New Year's Resolutions

So I am thinking if I officially post my New Year's Resolutions, I may be more able to keep them!

#1 Return emails. I know this has been a problem! But let me first state that when I write emails I put effort into them. They are more like a note/letter format than just answering a question. So I have decided that I will respond to everyone's emails within 24 hours of me reading them. (You may ask yourself, how will you know I have read it within the 24 hours? Unless I am travelling to a remote place, I am online checking my emails before school, sometimes at school and most evenings). But let me preference my future emails - I may not write a lot, I may just answer your question. And then later I may write another email in form of the letter.

#2 Don't waste food. Plan and prepare. I like to go to my fruits and vegetables market up the street. I like to buy a variety of produce, but what happens is, some of the vegetables usually get thrown out because I bought them on a whim and they didn't really go with anything I was eating. Or I buy them to go with a recipe and then I can't find all the other ingredients at the grocery store and then end up not making the recipe. I already go to the grocery store about 3 times a week so I need to be more planful with actual recipes I know I can get all the ingredients for.

#3 Use bags. I have so many reusable bags and I do believe I am quite good with having them on me and using them especially at the grocery store. But I still come home with bags. I would love it if all of Greece used reusable bags more but I will start with me!

So there you have it. Three resolutions I believe I can keep. Notice I don't have exercise more and diet - I know myself. I will try but those are yo-yo resolutions. These three are ones I can have success with doing.

Happy New Year!!!!

Happy New Year to everyone! Can you believe it is already 2010? I cannot.

I had a great (yet quick) Christmas holiday in the states. I hadn't been back since last Christmas. The first thing I noticed was that I could understand everyone's conversations around me- everyone spoke English! This was certainly a welcoming change. Another great change was to be able to put the toilet paper in the toilet!!!!

I arrived late to SC on December 23 and left on January 3, arriving here in Greece January 4th.

December 24 went straight to shopping at Stein Mart! Always success there. Did some other errands and then celebrated Christmas Eve with friends of my parents, candle light church service. December 25 opened stockings then loaded the car to drive 5 hours to Florida - Disney World here we come!

It was a complete surprise for the kids - they opened their surprise Christmas morning and flew out in the afternoon! We did the Magic Kingdom for 2 days, Animal Kingdom for a day (let's just to say doing the safari was good if you have never been on a real safari before but a let down if you have!!!) And we did Epcot for a day. We ate dinner at different country pavillions, saw the Magic Kingdom parade, the light show parade, the light show at Epcot. The boys and I did all the scary rollercoasters - Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Mt. Everst!
We covered a lot of ground in 4.5 days! Oh did a character breakfast too.

On the third day after the character breakfast, we went to visit my Grandma. I know she loved seeing us, even though it was a short visit.

It was a hard Christmas for her as Grandpa passed away in October. But Grandma, you look great and it was wonderful to see you!

My parents gave the trip of Disney World to me and my stister, brother-in-law and niece and nephew. It was a fantastic trip! As we alternate Christmas with my sister, it was our turn! So I hadn't seen them since Maine August 2008! As most of you know, my nephew and niece share a birthday and were both born on Christmas Day -so Austin turned 7 and Heidi turned 5. Wow, how have their grown! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Christmas Letter 2009

Merry Christmas (unfortunately it will not allow me to type the 8 different ways to say Merry Christmas from the 8 different countries I visited this year!
I had a busy year. It was been truly memorable. I did cover a lot of ground here in Greece too. Highlights were Monamvasia, Meteora, Delphi, Porto Heli, Nafplio.
For Easter I went to visit my friend Natasha (Price) Sewell in Germany. We met at St. Francis Episcopal Day School –my first job! Then I went over to Amsterdam – hit the Keuhenhof Gardens at peak time the thousands of tulips were gorgeous.
In June I went to Budapest, Hungary. I had a wonderful mud bath and thermal bath! At the end of June mom came over and we went to the island of Naxos.
Beginning of July, a friend from Costa Rica (Stefanie from OK) came over for a week and we saw Delphi and went to the island of Mykonos! Mid July my good high school friend Adele and her husband John and their 3 year old daughter came over for a week. We hit mainland places in Greece – on the Peloponnese.
August I went on my dream vacation of an African safari in Tanzania. I saw the Big Five animals (buffalo, rhino, elephant, lion and leopard) and tons more. What an experience this was – -truly unbelievable! I even went on a hot-air balloon ride – gliding over the Serengeti as the sun rises, is not too shabby!!!! Then I volunteered with the Maasai people – another fantastic experience.
I have had constant communication since I left Tanzania to help support the children attending these schools. My current students and the elementary school have raised enough money to sponsor 5 of the students. This money raised will pay for 5 girls’ room, board, supplies and education. I, myself, have also sponsored a girl.

End of August, my friend Suzanne (from Stone Ridge) came to visit for 2 weeks. The first week we went to the Miller’s place in Provence, France and then went to the Greek island Santorini.
At the end of September, I went to Munich, Germany to participate in the traditional Oktoberfest! That was a lot of beer!
For Thanksgiving, I went to Cairo, Egypt and saw the amazing Pyramids. Riding the camel was a definite highlight!
And now in 3 days I will be loading on another plane to head back to the United States! There was some doubt if I was going to make due to the threat of British Airways but hopefully now it will be smooth sailing. I am going to my parents’ house in SC. We will celebrate Christmas there but then head to Disney World where we will meet up with my sister and her family. I haven’t seen them since August 2008! I am sure I will be shocked on how much Austin and Heidi will have grown. We will do Disney for 5 days and go visit my grandmother. Unfortunately my grandfather passed away in October, so it will be a difficult time for Grandma. They were married for 63 years!
I can’t believe I am already in my second year in Greece. So the big question is what are am I going to do next year? I am attending a job fair in London at the end of January and I hope to find another job in Western Europe. I am not quite ready to move back to the states – so this may give some of you another opportunity for you to visit me! We will see what 2010 has in store for me!
I wish you all a happy holidays! I hope that 2010 brings you joy, laughter, adventure and wonderful memories.

Cairo Egypt - Thanksgiving09

What an amazing trip I had to Cairo over this Thanksgiving vacation. Although I couldn't find anyone to go with - I was hardly alone. The company TouchEgypt was very professional and competent. I learned a lot about Egyptian history and Muslim culture.

I stayed at the Sofitel - Pyramids Hotel in Giza. As I left my hotel and looked left I could plainly see the second largest pyramid.

I arrived Wednesday. Thursday, I was picked up by a van with driver and my guide Mohamed Yonis - since there are so many Mohameds he suggested I call him Yonis. (Eunice) We had a very busy day. We started at the city of Memphis which was the first city in lower Egypt.

He gave me a great history lesson about how the upper and lower Egypts were formed about the Dynasties. I really don't ever remember learning about Egyptian history.

We then continued to the first step pyramid This is where King Ramses (if recall correctly)was buried.

Then they took me to a carpet weaving school. Where, of course, I bought a weaved rug which I think I will hang. After that we went to rent a camel. Yonis wanted to know if he could just meet me afterwards and I said I wanted him to join me - give me more history lessons so he came but on horse. I truly enjoyed the camel ride. I rode for 2 hours with some getting on and off the camel -which the camel didn't really like! It was comfortable and I really height advantage!

It was the perfect time of year to be in Cairo - I can't image doing this in the heat of the summer. It was neat to see horses and camels running through the sand of the Sahara Desert. I didn't go into any of the pyramids but climbed a little onto the second largest one. Although this one does look taller because it is on higher ground.

After the camel ride, I was taken to a glass / essence place and then to a papyrus store and how it is made.

I continued my Thanksgiving day events by going to a friend's friend's house for dinner. She and her friends are working at the American Cairo School -so it was neat to be among fellow Americans for dinner.

Friday was a huge Muslim holiday - Eid - the feast day is celebrated with a slaying of a sheep. Those who can afford a sheep keep 1/4 of the sheep and then give the rest to the poor. So I had the day off from tours. However, in the evening I met up with an ACS family the Brownes and we went to the Sound and Light Show of the Pyramids together and then dinner. They also were using ToughEgypt.

On Saturday I had a tour of the city of Cairo - Yonis picked me up again and we headed to the Citadel. We had to take our shoes off and I put my scarf around my head to respect the Muslim the culture. I have only been in 2 mosques before and coincidently the same architect built each one - this one and the Blue Mosque in Istanbul! We then headed to the Khan Khalili Bazaar downtown - some stores were open but not many due to the holiday. Then we went to the Egyptian Museum - we saw part of the Rosetta Stone and the King Tut exhibit. Unfortunately no one could take pictures inside - in fact you had to leave your cameras in a room!

Cairo is a huge city - 22 million people. 55+% of the people are below poverty. Trash is everywhere. Traffic is insane - modes of transportation include cars, trucks, busses, mini busses, carts pulled by donkeys or horses, people riding bicycles, or donkeys or horses or camels. And there are hardly any traffic lights!

Wine Touring

Me beside many bottles at vineyard #3!Christy, Colin and Terese testing at vineyard #2.

Vinyard #1 taste testing.

Dwain organized this great day on Saturday. 17 of us (including Harper the baby) loaded up on the rented mini bus to drive to the northern part of the Peloponnese to visit 4 different wineries. It was a perfect fall day - sun shining (about 70 degrees). We were given good tours and explanations of how each of the 4 wineries processed their grapes. And more importantly were given great wine to sample.

Off the bus with all our wine!!!!

After the third winery we stopped for lunch and then headed to our last one. We all returned with at least 2 bottles of wine in hand - some many more.

Here's a video of the labels being put on the bottles. Cheers!

Athens Classic Marathon - 5 km

Despite the wet, wet weather - many people (supposedly 10,600 people registered) showed up for the 27th Athens Classic Marathon. We met at the Marble Stadium (Panathenaic Stadium) downtown in Athens. There were many ACS participants from friends, colleagues, parents and students. Our ACS team of about 120 were running for PNOE - an organization in which my friend Dave supports and he was the leader of our ACS team. PNOE supports families with children who are being treated in the Intesive Care unit. The true marathoners began at Marathon Tomb (42, 195 km from the Marble Stadium).

The rain didn't really let up until the end (my end). Even before we began, our group got split up - so luckily my good friend Kate and I travelled together! We were definitely at the end of the pack at the starting line, however, passed many walkers and finished our 5 km - quite wet in 47 mins 27 secs.

We definitely ran our last bout as you end running into the Marble Stadium with people cheering you on - that was quite an incredible feeling. Everyone gets medal at the end too!

We stuck around to see the first few marathon runners cross the finish line in about 2 hours and 15 mins! Then we went and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. On my bus ride home I saw many marathoners still running the race - they had about 8 km to go from my neighborhood. I saw many Canadians running - it was neat to cheer them on in English and they all sort of did a double take yet appreciated the cheering. One guy stopped to take a photo of the church in my square and I asked him where in Canada is he from and he responded Thunder Bay - ever heard of it? Of course I told him my good friends went to Lakehead and I had climbed the mountain - Sleeping Giant!
It was a great day of achievements. It was pretty cool to participate in a marathon (although only 5 km of it) in Athens, Greece.

Halloween

If I don't say so myself, I threw a great Halloween party this year!
I had received Halloween decorations which helped (since they don't celebrate Halloween here).
I made the food into a Halloween theme - I served Mold Dip (blue cheese dip), Mold and Mildew Dip (Spinach and Artichoke Dip), Cockroach Dip (bread, walnuts, garlic dip), Vomit (pumpkin dip), Bat Turds (butter tart squares) and finger cookies!!! Everyone came in costume and it was fun night.