All of February without a post? Poor form. But at least it's the shortest month! Sometimes there's just regular life and not much new information to send out into the interweb. February was rainy and cold, every teacher in the department got a flu at one point or another and one hellish week there were five teachers out sick. But things are looking up! This past week was sunny and warm and even the Greeks left their parkas at home.
And! My parents and Katherine came to visit! It was her spring break, and they all flew over for ten days of sight-seeing and dolmades-eating. It was wonderful having them here, especially getting the chance to become a tourist again. We did so many things! It was exhausting but, of course, I'm glad to be able to check a few things off my list. The first two days were spent on Aegina, which is the closest island and which had just opened for the season. Things pick up on the islands only around Orthodox Easter, so we were the early birds, and were there for clean Monday (marks the end of Carnival and the start of not being allowed to eat red meat 'til Easter). The island was beautiful and quiet and dreamy. As soon as my sister got of the boat she said "This is like no where we've ever been" which says a lot for a travel happy family like the Dobson-Driscolls. Farmers were starting to tidy up their olive orchards and octopi were hanging from lines like drying clothes.
Temple of Afea on Aegina: Older than the Parthenon.
Octopi hanging outside a restaurant: More delicious than the Parthenon.
Among the other festivities during the week of family: Acropolis, National Archaeological Museum, Monastiraki flea market, Delphi, Plaka, Lycabettus Hill, Folk Art Museum. Too many to go into in much detail, but it was a wonderful week seeing the city from a fresh perspective again. I realize I've only been here for five or six months, but I've settled in to the extent that I don't exactly feel like a tourist any longer. I still often feel like a confused foreigner, but I do feel like I'm living here, not visiting.
Wise dog sleeps in the shade of a beachside table.
However, in the upcoming months I will be visiting an absurd number of countries I've never been to before. Up next: a long weekend in Istanbul, staying in a hostel directly opposite the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia. Looking forward to the culture shock and Turkish baths. A few weeks later, I'm off for the big whirlwind trip through Denmark, Sweden, France and the Czech Republic. If all goes well, I'll also be able to visit Austria and Hungary before I leave this varied continent. Is Russia the only country that spans two continents? Did you know that Scotland is actually from a different land mass than England? Geography day!
Thinking about all this upcoming travel is making me crazy! I'm (to a small extent, and probably because my family just left this morning) already starting to get the transition itch. It's what happens when you realize you're going to leave a place or change something drastically. Mostly its symptoms are innocuous: too much time on craigslist looking at apartments, day-dreaming of the settling-in process in a new place. But occasionally it can result in premature mental departure from a place, going against the whole "Be here now" philosophy I've been working on. I feel like that phrase is something Woody Allen would mock, but hey! he married his adopted daughter -- to each their own.
In conclusion, dear readers, try to be where you are. At least some of the time.
Where I am. Sunset over Halandri.
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