Carnevale!

Buongiorno! Its been a few days (I think?) and I wanted to update you on everything thats been going on with me, Favara, Sicily, etc. It is another beautiful day out, finally the normal Sicily weather. Blue blue blue sky, ("celeste") in Italian, and fluffy white clouds that float lazily across the horizon all day. It looks like the intro to the Simpsons. It is Monday, Feb. 23. I have been here almost 1 month, which is strange to think about because it seems like so much longer. I have learned a bunch of Italian and am starting to get into all of the crazy past / future tense that accompany this beautiful language. I have drank more espressos than I can count on two hands, and have shot hundreds if not thousands of photographs. I have made two videos, and more are in the works, and I have started writing a ton. I run every day except the weekend, and do pushups and sit ups every day. 

Things are going well.

So anyways, its Carnevale all across Italy, but yesterday I got to go to the most famous Carnevale in all of Italy, in a town called "Acireale." It was hilarious and fascinating to watch the day develop. I got off the bus with a few other AFS'ers, and walked down the main street, which was decorated and lined with people selling silly string, masks, costumes, confetti to throw, and alcohol. Its a beautiful city, right on the eastern coast of Sicily in the region Catania, which sits below the mighty Mt. Etna, which I got to see yesterday, snowcapped and cloudy. From the park you could see mainland Italy, which is only about 2 kilometers. I was really excited to see that. It made me not feel so far away from the world, in a way. So Acireale, an old and cobblestoned city, completely overun at Carnevale time by little kids in costume running around with silly string, shooting anyone in their path. It was so lively and playful, the only thing like it in the U.S. is Halloween or the Carnival. It was early, so the drinking hadn't really started yet, except in some groups of young men who probably had gone all night. We watched the massive and intricately made floats go by, with funny themes- Rocky, the Beatles, the Italian government, some vague political message about Russia and the U.S. and money, etc. We ate a big lunch at a self service buffet style place, then went back to the festivities. I joined in on the silly string fighting, which had intensified while we had been eating. 

As the day progressed, clouds started moving in, giving the street a dark and dramatic light. The darkness of the sky contrasted in a creepy way with the bright costumes and floats. Around this time, the drinking got intense, and I giggled as groups of smurfs and cross dressers ran to the outskirts and alleys to vomit. A sad, drunk smurf is a funny thing to see.

From Acireale we went to a town strangely named "Misterbianco" (Mister White). Carnevale here was less out of control, and the floats were more in the Rio style, with live dancers and shiny outfits all over the place. We were there for a little to long, like four hours. We all started to get a little stir crazy. There is only such much you can see of something like that. It all starts to look the same. I slept on the ride home, then got into Favara, where our own Carnevale was raging on, but far from where our house was, so we decided to go to sleep. 

Its Monday, and the students are "striking" aka they were out dancing until one o clock last night and don't want to go to school, so I got to sleep until 10 o clock. I am planning on getting a bunch of stuff done today, which includes a run, reading, shower, etc. As I said, things are going well.

Zander