[feel the heat] southern sicily sizzles

We had our first 40 degrees today and of course it was while we were waiting for the bus back from Catania Airport, such bus due at 13:45 but appearing, mysteriously, at 16:15 after everyone had been fried to a frazzle and nicely pickled.

We are currently locked into a discussion on which liqueur to hit first - Gin ai Mirtilli [Welshcakes made], Pineapple Liqueur [Welshcakes made = strong], Mandarinetto [commercial but yummy], Mint Limoncello [puts hairs on your chest whilst refreshing you], the Xocohilc Liquore al Cioccolato [with chilli pepper], Quince Liqueur and Orange Liqueur [both Welshcakes' mindbenders] and lastly the Vecchia Romagna Black Label Italian brandy of which more at a later time.

The Catania airport thing is a nice venture. Two hours away by airconditioned coach, one passes through amazing countryside, mainly hills, cliffs and rocky outcrops in a range of pastel colours, with the occasional rough stone building dotted here and there to complete the scene. Will have to take a camera next time - some of the cliff faces and the buildings affixed to them are awesome.

There is greenery too - hillsides of lemon trees and assorted produce, as well as the bus running close to the ocean at one point and that is something else again. I have this crazed idea to build a little house into the hillside somewhere but that's down the track.

Back in Modica, the thing which hits you is the number of motor scooters - Vespas, Lambrettas what have you. The legal age for these is 14 .......

[Sorry, have to interrupt this post with the news that Italy has just scored in the European Cup. The city just burst into spontaneous uproar, the motorcyclists are racing up and down the roads at top revs and everyone's going crazy.]

So, as I say, the legal age for these is 14 and it produces situations where a lady was crossing via Sacre-Coure a couple of days ago and was hit by one of these teenage putt-putts - she was actually lucky it wasn't worse. They're everywhere, these things.

'Nuff for now. Don't miss Welshcakes' post later on the clandestini who died yesterday and I'll mention the neighbourhood dogs who are driving us crazy with their wall to wall barking day and night, especially poor little Simi.

Quackers

Quackers

Link.

And...

Woof justice?

Reverse Culture Shock (a preview)

As I stated in the previous post, my family came to Madrid for the weekend. They´ll be here in Spain till this Saturday but I can´t go with them due to my teaching obligations. Needless to say, when they showed up at Barajas, I was thrilled (having not seen them in six months). However, as the day wore on and two of my family members refused to see or do anything besides sit in the hotel, I started getting angry. I didn´t let it show but it seemed so weird, first off, talking in English. Second, I do remember how tired I was the first day I came here. I hadn´t slept during the entire flight and proceeded to sleep two hours after eating breakfast when I got into my (now) old apartment near Príncipe Pío. I soon recovered later that day. What one member of my family (who shall remain nameless) said sums it up best, "We´re only here for a week. They should be wanting to see more stuff and not be too concerned with sleep." Too true! They really did miss out this weekend! Although they´ll be back on Saturday, I´ll be out of the country.

Some things I´m sure will seem quite strange to me when I leave early next month. Among them are the following:

No subway system in Indianapolis

A bit more face saving than here (as I´ve commented in previous posts, Spaniards are very direct, to the point of being rude by our standards).

Speaking English instead of Spanish

Hearing Mexican Spanish (for which I´ve developed a healthly dislike) instead of Castillian Spanish

No churros for breakfast *sniff*

Things that will not be strange:

A judicial system which works (Sadly here in Spain, you can murder someone and get out in twenty years)

Driving and blasting rock music out of the windows at full volume (something I´ve been seriously missing)

It´ll be a mixed bag, that´s for sure.

Last Days in Spain

I finished my finals on Friday. My family came to Madrid for the weekend and sadly missed out on quite a bit, being too jet lagged to see anything remotely cool like the changing of the guard at Palacio Real or actually going inside the Cathedral of Our lady of Almudena (we just stood outside and took a photo of the statue, my aunt from Argentina absolutely wanting a photo). Now that I only have to teach English and nothing else, I´m always out and about in Madrid. Today I went to the Telefónica building on Gran Vía and saw an exposition of photos. I was hoping to go into their museum which has many old school telephones including the one used by the king to innagurate Madrid´s phone system but it´s closed till August. I then went to Chamberí.

Chamberí is a neighborhood in Madrid and also has a cool exhibit: an old station from the Metro system dating back to 1919 (when Line 1 was innagurated). Specifically Line 1 (where I live off of) is the oldest of the entire system, something I didn´t know till today. I didn´t bring my camera with me but I found some very decent photos of it on the Internet. Enjoy!





This of the excavation of the station. It was closed in 1966 and in 2006 the process began to recover it. Once you get on the platform for the trains you can actually watch the current line 1 trains go by! I was so thrilled when a friend told me a few months ago that you can go in this station. I have been dying to get photos/get in ever since I moved to Tetuán back in February.

Here is probably the coolest photo I found. This is when your standing on the platform. Notice first off the ever famous Metro de Madrid diamond denoting what station it is (in this case, Chamberí). It´s in the old style too, compare it with the one below Quevedo, which is more recent. Second, it has one of the ads that is down in the station, they retained the original advertisements. Third, off to the right, there is one of the current line 1 trains passing by. I waved at everyone, with my sunglasses on and my university t-shirt. It passes by at normal speed, so I´m sure everyone was thinking, "What is this?"

This is the entrance to the station. Find below a photo of the diamond from Quevedo.

The Old Jewish Cemetery

I would like to share with you a place I found quite moving - the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague. It was founded in 1478 and for more than 300 years it was the only burial ground where Jews were permitted. It is quite compact in space so burials were on top of one another, sometimes up to 12 deep. The site contains an estimated 100,000 bodies and over 12,000 gravestones.

The stones are amazingly jumbled and quite fascinating. I like the following picture because to me it shows the cycle of death and life.

And here you get an impression of how close the gravestones are.

The only way into the cemetery is through Pinkas Synagogue which was founded in 1479. Today the Synagogue is a memorial to all the Jewish Czechoslovak citizens who were imprisoned in Terezin concentration camp and later deported to various Nazi concentration camps. On the walls of the Synagogue are the names of 77,297 people who didn't return! The building also houses an exhibition of children's pictures from the Terezin concentration camp.

My first step into the building, seeing all those names on the wall was quite overwhelming. There was no way I could have photographed it for lots of reasons but here is a photo so you can get an impression of it...

This photo was originally uploaded by: ccarlstead.

[thought for the day] sunday evening

On this auspicious Sunday, some words of wisdom from 1744:

Truth is the cry of all but the game of the few.