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.

The Sea and Me

In case you couldn’t tell from the stunning photos of the view from my front door, the waterfalls or the beaches, Samothrace is a beautiful natural patchwork of green olive trees, rugged pebbly beaches and tawny, sun-soaked fields. Above all, it is the pristine sea that frames every view, the perfect water absolutely clear to depths of at least 20 feet.

I am absolutely enjoying it – but also suffering from massive Catholic guilt. What am I doing to preserve this cleanliness and beauty? How am I doing on my stewardship of this gift for the next generation, or the one after? These thoughts are feeing my addiction to the No Impact Man blog, a website written by a New York Times columnist who has sworn off all impact-causing behavior for a year. In Manhattan. With a two-year-old and a Prada-loving wife. I’m absolutely fascinated by his progress – he intends to try absolutely everything and then see how much of it his family will retain at the end of the year. Check it out here: www.noimpactman.typepad.com

His experiment poses big questions: if I am worried about greenhouse gases, am I worried enough to keep red worms in a box in my kitchen to compost our vegetables and other organic waste? (Good luck convincing Courtney on that!!!) Am I ready to stop freezing things for storage or to spend an extra 25% of my already strained budget on organic local groceries? Must we city-dwellers stop patting ourselves on the back for taking the subway and not bagging our fruit at the grocery store? How sustainable are any changes I make? Yes, I have taken to the good-for-the-earth showers – rinse, turn off water while you soap up, rinse, exit. But can I keep this up in a New York winter in an apartment with a drafty bathroom? Even if I do, without millions of others doing the same, will the few gallons saved each day make any difference at all? Or should I luxuriate in the hot water and plan to go down with the ship?

Whatchya think? Should we all live like we have a personal tie to keeping the water clean, the air breathable, the landfills smaller? Any mini-tips out there on how to be green? Any reactions to No Impact Man?

26 Hour Weekend

It's the end of another 26-hour weekend. We went back to the restaurant with the amazing chicken-in-a-bag and delicious saganiki, a spicy melted feta-and-tomato dish. Yum! I will try to learn to make both of these so I can replicate it at home for anyone brave enough to take the subway to Astoria. On Sunday, Amy and I had a coffee in the port town with Lucas, the hotelier's son. I smiled and nodded as they spoke in Greek. So far, I'm afraid I only know a few words -- please, thank you, this one, just a little, big and helicopter. Helicopter -- a totally useful addition to my vocabulary.

For the rest of the afternoon we lazed by the waterfalls. I edited my thesis and read a book while nude and semi-nude hippies swarmed all over the pools. One group sat in front of me at about five -- they had been swimming ALL DAY and they STILL smelled awful, so I packed up and went home.

Our group is slowly shrinking -- Professor Wescoat's son, Hugh, leaves today. Cindy is safely in NYC. And Amy leaves on Sunday. But I'm still hoping to get in some Samothracian Olympics and a few good game nights before we all head back to the US!