A week in the life

Some random stories from this past typical week of #boatlife…

Where’s a Starbucks when you need one?

Conor has been very busy doing so much research and procurement for all the upcoming boat projects. (I promise to report on them as they become reality.) He also spent a couple of days clearing out all of our storage lockers to take inventory, get organized, and start tinkering. Given the boat was taken over, I needed to get out and find some space to do classwork. Let’s say it was 1:30pm right after we had finished having lunch. The marina office has a nice little work space available for use, but when I inquired, I learned that it is only available when the office is open – so not during their long riposa hours in the afternoon. Next, we do have a nice bar (cafe) also in the marina, and they just so happened to be closed on that particular day. So, I went scouring the town to find another open bar that would have space indoors in which to work. (It was pretty cold outside.) I walked all over and was surprised to find so many of them closed and/or only have outdoor tables set out on the sidewalk. We’re talking tiny places with a few plastic chairs set up outside where you just pop in to order your coffee. I ultimately went back to the only other nice indoor bar we had discovered and been to once for lunch, Caffuccino. I had prepared on Google Translate to ask if it was ok if I worked there. It took me a while to figure out that this got lost in translation – the owner thought I was asking if I could get a job there! Eventually, with enough miming, we settled that it was fine for me to stay as long as I was ordering something, of course. I was able to get some solid hours of work done, which was great. It struck me, though, that aside from Conor and myself, I have never seen anyone working on a laptop here. Coming from Silicon Valley, that is quite the common site, but here not even a hint. It’s definitely not the Italian way. It was a funky feeling, and wow, I had never missed an American coffee shop so much! Conor has since set up one of our forward cabins as his “man cave” where he can tinker away to his heart’s desire. 🙂

Parli italiano?

Speaking of my limited Italian language skills, this is not to say we haven’t been trying. Conor and I have still been studying on Babbel or Duolingo, respectively. Conor is still much better than I am at communicating with the locals, of which, I’d say about 99% of them do not speak any English. Our new development is that we have just started participating in a live language class. One of the other boaters instigated this, and we have about ten of us now that head over to a classroom about a 20-minute walk away to learn from a live teacher. We’ve only had one class so far but it could be promising. Mi chiamo Lisa. Io sono americana. Io ho cinquantadue anni. 😉

“Head, shoulders, knees and toes…”

For those who know Conor, you know that he has always been a kid magnet. He coached soccer with our kids for years, started a company to teach kids robotics, mentored at our kids’ schools, etc. Now he’s volunteering twice a week at one of the local parochial schools in town helping the teachers with the English class. He is Maestro Conor. 🙂 For most of the K-2 classes he assists the language arts teacher with translations and activities. At least one teacher, though, has not had a plan yet, so he ends up improvising something on his own for that time. So far, he’s taught them a couple of songs, including this heading title and “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” I so wish I could be a fly on the walls! He’s having a lot of fun and says the kids are super cute. The first day they were amazed that he arrived to the school via scooter. They were even more amazed to learn he lived on a boat. The second day Conor arrived he was quite chuffed (as they say in Ireland) as one of the classes had prepared a song for him in welcome. 🙂 They are grateful he’s there to help out, and he’s learning even more Italian this way too.

The height of fashion

I keep forgetting to mention this, but what you hear of Italians appreciating high fashion seems so true. I believe it’s the most fashionable country in the world. Even here in little Licata, I find it so entertaining to people watch. If I was into fashion, I could learn a lot! When they come out for their Sunday promenade at the marina, everyone is decked out. We’re talking big puffy or fur coats, beautiful scarves, leather pants, fancy shoes, and definitely big purses. The men are looking dapper as well. And, they love sparkle. In the shops you see so much with rhinestones or sequins. (We’re talking clothes, shoes, furniture, you name it.) It always just makes me chuckle as I’m speed walking through people in my leggings, tennis shoes, and fleece jacket!

Eh, who cares?

So speaking of my high fashion, imagine you get locked out of the boat after spending a couple of cold early morning hours walking and waiting outside for bureaucracy with no good outcome. (That’s a story for another day.) Conor goes his way to the school for his two and a half hour volunteer experience, while I aim to get to work only to find Conor’s actually locked the boat and my key is in inside. (We rarely lock the boat.) After my initial sheer frustration that this day will be a total waste, I pivot as I’ve learned now to do better, and make my way to the marina bar, Caffe Letterario. I get a table inside and warm up with a cappuccino and a gluten free chocolate croissant. I can do a little bit of reading for my classes on my phone, play some Sudoku, then stretch my legs on my normal pier walk. Mind you, this is all while having that “jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes” grody kind of look and feel. Ah well, what can ya do? #boatlife

It costs how much?

Something I’m amazed by every time I go to the grocery store is how inexpensive things are (bar imported items). Maybe these prices don’t sound so great to some, but coming from the San Fran Bay Area, these are steals! Wine is cheap, eating out can be cheap, clothes are very reasonable, accommodations are inexpensive to buy or rent, etc. We are always amazed when we get the bills!

It’s that time of day

By 4pm I’m usually ready. In Ireland or the UK it would be called “afternoon tea,” but I call it hot chocolate time. Conor, of course, makes plenty cups of tea, but I have always had a hankering for warm, creamy chocolate. 🙂 I used to make this for our kids back home in the wintertime, and with luck have found some of the key ingredients here (or I brought them with me from our last US trip). As the sun starts to set and the day shifts colder, there’s nothing like a warm cuppa. Now if you happen to be at a bar here ordering una cioccolata calda, you literally will receive a warm cup of thick melted chocolate – decadent! Just for grins, I thought I’d share my concoction in case any of you might like to try it out on a cold winter day!