Walking in a Rocky Wonderland

Sorry it’s been a while again, I’ve been having long days this past week, and whenever I’ve gotten back to my Sicilian home, I’ve been pretty much playing dead in front of my computer, pretending I’m going to do something productive, while really just staring at the screen. Except for Friday, when I meant to type up a post, but I was so excited to see mom, that nothing else was in my mind, and concentrating on typing, just wasn’t working.

So, I last posted on Tuesday, when I went to INGV for the first time, and experienced my first day of an eternal, or at least month-long, Christmas. Then, Wednesday, I got to go play in the “snow” of Etna. I got to go to the mountain for the first time! I didn’t go all the way to the summit, but I didn’t care, because I got to go to the mountain! Boris was giving an interview for a German news company, in honor of the 10-year anniversary of a large eruption. While he did that, I played in the “snow” or the sharp little scoriaceous rocks that build the cones. I had so much fun! Investigating red and white patches within the overall black mounds was interesting, and exciting, for me. I also enjoyed just wandering around and looking and seeing the clouds intruding on the mountain, before they wisped away. It was a great day, and I made a snowman while playing in the “snow”, which was great!

Me and my snowman!

Boris giving his interview in front of Etna!

That afternoon, Boris stopped at my hotel, and talked to the owners for me about my kitchen issues…now that I had unpacked, it’s time for me to be given a new apartment, with a working oven. The issue seems to be with the oven, not the overall electricity. So on Tuesday, I move rooms. Then, we went back to his office to get our stuff, and then went to meet his wife and daughter, Cathleen (I believe) and Ida. Ida was just getting out of her first ever fencing lesson. And now, that little girl is CRAZY smart! She’s already fluent in French and Italian, and is now working on learning German and English. When I said “hey”, she looked up at her parents and asked, “che lingua?” or what language? They responded English, and asked her about learning English in school, so she looked back at me and said “Hello” perfectly. I was so impressed with her. And she already knows the Beatles, and she loves the song “Hey Bulldog” and knows all the words, though she doesn't know what exactly what they mean. After picking Ida up, Boris dropped me off. And I went and collapsed in front of my computer.

Thursday, the German students and I met again, this time in the field, where we joined some of Boris’ colleagues at some mud volcanoes. We were told all about them, and some of the impact they had on the area, while one of Boris’ colleagues took some thermal images of the area. One of my favorite facts about the area, is that the water in the mud is more salty than the ocean, and is around the saltiness of the Dead Sea.

Mud volcano's cone...with the scientist taking pictures on top!

Mud vulcano

Salt crystals near the mud

While in the field, I finally talked to some of the German students. I mostly talked to the college student in the group. She’s working on her thesis, but not on this trip. She was offered a job as a geology teacher at a school in Hamburg, Germany, the school all the students are from, which is the only school in the country that has a geology class. So, she was helping chaperone the trip. It was really fun, and interesting, talking to a geology major from a different country. She was really impressed by the fact that I was abroad doing this project, while only having petrology and mineralogy under my belt.

That afternoon was spent at INGV in the office, and I worked on uploading pictures, which goes better at some times than at others. Boris talked to the German news people a little bit in the control room again. Then he had a meeting to attend, during which I waited in his office. Then it was time for home!

With all the stress at the office, and Ida’s school being on strike, so her being with him on Friday, I stayed home, slept in (thank goodness!) and cleaned my room, did dishes and did laundry, in preparation for mom’s arrival that night. After finishing my chores, around 8:30, I went to internet to wait…tried to have patience, and failed. I ended up going out into the street to wait, after running back and forth for a little while and running my leg into one of the gates, scraping it and bruising it. I sat in the street waiting for mom probably from 10:45 or so, until 11:30, when the car turning onto the street, actually began slowing to a stop in front of me, and I heard mom yell, “Hey kiddo!” from the open window. We stayed up til 1:30 talking. It was really nice to have her there, and still is!

But, I’m going to leave it at that for now. There’ll be other posts up soon, possibly at the same time. And mom’s typing some posts up too, so the adventures she had and our adventures from her point of view will be up soon too!

Ciao!