Teatro Greco, Valverde, Acireale...

Last week I went to a concert in Taormina at the Greek Theatre that I just went to with Auntie Shaula, Liz and Nick the weekend before. Seeing a concert there is AWESOME. The lighting behind the stage makes the pillars glow. It's incredible. The acoustics are pretty good too. I saw Mario Venuti. He has some popular songs in Italy, and whenever one came on the entire crowd would sing along. Italians like to sing I have found. Instead of listening the radio in the car they just sing to themselves.


Friday night I went to a private party a little outside the city with Carla and some of her coworkers. They didn't pick us up until 1230am, so I caught some z's until they arrived. We got there and this place was pretty cool. I think it was abandoned because they were operating off of generators, there was no running water, and the pool looked like it had not been cleaned in months. They had a great DJ who played everything from top 40 to techno. We stayed until about 4 or so and then of course it took a half hour to get everyone to go, then another half hour to get to the car, then a half hour to get home. Almost got breakfast but then I realized it wouldn't be bacon and eggs like I'm used to, so I opted for just going to home to bed.
Earlier in the day I decided to do some sightseeing and walked to the Centro and saw the Giardini Bellini, the Bellini Gardens. I was only slightly impressed. Every day they put new plants in for the current date. After that I checked out the Anfiteatro Romano, a Roman theatre ruin right in the middle of the city. It looks like just a hole in the ground.


On Saturday I spent a few hours at our “beach”. The good news is that it is only ten minutes walking distance (Karen Speed). Unfortunately it's just a boardwalk with stairs that go down to rocky and choppy water. There was a red flag warning out that day so I opted to use the showers as my “dip” and laid out in the sun. I like the beach, even if there isn't sand. I think there are some black sand beaches somewhere nearby, I will have to find them.
That night I went to dinner with Danilo and Claudia and had my first real Italian 5 course meal. We actually only ordered for 2 and just shared. It was a lot of food, and because we got the fish instead of the meat, everything had fish in it. The appetizers, the pasta, and the main dish were all seafood. I had octopus, calamari, swordfish, mussels, little shrimp, big shrimp, and some other fish that I don't know what they were. Needless to say I was full at the end. Afterwards we went to a beer festival in Valverde, a little town outside Catania. There was live music and cheap beer. I met some more people. One of which named Roberto, had just returned from India after doing a short traineeship there. He had all sorts of stories.

Sunday was a lazy day. I did get out of the house and walked down to the centro again, taking a different way to see how it would work out. No one is open on Sundays by the way, only a few shops or restaurants here and there. I was sitting off the sidewalk eating some gelato, minding my own business when this creepy guy came by on a bike and looks at me and first says in Italian “Di Dove sei?” then in English “where are you from?” How did he know I wasn't from around there? I hadn't said one word. I actually ignored him as he asked “English? Dutch?” then he went away. I must have Foreigner written on my forehead. I find it easier to play dumb and pretend like I don't understand them rather than trying to talk them away from me.
That night we (Carla, Danilo, Claudia, Davide, and Roselda) went to Acireale, another small town outside of Catania. We ate at a Mediterranean restaurant where I had some cous cous. It was tasty. Then we strolled around their piazza until midnight and returned home.

I am still trying to figure what I should be doing during the day. I start work on Tuesday the 19th. I was originally planning on going there on the 18th, but apparently my boss was not going to be in the office until the 19th. I will be glad to start work, I am a bit stir crazy here. I don't know what people do from about 5-9pm if they don't eat dinner. Since I don't have a TV I am left with the options of sleep, shower, reading, or walking around outside during rush hour which is not fun.