May 22 2017

Friday afternoon, Giogio and I headed down to Ibla. One of the Rotarians was hosting a typical Sicilian lunch for a Rotary group from Bologna in his little tourist shop.

Along with the Arancine, there was Ragusa's typical dish/street food Scaccia. We also had typical almond and carob cookies, and chocolate from Modica.

A quick picture out the car window coming back up from Ibla.

Friday night, the girls rugby team hosted an end of the year party, to help raise money for our tournament in Lombardia. We've been working really hard to find sponsors in Ragusa, and we raised money at the party by selling sandwiches, mini pizzas and drinks.

It was a really fun party with a good turn out and lots of support. 

We even hired a DJ who played and we had fun dancing at the end of the night when we were done with the sandwich dinner rush.

One of the best events was the beer pong table. (Don't worry Rotary, I know the rules, and was solely a supportive spectator)

Bright and early saturday morning Giogio, Pino, Anna and I headed out for a short two day trip in Malta!

Pino had to work in the morning, so the Gigio Anna and I explored around a bit. Our first stop was walking around La Valeta. Malta is really simular to Sicily but there is a lot more arab influence especially in the architecture. 

Whenever I see a cute street cart, I get excited. I bought a nice little slice of fruit cake, that made a good breakfast sunday morning. 

We decided to take a double decked bus tour.

The view from the bus.

We got off the bus in Mdina to take a walk around, and look in one of the museums (no photos aloud). 

I thought the purple window shutters were really cute.

The view from the walls of Mdina.

The three of us.

In the afternoon we drove across Malta and then took the ferry to Gozo, where our family friends live. Giogio and Pino had to run some errands or go to a meeting (Even between me and Anna we never really figured out what they were doing), and they left the two of us at the house. In the evening we got a little dressed up and went out for a nice dinner with the group.

The next morning the parents abandoned us again with out explanation and Anna and I slept in. They came back with groceries and the group and we had a nice lunch at the house.  I spent a lot of time with this group around the holidays, and they come to visit every now and then. They're kind of like extended family. In this last little period, I'm never sure when I will see people again, so I said goodbye just in case.

I thought this dad selfy was really funny.

We took a little drive around Gozo before heading to the Ferry. It's a small island with only about 45,000 inhabitants but during the tourist season it more than triples in the number of people.

The port.

After heading back with the Ferry and recrossing Malta we went straight to the airport even though we had about four hours before our flight. We passed through the lines and security really quickly, but luckily because Pino is such a frequent traveler we had a comfortable place to hang out in in the VIP Lounge. It was my first time in a VIP lounge and there was a buffet of free food, including some typical Maltese rolls. Anna had introduced me to a new show called "Reign", so we comfortably watched and drank tea before having to catch the plane (only about 45 minutes in the air).

Today, life is back to normal, at least for a bit. Zia Graziella Anna and I got a nice lunch at Le Tre Vie.