Tragedy Strikes Samothrace

I know I promised you goats today. I did take a lot of goat photos and collected interesting facts on the Samothracian goat. However, that will have to wait until tomorrow.

At about 4AM this morning, the Church next to our hotel and worksite went up in flames. One of our dig-mates was up to get a glass of water, saw the flames, and had the hotel manager, Evangelia, call the fire department. The inside of the church is completely destroyed. We smelled the smoke during the night, but I thought it was our mosquito coil and went back to sleep. We are very lucky that it wasn’t the usual windy Samothracian weather, or our hotel would surely have burned.

The smell of smoke is hanging in the air even now, 12 hours later. The wind also carries the cries of sobbing of women just hearing the news or visiting the church. It is a small chapel, only used for private devotion or the annual patron saint’s festival. They had just whitewashed it for the saint’s day, coming up on Thursday.

We all hoped it was an accident, but the main church in the port town was burned this morning at 8 AM. What senseless destruction.

Working, working, working

I know that, from the outset, it sounds like vacation -- Greek island in the middle of nowhere, someone cooking and cleaning for you, a few feet from the ocean, games most evenings, yoga....

wait a minute. It IS pretty vacation-like.

However, this consulting thing is killing my beach time. I'm editing from 5:30 - 6:30, 12:30 - 3:00 and 6:00 to 7 or 7:30. With weighing coins and typing in little data cards in between. I'm really looking forward to being done next week when they submit their proposal!

This is my long excuse for why there are no pictures of goats today. I'm sorry! I will definitely get many photos of goats this weekend, but I ran out of time today. However, I'm not complaining, because I'm pretty sure I'd get no sympathy from the desk bound!

Workin' for the Weekend

So today, we did more work with coins. This is actually very interesting, although I couldn't really sum up for you what I'm learning. But I think I'm learning to LOOK at the coins in a different way, and this will help when I look at Renaissance coins at home.

I am also looking at the goats in a different way, now that I know Shanley loves them. I will do a 'life-cycle of the Samothracian Goat' post tomorrow. Please do stay tuned.

I'm off to do yoga. I hope my roommate will call out the poses to the porch, despite the fact that she got an eye infection and can't really see (no contacts allowed, and her glasses are an out-of-date prescription. poor girl. let's all hope she mends soon.)

Coins, coins, coins.

Today, I typed in information on and looked at more coins. Tiny little bronze coins. Pitted, green corroded coins. Coins in envelopes. Coins in drawers. Coins in fingers, not on the floor!

Okay, clearly the coins are messing with my head.

In other news, my fellow dig-mates think I'm crazy (or they should) because I am having super weird dreams. Last night, I actually got up in the middle of the night and yelled at an 'intruder' I thought I saw in my bedroom. The conversation with this trick of light/figment of sleepiness (that seemed to be a youngish, tall man wearing only a towel) went like this:

umm, who is it?
Hey, hello, who IS it?
HEY! HEY, HELLO-OOOO, GET THE HELL OUT OF MY ROOM!!!
then i touched the wall through this figment and felt really stupid.

Big discussion at the breakfast table by the five people who woke up hearing this. Not that anyone came running, but they claimed to be waiting for the 'scuffle.' Someone pointed out that the only likely intruder would be a goat eating a towel, not a person wearing one!

I better lay off the ouzo before bed!

It's a small world after all...

Yesterday evening, while I waited FOREVER on skype trying to sort out my new cell phone plan with Sprint, I saw a consulting request in my spam folder. I responded to be polite, but was a month late and didn't expect any reply. Within 10 minutes, I had a one-day assignment at my full daily rate with a new client. Yay!

I am shocked and amazed that I can be on the phone with a 1-800 number in the States, chatting on IM with John and also picking up consulting assignments while sitting on a porch overlooking the sea and being stared at by a family of goats.

What a teeny, tiny world we live in.

Shout out to Sarah (thanks for the postcard! real mail! Sweet!) And here's a photo of tonight's borrowed dress from the 1980 team....

The 26 hour weekend

Each Saturday, we get off of work at 6 and are released from dinner. We report back to ‘work’ at ouzo hour on Sunday evenings at 8. As one of my co-campers stated, it’s probably good that we don’t have two evenings off – we’d only get in trouble!

This weekend, we rented a car. It was so fun to buzz around the island. We went for drinks, dinner and dancing on Saturday. I have no comment about this except for the photo. Please don’t even ask! Wild night. We spent most of Sunday laughing at me for the antics of Saturday evening and early morning!

On Sunday, Amy was kind enough to drive me up the hill to Mass. When I got back we all headed to the ‘sandy beach’ – the only beach on the island that isn’t mostly stones. There was loud europop, comfortable beach chairs and umbrellas, and pool toys courtesy of Hugh. This is the life, my friends. Here too, the photo says it all.

Sunday evening, Professor McCredie hosted us at his house for a drinks and snacks. The house is lovely – a cantilevered design built into the hill and framed around a central court and grape arbor that spans the outdoor corridor in the center of the house. The corridor has lovely mosaics of river stone that Professor McCredie, his children and colleagues installed one summer. I can see why he’s happy to spend so many summers here!

Today it was back to work, but I’m enjoying learning all about ancient Greek coins! Hope you had great weekends as well!

Photo tour of the office

Here is my day in photos:

Hugh (Professor Wescoat's son who has joined us for the summer) eating a Hobnob, our favorite cookie, at coffeebreak.

More coffee breakers (promptly at 10 each day).

Professor Marconi and his wife Rosalia, who joined us two days ago, exploring the Rotunda of Arsinoe. They are both skilled Spoons players, and Professor Marconi grabbed the last spoon from me in a show of strategy and cunning during last night's game.

The Hieron, one of the larger structures in the Sanctuary and the site of evening yoga lessons led by my roommate, Cindy.

Measuring blocks (sorry, the rulers got cut out.)

Ryan drawing blocks.

Our favorite block, William.