First Greek Haircut

Today was the day! I sure miss Katie in Anaheim Hills, but my friend Nicole from my neighborhood here recommended a great place two blocks from my house. Can't complain. They did a great job:I know I look a little different, but he was THAT good!

Ok.

Here is my sorry attempt from the bathroom mirror.

Also, I would like you to know that tomorrow is ANOTHER HOLIDAY. It's May Day. I tried to pay my rent today at the bank, since it will be closed tomorrow, the 1st. It was 3:15 and they were already closed. Does anyone actually work in this country?

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And also, also, if you didn't watch the Foux Da Fa Fa video, you are really lacking something in your day. I still laugh every time. Perhaps there is something wrong with me.

Foux da fa fa

On Tuesday I leave again, for a trafficking conference in France. I am looking forward to it -it will be a great time of networking and they have some international speakers/experts coming. It will be helpful to learn more about trafficking specific to Europe. So, let's all brush up on our French, shall we? Parlez-vous français?

sunday afternoon miscellany

Old Turkish mosque, Hania harbor, Crete

I have really been racking my brain for these creative blog post titles, you know.

It is indeed Sunday afternoon. I spoke at two churches this morning; I have been up since the crack of dawn to travel an hour an a half to the first one, which put me only in a north Athens suburb (from where I live in the center). Gotta love public transportation involving metro, bus, and taxi.

I love that my new neighborhood is lively and quaint at the same time; the cafes bustling with more Greeks than tourists, the old neoclassical houses that still remain here and there, the clear view of the Acropolis a block from my building, the frequent accordian players that wander through the streets. But as the weather gets warmer and the days get longer I can't even GET to my building! The tourists are here in droves, and Athens is a completely different place. I can't even walk into my neighborhood without slowing to a halting creep on weekends, when the street vendors come out and the tourists crowd onto the walking streets buying plastic splatting tomatoes (pretty sure these haven't made it to the States yet), handmade jewelry and bread rings. It's a fun place for sure - I just need to prepare myself for the throngs of people I'm going to have to face whenever I set foot outside this summer!

I've written and deleted a few posts in the last couple weeks, realizing it helps me process things but that I don't necessarily want the whole world reading my ponderings. I get over it quicker when I get it out - the problem with blogging is that the feelings may pass, but the words are still out there! I guess in a way this has become akin to journaling for me.

Seeing some of the islands and other parts of this country in the last month has been SO GREAT for me in terms of liking Greece. Stuck in the city, sometimes it's easy to think it's no place special, it's loud and dirty, there's crime and exploitation and deranged drivers, just like any other international city. Santorini, Crete, Thessaloniki, and some of the other BEAUTIFUL places I have seen remind me not only that I live in Greece, but give me a new appreciation for the culture, history, and allure that attracts people here.

There is plenty more "miscellany" clattering around in my head, but it is Sunday afternoon and I am going to lay on my newly assembled couch and do ... nothing. :)

Crete is neat

Aren't you totally rolling your eyes at me for that title? I am. :)

Vacation is officially over. Tell that to the 4 million Greeks at the cafes outside my windows...but really, it's back to the grind now. Great Week is coming to an end, most people have returned to work, and I myself have several 10+ hour work days coming up - woot!

Well, anyway, I just spent the last three days on Crete with Britt and Heather. Joining the mass exodus from the city (I have never seen Athens so empty!), we joined all the Dutch tourists on Greece's farthest and largest island. We bought the cheapest possible ferry tickets, which meant we had an overnight (8 hour) ride with no assigned seats - packed the sleeping bags and slumbered on the floor. The 5:30 am arrival was a little tough, but we powered through. :) A friend of a friend in Hania there arranged a cute little hotel for us on a perfect narrow, cobblestone street, and offered all the free coffee, tea and snacks we wanted at his taverna down below. We had no agenda, and spent hours wandering the old streets, sitting at cafes on the waterfront, and just generally lazing around. I'm pretty sure parts of Hania rival Santorini for the most beautiful award - I could have walked around and taken pictures for days! I loved it. Crete was Turkey's territory for awhile, so you can still see the remnants of Islamic rule - old mosques, Orthodox churches with minarets, and some Turkish business names. It's a big island with everything from a big ugly city to quaint little towns and old villages. The "getting there" part isn't so fun, but for me it's worth it once you arrive.

April has been kind of a whirlwind tour of Greece, hasn't it?! While I wish they could have been a bit more spread out, the break has been good and renewing. I have a LOT of work ahead, speaking at a couple churches, a Bible college, and prepping for our Hands That Heal class that is starting in a few weeks. Lots of writing, too. My apartment is in shambles, unassembled furniture and IKEA boxes and paper everywhere, so hopefully I can find what I need. I at least have a carpet now, which gives me an alternate seating arrangement besides my lone chair. :)

In between work stuff this week I'll get the apartment set up and I PROMISE I will show you soon!

kalo paska

Britt, Heather, Krystal, Me, Alma

Last night at midnight, as the priest continued his hours-long chanting (!), the bells began to chime and everyone shared candlelight in the square. We walked home with our candles lit.

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Today is feast day - I got to join a big Greek family for lunch after church this afternoon for the traditional meal of lamb and so many other things (!). It was fun - they kept saying, "You can't tell your friends you had lunch with a typical Greek family. You have to tell them you ate with a crazy Greek family!" Happy Orthodox Easter. :)

Good Friday

Church bells, Santorini

Starting at midnight last night, all the churches in the city, in each neighborhood, started ringing their bells. One gong, of varying notes, every 5 seconds. Continuously. It is a cool concept, but I am going slowly mad, and wondering if this will continue until Sunday?! :)

Tonight I guess there is a procession starting in five different points of the city, with priests carrying caskets, all coming together in the main square. Like most holidays and events, no one seems to know what time this is happening. So I probably won't see it. However, tomorrow night at midnight (Saturday night) is the traditional candle services that I WILL see.

Going to join a few friends around 9 tomorrow night for some more significant Eastery things, and then we'll head to the main church in the city. It will be packed out, with people filling the whole square outside, all holding special candles that they have purchased this week for this purpose. At midnight the priest will light his candle and those near him, and they will light those behind them...the light will spread through the church, and then out into the city, and then everyone walks home with their candles lit.

Then they start lighting fireworks at your feet, which means it's time to run for your life and get out of there as soon as possible.

One interesting thing...I am assuming in America right now they are having all kinds of specials on the history channel and the networks about the reliability and validity of the resurrection and truth of Jesus' claims because of the Easter season (or at least they did last week). Here, they show movies on the life of Christ and other religious programs. Such a marked difference. A homework assignment of one of Voula's daughters this week was to chart out the events of Passion week! Scholars research this and write articles on it...and her 10 year old had to somehow come up with what happened each day of the week! Ha. In true Greek mother fashion, Voula spent hours calling her connections at the Bible college and doing research online until she came up with the model outline for Naya to turn in. :)

Life is cheap...

if you work in the sex industry.

One-day sentence in prostitute killing upheld; mom distraught

Thu. Apr 16 - 4:47 AM

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. (CP) — The mother of a strangulation victim says she’s lost faith in the justice system after the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the killer’s one-day sentence.

"They failed my daughter big time," a devastated Alice Dort said Wednesday in a telephone interview from Nova Scotia.

"I just hope and pray no other family has to go through what we went through with all of this. If it does, my heart goes out to them."

Dort’s daughter, Stephine Beck, 29, was found face down in the snow on the side of a road in Vineland, Ont., on March 4, 2007.

Wayne Ryczak was arrested the next day after a neighbour told police she saw him load a woman’s body into his hatchback.

Ryczak pleaded guilty to manslaughter, and was sentenced last May to one day in jail, in addition to the 14 months and 10 days he had already served in custody.

Judge Stephen Glithero credited the pre-trial custody as slightly more than two-for-one, giving him a total sentence of 30 months.

It was followed by three years of probation.

The Crown had asked for a seven- to 10-year sentence, while Ryczak’s lawyer, Geoffrey Hadfield, had requested a conditional sentence of two years less a day.

The Crown’s appeal of Ryczak’s sentence was dismissed in a 10-page decision released Wednesday by Ontario’s top court.

The court said it did not agree with the Crown that the sentence imposed was unfit or that Glithero erred in law.

Dort said if her daughter, a sex-trade worker with a drug addiction, had been anyone else, the case would have gone differently.

Story from the Canada Chronicle Herald.

the in-between week

It is Easter week ~ I am between Easters right now, the western one last Sunday (that was not celebrated here) and the Greek (orthodox) one coming up this Sunday. Next week in Greece is Megali Evdomada, "Great Week," one of - if not THE - most important holidays of the year. I have been reading about some of the various traditions that take place here, from children's plays reenacting the crucifixion to burning rag dolls symbolizing the burning of Judas to the worship of various patron saints, fireworks, and soot crosses on doorposts to protect the household.

I missed Easter last year too because I was in Greece, and I can say I truly MISS it. The significance is easily missed here, to me, where services are in a foreign language and children sing carols for money (as they do preceding any major holiday here). The fast ends, the feasting begins, and two weeks of vacation ensues around the country.

I am studying the book of John right now, seeing the crucifixion and other events through John's eyes. Can you imagine watching the torture and violent, humiliating death of one you so dearly love, one you have given up career and family for, one who has been your friend, brother, leader, teacher, mentor? And afterward? The devastation, grief, loss. And relief, that he is finally out of his misery. Guilt. Defeat. And the questions. And Mary? A mother, watching this happen to her son?

I feel like the significance of what he actually went through is lost when we see pictures of scratched up Jesus with an owie on his forehead or a couple bloody cuts on his back carrying his cross down the street. I don't think even the Passion movie truly embodied what he really went through, looked like, how much he suffered. That movie was hard; I think it was so much worse. I think of those verses in Is. 52 saying that he was beaten beyond recognition, marred beyond any human likeness. I'll most likely never watch this happen to anyone, not to mention someone I am close to, so I'll never feel the shocking, agonizing, heart-wrenching personal impact of what took place.

I have no idea if the experience of the disciples, Mary, etc. would have been different if they understood the full significance of what was happening; to them, this was their Jesus, suffering indescribably. Today, we see the significance, but without the impact of seeing the horror and pain. I wish I could grasp the immensity of it all.

And indeed, the implications of his glory, love, and victory that those three days represented. My 2000-years-removed comprehension falls so, so short. Now added to that, I am in a foreign place where it's so easy to relegate this holiday to a "cultural experience." I am praying that the impact won't be lessened.

hey from the new house (& Santorini photos)

It's Monday night ... Janell leaves in the morning :( ... and I am sitting in my brand new living room listening to the hustle and bustle of cafes below me and stealing someone's wireless internet. We moved earlier this evening - a few friends helped load everything I own (on this continent, anyway) into this new place. How did I accumulate so much in only four months??

Tomorrow begins the hunt for furniture and appliances, not to mention a ton of work to catch up on - I haven't done much these last two weeks! Next week I am gone again, home for a week, and then to a trafficking conference in France. The day after I get back from that, I start teaching Hands That Heal here in Athens - so I have a lot of preparation for that before I go, since I need to condense it to 5 sessions. It doesn't stop!

Janell and I got back late last night from a weekend away. We returned from Turkey Thursday night and left Friday morning again. We managed to pack her time here pretty full! I did ok saving money the last couple months and so this weekend we went to Santorini. It was SO beautiful, and so relaxing (if only for a day and a half). I have posted a few of my favorite photos. We were supposed to arrive Friday at noon, but our ferry broke and we were stranded on a different Greek island for about six hours until they could send another boat. We didn't arrive in Santorini until after dark on Friday. I know there are worse things than being stranded on a Greek island, but it took a whole day away from this:

So, I was happy about this whole "living in Greece" thing this weekend! It's definitely good to see the beautiful parts in addition to the negative stuff I see for work. When you're just in the city all the time - Acropolis or not - it's easy to forget what you have around you. Now ... one of these days I will get pictures of this new place up! :)

Istanbul, Part 3: The Bosphorus and Beyond!

Wednesday afternoon we took a cruise up the Bosphorus. It was good to get out of our tiny little neighborhood, which has the historical sites but is obviously only a tiny slice of Istanbul. We went up the channel between the European side and the Asian side of the city. Fun, cheap, freezing, and all the apple tea you can drink!

One of my favorite foods that I can remember when I spent time in Turkey before was manti. It's like ravioli, but smaller, and the sauce is actually made of yogurt. So I dragged the girls around looking for a manti place, which we found, and consumed. (The manti, not the place.) I think Greek food is way better than Turkish food, so other than that we didn't really set out to purposefully sample the local cuisine. We did so, but it's all the same in this area of the world I think; it just goes by a different name.

Wednesday night Janell and I went to a Turkish bath ("hamam"). As I mentioned, I got to experience a true Turkish bath in the town of Bolu several years ago. The village ladies all came down once a week for their bath & the weekly gossip. The family I was staying with had three girls, and they thought I should have the full experience - so they hired someone to "bathe" me, exfoliate my skin (translation: rub 12 layers of skin off my body), and wash my hair (translation: nearly pull my scalp off my head), while they watched and laughed. :)

The one Janell and I went to (pictured here, from their free postcard) had a huge marble slab in the middle that was heated, with rooms around the edge with basins and faucets pouring cold and hot water into them. After you are foamed up & have a massage on the heated slab, you pour the water over yourself in one of the rooms to rinse off. In the back we floated in mineral pools. A few hours of this and we felt perfectly refreshed. :) This particular hamam was built in 1584 by a sultan for his wife.

Such was our trip; a little roaming through the Grand Bazaar and fending off aggressive shop owners and their propositions, listening to the call to prayer, dragging our suitcases down cobblestone streets, and then it was time to come home. Athens home. :)

Istanbul, Part 2: Sights and Wonders

I thought it would be good to get out of Greece for a few days. Turns out, leaving one non-English-speaking country and going to another non-English-speaking country isn't really much of a change. I remembered some words and phrases from my time there several years ago, and much of the city planning, architecture, and sights and sounds reminded me of, well, Turkey.

Wednesday morning we hit three of the major tourist sites: the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, and the Basilica Cistern. The Blue Mosque was built in the 1500s. Impressive from the outside,

a mosque on the inside. :)

The Hagia Sophia, not as impressive on the outside (except in this photo, which I did not take),

but pretty amazing on the inside.It was a church, built by Justinian in the 530s, and later converted to a mosque in the 1400s during Ottoman rule, and was destroyed and rebuilt several times in between. There are many mosaics from the early church period that were preserved when the Muslims plastered over them. And of course, no European historical site would be complete without scaffolding.

Last, I wanted to go into this cistern, built in 532. If you remember my obsession with caves and tunnels in Israel last year, you will know why I wanted to see this. :) There are 336 columns in here, canibalized from other buildings. It's huge...

Complete with a creepy Medusa head (two, actually), at the base of two of the columns:

Istanbul, Part 1: "Problem! Obama!"

Janell and I and another friend from here in Athens, Britt, went to Istanbul for a couple days. Britt and I needed the 90 day EU stamp in our passports and Janell needed another country to cross off her list. We had the standard list of things to see, and did a pretty good job of it. Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Basilica Cistern, and Janell and I went to a Turkish bath. I went to one out in a village several years ago when I was in Turkey, but I thought Janell needed the experience as well. :)

We arrived Tuesday afternoon and I gave the taxi driver directions to our hotel. "Problem!" he shouted immediately. "Where you from?" "We're American," we replied, to which he exclaimed, "Obama!"

I get this a lot, actually. Living overseas, when someone finds out you're American, sometimes that's the only thing they can think of to identify with. So they'll give a huge thumbs up and shout "Obama!" and then your conversation is over.

It took us about 20 minutes of blocked roads, police everywhere, and detours to figure out that the problem actually was Obama. We could get nowhere near the historic district of Sultanahmet, where our hotel was, because our president was there, shutting down the entire city for his tour of the Blue Mosque.

He finally had to drop us off near the huge bazaar and let us try to find our way to our hotel on foot. Ha. We gave ourselves quite a tour of the area, unfortunately only through the dingy backstreets, before we asked the 12th person for directions and found the place. By the time we left today, of course, we knew exactly where we were, but no such luck upon first landing in the city.

Here is a door.

(It's from the Blue Mosque. I am obsessed with doors.)

next stop...

Visa trip...see you in a couple days!

Photo from here.

handy girls, we are

Janell and I installed a toilet seat today. It was the first for both of us.

I actually had the golden opportunity to shop for my own toilet seat and install it myself. Who knew there were so many choices! When I was looking at the apartment last week and noticed there wasn't a toilet seat (which is the case for half the public restrooms in this country - but this isn't public!), I asked if they would be installing one. "No, you will," they replied.

Ah, yes. Silly me.

Also, I flush the toilet by pulling a chain hanging out of the ceiling.

the "navel of the earth"

Temple of Apollo, Delphi

only because I promised...

Shoot, it's 1:15am and we're getting up at 7 to go to Delphi and I am SO TIRED. But ok, here is my big news:

I got an apartment!!!

(Yay Jessica, good guess.) It is in the exact neighborhood I wanted, about a block behind all the cafes that overlook the acropolis. It's three rooms (small - including the bedroom & living room), very bright, good price, and I'm really excited to move in! I got the keys today, but since Janell and I have so many things planned next week I probably won't be able to fully move in until the following week. That's ok.

It's not furnished, so I am praying for a major miracle, especially as far as appliances go. I have to buy a refridgerator, oven, washing machine, and furniture. I hope to get connected with some expat for-sale lists, so this should help.

It's a two-year lease, but, as leases are to protect the renter and not the landlord, we were able to put a clause in the contract that I can leave after a year without penalty. So I know I'll be here at least through next March.

This neighborhood is really hard to get into, I have heard..."for rent" signs will go up in the morning and the place will be gone by the evening. I found this on my first day of looking! I have a friend about three blocks away, too. :) Blessings.

I don't have pics of the apartment yet, but here are some from the neighborhood:

My first Greek apartment, awww...

WOOHOOO! :)

I have some exciting news...I'll tell you tomorrow. ;)

Janell arrived safely, she slept until noon today while I had my Greek lesson, so hopefully the jetlag will not get the best of her. We're about to go have lunch down by the sea someplace and be lazy today. There is a strike today (schools, airport, transportation, etc.), so our mobility is a little limited, but it's a beautiful warm day and there is plenty to do.

Yia sas!

oh shoot, it's almost TIIIIIME!!!!!

Arriving in Athens from LAX via JFK bright and early tomorrow morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(I am a little excited.)

P.S. It's not the cows. Mules. Pygmy horses. Whatever they are.

Hydra (EE-dra)

Sorry for the pronunciation lesson, but you can't be saying High-dra around here or you'll look like a ... tourist. :) Yesterday started at 6am (NOT what we are used to around here) to catch the fast boat to the islands for a nice, relaxing day trip. I went with my friend Britt and her parents, who are visiting from the States. A few hours in Hydra Town with glorious weather and nice island views were just what the doctor ordered.

Hmm, well, I guess I have to say that actually it is exactly contrary to what the doctor ordered, since it involved about 29 million steps (stairs) to walk through town, and that is definitely against doctor's orders.

Anyway, Hydra is sort of a special island in the sense that there are no motor vehicles (except for a few service vehicles). The mode of transportation is by donkey. It looks just like we expected from a Greek island...everything was whitewashed with blue accents, narrow winding roads, lovely people, good seafood, and of course, plenty of donkeys!

I stand corrected!

As it turns out, while March 25 is indeed Annunciation Day, it is in fact a Greek Independence Day. It's like the 4th of July, actually. It's a big deal. With tanks and fighter jets and helicopters.

I say "a" Greek Independence Day because there are more than one. :) Greeks had to fight hard for their independence many times over the centuries. This day marks independence from Turkey. Which is, wouldn't you know it, why we had a turkey dinner. Clever Americans, we are. (Plus one Belgian and one Honduran-Spanish-Greek.) Because that would make no sense in any other language.