Friday, November 26, 2010
I woke up today at 6:45, got ready, and I was at the train station by 8:00 AM. I hopped on the train, which ran smoothly this time, and got to the airport a little before 9:00 AM. I got my ticket, and got through security with plenty of time to spare. The flight left on time, but it was the shortest and worst flights I have ever been on. It seemed like as soon as we reached cruising altitude, we were making our descent. That wasn’t the bad part. That was good – a short flight. The bad part was the turbulance. There was so much. The plane dropped very roughly so many times. You know that feeling that you get in your stomach on a ferris wheel when you just crest the top of the wheel and then start going down? It feels like your stomach is staying at the top of the wheel, but the rest of your body is going down? Yeah, I felt that probably 10 times on the flight. The plane kept rocking from side to side and people were shrieking. I thought we were going to crash for sure. It was not pleasant. I also hate plane landings. I love take off, but hate landing. The lading was really rough and we all got lurched forward when the plane stopped. Never again am I going to fly Easyjet when I come back to Europe someday.
After I got to the airport in Palermo, I wandered around for about 20 minutes looking for the buses. I couldn’t find them, so I called Marianna for help to see if her grandfather had told her where I had to go. After talking to her for a bit, I just decided to ask a female police officer for help. I talked to her in Italian for a bit and asked her where the bus depot was. She told me a bit and then took me to the Airport Information desk. The woman behind the desk helped me a lot and I found the bus stop. I had some time to kill in the airport before my flight left, so I grabbed some pizza for lunch and waited for my bus to leave for Sciacca at 2:55 PM.
The bus came to the airport around 3:05 PM and I got on. It only cost me 9.40 Euro, which isn’t bad for an hour and a half bus ride. I got to see a lot of the Sicilian countryside. I listened to my ipod on the way and enjoyed the scenery. The bus driver was crazy. He was a total lead foot and kept passing cars on the highway. The bus kept rocking from side to side and any little bump the bus hit, we felt. I got of in Sciacca at the first stop called La Villa. It was near a huge park. As soon as I got off the bus, there was Nonno and Zio Nino waiting for me. Nonno looked at me and said, “Tim?” and I responded, “Nonno?” We hugged and said hello. We rode in a car to Nonno and Nonna’s apartment and Nonna was waiting inside. As soon as I walked in the door, I was greeted with Nonna’s warm smile and she said, “Buona sera Tim. Come stai?” I replied, “Buona sera Nonna. Bene, bene. Grazie”. Right away she took me into the kitchen and her, Nonno, and I sat down and started chatting. We talked for a while about what we would do tomorrow, what we were going to eat, and their lives when they lived in America. It was clear that Nonna missed America and being by her children, but she still likes Sicily. For dinner, Nonna first laid out bread, homemade and homegrown olives, four kinds of fresh cheese, artichokes soaked in garlic oil, and sausage Nonno bought from the butcher. Then, we had spaghetti with eggplant parmeggiana. When we were finished with that, we had potatoes and roasted chicken. Nonna gave me a tangerine flavored digestivo after dinner and Nonno also made espresso. Nonna gave me some lemon glazed cookies unique to Sciacca. They were so good! Nonno gave me a beer and some wine to drink for dinner. It was delicious. The meal was filled with great conversation and Nonna continuously looking at me and saying, “Mangia, mangia!” Which means, “Eat, eat!” She kept piling food on my plate – and I ate it all! Nonno and Nonna are awesome! They speak with their hands ALL THE TIME and make me laugh so much! They bicker and pick on one another, but you can tell there is true love in the air.
After dinner, we Skyped with Scotty and Marianna and I fixed Nonno and Nonna’s computer speakers so they could finally hear Scotty and Marianna. We talked for a while and then the three of us watched some gameshows on Italian TV. I was trying to see how many words I could pick up. I wasn’t doing too bad. Nonno was explaining the shows to me too. Nonno and Nonna graciously gave me their HUGE comfortable bed to sleep in and they slept on the pull-out couch in the living room. I was going to tall them that I could sleep on the couch, but I could tell that suggestion would just be met with objections, so I just left it alone. I cannot wait for tomorrow! What an awesome day!
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