It's 3 in the afternoon and it's raining. I am sitting in my apartment in Palermo on the old couch looking out the open french doors to the balcony and the windows in the apartment across the alley. All the non-main streets here I would classify as alleys. The cat is curled up sleeping. Which means I get a momentary respite from her still-kitten crazed behavior. I'm listening to Britney Spears, but will soon redeem myself by putting on some Massive Attack or other more worldly and intelligent music. But right now she's singing to me to get naked. I would, but it's too cold.
With the rain, I can't really get any work done. We're still in the mega-advertisement phase, and I wanted to go to the tourist offices to gather some info, but it's raining. Yeah, I have an umbrella and good shoes, but I'm cold and lazy. So, I'll hang here with the cat. I miss my own, but she's a good substitute. And she's hilarious.
Still haven't adjusted to the time. Yesterday I got up at about 9am, which was an excellent start, but then my 4pm nap lasted for 6 hours, and after strolling around at night I managed to wear myself down enough to get back to sleep at 3am. I set my alarm for 9, slept through it and woke up very groggy at noon. Determined not to take a nap today and instead go to bed early and get up at a normal time tomorrow. Yeah, you should all feel really sorry for me. Jet lag is such a drag. Practically the worst thing in the world. lol.
Last night on my stroll I ended up in this funny little area with a bar, an impromptu fire-pit with a BBQ, and about 100 punk-rock Sicilians. If they hadn't been speaking Italian they could have easily been the coffee-shop crowd in California. All in black, lots of piercings, skull patterns, patched punk bags, studded belts and bracelets, etc. The works. I guess there are some looks which are apparently universal. I ended up chatting with this feisty red-headed Sicilian girl about my age named Faviolla. The whole conversation was in Italian and I got about 80% of what she was saying. She complimented me on my speaking skills, and that totally made my day. It came back fairly naturally. There is still a lot that I am remembering, but bit-by-bit...
Ok, listening to Massive Attack now, as promised. Feeling instantly smarter.
I am still heavy with thoughts. There is so much to do, and I am feeling a little lost still. I'm stressed out about money because I'm not getting paid yet. I have this apartment for the rest of the month and then I need to make further arrangements. And it's not my space, it's somebody else's space, and I am just inhabiting it for a while. Luckily, I have found that there is LOTS and LOTS of apartments and rooms to rent for very cheap here. I am looking at several, and they average about 100-150 Euro/month. That's about $145-200/month in the city center. And food is ridiculously cheap as well. I can easily live on 5 Euros/day by going to the out-door market and making my own espresso.
I wonder, too, what I should write about in these posts. A part of me thinks that it should only be to chronicle my overseas adventures, but there is another part of me which desires very much to run some of my ideas across the screen that I would put in the book that my friends have been encouraging me to write. However, I don't feel like that is appropriate for the audience of family, friends, and colleagues. So, perhaps that will need to stay in the emails to those involved only, and this will remain the space to grow as a world citizen.
Strangest thing in the world: I am craving cereal. I don't crave cereal at home. I also woke up today wanting fish and chips. I'm a very bad adopted Italian. Shame.
Well, enough for now. Ciao Ragazzi.
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