Ringing in the New Year

Like everyone else, as New Year's approached, I reflected on 2013. It was a big year for Rusty and I. Rusty graduated college, played in the National Championship with the BYU men's volleyball team, we celebrated our first year of marriage, and moved to Greece! For me, this new year was bittersweet because it wasn't just the end of another year, it was the end of a chapter in our lives. No more late nights studying, no more Wednesday night zumba with my sisters, no more pulling up to our little brick house- our first home together, no more regular family outings...2013 was good to us. It provided us with memories we will never forget. But, new years is not just about reflecting- it is also about new beginnings and looking forward to the future. I am excited to see what 2014 has in store; somehow every new year seems to outdo the last.

Like Christmas, New Year's here is celebrated a little differently. Everywhere closes at about 10pm and then opens up again at 1am, so that they can celebrate the clock striking midnight at home with family. On New Years Eve, Rusty and I were skyping my mom and my sister Kendall. Midnight was quickly approaching, so we pulled up a YouTube video of the ball drop in Times Square last year and projected it on the wall. We had Kendall help us time it perfectly so we could actually watch the ball drop right at midnight. Then we ran around on our balcony banging pots and pans. Not one person was out on the streets. There was one other family out on their balcony, but they were just starring at us like we were crazy haha. I was excited to see lots of fireworks going off in the sky- at least the town wasn't totally silent at midnight!

At almost 1am exactly, Mike, Rusty's teammate, called us to go out. He picked us up and we went to the center, which was super busy. All the coffee shops were more like clubs. We met up with a couple of Mike's friends at People Cafe, which had a DJ who was blasting techno and Greek  music. The place was jam packed both inside and out on the patio. At around 3am, the place lit up with sparklers that had been given out; confetti was thrown up in the air and it finally felt a little more like New Years Eve! We hung out there til 4am, which is actually early by Greek standards- they usually stay out til 7 or 8am...but apparently I am an early-nighter because I was ready to go home by 2am haha. I was so tired, but Mike persuaded- or should I say forced us to go to another place after People haha. We got to the other place and found out it cost money to get in and since we were only planning to stay for a couple minutes we just decided to go home. So long 2013...bring on 2014!

Christmas in Greece

This Christmas was one to remember.

Rusty and I booked flights to Rome for Christmas. We were going to be there for almost a week and I planned our activities out to the day. Christmas Eve- the Colosseum, Christmas Day- the Vatican to watch the Pope's annual blessing, the day after Christmas- the Trevi Fountain and Piazza Navona...but my dream Christmas was shattered after finding out the President of the volleyball team did not get our visas within 90 days, so technically we were staying here in Greece illegally. We were worried that at the airport, they may notice we had overstayed our 90 days and then we could get fined or deported. We tried everything we could to get them in time (with no help from the team), but unfortunately we still didn't get our visas, which meant our Christmas plans were ruined and the $330 we spent on the tickets went down the drain :(

But enough of my depressing sounding Christmas because it actually made me realize that there are a lot worse problems in the world than not being able to go to Italy for Christmas. It made me so grateful for all of the blessings I have in my life. And of course, I was reminded of the true meaning of Christmas. This may sound cheesy, but I saw a quote a while back that said something like be grateful for dirty dishes because it means you have food to eat, be grateful for laundry because it means you have clothes to wear... and so on, and it stuck with me. So, when I find myself complaining about something, I try to find the blessings in it. And of course this positive mindset doesn't always come easy, but it does help when I'm upset about something, like our trip to Italy.

So instead of going to Italy, Rusty and I went up to Thessaloniki. We rode with Nikitas, who let us stay in his family's extra apartment! Luckily, Rusty got a good amount of time off for Christmas, so we stayed up there from December 23rd until the 27th.

The night we got there, we went with Nikitas and his friend to see The Hobbit movie, which was good. We went to bed that night excited for Christmas Eve! The next day, we decided to spend our Christmas Eve braving the crowds in the center of town. There was a carnival, vendors, and an ice skating rink set up. We went to Terkenlis, a popular sweet shoppe, and bought a full loaf of tsoureki, so we could eat it on Christmas day. I may have described tsoureki before, but it is the most delicious bread/dessert I have ever had. It is covered in white chocolate and is swirled with chestnut filling, which doesn't sound that appetizing, but trust me, it is delicious!

I had never actually known the meaning of "chestnuts roasting on an open fire"...

We went down a side street and it was like we stepped into another world,
it reminded me of the secret market on the Hunger Games haha

So sick!!

After we finished up shopping around the center, we skyped our families in a crowded Starbucks right next to the sea. We finished the night off by going to a casino Nikitas took us to, and while it was the furthest thing from my typical Christmas Eve, which is usually spent looking at Christmas lights with my family, I really enjoyed it. Rusty and I spent almost the entire night sitting and chatting inside the casino buffet. Once you left the buffet you couldn't come back in and we weren't going to gamble, so we just chatted the night away.

HAHAHA so glad I captured this!

The cutest boat ever

The casino

On Christmas Day we heard a knock at the door. It was a boy-about 12 years old- dressed as Santa, singing a song in Greek. Rusty said something to him and he said "English?" and then started singing "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells," but his voice quickly trailed off- that was probably the only part he could sing in English haha. Luckily, I had read online that groups of kids here go door-to-door singing carols to earn money, otherwise I would have been like okay thanks for the song and then closed the door haha.  We got ready and then met up with Rusty's teammate, Stratos, at a coffee shop. After, he showed Rusty and I to a place called To Daylicious, which has cheap food and free wifi. We skyped with our families again. My family placed my sister's iPad in the corner of the room, so Rusty and I watched them open gifts on Christmas morning- It felt like we were there!

After a couple hours of skyping, we were hungry and ready for dinner. We went to TGI Friday's of course, so we had a little taste of home! 

One of the gifts Rusty got for Christmas (which he picked out and ordered himself haha), is his beloved pocket projector. As I have mentioned before, when Rusty finds something he wants, he can't get it out of his mind and eventually we end up buying it. I am starting to get less hesitant when he tells me about his latest want because whenever we buy something I originally think we don't need, I end up being happy we bought it. So far, the projector has gotten good use! We watch shows and movies a lot since we have so much down time. And as Rusty would say, it is "125 inches of crystal clear, HD entertainment." And I love that it is so small, we can easily travel around with it. Since it is so portable, we brought it with us to Thessaloniki and watched a few Christmas movies!

Christmas day with our tsoureki

They were playing music in the center and the song "You're the one that I want" from the movie Grease came on-
we were singing a Grease song in Greece! haha

The day after Christmas we went to the mall and saw The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. We actually didn't even mean to see that movie so when it started, we had no idea what we were about to watch (and it didn't help that we had never even seen a preview for the movie, since we rarely see movie trailers), but we ended up liking it. It's different, and at first I was like what the heck is this, but by the end, we were pleasantly surprised. After, we walked through the mall and did one of my favorite things...tested out make-up haha. Rusty is such a good sport.

Outside the mall

We are suckers for American food

Christmas here was not only different for us since we were not with our family, but it is celebrated differently in general. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day it seemed like people were celebrating because they had time off. On Christmas Eve, all bars, coffee shops, and restaurants were super busy. Coffee shops had been turned into clubs with people drinking and dancing. We walked by one, which was jam packed with people, music was blasting, colorful spotlights were moving around the dark room, and someone was holding a chair above their head haha. And on Christmas Day, it was weird seeing teens hanging out in To Daylicious, like it was just another day. One teenage guy was there by himself, which made me wonder if his family just doesn't celebrate Christmas like we do back home. It was just such a different feel than in the US.

All these people were just hanging out on Christmas Day,
listening to music, which was being played on big speakers

Like I said before, this Christmas was one to remember, and in a good way. It was not only our first Christmas on our own, away from our families, but it was in a foreign country where Christmas is celebrated differently. I will always remember our Christmas in Greece!