If you like stalkers, move to Amaliada

So Amanda is a pimp. Did I mention that? This girl has got carisma. And she speaks greek so needless to say she's popular with the Greek dudes. And the other day in the square a couple of young guys saw us drinking beers sitting under a statue of some Greek Orthodox priest and listening to our transistor and offered to buy us a round. Which we reluctantly allowed, usually we don't let weirdos buy us beers but whatevah. And they didn't finish their food so we took it home for the "cats" aka drunk snacks later. And they gave us a ride home and then left. And every day after that they have been calling Amanda like five times a day asking where she is, what she's doing. Blah Blah blah. And we were out this weekend having adventures and so ignored most of the calls. Sunday we came back home to Amaliada and bucket showered cause there was no water, sat around in towels and ate some bread and tea and jam and then got all dressed up to go to the little village of Krioneri for Panieri- the festival celebrating the Virgin Mary. Celebrating by roasting hella pigs on a spit and having crazy music and dancers and beer and peanuts galore.
So Landi aka snaggletooth called for the tenkabimillionth time and this time I answered and used what greek I know. Yes, no, and of course.
Ring ring.
Me- Ne (yes)
Snaggle- greek greek greek
Me- Ne Ne
Snaggle- greek greek Panieri tonight?
Me- OHI(NO!)
Snaggle-greek greek greek
Me- Endaxi (sure)
Snaggle-greek greekity greek greek
Me- Endaxi, Ciao

Then we get our shit and get ready to go. Snaggle calls again. I answer and say Ohi Ohi Ohi, Ne Ne Ne. And hang up. He calls AGAIN. We just answer, put it under the pillow and walk out the door.

Krioneri is just the next village over, in walking distance but we know there are tons of people going so we head down the driveway and out onto the road to hitch. We've walked for maybe three minutes and hear a car pull up and slow down, then stop at the driveway. OUR driveway. Music bumping.
Me- 'um, you guys- do you think that is crazy Landi?'
Them- 'ohi, nah, it can't be that is too FUCKING crazy.
Uh, i think they are playing boom boom clack. just like the other day on the ride home.
Nah.
um. i think we should hide.'
(all three run into the bushes and hide behind bean poles)

'Maybe its just the new wwoofers getting a ride home?'
Yeah that has to be it.
Yeah, it can't be them.
'Well let's run for it either way.'
(Cue running, screaming down the street)
Car revs up and starts down the street towards us.
Me- "THEY'RE COMING! THERE'S NO WHERE TO HIDE!!!, JUMP INTO THE BUSHES!!!"
(all three run and dive, except there are no bushes only rasin fields with a little white sheet that only shields me, and half of Amanda and Hanna is out in the open crouched in fetal position covering her head with her hands)
The car approaches, slows down, and stops directly in front of us.
We are all quietly screaming, crouched down on hands and knees in the dirt, wearing dresses.
Snaggle gets out of the car. Starts talking in greek to amanda.
Me and Hanna keep on hiding. Even though Hanna is in full sight, she's working the 'if i can't see them they can't see me' theory.
They talk a bit, Amanda makes up some shit about us waiting for the family and that we DON'T need a ride to Krioneria and blah and blah and Hanna and I still hide.
Finally they go and say they will see us there.
Yeah whatever psychos.

um. did we just jump and hide in the bushes from twenty year olds?
I think so.
We hitch to the festival, arrive before them, run past all the people to hide. but first get beers(we've got our priorities straight). But they find us anyways, hiding behind a van. So we escape AGAIN. Sit in full view and hang out with George's cousin and his friend Nic who sell us beers and give us beers. The Snaggle Stalker crew comes over TWICE more to try and hang out and finally get the hint to fuck off. We have a ball eating peanuts and tzaziki, dancing drunk, greek style in front of the whole village, and pouring beer on driver's licences.
At around 2am we leave. Amanda steals a handfull of peanuts and a loaf of bread, which we eat while bumping wu tang clan in Nic's car.
Also while heading to the beach to go clubbing that night Georges cousin pulls a two handed upper thigh touch whilst sitting between me and Hanna in the backseat.
"Hanna, don't you hate it when a Greek guy with intense eyebrows, also your farm bosses nephew touches your upper thigh?"
Ne.


Later Hanna and I determine that somehow my broken greek gave the stalkers the impression that they should come and pick us up... whoops.

Volume Two.
The new wwoofers made some Amaliadan friends as well who came onto the property monday morning and offered to take us all out dancing, to the beach, for coffee, whatever we wish. They said they were friends of Georges, blah blah blah. Hanna and I were a bit creeped out to see these dudes in the driveway midday but thought nothing of it.
The next night Hanna and I had a hilarious dinner hanging around with Field, a plastic toy I found on the beach and had borrowed a tv from jen to watch movies. So we're sitting there watching Hairspray and eating ceral and the other girls come into our room.
Ann Louise and Emmeline--"Um, did you guys see that weird green lazer pointer?"
Liz and Hanna--"Um, did you guys drink too much wine?"
"NO. seriously, look.."
We turn off the tv and look out to see a sniper style green lazer SCANNING the field in front of the strawbale house.
"BAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
We all hit the floor, then peer up to see if its still there.
War movie style this green alien lazer is scanning the area looking for movement. WE are all crouched down FREAKING OUT.
I can just imagine these guys there at the end of the driveway shouting "FRAPPE! WE'LL BUY YOU FRAPPE'S. WE TAKE YOU DANCING! WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS!" While tying together nets to catch us all and busting out military lazers? I don't think so.
We grab knives, cell phones to call the cops, my head torch, and Ann Louise grabs a metal pot?(to bash heads in I suppose), and prepare to defend our honor.
I can't help but laugh a few times, especially when Hanna says "what is that light near your face Liz, OH. its just the reflection from the kitchen knife Emmeline is holding. Of course."
I scan the field with my torch, we think we see them drive off. I shout "IF YOU CAN HEAR THIS. FUCK OFF!."
After a while we figure they got bored and left. To cruise the park or something. The girls hang out for a bit clutching kitchen utensils and we try to watch a movie.
Just another night in Amaliada.

Golden Days

Had the weekend off, so Hanna, Amanda and I decided to roll out to the big port city of Patras to try and get tattoos since it wasn't happening in Amaliada. After a fun week or so of blurry wine filled lunches, drinking beers in the square, getting rides to the beach and back, walking through pine forests to see movies that aren't playing. Swimming in the salty sea, lamp making, grass cutting, more tomatoes, baby kittie playing, bed bug murdering and candlelit dinners of cookies and beer and bread. The three of us are so different but are in perfect harmony when together. We can sit and drink tea and just laugh about stupid shit for hours and hours and never get tired of talking to each other. We are in sync in so many ways- probably because we all spend every waking(and non) moment together. So the weekend came and since the family was going out of town for the weekend they said we could as well. Friday afternoon we packed the essentials for a weekend off possibly sleeping on the beach and who knows what else.
Essential items: Bathing suit, transistor radio, journal, camera, colored pencils, one outfit.
Hanna also brought a phat Dostoyevsky which she didn't read, and Amanda brought soem olive branches.
It only took us four rides to get the 80 or so kilometers to Patras. Firstly Georges cousin, then a few awesome blonde babes, then a threesome with a broken leg guy driving like a maniac and a crazy old dude with a spiderweb tattoo on his arm and a nice lady. Truck stop soda break/bathroom sign stealage and then one more ride all the way to the main square in Patras. Free. Awesome. and done.
We sat in the square of Patras staring and the new elephant sculpture and the fountains and drank a celebratory beer on getting so far. Then spent the evening traipsing around with a harem of greek dudes trying to help us find an open tattoo shop. Of course to no avail, but what can do? life is life.
Trekked down past the port as night came over, down weird streets filled with weird smells and toothless old guys giving us directions. Ended up at the Hotel California of Patras. A big cartoon pig sign with HOSTEL written across pointed us inwards. A Miss Havisham style garden building with green shutters and a funny old man in glasses who for some reason wouldn't sell us one bed for three people. Ate some pizza, greek salad and beers and I passed out. Hanna and Amanda trekked some more into the night and ended up sitting on the balcony with Uruguayan Carneys talking about the Farm-ily which is a pun one of them came up with to describe us, and I am loving it!
The next day tattoos still no go so we decided to throw in the towel- go to a cafe shaded by grape vines and drink some cold greek coffee. And play tavla, aka backgammon, aka i finally learned and am now an addict.
Wandered up some cool old stairs to see the castle in Patras. First stumbled upon a theater and ran up and down the steps and admired the view of ancient greek ruins, old buildings, sea, islands, and the port. These girls love exploring as much as I do did I mention? And next we found ourselves in an abandoned building, walking up stairs to nowhere and grabbing souveniers; old rusty picture frame, newspaper caricature, chain, and diablo? Got busted jumping out of the window by some greek dude, who just looked at us like we were aliens from mars but just kept walking.

Next as luck would have it we were getting hungry and bought some homemade ice cream bars from a bakery. Then wandered down through the carnage of a farmers market, picking up street fruit and veg like bums while devouring our chocolate ice cream. Yeah we're the weirdest girls in town but we totally scored. Big ass bag of grapes, bell peppers, three apricots, tomatoes, more peppers, eggplant, oranges and carrots. Then we picked up some fresh olive loaf and had our weekends' worth in food for about the 2 euro that we paid for bread. Nothing like a little Greek dumpster/street diving to brighten up an already awesome saturday.
Took a bus and a ferry and ended up in Zakinthos. A pretty touristy island famous for a beach with a shipwreck on it. Which we didn't even get close to seeing. And none of us care.
We walked along attempting to hitch for almost an hour with no luck. Fussy tourists aren't so into picking up three babes who haven't showered in a few days. Amanda and I were ready to accept defeat and hail down the next cab. It was getting dark and all we needed was a little beach to hang our hats, if you will. Hanna, luckily suggested sticking it out a little longer and just as she said that a car pulled up and two very cute greek guys picked us up.
The driver(Spiros) kinda had this Turtle from Entourage thing going on and the other guy(Paniotis)had this greek inquisitive hot man thing going on. Hanna and I were discussing their cuteness and she asked what inquisitive meant. My reply: Hot with glasses.
So we told them our story, just a coupla farm girls heading out to the big city for a weekend of mayhem. Even funnier that we are carrying bags of produce(though we didn't tell them what bums we were that we picked all the fruit up off of the street.) And that yeah, we just want to find a beach to sleep on. We don't care where, just not super crazy or touristy. Amanda and Paniotis chat in Greek, Hanna and I prattle on in English, not thinking they know what we're saying. They drive us around this glorious island past farms and hills while the sun is setting and everything is bathed in this beautiful golden light. First we stop at this random cliffside field with a rock beach down below in a little cove. Beautiful we say but eh, kinda rough to sleep on. "If you don't like, we take you to a beach with sand, ella, here we go". And then I realize that we didn't have time to stop in the store and we have fruit but not cheese or beer. eh. problem. Then I suggest out loud that perhaps I can go up to someone's house and trade this bag of grapes for a bottle of wine? And Spiros busts out laughing. he totally speaks english. shit. oh welp. Then the say 'well if you girls like wine, both our parents make wine- we'll bring you some.' Um okay.
So here we are a few seconds later on a gloriously beautiful small beach, close but not too close to a taverna equipped with benches to sleep on! BAM!
We get ready to swim- the guys leave to get us some wine and bring towels. So we all run screaming and laughing into the warm sea. We picnic on street veggies washed in the sea until they come back with the wine. The we drink a little and again go running into the sea. And there I was swimming in the dark Mediterranean sea with the flickering taverna lights illuminating the clear water. I flicked my toes and legs mermaid style and laughed out loud. Laying on my back in the sea staring at the stars in this warm water in this amazing place with my amazing friends. I saw three shooting stars that night.
So we drank some more wine, the girls flirted with their new greek boyfriends, we danced to shakira on the transistor radio.
Sleeping on the beach is so romantic until you wake up at three a.m freezing to death and wrap every scrap of fabric around you in a coccoon to seal in the warmth. I heard Amanda all night long muttering to herself "Ssssooo ffuucckkinng freezzzing". haha.
Woke up to the sunrise. I can't remember the last time this happened. The sun wasn't there and then it was. And slowly but surely our bodies started to warm with the sun. We drank the leftover wine and laughed about our luck ending up in this place. My skirt was wrapped around my head for warmth, a towel mummy-ing my feet. Amanda's sweatshirt was inside out, they both had boyfriend towels for warmth. When it got warm enough I rolled off the bench 'butler but not the maid' style and swam in the crisp refreshing salty sea early in the morning. Hanna got orange juice and croissants, and we napped off our hangovers in the morning light.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to Amaliada

Time. Fucking. Flies.
It is now my third saturday in Amaliada and I have been enjoying everything so much I can't even stand it! Every night as I sit out on the porch, talkin shit with the girls by candlelight over a few beers I can't help but freak out that another day has passed. It is the FIFTEENTH of august! I have been traveling for ELEVEN months? Where the hell does the time go?
Every day is exceedingly more awesome than the next and a prime example of this is our free rides into town and to the beach every day.
Coupla painters finishing up work let us roll into Amaliada and give Amanda and Hanna cigarettes and of course offer to buy us all souvlaki, Mom and son duo who were super cute and practicing his english, pouty twenty-something dudes coming home from the beach too late and "EUUGH IM HUNGRY, ditch these girls, they aren't going to give us any" " Dude that one speaks greek, she knows what you're saying" "I DONT CARE. HUNGRY." Sweet smelling beautiful greek woman on her way to work at the grocery store, nice old guys chatting Amanda up about this and that, guy with two kids but crammed us in anyways and offered to buy us ice cream. The guy who pumped up the electronic music he himself made, and yes "unfortunately I'm engaged" but that doesn't mean I cant pass a joint around and give you all a ride right up to the beach and give you a free electronic candle(so useful too-at night on the patio-score!). Two cars bumpin the michael jackson, a twenty second ride just to get us closer to Amaliada from the beach. And of course my personal favorite. The guy who picked us up right in front of the farm after only waiting for maybe thirty seconds, immediately handed all three of us bunches of tiny, sweet purple grapes and cigarettes for those who wanted them, took us all the way to the beach closest to the outdoor movie theater(which we had wanted to go to that evening!) and told us he could give us a ride every day around this time and to go to this taverna on the beach and have some ouzo there cause thats where his wife works. AMAZING. The greek people are so kind and welcoming and treat you like family when you've been in their presence for ten seconds. I will always remember the amazing hospitality, welcoming nature, and just pure awesomeness of getting free rides to the beach and back. And I am totally going to pick up hitchers and do it myself when I get home.

So...this week we actually started crunching it hardcore with the farm work. We pulled onions, hoed some beds, picked some tomatoes, watered some trees, cut and laid out hundreds of tomatoes for sundry-ing, vaccumed, mopped, cleaned bed bug infested mattresses, sprayed sulfur, made more lamps, picked (and ate) figs, cut mad grass,etc.
Also I invested in a paddleball set and daily our practice is getting better and better, but we still suck wayyyy harder than every single greek person on the beach.
Also we went to the outdoor cinema again and saw the Hangover. Hilarious. And ate two boxes of chocolate cookies. And were given a ride home to the farm from Harolyn, an awesome lady originally from Seattle who lives up the street from Jen and who DROVE the car, said bad words, and her husband cooks the food. I much prefer this senario.
Ive also been running again. Needless to say no one could talk this much about food without seriously gaining it and boy have I. After five years of veganism this shock treatment of milk and cheese and sweets and everything forbidden continues to expand my waistline. And though I know I won't live or eat like this forever, I feel like a chubba lub who does the truffle shuffle nonstop. So I've been running. A few days I went around the farm, through the glorious lonely country roads past vineyards and cute little churches. But then I almost got attacked by dogs. And that was the end of that. So now I'm baywatching it out by jogging on the beach in the afternoons. Which is a wayy better situation. I dont worry about dogs, I get a "tan", I can jump in the sea whenever I get too hot and its sooo enjoyable. The sand and the sea... ahhhh. just LOVE IT.
Also the figs are ripe. Ripe ripe ripe. I've eaten so many fresh figs in the last week it would make any normal person explode. But since I've been in sugar training I'm doing aight.
I will either turn into a tomatoe, fig, or loaf of bread by the time I leave Greece. Three way tie. But they are truly delicious, and who knows when again in my life Ill get to have fresh sweet figs daily. Get it while you can I say.
Also a little Berger shout out. He's currenly in CHINA, for a little all paid working holiday and in three days we'll have been together for four and a half years. Bam. And He still puts up with all my bullshit. Props baybe. Happy Anniversary.
In other news today Hanna, Amanda and I woke up, hungover as shit from way too many Amstels, chocolate cookies, leftover pizza, crunchy biscuts, fresh figs, weird dancing and singing on our porch last night, etc. Sat there for almost an hour trying to get the strength to drink tea, then hoed the shit out of the potatoe field till the sweat poured down... Then we got a ride to the beach and spent the gloriously warm Greek day swimming in the salty sea, playing paddleball, eating greek salads, fresh hot fried potatoes, warm bread and tzaziki, and some beer- hair of the dog style.

Olive oil and the Sea

I walk down sketch streets in early morning Athens,take a train, miss a train, take a cab, hail down a bus from the autoban, switch to another bus and one more cab and bam! its that easy to get to Amaliada. The glorious godsend of a place where I am now wwoofing. And to think I almost gave up on getting here. I arrive just in time for siesta and happily take one amid an army of daddy long leg spiders. I feel bad encroaching on their territory but a girls gotta sleep eh. I move a few days later to share a room with Hanna, a fellow wwoofer from Austria. So that afternoon the family George, Jen and their two girls Ellie and Amalia, ages 5 and 3 are heading to the beach if I wanna come with. Um Hells yeah! So there I am swimming in the Mediterranean sea, soaking up the evening warmth from the sand and later on sipping on a cold beer and watching the hot tamale sunset go down over the sea. How the hell did I ever get so lucky? The next day is sunday and we go to the sea again. Playing with the girls, swinging on the tarzan rope in their house, helping make dinner. On monday Amanda arrives, a badass babe from NYC with a greek dad and some mad greek language skills that help us out soo much. Hanna, Amanda and I bond by hitchin in with Cristos, this dude the family knows who drives a black and red turbo racing car thing with red leather seats and a picture of jesus on the dash. He bumps the jams and swerves all over the country roads, then takes us to the beach to buy us stuff and hang out in his presence. Don't worry. He's married, this is just him having fun. Taking three chicks to the beach and standing behind them waving to his friends and saying who knows what in greek. This is where Amandas skills come in handy.
Working starts eventually, we pick some tomatoes and basil, clean the treehouse, prune some olive trees and haul some branches. But mostly we make and unmake lamps. It has been I think four seperate attempts to get it right to no avial. The wire has now become my ultimate nemesis but eh, we are at least in the shade.
So it goes- get up early to the rooster call, make some tea and greek coffee. Have yogurt, fresh baked bread and homemade apricot jam, maybe some fresh watermelon.Work until noon doing something or the other. Take a pre lunch siesta or go for a walk or read. Head up to the house and delight in a bevy of delicious food made by Jen. Greek salads big and bursting out of ceramic bowls. The tomatoes are warm from the sunlight and being freshly picked, the feta could soften anyones heart. The olive oil is light and fragrant and juicy all at once. Jen makes fresh bread with sunflower seeds, homemade apricot tarts with ice cream, freshly made pesto over pasta, mouth watering potatoe salad, fresh garbanzo beans with tomatoes and garlic. And we pair all these things with some cool wine that they make, the color of watermelon and the taste of sweet summer grapes and sometimes the barrel.
After lunch and much wine I usually sleep, reveling in the siesta life and then emerging around five or six to head out to the sea with the girls.
And now the sea. The glorious sea. Every time I run into it everything else disappears. The water is so warm and refreshing. The salt seeps into my hair and my skin and I float and stare at the sky. The sun glitters off it at sunset in strips of golden flakes. The pop pop of paddleball is abundant and constant. The greeks L.O.V.E. their paddleball. And they are good at it. Berger would soo love it here. Sun soaked greeks lay around under palm umbrellas and drink beer and iced coffee. The young men and women strut up and down the beach flaunting it while they've got it. And the older men and women sit and revel in their happiness. A full hairy belly and a big family playing all around them. The greeks soak up the summer, staying at the sea until the last bit of red sun has sunk below the sea and take one last swim in the warm water, warm still at eight in the evening.
Evenings are spent making a little food at our straw bale home, having tea, drawing, reading and chatting. I sit around while Hanna and Amanda roll cigarettes and the cats crawl all over everything and the cicadas hum and buzz like a cricket discoteque.
The full moon was a few days ago and since I've had some other interesting full moon trips during my woofing, we decided to do a little something special. Olive oil by the way is in abundance here, so abundant that you use it as a hair treatment. Seriously. We all gaterhed some drums they had around and a guitar and began to play a little music. Drinking wine we bought from an old greek lady who fills up 2 liter water bottles with the delicious rose wine. Candles melt down and we sing and play and Jen cleanses our karma with sage and sets out her crystal collection to add to the ambiance. Then Jen starts with the olive oil. A massage therapist in her past life she covers our hair and shoulders with the olive oil which had been marinating in rosemary for a few days. Our skin and hair absorbed the sweet oil and we went on playing and singing. Hanna sings beautifully and Amanda is also a drummer- like a serious one, with shows constantly in New York and she also sings amazingly and plays guitar. We were such shameless hippies, having our olive-oiled up greek full moon party.
Im having a great time, and I am so thankful to have ended up here with these girls at this place. To ride into the sea every day if we want. To eat delicious food and have interesting conversations and many language lessons. Time to draw, time to sleep, time to smell the sweet figs that are almost ripe.
I am also bonding with many creatures. The mamma cat just had babies and Ive been watching them from eyes closed stage to now playing with each other and meowing the babiest, cutest little meows ever. Roosters hobble around like old fisherman who've lost their way and just want to find their friend. Spiders, bees, hornets, wasps, flies, moths, beetles, millipedes or centipedes(whichever is the really creepy one), ants. You name it and these little crawlies are out for the summer. And I am soo sleeping in their territory. OH well.

Sponge it out

The past few weeks have FLOWN past me with little done but hanging out enjoying the company of family and friends, drinking beers and eating. Pictures were taken but they cant upload yet, so you'll have to picture it via my writing I suppose. It all began with my waiting in the swank air conditioned hotel lobby for my mom and her best friend Marianne; too excited to do anything else. Luckily I was serenaded by enormous groups of Spanish and American tourists floating in and out of the hotel rapidly conversing and organizing various trips. The finally arrived and it was SO amazingly wonderful to get so see my mom! We spent the afternoon laying poolside on the rooftop sippin on Mythos, chatting and waiting for MaKettle and Laurel to arrive, which they did in no time at all. And there I was, surrounded by my family, drinking cold beer sunning in Athens. Just about perfect. The next three days were spent touring around Greece literally. In a tour bus decked out with a tour guide named Mamma. Fully decked in purple every day, down to the headband and eye/lip liner. Resembling the mom/or grandma? in Triplets of Belleville and a troll from the Labrinth and your old ass drama teacher from highschool. She lectured us on Olympia and THE SITE and old fashioned greek birth control aka sea sponges and the Greek Root of just about everything. She huffed and puffed up various archeological ruins whilst having her mingons hold onto her umbrella and fan her and finally would throw in the towel when she got totally exhausted stating "If you need Mamma I'll be in the cafe drinking a nescafe frappe!" We saw the site of the first olypmics, temples to Apollo and Athena, old ass marble gods with missing penises and noses, godesses in draping robes, enormous horses and the very first shin guards, or whatever those were. Theaters where classics were performed, the sites of oracles and tombs of great leaders. The ancient history is thick with agitation towards the turks and romans but still very interesting when you get past, certain peoples biases. I enjoyed just trekking about with my family and spotting mom's day glo lime parison from afar. We ate LOADS of greek salads and drank even more Mythos and ate fresh cold watermelon when we could get it. We took long ass naps on the bus. Marianne and I raced across the Olympic fields. Some got shouted at in museums "NO POSING!" which is NOT allowed, in case you were wondering. Out of respect. After the three day madness we made it back to Athens and again retreated to the rooftop pool. After reuniting with Juli, Jan and Melinda we headed out early on the megafast ferry to Santorini, where I still am and will probably stay here till I'm dead its so beautiful. After a couple of puke and rallies we got there and bused up to our spot. Whitewashed villas on a clifside and ours was seriously a CAVE. Awesome. Laurel Juli and I rocked the smaller spot and moms and auties rocked the other. Jan made us all lovely glass necelaces and we sat around drinking wine and watching the sun go down over Santorini. It had a teeny tiny pool which splashed ALL over Juli when I jumped in, it was too small what can do? Santorini did I mention is gorgeous. Tiny kitties traipse on rooftops and old men set their chairs out to watch the foot traffic in the evenings. All the buildings are white with blue doors or window shades. Bulbous moody blue church tops stick out with Greek Orhtodox white crosses peeping out of them like candles on a fatty birthday cake. The cobblestone streets are tricky. Even in flats and when I see a babe in heels she always has her uber important accessory- the boyfriend to hold her up while she walks. Breakfast can be called for from bed and Christos, the hot older owner (aka Kettle's new boyfriend) will bring it out to the terrace where you can enjoy it. And when I called the morning after we went out I get this good morning from Cristos, then "You were very drunk last night, no?" Yes Cristos, and make that THREE toasties today. We went to the Perissa beach and lay in the shade drinking Sex on the Beach and slipping around in the Aegean sea on all the moss. The water is salty, blue and gloriously cool. Just perfect. I could lay on my back floating Sean style for hours, if I didn't fear waking up and being like 2 kilometers off shore. I read books and ate popsicles. And did the same thing the next day and the moms and auties came as well. I laughed till I cried watching various people get in and out of the slippery shores. I got, eh well not tan cause it doesn't really happen for me. But I watched Laurel and Juli get tan. Does that count? The blues and whites of this country are strong and solid, just like the old widows in all black wobbling steadily through the streets. I feel like it's an unspoken architectural dress code with only white and blue allowed. Otherwise everyone just thinks it looks good(which it does) and adds their flare via bougonvillas and red flower pots. I feel for the first time in a long time that it is time to just relax and read a book. And luckily I am so free and lucky to do just that.
The comfort and stability of being around family is so glorious. No need to do small talk or talk at all if you don't feel like it. They understand me, and they love me and don't care if we just sit around eating pizza on the deck instead of going out.
Many dinners and shots of mysterious greek liqueors and bottles of wine and conversations passed by far too quickly. And now my dear family has returned to America, to their jobs and routines and I am left missing them but oh so glad to have the precious time to spend with them. I am so grateful to have such an incredible family. To come and visit me and bring me a little of that down home love that is so needed when traveling for this long. More soon but I can't bear to be inside in this glorious weather any longer.

Oh Oh Athena

Oooh I am so not in Sweden anymore. I arrive in Greece. Its 35 degrees c here. Ten degrees hotter than the hottest it gets in Sweden. Theres smoking and craziness and women bigger than a size zero at every turn. The airport bus careens out of control on the way into Athens. The first guy I met got his wallet stolen right as he got out of the airport. I find my hostel, which is in a hmmm, interesting area filled with um, i'm pretty sure hookers, and African guys selling fake Louis Vuitton bags and garbage and groups of police standing around doing nothing. Oh the real world. I love it. The first meal I had was a delicious greek salad, a cold beer and some chips aka fries. The olive oil saturated the fresh tomatoes and the feta tasted so fresh I could cry. And I had another greek salad for lunch again today. I have a feeling greek salads are going to be like empanadas hmmm. At least its vegetables and not fried cheese pastries riight... The fashion here is none other than hilarious also. Phat assses jammed into tight jeans and spilling over the sides like pot pies. Big curly hair and long fake red nails. Mismatched patterns and NO white shirts with black stripes! Tacky purses and cluttery crazy jewelry. Boobies on display. Gold, Silver, Sequined and Rainbow colored strappy sandals. I wandered around Athens today in the heat smiling at the chaos of honking horns and traffic jams and angry cab drivers. There are ancient ruins in between shopping malls, huge marble towers overturned in the middle of the park and theres a kind of faded glory to the whole place. Athens might not be the calmest cleanest city ever, but for some reason this makes me even happier. Ive missed the mess and the sticky part of traveling. Sweating and getting lost and not being able to read the crazy greek writing. I got free breakfast at my hostel even. I mean it was toast and tang but it was free. And so what if I ate it and then went back to bed for another two hours. What do I have to prove anyways. I cant get the question mark or the apostraphe so it might be weird reading this. Lo siento. And tomorrow I will see my Mamma, Kettle, Marianne and Laurel! Let the debauchery begin and welcome to Greece! Oh and I had some Ouzo last night. Welcome drink at the hostel. EwZo is more like it. I like fennel and everything but not in a shotglass.

Culture of Keds

Sweden. A month here has flown by quicker than anything. And although I did spend as much or more money in one month here than three and a half in India I still loved this country. As Jen says, sometimes you have to acutally enjoy traveling. And when the hostel you're staying at has delicious cheese and tomato bagel sandwiches for breakfast you don't go for the cornflakes from the grocery store. The point of traveling isn't always to suffer and to penny pinch. Much better to enjoy something for a little while than to eat cornflakes for a year. Jen is far too wise. Sweden is a place that gave me black licorice, and swedish fish, and chocolate covered marshmallows, and more licorice, and sour gummi pops, and on and on. Thrift stores and buffet breakfast with jams and breads and really really good coffee. Clean beds and showers, even if some of those showers you have to walk down the stairs out the door and around the basketball court to locate. Cooking camping style at a hostel because it doesn't having a kitchen then running out of gas when the spagetti is half done.Ice bars and organic gardens and cool blue water. And tiny creepy black snakes in the cool water. Amazing people like Jonathan and Kate, and nice but a little odd people as well. Bright green grass being cut and hitting me in the face.And legs. And finding that same grass in my pockets days later. Expansive parks to jog and walk unbothered throughout. A whole country to walk unbothered throughout actually. Incredible art at every turn; fashion and sculpture and murals and inventions. Good looking people everywhere.
Girls in matching outfits. A whole new throw to the same same but different. And now I thought that this was something all teenagers go through, you know wanting to look like your friends. You're both wearing black and white, tshirts and shorts. But You have black shorts and a white top and white shoes with black socks. And SHE has white shorts and a black top and vice versa. Except it doesn't appear to be something people grow out of in Sweden. I guarantee that walking down the street anywhere in Sweden you will see at least half a dozen girls in this exact outfit: Dark skinny jeans. White keds. Loose fitting white long sleeved shirt with thin horizontal navy stripes. Oversized pearl earing studs. Straight white blonde hair. Black leather bomber jacket. I probably saw at least one hundred girls in this outfit while being in Sweden. Slight variations like acid wash instead of navy jeans, white chuck taylors instead of keds, black stripes instead of navy, but basically the same. And although yeah it looks good; it does look exactly the same. And although the girls are stunningly beautiful, if you're a Swedish guy, how can you tell which one is your girlfriend and which one is her best friend? It must be a little tricky. And for me, this is one thing that doesn't jive. At least not since the pink and leopard days of my youth with Sabrina and Tina. I feel like this is even a little sad. The majority conforming to not only one ideal of beauty, but one outfit? Bummer dude.

Although Sweden does have it's faults, it is still a happy, clean, stable, peaceful country. A country where a couple gets FIFTEEN months paid maternity leave. And the man has to take a MINIMUM of three months out of that fifteen to raise their child. This is why families travel so much in Sweden, because they have the time to be together and enjoy to it. Both of them. Not only mothers get to see and enjoy their child's youth, but the fathers as well. I can't help but think that this could really do wonders in America. If it wasn't just assumed that mothers are the only ones who want to be with their children when they are small. And the government supported this? Why not? This is also why I am constantly asking myself what day is it? Because all I see in Sweden is families and couples and groups of friends walking around in parks, sipping coffee and baked goods, having a tika at cafes, families strolling together. Is it saturday? Nope wednesday. And yes it is also summer, but I have yet to see stressed out execs rushing off to the office. Even at rush hour, people are chilled out, they are enjoying the sun and their loved ones.

And I'm jealous. Not just of the couples. Okay a little of the couples. I've reached the ten month mark of being away from Sean and it's definitely one last push to the finish line. Not an easy push, I am constantly missing him and wishing he was here to enjoy the ice cream and laugh at the hipsters. Not helped by the fact that Berg is in like every single business name or sign all over this whole country. I miss him, and it's his birthday today and I'm not there. And I see two teenagers making out on the metro and I want to slap in the mouth because they've kissed like forty times in five mintues! It's way worse than being single and hating couples. Because I know what I could have it's just NOT HERE! Arrg. Maybe that's why I took up running again, to take the ol mind off of the BergerFevah!

Anyways, I leave for Greece tomorrow and leave behind Scandanavia. And to all those haters who are always asking why Sweden? Why not? Sweden is a lovely, exciting place and I wanted to check out a country that had it's shit together and where people enjoy life. And I think they do there. And I learned some things about what that means as well. I say I think they do because it's hard to tell what anyone is feeling due to the fairly reserved nature of many swedes. And although they do pretty much have it set as far as lifestyle and vacation time and delicious coffee. I'm an American at heart and I still love the outgoing no bullshit nature of the great west. I like chatting up strangers and having a beer just to have one, not because I'm thirsty. I like a country where many different outfits are fashionable and many different styles are considered beautiful. At first I was convinced this country had it all, but when you're given everything maybe that's not best either. A little struggle only made you stronger I think, and that seems to be more the American way. And I realize now what a shameless american I am because I do enjoy a bit of a hardship here and there, you learn more. And at the end of the day I want to smile and say hello to strangers on the street. And for these reasons I don't think I'll be moving to Stockholm, maybe for the bike lanes, but not the lifestyle.