We have three birthdays this week... the 29th was Katie's, the 30th (today) was Mike's, tomorrow is Halloween and Nov 1st is Michelle's!
Today was also a field-trip day. More on that to follow (hopefully I'll post tomorrow).
To celebrate everyone's birthdays all together, we went as a group (all 19 of us, plus Geoffrey and Yuria!) to Pantelis' for dinner and then headed to Vasilli' bar afterwards! He graciously let Leesa play her music again for a while but nearer to the end of the night, he put Greek music back on!
I now have a couple 1-minute videos of Geoffrey dancing for us... SO fun!
Then Yuria and Vasillis got up to show the rest of us how it was done... we quickly joined in and soon almost all of us were attempting to dance along with them! Seems like the traditional Greek thing to do is hold hands or link arms (over shoulders) and follow the person at the end of line until everyone is doing the same steps as they do something like a congo line around the room (or, if Vasillis is leading, right out the door into the patio part of the bar -- in the rain).
At one point (almost) everyone gave up. So Leesa took a video of Vasillis, Yuria and ME giving it a go. Highlight of my night!
Time for bed now -- we're going back tomorrow all dressed up for some more dancing!
Muchos love, friends!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Groggyness
My hair is red! Well, burgundy red and it looks “so natural” and “suits you so well” according to people around our apartment. Leesa did a fantastic job with it to! It took somewhere in the ballpark of about an hour and a half to do. Also, Shannon took play-by-play pictures of the whole thing which I haven't seen yet. :P We bought the dye (Loreal Excellence Creme 666, yes devil red) in Argastoli, Jerry had more business, and I also bought myself my birthday present to me; my new cute but can be dressed up dress! It’s like a light feeling navy blue suede fabric with cap sleeves, and it has this sheer fabric bunched up at the front to it’s empire waste, with a little bit of the same fabric on the bottom for a little flair. To put it lightly with regards to the length of the dress, it’s the least matronly dress I’ve ever owned, but it’s so fantastic. Me and Leesa also bought some makeup for our nymph halloween costumes! On Halloween we are having a huge birthday/halloween bash! It’s Katie’s birthday on the friday, then Mikes on the 30th and mine on the 1st, so we decided to celebrate them all in one night on the 31st. Whoo! Its gonna be big. Also on the Nov. 8 it’s me/Mikes name day and Leesa’s on the 5th. In Greece name days are HUGE, everyone come to your house and gives sweets and alcohol to celebrate...
Oh my gosh! I forgot to add yesterday that we found a coin in the mouth of the skull! It has a ram on one side, and an amphora on the other. I can't remember if i wrote that elsewhere…but I have and excuse…my mind is all muffled from clubbing in Argastoli until 5am *shifty eyes*
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Again Postponed
Today at the dig site, we completely revealed our tile burial, and took out the skull! It looks so very nice and level (which, admittedly doesn't always happen) with lots of rubble around the burial to prevent it from collapsing on itself or getting smushed by rock rockfall! But, we still do not get to take the tiles off. It's so tempting to just take one little piece off, look inside, and put it right back in place but alas, we cannot. *mumbles* Geoffrey said it could be done on Monday, but we still have to draw the thing, take the rubble out and then we can take off the tiles. Hopefully. For now, we are done our two whole days of work for the week and now have a three day weekend to prepare for our last four days of digging! It's going by so fast!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Olympic Sized Post
So apparently, I’m not very good at this whole blogging once a day thing. It has been about a week and half since I posted anything? Whoops!
Lets see now, last you heard we had found our small little Lekithos, the rim of our Wine Jar (Anacoui, Anaqoui, Anaqoi? I have no idea, and apparently I’m so far off that Google can’t even figure out what the heck I’m trying to say) and the possibility of a tile burial correct? Well...We took our our little Lekithos, our Wine Jar AND we most certainly have a tile burial that looks like it covers the whole body across the length of most of our trench! We waited so long! The only thing that was horrible about this was that it was on our one day of digging last week. -.- On monday Geoffrey and a few other people (ie. Mike, Brayden, Cassandra, Rebecca) had to go to Argastoli again to sort out more National Visa stuff. To explain, our trip is actually only 85 days because travelers can only stay in the Shengen region of the world (Greece and parts of the Middle East) for a max of 90 days; unless they have a Shengen Visa. Recently though, the rules changed. So the people who got the visa in Canada, to travel more afterwords, ended up being screwed and twisted into getting a National Visa and some without a choice because their 90 days would have ended before the field school had, resulting in them possibly paying £600 at customs. Completely ridiculous. Anyway they went, jumped through the bureaucratic hoops but more importantly cost us a day of digging because we can’t without Geoffrey. Then on tuesday it rained all day and we did pottery reading. Wednesday though, we got to take out our prizes! It was a little rushed because the Greek Archaeological society has a rule about leaving important artifacts uncovered because of the robbers in Greece, but we got it all out the little Lekithos completely intact and the Wine Jar with the rim a little broken up. To make the rushing worse, we only had the Wednesday day because it was supposed to rain again on Thursday (which it did) and then it was our long weekend, of which we only have two more days off, Monday and Tuesday. Hopefully on Wednesday we get to take the tiles off our burial and see what we have underneath! I should also mention that I can’t post pictures of our finds, no matter how “out of context” the pictures are (referring to: even if I had a picture of myself and our little Lekithos with no site in the background) I could still go to jail and Geoffrey could loose his license because they are unpublished. You can see them when I get home! I just can’t plaster them all over Blooger, Facebook or my picture site. Another silly rule (to be honest it’s not silly at all, I am just incredibly jealous) is that we can’t wash our pots some Greek archaeological conservator artifact person gets to. *mumbles low caliber profanitys* We did get to find out that both vessels are from the 5th century B.C. and that the mini Lekithos might have actually been used (for oil anointing) to re-bury a burial that was accidentally dug up to bury our tile burial! Crazyness! Ahhh, stratigraphy what would we do without the.
So that was October 14th but it wasn’t just that day that was particularly awesome, our overnight on the mainland we so so much fun! So the Saturday before our rainy week we got up early (6:30am to get the bus to be exact. Ugg.) to catch the ferry to Kilini, to drive for 2ish hours to our first stop: Olympia. For me, it was nothing really really exciting because I’ve been before and even though it almost burnt down it was still the same. Two things this time I did that I didn’t do before: first we did a bare foot, foot race in the stadium with (in order) Mike, Brayden, me, Simon, blonde Michelle, Chelsey (which I spelt wrong before and need to go fix. I sorry *puppy eyes*), Julie and Leesa. We didn’t run the whole thing, only half, because it was early and we were lazy. Afterwords we walked around town, dodging the sales people and taking pictures. Then we hopped on the bus to head to Pylos where we were going to stay the night. It was the cutest hotel! We were crammed in there like sardines, but it was so cute! Our room (we could pick our roommates and since there are rooms for three Leesa, Shannon and I shared one) was so tiny, it was two twin beds about two three feet away from each other and a third chair converted to a bed. The entire roof was slanted, just like home! I also mean the entire roof, including the bathroom which was a little odd. That night, after killing time and our eardrums from the wedding precession, we went to Geoffrey’s favorite restaurant in Pylos and had a fantastic dinner! Shannon and I had a fish fillet with roasted tomatoes and different spices, Leesa had lamb, and our table shared some octopus, stuffed tomatoes, beans, and domades. Me and Leesa didn’t stay long we were both pretty tired but the food was still fantastic. The next day after our “continental” breakfast we left our cute little hotel for Methoni Castle. It was only the most awesomeness, bestest, most coolest castle ever! To get the history out of the way, it’s a Venetian castle which was occupied by a variety of cultures ranging from Romans, Spartans, Turks, Greeks over a very long period of time. Why you ask? Because of it’s location of course, why else! It one of the most southern points on the coast of Greece! So it was valuable for trade and dominance all over the Mediterranean. The next land you would hit if you went south would be North Africa, I have pictures. It rocks. But even more cool was it’s size! It was massive, and almost completely intact! It had this huge lookout tower on the water, and you could walk on the walls and run around the huge field in the middle and there are little mini almost hobbit like houses. And along part of the wall, on the other side of the castle, was a part you could climb into and run down these dark little enclosures to circular lookouts! It was so cool! It was like Indiana Jones! But then we were running out of time and so we decided to run around the castle taking pictures, and apparently we looked like we were running like Aragorn (Leesa didn’t want to be Gimli) and Legolas from Lord of The Rings. You know! The part with the epic music when they are hopping over things and running after Merry and Pippen! It was the most awesome thing I have ever done. There was just too much awesome to describe it all, hopefully the pictures do it some justice. The rest of the day was petty in comparison. After we went to the Palace of Nestor, which was cool but for some reason I thought it was more reconstructed so I was a little disappointed by that. Right next to the Palace was a Mycenaean Tholos Tomb which was our last stop of the day besides of course the museum which housed the artifacts from these places. After a pit stop for food, we left for the 5 o’colck ferry back to Poros! Best field trip ever!
Now we are all up to date, except for our long weekend! On friday we went to Argastoli for shopping! Jerry, our friend and Greek local, needed to go there for business so he gave blonde Michelle, Leesa, Shannon and I a ride. It’s about an hour and a half drive of windy roads, precarious corners and spectacular views. Our first, and most important stop, was at the Kefalonia “Animal Rescue” or to be more accurate: an old retiring couple with 40 some odd cats and who knows how many dogs. A few days after Rio died, we (as in blond Michelle on her run) found a 4-6 week old Kitten which we fittingly named Ozzy, because she wouldn't stop singing/meowing. Since we are not allowed to keep pets in our rooms and there was no way we could put her back on the street, we decided to give her to the “shelter”. The British woman there was unexcited about Ozzy, and took a bit of convincing to accept her, and accepted Ozzy only because she was in a rush and had to get to work. We are hopefully going to collect some money for her (another one of her complaints, but it is understandable I suppose) and send it to her before we leave as thanks for taking our cute kitty. Also if your wondering, I want a kitty for christmas, or welcome home present, which ever. Now for the shopping! Leesa bought an über fantastico pair of leather boots, a going out shirt AND a sexy leather vest. Technically, I didn’t spend more than £20...the boots I bought were a present from Brandon for my birthday...*cough* £120 *cough*. They are so nice though! They go up to my upper calf, have heels, are suede, and have these fashionable bows on the side! As soon as a saw them, I knew it was true love. Laying there in the window of the store, second shelf, almost hidden in the back daring me to try them on. It was magical.
On Saturday I stayed in a cleaned my room/kitchen and did laundry because I had been putting it off for a long long time. Very satisfying, I finally have a table to eat upon! Huzzah! And clean clothes, without fabric softener but I think I can survive with crunchy cloths a little while longer since I have no dryer. But Shannon and Leesa went to this oldest church in Poros! Apparently it was about a 2 hour hike to the top of the mountain, where they were greeted by the doctor of the abbot and a strange horny albanian man who, long story short, now has the common room phone number. Gross. That night there was much Angel watching, as per usual. Then on Sunday was our super spectacular food-o-rama. First we made a delicious breakfast, the making of which was spread over two floors and three rooms. I made the banana pancakes in Shannon’s room, Leesa cooked the bacon in my room, Shannon also made fried eggs in my room and after we all ate in Leesa’s room! Reasons for this? Leesa only has one element and no stove. Technically, me and Shannon also only have one element (both of our medium elements work intermittently) but we have ovens to keep stuff warm. It was a complete success, the pancakes could have used a bit more flour and baking powder but they were nummy with jam! We pretty much just watched Angel and saved Leesa’s laundry from the rain for the rest of the day. For dinner that night Shannon made a delicious fish dish with baked potatoes, corn and lots of Lemon! It was so good! For desert that night, during our sleepover in Shannon’s room, I made Wild Berry Cheese cake! It was only £5 and some change for the readymade little packages of cheesecakey goodness! In satchel number one, simply add butter to made it crumbly and spread on provided pan. In satchel number 72 (!?! no idea why) add milk and “whip” or in our case mix with a fork till we got tired. Lastly the Wild Berry Jelly, in satchel number 21 I think, spread heavily on top. Let cool for at least 30 mins and enjoy! Besides the fact that Shannon stole the covers and shoved me into the corner of the bed during our Angel-athon (only two episodes, amateurs! :P) it was such fun!
On the monday, Jerry took us to St. Gerasimos’ Church, it was spectacular. Saint Gerasimos holiday was that night/morning so it was so busy! The first thing we did was go to the older church where they keep the remains of St. Gerasimos. To be precise, he prayed in an underground cave beneath the church, which to get to you must take a ladder down a tiny hole to a triangular shaped, very hot, cave thing, then there is a small hole in the wall down to the right which you crawl through to the exact spot where he prayed for forty some odd years. The holiday, represented in the movie Captain Correli’s Mandolin, is for those who are mentally ill so they may be cured by the power of God. The sick would lay down along the road of the church and be blessed by St. Gerasimos (in the past, now just his remains). After we shopped around the equivalent of the Richmond night market beside the Church, we headed to Argastoli for a late dinner and to see the town at night! It was really nice! All the cities in Kefalonia have a main square, not like robson in Vancouver, but an actual open area surrounded by a road where all the cafés around it have chairs set up, nicely decorated with trees and usually have a very handy kiosk for snacks.
The last day of our long weekend was quite relaxing. We finally, kinda, sorta, almost, but were just actually really really desperate, got to go to the beach again! To put it in perspective, I haven't worn shorts in days, a good portion of the time I wore my tuque and it was raining sporadically all weekend. Poo Poo. BUT we did try very hard to stay as long as possible. I read a whole chapter of Breaking Dawn, hooray -.-. That night Leesa finally got to make her super special spaghetti, and it was so tasty. It was also specifically requested by the creator herself that I do not reveal it’s genius creation to the world. Thats just how good it was. Too bad for you! And then, there was more Angel. Oh! Also we watched 10 Things I Hate About You because Jerry downloaded it for us. There was much teen drama and Heath Ledger missing, it was fantastic.
Every time I try to post this blog, I never get to finish (I’m at 2,456 words now) and post this damn thing! So quick, today we had a good dig day because we finally got to dig around our burial! To sum up, our very confusing burial is now confirmed that it was two. It was confirmed, by the skull Shannon found today, that we do indeed have an original burial which was pushed aside! Our tile burial also has a random pipe at the end...Improvising? Or on purpose, we will possibly never know. But it’s super cool!
Looking Ahead...
We now interrupt this program for... more personal news! This is a little off-topic (on-topic being anything about the field-school-in-Greece portion of this trip)...
But I just purchased my ferry ticket from Patras (near Athens) to Venice, Italy!!! Woohoo!
For €39,20 (they use commas instead of periods here) I'm leaving on a boat from Greece at 11:59pm on the 29th of November and arriving in Venice at 7:30am on the 1st of Dec.
For those of you who don't like math - that's 31 hours on a boat. But it's cheap. And they'll take me AND my luggage. *grin*
My plan, right now, is to head right to the train station in Venice where I can store my luggage for the day for less than €10 and then wander the city (ride in a Gondola!) until I leave on the train that night at 11:30pm! The train will take me to Rome where I'll arrive just before 7am, drop my luggage off at a hostel (I've found a couple that look promising) and then start wandering THAT city until I can't keep my eyes open anymore.
I fly out of Rome on Dec 6.
SO. I have a LONG ferry ride... followed by one day in Venice and four days in Rome!
I'm still excited to be in Greece. I'm also excited, however, about that wee bit of independent travel when this field school is over!
Any suggestions for absolute MUST SEE sights, sounds or experiences in Venice? Rome?
And as far as news about the HERE AND NOW...
We uncovered all of our burial today!! The whole body is covered with roof tiles/piping. We've already taken out two super-cool pieces of pottery (whole items! They're called "small finds" instead of sherds!)
Anyway. While digging around the burial itself, I also accidentally found a skull. We'd been finding lots of bone fragments and were thinking that our tile burial was a secondary burial (the bones we were finding were likely pushed aside to make room for this new one) aaand the crushed up skull I found pretty much confirms this hypothesis. Fun times!
Tomorrow we're hoping to get it ready to actually take off the tiles and start excavating the body and whatever is buried with it underneath the tiles! It's all very weird!!! And cool!!!
K. Gotta run. The girls are waiting for me. Apparently the Internet is only working for my laptop. Good for me, not good for them. Muchos love friends!
Σας αγαπώ μου φίλοι! (pronounced: Sass A-gap-oh phil-oi! Μeaning: I love you my friends!)
But I just purchased my ferry ticket from Patras (near Athens) to Venice, Italy!!! Woohoo!
For €39,20 (they use commas instead of periods here) I'm leaving on a boat from Greece at 11:59pm on the 29th of November and arriving in Venice at 7:30am on the 1st of Dec.
For those of you who don't like math - that's 31 hours on a boat. But it's cheap. And they'll take me AND my luggage. *grin*
My plan, right now, is to head right to the train station in Venice where I can store my luggage for the day for less than €10 and then wander the city (ride in a Gondola!) until I leave on the train that night at 11:30pm! The train will take me to Rome where I'll arrive just before 7am, drop my luggage off at a hostel (I've found a couple that look promising) and then start wandering THAT city until I can't keep my eyes open anymore.
I fly out of Rome on Dec 6.
SO. I have a LONG ferry ride... followed by one day in Venice and four days in Rome!
I'm still excited to be in Greece. I'm also excited, however, about that wee bit of independent travel when this field school is over!
Any suggestions for absolute MUST SEE sights, sounds or experiences in Venice? Rome?
And as far as news about the HERE AND NOW...
We uncovered all of our burial today!! The whole body is covered with roof tiles/piping. We've already taken out two super-cool pieces of pottery (whole items! They're called "small finds" instead of sherds!)
Anyway. While digging around the burial itself, I also accidentally found a skull. We'd been finding lots of bone fragments and were thinking that our tile burial was a secondary burial (the bones we were finding were likely pushed aside to make room for this new one) aaand the crushed up skull I found pretty much confirms this hypothesis. Fun times!
Tomorrow we're hoping to get it ready to actually take off the tiles and start excavating the body and whatever is buried with it underneath the tiles! It's all very weird!!! And cool!!!
K. Gotta run. The girls are waiting for me. Apparently the Internet is only working for my laptop. Good for me, not good for them. Muchos love friends!
Σας αγαπώ μου φίλοι! (pronounced: Sass A-gap-oh phil-oi! Μeaning: I love you my friends!)
Friday, October 16, 2009
perfect.
today. today was perfect.
we got up and met Gerry (one of the locals here -- he grew up in Australia and so is fluent in English as well as Greek) at 9am and he took us (us = Michelle S, Leesa, myself and Michelle P) to Argostoli for a day of exploring and shopping! It was supposed to be crappy weather today, but it was actually quite warm (20-ish) and sunny!
I think I've finally finished souvenir hunting for my family. Now all I really have left to get is something(s) for Brian and a few small things for friends. Hurray!!
On our way to Argostoli, we stopped at the animal shelter to drop off the kitten that Michelle P found on the side of the road a few days ago. We've been feeding it and letting it sleep in our apartments (and we gave it a flea bath) but we're technically not allowed to have animals there SO we had to get rid of it. The lady at the "shelter" (which is actually just the home of a friendly, aging British couple) didn't want to take the kitten because they already have too many animals and they're trying to retire buuut we didn't have any other options so they took it after all. Whew.
On our way HOME from Argostoli (well, still there -- but just before we left) we stopped at the GROCERY STORE. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to find food at reasonable prices. It was like heaven. Only... Heaven will probably smell better. And be less crowded.
ANYWAY. So I'm all stocked up now and I'm pretty sure I won't have to buy anything other than fruit, vegetables and milk (and maybe eggs) again between now and when we wrap up at the end of November!
Once Gerry dropped us off at home and I put away my groceries and started a load of laundry, I decided to head to town to use the Internet at Pantelis. I'm SO sad that he's closing up the restaurant in like TWO weeks (end of Oct/start of Nov). This is my favourite place in Poros! For one thing, the Internet actually works. For another thing -- the view is just so wonderful. I can see the sunset over the ocean from here but I can be sheltered from the wind and rain if it's cold or sit out in the sun if it's not! Also -- Pantelis and his mom are just the most wonderful people!!!
Yesterday he gave Michelle, Leesa and I free waffles and ice cream (we'd been there just for ice cream cones but he convinced us to stay -- as I believe I posted yesterday). Today, I showed up on my own and he offered me fish (instead of the Greek salad I'd asked for -- I stuck with the salad because I'd been craving it all day!) and brownies (or "broenies") with ice cream! Maybe it's a good thing he's closing up soon or I think I'd gain like 60 lbs!
His mom came over after I'd started in on the salad and presented me with a gift!! I was so surprised! She gave me a beautiful woven "Kefalonia" bookmark... so sweet! Then she brought over the photo album from Pantelis' wedding (his wife is beautiful -- her name is Thalia) and they went through it with me pointing out all the places on the island where the wedding and reception had taken place, as well as who all the cousins were "this is my cousin, this is my other cousin, these are my second cousins..." etc. Remember the movie, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"? Yea. Like that.
Basically... I think I'm going to have to come here every single day from now until they close because I'll have a WHOLE MONTH without them after that.
This place has TOTALLY made this trip for me. It's like... it's where I get to "mingle" with the locals and get a bit more of a feeling for what life is like in this little town on this little island. I wish language could convey... but it can't. It's perfect though. Maybe THIS is why I love small towns. I love connecting with people.
I keep remembering back to when my dad used to bring us to a truck stop between Caledonia and Hamilton that was run by a cheerful Greek woman, Helen. I think of her and that restaurant a lot while I'm here because she ran her restaurant a lot like Pantelis runs his. We went there all the time and when he put together some new menus for her, she took us all out for dinner at a fancy Greek restaurant as a thank-you!
Oh, and as I'm typing, Pantelis mom came over to have me try ANOTHER dish that SHE made. It's crushed grapes with flour, honey, and cinnamon. Kind of like a tart, thick pudding -- yum.
we got up and met Gerry (one of the locals here -- he grew up in Australia and so is fluent in English as well as Greek) at 9am and he took us (us = Michelle S, Leesa, myself and Michelle P) to Argostoli for a day of exploring and shopping! It was supposed to be crappy weather today, but it was actually quite warm (20-ish) and sunny!
I think I've finally finished souvenir hunting for my family. Now all I really have left to get is something(s) for Brian and a few small things for friends. Hurray!!
On our way to Argostoli, we stopped at the animal shelter to drop off the kitten that Michelle P found on the side of the road a few days ago. We've been feeding it and letting it sleep in our apartments (and we gave it a flea bath) but we're technically not allowed to have animals there SO we had to get rid of it. The lady at the "shelter" (which is actually just the home of a friendly, aging British couple) didn't want to take the kitten because they already have too many animals and they're trying to retire buuut we didn't have any other options so they took it after all. Whew.
On our way HOME from Argostoli (well, still there -- but just before we left) we stopped at the GROCERY STORE. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to find food at reasonable prices. It was like heaven. Only... Heaven will probably smell better. And be less crowded.
ANYWAY. So I'm all stocked up now and I'm pretty sure I won't have to buy anything other than fruit, vegetables and milk (and maybe eggs) again between now and when we wrap up at the end of November!
Once Gerry dropped us off at home and I put away my groceries and started a load of laundry, I decided to head to town to use the Internet at Pantelis. I'm SO sad that he's closing up the restaurant in like TWO weeks (end of Oct/start of Nov). This is my favourite place in Poros! For one thing, the Internet actually works. For another thing -- the view is just so wonderful. I can see the sunset over the ocean from here but I can be sheltered from the wind and rain if it's cold or sit out in the sun if it's not! Also -- Pantelis and his mom are just the most wonderful people!!!
Yesterday he gave Michelle, Leesa and I free waffles and ice cream (we'd been there just for ice cream cones but he convinced us to stay -- as I believe I posted yesterday). Today, I showed up on my own and he offered me fish (instead of the Greek salad I'd asked for -- I stuck with the salad because I'd been craving it all day!) and brownies (or "broenies") with ice cream! Maybe it's a good thing he's closing up soon or I think I'd gain like 60 lbs!
His mom came over after I'd started in on the salad and presented me with a gift!! I was so surprised! She gave me a beautiful woven "Kefalonia" bookmark... so sweet! Then she brought over the photo album from Pantelis' wedding (his wife is beautiful -- her name is Thalia) and they went through it with me pointing out all the places on the island where the wedding and reception had taken place, as well as who all the cousins were "this is my cousin, this is my other cousin, these are my second cousins..." etc. Remember the movie, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"? Yea. Like that.
Basically... I think I'm going to have to come here every single day from now until they close because I'll have a WHOLE MONTH without them after that.
This place has TOTALLY made this trip for me. It's like... it's where I get to "mingle" with the locals and get a bit more of a feeling for what life is like in this little town on this little island. I wish language could convey... but it can't. It's perfect though. Maybe THIS is why I love small towns. I love connecting with people.
I keep remembering back to when my dad used to bring us to a truck stop between Caledonia and Hamilton that was run by a cheerful Greek woman, Helen. I think of her and that restaurant a lot while I'm here because she ran her restaurant a lot like Pantelis runs his. We went there all the time and when he put together some new menus for her, she took us all out for dinner at a fancy Greek restaurant as a thank-you!
Oh, and as I'm typing, Pantelis mom came over to have me try ANOTHER dish that SHE made. It's crushed grapes with flour, honey, and cinnamon. Kind of like a tart, thick pudding -- yum.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
@ Pantelis. Again.
I love this place. There are no words.
We stopped by for ice cream while we were shopping at the tourist stores (which all have great sales right now because they're all closing this week) but Pantelis was out for a few minutes. When we came back he informed me that he'd remembered his login information for eBay and then signed up for PayPal (which I'd been encouraging him to do) and had already made another purchase. I found it particularly hilarious that he was SO excited about all of this.
ANYWAY. He then realized that we were there to buy ice cream and asked if we had time for waffles instead -- he apparently has lots of waffles right now and the weather changed (it's bad which means the restaurant is slow). And of course, bad weather means we DEFINITELY have the time.
Seriously. I wish I could find a place like this in Vancouver.
PS. The waffles (with whipping cream, chocolate sauce and two flavours of ice cream) were AMAZING. Or, as Pantelis pronounces it, "Mazing!"
We stopped by for ice cream while we were shopping at the tourist stores (which all have great sales right now because they're all closing this week) but Pantelis was out for a few minutes. When we came back he informed me that he'd remembered his login information for eBay and then signed up for PayPal (which I'd been encouraging him to do) and had already made another purchase. I found it particularly hilarious that he was SO excited about all of this.
ANYWAY. He then realized that we were there to buy ice cream and asked if we had time for waffles instead -- he apparently has lots of waffles right now and the weather changed (it's bad which means the restaurant is slow). And of course, bad weather means we DEFINITELY have the time.
Seriously. I wish I could find a place like this in Vancouver.
PS. The waffles (with whipping cream, chocolate sauce and two flavours of ice cream) were AMAZING. Or, as Pantelis pronounces it, "Mazing!"
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Apple Crisp = Success!
Also, Michelle's pasta and Leesa's potato salad and Simon's soup and Katie's shrimp and Michelle P's mashed potatoes and Brayden's gravy and Nela's cheese pie and Gail's Greek salad and Julie + Cat's wine and Neil's sangria and the cookies + Ferraro Rocher chocolates brought by a few others were ALL very tasty.
And we played Pictionary after dinner.
fun times... fun times.
And we played Pictionary after dinner.
fun times... fun times.
Thanksgiving!
Michelle, Leesa and I celebrated Thanksgiving last night (Monday) together at Panetlis' -- we had an interesting time trying to explain what kind of holiday it actually was... I think we at least got across the idea that you say thank-you a lot, you see your family, and you eat a lot of food.
It was a fabulous dinner -- I had the "Spesial in Oven" spaghetti that I've been meaning to try FOREVER and we all splurged for dessert. Pantelis suggested the "broenies" (brownies) because he had a whole bunch (and he closes up for the winter in just a couple of weeks! Nooooo!!) aaand so we had super-discounted brownies (€3 instead of €5.50!) with LOTS of ice cream. The man knows how to treat his most loyal customers ;)
I ended up staying a little longer after Michelle and Leesa left so that I could use the Internet to skype with Brian for a while... Just as I was finishing that up, however, it started to POUR rain!
It'd been raining most of the afternoon and since at that point we'd been in town getting groceries, I actually ended up walking back to our apartments in my bare feet (the roads were like rivers and I didn't to destroy my birkenstocks). That said, I was NOT looking forward to being soaked a second time in one day and even my jacket wouldn't be enough to keep my laptop protected with rain that hard.
Pantelis saw me looking at the rain and came over to convince me that I shouldn't leave until it calmed down for a bit. Instead, I helped him and his mom clear the candles off the tables and move the outside ones in and outside of the rain. A little while later, an American lady who'd been there visiting with Julia (Pantelis' mom), offered to give me a ride back so that I could avoid being drenched. Whew. Turns out, she and her husband live here for six months every year! They're heading back to the US on Nov 6.
ANYWAY.
Because of the rain, we didn't excavate this morning. We met at 1pm instead and began some cataloging work with the pottery we've already excavated. There is so much to learn!
After that was over, I went back to Pantelis to help him use eBay to purchase that Citizen diving watch he wanted to buy... I figured it'd be a lot of work setting up PayPal for him (he didn't really understand why he should use it, but the seller of the watch he wanted only took PayPal or cash on delivery...) AND he couldn't remember his own eBay login information (apparently he uses eBay usually to purchase otherwise expensive polo shirts) SO I offered to use my account to buy it for him.
He thought that was a great idea so that's what we did. Fun times.
He was giving me the euros (we calculated the conversion online) just as Geoffrey (prof) walked in... He was a little confused about why Pantelis was paying me instead of the other way around this time and found the situation hilarious when I explained.
Tonight we're celebrating Thanksgiving again as a big group -- we're not doing a traditional dinner (we have no access to turkeys or decent ovens) but we are doing a potluck! Woot!
I tried my hand at apple crisp... I'm hoping it turned out ok. I mean... It LOOKS ok. And if nothing else, my room smells incredible. But I've never made apple crisp before and the little ovens we have here don't have degrees... they just have the numbers 1-8 to indicate how hot it goes. I also didn't have any real measuring tools. I made do with a clear glass... at least the ingredients should be proportionally correct. Meh. Will give a final update after the real test -- EVERYONE.
Oh, speaking of dinner. I gotta run! It starts in 15 minutes...
Much love!
It was a fabulous dinner -- I had the "Spesial in Oven" spaghetti that I've been meaning to try FOREVER and we all splurged for dessert. Pantelis suggested the "broenies" (brownies) because he had a whole bunch (and he closes up for the winter in just a couple of weeks! Nooooo!!) aaand so we had super-discounted brownies (€3 instead of €5.50!) with LOTS of ice cream. The man knows how to treat his most loyal customers ;)
I ended up staying a little longer after Michelle and Leesa left so that I could use the Internet to skype with Brian for a while... Just as I was finishing that up, however, it started to POUR rain!
It'd been raining most of the afternoon and since at that point we'd been in town getting groceries, I actually ended up walking back to our apartments in my bare feet (the roads were like rivers and I didn't to destroy my birkenstocks). That said, I was NOT looking forward to being soaked a second time in one day and even my jacket wouldn't be enough to keep my laptop protected with rain that hard.
Pantelis saw me looking at the rain and came over to convince me that I shouldn't leave until it calmed down for a bit. Instead, I helped him and his mom clear the candles off the tables and move the outside ones in and outside of the rain. A little while later, an American lady who'd been there visiting with Julia (Pantelis' mom), offered to give me a ride back so that I could avoid being drenched. Whew. Turns out, she and her husband live here for six months every year! They're heading back to the US on Nov 6.
ANYWAY.
Because of the rain, we didn't excavate this morning. We met at 1pm instead and began some cataloging work with the pottery we've already excavated. There is so much to learn!
After that was over, I went back to Pantelis to help him use eBay to purchase that Citizen diving watch he wanted to buy... I figured it'd be a lot of work setting up PayPal for him (he didn't really understand why he should use it, but the seller of the watch he wanted only took PayPal or cash on delivery...) AND he couldn't remember his own eBay login information (apparently he uses eBay usually to purchase otherwise expensive polo shirts) SO I offered to use my account to buy it for him.
He thought that was a great idea so that's what we did. Fun times.
He was giving me the euros (we calculated the conversion online) just as Geoffrey (prof) walked in... He was a little confused about why Pantelis was paying me instead of the other way around this time and found the situation hilarious when I explained.
Tonight we're celebrating Thanksgiving again as a big group -- we're not doing a traditional dinner (we have no access to turkeys or decent ovens) but we are doing a potluck! Woot!
I tried my hand at apple crisp... I'm hoping it turned out ok. I mean... It LOOKS ok. And if nothing else, my room smells incredible. But I've never made apple crisp before and the little ovens we have here don't have degrees... they just have the numbers 1-8 to indicate how hot it goes. I also didn't have any real measuring tools. I made do with a clear glass... at least the ingredients should be proportionally correct. Meh. Will give a final update after the real test -- EVERYONE.
Oh, speaking of dinner. I gotta run! It starts in 15 minutes...
Much love!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Lovin' the Little Things...
There are so many small things that I love here...
At Pantelis'... They always have flowers on the table that they've cut from their own garden. They bring out fresh ones every day. Today, there were roses.
Pantelis (yes, the name of the owner is also the name of the restaurant) calls me "Sa-ron" because he tried about 6 times to pronounce "Shannon" the first time I told him my name (focusing on the "sh" part -- they don't have that sound in Greek) and the closest he got was "Sa-ron" and I didn't have the heart to correct him again for the "nn" part in the middle.
At the first grocery store, they always give me a free candy (or two, or three) before I leave.
They give out candy at the frozen foods store too -- today, the candy switched from a gummy kind, to the most incredible chocolate... In hindsight, I'm wishing that I'd gone once today for fish and then again tomorrow for frozen corn instead of buying it all at once. Sigh.
I love the way English words are spelled. Almost always wrong... but always sounded out correctly. Yesterday we passed a store on our way back from Pylos to Kefalonia that sold "casoual" clothes. Leesa's favourite dish at Pantelis' is the "Spesial in Oven" (spaghetti).
I love seeing goats being herded around the top of the mountain we dig on almost every morning just after 9am.
I think it's cute that I've been asked a bunch of times if I'm from England. And when people outside of Kefalonia find out we're from Vancouver, they always remind us that the Olympic torch will be lit here soon and on its way there for the 2010 Games! On Kefalonia (especially in Poros and the towns nearby), everyone who finds out we're from Vancouver immediately goes, "Ah! Study! Archaeology!" or something along those lines. They know who we are in any case.
In other news...
Pantelis asked me a week or two ago if I could help him buy something on eBay. Today he told me that he was ready -- he knows what he wants now: a "Citizen" watch for scuba diving! I had no idea that he was a diver!
I got all excited and explained that I like to dive as well and he immediately offered to give me (which I think means lend, not so much give) his wetsuit and equipment if I'd like to use it here. Apparently he's got everything you need! Sweet!!!!! Here's hoping that works out sometime... I brought my snorkeling stuff but diving would be more spectacular than I can express with words right now.
It's been rainy again today...
We didn't excavate today and probably won't tomorrow either because we can't work when its stormy outside (too dangerous at the top of a totally exposed mountain with a bunch of metallic equipment).
Michelle, Leesa and I went for lunch at Pantelis (hence the conversation re: diving watch and diving...) where his mother brought her parrot (Loreeto) down to whistle and kiss and laugh and cry and sing for us. So cute!
We then went and bought some groceries hoping to wrap it up before the rain really started. Didn't happen. So I took off my birkenstocks (it'd been dry and only a little cloudy when I left the apartments!) and walked the rest of the way home (through streets that had become like rivers and rain that came down in sheets) in bare feet. Lovin' the smooth marble. Definitely easier (less slippery) to walk on without shoes.
Then we watched some TV (Michelle has "Angel" dvds) and now... we're Interneting before dinner.
Whataday.
It was nice though. Relaxing. I feel refreshed. Though... Michelle has a pasta recipe book and I was flipping through it until I came upon a page with a recipe for homemade mac n cheese. I don't need a recipe -- I already know how to make it. Now, however, I don't think I'll be able to sleep until I do. At least now I don't have to waste time deciding what to make for dinner. Good thing I bought cheese today...
Oh! Another good thing. I keep trying different kinds (it's so cheap here -- much cheaper to buy deli-style cheese in chunks or slices that the pre-packaged stuff) but none of it has been especially wonderful as just regular cheese-cheese. Today, I told the guy that I missed my Canadian cheddar and/or mozzarella and he gave me some Gouda. Ah. Perfect. JUST what I've been looking for. And cheap too!!
All this talk of food is making me hungry. Time to go make dinner...
Much love friends! (πολύ αγάπη φίλους μου - pronounced "paul-y a-gap-y fil-ous moo")
At Pantelis'... They always have flowers on the table that they've cut from their own garden. They bring out fresh ones every day. Today, there were roses.
Pantelis (yes, the name of the owner is also the name of the restaurant) calls me "Sa-ron" because he tried about 6 times to pronounce "Shannon" the first time I told him my name (focusing on the "sh" part -- they don't have that sound in Greek) and the closest he got was "Sa-ron" and I didn't have the heart to correct him again for the "nn" part in the middle.
At the first grocery store, they always give me a free candy (or two, or three) before I leave.
They give out candy at the frozen foods store too -- today, the candy switched from a gummy kind, to the most incredible chocolate... In hindsight, I'm wishing that I'd gone once today for fish and then again tomorrow for frozen corn instead of buying it all at once. Sigh.
I love the way English words are spelled. Almost always wrong... but always sounded out correctly. Yesterday we passed a store on our way back from Pylos to Kefalonia that sold "casoual" clothes. Leesa's favourite dish at Pantelis' is the "Spesial in Oven" (spaghetti).
I love seeing goats being herded around the top of the mountain we dig on almost every morning just after 9am.
I think it's cute that I've been asked a bunch of times if I'm from England. And when people outside of Kefalonia find out we're from Vancouver, they always remind us that the Olympic torch will be lit here soon and on its way there for the 2010 Games! On Kefalonia (especially in Poros and the towns nearby), everyone who finds out we're from Vancouver immediately goes, "Ah! Study! Archaeology!" or something along those lines. They know who we are in any case.
In other news...
Pantelis asked me a week or two ago if I could help him buy something on eBay. Today he told me that he was ready -- he knows what he wants now: a "Citizen" watch for scuba diving! I had no idea that he was a diver!
I got all excited and explained that I like to dive as well and he immediately offered to give me (which I think means lend, not so much give) his wetsuit and equipment if I'd like to use it here. Apparently he's got everything you need! Sweet!!!!! Here's hoping that works out sometime... I brought my snorkeling stuff but diving would be more spectacular than I can express with words right now.
It's been rainy again today...
We didn't excavate today and probably won't tomorrow either because we can't work when its stormy outside (too dangerous at the top of a totally exposed mountain with a bunch of metallic equipment).
Michelle, Leesa and I went for lunch at Pantelis (hence the conversation re: diving watch and diving...) where his mother brought her parrot (Loreeto) down to whistle and kiss and laugh and cry and sing for us. So cute!
We then went and bought some groceries hoping to wrap it up before the rain really started. Didn't happen. So I took off my birkenstocks (it'd been dry and only a little cloudy when I left the apartments!) and walked the rest of the way home (through streets that had become like rivers and rain that came down in sheets) in bare feet. Lovin' the smooth marble. Definitely easier (less slippery) to walk on without shoes.
Then we watched some TV (Michelle has "Angel" dvds) and now... we're Interneting before dinner.
Whataday.
It was nice though. Relaxing. I feel refreshed. Though... Michelle has a pasta recipe book and I was flipping through it until I came upon a page with a recipe for homemade mac n cheese. I don't need a recipe -- I already know how to make it. Now, however, I don't think I'll be able to sleep until I do. At least now I don't have to waste time deciding what to make for dinner. Good thing I bought cheese today...
Oh! Another good thing. I keep trying different kinds (it's so cheap here -- much cheaper to buy deli-style cheese in chunks or slices that the pre-packaged stuff) but none of it has been especially wonderful as just regular cheese-cheese. Today, I told the guy that I missed my Canadian cheddar and/or mozzarella and he gave me some Gouda. Ah. Perfect. JUST what I've been looking for. And cheap too!!
All this talk of food is making me hungry. Time to go make dinner...
Much love friends! (πολύ αγάπη φίλους μου - pronounced "paul-y a-gap-y fil-ous moo")
Friday, October 9, 2009
Busy Weekends!
I have so much to write but so little energy left to write it!
We have a few busy (more-so than usual) weeks coming up... Tomorrow we're catching the ferry at 6:30am and heading to Olympia! We'll check out the actual archaeological site first and then have a lunch break (aka time to buy souvenirs) followed by a trip to the museum! I think... I'm really not all that excited about museums. Which is sad, really. They hold so much HISTORY. Somehow... I still find them mostly boring. Le sigh.
Anyway. Geoffrey's taking us out for dinner in Pylos, which is where we'll be sleeping (not at the restaurant -- in Pylos) aaand then on Sunday we're checking out the Palace of Nestor and another castle before heading back to Poros!
It's thanksgiving this weekend so on Tuesday (the only day that we don't have class or pottery washing in the late afternoon), we're all getting together for a potluck dinner to celebrate!
We're going to try (again) to have a BBQ on the site on Wednesday or Thursday afternoon and then Thursday when the dig is done... it's the start of our long-weekend/mid-term break! I'm not sure what I'm doing yet... A few of us were hoping to check out the island just south of us (Zakynthos) and it looked like it would work out PERFECTLY (and quite inexpensive!) but now we're not sure that the hotel (the only one in the town where we wanted to go) is even open in mid-October. They've got prices listed for October... but some of the other hotels on the island have prices listed for October as well and they've already closed. Bah!
Either way... at least it should be a relaxing weekend. The weather's supposed to remain hot and sunny from now 'til the end of the lunar month. The farmers here have told our prof that when a new weather front comes in on the same day as a new moon, the weather stays that way until the next one. So far their predictions have been correct! Hurrah!
Not too much else to write about for now...
The cat (Rio) that was kind of adopted by our group (some people actually paid to get some antibiotics for this cat because it had a respiratory infection) was hit by a car and died last night. We (Leesa, Michelle and I) found it last night on our way to dinner. Apparently they'd (Nela and Brayden) JUST given it its medication only 15-20 minutes before we found it. It was particularly hard on Leesa -- she'd actually been looking into the cost of bringing it back to Canada. Good thing that none of us actually saw it get hit. That would have been REALLY bad.
Anyway -- it kind of put a damper on the rest of the evening. We've still got Lola (a dog we've also sort of adopted) but now we're all scared that she'll get hit by a car too since all the animals here just wander all over the town (on the roads) all the time and it gets really busy when the ferries come in.
On a happier note... I made fish for dinner last night and it was INCREDIBLE!!! Seriously. I was surprised by how well it turned out. Shocked even. I used an egg and instant-potato mix to make a batter (I didn't have flour and the crackers I bought to use are actually really good crackers so I didn't want to waste them on batter...) and fried 'em up in olive oil with a little salt. Add a little lemon before digging in and and VOILA! Heaven on a plate.
Time to head out -- I want to enjoy what's left of the sunshine today before it sets! Will write more updates when we return from Olympia and Pylos!
We have a few busy (more-so than usual) weeks coming up... Tomorrow we're catching the ferry at 6:30am and heading to Olympia! We'll check out the actual archaeological site first and then have a lunch break (aka time to buy souvenirs) followed by a trip to the museum! I think... I'm really not all that excited about museums. Which is sad, really. They hold so much HISTORY. Somehow... I still find them mostly boring. Le sigh.
Anyway. Geoffrey's taking us out for dinner in Pylos, which is where we'll be sleeping (not at the restaurant -- in Pylos) aaand then on Sunday we're checking out the Palace of Nestor and another castle before heading back to Poros!
It's thanksgiving this weekend so on Tuesday (the only day that we don't have class or pottery washing in the late afternoon), we're all getting together for a potluck dinner to celebrate!
We're going to try (again) to have a BBQ on the site on Wednesday or Thursday afternoon and then Thursday when the dig is done... it's the start of our long-weekend/mid-term break! I'm not sure what I'm doing yet... A few of us were hoping to check out the island just south of us (Zakynthos) and it looked like it would work out PERFECTLY (and quite inexpensive!) but now we're not sure that the hotel (the only one in the town where we wanted to go) is even open in mid-October. They've got prices listed for October... but some of the other hotels on the island have prices listed for October as well and they've already closed. Bah!
Either way... at least it should be a relaxing weekend. The weather's supposed to remain hot and sunny from now 'til the end of the lunar month. The farmers here have told our prof that when a new weather front comes in on the same day as a new moon, the weather stays that way until the next one. So far their predictions have been correct! Hurrah!
Not too much else to write about for now...
The cat (Rio) that was kind of adopted by our group (some people actually paid to get some antibiotics for this cat because it had a respiratory infection) was hit by a car and died last night. We (Leesa, Michelle and I) found it last night on our way to dinner. Apparently they'd (Nela and Brayden) JUST given it its medication only 15-20 minutes before we found it. It was particularly hard on Leesa -- she'd actually been looking into the cost of bringing it back to Canada. Good thing that none of us actually saw it get hit. That would have been REALLY bad.
Anyway -- it kind of put a damper on the rest of the evening. We've still got Lola (a dog we've also sort of adopted) but now we're all scared that she'll get hit by a car too since all the animals here just wander all over the town (on the roads) all the time and it gets really busy when the ferries come in.
On a happier note... I made fish for dinner last night and it was INCREDIBLE!!! Seriously. I was surprised by how well it turned out. Shocked even. I used an egg and instant-potato mix to make a batter (I didn't have flour and the crackers I bought to use are actually really good crackers so I didn't want to waste them on batter...) and fried 'em up in olive oil with a little salt. Add a little lemon before digging in and and VOILA! Heaven on a plate.
Time to head out -- I want to enjoy what's left of the sunshine today before it sets! Will write more updates when we return from Olympia and Pylos!
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
What a stellar day! For the last little while in the dig site in our Trench VI.2 we found absolutely nothing major, nada, zip zilch. Diddly-squat I tell you! But that all changed today, after our persistent waiting, we found four fantastical things. First we found part of a rim of a bowl, cup thing (Geoffrey wasn’t sure, we weren’t allowed to take it out :( ). Then we found a chunk (“sherd” technically speaking) of pottery with what looks like a flower pattern on it (Attic from about 6th century B.C.). Just a few seconds after that, we FINALLY found the burial on the left section of our trench, and it was a roof tile burial! Not sure why that’s so significant yet, I suppose maybe because it’s the first of it’s kind at our site. Now for the creme de la creme, the mini Lekithos we found! (I should also clarify “we” stands for myself, Leesa, Shannon and Chelsea at this point. Also Leesa found the burial, Chelsea found the shard, I found the Lekithos and burried bowl/cup thing. Total luck though, of course) Oh it’s so tiny and we think mostly intact!! Geoffrey said it was probably part of the funerary rituals and was used for anointing the body with oil. It’s so cool looking! I can’t wait till tomorrow so we can hopefully dig them up, and then wash them on thursday! :D
I also realized that at this point I have failed to mention the animals which have grown as tentative pets to our group. First we have Rio our stray cat which we nursed back to health. The first time we saw him, he just cam strolling into our Greek class, wandered around as comfortable as can be, hopped on the tables looking for love. It was so cute. For a little while he stayed around the Herculean Building until one day he followed us home, and Nela (who worked in a vet) fed him and determined that he had an upper respiratory disease. After some humming and hawing a few people chipped in and bought him some antibiotics. And he is so much better, his eyes aren't gunky and gross anymore and he doesn't wheeze anymore! I think he is going to be a very loved cat by the end of the trip, he’s so cuddly! When we watch movies in the Herculean building he comes and cuddles with us, and now he sleeps in the common room on one of the comfy chairs. Our second pet’s name is Lola, not sure what kind of dog she is but she’s brown with a black patch on her back. She is just a puppy and is teething, so she tries to chew on most things, although I have now made it clear that she is not to chew on me. Except that now I'm pretty sure she doesn't like me very much.
Well thats that, I was going to post this yesterday with pictures but I can't get them off my camera with Shannon's memory card for some reason, so I'll have to edit that later on.
Now lets talk about today! We also found cool things today, we uncovered the rest of the burial and in part of the edge of where we are digging we found the rim of a wine jar! ttehehehe. It looks pretty intact to, but I don't want to get my hopes up in case it is broken except for the rim. Other than that we did a ton of waiting around so tomorrow we can hopefully take them out! I suppose for now, I can put some pictures up from the internet, I didn't take these and here's where they are from:
http://pottery.about.com/od/glazesurfaces/ig/Ancient-Greek-Pottery-Images/Oenochoe.htm
http://www.acropolart.fr/us/Archeologie_classique.html
And i'll take them off as soon as I have my own! :D
I also realized that at this point I have failed to mention the animals which have grown as tentative pets to our group. First we have Rio our stray cat which we nursed back to health. The first time we saw him, he just cam strolling into our Greek class, wandered around as comfortable as can be, hopped on the tables looking for love. It was so cute. For a little while he stayed around the Herculean Building until one day he followed us home, and Nela (who worked in a vet) fed him and determined that he had an upper respiratory disease. After some humming and hawing a few people chipped in and bought him some antibiotics. And he is so much better, his eyes aren't gunky and gross anymore and he doesn't wheeze anymore! I think he is going to be a very loved cat by the end of the trip, he’s so cuddly! When we watch movies in the Herculean building he comes and cuddles with us, and now he sleeps in the common room on one of the comfy chairs. Our second pet’s name is Lola, not sure what kind of dog she is but she’s brown with a black patch on her back. She is just a puppy and is teething, so she tries to chew on most things, although I have now made it clear that she is not to chew on me. Except that now I'm pretty sure she doesn't like me very much.
Well thats that, I was going to post this yesterday with pictures but I can't get them off my camera with Shannon's memory card for some reason, so I'll have to edit that later on.
Now lets talk about today! We also found cool things today, we uncovered the rest of the burial and in part of the edge of where we are digging we found the rim of a wine jar! ttehehehe. It looks pretty intact to, but I don't want to get my hopes up in case it is broken except for the rim. Other than that we did a ton of waiting around so tomorrow we can hopefully take them out! I suppose for now, I can put some pictures up from the internet, I didn't take these and here's where they are from:
http://pottery.about.com/od/glazesurfaces/ig/Ancient-Greek-Pottery-Images/Oenochoe.htm
http://www.acropolart.fr/us/Archeologie_classique.html
And i'll take them off as soon as I have my own! :D
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Ithaki and the Cute Old Man
We went on our (fourth?) field school on Friday... to Ithaki! Which, for a long time, has been considered the home of Homer's Odysseus. Apparently there are better arguments for Homer's Ithaca to actually have been in the area of Kefalonia where we're staying for the semester but much of the research has not yet been widely published.
Anyway.
It was a lot of driving around but the scenery was pretty spectacular and the towns we visited were are all very cute!
The highlight of my trip actually took place in Vathi, the capitol city on the island. Is has a population of about 2000 people which makes it big; the population of the entire island is roughly 3000.
Vathi itself was surrounded by sailboats and filled with all kinds of shops and things. I went into a small market at one point, though I can't remember what I went in looking for... I spent almost twenty minutes inside talking with the man who, I think, owned it! He was so cute! He asked if I was from England (I get that a lot here -- so weird!) and when I explained that I was from Canada, he responded with delight, "long time! long time! Toronto, Montreal, New York... long time!!" and ushered me over to this counter where he proceeded to show me about a dozen really old photos of a big ship and of he and his friends on that ship. It was so much fun -- he was so excited to show me the pictures! Especially when I picked one up of him when he was 17 and held it beside his face to take a comparison photo -- he was thrilled with the result and proceeded to try to explain in greater detail which areas of the ship the other photos were taken at. I think he was mostly just excited that I was interested in looking at his pictures with him.
Anyway. He grabbed my hands and said "Bravo! Bravo!" a bunch of times and kissed my cheeks to say goodbye when I left. Apparently when Neil went into the same market a few minutes later, the man was still pretty excited and started to tell him about this other Canadian girl who had just been in and looked at pictures with him... *grin*
And so it happens that the highlight of my trip has very little to do with where I was and everything to do with my experience of a cute old man who once spent years sailing all over the world and obviously loves telling people all about it. Beautiful!
Anyway.
It was a lot of driving around but the scenery was pretty spectacular and the towns we visited were are all very cute!
The highlight of my trip actually took place in Vathi, the capitol city on the island. Is has a population of about 2000 people which makes it big; the population of the entire island is roughly 3000.
Vathi itself was surrounded by sailboats and filled with all kinds of shops and things. I went into a small market at one point, though I can't remember what I went in looking for... I spent almost twenty minutes inside talking with the man who, I think, owned it! He was so cute! He asked if I was from England (I get that a lot here -- so weird!) and when I explained that I was from Canada, he responded with delight, "long time! long time! Toronto, Montreal, New York... long time!!" and ushered me over to this counter where he proceeded to show me about a dozen really old photos of a big ship and of he and his friends on that ship. It was so much fun -- he was so excited to show me the pictures! Especially when I picked one up of him when he was 17 and held it beside his face to take a comparison photo -- he was thrilled with the result and proceeded to try to explain in greater detail which areas of the ship the other photos were taken at. I think he was mostly just excited that I was interested in looking at his pictures with him.
Anyway. He grabbed my hands and said "Bravo! Bravo!" a bunch of times and kissed my cheeks to say goodbye when I left. Apparently when Neil went into the same market a few minutes later, the man was still pretty excited and started to tell him about this other Canadian girl who had just been in and looked at pictures with him... *grin*
And so it happens that the highlight of my trip has very little to do with where I was and everything to do with my experience of a cute old man who once spent years sailing all over the world and obviously loves telling people all about it. Beautiful!
Early morning, with a pinch of late night.
That is the latest I'be stayed out this whole trip, but it was worth it. We finally got to go to the club, Spilos, after trying every weekend for practically the entire time we've been here. It was so nice! You walk up the steps in the front and usually the outside bar is the main drinking area and the inside is the bar but the weather has been so shitty that they had to move inside for the weekend. The inside had comfy chairs and tables along the wall-window (which I am assuming also opens up) then the mid section of the bar had taller tables with cave like pillars through it. The bar itself was pretty standard but the backdrop was a white lit up cave from the bar to the pillars which I have a feeling were supposed to possibly be stalagmites? maybe?. All we did was dance and drink Smirnoff North Nordic Berry shots which everyone who is reading this NEEDS to try, which you can drink pretty much straight, it's bloody fantastic. So in total I had one Smirnoff ice, 3 shots and that's it. Thankfully no guys tried to pick us up, they all just stared at the strange Canadians rocking it out in a circle in the middle of their mellowed out bar. Awkward, but ok! We were out from 1:30am to 4:30am (only because the people who went the night before said it didn't get "hopping" until after 1am -.- which was silly if you ask me but whatever) and it is now 11:55am! No one else who went got up, except maybe Shannon, who left early last night.
Today, the plan is *drumroll* finally uploading the last of my "Athens Day Two: Part 2", play FarmVille, maybe beach, finish my book, and possibly a wee bit o' Angel, but If I do that I wouldn't get anything else done...so we shall see.
P.S. I learned how to make rice from the Rice Master Simon, and Katie! It was super tasty and hit the spot! Also, sorry if there are any major grammatical mistakes I don't usually check my blogs over, but if my writing is particularly horrid please tell me!
Today, the plan is *drumroll* finally uploading the last of my "Athens Day Two: Part 2", play FarmVille, maybe beach, finish my book, and possibly a wee bit o' Angel, but If I do that I wouldn't get anything else done...so we shall see.
P.S. I learned how to make rice from the Rice Master Simon, and Katie! It was super tasty and hit the spot! Also, sorry if there are any major grammatical mistakes I don't usually check my blogs over, but if my writing is particularly horrid please tell me!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
A Week in Review
What a week! I’ve been so busy!
There wasn’t so much exciting stuff happening in our trench this week (Ζιτα, Δύο) mostly just messed up inverted stratigraphy, with two separate sections because of the wall smack-dab in the center. BUT in the other trenches Simon and Cassandra uncovered the rest of the skeleton buried under the wall, and Vicky and Rebecca uncovered the body in rest of the tenth Pithos. Two skeletons, with full sets of teeth, oh man it was soo soo cool. In our trench we found little shards of pottery, big rocks, little rocks, dirt clumps and more rocks. We do have part of a Pithos right on the road, but I have a sinking feeling most of it will be eroded because of the road and the big rocks which seem to have only fell into only our trench. Luckily, Geoffrey said we could stop messing with changing baskets (every time we either find change in the layer of dirt we are digging, or a burial or a wall of some sort we have to change baskets so we know where it came from) and finicky stratigraphy and just dig it up. Hopefully we find something soon.
As for last weekend, it rained for both Friday and Saturday, and when it rains here, it storms not exaggerating. Irregardless we went out anyway. On friday Leesa, Mike, Shannon and I went to Skala a little town about 20 minutes from where we are staying. Originally it wasn’t raining when we left so I didn’t bring a jacket -.- which was silly. Even though it was really, really cold we still got some good souvenir shopping done (I got such a pretty ring!) had some good food and taxied it back with our crazy driver by about 6ish. Pretty much did the same thing on Saturday but in Poros, except it rained harder and I had a raincoat this time. My Puma’s were soaked for almost 3 days to put it in perspective. We did also go to Zanza Bar that weekend to, we were all a little pooped so it wasn’t as exciting as the first time, but still super fun.
Now I’m almost up to date! Yesterday we did one of our bi-weekly field trips to “Ithaca”. There isn’t much evidence supporting the idea that Modern Ithaca was Homer’s Ithaca, where as there is more evidence that it is actually Kefalonia (but you didn’t hear that from me). We didn’t get to spend the entire day there, our ferry was at 8:30am from Sami, and the last ferry was at 3:30pm. We just visited two little towns and the major port city on the island, not any sites, which really sucks but the weather was decent and the pictures turned out well.
Tonight we are going to the hippest club in range, for no particular reason at all other than to just party for the last time for the next few weeks and because we get to sleep in on Sunday. :D
There wasn’t so much exciting stuff happening in our trench this week (Ζιτα, Δύο) mostly just messed up inverted stratigraphy, with two separate sections because of the wall smack-dab in the center. BUT in the other trenches Simon and Cassandra uncovered the rest of the skeleton buried under the wall, and Vicky and Rebecca uncovered the body in rest of the tenth Pithos. Two skeletons, with full sets of teeth, oh man it was soo soo cool. In our trench we found little shards of pottery, big rocks, little rocks, dirt clumps and more rocks. We do have part of a Pithos right on the road, but I have a sinking feeling most of it will be eroded because of the road and the big rocks which seem to have only fell into only our trench. Luckily, Geoffrey said we could stop messing with changing baskets (every time we either find change in the layer of dirt we are digging, or a burial or a wall of some sort we have to change baskets so we know where it came from) and finicky stratigraphy and just dig it up. Hopefully we find something soon.
As for last weekend, it rained for both Friday and Saturday, and when it rains here, it storms not exaggerating. Irregardless we went out anyway. On friday Leesa, Mike, Shannon and I went to Skala a little town about 20 minutes from where we are staying. Originally it wasn’t raining when we left so I didn’t bring a jacket -.- which was silly. Even though it was really, really cold we still got some good souvenir shopping done (I got such a pretty ring!) had some good food and taxied it back with our crazy driver by about 6ish. Pretty much did the same thing on Saturday but in Poros, except it rained harder and I had a raincoat this time. My Puma’s were soaked for almost 3 days to put it in perspective. We did also go to Zanza Bar that weekend to, we were all a little pooped so it wasn’t as exciting as the first time, but still super fun.
Now I’m almost up to date! Yesterday we did one of our bi-weekly field trips to “Ithaca”. There isn’t much evidence supporting the idea that Modern Ithaca was Homer’s Ithaca, where as there is more evidence that it is actually Kefalonia (but you didn’t hear that from me). We didn’t get to spend the entire day there, our ferry was at 8:30am from Sami, and the last ferry was at 3:30pm. We just visited two little towns and the major port city on the island, not any sites, which really sucks but the weather was decent and the pictures turned out well.
Tonight we are going to the hippest club in range, for no particular reason at all other than to just party for the last time for the next few weeks and because we get to sleep in on Sunday. :D
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Lessons in Greek Language and Culture...
In our Modern Greek (language) class this week, we focused on learning how to ask a few more basic questions (who/how/where are you? What are you doing? etc.) and on numbers as well as TIME!
I can now count to 50 (πενήντα - pen-een-da) in Greek AND tell someone what time it is.
Learning about time was interesting... in part because it meant remembering all the numbers (at least up to 12). It was also interesting because Stella (our teacher) spent quite a while explaining to us when you say "good morning" or "good afternoon" or "good evening" or "good night" or just a regular "hello" (between morning and afternoon in the strange time of day when you may not be certain which to use).
SO here it is:
Good morning (kali-mare-ah / καλημέρα) is from when you wake up until about 1-1:30pm.
Remember in my last post (or the one before) when I wrote that all the stores close at 2pm until 5 or 6pm? That's because people are here legally REQUIRED to be quiet during those hours. If I were to phone someone here at 3pm, it'd be like calling my parents at 3am -- they'd think something was wrong because you otherwise just don't interrupt people at home at that hour of the day. So that'd be about the time to use the regular "hello" (he-air-et-ay / χαιρέται OR yah-sas / γεια σας - which also means "good bye").
5:30-6pm-ish would be when you'd begin to greet people with a "good evening " (kali-spare-ah / καλησπέρα).
Good night is only used when you're leaving. kali-nicht-ah / καληνύχτα.
Fun times... Fun times.
Tomorrow we're going to Ithaki!! Saturday it's supposed to rain (boo!)
We've found two graves so far... the people excavating them have gotten quite a bit of the skeletons uncovered. The skulls are the most incredible parts... It sounds creepy, but it's actually really really cool! I'm honestly the most surprised at how both skulls have ALL their teeth and they're all still in incredible condition. Crazy. One of the skulls is all crushed in because the upper torso and head was actually buried beneath a wall (the wall would have been built over the body long after it had been buried there). The other one is still all round -- just one hole above the right ear (probably because that's the one facing up -- that skull is kind of on its side).
ANYWAY. There are four of us (Chelsea, Michelle, Leesa and myself) working in Trench #VI.2 and we haven't really found too much yet. Well... we found a wall. The wall is kind of cool -- we (by we I mean our prof) think that it's part of an enclosure within the cemetery. So far we've only found one burial inside of it, but it looks like there might be at least two. Can't wait to start actually excavating the burial we do have on Monday!!
So that's about it for now...
Will update more after the weekend! Hoping for some good weather this time around... at least on Friday and Sunday since Saturday's supposed to be crappy.
Muchos love, friends!
I can now count to 50 (πενήντα - pen-een-da) in Greek AND tell someone what time it is.
Learning about time was interesting... in part because it meant remembering all the numbers (at least up to 12). It was also interesting because Stella (our teacher) spent quite a while explaining to us when you say "good morning" or "good afternoon" or "good evening" or "good night" or just a regular "hello" (between morning and afternoon in the strange time of day when you may not be certain which to use).
SO here it is:
Good morning (kali-mare-ah / καλημέρα) is from when you wake up until about 1-1:30pm.
Remember in my last post (or the one before) when I wrote that all the stores close at 2pm until 5 or 6pm? That's because people are here legally REQUIRED to be quiet during those hours. If I were to phone someone here at 3pm, it'd be like calling my parents at 3am -- they'd think something was wrong because you otherwise just don't interrupt people at home at that hour of the day. So that'd be about the time to use the regular "hello" (he-air-et-ay / χαιρέται OR yah-sas / γεια σας - which also means "good bye").
5:30-6pm-ish would be when you'd begin to greet people with a "good evening " (kali-spare-ah / καλησπέρα).
Good night is only used when you're leaving. kali-nicht-ah / καληνύχτα.
Fun times... Fun times.
Tomorrow we're going to Ithaki!! Saturday it's supposed to rain (boo!)
We've found two graves so far... the people excavating them have gotten quite a bit of the skeletons uncovered. The skulls are the most incredible parts... It sounds creepy, but it's actually really really cool! I'm honestly the most surprised at how both skulls have ALL their teeth and they're all still in incredible condition. Crazy. One of the skulls is all crushed in because the upper torso and head was actually buried beneath a wall (the wall would have been built over the body long after it had been buried there). The other one is still all round -- just one hole above the right ear (probably because that's the one facing up -- that skull is kind of on its side).
ANYWAY. There are four of us (Chelsea, Michelle, Leesa and myself) working in Trench #VI.2 and we haven't really found too much yet. Well... we found a wall. The wall is kind of cool -- we (by we I mean our prof) think that it's part of an enclosure within the cemetery. So far we've only found one burial inside of it, but it looks like there might be at least two. Can't wait to start actually excavating the burial we do have on Monday!!
So that's about it for now...
Will update more after the weekend! Hoping for some good weather this time around... at least on Friday and Sunday since Saturday's supposed to be crappy.
Muchos love, friends!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)