Palermo

I've learned that my internet time doesn't happen very often, so every time I write here (which is not as high a priority as it is for me to respond to emails, so I never leave much time) I feel really rushed. Right now there's a severe weather warning at the pool because of lightning, so I have a few minutes and thought I'd run to the library before it closes. Things are still going well here. We've definitely gotten into the swing of things and learned what it's going to be like for the rest of the summer. My days usually look something like this: get up around 8 and try to go to the library, go to the pool at 9 and swim and prep for lessons, teach level two from 10-11, teach level 1 from 11-12, guard from 12-6:30, run to the Commisary (grocery store) from 6:30-7 to try to get any food I might need that night or in the morning, lounge around from 7-midnight. Our evenings are free but unfortunately there isn't a lot to do on the base. We manage to not get bored, but it's also only been three weeks and we're running out of things to do. We've made friends with about 5 or 6 Navy guys and they usually invite us over for dinner and to play games. This is great for me because two of my favorite things are food and games, so the last few nights I've been up late playing Charades and pursuading people to let me use their computer to check my email.

I wish we could teach more lessons and lifeguard less, because it gets really draining to sit still in the hot sun, watching people. I underestimated the weather when I said it'd be around 90-110, because most days have been about 115 lately. I'm totally not used to that kind of weather and try to get in the pool often to cool off, but then I end up dry again in 3 minutes and sweating in 3 and a half. Yesterday it got cloudy for a minute and I thought to myself, "Wow, it's cooling off," only to look at the thermometer and realize it was still 105. I never thought I'd say that 105 was starting to get cold... The cool thing about guarding here is that I've been getting to know a lot of the families that come to the pool. It is pretty much the same crowd every day, so I know a lot of kids' names and a lot of people will hang out and chat with me while I'm working. It makes it a little easier to be in the sun when I have friends and kids from my swimming lessons getting my attention to show me how they dive or splash on the water slides.

I've been traveling a bit around the island on my weekends and we're trying to figure out how to get up to Rome sometime. We only have two days off every weekend, so whenever we go it will be a quick trip. I've gone in to the city of Catania a few times and I really like the city because it's not full of tourists and I've been able to go with people who know their way around really well. Last weekend I went to a city called Palermo, which is across the island and it's the biggest city in Sicily (about 600,000). It was really cool to see the beautiful cathedrals and the creepy catacombs and be able to do some shopping among the street vendors. There's a lot of cool hand-made jewelry and blankets and stuff here. There are also a few restaurants and stuff acorss the street from the base, and we've discovered that one has salsa night every Thursday. My roommate and I go and dance together all night and come home really sweaty, but it's fun dancing with all the locals.

I've been told that this weekend will be a big deal on the base because there are a lot of events planned for the 4th of July. There are carnival rides and music and food, so that's where we hung out last night. I only have Sun. and Mon. off so we can't go very far, but there are a few more really cool cities near by that I want to see so we might be able to take a little trip on Sunday. Monday we are going Canyoning in the northern part of the island, which I'm excited about because I've never done it before.

I gotta get back to work. I can hear a band playing outside getting ready for Freedom Fest tonight. I went on the most insane ride last night. I seriously can't even explain it, but when we got off 2 of us were bleeding and we also have many bruises. It's this big circular thing that you sit on the edges of and then it spins and goes up and down and spins backwards and it's so crazy because there's absolutely no seat belts or things to hold on to except for the railing behind you. And if you don't hold on for dear life, you'll be thrown off of it and could seriously fall on someone else or the ground far below. I don't know how else to explain it, but it was so insane I was laughing so hard the entire time because a ride like that would NEVER be found in the states. It's so dangerous. Someone would die and the place would be sued in a second in the states! I'll have to get a picture of it. The rides are still up and I kinda want to ride it again tonight. We stepped off the thing saying "I can't believe I'm still alive" and then got back on it again 30 seconds later.

I have a lot of pictures I want to put up already, but it takes a long time for the computer to load them so I'll only be able to put on a few. And the pool just called, so I gotta get back to work. Here's a few for now!