't want to forget.

• Itailian drivers are as crazy as they say.  They create their own lanes and when they pass you because you are going too slow, you basically have to get off the side of the road because they pass you and are already changing back into the 'slow' lane before they get past your car.
• We will get stared at, blatantly.  People will even physically count your children with their fingers.  It may or may not give you a complex. 
• When you go the grocery store, be prepared to pay to use the cart and the bags (bring your own).  Also, when you buy produce wear the plastic gloves that are by the bags and take it to the weigh station.  There is an attendant who weighs the produce for you and puts a sticker on the bag.  The checker will think you are crazy if you don't.
• Be prepared to drink warm water.
• Matching sweat suits are very popular and perfectly acceptable to wear everywhere.
• Most Italians do not speak English.  People who say most people do are not telling the truth.  However, if you learn a few of their words and phrases you will get along just fine.  Most people are nice in trying to help you and don't look at you too crazy. 
• Be prayerful in everything.  You are going to need a lot of tender mercies from a loving Heavenly Father.

I am sure I will learn more as the weeks go on. I am truly grateful for this experience we are having as a family and pray that it will bless my children's lives as much as it already has mine. 

Valle Dei Templi...

We are trying to pack a lot of firsts in this first week of being in Italy :), why not take our first trip to see some amazing sites?  Not far from where we are is an amazing valley of Roman temple ruins.  So, in the car we went.  Just driving in the Sicilian countryside was worth it.  It is amazingly beautiful.  Orange trees, lemon trees, olive trees, green everywhere and then all the vineyards.  They would be beautiful when they are in season, but it is winter here.  The rolling hills are filled with their rows and rows of branches though.  Such a beautiful site.  Italy is way more rolling hills than I had anticipated.  In my mind it was much more flat.  But so far, it has been very hilly.

These temples are amazing.  I cannot even imagine their size and majesty when they were brand newly built back in their time.  It was amazing coming around the corner of the road and seeing the temple of Hera on the top of the mountain.

 

The Valley includes remains of seven temples, all in Doric style. The ascription of the names, apart from that of the Olympeion, are a mere tradition established in Renaissance times. The temples are:

Temple of Juno, built in the 5th century BC and burnt in 406 BC by the Carthaginians. It was usually used for the celebration of weddings.
 

Temple of Concordia, whose name comes from a Latin inscription found nearby, and which was also built in the 5th century BC. Turned into a church in the 6th century AD, it is now one of the best preserved in the Valley.

Temple of Heracles, who was one of the most venerated deities in the ancient Akragas. It is the most ancient in the Valley: destroyed by an earthquake, it consists today of only eight columns.


Temple of Olympian Zeus, built in 480 BC to celebrate the city-state's victory over Carthage. It is characterized by the use of large scale atlases.

We went to the museum that has all of the artifacts that they have found throughout the 'valley'.  It is amazing what they have found.  Lots of vases that are still completely intact, sarcophagus, helmets, countless pottery and so much more.  The statue that the kids are standing in front of was part of the 'temple of Zeus'.  It was quite huge!  They had the best preserved one in the museum and about 3-4 others out on the grounds that you could go look at.  When we were outside and saw just how big they were, it really put into perspective of the size of these temples.  They put a lot of work into them!