Dear Sicilia

Yes, we are alive and well, although still cold.  I know, I know what did we expect coming to Italy in the winter.  However, Sicilia is noticably warmer and the sun is out!  Oh how nice it feels to get some sweet, sweet vitamin D! The weather is actually very similar to a nice sunny spring day in Oregon so I suppose we shouldnt be complaining too much.  :)  Sicilia is even more beautiful and full of culture than we had imagined.  At the new farm is in the perfect location with the sea a ten minute drive to our east and the beautiful Mt. Etna directly to our south, both of which can be seen from our room.  Perfecto!  The new farm is 1 hc and consists of many olive trees, any kind of fruit tree you can imagine, grapes and many, many veggies.  So far we have chopped down a good chunk of bamboo and blackberry bushes, weeded many stone walls that hold up multiple terraces along the property, and planted some onions.

Tomorrow we have plans to take a local train that runs all the way around Mt. Etna to a medival village for some sight seeing.  Should be a good day in store for us.  Just as in Sicignano about zero people speak English here so even the smallest journey can turn into quite the adventure.  The best is when someone starts speaking to us and we tell them 'Noi parli poco poco poco Italiano' (we speak very little, little, little Italian) and they continue to speak to us as if we are fluent speakers.  With that said our Italian seems to be improving baby steps, day by day, and we have decided that when we get back to the states we want to take an Italain course.

Our cooking skills have also been expanding since we have been here.  Two nights ago Angelo and Cristina, our new hosts, taught us how to make home made pasta!  It was delicious to say the least.  When we get back we are going to cook a proper Italian dinner for family and friends so be prepared to eat until you feel uncomfortable!  No joke.  If we put food on your plate and tell you to mange, you better eat it all just to give you all a little taste of what we have been put through for three months.  Good thing we both like to eat and good thing we are staying active because we would be putting on the pounds!  No comments please if we come home and look a bit chubbier in the face.  Haha.  We dare you to come to Italy and return the same weight. 

More to come soon, hopefully pictures as well.  Love to all and Happy Valentines day (which is even cheesier in Italy than the states if you can imagine...) 

C and M