The Beginning

Oh. My. Goodness. People. You would not even believe the place I am staying at in Greece. We moved to the beach house last week and it is 1000 times greater than anything I could have imagined. This is the house: (pics won't work...imagine a huge, beautiful white house)

This is the view from my room: (palmetto trees and the bluest water you've ever seen)
And this is where I hang out every day and sunbathe: (amazing little beach with blue water and pebbles)

Can you even stand it? I can’t either. The kid is really the only damper in this whole situation, but we are doing ok. He is kind of fickle. Sometimes he likes me and we get along and do fun things….and other times he decides I suck and he is going to pout. I haven’t figured out yet what it is that makes him mad, but I don’t really care. He comes around after a little bit and all is well.

The beach here is so beautiful! And its so different from at home! First off, the beach is made of rocks…no sand. Which is great! No sand in your suit, your eyes, your bag, and all kinds of other places you don’t want sand to be. And we have to wear shoes into the water because there are sea urchins on the ground waiting to poke you. Also the water is so clear and beautiful! It’s cool…you can go swimming really far out. Today the grandma went on a little snorkel expedition by herself. Then she came back and lathered up in baby oil to do some sun tanning. She seems pretty BA. I don’t really know because she doesn’t speak any English and Panayotis doesn’t like to translate. But she seems cool. Anyone sun bathing at 75 is awesome in my book. I have a feeling she is a lot like Germaine, but I can’t really tell since she only speaks Greek. But I think I’m right.

Lask week we took a boat ride to some cool little beaches and then went to a hidden cove of sorts and had dinner at the smallest boat port I’ve ever seen. It was literally a restaurant, about 10 boats and five houses. And it was super fabulous. I love being on the boat more than anything and things are no different here. We had some interestingly cooked fish and shrimp for dinner. Not my fave, but it was good. The dad keeps making me drink this Greek vodka and it is SO intense. I can’t really handle it and he doesn’t understand why I don’t love it.

The food situation is interesting here too. That is probably the one thing I miss about home…being in control of what I eat. I like most everything they are giving me here, but they are giving me way to much of it! Also, you know how picky I am, but I don’t want to be difficult, so I have been eating a lot of things that I don’t particularly enjoy. I’m not complaining though…just saying. Also, we had spaghetti today for lunch. Which I thought was an interesting choice since it was extremely hot outside. Pretty much every day we have some sort of hot meal for lunch that makes me extremely tired and full. Another interesting thing is how seriously they take meals here. When I was growing up, lunch at the beach were sandwiches, chips, orange slices, and juice boxes in the sand. Here, we eat at the table, with a tablecloth, placemats, real silverware and glasses, three courses and dessert. It’s kind of bizarre. I don’t know if this is a Greek people thing or a rich people thing. Either way is fine with me because then we had a three hour siesta and I was extremely happy.

So that’s my life. Other than swimming and playing games, nothing much is going on with me. I’m getting super tan, which makes me happy because I lost my great tan I had going on during camp. This new Greek tan will be even better! Can’t wait! Also, the internet is super slow here, so sorry if I am out of touch for the next couple of weeks!

Greece!

Hi friends! Just wanted to let you know the internet here is few and far between...right now I am on the dads computer and don't have much time....updates when I get a chance, promise!

We are at the beach house and it is AMAZING! And HOT. Pictures soon!

Lo Spettacolo

Ok, so I am currently in Greece, but not much has happened so I am just going to post the videos from Lo Spettacolo. That means "The Show," in Italian. It sounds like it would be something a little more exciting than that, perhaps something to do with being SPECTACULAR...but it doesn't. Just the show. Ours was, however, spectacular. Complete with a sermon, 10 minute prayer and some painfully silly antics courtesy of Marianna. Don't even get me started on that mess. Anyways, the videos are dumb, but if you're bored, you might enjoy them. I personally just think the kids accents are hysterical. But that's just me.

***OK, well, the videos are being temperamental and refuse to upload. I'll give them a talking to and get back to you. Here are some pictures instead. *




Oh yeah, and I got a new Greek cell phone. I also discovered I lost my US sim card. So that sucks. Anyways, now I get text messages in Greek and I am completely lost. I was doing ok with the Italian...I could actually have conversations and stuff with people...but I am completely screwed with Greek. This is the word for Google Search: (I think)

Αναζήτηση

Please tell me how you are supposed to decipher anything that is written with those letters.

Anyways, I have a little 6 year old translator, so I'm sure I'll be fine. But, lets talk about how stupid you feel when a 6 year old has to translate for you. Pretty darn stupid. Whatever, I'm in Greece and I'm going to the beach tomorrow. Nothing could be finer :)

Arriverderci

Oh my! So much has happened in the last couple of days! Last week of camp! Insane! I can't beleive it's all over and now I am chilling in Athens.

First things first. LO SPETTACOLO. What a ridiculous mess that was. But it turned out ok though. I called my portion of the show "Crazy Circus: The Musical." Everyone else's portion had lots of lines and characters and a plot...but I couldn't be bothered with all that. So we just sang two songs instead. Video is coming, don't you worry. The whole show in general just cracked me up. One, because this show was waaaayyyy more involved than the show at my last camp and two, the kids are just so funny to watch! And listening to the things they say (or try to say) in English is hysterical. This show had costumes, music, dance numbers, the whole works. And it was a good hour and 15 minutes long. The camp in Carpi was about 25. Maybe. Also, we had a 20 minute sermon thanks to Don Bosco and friends before the show started. So that was some good times.

In other news, my Italian family had a Fourth of July dinner for me on Thursday and it was the cutest/greatest thing ever! We had hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, and french fries...the whole deal. The only thing missing were fireworks! It was great, they were so thoughtful! And they got something called "hamburger sauce" from the German grocery store that turned out to be the sauce that comes on Big Macs. I was not a huge fan, but the family loved it! It even got put on paninis the next day.

So anyways, I am really tired now and don't have the energy to continue recapping the rest of my time in Italy. In short, I can't believe it's over and I was really sad to leave Italy and all the wonderful people I met there. I still can't get over how incredibly nice and cool everyone I met and stayed with was.

Now I am in Greece with my Greek family for the next couple of months and they are just as fabulous. Their house is AMAZING, they are incredible and the kid, Panayotis is such a goober! I think we are going to get along great. We leave for the beach house in Strava on Tuesday and am I super pumped about that! I am ready to get my tan back! The only problem is the crazy langauge! I know two things in Greek: hello and thank you. I was just getting good at Italian and now I'm here where they don't even use the same letters! Thank goodness my family's English is awesome!

More later (pictures too!) when I can think straight!

Ciaoooo