My good friends and my new friends

I have had a very interesting week, with some drama, lots of sunshine and of course - drinking! (Those of you who know me well know my drama but I am not going to talk about that!) Man, I sound like such an alcoholic, maybe I have a problem and need some rehab! Somewhere hot please!

I have made some very good friends here in Catania and have lots of great friends back home and around the world and this week I was lucy enough to meet lots of nice new people and make some new friends....

On Wednsday Mark suggested a midweek drink somewhere new so we went to bar called Bonu which really like as it is very different (lots of kitch) and good food. Jacqueline, Lisa, Mark, Stuart and I were joined by one of Mark's students. The bar was good but the most fun was had on the way home with Jacs and I being a bit crazy as usual, she makes me laugh so much!

On Thursday I went to the English Conversation Club (it does exactly what it says on the tin) and had a really nice time meeting some new people, lots of friendly Italians who want to practice and/or improve their English and a lot of English teachers too. Also many Americans and a few English/British (The English Study Centre staff made the English count go up a bit)and a token German! I met a girl called Lauren from London and we became fast friends, we had a real laugh together about the idea of making everyone at the conversation club queue up for their food (as it was all gone by the time we got there)and this turned into quite a debate! Valerio, Lauren's boyfriend, stated that queueing is a form of slavey! If you are interested there is a video of part of the conversation somewhere on Facebook! Funny! I don't think it will work, only the English form a queue for everything!
This weekly get together is now definately on my list of priorites for the week, I will be trying to get there earlier whenever possible to actually get some food and to meet some more lovely people.

I also went to a few new places this week, a nice bar near the port and a club in a different part of town which led to a mini adventure! Pippi was driving and somehow,he may have haad some alcohol.... when reversing down a hill, managed to get his car stuck up on a wall, so that the car was leaning over to the side and only two wheels were on the ground. Pippi, then decided to reverse more and gt it well and trully stuck! Now, I am no stranger to being in a car tilted on its side and being completely stuck, but I was lucky enough to be stuck on a country road where a farmer passed by with a tractor to tow me out! Pippi's car was in a quiet street at about midnight! (no tractors around - haven't seen any tractors here at all)
So, we got out, looked at the car, tried a bit of pushing, a lot of revving the engine and a few swear words, nothing helped! Then it started to rain!
Mark and Pippi eventually decided the only way to move the car was to lift the back up, Luisa took the driver seat, Mark and Pippi took their positions at the rear of the vehicle and I stood well back and supervised! They lifted the car, it moved, all was well!!!! We went to the club laughing at Pippi and worrying a little about getting home.
The club was very full and the DJ's were loving random English music, playing everything from Shout to Losing my Religion and Baggy Trousers and everyone was singing along and dancing like mad, it was fun.

Last night I went to Taormina with Luisa, Sturt and Pippi and some of Luisa's friends, Lauren and Valerio met us later. I had the BEST night!
Taormina is so beautiful, really touristy in some ways and really Italian in others, I had some fun spotting tourists and then being a big loser and posing for touristy photos (loved it! British Pharmacy!)We went to an Irish bar and then to a REALLY expensive bar to drink a REALLY terrible cocktail and then Lauren and Valerio took Stuart and I to a bar called Deja Vu wile Luisa and Pippi went to some other club... we danced and drank more, I enjoyed myself so much!
Then we went to meet Luisa and Pippi and had a random 'discussion' with some Sicilians about somehing I don't remember, along the lines of Taormina is part of Messina... Lauren and Valerio left ad we went to to find food and more drinks until Luisa was ready then we made our way back to the car with some more fun photo stops on the way, oh, and I may have fallen over, three times!
Stuart and I feel asleep on the way back and got home at around 5 to a beautiful sunny day! (I didn't see much of the day to be honest....) All in all a very good time!

I love Sundays when I get to speak to 'me Mam', and do my blog, it makes me realise how lucky I am, I have such a great family and such lovely friends at home in the UK and so many great friends here too. Thanks Mammy for being so wonderful and thanks to everyone who makes me smile...