26 Hour Weekend

I am writing at the end of my 26 hour weekend. We get off of work at 6 on Saturdays and then come back to ‘group life’ at 8 on Sundays. You’ll get no complaints from me, though – a 6 day work week in Samothrace is preferable to a 5-day workweek in scores of other places! Last night we hiked up to Chora, a picturesque little town 4 kilometers uphill from where we live, for drinks and dinner. Dinner was AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS. They have a phenomenal dish called ‘chicken in a paper bag’ that is the best chicken I have ever experienced. And they make homemade French fries in olive oil right over a fire – delicious. The view from the bar was fantastic, although I forgot to take a photo – here’s our attempt to capture a perfect sunset on Friday night.

Today I went to Church. Wow, I do not understand anything they’re doing at the Greek Orthodox Mass. After sitting there for two hours, I even managed to miss Communion! It didn’t look like ours, and I think the bread I got last week wasn’t the real deal either. Communion seems to involve putting a cloth to your chin that the priest is holding with his right hand at the base of the chalice, and then being served something by the priest on a spoon that he sticks in your mouth with his other hand. Then you pat your mouth and move on. Sigh. Maybe I’ll be up to speed next week. After Mass, Amy and I enjoyed crepes and then a small contingent headed out for the waterfalls. They were beautiful, as you can see here. The pools were nearly 30 feet deep, and the water was perfectly clear. We lazed around reading and doing crossword puzzles and ‘chill-axing.” This is apparently a new term coined on Samothrace, derived from the verbs ‘to chill’ and ‘to relax.’ It remains to be determined whether this is an acceptable Scrabble word….