Christmas Day in Sicily

I realize everyone, everywhere celebrates Christmas differently so I have to keep reminding myself of where I am and with whom I am living with.  I was the first one up this morning.  It was 8 a.m. and there were 2 presents under the tree.  There are 2 children here.  No hype.  No special breakfast.  Nothing out of the ordinary from each and every other day.
Tunda (WWOOFer from Transylvania (Hungary)) said she is not going to noon-time dinner at Pia's parents house.  And experiencing Pia's cooking first hand, am not inclined to rush to her parents house for a meal.  The other WWOOFer (Ninni (Korean)) will go with them to dinner.  She's leaving tomorrow (thank God) for a 2 week long vacation in Rome.  Won't miss her around here. Too fake.
So I will go to the garden, pick a couple of small cabbages, cook them with some onion, add mascarpone and toss it all together into some egg noodles.  This with some chunks of avocado and call it Christmas dinner in Sicily!
I'll do some laundry and enjoy a quiet house without screaming Giuseppe.  Until they all leave, I'll sit here in the really warm sun, listen to the bombs going off here, next door and in the distance, Christmas music that plays intermittently over the church speakers and think of the snow falling back home.

Sicilian Sun

I'm sitting in a piazza in the center of the town of Santa Venerina just 5 km down the hill from the B+B. It's Sunday and there are about 8-10 men out in the piazza just gabbing.  I think they all stare at me when I walked through because 1) I'm not someone they recognize.  In these small towns I believe everyone knows everyone and they know I'm not one of them.  And 2) there are no other women out.  I guess all the women are either in church or at home cooking.  And I'm sitting here with my laptop and I have never seen anyone outside with a laptop.  So I'm probably a topic of their conversation.
The sun is SO hot on my right now, my legs are burning up under my pants.  I tried to sit in the shade but was actually too cool.  I can see the ocean off in the distance at eye level ahead of me and Etna behind me.  I would like to walk the 11 Km. to the sea from here but wore boots that could not make the journey.  They would be ok down but not back up.  I tried to get a pair of walking sneakers (shoes) back when I was in Barletta.  Being a good size city I figured that would be a place to look.  But no one has big feet like me in Italy.  I take a size 41 ( 10 U.S.) and most shoes that they carry here go up to 40 (9 U.S.)  I've gotten by so far wearing my sandals but it was quite cold when I left this morning so wore boots.  I made a few packing mistakes coming here.  I should have packed my good walking sneakers instead of my biking shoes.  I really believed I'd be biking everywhere but so far no one lets us take their bikes if they have them at all.  Their websites all say they have them for WWOOFers to use.
Another mistake is I didn't bring enough reading material.  I have been to numerous book stores and libraries looking for an English book to buy or borrow.  NONE!  I think of my stack of books on my wish stack back home wanting them all here.  At least when I can't sleep at night I'd have something to read.
One thing I've learned is that Southern Italy is way different that the North.  The people's attitude, work ethics and lack of friendliness just to name 3.  People who are here now who have come from the North have all confirmed this to be true.  I came to the South because it's Winter and I wanted to be warm.  I emailed the next farm here in Sicily and asked if they have heat because here I have been cold at night sometimes because they don't want to turn on the heat.  This next farm replied that they keep the 'very old Sicilian' farmhouse at about 13-15 deg. C.  this is about 50-55 deg.  Oh well.  Maybe I can sit (or work) in the sun during the day while outside.  I know I'll be warm then.

Pia...The wife

Pia is Paolo's wife.  She's about 43, short salt and pepper hair and glasses.  She never smiles.  And she doesn't do ANYTHING!  They have a two year old, Guiseppe and a six year old Theresa.  Guiseppe is a hand and a half full.  He likes to hit and bite.  And when Paolo gets in his face and says NO, Guiseppe says NO right back and spits.  It's very uncomfortable being around when Guiseppe acts this way which is every day.
So maybe he is one reason Pia acts depressed.  But aside from Guiseppe being difficult, Paolo doesn't work.  If he's home, he's either on the computer or running out somewhere and Pia says she doesn't know when he'll be home.  Usually it's a quick trip though and then back on the computer.
Pia is a terrible housekeeper and an even worse cook.  The food she makes is almost intolerable at best.  She says she wants me to cook but has NO ingredients.  There's 3 boxes of whole wheat pasta (YUK!).  Each box has like 12 bags.  So there's a lot of  pasta that I don't want to make.  And then I found a few bags of white rice.  So I think today I'll make Chinese fried rice.  But I'll have to go next door to the little grocery store to get a couple of things.  Paolo became vegetarian 6 months ago so it has to be meatless meals.  But he does eat fish so that's a help.
Yesterday Pia had me take everything off of 2 shelves in one pantry, clean the shelves and put some of the food stuff back and she will go through the other stuff to see what she wants to keep.  That box of stuff she needs to go through will probably remain on the floor next to the pantry for days.  Since it's mostly empty glass containers and today is glass pick-up day, I think I'll volunteer to just get rid of most of it.  Maybe she needs someone forceful to take over and clean up this place.  It's got quite a lot of clutter and all I want to do is throw a lot of it away.
I'm supposed to be here to help with the garden but only spent 1 day picking avocados.  Today is day 8 so I need to change my mindset and move in a different direction here so I don't go stir crazy.  I do not want to get involved with doing her laundry.  Since no one in Italy has a clothes dryer, the wet clothes has to be hung out to dry.  Anytime I look at the washer, it's full of just washed clothes ready to be hung out.  But the one clothes rack is inside and totally full of clothes from maybe 3 days ago.
Tuesday evening I was told I had to make a cake because Wednesday (yesterday) was Paolo's birthday.  Not much notice to decide what kind, find a recipe and tell Pia what she needed to buy at the store for it.  I also needed to make banana muffins for a kid party here today.  But she doesn't have a muffin pan.  So here I stay.  Needing to cook and bake with no supplies or ingredients.
This place is challenging!  But I know I can plan a day trip or 2 or 3 on the bus and they won't care.   I will have to do some planning so I can see more of beautiful Sicily.

Mount Etna

Today was a day of walking.  Without a map of this area, I just started walking down the hill from "Soto di Pini" the B+B where I am staying and working.  It means "under the pines" which are all around the house.  Any direction you go here is either up or down.  We are located at the very rim of Mt. Etna Park which surrounds the active volcano.  Zafferana Etnea is the name of the town and at this part of the mountain is the first town you get to when coming down from the peak.  In 1992, which was the last time lava flowed down the mountain, the lava stopped just short of the towns' limits.  They say it is active because it never stops smoking and could start flowing lava at any time.  It's not an explosive volcano like Vesuvius in Naples but it is always a threat to the little towns around here.
My feet are killing me right now.  I think I walked about 10-15 miles.  I went up the mountain to the downtown area of Zafferana-Etnea after first going down to the town of Santa Venerina and accidentally met up with Tonda, a WWOOFer from our house from Hungary.  It was a really good thing I met her because she was able to show me the way back.  It was a very, very long walk back.  I had walked from a town called Santa Venerina and wanted to find my way back a different way.  I really got to get myself a map.
All the little towns around Mount Etna are kind of connected to each other and each town has townships with distinct names.  Like Zafferana has Fleri, Sarro and Pisano townships but still in the town called Zafferana.  We are in Pisano.
Most of the roads here are made of black, square blocks.  All made of lava of course.  And no matter how far you walk in any direction, just look up and you see Etna either smoking or in the clouds depending on the weather.  It's all snow covered now.  They even have a couple of places to go skiing with ski lifts at Etna.  Who would think of going to Sicily to ski?

                                                          HARVESTING AVOCADOS

Yesterday we all (4) went to the land where Paolo (our host) owns 330 avocado trees.  In and amongst all the avocado trees are orange, clementine and mandarin trees all loaded with ripe fruit.  We were only there to pick up some of the avocados which had fallen.  The ground under the trees is a blanket of ivy.  Being that the ivy and the avocados are both green, it was sort of like going on an extended Easter egg hunt.  Three hours and 18 crates (cassettes) later and we had enough avocados for Paolo to take to Palermo's market today.  Of course eating mandarins throughout the day was mandatory.  So 10-12 mandarins later.....Yes I ate that many.  How could I not?  There were just there for the picking and eating.  And by the way Paolo does NOT harvest these citrus.  He said he just can't make any money on them.  I think there are just too many for sale at the markets.  And they sell for about .50Cents/Kilo (2 lbs.)

More later...The sun went down and I am outside and it is cold!

First Hours in Catania, Sicily

I arrived here in Catania in the middle of the night and was immediately awe-struck at what I saw.  With many street lights still on, I could see some of the ancient architecture that makes this city so amazing.   And now I've been walking around town, took a narrated bus tour (30 min.) of the city and had time to spend sitting in the Piazza Duomo just taking it all in. So far I can't really put in to words how amazing I think this city is.  I walked through what is labeled on the map as "Fish Market".  I took a few pictures of the fresh fish, fruit, meat and veggies that are for sale every day outside in the market but I know no amount of pictures could relay how amazing this place is.  Tables and tables and tables of fresh seafood.  Whole fish,  filleted fish, everything but cooked fish any way you want it.  Whole and halved skinned animals hanging (I avoided looking at these) right out there.  Not on ice...not refrigerated.  I just cannot imagine what it would be like to be a restaurant owner and be able to go to this market every day to shop for your business; much less to have this market available to shop  for personal use.
Right outside my door here is a partially dug out portion of the second largest Roman amphitheater in Italy.  Second only to the one in Rome.  And of course looking down into it, what do I see?  Cats with a litter of kittens living down there-playing in one of the rooms.  All black and white.  So much more to see.  But what I have seen so far is so amazing.

I can't believe that within the first 5 minutes of being on the street  I have not seen anyone get hit by a car or motorbike.  Complete mayhem out there on the street with traffic and pedestrians.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to go to Mt. Etna with its' snow on top.  And after, get dropped off at my next farm to start working on Friday.   It is in the town of Zefferana Etnea which is noted on my map as a small organic farming community; still part of Catania and in full view of Etna.

Barletta

Today was a perfect day in Barletta, a nice-size port town about 20 min. North of Bari.  This beautiful day followed 2 very cold, windy and rainy days.  I just got back from walking for 4 hours around town. I tried to find a place open that served lunch.  No success.  There are plenty of places-just not open during the day.  So I bought a burrata cheese, salumi and a roll and some olives.  Since my hotel does not have a restaurant, I'm kind of on my own.  I could always wait until 8p.m. tonight when things start to open but truthfully I still have not gotten used to the Italian way of eating late at night.
The town is very nice with many very old cathedrals in the historic section which is where I'm staying.  The streets and sidewalks are cobblestone and like everywhere else I've been (it seems) they like to drive on what I would call a walkway.  Too narrow with cars parked every which way.  The more modern part of the city has many shops and like all the other places I've seen, have clothing stores with really, really beautiful clothes  The style here, as it probably is in U.S. is LEGGINGS or pants that fit like leggings.  And boots.  Combat style boots mostly.  But the winter coats are hideous!  Down-filled or a similar look alike.  But black, shiny, Hefty garbage bag like exterior.  Very bad fashion in the coat dept.
Several places on every street are coffee shops that serve espresso, cappuccino and croissants and cookies.  And alcohol.  I don't know how any can stay in business.  There are THAT many.
The park in the center of town is filled with little, old men standing around talking to each other.
I saw a sign "MYSTIC PIZZA".  Took a picture.

I saw something really funny on my way back to the hotel.  I came upon a roundabout (rotary) with a lot of traffic going around.  Inside the rotary on the grass was a barking dog.  I think he wanted to cross but there wasn't a break in the traffic.  And a chicken!  As soon as there was a break in the traffic, the dog crossed into a parking lot and the chicken followed.  There he laid down and the chicken stood close by.  I stood by and watched and wished I could take the two home.

Fun Facts on Carovigno

I live in a 2nd story apartment on one of the many little streets in Carovigno.  As part of this building is another apartment around the corner.  That's where Gianni and Grazziella live during the olive harvest.  Grazziella was born and grew up in the cellar apartment here where her sister and husband now live.  By the way Grazziella's sister is married to Gianni's brother.  The street is only about 1/8 mi. long.  The apartment down a little from my door I see the priest go in and out somedays.  Apparently, as Gianni tells me, there have been several priests come and go in the church in the piazza here.  There are 3 women who live here on the street.  One likes men in uniforms.  The priest always wears his long, black dress- like outfit.  She apparently "hosts" the current priest but after a short time he disappears, goes to another church and a new one appears here.  The whole time Gianni tells this he's chuckling.
Across the street and down the hill at the corner lives a young girl, maybe 20 or so.  Several times a day (maybe 2 or 3) I hear her 2 little dogs barking like crazy.  They bark when she puts them on their leashes to take them in the car for a short ride to do their business and then come home.  All the while they are barking like crazy, they're wagging their tails madly.  I think they are just so happy to get out and go for a ride.  Really funny.  I've tried to get friendly with her so maybe I could take her dogs for a walk (I miss my animals) but she is stone faced and won't even crack a smile my way.  I've given up.

When Gianni first came to Carovigno with his new bride, Grazziella, he said it was a totally different world.  NO autos or electronic anything.  People had donkeys and the donkeys were kept in the house. I called Gianni on that but he insists they did.  Grazziella and family had indoor plumbing but most did not.  This was just 50 years ago!  There was NO money.  Every night the men would go to the piazza (much like they do now).  But then it was to meet and discuss who would be going to "the land" the next day to work.  There were no phones so they had to meet in person this way. There were no stores. If you needed something like a new dress, you went to the seamstress in town and had one made but traded maybe some vegetables for the dress.  Grazziella's dad was a carpenter.  There were times when he had a job to do out in "the land" and would move out there for a week or so until the job was done.  He might trade for some food.  Still NO money exchanged hands.  It did not exist in these people's lives
People in town would come to Grazziella's door just to meet this 'man from the North'.
Sometimes a siren would go off alerting everyone of the presence of BANDITS in town.  So everyone would go inside their homes and lock their door.  If you were left outside, that's where you remained.
Most stores in town today lock their door even during business hours.  You must ring the door bell to be let in.
I don't know how Gianni came in to town.  He came from modern Milan.  I'll have to ask.  Get back on this later.  I'll have to pick his brain before I leave. 

Last lesson on growing olives

Because Gianni speaks very broken English, it's very difficult to understand what he's saying.  In a previous writing, I said that if the olives were left in the tree too long they would rot.  Which is why on a few occasions had to have the "mover and shaker" come and shake the trees loose of olives.  Well apparently this method of harvesting his olives has only just been going on the past 2 years.  Before that, he let the olives fall when they were ready to fall meaning they were ripe.  But the weather has changed.  Last year and this there has been too much sun and not enough water.  Because of this weather change for this area, the olives stay on their branches too long and if not coaxed down, actually start to dry up and doesn't make the best oil.  So there it is.  Makes so much more sense because everyone knows that fruit drops when it is ready to be eaten.  And so the olive does too but only if Mother Nature cooperates.
This is the last week to collect the olives.  I survived it-7 weeks of grueling, agonizing work-6 days a week using my one day off most weeks to just rest. 
We collected about 17 ton of olives from the 1220 trees. (actually some of these 1220 trees gave us no olives because they were pruned last year).   They will grow many olives next year.   So possibly 800-900 trees gave olives.   It was the best year for quality Gianni has ever had.  Almost 0 acidity.  And about 3000 Liters of oil.  He has been doing this for 22 years.  He's had WWOOFers every year.
Also, inside each olive are many tiny "capsules" where the oil actually is.  These capsules must be broken open to extract the oil.  I'm done.
 I need to get on to my new place and PICK SOME AVOCADOS!!  But first, 4 days at the sea!
CIAO