It's hard to believe four weeks have passed since we arrived in Sicily. We've moved into our new home, our furniture (and Christopher's TOYS) have been delivered, our car is here and we have successfully completed our two-week base and intercultural orientations. Now that the boxes are unpacked and Matt has started at the hospital, I feel like we are getting settled into our new life. I decided it would be a perfect time to start blogging about all of our new adventures. Here are some of the highlights of our Sicilian odyssey thus far.
1. The landscape. My first view of Sicily was as our plane was descending upon the island. Through the tiny plane window, I could see the dark, smoky smudge of Mt. Etna, fields of golden flax and rugged trees with loden green foliage. It reminded me heavily of Van Gogh's cypress paintings, Wheat Field with Cypresses and Road with Cypress and Star. As the artist described the trees "always occupying my thoughts," the richness of the Sicilian countryside that surrounds us is always close in my mind.
2. Our blessings. Christopher slept almost the entire flight from Virginia. Thanks to our lovely sponsor, our house was ready with loaner furniture and kitchen equipment when we arrived. Despite being told things move slowly in August because most Italians are on vacation, our furniture and car were able to be picked up within a week. We had internet access almost immediately. Christopher enjoyed his full days at the Child Development Center (his first time in all-day care) while Matt and I went to orientation. The time change wasn't rough on our sleep schedules. Our house is really nice and our neighbors have been friendly and welcoming.
3. Sicilian food. We've tried several culinary delights and types of restaurants. Dishes are very seasonal so everything has been fresh and delicious. We've been to a small, traditional restaurant in a medieval village, an outdoor cafe situated in a piazza, a nice, urban restaurant, an agriturismo and we've even brought home and prepared food from the market. The agriturismo has been our definitive favorite. It's a farm-restaurant where over 80% of what you are served is grown or produced on site. The evening featured over seventeen dishes spread across hours of relaxed dining on a stone terrace.
4. The Sigonella Library. We stumbled upon the library on one of our first days here while we were trying to find a place to access our email. I'm not sure what I expected, but I was really impressed with their collection of books, magazines and DVDS and the services they offer. Christopher and I have already made several visits to story time and to check out books. They have a large collection of books on or about Sicily which was a delight to find because many of the titles were on my Amazon wishlist. And if there is something that they don't have in their catalog, they can have it shipped from one of the other base libraries anywhere in the world.
