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!
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!
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