Sicily I

I apologize, my dear blog readers, that you could not read this post sooner! As I type this post in the "notes" section of my internet-less iPhone, it is Sunday, April 24th and I have been in Palermo for just over a week. When I get back to Paris, I will email myself this post and finally be able to put it online for you lovely people to enjoy. Thank you for your patience!  

On Friday, April 15, Prune, Fred, Cecile, and I all woke up at 4am to drive across Paris so Prune and I could catch our early morning plane. Everything went smoothly in the airport. Prune was sleepy and hungry, but she really hustled though security and was sweet to all the flight attendants! It was pretty darn early in the morning, but of course I was thrilled to be catching a plane. I love airports, which you all must know by now, and it was an all knew kind of exciting to be taking a plane with a five year old who was just as enthusiastic about the whole experience as I was! During the two hour flight, Prune mostly watched a movie and I mostly read, but every quarter hour we couldn't help ourselves from chatting and day dreaming about all the things we would do when we got to Sicily. Prunette couldn't wait to build sand castles and see her grandpa, and I couldn't wait to feel the sunshine on my arms and eat gelato hahaha. The flight went by quickly, and before we knew it, we were being greeted at the exit of the airport of Palermo by Nonno, our Italian grandfather! 

Nonno drove us through Palermo and up the big hill to his house so we could drop off our things. My first impression of Sicily was greatly influenced by my shock of riding in the passenger seat in a car being driven through Italian traffic by a true Italian. So much honking and so little personal space! I am usually a bit nervous in cars, but I was honestly too distracted to pay attention to my nerves. How were the pedestrians so fearless? How did a two lane street become a 3 1/2 lane street? How had nobody crashed? I was entertained by this driving when I first arrived, and after being here for a week I have learned to gasp less every time a car swerves inches in front of us. 

Other than the crazy driving, my first memories in Sicily revolve around my joy at feeling the sun all over me as I rode in the front seat of Nonno's car. I had been soooo looking forward to not being cold, and in his car I was hot! I felt so grateful to be under the sun and beginning an adventure. 

That afternoon, we headed down to Mondello, the beach we have ended up going to almost every day! Just like we had dreamed on the plane, Prune and I made sandcastles and splashed in the water and when we were done playing, Nonno took us to get some gelato! 

It was a fine first day in Sicily and that night I slept happily under my mosquito net. 

The next morning, I got up early to go on a run. Nonno lives up on the top of a mountain, so I knew it would be a bit hilly, but that didn't really bother me. The hills didn't end up being a problem, BUT the dogs did. After only running for about three minutes I was excitedly greeted by a pack of stray dogs who thought that nipping at my ankles was a realllyyyy fun game hahaha. I was terrified, and I ran back up to the house and decided I would only run on the beach from then on. About an hour later, we had eaten breakfast and it was time to go to the beach! I brought my running stuff with me and that is how I have been able to get workouts in during this vacation. Here in Palermo, we mostly go to the beach in the mornings and the weather is perfect for running and not too hot as it would be if we were to go in the afternoon. That second afternoon in Sicily, Fred's parents arrived from the South of France and they stayed with us up until two nights ago (Friday the 22nd). 

Now, trying to blog on my phone is a rather frustrating task, so rather than reporting each and every thing we did over the last week, I am going to just talk about my experience here so far in general. 

With Fred's parents (Marie and Jean-Philipe), Prune and I got to do a lot of beach going AND exploring. We spent most mornings at the beach and most afternoons marveling at beautiful cathedrals and hill-top castles. Everyday at noon on the way home from the beach, we would stop and get fresh Sicilian sesame seed bread from the baker at the base of Nonno's mountain and it would make the car smell like heaven. Going to the beach and seeing the different Sicilian towns and cathedrals was nice, but one my favorite things about being here so far is getting to enjoy the nature that I have seen here during the car rides that is like nothing I have seen before. The mountains look like jagged sandy rocks speckled with super green trees, and at the bases of the mountains are huge patches of forests and vineyards that surround different groups of dusty orange apartments and houses. When you drive through the city, the streets are so small and you can hear all sorts of people yelling incomprehensible Italian sentences from the hundreds balconies that rule the lower skies. And the beach! Oh my goodness. The water is transparent and such a magical color of blue that fades to green and then to a lighter blue and then a darker blue off in the distance. Palermo is a painting and my eyes don't want to look away! 

Nonno's house is another thing I should blabber about. It is perfect for Prunette! There is a huge garden with a slide and a tree with a swing and from the top floor of the house there is an exquisite view of the valley below. And Nonno has been so hospitable! He makes us delicious things to eat for every meal and for dessert there is plenty of almond cookies and fresh fruit. The oranges here are to die for. 

Since there is no internet in this house up in the mountains, I have had lots of time to read and daydream. This has been both a blessing and a curse. I would like to say it has been refreshing to not be able to communicate with those who aren't only a few feet away, but to be honest it has made me feel a bit homesick. I don't know if homesick is the right word, actually. You could say it has made me feel lonely, maybe. I haven't been able to talk to anyone who isn't a host-grandparent or a five year old for a week, and I miss partaking in conversations that make me feel alive and passionate and interested. Don't get me wrong, these grandparents are all lovely people, and Prune is a sweetheart, I have just missed being able to share my thoughts with people who will listen to them and respond with enthusiasm and curiosity. The good thing about not having internet is that I have been forced to speak almost ONLY in French and Italian since I arrived. Of course I still speak to Prune in English, but unless I am talking to her I am practicing other languages, which is fantastic! 

Today on the beach, however, I had a bit of a language mix up. An Italian news reporter snuck up on me with a microphone and before I knew it there was a camera in my face and questions were being asked to me in Italian. I then heard myself say "I'm sorry! I don't speak English!" in French! Hahahaha. The reporter looked so confused! We eventually worked out that he understood English and I understood some Italian, so he asked me a couple questions in Italian about the beach and I responded in English that he could translate later. What a Sally moment! 

I am getting very sleepy as I type this post out, but before I fall asleep there is one more EXTREMELY important thing to tell you about! Prune got her first wiggly tooth here in Palermo and proceeded to lose it on the fourth day of our trip! Watching her push the wiggle tooth around with her tongue made me shiver with disgust hahaha but I did my best to look as excited as possible, because I remember how enchanting the idea of the tooth fairy was as a kid! When Prune's tooth fell out, I told her about how I used to write letters to the tooth fairy, so Prune drew a picture and then dictated which I wrote to the tooth fairy for her (which in France isn't a fairy but a little mouse). That night after Prune had gone to sleep, the grandparents and I got together and constructed a letter to Prune from the Petite Souris and drew a picture of a little mouse on it because we knew she would love that. We put it in an envelope with some coins and then exchanged it with the envelope Prune had put under her pillow. 

It was so cute watching the grandparents getting so into the spirit of entertaining Prunette's imagination! Usually, I feel like a part of the family, but there are moments where I feel like an outsider with the special opportunity to study a bunch of family members tending to the Fred-Cecile-Prune family as if it were a garden. Fred and Cecile were worried when Prune's tooth was loose because they didn't know if she was too young or not, and all the grandparents were worried about how many hearts to put in the letter from the French Mouse Tooth Fairy and all of this worry was out of the great amount of love they have for Prunette. My parents and grandparents must have gone through similar things when I was small, and I feel lucky to be able to see what it is like from a perspective that is neither fully adult nor little child, but somewhere in between.

Prune was fascinated the next morning. Fascinated that the tooth fairy really existed and had found her all the way in the south of Italy! You could tell she was proud of herself, and you could tell the grandparents were proud of pulling the whole thing off. I was just happy to witness all of this, really hahaha. The au pair perspective is sure an interesting one!