Friday evening I arrived in Catania, my new home for the next two years! Catania (population 300,000 with a total of 750,000 in the metropolitan area) is on the island of Sicily and is situated between Mt. Etna (Europe's largest active volcano) and the Ionian Sea. Both are visible from my apartment since it is on the tenth floor (which would be the eleventh floor in the USA). Kensey and I are living with Brandon, Kristin, and baby Charlotte, Avanti workers who will be departing in April, at which point we will be taking over the apartment. It's so nice to already have a fantastic, furnished place to live!
Every Friday night a group (of men; I was the only girl) from the church plays soccer. The field is a little higher up on the mountain, and when we got there, it was snowing! Then a few minutes later we saw lava flowing out of Etna!
Saturday afternoon Kensey and I walked around town so I could familiarize myself with our apartment's surroundings, and we also went to the center, where there is a Saturday market with all sorts of food and household goods. I enjoyed both seeing familiar sights and exploring new areas!
Church this morning was wonderful! It was great to be back and see everyone and know that they are glad to have me here. Six-year-old Giulia even drew me a picture!
FYI: The internet connection at my apartment does not allow me to upload photos to my blog, but I will be posting them on facebook. If you do not have facebook and would like to see my pictures, let me know, and I will send you the link where you may view them. Also, if you would like to receive an e-mail notification whenever I make a new blog post, you may sign up in the "subscribe" box to the right under the blog archive box. Below that are several links where you may check out Kensey's fantastic blog, Debbie's newsletters, and Avanti's main website. Moreover, I highly recommend that you view this comparison of the differences between Europe and Italy for a nice little introduction to the culture: http://www.infonegocio.com/xeron/bruno/italy.html
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9 years ago
Glad you are enjoying being back in Catania. You mentioned snow Friday night when playing soccer. The report is we may have some flurries tomorrow. Wouldn't that be something for this time of year? Will look forward to your next post. Gramma
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