Barrack's Bash, EtnaLand, & SCUBA #5

Fri. June 23 - CeCe and I have been working towards creating a "field day" for the guys who live in the Barrack's to get them out and have some fun after work. We planned the event for today at 4pm so the sailors could come and hang out all night and eat some BBQ when they got off work. Before I got to work, I went and got 3 coolers from ITT and brought them over to Take 5 to fill with ice and soda/water for this afternoon. It's been averaging over 100* all week, so we wanted to make sure there were plenty of cold drinks. For the event (much like the Armed Forces Challenge last week), we had planned a Gladiator Jousting competition, a Dunk Tank with Chiefs from random commands, Melon Bowling, Kickball, Sand Volleyball, and a Hot Dog Eating Contest. CeCe and I made 100 hot dogs in the crock pots for the competition and they steamed all afternoon. I went and got all the other meat out of the freezer to start thawing out for 3:30. I was going to BBQ for the day, so I needed to start that around 3:30pm to make sure it was done by the time everyone started to show up. At the beginning of the week, I made and hung up flyers for the day so we could hopefully get some participation. It's so hard to get these guys to do anything as a group, even with free food and drinks. Four oclock came around and no one was showing up. We didn't realize that the base softball team would be practicing today (tournament in Naples this weekend) so that eliminated our kickball game we were going to have. Throughout the day, barely anyone showed up so a few of us just played around on the jousting thing, I sat in the dunk tank for awhile, and ate some BBQ. It was disappointing, but not surprising. We didnt even get most of the games or eating contest out since no one was there. 7pm came pretty slow, but I just ended up watching the base team play some softball, cleaned up, and then headed home. Joe and I were going to go see X-Men 3, but we ended up getting a little sidetracked. Before the movie, we were gonna go have a drink with some friends over at Days Inn, but the Air Force guys that live in my set of barracks were outside playing beer pong and BBQing so they invited us over to the pavilion. I have met a few of them informally a few times before, but this was the first time I was actually introduced to them. There were about 12 of them playing and switching off, so it was pretty fun. They made Joe and I play the winners and we ended up winning ourselves and having to play another round. By this time, we were too late to go over to Days Inn and about to miss the movie, so we decided to just continue to play for a little longer. We eventually lost and said our thanks and goodbyes and headed over to the bar to hang out with some friends for a little bit. It was fun, but I couldn't stay out too late because I had to escort the Take 5 trip to EtnaLand Waterpark the next morning.

Sat. June 24 - Today was my trip to EtnaLand Waterpark that I escorted and drove for. This was my first time driving the 15-pax vans with people in them, so I was a little nervous. I was mainly nervous for the fact that I had to drive a stick up Motta Road. The hill in Motta is almost a 75* slope and if I was gonna get stopped on it, I would be so nervous about rolling backwards. I got to Take 5 and 9 people ended up coming along. Travis, Smitty, Joe, and I shared a cooler and brought some sodas and water along for the day. Only 1 or 2 of them had ever been there before, so I really didn't know how to get here. Surprisingly, no one even at ITT really knows how to get there since its pretty new. We left the entrance of Take 5 at 9:45am and didn't arrive to EntaLand until almost 10:30am. I got kinda lost in a city called Paterno, but it was funny and entertaining to the people in the van. Smitty and Joe were making so much fun of me driving that van, but I did really good driving it. I'm getting really good at driving a stick since I drive one to and from work everyday. We finally arrived and paid our entrance fees of 17.50 Euro per person plus 2 Euro for a lounge chair. It wasn't a bad price for an all day waterpark. The layout and design of the park was a lot more impressive than I would have ever imagined for anything here in Sicily. The slides were absolutely crazy and would have never passed safety regualtions in the US. It was so fun, we rode the slides all day long and ate some pizza for lunch at this really good pizzeria they had there. After lunch, we all decided to ride the Lazy River, but it ended up being not very "lazy." We were knocking each other off the tubes the entire time and messing with the Italians. It was fun, but obnoxious. I had planned to leave around 5pm and everyone was at the exit on time and we headed back to base. This time, I didn't get lost. It was so much easier to get there than any of us imagined, so now we all know how to get there a lot quicker.

Smitty Wayne, Travis, Joe, & Annie @ EtnaLand's entrance

Wave Pool and hilarious Italian's entertainment zone

Travis and Smitty flying off the slide

After we got to base, I had to drive myself and the van back over to NAS I. I went and bought some groceries so I could cook dinner and have some food for the weekend. I got back to my room and took a shower. I didn't even get sunburnt today! Thats a shocker. After my shower, I headed up to Joes room to upload all my pics onto his computer and cook some dinner. I made chicken, pasta, and spinach. It was nice to eat a real meal cuz it's been awhile since I've actually sat down and cooked something. We had just gotten done with dinner when all the ITT drunks called us from JOX. They had a paintball tournament all weekend, so they have been at JOX all evening celebrating the success of the tourney. There were teams from Rota, Spain, Germany, and northern Italy here for the European Paintball Tournament that Leslie and Leah set up along with our Sigonella Paintball Association. They called my cell phone and begged us to come hang out at JOX for the rest of the night. I wasn't really in the mood to even move (I was freakin tired from today), but they kept calling me and bribing us to get over there. I caved in and grabbed the Forino (my MWR vehicle that I drive all the time) and headed back over to NASII. I didn't even have a chance to relax or gain some strength back. I drove over there and stayed for a few hours. I danced with all the girls and hung out with some friends until I was just completely bored outta my mind and wanted to go home and get some sleep for tomorrow's dive. I had 2 beers, but since Sigonella has crazy DUI problems and breathalyzers, I wanted to be safe and just take the shuttle home since I drive a Government vehicle. It was quite funny to see all my bosses drunk, but I was so tired it was hard to be amuzed by them and too late to join in on the party. It was nice to get home and get some sleep, Chief was going to be there at 8am to pick us up.

Sun. June 25 - Today was my first dive as a certified open water SCUBA Diver. Chief Webber from the Flight Line Clinic (Joe's Chief) came and picked us up. It was going to be his first open water dive and Joe and I's 5th. He is currently taking the certification class and is really excited about diving. He is so cool, especially for a Chief. We drove to Aci Trezza and for the first time, was early to the dive shop. Tons of people were diving today, which I don't really like, but oh well. We loaded up our gear and headed to the boat dock. Since there were so many people today,we didn't get to dive for very long since it took sooooo long to get everyone ready for their dives. For most of the Americans, it was only their first or second dive, so all the dive instructors were busy with them. Joe and I ended up diving with Guiseppe and Chief came along. We dove 17 m for 33 minutes. The water conditions were great. It was clear, the water was calm, and the water temperature were perfect. It felt perfect in the wetsuit and all I wanted to do was go swimming. After our dive, Joe, Chief, and I did some flips into the water from the top of the boat. The water felt so good. Sylvie only made us pay 20 Euro since it was our first dive and we didn't get to dive very long today. My card didn't come in yet, but it should be here soon. She's hoping it comes in before I leave Sicily. We left around 1pm and headed back to Sig. Chief needed to do some grocery shopping at the Commissary, so we all went and grabbed some lunch and did some grocery shopping ourselves for a few things. I went home and ended up falling asleep for 3 hours. I set my alarm for only an hour, but you know how I like to sleep. I woke up and took a shower and started to pack some things up in my room. I did some last dishes and packed them into their original boxes so I could return them to James sometime soon. I cleaned up my kitchen and threw away some old things in my cabinets. It was very sad to pack boxes of clothes and souvenirs to send home. I talked to Crystal on the phone for over an hour, which helped cheer me up for going home eventhough I'd much rather stay here longer. After cleaning my room for a few hours, I went to Joe's to cook dinner again. It definitely helped wake me up a little. I watched a movie called "Tombstone" for the first time and played on Pirate's Internet for awhile. I don't want to leave in 11 days! This is starting to be very depressing.