Thursday, October 22, 2009
Again Postponed
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Olympic Sized Post
So apparently, I’m not very good at this whole blogging once a day thing. It has been about a week and half since I posted anything? Whoops!
Lets see now, last you heard we had found our small little Lekithos, the rim of our Wine Jar (Anacoui, Anaqoui, Anaqoi? I have no idea, and apparently I’m so far off that Google can’t even figure out what the heck I’m trying to say) and the possibility of a tile burial correct? Well...We took our our little Lekithos, our Wine Jar AND we most certainly have a tile burial that looks like it covers the whole body across the length of most of our trench! We waited so long! The only thing that was horrible about this was that it was on our one day of digging last week. -.- On monday Geoffrey and a few other people (ie. Mike, Brayden, Cassandra, Rebecca) had to go to Argastoli again to sort out more National Visa stuff. To explain, our trip is actually only 85 days because travelers can only stay in the Shengen region of the world (Greece and parts of the Middle East) for a max of 90 days; unless they have a Shengen Visa. Recently though, the rules changed. So the people who got the visa in Canada, to travel more afterwords, ended up being screwed and twisted into getting a National Visa and some without a choice because their 90 days would have ended before the field school had, resulting in them possibly paying £600 at customs. Completely ridiculous. Anyway they went, jumped through the bureaucratic hoops but more importantly cost us a day of digging because we can’t without Geoffrey. Then on tuesday it rained all day and we did pottery reading. Wednesday though, we got to take out our prizes! It was a little rushed because the Greek Archaeological society has a rule about leaving important artifacts uncovered because of the robbers in Greece, but we got it all out the little Lekithos completely intact and the Wine Jar with the rim a little broken up. To make the rushing worse, we only had the Wednesday day because it was supposed to rain again on Thursday (which it did) and then it was our long weekend, of which we only have two more days off, Monday and Tuesday. Hopefully on Wednesday we get to take the tiles off our burial and see what we have underneath! I should also mention that I can’t post pictures of our finds, no matter how “out of context” the pictures are (referring to: even if I had a picture of myself and our little Lekithos with no site in the background) I could still go to jail and Geoffrey could loose his license because they are unpublished. You can see them when I get home! I just can’t plaster them all over Blooger, Facebook or my picture site. Another silly rule (to be honest it’s not silly at all, I am just incredibly jealous) is that we can’t wash our pots some Greek archaeological conservator artifact person gets to. *mumbles low caliber profanitys* We did get to find out that both vessels are from the 5th century B.C. and that the mini Lekithos might have actually been used (for oil anointing) to re-bury a burial that was accidentally dug up to bury our tile burial! Crazyness! Ahhh, stratigraphy what would we do without the.
So that was October 14th but it wasn’t just that day that was particularly awesome, our overnight on the mainland we so so much fun! So the Saturday before our rainy week we got up early (6:30am to get the bus to be exact. Ugg.) to catch the ferry to Kilini, to drive for 2ish hours to our first stop: Olympia. For me, it was nothing really really exciting because I’ve been before and even though it almost burnt down it was still the same. Two things this time I did that I didn’t do before: first we did a bare foot, foot race in the stadium with (in order) Mike, Brayden, me, Simon, blonde Michelle, Chelsey (which I spelt wrong before and need to go fix. I sorry *puppy eyes*), Julie and Leesa. We didn’t run the whole thing, only half, because it was early and we were lazy. Afterwords we walked around town, dodging the sales people and taking pictures. Then we hopped on the bus to head to Pylos where we were going to stay the night. It was the cutest hotel! We were crammed in there like sardines, but it was so cute! Our room (we could pick our roommates and since there are rooms for three Leesa, Shannon and I shared one) was so tiny, it was two twin beds about two three feet away from each other and a third chair converted to a bed. The entire roof was slanted, just like home! I also mean the entire roof, including the bathroom which was a little odd. That night, after killing time and our eardrums from the wedding precession, we went to Geoffrey’s favorite restaurant in Pylos and had a fantastic dinner! Shannon and I had a fish fillet with roasted tomatoes and different spices, Leesa had lamb, and our table shared some octopus, stuffed tomatoes, beans, and domades. Me and Leesa didn’t stay long we were both pretty tired but the food was still fantastic. The next day after our “continental” breakfast we left our cute little hotel for Methoni Castle. It was only the most awesomeness, bestest, most coolest castle ever! To get the history out of the way, it’s a Venetian castle which was occupied by a variety of cultures ranging from Romans, Spartans, Turks, Greeks over a very long period of time. Why you ask? Because of it’s location of course, why else! It one of the most southern points on the coast of Greece! So it was valuable for trade and dominance all over the Mediterranean. The next land you would hit if you went south would be North Africa, I have pictures. It rocks. But even more cool was it’s size! It was massive, and almost completely intact! It had this huge lookout tower on the water, and you could walk on the walls and run around the huge field in the middle and there are little mini almost hobbit like houses. And along part of the wall, on the other side of the castle, was a part you could climb into and run down these dark little enclosures to circular lookouts! It was so cool! It was like Indiana Jones! But then we were running out of time and so we decided to run around the castle taking pictures, and apparently we looked like we were running like Aragorn (Leesa didn’t want to be Gimli) and Legolas from Lord of The Rings. You know! The part with the epic music when they are hopping over things and running after Merry and Pippen! It was the most awesome thing I have ever done. There was just too much awesome to describe it all, hopefully the pictures do it some justice. The rest of the day was petty in comparison. After we went to the Palace of Nestor, which was cool but for some reason I thought it was more reconstructed so I was a little disappointed by that. Right next to the Palace was a Mycenaean Tholos Tomb which was our last stop of the day besides of course the museum which housed the artifacts from these places. After a pit stop for food, we left for the 5 o’colck ferry back to Poros! Best field trip ever!
Now we are all up to date, except for our long weekend! On friday we went to Argastoli for shopping! Jerry, our friend and Greek local, needed to go there for business so he gave blonde Michelle, Leesa, Shannon and I a ride. It’s about an hour and a half drive of windy roads, precarious corners and spectacular views. Our first, and most important stop, was at the Kefalonia “Animal Rescue” or to be more accurate: an old retiring couple with 40 some odd cats and who knows how many dogs. A few days after Rio died, we (as in blond Michelle on her run) found a 4-6 week old Kitten which we fittingly named Ozzy, because she wouldn't stop singing/meowing. Since we are not allowed to keep pets in our rooms and there was no way we could put her back on the street, we decided to give her to the “shelter”. The British woman there was unexcited about Ozzy, and took a bit of convincing to accept her, and accepted Ozzy only because she was in a rush and had to get to work. We are hopefully going to collect some money for her (another one of her complaints, but it is understandable I suppose) and send it to her before we leave as thanks for taking our cute kitty. Also if your wondering, I want a kitty for christmas, or welcome home present, which ever. Now for the shopping! Leesa bought an über fantastico pair of leather boots, a going out shirt AND a sexy leather vest. Technically, I didn’t spend more than £20...the boots I bought were a present from Brandon for my birthday...*cough* £120 *cough*. They are so nice though! They go up to my upper calf, have heels, are suede, and have these fashionable bows on the side! As soon as a saw them, I knew it was true love. Laying there in the window of the store, second shelf, almost hidden in the back daring me to try them on. It was magical.
On Saturday I stayed in a cleaned my room/kitchen and did laundry because I had been putting it off for a long long time. Very satisfying, I finally have a table to eat upon! Huzzah! And clean clothes, without fabric softener but I think I can survive with crunchy cloths a little while longer since I have no dryer. But Shannon and Leesa went to this oldest church in Poros! Apparently it was about a 2 hour hike to the top of the mountain, where they were greeted by the doctor of the abbot and a strange horny albanian man who, long story short, now has the common room phone number. Gross. That night there was much Angel watching, as per usual. Then on Sunday was our super spectacular food-o-rama. First we made a delicious breakfast, the making of which was spread over two floors and three rooms. I made the banana pancakes in Shannon’s room, Leesa cooked the bacon in my room, Shannon also made fried eggs in my room and after we all ate in Leesa’s room! Reasons for this? Leesa only has one element and no stove. Technically, me and Shannon also only have one element (both of our medium elements work intermittently) but we have ovens to keep stuff warm. It was a complete success, the pancakes could have used a bit more flour and baking powder but they were nummy with jam! We pretty much just watched Angel and saved Leesa’s laundry from the rain for the rest of the day. For dinner that night Shannon made a delicious fish dish with baked potatoes, corn and lots of Lemon! It was so good! For desert that night, during our sleepover in Shannon’s room, I made Wild Berry Cheese cake! It was only £5 and some change for the readymade little packages of cheesecakey goodness! In satchel number one, simply add butter to made it crumbly and spread on provided pan. In satchel number 72 (!?! no idea why) add milk and “whip” or in our case mix with a fork till we got tired. Lastly the Wild Berry Jelly, in satchel number 21 I think, spread heavily on top. Let cool for at least 30 mins and enjoy! Besides the fact that Shannon stole the covers and shoved me into the corner of the bed during our Angel-athon (only two episodes, amateurs! :P) it was such fun!
On the monday, Jerry took us to St. Gerasimos’ Church, it was spectacular. Saint Gerasimos holiday was that night/morning so it was so busy! The first thing we did was go to the older church where they keep the remains of St. Gerasimos. To be precise, he prayed in an underground cave beneath the church, which to get to you must take a ladder down a tiny hole to a triangular shaped, very hot, cave thing, then there is a small hole in the wall down to the right which you crawl through to the exact spot where he prayed for forty some odd years. The holiday, represented in the movie Captain Correli’s Mandolin, is for those who are mentally ill so they may be cured by the power of God. The sick would lay down along the road of the church and be blessed by St. Gerasimos (in the past, now just his remains). After we shopped around the equivalent of the Richmond night market beside the Church, we headed to Argastoli for a late dinner and to see the town at night! It was really nice! All the cities in Kefalonia have a main square, not like robson in Vancouver, but an actual open area surrounded by a road where all the cafés around it have chairs set up, nicely decorated with trees and usually have a very handy kiosk for snacks.
The last day of our long weekend was quite relaxing. We finally, kinda, sorta, almost, but were just actually really really desperate, got to go to the beach again! To put it in perspective, I haven't worn shorts in days, a good portion of the time I wore my tuque and it was raining sporadically all weekend. Poo Poo. BUT we did try very hard to stay as long as possible. I read a whole chapter of Breaking Dawn, hooray -.-. That night Leesa finally got to make her super special spaghetti, and it was so tasty. It was also specifically requested by the creator herself that I do not reveal it’s genius creation to the world. Thats just how good it was. Too bad for you! And then, there was more Angel. Oh! Also we watched 10 Things I Hate About You because Jerry downloaded it for us. There was much teen drama and Heath Ledger missing, it was fantastic.
Every time I try to post this blog, I never get to finish (I’m at 2,456 words now) and post this damn thing! So quick, today we had a good dig day because we finally got to dig around our burial! To sum up, our very confusing burial is now confirmed that it was two. It was confirmed, by the skull Shannon found today, that we do indeed have an original burial which was pushed aside! Our tile burial also has a random pipe at the end...Improvising? Or on purpose, we will possibly never know. But it’s super cool!
Looking Ahead...
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.
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.
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!
And we played Pictionary after dinner.
fun times... fun times.
Thanksgiving!
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!