Halloween in February???

I love the weekends when you think you have nothing to do and all of a sudden it is packed full! Saturday Kate and I went downtown to Syntagma to shop around and have lunch. It was a beautiful day and bustling with people.

Saturday night I went over to Christina's for dinner and to get ready for a Carnival party. Carnival - Mardi Gras lasts for about 4 weeks before Clean Monday (which is kind of like Fat Tuesday!) Clean Monday is this coming Monday - a holiday (our first since Christmas vacation).

Well this party was like your typical Greek outing - the party didn't begin until 10pm and we didn't arrive until about 11:30 pm and we left the party at 4:30 am (Quite impressive for me!!!!)

Carnival is basically a costume party so it was Halloween in February! I wore my Stone Ridge student costume!

So I stayed over at Christina's house and then on Sunday we had been invited to attend the a restaurant for brunch. The family's children attend ACS and so offered a discounted price for buffet. The restaurant is called Royal Thai and it had fabulous Thai food!

Then Christina, Kate and I continued to the Mall to watch the movie "He's just not into you" which was a great chick flick!!!!!

So the weekend ended up better than expected.

Busts

Okay this isn't anything to write home about but I was quite fascinated with what I saw today and thought I would share. So there are a lot of "foreigners" selling knock-off purses, wallets and bags "vendors" and they lay their stuff down on the sidewalk on a sheet like cloth. Now I was always thinking why do they all the sell the same stuff right beside each other and today I answered my own question. They stick together because one of them always have to be on the look out for the police - because they don't really have a permit to sell this stuff.

I was waiting for Kate at a metro stop and all of a sudden I see this guy run for his life followed by this other guy carrying his wrapped up sheet of goods followed by a police officer. Then I looked back to see where they came from and the guy with the stash was the lucky was (in his eyes b/c he had his goods) the other guys not so lucky as I watched the police confiscate all their bags. (see photo)

Then we went downtown (Syntagma Square) and I watched many police raids and running vendors. However, the vendors didn't go far and then they would laid their stuff down again. Honestly many people bought the merchandise in the 8 mins. they were there before the police made them scatter again. It was sort of entertaining!

But I was really downtown to go Carnival shopping as I am going to a mascaraed party tonight. Stayed tuned for that blog entry!

February Ancedotes!!!!

Still window painting but this time they can paint from the inside or the outside - we are almost finished!!!! This is a picture of my classroom - looks a little spacious as the desks are to the perimeter for Centers. I will take another full of my students!!!

Sorry I know it's been a long time - nothing much has happened and then again I have been very busy!!!! Actually - it has been only a week - seems like much longer.

Last weekend I was very busy meeting new friends. My friend Christina's friend from NY-Zurich was in town and a whole bunch of us went to our favorite Irish Pub - James Joyce on Friday night.
I had two dates - one on Saturday and one on Sunday - both Greek guys. Got their names from a friend of a friend. Nice people but I don't know if anything will become of it.
Saturday went to a wine tasting event at the music hall.
On Tuesday night I went and saw my friend's friend in a play - however, it was all in Greek!
Last night Kate and I went to see the movie The Reader and half way through the movie all the lights came on and on the screen it said intermission! We both looked at each other and began to laugh!

School keeps plugging along - every day- no holidays - no snow days! Our first long weekend since Christmas will be March 2 - their Ash Wednesday but it's on a Monday and its called Clean Monday.

Funny little antedotes (my life):

• My new granny cart works quite well to haul groceries up the hill.
  
  
• The other day I put a rag on my railing outside my kitchen to dry - it was there for a few days but when I went to get it again it was gone. I slowly looked down to the dreaded pit (the bottom (4 stories down) where it is dirty and muddy and a big gathering of what and if my clothes ever fall down there I will not retrieve them). But it didn't seem to be down there.... I was pondering where did it go??? And then a few days later it appeared -dry folded on my front door knob. I have no idea!






• I went to pay my condo fee and the woman Maria (who speaks very limited English) always gives me food - so this time I brought my heart butter cookies - but still she tells me to sit down and then brings me spinakopia (sp?) on a regular plate so I have to sit and it them all without anything to wash them down with and make small talk. Really I think these things only happen to me!
• I have been appointed as new co-chair of the social committee in the elementary school (surprise, surprise) - an American teacher is leaving at the end of February as her husband (who works for the US Embassy) has been transferred to Hawaii. So I was in charge of finding a cake for her going-away party. There is this email list called newcomers bulletin - so I emailed them that I was looking for someone who makes American sheet cakes. Well, there are quite a lot in the area - as I spoke to about 5 of them on the weekend. So the woman I chose to do this cake (I received 3 emails from her friends recommending her) also makes bagels to order. Greece doesn't have bagels - so I ordered a dozen! I actually made lots of different connections chatting with all these people. Networking!!!!

Pretty mundane I know. Next weekend I am already looking forward to going to the US Embassy for a going-away BBQ on Saturday, to the Royal Thai Embassy on Sunday for brunch and on the 25th I am going to a reception hosted by Kuwait - it's their Liberation Day - I have a student from Kuwait in my class, thus the invitation!

I am excited that my mom has booked her flight to Greece at the end of June. Adele, John and Alex are about to book their flights for mid-July and we are looking at cruises! I have been also searching the web for Safari Expeditions possibly in August - anyone want to join me????

Well Happy President's Day! Can't believe that next week will mark 6 months already! (And only 4 months of school left!) Time does fly when you are having fun!

Super Bowl and other random things

Okay so the Super Bowl was on 5 nights ago...but today I watched it. I had heard it was a great game and was disappointed I missed it. (I really do miss watching "American" football). I thought I would grab some gelato at a cafe near my house on my way home from school. I walked in and there they had the Super Bowl playing, so I sat down to watch it. I caught it at 2 minutes before half time and it was exciting from that point on!!! Even though I knew the score, I was just waiting to see how the points played out. I was happy.

I also accomplished a few more things on my to-do list - and the Greeks say you can only get to one thing a day on a list. On my way to school I, finally, stopped in to HSBC to apply for a European credit card - I was meaning to do this 5 months ago but here it was Feb5! It should arrive in a week!

I finally contacted two friends who live here - they are not my friends (yet) but are friends of a friend in the states. Contacted both of them and meeting them this weekend!

Below is the painting I purchased while in Monemvasia yet it just arrived on Tuesday. I have not hung it up yet as I need a friend to help me but am so pleased with my purchase!

Monemvasia

January 24-25, 2009
What a perfect day! Kate, Lindsey, Miah, Dwain and I arrived in Monemvasia on Friday night. It was a 5 hour drive in the dark and in the rain – but Dwain did a great job driving. Dwain and I had both looked up this beautiful hotel “on the rock” and we decided we should spoil ourselves and stay here (especially since the car we had rented was going to be so inexpensive! I am sure glad we chose to go with this hotel – Malvasia Hotel.
Monemvasia is a village on the southern peninsula of the Peloponnese. Many of the native Greeks all commented on Monemvasia being their favorite place-not much to do except eat and read and relax – perfect for me! The “rock” is this huge rock – mountain type of island that is only connected to the main land by a narrow two land road. Prior to a huge earthquake a few hundred years ago, the rock was connected to the main land. You can drive up a road on the rock but you can’t drive in the village. So on Friday night we parked the car and walked to our hotel through the castle gateway along the stone paths to our hotel.
Lindsey, Kate and I shared a triple – I had a single bed on the first floor which had a small balcony with a view of the sea downwards and the rock upwards and there was a double on the second floor. But on this floor was part of the rock where the fridge and tv were. Our hotel (which we all agreed we would come back to) had a great breakfast included.
But getting on with the better part – Saturday! Miah and Dwain rose the sunrise which they said was spectacular! We had a leisurely breakfast in a unique room overlooking the sea. The room had lots of games and places to hang out. After breakfast we hiked up to the top of the rock to see the castle. What amazing views we had and on top of the rock which was dense with a huge variety of green plants and some flowers – yellow daisies, red poppies and some purple flowers. A local merchant was saying that because of the beautiful spring like weather they have been having the flowers and plants think it is time to bloom. It was such a beautiful day. The sun was warm the breeze was warm and the sky was blue! There were many ruins on the rock including a fully restored church. The view was breathtaking!
We all took tons of photos – it’s like whenever we stopped to “catch our breath” was the perfect place to take a photo. After the hike we got in the car and drove to the main land. I don’t know why anyone would want to stay on the main land! There wasn’t much to do. We had a great lunch outside – all the locals, I think, think we are nuts to sit outside but it’s about 60 degrees – lovely!!!! We had a leisurely lunch and then walked around the stores on the rock.
Although we were not allowed to relax on the couches in the breakfast room, we sat in the “lounge” of the hotel last night playing card games.

Inauguration Night 2009

Wow! What an amazing experience to watch the first African-American get sworn in! You know you don't really appreciate your country until you leave your country!

I volunteered to help with the Inauguration event which was being held at my school this evening. I was on protocol - escorting delegates and other "important" people to the theater.

Honestly, I don't know who I escorted but I did see many ambassadors and ministers from so many different countries, such as, Senegal, United States, South Africa. It was great to see them come to support this historical moment - entourage and all!

The school had many different places to view the ceremonies. I watched in the library. It was great - we all applauded after many things President Obama said in his speech or after Aretha Franklin sang!

We also all applauded at 7pm our time which marked the official time he became President even before he was sworn in!

I was glad it was a sunny day and not too cold. It was a nice 60 degrees here!
Yes I took pictures of the screen I was watching!

This is the ambassador of the United States Embassy in Greece. The man onthe left.

Trust Me I Know

Trust Me I Know

Can only do one load a wash a day b/c I have to put my clothes out to dry and I only have enough pegs and lines to dry one load at a time. Winter takes longer as it is rain season.
Since it is rain season, I need to check the weather before I do laundry.

I also have to have enough time b/c one wash averages on 1.5 hours to do and then I have peg the laundry.

My wash machine sits in my bathroom. I have take all the stuff off of it if I am doing a load b/c during the spin cycle and can make everything fly off of it. Trust me I know!

Talking about bathroom, a few other idiosyncrasies: toilet paper cannot go in the toilet –ever! The pipes are narrow. Trust me, don’t flush the paper, I know!

In the winter, if I need to take a shower I need to flip my circuit breaker on and then wait up to 2 hours for the hot water to get hot. Then it is hot and it’s a nice shower. I usually shower in the evenings!

The hot water breaker for the bathroom cannot be up if the light is on for “not efficient” time to use a lot of electricity. If so it blows a huge fuse which is in the basement of my building. Trust me I know!

The hot water breaker for the kitchen water doesn’t take long to heat up, however the tank is quite small and therefore I can’t get through washing my dishes without running out of hot water. We don’t have dishwashers.

I also have to flip the breaker to give electricity to my microwave and oven/stove. If the water isn’t boiling after 20 minutes – trust me I know I haven’t flipped the switch up!

If I am in the middle of a conversation on my cell phone and the phone call gets dropped. I have run out of minutes – trust me I know!

Although Greeks are known for just going with the flow, no time sense, etc., except you need to be planned b/c stores close on Mon., Wed. and Sat. around 2pm - and don't reopen! Now grocery stores on these days do stay open until 9pm. Tues., Thurs. and Friday they close around 2 and reopen around 6 - 9. Sundays everything is closed! So if I don't get something I need on Saturday, I basically have to wait until Tuesday to get it. Trust me I know!

On the school front – there is an Xerox machine in the faculty room but we are not allowed to make multiple copies – if we need more, we need to fill out a form, turn it into the principal where she signs off on it and then someone takes it to get copied. It doesn’t get returned for 2 business days. I still haven’t figured out when I need to turn it in and get it back in time. Many times I don’t have the papers. I plan but I can’t plan this far in advanced – trust me I know!

I think this is all the basics. I will make a continuation link if I think of more! :)