Ciao Firenze, Ciao Catania...

...That just doesn't make as much sense as it would in English.

I got down to Catania last night! Brandon and Kristen's apartment is great, and they have been wonderful hosts! I was hoping to get some good pictures of the view to post today, but it rained all day long. The sky was yellow because of sand brought on the North African winds from the Sahara desert. Weird, huh? I didn't make that up.

We spent the afternoon at the church building where Chad and Brandon had some English lessons. On Tuesday nights the congregation gets together for singing and prayer, so I got to meet a lot of people from the church. They were SO friendly and welcoming! I am really excited about working with them.

Tomorrow, if the weather is nice, I am going to get a tour of the area in the morning before going back to the church building in the afternoon for Chad and Brandon's lessons.

Now for today's cultural tip from Linda Falcone:

"La Vergogna"
The Shame
"'There are two types of cultures in the world,' my university professor Gustavo Forscarini told me one fateful day, 'shame cultures and guilt cultures. Latin, Asian, and Arab societies are shame cultures; Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, and Scandinavian countries are guilt cultures.' Guilt culture citizens...torture themselves about trivial matters like not achieving their full potential, forgetting a birthday, or thinking about taking out the garbage but not actually doing it. Guilt is pervasive in a society where closed doors and perfectionism run rampant. Guilt, you might say, is a private phenomenon that a person suffers in the solitude of one's own mind-labyrinth. As natural strangers to solitude, Italians are seldome slaves to guilt....shame is common in Italy and cultures where family obligation and community pressure make saving face the primary goal of all citizens. Italians feel shame because everyone is always looking. The bread lady, the neighbor, the neighbor's dog, everyone. (In Italy) it's not committing the crime that's the issue, it's getting caught red-handed that really irks the Italian psyche."