we left Poros this morning... EARLY. we met at the bus at 6:30 to catch the 7am ferry. blech.
i set my alarm for 5:30am because i wanted to shower. i knew i'd be in patras for today, on the ferry from midnight tonight until 7:30am on tuesday (so far we're at two full days and three nights) and then in tuesday i'll be wandering venice until 11:30pm when i'll hop on the train that should have me in rome on wednesday morning and hopefully at the hostel by 8am-ish. just in case you're keeping track, if i showered this morning, it would still be four full days and five nights before i could shower again. ew.
anyway. the water was ice cold. ice. often in our hotel, especially when it's been used a lot, the shower spits out water that is warm on your hands but cold everywhere else. this water... at 5:30am on a morning when only 1-2 other people were showering... was ice cold, even on my hands.
so i didn't shower. but i did shave my legs and wash my hair. so i feel mostly clean.
the ferry ride was uneventful. probably because we all hopped on, headed straight to the big comfy benches at the front, and slept until one of the crew walked by saying "wake up. ding, ding, ding!" about two minutes before we arrived at the port in kyllini.
everyone else is going to athens tonight where they'll stay one night at the hotel where we stayed when we first arrived ("Hotel Acropolis View") and then a bunch of 'em will be heading home tomorrow or off on their own adventures.
me? i opted to take advantage of geoffrey's offer to get vasillis to drop me off at the port in patras since they'd be driving right through and it's only be 10 minutes or so oyt of the way for them (off the highway to the port, drop me off, back on the highway to athens and voila!).
it didn't quite work out that way...
attempt number one to get to the port failed because the road was under construction. after 15 minutes of driving in the wrong direction (it's hard to turn a bus around on some of these roads...) we got back to the highway heading in the right direction again.
attempt number two was to try to get to the port via the city center. except that all the roads have been changed or something and while the signage to get off the highway is fabulous, the signage that directs one to the port once off the highway is non-existent. so that was at least a half hour of random corners and dead ends until we found our way back to the highway again.
attempt number three was finally successful. we took another exit that was posted as a route to the port and it got us there easy-as-pie. here's hoping they got back to the highway just as easily!!
so. i spent the first hour re-packing. AGAIN. i'm so ridiculous.
then i found the luggage storage and squished as much in there as i could (the big bag i have, plus my laptop case minus the laptop, and some food that i brought along for the ferry ride). then i took my small backpack (with laptop in the hopes of finding free or cheap Internet), purse, a book and my water bottle and hit the town!
it's a huge city, but i mostly just stuck around the touristy area -- the city center and the few blocks surrounding it. nothing's open except coffee shops and restaurants because it's sunday, but that's ok! i found a cafe with free internet (woohoo!), bought a tea and can know access their wireless from anywhere in the square. i also did some window shopping... good thing nothing is open! i certainly wouldn't have room for any of the sweet things i saw in those windows!
what else?
oh!
i used my greek!!!
i wanted a gyro -- one last one for the road kinda thing. plus they're cheap and filling and tasty wherever you are! so i found a lady who was cleaning up some of the garbage in the square and tried asking her where to buy one. except that she didn't speak english AT ALL. so i said, "πού βρίσκη gyro-pita?" (sounds like "poo vrisk-eh gyro-pita?" and translates to "where i find/i am finding (a) gyro-pita?)
and it worked! she smiled at my wit and charm (or my horrible pronunciation and grammar, but whatev) and pointed me in the right direction. and man. it was the RIGHT direction. that gyro was fabulous. yum.
after that, i wandered the square a bit more... took a few pictures...
oh!
prior to the greek-using gyro-finding business, i was reading a book on a bench (enjoying the sunshine and blue skies along with the flowing fountains and pretty european square *sigh*) and a bunch of people (10-15ish) gathered to listen to this guy in a suit talk about God and Jesus. i think. it was in greek.
they all sang together (just out and about in the square -- it was really kind of nice) and then they started giving out Bibles and talking with whoever was around and wanted to listen. they were actually really really friendly. they didn't seem to be overly pushy or anything, just... available to chat or answer questions, etc.
one guy tried talking to me but failed because of the whole language-barrier thing but then he called over his buddy who did speak english and we chatted for a few minutes.
so that was fun. i felt like... they were respected a lot more here than people who tried to do anything like that at home would have been. not a lot of people stopped to listen or anything, but there wasn't any visible sneering or outright avoiding and a few people did stop to ask questions and chat for a while. it was refreshing.
ANYWAY. my battery is dying so i'm going to go wander a bit more... then probably head back to the ferry terminal in the near-ish future. it's getting chilly out here and i didn't feel like spending any more money just to sit inside when i could do that AT the terminal. i'm guessing there won't be any internet there (at least not the free kind) which means... this is goodbye!
So long, farewell! Auf Wiedersehen, goodnight!
'til the next 'bout of free time and internet -- much love!
Showing posts with label Shannon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shannon. Show all posts
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
heavy!
my bag...
ouf.
i'm afraid to weigh it... luckily, i can separate it into TWO bags before i have to have it weighed for the flight home. right now, however... i'm glad that i can fit it space-wise on the train with me but am unsure how i'm going to get it up the stairs and ONTO the train in the first place. ugh. three flights of stairs to get it down to the bus (we're packing up the bus tonight because we're leaving uber-early tomorrow morning) was NOT fun.
can't believe it's just about over...
michelle, leesa and i are leaving for one last gyro-pita together and then we'll meet up with everyone else at the beach by vasilli's bar where a lot of people will be burning their dig clothes and notes from the courses, etc. followed by copious amounts of drinking... presumably 80% of us will be hungover or still drunk when we head to the ferry tomorrow. fun times.
me, i'll go to the bar for an hour or so but i think... i'm feeling pretty mellow tonight. i've wandered around town and taken a few last minute photos... i've said my goodbyes. and tonight? i'm just not feeling so up to dancing 'til dawn.
i'm anxious and excited and curious about what the next few days will hold for me.
in any case. i'll write again when i get back to Canada -- from my personal blog at http://sillygirldreams.blogspot.com. til then...
much love friends.
ouf.
i'm afraid to weigh it... luckily, i can separate it into TWO bags before i have to have it weighed for the flight home. right now, however... i'm glad that i can fit it space-wise on the train with me but am unsure how i'm going to get it up the stairs and ONTO the train in the first place. ugh. three flights of stairs to get it down to the bus (we're packing up the bus tonight because we're leaving uber-early tomorrow morning) was NOT fun.
can't believe it's just about over...
michelle, leesa and i are leaving for one last gyro-pita together and then we'll meet up with everyone else at the beach by vasilli's bar where a lot of people will be burning their dig clothes and notes from the courses, etc. followed by copious amounts of drinking... presumably 80% of us will be hungover or still drunk when we head to the ferry tomorrow. fun times.
me, i'll go to the bar for an hour or so but i think... i'm feeling pretty mellow tonight. i've wandered around town and taken a few last minute photos... i've said my goodbyes. and tonight? i'm just not feeling so up to dancing 'til dawn.
i'm anxious and excited and curious about what the next few days will hold for me.
in any case. i'll write again when i get back to Canada -- from my personal blog at http://sillygirldreams.blogspot.com. til then...
much love friends.
Friday, November 27, 2009
closing time...
it's been such a crazy week!
you'd think that with the academic part of the trip being pretty much over (for some of us), things would slow down. and i suppose that they have. but still, although the afternoons are slow (*cough*boring*cough*), we've crammed our evenings so full of things to do that it's difficult to fit everything in that we want to do before we head out early on Sunday morning!
on monday afternoon Jerry, his brother, Christos, and his dad, Spyros, took myself, Leesa, Michelle, Neil and Mike with them to the place where olives are turned into olive oil. They'd spent the last 5-6 days picking olives from their fields near Enos Mt (the main mountain on the island) and so took a truck FILLED with those olives to this place where they'd end up with enough olive oil to use for at least this next year. A LOT of olives.
it was fabulous! the man there who, i think, was running the place was all excited that i was taking pictures and kept grabbing my arm and instructing me on how i should be posing -- catch these olives, rake these olives, look at this machinery, stand with your friends, etc.
so that was fun. i got to see how it all worked and "help out" too! he gave us all some of his homemade sipero (not sure how to spell it) but um, leesa, michelle, and i took a sip or two each and generously offered the rest to mike (by pouring it into his cup while he wasn't looking). sipero is a REALLY strong alcohol. probably something like "moonshine" back home. blech.
anyways. so after that we had one final greek class, mostly review and then... i feel like we did something but i can't remember what.
on tuesday i took a nice walk up the river bed (which is dry right now) and found some beautiful spots where water had pooled up from the rains earlier this month, the rocks surrounding (and in) the pools were smooth, the trees were still green and the water itself was crystal clear. they were like little patches of heaven.
in the evening we hung out with jerry and christos at maistrali's -- the cute cafe just a few minutes walk from where our hotel is. since pantelis' has closed, we've spent a lot of time there. in part because the freddoccino's are SO GOOD and in part because they've got decent wireless internet.
what else?
wednesday... spent most of the day studying and refreshing our memories for our greek exam which was REALLY easy. i think that it must have been, by far, the easiest and shortest exam i've ever written. hurrah!
after all three of us finished writing it, leesa, michelle and i went out for dinner to celebrate at the italian-esque restaurant in town that we had only been to once before with the whole group for a lunch thing with the dean.
anyway. it so superb. we all enjoyed a heart attack on a plate to start (it's cheese, breaded and deep-fried -- called "saganaki" and it's delicious) and then we thoroughly enjoyed WAY too much moussaka (me) and souvlaki (michelle and leesa) before waddling back to the hotel.
later that night, leesa realized that by finishing the exam, she's actually now completed her entire undergraduate degree (congrats, hun!) and went with a few others to celebrate at vasilli's bar. michelle and i hung back and ended up watching "She's All That" which michelle had never seen before (can you believe it!?).
and so ended wednesday.
today is thursday. well, technically it's friday now... but whatever.
today i slept in, unpacked and re-packed about three times before i was finally satisfied with my packing, and otherwise did a lot of nothing.
michelle, leesa and i made dinner (leesa made spaghetti, michelle made garlic toast and i made apple crisp) for jerry and christos as something of a "thank you!" because jerry's just been so wonderful to us -- driving us all over the place to show us a zillion and a half of the cool things on this island that aren't within walking distance.
after dinner, we all went to argostoli to walk around (there are a few christmas lights up now!) and then to have some hot chocolate (or iced tea, if you're leesa) one last time by the main square.
i also stopped by "the body shop" which was still open (!) to buy some cheap (and small -- which translates into PACKABLE) shampoo and conditioner. my hair will smell like bananas for the next little while. woohoo! and... i picked up a few more postcards (must use up the stamps i have left!) and a mickey mouse comic. it's all in greek... i couldn't resist!
and thus ends thursday.
tomorrow (today, *sigh*) is friday.
we don't have much going on for the day, but in the evening the mayor is throwing us a going away dinner party, much like the "welcome to poros" party he threw in our honour when we arrived in september. we're checking out yet another of the restaurants i haven't been to, so that should be fun. it's still weird to have parties thrown for you by government officials. but i love it!
saturday is our last day so we'll all go to vasilli's bar in the evening... there are rumours of a few people intending to show up still drunk for the bus ride back to athens on sunday morning. i'm not one of them. but it should be a fun evening nonetheless.
and with that. i'm off to bed so that i can be awake tomorrow to enjoy my second-to-last day in poros!
much love, friends!
you'd think that with the academic part of the trip being pretty much over (for some of us), things would slow down. and i suppose that they have. but still, although the afternoons are slow (*cough*boring*cough*), we've crammed our evenings so full of things to do that it's difficult to fit everything in that we want to do before we head out early on Sunday morning!
on monday afternoon Jerry, his brother, Christos, and his dad, Spyros, took myself, Leesa, Michelle, Neil and Mike with them to the place where olives are turned into olive oil. They'd spent the last 5-6 days picking olives from their fields near Enos Mt (the main mountain on the island) and so took a truck FILLED with those olives to this place where they'd end up with enough olive oil to use for at least this next year. A LOT of olives.
it was fabulous! the man there who, i think, was running the place was all excited that i was taking pictures and kept grabbing my arm and instructing me on how i should be posing -- catch these olives, rake these olives, look at this machinery, stand with your friends, etc.
so that was fun. i got to see how it all worked and "help out" too! he gave us all some of his homemade sipero (not sure how to spell it) but um, leesa, michelle, and i took a sip or two each and generously offered the rest to mike (by pouring it into his cup while he wasn't looking). sipero is a REALLY strong alcohol. probably something like "moonshine" back home. blech.
anyways. so after that we had one final greek class, mostly review and then... i feel like we did something but i can't remember what.
on tuesday i took a nice walk up the river bed (which is dry right now) and found some beautiful spots where water had pooled up from the rains earlier this month, the rocks surrounding (and in) the pools were smooth, the trees were still green and the water itself was crystal clear. they were like little patches of heaven.
in the evening we hung out with jerry and christos at maistrali's -- the cute cafe just a few minutes walk from where our hotel is. since pantelis' has closed, we've spent a lot of time there. in part because the freddoccino's are SO GOOD and in part because they've got decent wireless internet.
what else?
wednesday... spent most of the day studying and refreshing our memories for our greek exam which was REALLY easy. i think that it must have been, by far, the easiest and shortest exam i've ever written. hurrah!
after all three of us finished writing it, leesa, michelle and i went out for dinner to celebrate at the italian-esque restaurant in town that we had only been to once before with the whole group for a lunch thing with the dean.
anyway. it so superb. we all enjoyed a heart attack on a plate to start (it's cheese, breaded and deep-fried -- called "saganaki" and it's delicious) and then we thoroughly enjoyed WAY too much moussaka (me) and souvlaki (michelle and leesa) before waddling back to the hotel.
later that night, leesa realized that by finishing the exam, she's actually now completed her entire undergraduate degree (congrats, hun!) and went with a few others to celebrate at vasilli's bar. michelle and i hung back and ended up watching "She's All That" which michelle had never seen before (can you believe it!?).
and so ended wednesday.
today is thursday. well, technically it's friday now... but whatever.
today i slept in, unpacked and re-packed about three times before i was finally satisfied with my packing, and otherwise did a lot of nothing.
michelle, leesa and i made dinner (leesa made spaghetti, michelle made garlic toast and i made apple crisp) for jerry and christos as something of a "thank you!" because jerry's just been so wonderful to us -- driving us all over the place to show us a zillion and a half of the cool things on this island that aren't within walking distance.
after dinner, we all went to argostoli to walk around (there are a few christmas lights up now!) and then to have some hot chocolate (or iced tea, if you're leesa) one last time by the main square.
i also stopped by "the body shop" which was still open (!) to buy some cheap (and small -- which translates into PACKABLE) shampoo and conditioner. my hair will smell like bananas for the next little while. woohoo! and... i picked up a few more postcards (must use up the stamps i have left!) and a mickey mouse comic. it's all in greek... i couldn't resist!
and thus ends thursday.
tomorrow (today, *sigh*) is friday.
we don't have much going on for the day, but in the evening the mayor is throwing us a going away dinner party, much like the "welcome to poros" party he threw in our honour when we arrived in september. we're checking out yet another of the restaurants i haven't been to, so that should be fun. it's still weird to have parties thrown for you by government officials. but i love it!
saturday is our last day so we'll all go to vasilli's bar in the evening... there are rumours of a few people intending to show up still drunk for the bus ride back to athens on sunday morning. i'm not one of them. but it should be a fun evening nonetheless.
and with that. i'm off to bed so that i can be awake tomorrow to enjoy my second-to-last day in poros!
much love, friends!
Friday, November 20, 2009
Creative Packing
It's a little early yet to be packing... I know. But see, the ferry won't be a big deal (it's the "very low season" so I expect the ferry won't be overloaded with people and since I just have "deck seats" I don't think it'll be problematic stashing whatever luggage I have beside the bench(es) I plan on sleeping on). The flight home from Rome won't be a big deal either -- I'm allowed to check in two bags.
It's the TRAIN. The train from Venice to Rome won't be easy (or comfortable) if I have TWO large luggage bags. SO. I've started to pack... hoping against hope that I can manage to stuff everything I brought here and everything I've purchased since I've been here, including my large backpack, into the larger of the two bags that I have. Mostly, I think I've been rather successful. I threw out my dig clothes (they had holes and were dirty beyond repair anyway). I rolled everything up... and I still have my smaller backpack and laptop bag to stuff with what's left... a few items of clothing, my Bible, laptop, camera, iPod, etc.
Here's hoping it works out!! The only thing left is to find someone with some muscle to help get the silly thing up the stairs and onto the train when I'm actually at the station. You try fitting two bags worth of things into one bag and then lifting it up. HA!
Luckily, finding helpful people has never been especially difficult for me sooo... I'm not overly concerned. If not friendly, I figure the people around me will, at the very least, be wanting to get on the train as quickly as possible and so hopefully won't mind helping me speed up the process.
In other news...
Watched "Howl's Moving Castle" with Michelle and Leesa a few nights ago -- it was fabulous!! I enjoyed most of the (two) anime movies I've seen before, but this one was REALLY good. I already want to watch it again.
We finished, or mostly finished, our pottery catalogue and small finds catalogue yesterday! The four of us will have to read through and fix up any final formatting or spelling mistakes but otherwise... that's it for that portion of our program! All that's left school-wise now is GREEK! We have one more class on Monday (it'll be review) and then our exam on Wednesday! CRAZY!
θα σπουδάσω πολύ το σαββατοκύριακη! (I will study a lot this weekend)!
The best part about that sentence ^ is that I didn't have to look anything up to write it *grin*
What else?
Tonight we're having a beach party near Vasillis' bar... Vasillis has offered to help us make the bonfire happen and everyone is bringing wine and some kind of appetizer or cheese or something to make it a wine 'n cheese event. I'm bringing chocolate :)
On Wednesday after our exam, Michelle and Leesa and I are planning on having dinner out at a restaurant in town that we went to once as a large group... then on Saturday night (next Saturday -- the last night of our time here) we're going to have one last gyro together. Well, three gyros, technically. One each.
Today a few of us (Nela -- my roommate -- Becky, blond Michelle and myself) went swimming and spent a couple of hours on the beach. That's right. I went swimming. In the ocean. And tanning. On NOVEMBER 20. And we did it because it was HOT. And sunny. Perfect. Michelle and Leesa came too, they just came a bit later.
Think that about sums up my last couple of days/weeks... I'm looking forward to the time we have left together in Poros but I'm also excited about a few days in Italy and then seeing my friends and family back home in Ontario! So much going on in the next few weeks!! Crazy. In the course of one week (the first week of Dec) I will be taking EVERY kind of transit... boat, plane, train and automobile... whew.
Not sure if I'll have a chance to update again before I get back to Ontario, but I'll certainly try. It'll depend on how available the Internet is in Italy and whether or not we manage to keep ourselves busy here in Poros over the next week... There's not a heck of a lot to do in a town where everything that isn't closed for the winter, is still only open in the mornings until 1:30-2pm other than one or two restaurants and another one or two cafes...
ANYWAY.
Much love! Will see most of you soon...
It's the TRAIN. The train from Venice to Rome won't be easy (or comfortable) if I have TWO large luggage bags. SO. I've started to pack... hoping against hope that I can manage to stuff everything I brought here and everything I've purchased since I've been here, including my large backpack, into the larger of the two bags that I have. Mostly, I think I've been rather successful. I threw out my dig clothes (they had holes and were dirty beyond repair anyway). I rolled everything up... and I still have my smaller backpack and laptop bag to stuff with what's left... a few items of clothing, my Bible, laptop, camera, iPod, etc.
Here's hoping it works out!! The only thing left is to find someone with some muscle to help get the silly thing up the stairs and onto the train when I'm actually at the station. You try fitting two bags worth of things into one bag and then lifting it up. HA!
Luckily, finding helpful people has never been especially difficult for me sooo... I'm not overly concerned. If not friendly, I figure the people around me will, at the very least, be wanting to get on the train as quickly as possible and so hopefully won't mind helping me speed up the process.
In other news...
Watched "Howl's Moving Castle" with Michelle and Leesa a few nights ago -- it was fabulous!! I enjoyed most of the (two) anime movies I've seen before, but this one was REALLY good. I already want to watch it again.
We finished, or mostly finished, our pottery catalogue and small finds catalogue yesterday! The four of us will have to read through and fix up any final formatting or spelling mistakes but otherwise... that's it for that portion of our program! All that's left school-wise now is GREEK! We have one more class on Monday (it'll be review) and then our exam on Wednesday! CRAZY!
θα σπουδάσω πολύ το σαββατοκύριακη! (I will study a lot this weekend)!
The best part about that sentence ^ is that I didn't have to look anything up to write it *grin*
What else?
Tonight we're having a beach party near Vasillis' bar... Vasillis has offered to help us make the bonfire happen and everyone is bringing wine and some kind of appetizer or cheese or something to make it a wine 'n cheese event. I'm bringing chocolate :)
On Wednesday after our exam, Michelle and Leesa and I are planning on having dinner out at a restaurant in town that we went to once as a large group... then on Saturday night (next Saturday -- the last night of our time here) we're going to have one last gyro together. Well, three gyros, technically. One each.
Today a few of us (Nela -- my roommate -- Becky, blond Michelle and myself) went swimming and spent a couple of hours on the beach. That's right. I went swimming. In the ocean. And tanning. On NOVEMBER 20. And we did it because it was HOT. And sunny. Perfect. Michelle and Leesa came too, they just came a bit later.
Think that about sums up my last couple of days/weeks... I'm looking forward to the time we have left together in Poros but I'm also excited about a few days in Italy and then seeing my friends and family back home in Ontario! So much going on in the next few weeks!! Crazy. In the course of one week (the first week of Dec) I will be taking EVERY kind of transit... boat, plane, train and automobile... whew.
Not sure if I'll have a chance to update again before I get back to Ontario, but I'll certainly try. It'll depend on how available the Internet is in Italy and whether or not we manage to keep ourselves busy here in Poros over the next week... There's not a heck of a lot to do in a town where everything that isn't closed for the winter, is still only open in the mornings until 1:30-2pm other than one or two restaurants and another one or two cafes...
ANYWAY.
Much love! Will see most of you soon...
Sunday, November 15, 2009
winding down...
It's been a while since either of us (Michelle and I) have posted... the past few weeks haven't been especially busy program-wise, but we've definitely managed to keep ourselves entertained!
The weather's been fairly random -- some days are cold and rainy, other days (like Fri-Sat-Sun this weekend) have been hot and sunny (22-ish!). It's kind of fun having beach weather in November...
We've also had quite a few storms -- and they are INCREDIBLE. The wind and the thunder and lightening and the power of the rain are like nothing I've ever seen. It's beautiful. And usually at night, which makes them even more cool. Our building (the one we use as a classroom and to do all of our pottery cataloguing) was actually hit by lightening so we didn't have power (or lights) for a few days... that was a little inconvenient but, truth be told, I don't think anyone minded having a little bit of extra free time.
The next two weeks (only two weeks left!!!) could end up being a bit more stressful -- our Greek teacher thought that we had until the first week of December and has decided to rush us through a whole lot of material and "proposed" (or demanded) that we schedule extra classes for this Tuesday and Friday, as well as next Tuesday (essentially adding 1.5 weeks worth of classes into our last two weeks - we usually have classes on Mon and Wed). She's not allowed to schedule anything for us on Friday, however, so that one won't happen. There's a chance that she won't be able to schedule any of them without 100% consent from us, but who knows!
In any case, we had a test on Monday last week so I spent most of last weekend preparing for that and I've spent a significant amount of time studying this weekend to prepare for another test that will probably be on Wednesday. Ack! Can't complain I guess... We haven't had to do too much actual schoolwork since we've been here for any of the archaeology stuff.
What else? Lots of other non-Greek related stuff since it's time to register for next semester's classes... I was able to find a few classes that look interesting enough but am a little disappointed in what's being offered in the Spring. Ah well. I'm looking forward to getting back into full-on Academia! I think I might even take a course or two over the summer...
Not too much else to update... We spend most of our time wandering through the town (which is like a ghost town now!! The grocery stores and the bookstore are still open but all the tourist shops and a few restaurants have shut down) and hanging out at the cafe nearest to our hotel to take advantage of the freddicino's (yum!) and fast Internet.
Yesterday, Michelle, Leesa, Rebecca and I went for a short boat-ride with Jerry's dad, Spyros... the plan was to do some fishing but mostly we just checked the lines he had in (which didn't have any fish yet) and then headed back to the port. It was fun to ride around in the boat for a few minutes anyway!
I can't believe it's almost over -- what a trip! I'm looking forward to Italy though, and to seeing friends and family back at home! Let me know if you're going to be in the Hamilton area over Christmas so we can be sure to grab a coffee together or something before I head back to BC in January!
Much love!
The weather's been fairly random -- some days are cold and rainy, other days (like Fri-Sat-Sun this weekend) have been hot and sunny (22-ish!). It's kind of fun having beach weather in November...
We've also had quite a few storms -- and they are INCREDIBLE. The wind and the thunder and lightening and the power of the rain are like nothing I've ever seen. It's beautiful. And usually at night, which makes them even more cool. Our building (the one we use as a classroom and to do all of our pottery cataloguing) was actually hit by lightening so we didn't have power (or lights) for a few days... that was a little inconvenient but, truth be told, I don't think anyone minded having a little bit of extra free time.
The next two weeks (only two weeks left!!!) could end up being a bit more stressful -- our Greek teacher thought that we had until the first week of December and has decided to rush us through a whole lot of material and "proposed" (or demanded) that we schedule extra classes for this Tuesday and Friday, as well as next Tuesday (essentially adding 1.5 weeks worth of classes into our last two weeks - we usually have classes on Mon and Wed). She's not allowed to schedule anything for us on Friday, however, so that one won't happen. There's a chance that she won't be able to schedule any of them without 100% consent from us, but who knows!
In any case, we had a test on Monday last week so I spent most of last weekend preparing for that and I've spent a significant amount of time studying this weekend to prepare for another test that will probably be on Wednesday. Ack! Can't complain I guess... We haven't had to do too much actual schoolwork since we've been here for any of the archaeology stuff.
What else? Lots of other non-Greek related stuff since it's time to register for next semester's classes... I was able to find a few classes that look interesting enough but am a little disappointed in what's being offered in the Spring. Ah well. I'm looking forward to getting back into full-on Academia! I think I might even take a course or two over the summer...
Not too much else to update... We spend most of our time wandering through the town (which is like a ghost town now!! The grocery stores and the bookstore are still open but all the tourist shops and a few restaurants have shut down) and hanging out at the cafe nearest to our hotel to take advantage of the freddicino's (yum!) and fast Internet.
Yesterday, Michelle, Leesa, Rebecca and I went for a short boat-ride with Jerry's dad, Spyros... the plan was to do some fishing but mostly we just checked the lines he had in (which didn't have any fish yet) and then headed back to the port. It was fun to ride around in the boat for a few minutes anyway!
I can't believe it's almost over -- what a trip! I'm looking forward to Italy though, and to seeing friends and family back at home! Let me know if you're going to be in the Hamilton area over Christmas so we can be sure to grab a coffee together or something before I head back to BC in January!
Much love!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Birthday Bash #1
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!
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!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
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!
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!
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!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
And the rain came...
Doesn't feel much like Greece when it's windy and rainy and cold, but we managed to keep ourselves busy...
It started to rain a bit on Thursday just as we were wrapping up for the day so we didn't do the BBQ lunch that we'd originally had planned (that's been moved to next week). Instead, we found out that Hetti and her husband were going to have us all over for dinner!
Leesa, Michelle, Amanada and I had been planning on going out for dinner together at Pentieli's but this new development led to our decision to do lunch instead :) After lunch we headed back to the hotel with just enough time to do some laundry and head back to the Hercules building (our classroom) for some pottery washing/reading.
We all headed straight to Hetti's for dinner after our pottery was clean and Geoffrey had taken some time to teach us how to read it (figure out what kind of pottery it was, where it was from, when it was from, etc.). Dinner was amazing! Hetti had made us lentil soup, Kefalonia meat pies, pasta salad, avocado/potato salad, tzatziki... yum.
Friday was rainy... so I went with Michelle, Leesa and Mike to Skala. A cab's only about 15€ so split between four people it was definitely worth it. We need to go back when it's sunny though -- the beach there is a lot nicer than the one in Poros!
One thing we hadn't thought through very well was the fact that everything closes from 2-3pm until 6pm! We arrived in Skala at about 1:30pm so didn't have too much time to shop before everything closed up for afternoon siesta! Bah! Still, I found a tablecloth for my mom and it was perfect -- when I went back to get it, that's when we remembered about the 3pm closing thing. The store where I'd found it was already closed!! Luckily, Leesa, Michelle and Mike didn't mind waiting around 'til it reopened. I also picked up a few other odds and ends for Christmas and am almost done my souvenir shopping! Definitely a productive day. It's warm enough that the rain didn't really bother us too much -- except maybe Michelle; she didn't bring a jacket.
Friday night a bunch of us watched The Fifth Element in the Hercules building... Weird movie!!!
Yesterday (Saturday) was even more rainy than Friday so we headed into Poros to check out some of the other souvenir shops that we hadn't already been to. We got pretty wet (rain will do that to you) and decided to stop at Pantieli's on our way home for some hot chocolate... We = Michelle, Leesa and I. Mike had come to town with us but needed to grab some groceries on the way home too. Anyway. We were there for just a few minutes when Pantieli brought us out a plate of cake and ice cream to share! He said his mom had put it together for us (she works there too). Sweet!!!
You know you're probably spending too much time at a restaurant when they start bringing you goodies for free... In any case -- still loving the small town-ness of this place.
Except for today... when it was STILL rainy. I made real food for dinner (haven't done that since I've been here) and it was fabulous (if I don't say so myself). Michelle tried some though, and she agreed. It really was good. Salmon (with olive oil, lemon juice and salt 'n pepper) and potatoes -- sliced up and baked in the oven with onions, carrots and zucchini.
Other than that... we did a lot more of nothing today. Michelle and Leesa convinced Mike and I to watch "The Dark Crystal" with them. Oi. It's a Jim Henson movie... I'm so not a big fan of puppet movies. But whatever -- I'm so picking the movie next time :)
Then Michelle and I played cards for like... two hours. And now... Now I'm about ready to head to bed early so that I can be all cheery and energized tomorrow for digging. It's nice outside now -- the sky has cleared up because the weekend is over. *sigh*
I'm so not showering after the dig tomorrow. Straight to the beach for me!
Muchos love friends. Next weekend will be much more exciting because the sun will be shining and we'll be traveling together to Ithika! Woot!
It started to rain a bit on Thursday just as we were wrapping up for the day so we didn't do the BBQ lunch that we'd originally had planned (that's been moved to next week). Instead, we found out that Hetti and her husband were going to have us all over for dinner!
Leesa, Michelle, Amanada and I had been planning on going out for dinner together at Pentieli's but this new development led to our decision to do lunch instead :) After lunch we headed back to the hotel with just enough time to do some laundry and head back to the Hercules building (our classroom) for some pottery washing/reading.
We all headed straight to Hetti's for dinner after our pottery was clean and Geoffrey had taken some time to teach us how to read it (figure out what kind of pottery it was, where it was from, when it was from, etc.). Dinner was amazing! Hetti had made us lentil soup, Kefalonia meat pies, pasta salad, avocado/potato salad, tzatziki... yum.
Friday was rainy... so I went with Michelle, Leesa and Mike to Skala. A cab's only about 15€ so split between four people it was definitely worth it. We need to go back when it's sunny though -- the beach there is a lot nicer than the one in Poros!
One thing we hadn't thought through very well was the fact that everything closes from 2-3pm until 6pm! We arrived in Skala at about 1:30pm so didn't have too much time to shop before everything closed up for afternoon siesta! Bah! Still, I found a tablecloth for my mom and it was perfect -- when I went back to get it, that's when we remembered about the 3pm closing thing. The store where I'd found it was already closed!! Luckily, Leesa, Michelle and Mike didn't mind waiting around 'til it reopened. I also picked up a few other odds and ends for Christmas and am almost done my souvenir shopping! Definitely a productive day. It's warm enough that the rain didn't really bother us too much -- except maybe Michelle; she didn't bring a jacket.
Friday night a bunch of us watched The Fifth Element in the Hercules building... Weird movie!!!
Yesterday (Saturday) was even more rainy than Friday so we headed into Poros to check out some of the other souvenir shops that we hadn't already been to. We got pretty wet (rain will do that to you) and decided to stop at Pantieli's on our way home for some hot chocolate... We = Michelle, Leesa and I. Mike had come to town with us but needed to grab some groceries on the way home too. Anyway. We were there for just a few minutes when Pantieli brought us out a plate of cake and ice cream to share! He said his mom had put it together for us (she works there too). Sweet!!!
You know you're probably spending too much time at a restaurant when they start bringing you goodies for free... In any case -- still loving the small town-ness of this place.
Except for today... when it was STILL rainy. I made real food for dinner (haven't done that since I've been here) and it was fabulous (if I don't say so myself). Michelle tried some though, and she agreed. It really was good. Salmon (with olive oil, lemon juice and salt 'n pepper) and potatoes -- sliced up and baked in the oven with onions, carrots and zucchini.
Other than that... we did a lot more of nothing today. Michelle and Leesa convinced Mike and I to watch "The Dark Crystal" with them. Oi. It's a Jim Henson movie... I'm so not a big fan of puppet movies. But whatever -- I'm so picking the movie next time :)
Then Michelle and I played cards for like... two hours. And now... Now I'm about ready to head to bed early so that I can be all cheery and energized tomorrow for digging. It's nice outside now -- the sky has cleared up because the weekend is over. *sigh*
I'm so not showering after the dig tomorrow. Straight to the beach for me!
Muchos love friends. Next weekend will be much more exciting because the sun will be shining and we'll be traveling together to Ithika! Woot!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The Adventures Continue...
I posted pictures already, but now it's time for some details regarding our more recent adventures in Poros! I'm catching up... Soon I'll be able to post CURRENT news!
On Saturday we were treated to a boat ride on a glass-bottom boat to a bea-u-tiful beach that is only accessible from the water! The captain and first mate were fabulous. They let us take turns driving the boat and seemed so excited to be able to give us this incredible experience!
The ride took about 20 minutes and they drove the boat right up onto the beach so that we were able to walk off (with the help of the captain -- the plank from the stairs to the beach was a little wobbly).
We spent the next couple of hours swimming around and then climbing back up onto the boat (which was pushed out into the water -- tied to the beach for bringing it back in later) and either sliding down the waterslide at the back or jumping off the side (of the top deck -- HIGH!) into the water below. Good thing the water gets deep quickly out here :)
The captain and first mate then made us an AMAZING BBQ dinner -- tomato/cucumber salad, fresh bread and several variations of pork! We had a big cake to celebrate Julie's birthday too! Fun times!!
After swimming and BBQ-ing we played a few games (we passed an orange from person to person via the neck and, in the same fashion, we passed a cucumber from person to person via the thighs/knees. If we weren't comfortable with each other before... we should be now!
What else? Rocks!! I collected a bunch of rocks between swimming and games and eating... I still need to pick up a container to store 'em in so that I can start drinking out of my Nalgene bottle again (which is their temporary container until I get something else).
On the way back we had a bit of dance party on the top floor of the boat -- there was a Finnish tourist who had joined us for the trip (as well as a family from England, I think) and he certainly seemed to be enjoying himself with all the girls. He chased Amanda for a bit at first and then moved around to everyone else after he determined that she wasn't interested in dancing. He stood by the stairs when we arrived back at the harbour and proceeded to give everyone hugs goodbye so I grabbed Michelle when it was my turn and our hug became a group-hug instead. This, apparently, did not deter him -- he kissed both our cheeks and then moved on to whoever was behind us. Yeesh.
So that was Saturday...
Sunday was slower (whew) and Monday was our first day of actual excavation!!!
We spent most of the day measuring elevations, taking notes, and photographing the site before FINALLY using the last hour to DIG! Taking elevations is sometimes a little tricky...
Michelle, Leesa and I didn't do much excavation but we did shovel away some of the dirt that was being dug up by group three. While cleaning, we found some bones in the dirt (that was the day I found a knee cap) SO...
On Monday, Michelle and I ended up working on a small area (she wrote about it below, so I won't go into too many details...) for the whole time. It was only a small area but because the bones we were finding were just little fragments, it took us quite a while to finish it up. As meticulous as it was, I had so much fun!!
Today is Wednesday and we started the day off cleaning up the debris being dug up in our new trench -- Trench V -- but Michelle and I swapped in for the afternoon and spent a few hours "articulating" pebbles. Cassandra had dug through most of the top soil so our job was to clean up the area below -- taking away any clay and then sweeping so that when a picture is taken of the trench, it is easy to spot the pebbly area that Cassandra will start excavating tomorrow.
Sounds like Michelle and I will be moved, with Simon and a few others, to a more permanent place in Trench VI tomorrow! Woot! Finger are crossed -- let's hope we find a burial to excavate!
PS -- we found our FOURTH scorpion today! Gah!! I did get a picture before we killed it though...
PPS -- We are visited everyday between 8:30am-9am by a huge herd (flock?) of goats.
On Saturday we were treated to a boat ride on a glass-bottom boat to a bea-u-tiful beach that is only accessible from the water! The captain and first mate were fabulous. They let us take turns driving the boat and seemed so excited to be able to give us this incredible experience!
The ride took about 20 minutes and they drove the boat right up onto the beach so that we were able to walk off (with the help of the captain -- the plank from the stairs to the beach was a little wobbly).
We spent the next couple of hours swimming around and then climbing back up onto the boat (which was pushed out into the water -- tied to the beach for bringing it back in later) and either sliding down the waterslide at the back or jumping off the side (of the top deck -- HIGH!) into the water below. Good thing the water gets deep quickly out here :)
The captain and first mate then made us an AMAZING BBQ dinner -- tomato/cucumber salad, fresh bread and several variations of pork! We had a big cake to celebrate Julie's birthday too! Fun times!!
After swimming and BBQ-ing we played a few games (we passed an orange from person to person via the neck and, in the same fashion, we passed a cucumber from person to person via the thighs/knees. If we weren't comfortable with each other before... we should be now!
What else? Rocks!! I collected a bunch of rocks between swimming and games and eating... I still need to pick up a container to store 'em in so that I can start drinking out of my Nalgene bottle again (which is their temporary container until I get something else).
On the way back we had a bit of dance party on the top floor of the boat -- there was a Finnish tourist who had joined us for the trip (as well as a family from England, I think) and he certainly seemed to be enjoying himself with all the girls. He chased Amanda for a bit at first and then moved around to everyone else after he determined that she wasn't interested in dancing. He stood by the stairs when we arrived back at the harbour and proceeded to give everyone hugs goodbye so I grabbed Michelle when it was my turn and our hug became a group-hug instead. This, apparently, did not deter him -- he kissed both our cheeks and then moved on to whoever was behind us. Yeesh.
So that was Saturday...
Sunday was slower (whew) and Monday was our first day of actual excavation!!!
We spent most of the day measuring elevations, taking notes, and photographing the site before FINALLY using the last hour to DIG! Taking elevations is sometimes a little tricky...
these guys are watching the awkward elevation measuring taking place in the picture above...
Michelle, Leesa and I didn't do much excavation but we did shovel away some of the dirt that was being dug up by group three. While cleaning, we found some bones in the dirt (that was the day I found a knee cap) SO...
On Monday, Michelle and I ended up working on a small area (she wrote about it below, so I won't go into too many details...) for the whole time. It was only a small area but because the bones we were finding were just little fragments, it took us quite a while to finish it up. As meticulous as it was, I had so much fun!!
Today is Wednesday and we started the day off cleaning up the debris being dug up in our new trench -- Trench V -- but Michelle and I swapped in for the afternoon and spent a few hours "articulating" pebbles. Cassandra had dug through most of the top soil so our job was to clean up the area below -- taking away any clay and then sweeping so that when a picture is taken of the trench, it is easy to spot the pebbly area that Cassandra will start excavating tomorrow.
Sounds like Michelle and I will be moved, with Simon and a few others, to a more permanent place in Trench VI tomorrow! Woot! Finger are crossed -- let's hope we find a burial to excavate!
PS -- we found our FOURTH scorpion today! Gah!! I did get a picture before we killed it though...
PPS -- We are visited everyday between 8:30am-9am by a huge herd (flock?) of goats.
Πορος continued...
Actually, the rest of this post is about Assos and Fiscardo!
On our way to Assos (last Friday), we stopped on the side of the road to take pictures of Myrtos Beach which is one of the most beautiful beaches in all of Greece! There's a book or something that says so.
We all wanted to stop but didn't have time so Geoffrey talked to Vasillis (our bus-driver) and he said that he might take whoever wants to go this coming weekend for a few hours. Woot!!!
Assos was BEAUTIFUL! It's such a quaint little town. There's a big hill that's sort of separated from the town by a tiny bit of land and on the top of that hill is a huge castle! Not huge for a castle, but definitely quite large for a castle on an island. It took those of us who went up about 20-25 minutes to walk to the entrance at the top of the hill (it was SO hot and there was almost NO shade between the start of the path and the end!!!) It was worth it though - I'd never seen a castle before!
After the hike down from the castle I was STARVING. I went to the cafe that others (who hadn't hiked up to the castle) said was the cheapest. I'm quickly learning that a bit of friendliness (aka flirting) goes a long way here. I ordered the same thing that Michelle and Leesa had paid €5 for and, after making some conversation while I waited, was only charged €4! The girls were filling up water bottles in the bathroom and said the water was a bit salty so I asked the same server if there was tap water available in the kitchen. He said yes and brought me back a 1.5L BOTTLE. I waved it away and said that tap water would be fine but he said it wasn't very good SO I asked how much the bottle would cost me. He thought for a minute and decided, "For you? Nothing!"
So. I'm definitely a fan of Greek hospitality :)
Next stop was Fiscardo!
There wasn't too much to see there -- we were supposed to be checking out the style of buildings that were more "historic" to get a better idea of what the island's structures used to look like buuut it was difficult to determine which buildings were the historic ones and which were more modern. When you could tell that it was older, it was often hard to really SEE it because it's a very touristy area and the fronts of the buildings are all little shops and things.
In any case, it was a wonderful day! Definitely glad that we did Assos and Fiscardo on a different day that Argostoli though!
More adventures followed this past weekend and even into this week... will post about those soon!!
On our way to Assos (last Friday), we stopped on the side of the road to take pictures of Myrtos Beach which is one of the most beautiful beaches in all of Greece! There's a book or something that says so.
We all wanted to stop but didn't have time so Geoffrey talked to Vasillis (our bus-driver) and he said that he might take whoever wants to go this coming weekend for a few hours. Woot!!!
Assos was BEAUTIFUL! It's such a quaint little town. There's a big hill that's sort of separated from the town by a tiny bit of land and on the top of that hill is a huge castle! Not huge for a castle, but definitely quite large for a castle on an island. It took those of us who went up about 20-25 minutes to walk to the entrance at the top of the hill (it was SO hot and there was almost NO shade between the start of the path and the end!!!) It was worth it though - I'd never seen a castle before!
After the hike down from the castle I was STARVING. I went to the cafe that others (who hadn't hiked up to the castle) said was the cheapest. I'm quickly learning that a bit of friendliness (aka flirting) goes a long way here. I ordered the same thing that Michelle and Leesa had paid €5 for and, after making some conversation while I waited, was only charged €4! The girls were filling up water bottles in the bathroom and said the water was a bit salty so I asked the same server if there was tap water available in the kitchen. He said yes and brought me back a 1.5L BOTTLE. I waved it away and said that tap water would be fine but he said it wasn't very good SO I asked how much the bottle would cost me. He thought for a minute and decided, "For you? Nothing!"
So. I'm definitely a fan of Greek hospitality :)
Next stop was Fiscardo!
There wasn't too much to see there -- we were supposed to be checking out the style of buildings that were more "historic" to get a better idea of what the island's structures used to look like buuut it was difficult to determine which buildings were the historic ones and which were more modern. When you could tell that it was older, it was often hard to really SEE it because it's a very touristy area and the fronts of the buildings are all little shops and things.
In any case, it was a wonderful day! Definitely glad that we did Assos and Fiscardo on a different day that Argostoli though!
More adventures followed this past weekend and even into this week... will post about those soon!!
Monday, September 21, 2009
More Pictures! Field Trip #1 and our Glass Bottom Boat Adventure!
Field Trip #1 to Argostoli (the capitol city of Kefalonia), Assos (they've got a castle!), and Fiscardo (the only town on the island that wasn't destroyed in the earthquake of 1953!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42624753@N02/sets/72157622418086138/show/
A local captain hosted us on his glass bottom boat on Saturday late afternoon thru early evening -- free of charge! He took us about 20-min away to a beautiful beach only accessible by boat and fed us an incredible BBQ while we were there!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42624753@N02/sets/72157622293502033/show/
As always -- see comments about each photo by clicking on "show info" on the top right corner of the slideshow screen!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42624753@N02/sets/72157622418086138/show/
A local captain hosted us on his glass bottom boat on Saturday late afternoon thru early evening -- free of charge! He took us about 20-min away to a beautiful beach only accessible by boat and fed us an incredible BBQ while we were there!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42624753@N02/sets/72157622293502033/show/
As always -- see comments about each photo by clicking on "show info" on the top right corner of the slideshow screen!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Pictures of Poros and Pronnoi!
Check out some pictures of Poros and Pronnoi -- Pronnoi doesn't actually exist anymore; it's the ancient city-state where we're excavating.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42624753@N02/sets/72157622292520407/show/
Don't forget to click on "show info" on the top right corner in the slideshow to read the titles and information about what the pictures are of!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42624753@N02/sets/72157622292520407/show/
Don't forget to click on "show info" on the top right corner in the slideshow to read the titles and information about what the pictures are of!
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