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	<title>Sicily 2023 &#8211; jo vraca</title>
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	<description>storyteller.creator.cook.witch</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Fri, 09 Jun 2023 06:54:05 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>Sicily 2023 &#8211; jo vraca</title>
	<link>https://www.jovraca.com</link>
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	<item>
		<title>Chit Chatting</title>
		<link>https://www.jovraca.com/2023/05/26/chit-chatting/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=chit-chatting</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[jovraca]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 26 May 2023 08:19:58 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sicily 2023]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.jovraca.com/?p=2798</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[When I was 17, I moved to Geelong to go to Deakin University. What followed was a year and a half of eye opening, brain exploding, mind numbing, CONVERSATIONS with everyone from a fruitarian who walked around naked, guitar players, bikers, speed dealers, philosophers, women and men of all different backgrounds and futures. It was [&#8230;]]]></description>
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<p>When I was 17, I moved to Geelong to go to Deakin University. What followed was a year and a half of eye opening, brain exploding, mind numbing, CONVERSATIONS with everyone from a fruitarian who walked around naked, guitar players, bikers, speed dealers, philosophers, women and men of all different backgrounds and futures. It was a time when we were all getting to know people, then deepening that until we reached the core of who we are.</p>



<p>Well, being back in Sicily felt like that. Except without the nude fruitarian or the bongs.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>The Wanderers</title>
		<link>https://www.jovraca.com/2023/05/21/the-wanderers/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=the-wanderers</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[jovraca]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 21 May 2023 11:33:12 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Identity]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sicily 2023]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.jovraca.com/?p=2770</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[The last few days, catching up with mum and dad, Holly, I&#8217;ve been thinking. What was the actual point of going to Sicily again, just six months after we left? Is it hypomania? And then I read this week&#8217;s newsletter from The Well about how Bryan Cranston (Mister White from Breaking Bad) advocates getting lost. [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>The last few days, catching up with mum and dad, Holly, I&#8217;ve been thinking.</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>What was the actual point of going to Sicily again, just six months after we left?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Is it hypomania?</p>



<p>And then I read this week&#8217;s newsletter from <a href="https://bigthink.com/the-well/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Well</a> about how Bryan Cranston (Mister White from Breaking Bad) advocates getting lost. Here&#8217;s the <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yg0uCvnHg74&amp;utm_source=rejoiner&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=05%2F16%2F23+The+Well%3A+The+wisdom+of+wandering+%2F%2F+Get+lost+with+Bryan+Cranston&amp;utm_content=05%2F16%2F23+The+Well&amp;rjnrid=64aj2Xy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">video</a> where he talks about his time as a wanderer.</p>



<p>And just before, while in the toilet (where many important observations are made), I realised that the trip was about just that. It was about using Google maps knowing that it would take us down many bumpy, dusty (and wrong) roads, and seeing it as an adventure instead.</p>



<p>The trip was about asking:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>What could I be if there was a little less noise, a little more effort?</p>
</blockquote>



<p>And I realised, I&#8217;m actually doing it already.</p>



<p>So, to the question of how would I change my life if I moved to a farmhouse in Sicily, I would say:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>What&#8217;s wrong with the life I have already? What if I&#8217;m mostly happy with my input and my output? And I&#8217;m happy to be living it somewhere else for a while, maybe forever.</p>
</blockquote>



<p>And if it&#8217;s not forever, that&#8217;s fine too.</p>



<p>I read so many self-improvement articles hoping that the <em>next one </em>will be the one that changes my life, that I actually stick to its suggestions.</p>



<p>But what if this flawed woman is the best version of me I&#8217;ll ever be? Then I wonder, should I be disappointed or relieved?</p>
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		<title>23 Days, Boredom and 60s Italian Pop Music</title>
		<link>https://www.jovraca.com/2023/03/06/23-days-boredom-and-60s-italian-pop-music/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=23-days-boredom-and-60s-italian-pop-music</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[jovraca]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 06 Mar 2023 12:48:51 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[AI - Dall-e]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reading]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sicily 2023]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[anxiety]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[overthinking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[travel]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.jovraca.com/?p=2571</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[“Italy without Sicily leaves no image in the spirit. It is in Sicily that the key to everything is found. The purity of the contours, the softness of everything, the yielding interchangeability of the colours, the harmonic unity of the sky with the sea and the sea with the earth… Those who have seen them [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<blockquote><p>“<em>Italy without Sicily leaves no image in the spirit. It is in Sicily that the key to everything is found. The purity of the contours, the softness of everything, the yielding interchangeability of the colours, the harmonic unity of the sky with the sea and the sea with the earth… Those who have seen them only once will possess them for a lifetime.</em>” <b>Johann Wolfgang von Goethe</b></p></blockquote>
<p>Jesus Christ, that&#8217;s quite a number when it&#8217;s laid out like that. 23. In 23 days, I&#8217;ll be on a plane to Catania, with some movies, food, and a pair of slippers.</p>
<p>Anxiety about the trip has been on high alert. I&#8217;m worrying about money, the heat, what clothes and shoes to take, the business, my 16-year-old deaf and half blind pup, (possible) dodgy internet, driving on the other side of the road, that my family will hate me after two weeks, and just about everything. Oh, and boredom.</p>
<p>Yes, boredom.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m a little embarrassed to admit it, but Fear of Boredom has been a recurring theme. Because when it gets hold of me, no suggestion, zero, will pull me out of that funk.</p>
<p>Ennui is rich in my life. Super rich. Like, J. K. Rowling rich. It weaves a thread through every encounter, every thought, every desire, every dream, and every fear. I fear boredom almost as much as I fear making the wrong decision.</p>
<p>My dad, on the other hand, has harnessed life in a way that no other 85 year-old I&#8217;ve ever come across has harnessed life. Actually, that&#8217;s a lie. My dad, his dad, his grandmother. They&#8217;re tireless. Farmers and traders, black marketeers after the war. Dad doesn&#8217;t tire &#8211; I see him through the window right now, watering my garden, removing dead shrubs, telling me I should pick my pears (I have a pear tree?). Rain tank water drips limply from a soft green hose onto plants and lawn made brittle by the Australian Summer. He doesn&#8217;t fight boredom. He works, socialises, eats, and rests. He rests knowing he&#8217;s made a difference in someone&#8217;s life &#8211; mine, Jeff&#8217;s. He doesn&#8217;t get bored.</p>
<blockquote><p><span style="color: #bf04bf;">I got his curls and his temper, why didn&#8217;t I get his vigour?</span></p></blockquote>
<p>Of course, I didn’t emerge during a world war, didn’t leave school at nine to work. I didn’t join the local communist party as a teenager. It was a different time, and we are different people. I write, he ploughs.</p>
<p>Boredom is a killer though.</p>
<blockquote><p><span style="color: #bf04bf;">Boredom and overthinking.</span></p></blockquote>
<p>That saying that “only boring people get bored” couldn’t be further from any truth. I’m mostly super interesting! But I sure do get bored a lot. So yeah, I&#8217;m worried about down time. Do I read? Watch Netflix? Play guitar? Have we made the right (too late to change it now) decision.</p>
<blockquote><p><span style="color: #bf04bf;">See&#8230; Boredom and overthinking.</span></p>
<blockquote><p>Because boredom is stagnation is boredom. It&#8217;s the <span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">ouroboros of human existence and time. </span></span></p></blockquote>
<p><figure id="attachment_2584" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2584" style="width: 525px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouroboros"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="wp-image-2584 size-large" src="https://www.jovraca.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ouroboros--1024x1024.png" alt="" width="525" height="525" srcset="https://www.jovraca.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ouroboros--1024x1024.png 1024w, https://www.jovraca.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ouroboros--300x300.png 300w, https://www.jovraca.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ouroboros--150x150.png 150w, https://www.jovraca.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ouroboros--768x768.png 768w, https://www.jovraca.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ouroboros--100x100.png 100w, https://www.jovraca.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ouroboros-.png 1080w" sizes="(max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-2584" class="wp-caption-text">Ouroboros &#8211; Symbol of the snake eating its own tail</figcaption></figure></p></blockquote>
<p>And yet, I wouldn&#8217;t have it any other way. Jeff and I need a break. A different kind of break from last year&#8217;s. Not a holiday. Luckily, we structured our lives and our work for this reason, to be digital nomads (is that still a term?). And yeah, we need a break from our current scenery, to be challenged a little, to see wild peacocks and flamingos, to draw and write under the shadows of ancient Greek ruins. To really spend time with our Sicilian family and a different way of life. To slow our minds the fuck down. And those are very good reasons to do anything. To see what it&#8217;s like. To see what is possible with the hope that I&#8217;m not running away from anything.</p>
<blockquote><p><span style="color: #bf04bf;">I want to see what I&#8217;m capable of.*</span></p></blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<blockquote><p>Newsletters #amreading<br />
<a href="https://billyoppenheimer.com/march-5-2023/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Billie Oppenheimer</a>, in his latest newsletter, gives us famous examples of people with &#8220;art eyes&#8221;. Art Eyes help us see what&#8217;s right in front of us, a conversation overheard, a person&#8217;s appearance that would go well with a character you&#8217;re working on. When we wear our art eyes we also exercise our curiosity, as I like to call it.</p>
<p>#amlistening<br />
60s Italian Pop Music on Spotify<br />
I love 60s pop and psychedelic rock and folk. I&#8217;m equally in love with 60s Italian pop by Adriano Cellentano, Gianni Morandi, Mina, Raffaella Carra.</p>
<p>Enjoy!</p>
<p><iframe style="border-radius: 12px;" src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/5gZzC92HoqB2g6l0EGpEsd?utm_source=generator" width="100%" height="352" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p></blockquote>
<p><em>*(But also I feel like I&#8217;m putting too much pressure on the trip. As though if this doesn&#8217;t work, it&#8217;s time to give up trying because, obviously, I&#8217;ll simply never ever be happy.)</em></p>
<p><em>Photo: DALL·E generated oil pastel drawing depicting the ideas of boredom and overthinking</em></p>
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		<title>35 Days. I don&#8217;t want to jinx it.</title>
		<link>https://www.jovraca.com/2023/02/24/35-days-i-dont-want-to-jinx-it/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=35-days-i-dont-want-to-jinx-it</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[jovraca]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 24 Feb 2023 10:14:46 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[goals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sicily 2023]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.jovraca.com/?p=2495</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[But I am really starting to think, with 35 days to go, that our trip to Sicily is going to go one of two ways. I like to call this catastrophising* It&#8217;s black or white thinking. A neat but toxic hot mess of &#8220;what if&#8221; and &#8220;as if&#8221; and &#8220;there is no way&#8221;, and then [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>But I am really starting to think, with 35 days to go, that our trip to Sicily is going to go one of two ways.</p>



<ol class="wp-block-list">
<li>It will be a great reset for us both individually and as a couple. </li>



<li>It will be a disaster. We won&#8217;t learn anything new about each other, about life. We&#8217;ll be bored, hot and unhinged and I won&#8217;t learn how to use the wood oven. My family will find us annoying. </li>
</ol>



<p>I like to call this catastrophising*</p>



<p>It&#8217;s black or white thinking. A neat but toxic hot mess of &#8220;what if&#8221; and &#8220;as if&#8221; and &#8220;there is no way&#8221;, and then the sky will fall. Honest.</p>



<p>So I don&#8217;t plan. I don&#8217;t plan because of the disappointment of not sticking to plans. I still don&#8217;t know why we decided to go away again so soon. We&#8217;re fucking impetuous, that&#8217;s why.</p>



<p>* I did not invent this word, but I easily could have.</p>
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		<title>Numbers are not my thing</title>
		<link>https://www.jovraca.com/2023/02/18/numbers-are-not-my-thing/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=numbers-are-not-my-thing</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[jovraca]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 18 Feb 2023 10:28:17 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sicily 2023]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.jovraca.com/?p=2437</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[40 days If I&#8217;m counting down greedily now, will I suck them down just as greedily later?]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>40 days</p>



<p>If I&#8217;m counting down greedily now, will I suck them down just as greedily later?</p>
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		<title>64 Days &#8211; I have a big map</title>
		<link>https://www.jovraca.com/2023/01/26/64-days-i-have-a-big-map/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=64-days-i-have-a-big-map</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[jovraca]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 26 Jan 2023 09:09:28 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sicily 2023]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.jovraca.com/?p=2299</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[I bought a map. A very very big driving map of sicily. It is so big I had to take around four pieces of art off the wall for it. It would not be usable if you were driving (and wanted to experience the pre-google maps dark ages). We swear by Google Maps. It has [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>I bought a map. A very very big driving map of sicily.</p>



<p>It is so big I had to take around four pieces of art off the wall for it.</p>



<p>It would not be usable if you were driving (and wanted to experience the pre-google maps dark ages).</p>



<p>We swear by Google Maps. It has saved my marriage. We used to argue like rabid dogs about directions, and we had different styles. Jeff wants to ask people for directions. But I&#8217;m Sicilian, and I believe that everyone will give the wrong directions, especially officials. We should just work it out on our own. He wants to just start walking, even if we don&#8217;t know where to. I just want to work it out before we leave. I hate unnecessary sweat.</p>



<p>Another of Jeff&#8217;s map habits that drives me mental is when we order in food and all he is capable of doing for the next 30-60 minutes is looking at the map to see where the food is. And then he&#8217;ll announce:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>Rajan has picked up the food.</p>
</blockquote>



<p>The map has every single street, creek and laneway marked on the island. It might have been handy that time in Santa Maria when we got a little lost and ended up being bogged in sand. Google Maps did not work that day. But, as we know:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>The fucked up situations like these are what makes a rich life, and excellent stories to tell people.</p>
</blockquote>



<p>The map is really really big.</p>
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		<title>You&#8217;re the Voice</title>
		<link>https://www.jovraca.com/2023/01/17/youre-the-voice/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=youre-the-voice</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[jovraca]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:18:55 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Self Improvement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sicily 2023]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sicily]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.jovraca.com/?p=2260</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[72 Days I&#8217;ve been thinking over the last few days about conversation and knowledge. Because: I can&#8217;t have a creative smart conversion in Italian. I love a long, wanky conversation with other wankers. Topics such as who was ACDC&#8217;s best singer? Or why my father doesn&#8217;t believe in the word &#8220;mafia&#8221;. (Don&#8217;t ask, I still [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>72 Days</p>



<p>I&#8217;ve been thinking over the last few days about conversation and knowledge. </p>



<p>Because:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>I can&#8217;t have a creative smart conversion in Italian.</p>
</blockquote>



<p>I love a long, wanky conversation with other wankers. Topics such as who was ACDC&#8217;s best singer? Or why my father doesn&#8217;t believe in the word &#8220;mafia&#8221;. (Don&#8217;t ask, I still don&#8217;t understand this). But also about trees and colours and sounds and art and music and books and philosophy. And I love to go deep. But I don&#8217;t have a university level of Italian. I don&#8217;t have great language around all this.</p>



<p>And then I thought:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>This might be an opportunity.</p>
</blockquote>



<p>At first I was freaked out. I&#8217;ve actually been freaked out for a while. But then I realised: </p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>Maybe it&#8217;s just time for me to shut up and listen.</p>
</blockquote>



<p>PS. I worked from mum&#8217;s house yesterday to keep her company, and I brought my guitar to do some practice when I finished work. So I pull out the axe and lay down some fine old Italian tunes, and mum sings along.</p>



<p>Not long after, she says, &#8220;you&#8217;re not taking that with you to Italy, are you?&#8221; To which I say, &#8220;yes, I am.&#8221; And mum cries:</p>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">
<p>Oh my god you&#8217;re going to embarass us. People will talk.</p>
</blockquote>



<p>PPS. Ciao Gina Lollobrigida. What a joy you have been in the world.</p>
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		<title>Even if they judge</title>
		<link>https://www.jovraca.com/2023/01/15/even-if-they-judge/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=even-if-they-judge</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[jovraca]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 14 Jan 2023 13:52:50 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sicily 2023]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.jovraca.com/?p=2249</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[I was just thinking about my weight. About how embarassed I&#8217;ve been about it most of my life. Like when I met old friends in the village for the first time in decades. But then I realised, I don&#8217;t want to care about that shit anymore. This is a joyful moment, to be reunited with [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>I was just thinking about my weight. About how embarassed I&#8217;ve been about it most of my life.</p>



<p>Like when I met old friends in the village for the first time in decades.</p>



<p>But then I realised, I don&#8217;t want to care about that shit anymore. This is a joyful moment, to be reunited with people who meant so much to me. Even if they judge me, it doesn&#8217;t matter.</p>
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		<title>77 Days</title>
		<link>https://www.jovraca.com/2023/01/13/77-days/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=77-days</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[jovraca]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 13 Jan 2023 11:09:31 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sicily 2023]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sicily]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[travel]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.jovraca.com/?p=2210</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve started buying linen clothing to take to Sicily. In my head I am an archaeologist in Egypt, walking around a tel in the desert, a beige pitch hat shooing away flies. I&#8217;m elegant a little dusty, a tad sweaty. But I don&#8217;t look like that woman. And yet, I learned from the last visit [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[
<p>I&#8217;ve started buying linen clothing to take to Sicily. In my head I am an archaeologist in Egypt, walking around a tel in the desert, a beige pitch hat shooing away flies. I&#8217;m elegant a little dusty, a tad sweaty. </p>



<p>But I don&#8217;t look like that woman.</p>



<p>And yet, I learned from the last visit that synthetic materials are a no. Not at all. Nada. Niente. Rien.</p>



<p>Naturally I won&#8217;t wear light colours due to my affliction.*</p>



<p>*Within seconds of sipping or taking a bite, I will inevitably stain it. This observation is 100% accurate and true.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" width="400" height="278" src="https://www.jovraca.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/hilda1935298859787203020.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-2216" srcset="https://www.jovraca.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/hilda1935298859787203020.jpg 400w, https://www.jovraca.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/hilda1935298859787203020-300x209.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Hilda Urlin, archeological artist.</figcaption></figure>
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		<title>Why don&#8217;t they use sofas in Sicily?</title>
		<link>https://www.jovraca.com/2023/01/10/why-dont-they-use-sofas-in-sicily/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=why-dont-they-use-sofas-in-sicily</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[jovraca]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 10 Jan 2023 04:44:20 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sicily 2023]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sicily]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[travel]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.jovraca.com/?p=2184</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[80 Days My folks have a formal lounge room that is never used. No, there&#8217;s no plastic covering, I think that&#8217;s an American-Italian thing, but it&#8217;s pristine. Some days, when it&#8217;s super hot, mum will suggest we sit in there. The sofa suite is beige leather and is super soft and definitely melt-in-able. But I [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>80 Days</p>
<p>My folks have a formal lounge room that is never used. No, there&#8217;s no plastic covering, I think that&#8217;s an American-Italian thing, but it&#8217;s pristine. Some days, when it&#8217;s super hot, mum will suggest we sit in there. The sofa suite is beige leather and is super soft and definitely melt-in-able. But I honestly don&#8217;t remember the last time it was used.</p>
<p>At my aunt&#8217;s place in Sicily, there is no sofa. At another aunt&#8217;s place, this one, in the formal dining room, and I&#8217;ve never used it.</p>
<p>We&#8217;re sofa people. We host friends at the lounge on the sofa, we eat dinner on the sofa, unless my parents are over, we read at the sofa, watch tele, scroll.</p>
<p>The house we&#8217;re staying in when we&#8217;re in Sicily is unlikely to have a sofa, so I&#8217;ve started investigating where to buy one second hand. And that&#8217;s the other thing, I don&#8217;t think that people in small villages on small islands go for secondhand.</p>
<p>And, really, that&#8217;s what this is all about. Differences that could make things challenging, but also differences that will act as a circuit breaker of sorts. Sure, there are Amazon Prime delivery trucks in Sicily (we saw them everywhere), but there&#8217;s no Uber (nor Uber Eats). Maybe Sicilians don&#8217;t order in?</p>
<p>But about the sofa&#8230; At mum&#8217;s, we sit around the kitchen table. In fact, I remember always sitting around the kitchen table when we visited friends and family, and when they visit us. We drag chairs into the kitchen to fit everyone, even if the lounge room is roomier. This is where we catch up, gossip, shoot the breeze, talk politics, unions, argue, drink coffee and apéritifs, and eat. We would also cut fabric at the kitchen table, shell broad beans, prepared meals, read and study, sit and ponder, make sausage, celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. It&#8217;s where we share sad news.</p>
<p><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-2189" src="https://www.jovraca.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Italian-family.jpeg" alt="" width="700" height="438" srcset="https://www.jovraca.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Italian-family.jpeg 1400w, https://www.jovraca.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Italian-family-300x188.jpeg 300w, https://www.jovraca.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Italian-family-1024x641.jpeg 1024w, https://www.jovraca.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Italian-family-768x481.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>At the table, we can see everyone, look them in the eyes. There&#8217;s no hiding. You can have a group conversation or multiple. Everyone&#8217;s welcome.</p>
<p>We don&#8217;t have a kitchen table at home. We have a dining table and lounge in the open plan eating, cooking, lounging room. I miss the communal space. But I still want a lounge for the months we&#8217;re over in Sicily!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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