We will remember (our Greek life):

Altar making the noise that Ian hates just before we hear the distinctive sound of the little truck arriving

Our gold curtains blowing in the wind

Walking along the beach to town and finding beach glass

Yuli saying something is “breaking her nerves”

Our man and his wife from Athens

Seeing the buses going up and down the hills and having Rachel say to me when we are in the water, "Look there's the bus going to... Langada, Tholaria, Chora, or Katapola" like its the first time she is seeing it

Swimming in the Sea. swimming to "naked beach"(Leverosso) to collect beach glass and have a stroll

Waking up each and every day to sunshine

Our first meal in Greece on Paros Island, more fish and seafood that we could fathom or finish

The view from the upper deck, morning, noon, late afternoon, and night. Repeat.

The French Canadian kids next door saying "Le Bateau" "Le Bateau" every time a ferry came to the port

Gyro Tuesday's

That if Patty Moore says it is paradise, it is!!

Waking up at night and going onto the deck to see the night, the lights, the boats, the moon, or listen to the disco, the karaoke , or traditional greek music

The view from the bathroom window of Langada at night

Nikos and Joanna the friendliest grocers anywhere

Goats on the highway and in the oven

Savoury pumpkin pie at Nikos Taverna

Lobster spaghetti at Limani

Sunset in Tholaria, rivaled those in Santorini

Discovering Greek writers in translation, Alik Zei and Andreas Franghias, and hopefully more

How healthy, how strong, and tanned we were

Our beautiful house and our lovely hosts Yuli and Yorgos.

PS: We are taking a BLOG BREAK IN SEPTEMBER, since we won't have internet access. Watch for the Italian reports in October once we arrive in Barcelona.....

The Postcard Race: Round #6 WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Vancouver finally wins a round!

Pebbles & Lise reported receiving their postcard Friday the 28th of August and VERY SOON after Filis and Elaine reported receiving their "Gifts of the Greeks" postcard...(the latter reported in verse I might add)

AND so for Round Six, we are awarding a first and a second prize. We will be searching the markets of Naples for something especially for you!

Watch for a package coming your way, enclosed you will find something from another country, "Italy" that is.

CONGRATULATIONS WINNERS! and the postal workers of Vancouver , BC!

The Postcard Race Round #6

August on Amorgos “

Gifts of the Greeks”

Heraclitus of Ephesus, an early Greek philosopher, is famous for his doctrine of change being central to the universe, summarized in his famous quote, "You can not step twice into the same river.”

The Greeks democratized literacy by adding vowels to the Egyptian alphabet; thereby giving general access to written language. Formerly the realm of scholars and scribes, written language became a vehicle of poetry, not exclusively used for recording wealth or documenting religion.

In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, a creature that was half man and half bull. So cunningly had Daedalus made the Labyrinth that he himself could barely escape it.

The poet Sappho lived in the sixth century B.C. on the island of Lesbos. In her time poetry was principally used in ceremonial contexts, and to extol the deeds of brave soldiers. Sappho used the first person in poetry and discussed deep human emotions, particularly the erotic, in ways that had never been approached by anyone before. In the ancient world she was, acclaimed as the 'tenth muse'. Before it was all burned, her poetry filled 9 books.

Empedocles (490–430 BC) was a Greek philosopher and a citizen of Agrigentum, a Greek colony in Sicily. Empedocles established four ultimate elements, which make all the structures in the world - fire, air, water, earth. Empedocles is generally considered the last Greek philosopher to record his ideas in verse. Some of his work still survives today, more so than in the case of any other Pre-Socratic philosopher.

Homer composed two of the greatest epics in world literature, The Iliad and The Odyssey. The content, ideals, and style of these epics influenced the course of western literature. They stand as two of the greatest works ever composed for the beauty and power of their imagery, their character development, the universality of their themes, and for their extraordinary stories. Literature--indeed, civilization itself--was still in its infancy when Homer composed his works. He was the world's first great writer.

Thespis of Icaria (6th century BC) is claimed to be the first person ever to appear on stage as an actor playing a character in a play. This new style was called tragedy. Prior to his performances, no one had ever assumed the resemblance of another person for the purpose of storytelling: He had a substantial role in changing the way stories were told and inventing theater as we know it today. In reverence to Thespis, actors throughout western history have been referred to as thespians.

Many modern speechwriters have borrowed from the influential statesman, orator, and general of Athens during the city's Golden Age, Pericles (495 – 429 BC). “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” “Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you.” Sound familiar?

Hippocrates of Kos, was an ancient Greek physician considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He is credited with being the first physician to reject superstitious beliefs that credited supernatural forces with causing illness. He separated the discipline of medicine from religion, arguing that disease was not a punishment inflicted by the gods but the product of environmental factors, diet, and living habits.

Euclidean geometry is a mathematical system developed by Greek mathematician Euclid of Alexandria. Euclid's Elements is the earliest known systematic discussion of geometry. It has been one of the most influential books in history, as much for its method as for its mathematical content.

Democracy first appeared in ancient Greek political and philosophical thought. Originally it had two distinguishing features: the allotment of ordinary citizens to government offices and courts, and the assembly of all the citizens. All male citizens were eligible to speak and vote in the Assembly, which set the laws of the city-state; citizenship was not granted to women, or slaves. Of the 250,000 inhabitants of Athens only some 30,000 on average were citizens.

Greeks regarded mythology as a part of their history. They used myth to explain natural phenomena, cultural variations, traditional enmities and friendships. Greek mythology has exerted extensive influence on culture, arts, and literature of Western civilization. Poets and artists continue to be inspired by Greek mythology and discover contemporary significance and relevance in these mythological themes.

"The Postcard Race Round #6 "Gifts of the Greeks"

Thanks to our guest mailers for Round #6, Yuli and Yorgos, our lovely hosts, who dropped the postcards into the Aigiali mailbox.

We are halfway through contestants, so stick with the program. It is hard to believe that we have not heard, even a peep, from some of our contestants after six rounds. If we don't hear from these people after this round we will begin elimination, YES, you either know or don't know who you are, BUT you can get eliminated from The Postcard Race just like you can be "thrown off the island"! Don't let it happen people! Simply report receiving your postcard. After all, the next round is from Italy and it's going to be "fantastico."

Round 6 is the "Gifts of the Greeks" Round. They brought so much to western civilization, it's astounding. The first person to notify us (by telling us on the blog or emailing yvonne or rachel) that you have received your postcard and to relate the "Gift from the Greek" on the back will win "something mailed to you from another country!" So watch for your postcard, which may look something like the ones below.

Prizes for the Round 5 winners were mailed from Amorgos' Main Post Office. Please let us know when the packages arrive.

"Buena Fortuna" everyone!

Aloysius Snuffleupagus or Lost in Translation

It was my intention to learn some Greek while we were here and though I studied the alphabet and can say good morning, thank you and recognize words heard in passing like okay and asshole (the preferred swear word); learning a language involves rigour and that has just not worked with this learn to relax portion of our sojourn.

Many times we get the feeling we are missing something, not only do we have the language barrier but we are also culturally impaired. Many people in Aigiali speak at least some English, waiters and small business people speak a whole variety of languages to get by, French Italian German, English….in any case people are genuinely kind, helpful and friendly. So what do we talk about? Why the weather of course and that is invariably linked to the ability for ferries to arrive and depart which leads to business and this season of tourists. Various people have a variety of sometimes-conflicting pronouncements that may be or may not be true:

“Things will really fill up after the 15^th.”

“After the 18^th is when the you’ll see a change.”

“The wind is always stronger in the morning and dies down in the afternoon.”

“In August it gets so hot that you can’t even walk up to the bakery.”

“The best time to come is in April when the wildflowers are blooming and it is green.”

“The wind is not good for business.”

“The paper will arrive Monday afternoon.”

“We will have that tomorrow.”

There are three different ferries that arrive at the dock here and one of them has a name that is called Skopelitis. Yvonne took to calling that ferry the Snuffleupagus…… being a bit too old for Sesame Street I thought Yvonne had just made up that name which we started using for the many things we could not understand or could not see or basically had no control over.

I was pretty surprised to learn that Aloysius Snuffleupagus was a character that only Big Bird could see. The Snuffleupagus is such a perfect analogy for being in a foreign place short on the language skills; there are many things that you just don’t see and many things just completely out of your control.

We of course compensate for our lack of accurate knowledge by using the great powers of observation, speculation and invention to fill in the blanks. As my bathing suit has begun to disintegrate I now admire the woman who like us arrives at the beach in the morning, does her land exercises, her sea exercises, her sun bathing and then her walk to town for groceries and does a bikini (not really a bikini more like a sensible two piece) costume change between each activity. She smartly brought at least 4 and possibly 6 bathing suits for her vacation.

With everything we have heard, our pronouncement is that late May and June were unseasonably warm in Europe this year and August and September are somewhat cooler than usual.

In any case, from all accounts, the Italians are not so benevolent with tourists and so with great discipline Yvonne and I have been listening to our Italian lessons daily, particularly concentrating on good manners and general survival phrases. We are hoping, like our virtual Italian teacher says to have: “buena fortuna” good luck with that as we continue our travels into Italy for September.

Buffy Saint Marie, the only adult that believed in the Snuffleupagus, wrote a song for him. If only I could find a copy of that I would link it here.

We're Still Here!

The other night the wind was so strong I thought the whole town would blow away and be relocated to another island in

the vicinity. But, once the wind died down, there was no sign of damage save a bit of land debris in the sea. We are so at home here now, into a quiet, peaceful life, that it is hard to think of anything to report.

We continue to do the morning shift at the beach with the old men when the sun is behind us and retire to our little house for the afternoon. We are on our third beach umbrella, somewhere on the island must be the graveyard of beach umbrellas since if the wind doesn't destroy them the rocky beach surely will. Yet the stores continue to stock mountains of them and sell them to the unsuspecting tourists like us. We have noticed more seasoned travellers, (they have been here before) carry an industrial umbrella, of German design, I believe, you might find at Mountain Equipment Co-op rather than K-mart, it has rebar and a pounding tool built in. I destroyed our first umbrella by trying to pound it far enough into the rocky ground so it had some stability thereby rendering the base unable to hold the top. I then discovered the use of tools and now employ a very long, pointy rock as an auger and a nice flat palm size thick rock as a hammer and wet sand as concrete. In any case on those windy days we just forfeit the umbrella.

We swim every day, and we have taken to swimming farther and farther if the sea isn't too wavy. Levrossos beach (or naked beach as we like to call it) is our favorite destination. (Also the best place to find well processed beach glass). The beaches farther along the coast are very rocky and not so fun to arrive at after a long swim.

A few weeks ago we attended the celebration at Kolofana's church Ayia Paraskevi. The celebration, July 26th, honours the virgin who protects the community from evil (historically the ever rampaging pirates). There was one bus scheduled at 4PM from Aigiali to take the pilgrims, the bus ride was kinda fun since Yvonne noticed that true believers make the sign of the cross when passing by any church and that can keep you pretty busy here in on Amorgos.

We arrived way too early. The church was a gorgeous tiny little place every inch covered with icons and lit by candles. The service started around 7 with tons of chanting. We milled around outside taking pictures of the Herculean food prep, which goes on for days, beginning with the milling of grain and the baking of tons of loaves of bread! By 9:30 PM we were seated for the first course: beautiful bread and patatato (goat and vegetable stew) and look at the fabulous dish, absolutely delicious and so amazingly well spiced considering it was being prepared for about 5000. The not so faithful, but in the know, people began arriving in hordes for the next 3 courses and the festivities which apparently go on all night BUT we noticed our bus arriving and filling up and so we just ate that first course and left effectively missing the music and dancing that was promised.

We have attended a couple of musical events in Aigiali now. They start late and continue till dawn and are often accompanied by fireworks. We found a spot down on the beach to watch a Cretan fiddler and his band. We were pretty surprised when right next to us the pyrotechnic exploded his charges when the music was reaching a crescendo! Do bands travel with pyrotechnics? Two other concerts in town were accompanied by fireworks, which enhanced our enjoyment listening from our upper deck.

Another exciting happening of late was getting a haircut and dye job from Tomi, who has been described as the best thing about the 5 star hotel up the hill from us. His salon has a spectacular view of all of Aigiali bay. I love my haircut, soon yvonne will be enjoying a haircut by Tomi too! (YES same barber).

So the locals are dreaming of September when things will slow down. We keep running into the same people when we go to Chora or Katapola or just shopping in Aigiali and invariably they say: "You"re still here!" my favorite was the tattooed guy from Thessaloniki who works at the car rental place who exclaimed "You still have not finished your vacation!" How slow are we!

There are some people we see everyday, like "our man from Athens" and his wife. They spend six months of the year at their house in Langada. He grew up here and each morning they come down to take a swim and he does beach rounds which now include collecting beach glass for me and providing us with some fresh produce treat from the garden in front of our house.

Of late we are spending afternoons planning for the rest of our journey while we have the internet connection. I was freaking out the other day that our time here was almost over when Yvonne reminded me that we still had over two weeks , which is longer than most Americans' annual vacation. That put things in perspective for me....

So we have of course been doing tons of reading:

"Dear Shameless Death" Latife Tekin amazing Turkish writer but brutal subjects

"Dancing In the Streets: A History of Collective Joy" Barbara Ehrenreich SUPER INTERESTING especially given we are in Greece which figures largely in the story.

"Cast in Doubt" Lynne Tillman makes you not want to be an expat anywhere even on Crete like the character in this book

"The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" David Wroblewski: Fantastic! especially if you like dogs.

"The Tailor of Panama" John LeCarre- YP- this was a pleasant surprise for me, I had always lumped him into the category of writers I wouldn't bother reading, entertaining story and I thought reasonably well-written.

"Darkmans" Nicola Baker- YP- this book kept me entertained for a good long time, the kind of book one gets lost in; an alternative reality...somewhat confusing ending??

"Wonderful World" Javier Calvo-YP- again an entertaining story set in Barcelona, good characters, unfortunately bit of a week ending.

Watching:

Since we have been banned from downloading, we have been resorting to watching tv online, streaming they used to call it- works not so good, lots of start and stop but oh well

Hope Springs

Saving Grace

Weeds

Talked to Szu and Alexis last night via Skype and they suggested:

Nurse Jackie

Royal Pains

Headcase

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