All Hail Sicilia!
June 9, 2015
It never rains in Crete, but it pours in Sicily! The last two summers I was excavating in Crete, where our dig director would always say “it never rains in Crete.” Of course, he meant in the summer in Crete, but his adamancy about this was cause for our entertainment. After two days of digging in Sicily, I can attest to the fact that it does indeed rain in Sicily! On the first day of our excavation large dark clouds loomed towards us in the afternoon, suddenly opening up to drop torrents of water on us, and later even hail! I have never seen hail in Italy, so this was a fun surprise, especially in the summer. Although there were a few more hours left in the day, we were forced to pack up our gear and flee the storm, albeit a little too late since we had to run for shelter due to insanely close lightning strikes. Luckily no one was struck by lightning, but we spent some quality time cowering in the bathrooms of the ticket office just to be safe until our transportation arrived to pick us up. It was an eventful first day, to say the least, and we bonded next to the toilets. When we arrived home the lightning and thunder was so loud that it shook our apartments and caused the lights to flicker. Like most other things in Sicily, these storms mean business.
Day two was similar in weather, but we were a little more cautious and left the site before the pouring rain and hail hit. So after one day of digging through mud (a first for me), we have another day of mudding and puddle clearing ahead of us tomorrow. Hopefully the rest of the summer will be rain and hail free, but I can’t say that I don’t mind getting a few short days in as a warm up for the rest of the summer.
In other news, I made it on time to an excavation for the first time in two years! Hurray! After spending one night in Catania my friends and I managed to arrive to our site on time for a change, without any scheduling faux pas or dramamine mishaps (see previous 2013 posts for the wonders/horrors of dramamine). In addition, I’m being taught some of the local dialect by some of the workers and have managed not to get sunburned yet. Woohoo! But the summer is still young…
Also, food for thought: do you feel like you have to share a shower/bathroom with too many people? Have you ever shared a shower with TEN other girls?! How about TEN stinky girls who are covered in sweat and dirt and are in desperate need of getting clean? No? Well, I do! So far it hasn’t been a problem and I’ve resigned to the fact that I probably won’t be able to get clean on a daily basis. We’ll see how long others tolerate my stench, however. I’m not sure my friend and roommate will be pleased with me if she can smell me from her side of the room.
Hmm, other updates… We have excavation dogs. There are several stray dogs that spend their days with us, trying to mooch food during breaks. They are shy, but not unfriendly, especially when coaxed with a bit of bread from someone’s panino. The youngest and cutest of all of these is a puppy who we call Vivace (apparently the name of a spicy flavored type of potato chip) and the workmen call Cesare. Vivace/Cesare is insanely cute, but has some kind of gross eye goop infection and keeps trying to get into our trenches. It is hard to turn him away though. Also, it is INCREDIBLY beautiful around here. There are green, luscious hills all around us and beautiful little homes dotting the hillsides, which I am looking forward to running up and down when the afternoon storms finally subside. I think I picked a pretty great place to spend a summer.
