Byzantium, Constantinople, and Istanbul

We started out Monday morning with a ferry ride and immediately to a bus ride to the airport.  After getting onto the plane, we were informed that they would be giving us lunches and sandwiches, which thrilled me.  I had no idea we would get food particularly because the flight itself was only an hour long.  That hour flew by, no pun intended.  It was literally 15 minutes up, 30 minutes at max altitude, and 15 minutes down.  As we descended in to land, there was water everywhere, which was fine.  But as we fell closer to the ground we could still only see water.  There was a little moment of panic considering we were still going down and no land in site.  Luckily, being under 1000 feet, we found land.  It turns out the airport is just right off the coast.
After getting off we got our Visa's for the trip and stopped at he first "Duty Free" free was.  Of course Tony and Graham had to get the cheapest bottle of whiskey they had.  We ventured to atms where we could get money, the currency being Turkish Lira, which had a nice exchange rate from the dollar at .55 cents.  I got a minimal amount out knowing I would have to again.  From the airport we met up with two drivers who were there waiting for us.  Driving around the first few minutes, my impression of the city was that they only cared about the Olympics coming to Istanbul in 2020 because there were so many signs and banners for it.  After the drive we arrived at our hostel, which I could go on forever about. I won't, so I will be concise.  When we got there we were put into our rooms with the five girls we have in one and the guys...all thirteen of the guys in one room.  Are you kidding me?  They were not kidding me because we walked in to find fourteen beds in one room.  There were also only 2ish bathrooms we could use.  One had only a toilet and the light was a terrible motion detection light, so while in midstream, the light would go off...The second bathroom had a a toilet and a shower, but this one got to smelling SOO bad, SOO, SOO bad and we have no idea why.  And the third bathroom had only a shower and a sink, I don't know why.  Ohh and on top of that, they made us pay, PAY 5 Lira to rent a towel while we were there.  Thankfully, Drury "said" they would pay us back for it.  While all that was not great, the bed was comfortable enough but of course since I am not in the US, I could not get internet in my bed.  What was alright though was that the hostel had a buffet breakfast which was simply bread and things to put on it with some cereal and stuff.  Enough to make me happy to say the least.  Everyday before we left, I made sure to pack a bag full of the breakfast food.
The first day we started with the Galata Tower, which is a stone tower north of the Golden Horn.  From the top of the tower we could see all of Istanbul, into the Mediterranean, and into Asia.  And from there we walked back to the main plaza where at one end is the Blue Mosque and the other Hagia Sophia.  This is an amazing area because of the vast buildings and feel of the area.  But before going to the mosques we first explored the Basilica Cisterns which functioned to provide water for the city.  The cisterns was a large area underground that reminded me of a cavern.  It was probably thirty feet down at least in the dark with lights to show off the columns.  The most famous part is the two Medusa heads carved into the bottom of columns, one sideways and the other upside down.
Then came the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia.  The Blue Mosque is a functioning mosque and we had to take our shoes off while inside.  There were people praying and things going on while tours walked through but it was basically one large area.  Hagia Sophia was obviously more impressive because it is the most notable mosque from the time period.  It now functions as a museum so we could walk through all areas.  Inside it is very vast and quite impressive.  As we went up the side we could see all the details of the walls.  Although most of what we can see are frescoes that are not too impressive because they were used to cover the mosaics that included people and other object that could be considered idols.  The mosaics that can be seen include Mary and Jesus and others with Jesus.  Those were one of the more impressive parts besides the building itself.  What I found interesting is that the Blue Mosque appeared to be larger than Hagia Sophia but is smaller on the inside and Hagia Sophia looks smaller from the outside and is much larger inside than in the Blue Mosque.  That was day one.
The next day we went to Topkapi Palace which had numerous gardens and buildings.  I was less impressed with the palace because there were too many people and there was not much there.  What was there though was an 86 carat diamond that I stole for Niki (stole a picture).  I do regret that I did not see the supposed staff Moses used to part the sea which is again supposedly there because the lines were soooo long.  Then we went to a couple of museums, the modern being more interesting.  There were exhibits going that showed videos and included weird and disturbing things.  We ended our day by going to the Grand Bazaar.  The bazaar was cool because you can haggle with them.  All of the prices for things start ridiculously high, so you might start out with an offer of 20-30% of what they said.  We were generally able to reduce the price a lot but most of the time not enough.  Most if not all of the sellers are very pushing and will do anything just to get you to look their direction, which is highly annoying.  There are times were they will just not leave you alone.  I bought a few things I got for cheap.  What we came to believe was that they bought everything by the kilo from a big airdrop that comes once a day with the same crap.  Literally every place has the same things or the same form of things.  Perhaps the weirdest thing is that as you try to leave the bazaar perfume and cologne sellers all jump on you trying to get you to buy their knock off scents.  Graham and I were able to get one to go super low but of course did not buy from them.  And when I say we did not buy their fake perfume and cologne from them, I mean we did buy their fake fragrances.  I will give my knock off Armoni a shot on eBay when I get home.
And finally the last day started with the Chora Church.  The Church of the Holy Savior Chora is considered to be one of the most beautiful surviving examples of a Byzantine church.  It is covered with great frescoes and mosaics.  What I was most impressed with was the mosaics about Mary's life.  I heard stories and things about her life that I had never known that were told from mosaics on a wall. Others portrayed the life and death of Christ.  We then walked along the Theodosian Walls which served as defense for Constantinople.  They were impressive and many areas were destroyed but being built in 415 AD, they were in still pretty good shape.  It was sooo cold walking outside at this point that we all just wanted to go inside and get our lunch.  The food is similar to Greece, the keying for finding cheap food being to look for the spinning meat.  Also, every restaurant has people outside trying to drag you in and they all say they have the best kebap when all the restaurants serve the same food.  From lunch we went to another mosque that was of course less impressive than the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia then ended up in the spice market.  There was every kind of spice imaginable and most I had no idea as to what it was.  But of course we all had to try some Turkish Delight.  We tried different flavors a lot being marshmallow-like with nuts.  On the subject of food, we did eat at Burger King a couple times just because it was there and cheap.
As we were walking around the morning we left I got to thinking about the city and I thought that besides the major landmarks and some of the food, Istanbul felt fake to me.  Because literally everything in shops and the Grand Bazaar has this fake feeling.  The same thing can be purchased almost everywhere else in the city and every restaurant serves the same food.  There is no way to know if the clothes people are wearing are the real brand because chances are it is not the real brand, so everything felt fake to me.  Just seemed like an odd way to have a city setup, but of course I think that is a relatively modern quirk to the city.  I guess no matter how bad the hostel experience was and how everything seemed to be a knock off, it is still a pretty city with great attractions.  And there were even more kitties in Istanbul I had to get pictures of for Niki.  After being gone for a week I am glad to be back on the island where I am more familiar with things.

From the Galata Tower

the Galata Tower

Basilica Cisterns

inside the Blue Mosque

Blue Mosque

Hagia Sophia

Inside Hagia Sophia

Grand Bazaar

inside the Chora Church

Theodosian Walls

Me in front of Hagia Sophia

Me in front of the Blue Mosque

Spring Break Adventures

During spring break I stayed on the island and explored many things.  It started last weekend when Jon, Graham, and I walked along the beach looking for a museum.  We walked for hours along the beach taking pictures, cracking jokes, and posing in holes.  When we finally came to what we thought was the museum we were looking for, we found small, closed buildings that was arguably a museum because of what was inside. It was all locked up so we just continued down the coast until we got tired of walking.
The next day, Jon, Melyssa, Graham, and I wanted to go to the site beach for our architecture project and get our tan on.  While trying to find a place to layout, we saw rocks that wrapped around this archaeological site.  So we continued on around the rocks until we were basically hopping from boulder to boulder in the water.  There were times were we had to get wet to continue around.  We did this because we thought there was an area of benches and stuff, but that was false.  It got to a point were Jon and I decided to head back and walk around to a beach we knew had some space while Melyssa and Graham continued around.  We met them around the other side and tanned for a good thirty minutes.  That night we went to an upstairs bar we were told was nice and a little cheaper.  It was really nice but when we got there, there were tons and tons of what looked like middle school kids celebrating a birthday and dressing up. We asked the owner of the place how old he kids were and he said about 14 to 15.  This was shocking considering they were all walking up to the bar with slips of paper and going back into the crowd with just about any drink they could have wanted.  Apparently there is a deal with their school and the bar to split the profits, but what was crazy was how young they all were.
Perhaps the biggest adventure we went on was the hike to the top of Mt. Oros, the tallest mountain with the highest point on the island.  Melyssa, Graham, and I started our hike to the top at 9:30 in the morning.  We knew where the mountain was and a rough way to get there.  After walking over an hour along the coast nearly to another city, we cut off the road and onto paths we believed led to the base.  Ever since we left, I could see the mountain in the distance and thought to myself, "This is going to take a looooong time."  And of course it did.  After taking a path off the main road and following it for almost another hour, we came to its end.  We could see the mountain but had to road or path to follow, so we just headed straight for the base.  There were other hills and valleys before the mountain so we had to somehow make it through all of these without a road.  One could argue that we were lost but we were in fact not lost, because being lost means that we did not know where we were.  We knew exactly were we were just not how to get to our destination even though we could see it.  This was probably the worst a part of our journey because there was no road, we were trekking through huge boulders and an abundance of thistles and thorns, and we all only wore shorts because we were told it was a one to two hour hike to the top.  After 3 hours in the thorns, rocks, and climbing from boulder to boulder, we saw a sign, a sign that was on a road.  We were so relieved and knew that we could get to the top from here.  Five hours from the time we left in the morning, we made it to the top.  The view was so amazing because you could literally see everything on the island except for a few things.  We could even see Athens in the distance and were at time above clouds.  When we decided to leave  we simply followed the road back down that led to another road that went right back into town.  Not only did we feel really dumb but it took less time.  We argued that the way we took was much better at this point because besides all the scrapes we got, we had a great story to tell.  Looking back on it, I am glad we made our own path to the top because it was more adventurous.  After that agonizing  eight hour walk and hike though every terrain, we treated ourselves to a massive pizza from "Pizza Venus" that was delicious.
After our long day of hiking we had to take an entire day of rest to recover from the day before.  But on Friday the three of us and Zach went to find ancient olive trees.  We were told they were just off the main road down he coast.  While walking down the road and seeing Mt. Oros in the distance, we were constantly reminded of our previous experience   This experience was different of course although we did take the same path off the main road as we did before.  After taking the path and remembering that the olive trees were just a few minutes on this path, we decided that we did not know where the trees were.  So Graham, Zach, and I cut off the path and started mountain climbing up the hill/mountain beside us in hopes of finding the ancient olive trees.  Before we made it off the main road, we found a little chihuahua that began to follow us.  He followed us up the path and even followed the three of us up the steep rocks to the top of the hill.  Melyssa stayed down and watched us go up, although we soon could not see her.  Once again I wore shorts thinking that we would only be on roads and we would easily find the olive trees, but of course we did not and instead found ourselves climbing on boulders and swimming through thorns once again.  I actually got more scarped up on the hill than I did all day hiking up the mountain.  We did eventually make it to the top of this hill and found no olive trees.  It was too far to turn back the way we came, so we headed to the road to make our way down.  When we got to where the road met the hill, there was a ninety degree drop off a cliff, so we had to turn around and find another way down.  At this point, it was beginning to get dark and we had to hurry down so we were not stuck on this hill after dark.  We managed to make our way down and found Melyssa.  She told us that had we continued on the path off the road, then we would have found the olive trees because she saw them.  We were too tired to go back and look and it was almost dark, so we headed home.  The walk home seemed so long because there was easily 30 to 40 mile per hour winds blowing in on us the whole way.  The wind was crazy.  We made it back to town and were once again exhausted after hours of walking.
That was my spring break, a lot of walking and sight-seeing with some homework and sleeping sprinkled in.  I took a billion pictures and most of it was very exciting, even some of the dangerous things we did.  Next week will be a long one, we will be in Istanbul walking around all week, so I am resting up for that.  Even though I stayed on the island, it was a spring break that I will never forget.

There's Mt. Oros

after tanning

from Mt. Oros

epic thorns

from Mt. Oros

from the hill/mountain while looking for olive trees

the chihuahua that followed us everywhere

A Week in Deutschland

Last week I was in Berlin visiting Niki.  I arrived at the airport and had a few hours to kill before she flew in from a trip, so I wondered around the city myself.  From the airport I got on a bus then rode a train around for a while until I felt like getting off.  I found malls and plenty of places to go.  I also soon found all the food.  I spent most of the afternoon, and the entire week I was there for that matter, following my nose.  My nose tends to lead me to good places.  My first meal in Germany consisted was a Döner, which I associated to be like the gyros I have had in Greece but on steroids.  The Döner had a load of veal, lettuce, tomatoes  onions, carrots, cucumber, garlic sauce, and chili sauce.  It was sooo delicious and nothing short of heaven for a growing boy.  I also had a box of china I like to call it from "China Box" which was Asian noodles with veggies and chicken.  These were the first things I ate in Berlin and they both mad me very happy.  

That evening Niki arrived and I was there waiting in the airport.  Those moments are the best, were after a long period of time you are reunited.  It had been two months since we had seen each other and I was so happy I was able to get to see her on our anniversary.  Since she knew I was able to visit, she was coming up with places we had to go and things we had to do while I was there.  We went all over and to sooo many places.  It seemed like I knew the city and how to get around by myself in just a couple of days.  I became accustomed to the trains and how they work and came to really like the city and how everything else worked.  Unlike Greece, there was more structure and logic to everything rather than chaos or confusion.  And everything seemed cheaper and more reasonable because it is a large city and their economy is not in the toilet.  After meeting Niki at the airport, we headed to her host parent's house, where I would be staying for the week.  I was surprised that her host family let me stay with them and even fed me.  They are very nice people and they make the best food.  It was so nice to come home at night and have dinner made for us.  

As far as all the places we went, they were all very cool and I will have to make a long list of them.  Hopefully I remember everything we did, here is everything we saw: the place where the Berlin wall ran through the city in Potsdamer Platz, Checkpoint Charlie, Templehof Airport, the hotel Michael Jackson dangled a baby out a window, the Brandenburger Tor, Berliner Dom, the Jewish Museum, the Jewish Memorial, King Fredrick's Palace, East Side  Gallery, and many more.  We actually meant to go up in the TV tower which was too expensive and the Reichstag Dome which was closed.  We decided that later when we have more money we will come back experience the rest of Berlin.

All of those places were really cool and I got so many pictures of everything and of us.  There were many other things that I came to like about Berlin.  For example, Germans like their privacy and I thought it was nice that every house in the neighborhood had their own fenced in yard, although the fences were not too tall.  There was enough mixture of privacy and public to make everything seem comfortable.  What also made the neighborhood setting feel comfortable was how quiet everything was and how cozy it felt.  Even walking back in the cold there was a nice cozy feeling to everything, then inside there was always a nice smell of dinner in the warm house.

All in all it was an amazing week and I had a wonderful time.  The last night I was there we went to somewhere nice to celebrate our anniversary dinner, Hard Rock Cafe...I mean McFreakinDonald's.  This McDonald's was the fanciest we have seen and we even ate in a little library they had.  So even though we had our anniversary dinner at McDonald's there was still a nice touch of romance.  Plus we managed to have a great time and save a bunch of money on car insurance by switching to Geico. We were both very sad that I had to leave but we will see each other again soon.  And I am of course very grateful and thankful for those who helped me get to Berlin.  There is no way I could have paid for it all myself and I appreciate everything that was done to get me there.  Now that I am back I plan to make the most out of the time I have left in Greece.  And before I know it, Niki will be here to experience it all with me!

OMG a Döner

Berliner Dom

Berliner Dom on the river Spree

King Fredrick's Palace

a mural on the East Side Gallery

The Week of the North

As I said in my last post, we left for northern Greece on Sunday and spent basically all day traveling. The bus first took us through the mountain monasteries at Meteora, where I lost weight and my pants gained weight. Later that night we arrived in Thessaloniki and had a nice hotel. We expired a little but got to bed because we knew Monday would be rough. Monday consisted of walking. We walked for over 9 hours around Thessaloniki, and I'm usually fine walking for a long time but it was the drastic elevation changes and terrine shoes I mistakenly packed. I paid for it because days later they still hurt. We went to the upper city where the ancient walls of the city still stand. It was definitely upper! The rest of Monday included a couple of Byzantine museums and walking around markets. A few of us went out Monday night to see how expensive everything, specifically drinks were, and they are expensive. Keeping myself on a tight budget, I only had one drink all week which was an overpriced beer. Nonetheless Monday night was still fun checking out what Thessaloniki did for fun.

Tuesday was again a lot of walking and there was two museums. The modern art museum was incredibly interesting. The art and "art" I saw in there was quite cool. We didn't do as much Tuesday night because we knew we would want to check out Volos the next night. We woke up early Wednesday and left for Volos, first stopping at the King Philip II/Alexander the Great museum on the way. What made this museum cool was that it is underground and housed many tombs of the great leaders, their armor and weapons, and graves stones and other things that honored the dead. From there we went to Volos, which is another city on the coast. From the base of the mountain that is Volos, we could see houses and buildings built all the way up. Little did I know the bus would be headed there next, so for over an hour it worked its way up and back down the slopes. I was shocked how high it was and how long it took. And of course I was a little basket case filled with terror. Although I was nervous, once we got to the top it was an incredible view and a great experience despite the cold. After working our way back down and getting into our hotel Graham and I got dinner. It was after we had our regular gyro that Zach walked in and told us he had just had a foot long gyro.

The four of us and Misha went out that night to a place Misha was told was a good and cheap place. It was a hookah bar and was relatively cheap. Although I hardly care for hookah it was fun. Then Misha did what he does best and asked a group of people what kind of places there are to go at this hour and what there is to do. We left with them and we were all going to a restaurant but they were already closed. Instead they had us follow them to "old town" or some other part of town. They were hoping to get us into a restaurant with live Greek music but they were packed. At this point all hopes seemed lost for anything until the group yelled at us that there was room inside. So we piled into the small room that was over loaded with Greek locals, and I know I stuck out like a white boy in Texas. Everyone in the place knew what was going on because they were singing and clapping and having a ball. We were generally confused but we soon were able to at least clap along. Later when I thought to myself, "surely it has to be over by now" it just went on and people began to dance. The music literally never stopped and even a couple of us got up to dance with them. I had to sit out "dancing" to document this most embarrassing moment for some. We were there much longer than I had expected we would but it was a great experience of the Greek culture, whether I understand it or not.

Thursday morning we got up and began to head back to Athens. On the way we stopped at Thermopylae, the area where the 300 Spartans fought the Persians. We were not able to actually go into the narrow passage because it is more difficult to do in an hour. We just stopped at the modern day monument of the site. From there we could see the ridges that made up the passage. In the pictures I took of it, I was standing were the sea used to be, which made more sense as to why the passage was one of the only ways through the area. We were all dying to go into the passage and reenact the movie but there just wasn't time.

From Thermopylae we made it to Athens, and I ventured off alone to a cheap hostel to prepare for my flight to Berlin the following morning. The hostel was extremely cold all night. The bottle of water I bought for dinner warmed and when I woke up it was nice and cold again. I was shivering for hours after. I basically spent all of Friday traveling myself. From the hostel I walked to the bus that would take me to the airport then flew to Berlin. I had to wait for Niki to get back from a trip so I had the rest of the day to myself there. I went out on limb, got on a bus and train, and stopped at many stops to see what all they had to offer. The little food I had was very good and quite different from Greece. After carrying my heavy backpack all around two cities all day I am very worn out and as I write this I am still waiting for Niki to arrive. In a few hours I'll see her again, and it just happens to be our one year anniversary. 

Thessaloniki

Modern art museum

King Philip II's armor

Volos

Thermopylae

Thermopylae monument

Road to Thessaloniki

Thursday night we decided we would go out for dinner. Everyone ordered what they wanted, and I told the lady I wanted carbonara under the spaghetti. So far no problem. We arrived at the restaurant at a regular American dinner time although it was not dinner time for the Greeks so we knew it would take even longer than usual. They of course like to take their time, so I was very hungry by the time we got our food. They first brought souvlaki for Tony and Graham then Zach's steak.  I continued to wait until I got my food, which when I did finally get it looked much like a burger and a large plate of fries. Knowing this was not my order, I tried to flag a waiter down to no prevail. And after picking at some of the fries and looking at my "not carbonara" I got up and sought out the woman who took my order. I told her exactly what she gave me and what I ordered. She replied with, "yes, you say hamburger, I give you hamburger." I then had to say no carbonara three times to get her to understand. I did finally get a huge plate of pasta after being incredibly hungry for so long, which I destroyed. After I finished, a manager came over to us and asked where we were from and everything then said he would have a little drink sent out for us. Of the few times we've gone out for dinner, it seems somewhat customary to offer something to us for being Americans or tourists or something. I'm not sure why they do it but its very nice none guy brought us a shot of Rokomolo I think it's called. It tasted like spiked hot cider with honey, hot and delicious. 

Sunday morning came and we began our journey to Thessaloniki on a Flying Dolphin which was quite fascinating yet also freaky. It is a long capsule shaped transport that rises up as it gains speed allowing for a quick yet bumpy ride. As we got into the seating area, my first thought was of an aircraft because the interior looked just like inside an airplane. The joke was that they just chunked an unflyable airplane into the Mediterranean, popped propellers on it, and said "go".  The idea of the Flying Dolphin is that it's fast, and it sure was. It started by backing out of the port which was an odd feeling. Then as we reached open water, the dolphin rose up and switched hyperdrive on. Water is something I would much rather avoid, so I was already a little offset by its presence, but the intense rocking freaked me out even more. Many of the things we do are new experiences for me of course and of these experiences many make this tender suburb boy a little nervous, but in the long run it is good that I am facing the little fears a city boy might have. 

From the Flying Dolphin we walked to a bus which was already waiting for us. Surprisingly we enjoyed a Mercedes-Benz charter bus all the way to Thessaloniki. Athens was as expected crazy and full of traffic but as we got our out town everything opened up with solid hills and mountains. Driving through valleys we could see numerous wind mills and solar farms. Beyond Athens, Greece seems to have the "green" approach. 

Something I noticed and do really appreciate is how the main highway to Thessaloniki travels through valleys. Unlike the US, Greece seems to have transferred their relaxed lifestyle to how they build their roads. In America, the mentality is to get you places the fastest way possible which is fine until they feel the need to build roads that go on, through, and below mountains. I dislike driving through mountains and especially on a bus, so I greatly enjoyed driving through the valleys. We made to our first rest stop where we found a bunch of rocks and proceeded to skip rocks and throw out our shoulders. After leaving our first rest stop, the road followed the coast which provided a view of the ocean to the right and mountains on the left. It was like this the rest of the way Thessaloniki.

After lunch we headed to the Meteora, which is what used to be 24 monasteries on top of super tall mountains/rocks.  I was under the impression we would just walk to the top and not be bussed to the top.  So it was time once again for my nerves to act up.  Some of the cliffs were astonishing, they were just sooo high and my every fear was being imagined.  We did end up making it to the top where it was very cold and rainy but we still took a billion pictures of the amazing monasteries and sights.  Again coming down was an issue for me but not nearly as bad as going up.  At this point we seemed well out of the way for how long it took to finally get to Thessaloniki because we had to go through even more mountains for at least another hour to get to the highway.  It was on these mountains that dense fog rolled in and we could not see anything.  Me and I am sure many others were feeling a little freaked out by the fog and the fact that the bus driver was still trucking through with only two feet of viability   But thankfully we made it out of that and found ourselves driving through mountains.  Some of the tunnels went on for over a mile, which was quite fascinating.  We did finally make it to Thessaloniki over twelve hours after we left Aegina.  I am excited for the week of adventures here and even more excited to get to go to Berlin Friday!

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Meteora

First Week's Oddities

I have been on Aegina a week now and finally seemed to be settled in, and by settled in I only mean used to the conditions.  The conditions are quite different from America, as I expected, although I had no idea what to expect originally.  There are so many things that I will probably forget to discuss but as I remember them I will include them in blog posts.

First of all our living conditions are quite lacking probably because we are stuck thinking about the brand new University Suites we were in last semester.  Of course we still have everything we need it's just different.  For example, our stove top consists of one big and one small hot plate and our sink's highest point is the drain (-_-). This makes some things difficult such as cooking.  It has been hard to find a lot of meat that is easy to cook because we either do not know what kind of meat it is, it is too expensive, or we do not know how to prepare it.  I have been itching to find canned chicken and/or tuna, although the cheapest canned tuna I have found is like 3-4 euros a can.  With most meats out of the question for now at least, we have been reduced to lunch meat and some sausage besides all the gyros we have been eating.  When you put our kitchen conditions and lack of real meat together, you get a wonderful new series called Cooking with Retards: International Edition.  We have managed to put together to a billion sandwiches and some spaghetti together a couple times at least.

This entire week it has been raining and there has not been much going on on the island.  Most nights people have not been out because of the rain and cold.  Saturday night Tony, Graham, Zach, and I went to a bar very close to us called "International Corner".  I don't know if the owner's idea was to attract us international kids but of course it did.  It seems to be in a prime location for business, but every time we would look in, there would just be this old man behind the counter. We have come to the conclusion that he must be a bookie to keep his bar open.

We were actually there a while Saturday night.  He is a very talkative person as he should be to keep his customers there when he gets them.  He first talked all about the people on the island and how the number going out to spend money are down.  He said something like what used to be 20% of the people having their own drinks on boats and 80% at restaurants spending money has turned into 80% of people on their boats and only 20% at restaurants.  He said something else about how he knows a doctor in Athens who makes only 850 euros a month, and he had us guess how many euros a month we thought the doctor would make.  We all said numbers into the thousands and he comes back with 850.  Apparently times are harder here than I thought.

As we stayed there longer, he began to show us his vast collection of CDs.  He has shelves of them all with mixes and everything.  The old guy would play one song after another and we were all looking at what he had while asking him to play it for us.  Then if it could not get any better, he whips out a microphone and we all go to town singing, just the four of us in this bar with an old bartender.  I took center stage for most of "Complicated" by Avril Lavigne.  Even though there was not much going on we managed to have a lot of fun with the old guy and I am sure we will go back there a lot.

Current Living Quarters

International Corner Bar

Water during a rain

Dark alley we had to walk down

Apollo's Cats

The extent of today included a walk to what is left of the Temple of Apollo here on Aegina.  All that is left is a single column among numerous rocks that used to be surrounding structures.  There was again another great view of the ocean and outlying islands.  As we left the temple Tony, Zach, and I noticed a cat.  This cat was all dirty and had what looked like a raccoon tail.  It was the weirdest kitty I have ever seen.  And of course, much like her remarks to the dogs, our teacher had to tell the cat the it was very very dirty and that it needed to be cleaned.  As we walked back, there were so many cats and we noticed an entire family of them finishing the remains of people's lunch from a table outside of a cafe.  There have been a lot different kitties I've seen that I haven't seen in America, and I can definitely tell people's mentality towards all strays in general is much different than in America.  People allow for them to roam around and do not care what they do.  Also the strays never seem to be in the way of things going on.  For example, I have never seen or heard of a stray being hit by a car.

I start class Monday, so as things arise, events occur, or I have another plethora of pictures to share, I will have more posts.