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Date: Thursday 7/3/08
Day:7 of my journey Cefalu, Italy
Eventful! By definition this word means of or having to do with many events or noteworthy happenings. Synonyms
include affair, circumstance,
episode, hap, happening, incident, occasion, occurrence, and thing. One might say this about a day that includes activities
planned back to back. Perfect! This was the perfect word to describe my eventful day.
We started our day in a Sicilian pottery workshop. We each took turns mold the clay on the spinning
wheel. I watched the other delegates being steered through the procedure by Raphael, one of the talented men working at the
shop. I looked around noticing the many beautiful pots and vases realizing how young the United States was compared to the
European cultures. These pots have been made for thousands of years back in ancient Greece. Whereas, the US has only been
independent for 200 years and we have not developed any new culinary changes, compared to every one else we barely made any
technological achievements, and we don't have our own language. I truly gained insight and respect for other countries.
After the work shop we boarded the bust where we received own complimentary pottery turtles, and then we were off.
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The famous decorated staircase of Caltagirone The main landmark of the city is the 142-step monumental Staircase of
Santa Maria del Monte, built from 1608 in the old part of the town. The peculiarity is that each step is decorated with different
hand-decorated ceramics, using styles and figures derived from the millennial tradition of pottery making. |
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Our next event was the experimental fruit garden. We tried fruits that were not grown native to Sicily, such
as the apricot and certain types of peaches and plums. They were so juicy that one bite would feed your face and shirt more
than your mouth! I was cautious to bite into one because I had my braces adjusted the Tuesday before we left. Once I did I
knew the risk of popping a bracket was worth it!
It was a long bus ride to Cefalu and we all took advantage of our spare time. We all played a game of
ten fingers while some of the guys started some annoying habits. Travis talked about nothing but Chuck Norris, while Christian
sang Stacy's mom and said man bear pig.
Cefalu was amazing. We first saw the church. In this church Jesus was portrayed differently
than in other churches. He had blonde hair and a dark beard. We looked up at the ceiling and it was so detailed that I had
to close Johnnie's mouth for him. We then walked around town sampling their gelato and shopping. Afterwards we headed
into city hall and interviewed the mayor. We asked him many questions about the schooling and political systems worked in
Sicily and he told us that it is pretty much the same as the US. We then asked him about his interests and apparently he was
a Lakers fan. We joked around because Raymond was wearing a Celtics shirt. As the mayor left the building he said to Raymond,
"Next year we will win!" What an eventful end to our eventful day!
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