bits and pieces

It's 4:00 a.m. here in Sicily. Having gone to bed extremely early last night, I'm up for the day. As I step out onto the porch this chilly December night, I am struck by the beauty. The moon is so bright it casts distinct shadows across the lawn. The stars are numerous and I think of the words "The stars at night, are big and bright....." Of course that song is about Texas but it truly applies here.

It has been raining this week. Two days of rain and you see how ill-prepared the Italians are for rain. Our brand new building is flooding. Every door has water seeping into the room, the hallway, the office. On Thursday I literally had to wade to my classroom to get my purse after a meeting. Teachers whose classrooms have doors to the outside were making sure there was nothing on that half of the room to get ruined by water.

Upper walkways between buildings are open and water was draining off them through the drainspout directly onto the courtyard below (where people walk). And as Bob and I were walking from the building to the Navy Exchange (store) we went up some stairs that were flowing like a river because the contractor had chosen to empty the drainspout directly onto the steps.

The roads tell the same story. Ditches are almost unheard of here in Sicily. The land is higher than the roads and when there is a heavy rain the water has nowhere to go except onto the street. One has to drive very carefully to keep from sliding off.

I have to say, though, that the hard rains only come two months of the year, December and January. With 300 days of sun in Sicily, it might be easy to skip the expense of preparing for rain.