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Published: April 2nd 2008
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Ciao tutti! Vi manco! (Hey everyone, I miss you) Things are great here. It has offically been 2 months since I have been here. I come home in 3 months and 5 days. Crazy huh? Time is flying by. It has been a crazy 2 weeks here since I have last updated. It has been the Easter holiday. For Italians, Easter is HUGE. We got off school on the Tuesday before Easter. That night was a huge town celebration called San Giuseppe. Throughout the whole town they have alters. They have tons and tons of food and pictures of Jesus and other things on them. Honestly, I did not understand it much, but it was still cool. They also have people cooking sausages, eating artichokes, and drinking wine everywhere. It is an all night festival of just walking around looking at the alters, eating, and drinking. Tuesday through the following Tuesday we didn't have school so it was possible for us to stay out all night. Wednesday, I went to Catania, which is always fun. On Friday, in the town square, they had a big gathering of the Junta. Everyone gathers in the town square where there are two big churches
across the street from eachother. From one church comes out a big statue of Jesus. Men in black are carrying Jesus above their heads. 5 minutes later comes Mary as a big statue. Two other statues come out in the meantime. On two different streets there are people carrying these statues all throughout town. The people of Niscemi are just following behind. Everyone goes to a part of the town and I luckily get to stand above on a balcony to watch this. I was talking to Meri and all of a sudden I see these guys dressed in all black running with the statue of Mary and on the opposite side the statue of Jesus. The story behind it was Mary saw Jesus and she had not seen him for a long time. Another statue had told Mary he was dead. But she saw him and ran to her son. They kissed. It was a really neat thing to watch. I am still not sure why my town does this, but it was really cool. Saturday, I went to Bronte. A town about 2 hours away. I met a couple really cool people and just saw another part of
Sicily. Sunday was Easter. Buona Pasqua tutti! Marco and I slept late and had a huge huge huge lunch with the family: lasagna, chicken, lamb, potatoes, 2 different cakes. The rest of the day we didn't do much. Pasquetta was Monday. All kids of Niscemi go to a house in campagna and hang out all day. Unfortunately it was horrible weather. It was freezing and raining the whole day. Marco and I still went, but there were few people there. It was a great holiday though! We went back to school on Wednesday. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of this weekend were my towns big festival. Each town in Sicily has something they are famous for. My town is famous for its artichokes. On Friday, Marco and I went out to one of the streets and tons of people were there hanging out. Local bands were playing, including some of my friends, so that was cool to see. We were out till 1:30 in the morning and unfortunately had to go to school on Saturday. Saturday night was the real town festival. All around town people were grilling out specially made artichokes and drinking wine. In the middle of town there
Niscemi
during the Junta! was a huge market. Tons of street vendors were selling things from clothes to food. Anything you could think of, you could buy there. They had the Giostra, which means theme park in Italian. They had a bunch of rides and tons of games to play. There were tons of bands playing and people dancing everywhere. People from all over Sicily come and it is just a lot of fun. Sunday, I went to the market with Marco and we bought a bunch of things. Well, he did. He even bought a bow and arrow. I am not sure why but that kid just loves to buy. On Monday, I went to Palermo with my class and other classes. We saw a LONG and boring play. I could understand some of it, but they had a lot of the dialogue in Siciliano and I have not mastered that yet. Then we went to see the Monreale. It is the most famous church in Sicily. It was gorgeous. So that was a fun day. As you can see, things have been nonstop going here. I am incredibly tired and just want to sleep all the time. I am trying not to,
Artichokes!
Artichokes were everywhere! As you can see they are with sunglasses! but wow its tough. I am also not at the point of Italian that I should be at. I mean I have been here 2 months and should be able to speak it well. I think I am just feeling discouraged lately. Oh well, I hope it will come to me. Anyways, thats all that has been going on. I miss you guys tons and love hearing from you!
Amore di Italia!!!
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