Last Post!

So the traveller returns. After a whirlwind weekend in DC and Lancaster, VA, I am home in New York. The open house went well and I have a great tenant. Laura's wedding was beautiful, on a lake-fringed spit of land with a big house and towering trees. We had a great time. I survived another encounter with my own personal kryptonite, the incredible, edible egg (in time to attend the wedding, yay!). I saw the Simpson's movie with John (amazing!) and we eventually decided to just be friends. My trip to Angola was canceled due to difficulties in completing the visa application. While I'll miss the money, I'm very happy to have two weeks back in New York before classes start!

What a crazy summer. As I left for the bus yesterday evening, John and I laughed about how it seemed like ages had past -- and also like I'd only left last week. I'm sitting in our apartment, surrounded by boxes of clothes and shoes, just as I was in May packing up for my subletter or last August during the move. The scene is the same, but the feeling is different. It's still not quite home yet, but this time I'm excited and confident that I'll find a fun and amazing place in this big city.

Thanks for keeping up with my travels! Hope to see you soon!

Home Sweet Home!

So I am finally back in the US of A! I had nachos, a NY bagel with cream cheese, a Mass in English and cocoa with John. Life is pretty good. I may also have found a tenant -- the second one in the door was interested and has good references. Just waiting for a lease and a check!

I love being home, but I only had a few hours in my own bed and my own couch. I caught up with Courtney and then headed for DC. Tonight is a tenant's open house, and then tomorrow it's off to Laura's wedding. Then Angola. Whoo hoo! I love travel, but there can be too much of a good thing.

Here are the photos I promised of the magic beach. Hope you're jealous -- now that I'm home, I am! These are: the entrance to the cove; the beach as seen from the boat; me and the killer dolphin; and a view within the cove.

Boat to Paradise

Today's the day! After lunch we'll take a boat to Alexandropoulos, where I will catch the evening flight to Athens. I'm excited to come home! It's been a very long trip -- although I suppose it isn't over until after Angola.

Yesterday, Genevieve and I caught a boat tour around the island. The greens and golds of the fields looked so beautiful from the water, and the peak of Mt. Fengari was shrouded in misty grey clouds. It was stunning. But THEN the boat dropped us at the most beautiful beach. The water was a perfect azure, and the light grey rocks plunged from their peaks directly into the sea. There were little coves to swim in and explore -- and one cove that you could swim through from our little sandy beach. On the other side was a protected little pool dotted with further coves and large tawny rocks 20 feet below your feet. Stunning! We could not believe our luck. I wish I could post photos! I will when I get home. It was the perfect end to our amazing Grecian summer.

Last Days!

When Ryan left after lunch today we began the final countdown: many of us leave after lunch on Monday, so there are exactly two days left! I went for a last run on the coast, hiked up to the ancient city, and started the laundry/packing process. So here's my ode to Samothrace -- Things I'll Really Miss:

-Living 200 feet from the ocean -- seeing it as soon as I wake up, just before I go to sleep, and on early morning trips for a glass of water

- The warm smell of olive trees in the breeze -Someone cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and even making the bed for little old me

- Sitting after dinner with some wonderful people, with no TV. It is so much more fun to talk and play games

-The preponderance of goats and the sound of their bells in the evening

- Delicious Greek food -- although, living in Astoria, there's a chance I could find that at home

- Did I mention that I live on the beach? Yeah. Awesome.

- Total outdoor living -- every meal is served on the porch, and my room is only closed from the hallway by a screen door.

- Yoga in an ancient site

- Running on the coast

Things I will NOT miss? Leading the list are: the bugs; the incredible amount of ground beef and white simple starches served at most meals; the lack of all privacy; scary Greek food with raw eggs hiding in it; and, not speaking the language. All in all, I think the pluses outweigh the minuses!

Tired Kids

So we did it! We worked until 3 AM, ate one pizza, two chocolate bars, many bags of chips, a few drinks and too many gummy worms. (The trip to pick up the pizza was really fun -- the pizza man treated my friend Genevieve and I to a glass of red wine while we waited for a ride. We were both pretty excited at the compliment, since we haven't been able to flirt with anyone in at least 6 weeks.) Believe it or not, we had fun working all night. And we got to sleep "late" -- 8AM! Yay! The night concluded with drinks on the porch while watching two fisherman scream at each other about where to throw the nets.

At work today, Professor Wescoat had us join in on searching for pieces of the steps to a building on the site. It was the first time that our own looking and measuring helped to reconstruct the way the building was put together. That was really cool.

Tonight is Ryan’s last night. We’re celebrating with vodka tonics at the beach – let’s hope we can all stay up past 9:30!

So one more day of work, one more beach day, and then we're off!

Charrette

Today the realization hit Professor Wescoat hard -- we're leaving Monday! So tonight, the architects will have a charrette. This apparently means a workaholic all-nighter to get drawings done. Mr. McCredie explained that the term comes from the French word for cart -- because architects at the École des Beaux-Arts used to rush to complete their drawings before the cart came to take the drawings away. So, it seems we will be working until the wee hours. I'm not sure what this means for us non-architects. I think I will be scanning all night. With good music, maybe some pizza, and the whole gang, though, I'm sure it won't be so bad.

However, the prospect of a night on the computer made me delay work on my thesis yet again. It was a GREAT beach day. I even have a minor TAN!!! For me, anyway.

Don't worry, pretty soon I won't be able to rub it in anymore!

Hump Day

As you may have noticed, today is Wednesday. This is not usually a big deal here, since our weekend doesn't start on Friday night. But this week, we have only a few days left on the island. Today everyone starting talking about winding down the work, picking up boat tickets, and otherwise getting ready to go. My response? Skipping out on the thesis and spending our break on the beach! There is really nothing quite like finishing a lunch that someone else made (and will clean up, too!) throwing on your suit and walking to the shore.

This is the life.

That said, I'm really happy to come home next week! DC folks, please mark your calendars for drinks on Thursday at 8 or 8:30. Anand suggested Chi-Cha lounge. Yay!

Lightening and Games

Last night we had lightening without the torrential storms. It was beautiful to see the flashes over the ocean while we ate dessert and drank too much retsina. Retsina is a white wine with pine pitch in it -- it's much better than that sounds. As a date exclaimed on my last trip, horrified when I ordered a glass, "you know that's the stuff that's too bad to sell abroad, right? That's why we stick pine pitch in it -- to cover the smell!" Whatever, we think it's fine.


After dinner, we played the Weather Game. This is where you pick a few categories and then describe one of your companions. Then everyone has to guess. I thought this had hurt feelings written all over it, but everyone has been nice about their descriptions. Last time it was harder, but now that we've spent 24/7 with each other for five weeks, everyone guessed on the first try. Here's mine, courtesy of Genevieve:
Person: Reese Witherspoon. Place: Midtown. Verb: Enterprising. Mixed Drink: Gin Fizz. Shoe: Open toed strappy sandal.

What would you be?

Lights out for Samothrace

Yesterday was another glorious 26-hour weekend -- a great meal on Saturday (I have learned to actually enjoy fish), drinks at a seaside club, and then a full day at Chipos on Sunday. I am turning into a stronger, albeit ungainly, swimmer. I even managed to swim to the private beach at Chipos without a flotation device! Olympic team, here I come. Ha.

Since it was such a beautiful day at the beach, about 20 kilometers from the hotel, we were very surprised to return to an overcast gray sky and a beach that looked more like the steely shores of Brighton than our usual pretty Greek beach. By dinner, a veritable monsoon hit, forcing us to eat in the museum and drenching our hallway, laundry and rooms. Actually, I liked it -- 6 weeks without rain seems so odd. Too bad there wasn't a lightening storm to watch.

The down side of the storm is that it knocked out power from the mainland, and by extension, for us. Everything is back to normal now, though. Just another sunny, cool day in paradise.

Wonderful and not so Wonderful

Last night we rented a car early. As you may recall, our weekend starts Saturday night at 6, but this week we decided to pick up the car on Friday. After dinner, we all headed out to the beach at Chipos, on the edge of the island closest to Turkey. It was amazing -- the water is full of phosphorescent algae, like little shining stars around your arms and legs when you swim. Before the moon rose, the stars were so clear that you could see the cloudiness of the Milky Way. Stunning. Genevieve made up constellation stories for us and I successfully drove our car around a herd of goats sleeping in the road -- it was a great night.

This morning, however, my computer power cord died. I feel bereft! That computer is my phone, my TV, my workday tool, the repository of my papers... I will stop short of saying my best friend. But I do love my little Toshiba. Hopefully a new power cord next week will do the trick. Wish me luck!

I love mail

Here's a shout-out to Sarah Heaton, world's best postcard-sender, and my parents, who sent me a box of goodies this week. We opened it up yesterday as soon as it arrived -- 4 waterguns, two blow-up sea animals (a dolphin and a killer whale, we think) 2 bags of Doritos, and 4 pairs of children's sunglasses. So fun! We took the blow-up dolphins out in the water yesterday -- they make wavejumping a blast, and they double as bolster pillows when doing the IHT crossword. We certainly got a lot of attention carrying them across the street to and from the beach! When I got back, Evangelia's husband and son, Nasos and Lucas, discovered the water guns... Lucas is in the army, so it wasn't really a fair fight.



Here's a photo of Eliza, Genevieve and me about to crack into the yummy Doritos at ouzo hour. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Greece is trying to kill me

Okay, so i spent yesterday morning in the clinic again treating an allergic reaction to raw eggs. I have succcessfully avoided my personal kryptonite for 22 years, and then in Greece I have two awful encounters within four weeks! What is going on here? I ate a piece of spanikopita, something I indulge in frequently in the States -- heck, I even make it at home a few times a month! It is a BAKED snack! So what was the problem? The Greek doctor and our hotel manager say that they don't bake it very long here in order to keep it 'moist.' Huh.

I'm pretty sure this was cooked, though, so now I'm a little concerned that I may be allergic to something unknown -- how can you avoid the unknown?

Grrrr. I feel gross and my dig-mates are pretty disgusted at the amount of raw egg we consume every day. For the first time this trip, I REALLY want to go home.