Easter 2006

There is so much to write about, as this was a long three-day weekend. I told you about Thursday night. The thing about this weekend is that it was like Spring Break here. All the students and people that live up North for school or work come home for the Easter weekend. So there are more people out every night everywhere especially because the weather was good. I imagine this is how it would be if there was more work here and a university in Brindisi. Friday night was the party for Francesca finishing college. I can’t believe I actually got up and danced. I guess that’s the one time for this month. The party was also in a building a short walk from my apartment so it was nice and convenient. For those of you at the party and who read this, it was Erika who put sandwiches in your bag or coat pocket!!! Don’t tell her I said that!!
Saturday was pretty normal. I didn’t go out for a run like I wanted too. It was the first day that I felt hot. I had a short sleeve shirt on but in the sun I still felt hot. I noticed most Italians were hanging out in the shade and still had a jacket on.
Then on Sunday I went over Erika’s house to have lunch with her family and Valerio. It was a perfect lunch, which included lamb and rosemary, which I think are an Easter tradition. Sunday also surprised me because so many things (bars, bakeries, restaurants) were open. There was so many people out that I guess they would be crazy not to be open but I still thought because it was Easter nothing would be open. One thing that did change however were the soccer matches, instead of Saturday night and Sunday there were played on Friday night and Saturday.
Sunday night was a concert at the Big Ben. It was incredibly packed. There were so many people that cars couldn’t get down the street because of the people outside smoking. Maria Ellena’s (I spelled her name right this time) band was playing so we had already planned on meeting there before the chaos. It was funny because I braved the crowd long enough that as people left to go smoke I could keep moving up until I was right there in front of the band. That was great but I felt bad because I realize that there are not many Italians that can see over me so I retreated back for a while. They were really a great band. I can’t remember the name but there are 8 people in the band. Maria Ellena sings along with a guy who also plays the accordion or guitar. Then there’s a stand up bass, drums, two violins, a flute and another guitar. I have yet to meet a band with a stand up bass that I didn’t like. They played a kind of folksy Balkan style and it was lively and wild with the violins playing more like fiddles, well… really… what’s the difference between a violin and a fiddle?
Then on Monday we headed out to Marco’s house (this another Marco not mentioned before in this blog) near the sea. Now don’t get the wrong impression. It’s not ON the sea. It’s in a vacation community closer to the sea. We just hung out, talked, ate panini, and relaxed on our day off. Near the end of the day we headed to the beach, threw a little Frisbee and played a game called “the big umbrella”. It involves four people huddled together like a scrum in rugby and others jumping on or over this base. It’s hard to explain but it’s a good game for the beach in case you fall off the base or it crumbles.
Last night I needed to rest up for work today but this are a little slow today.
Oh, I almost forgot. Monday at 5:00 AM we had an earthquake here. It was centered down in Calabria but people here said they woke up because their bed was shaking. I think they may have happened to me but I don’t remember it.