Conference and Candids

Since Rusty was out of town over the weekend, we watched general conference a little late. For those of you who don't know, during general conference weekend, members of the church gather throughout the world to watch and listen to church leaders who have prepared talks of inspiration and instruction. I was so excited for conference. The closest LDS church we have is in Athens, which is two hours away from us. Watching conference made me feel at home, while at the same time, reminded me how lucky we are that conference is so accessible in places all over the world. 

Rusty and I decided we needed to continue our tradition (and most all Mormons' tradition) of making breakfast before watching conference. They don't really have breakfast food here in Greece, not even in restaurants, which is killing us! Greek people don't eat breakfast because they only drink coffee in the mornings, and then continue drinking it the entire day, but that's beside the point. Rusty and I are both breakfast lovers. Just writing this right now is making me wish I had a big plate of pancakes with thick maple syrup! So we set out looking for breakfast food. The first grocery store that we went to was pretty small. We looked around for the baking isle, in hopes of finding stuff to make pancakes, but no luck! 

We moved on to a bigger grocery store. We realized we could make french toast because all we needed was bread, eggs, cinnamon, and syrup. We found the bread, eggs, and cinnamon and hoped we could find syrup. We had never seen syrup here, but sure enough, we found some! It was a small glass bottle, about a quarter of the size of the syrup bottle I usually buy and it cost 7 euros. It was expensive, but we knew it would be worth it. We got home, made our french toast, and watched conference! The syrup was really thin, and not as sweet as I would like it, but I wasn't complaining because I was just happy to have syrup! 

The next day we went up to the center to meet Mike, the back-up setter from Greece for lunch. We stopped for a few photo ops on the way. I learned that Rusty enjoys being the "man behind the cam". He told me when he was little he and his friends would make James Bond movies and he was always the one filming. This cracked me up because I could just picture it! After all of our candid aka posed pictures/cheesy model shots we met up with Mike and went to a gyro place. After, we went to a coffee shop in the middle of the center. It was about 2pm and the place was packed. The coffee shops here are packed during pretty much all hours of the day. A spot out on the patio opened up, so we squeezed in. We chatted for a while then headed home.

Lots of cats and dogs roam the streets here. I have noticed that dogs make certain areas their home. There is a big black dog who is always in the center and a white and brown dog who is always near one of the places we eat. We have a neighborhood dog named Boobays, funny name I know, but everyone around here knows him because he stays in our neighborhood. One rainy night, I watched as the owner of a teeny store (actually more like a shack with cheap drinks and snacks), which is right across the street from us, kicked Boobays out for like 20 minutes straight. I actually got scared the owner was going to get so mad he would hurt him, so I took a cookie, went down stairs, and tried to lure him in...but no luck! Rusty assured me he would be okay haha.  The other night, Jay, Mike from Holland, Rusty, and I went out to get some dinner. On the way back, a cute black puppy came up to us, wagging it's little tail, and followed us all the way to our apartment. It even came up the stairs. It was so sad kicking it out and then closing the door as it starred in with it's innocent little eyes. I wanted to keep it so bad, but with traveling, we can't really have a dog, plus who knows if it was even healthy. But, one day...one day.

Winner, Winner, Greek Dinner

Russ was out of town this past weekend for another tournament. So, I was doing my usual routine; jogging, cleaning, blogging, when I received my first phone call on my cool new Greek cellphone! It was Eleni inviting me to go out to a coffee shop.  I went down to Eyenet and Mike gave me and Costas a ride to a local bar here in Lamia.  It was very dark inside- the only light in there came from a lit sign that said "up to the sky" and  a disco ball hanging in the middle of the room.  Mike's hairdresser, George, soon joined us at the bar wearing a tight black tee that had lemons on it, which were lined with rhinestones. He seemed really nice and spoke a little English.

Eleni told me we were at this bar because one of her friends was in a band and they were about to debut a new music video.  The video begun playing on a large screen they had set up in the corner of the bar. It opened with a screaming man who's long hair was pulled down in his face, so you couldn't even see it. He wasn't screaming because he was scared- it was just a "screamo" song and the screaming lasted the entire video. There was never any normal words- at least not that I could make out. I  don't actually know if it was in Greek or English because I couldn't even tell. In the video, the singer became chained up and was lashing to get out. Another guy was wrapped head-to-toe in saran wrap and was spinning in circles. Eleni explained that the video was showing how they felt suppressed by the Greek Government. It was interesting to say the least. The video went on for 3+ minutes and after, since Eleni was friends with the singer, I had the pleasure of meeting him, so exciting.  

The bar announced there would be a raffle to win a free t-shirt or CD.  Eleni decided our entire group would put my name on all of our tickets.  I heard the name "Kaa-Tee" called over the mic. I was so excited- I never win things! I walked over to the DJ booth to claim my prize.  I chose a t-shirt of course, and I am so glad I did because it says "Hostage control through fear"- just what I've always wanted haha.  Mike had explained to me that he was not of fan of the music at this bar, but that he was just there to support his friends. So, after the video had finished, it was time to move on to the next place. I was interested to see what that one had in store for us.  

We went to a restaurant type place. It was basically just for drinking and socializing, but it was set up more like a restaurant than a bar. It had small tables to sit around. It was playing alternative background music, which was a welcome change from the bar because we could actually hear each other talk. Eleni, Vasilis, who is Eleni's boyfriend, Mike, George, and I sat and chatted for a while. For the most part, I sat back and listened- I felt like I was hearing all the latest gossip. Vasilis also studied in the UK, so he speaks English well. He made everyone speak English the whole night, so I could understand and so they can improve their English. Vasilis and Eleni debated whether Mike and Catherine should or even could become a couple, if fate is real, and how dumb it is that women cannot go into some of the ancient Greek churches. At about 1am, Mike and George left to eat spaghetti at a friend's house. Me, Eleni, and Vasilis chatted a bit more and after Eleni had her fill of hand-rolled cigarettes, we left the center and walked back to our apartments.  I was happy to get back because I was able to connect to our wifi and chat with Russ before going to bed! Also, Russ' team had won their game!

Night Out

Whenever we go out on the balcony, which sits directly above Eyenet, we are spotted by people we know- not because we are popular, but because the only people we know either go there a lot or work there. This can be a good thing and a bad thing. If they see us, they invite us down to hang out, which is great, but then I run into the predicament of wanting to paint my nails and watch tv shows, but knowing I should be socializing so I can make new friends haha.

The other day while Rusty was at practice Mike saw me out on the balcony and told me to come down. I went down and sat with Eleni (pronounced Alena), a girl I randomly met at Eyenet of course, and her friend Catherine for a bit before heading back up. Mike invited Rusty and I to go out with them for drinks later, so we decided to meet up at 10pm.

Our "getting ready" selfie

Mike picked up Eleni, Rusty, and me from Eyenet is his little, bright yellow car. We stopped to pick up Catherine and then headed up to the center.

There was a huge soccer game going on- Greece was playing for some type of championship, so restaurants were full and every single person in them was watching the game. Eleni wanted to go somewhere we could all chat, so we found a small restaurant, which had no tv's and mostly outdoor seating. It was raining off and on, but they had a huge awning we sat under. Eleni ordered appetizers for us to share. The appetizer had three different types of meat, potatoes, and a large helping of cheese sauce, which you dip everything in. I didn't care for the sauce. The texture of it was grainy and it was a little spicy. They all ordered wine- they know we don't drink alcohol, so Mike always asks, "Coka-Cola?" I think he thinks we love Coke, I mean we do like Coke, but I think he thinks we drink it all day, like they do coffee. So we got our Cokes and started drinking the night away ;)

We all chatted, or tried to chat- Eleni got her master's degree in the UK, so she knows English pretty well. Mike and Catherine can both understand English, but have a hard time speaking it. After we finished up there we went to meet up with a couple of Mike's friends at another place which had "tra-deesh-a-null" Greek music. This place was exactly how I pictured a restaurant in Greece. There were cobblestone arches, typical Greek music, and an old Greek guy with white hair doing a traditional Greek dance. This place was great- if only it weren't for the excessive amount of smoke, which was making me feel like my lungs were getting blacker by the second. They ordered another appetizer, which of course was meat and bread, more wine, and more Cokes for us!

It was about 2am on a Wednesday night and the place was still crowded. Eleni said the people there would most likely stay up all night and then go straight to work! No wonder they have a mid-day break and shops close from 2-5pm and then re-open. Weird huh? The big stores stay open, but all of the smaller ones close. So anyways, Rusty and I were super tired, we had been ready to go home for about an hour haha, so we told them we were going to walk back to our apartment. They said no and that they were almost finished...about 20 min later they decided they were ready to go. The good news is, while we were waiting to go, the owner of the restaurant brought us a dessert, on the house! There were four creme puffs with strawberry sauce drizzled over them. It was not the best dessert ever, but I was just happy that we got a free dessert. Mike dropped us off, we said our goodbyes, and were ready for bed after a long night of fun. Overall, I'd say our first night out on the town was a success!

A Mediterranean Fall

While everyone is posting pics of halloween decor, carmel apples, and fall scenery, I am sitting in 70 degree weather Google-ing "Does Greece have canned pumpkin?" so I can bake pumpkin chocolate chip cookies...chances aren't looking good. I didn't actually realized how much I loved Fall until being out here and not being able to participate in my typical Fall traditions; however, I am sure I will feel that way about every season and holiday, even the small ones, while I am here just because it is different from what I am used to. Soon enough I will probably be writing about how much I am missing Earth Day haha. But I can't complain, I am in Greece and I am loving our experience here! Plus, Rusty and I have watched Mean Girls and Hocus Pocus, which have gotten me in the Fall spirit.

So far, Rusty and I have spent most our days walking around town. We have been to an electronics store called Public, so often we have become friends with an employee there named Alex. Alex is around our age and she can speak English pretty well. While we were in Public, I asked Alex if Greece celebrates Halloween and they do! But, in February, and they don't trick or treat or carve pumpkins, so I am interested to see what their so called Halloween is like. They do have a holiday to celebrate winning a war on October 28th. According to Alex, everything will be closed that day and they will have a big parade and roast whole lambs. I am excited to experience my first Greek holiday!

Since we had to go to Public, Rusty and I decided to take pictures around the center today. Rusty purchased a tripod for our camera called a TrekPod right before we left for Greece. He saw an Asian family using it while we were hiking and had to have it. If you don't already know this, Rusty is a big shopper, which I love because we can shop together. However, Rusty can find something he wants pretty much anywhere we go, so, when he told me he was going to purchase the TrekPod, I thought it was just another random thing that he wanted to buy...but I have to admit, now that we are out here using it, I think it was a great purchase!

Rusty and his TrekPod

One of our regular eating spots- It's cheap and they play American music!

A make-up store kind of like Sephora- I was so excited when I found this! 

As for some exciting news...I got a new phone that I can use here in Greece! So far it has two contacts. Here it is in all its silver glory!...Doesn't it really take you back? haha

We also got a new washing machine delivered to us. Of course, the words on the front of it are all in Greek, so I used Google translator for every word. I am glad Rusty was home when the washing machine got delivered because the delivery guys called from outside our apartments and when I answered the phone, they were speaking quickly and loudly in Greek. They could not speak any English. We were expecting a washing machine to be delivered, so I assumed that's what it was about and buzzed to let them in. If Rusty wasn't home, I would have been scared to let them in because I had no idea what they were even saying! 

After a fun day of photo ops, Rusty and I made dinner! Rusty and I have started cooking some meals- or should I say Rusty has started cooking meals haha! It's a little difficult to find things to make because the grocery stores here are a lot different than the ones in the US, so we have been sticking to pasta. When we first moved into our apartment, they had given us a few items, including a couple pots and pans. One of the pots was tiny, as you can see in the pic below. I wondered what it was for, but then we lifted the cover to our stove and saw the tiniest, little burner. We have actually been using the tiny pot to cook our pasta sauce. I was getting a little tired of eating out because there is not much variety in food here. They basically have pizza, pasta, club sandwiches, chicken sandwiches, meat with potatoes or rice, and gyros. Everything comes with fries. They put fries inside gyros and chicken sandwiches and on the side of everything else. They don't have many healthy options. Although, I am sure as time goes on, we will discover more and better food.

Bring On The Weekend

Last weekend was Rusty's first away games, which means the first time I was left in Lamia by myself. I was a little nervous after Rusty left. I haven't even gotten to know the area that well, so I wondered if it was safe, who and how I could call for help if I needed it, who I could chat with if I started to get stir-crazy in our apartment, but at the same time it has made me determined to make friends.

Here are some pics of the scrimmage Rusty played in Athens. He was given number 5! How lucky is that?! In the second picture, take a close look at the guy's face on the other side of the net, it cracks me up!

So after Rusty left, I walked up to "The Center", which is the main part of town. They basically have two centers, which are right by each other, one is just a little closer to our apartment. I went into Cosmote, the main phone carrier here. I brought an old Blackberry phone of my dad's to see if I put a new SIM card in it, if it would allow me to make local calls in Greece. Not one employee in there spoke English. One of the ladies working called another employee who speaks English, so that I could talk to her on the phone. I love that the people here are so nice and willing to help. Instead of just sending me away and telling me to try back tomorrow, they call an employee who wasn't even working at the time. Unfortunately, the phone is locked, so it can only be used in the US. I will have to buy a new phone, but I can get one for only 20 euro and then just pay for the minutes as I need them.

The Center

On my way back from the center, I saw one of our friends, Catherine, sitting in front of Eyenet. And by "friend" I mean we have said hi a couple of times haha. Catherine works at Eyenet and since we pass by there everyday, we have gotten to know almost all of the employees, who fortunately, are all right around our age. Each of the employees are so different and seem like characters from a book. I wanted to include pictures of them, but I don't have any so hopefully I can take some and include them in my next post.

There is Olga, the quiet, sweet waitress- She is in her mid to late twenties and has brown curly hair that is always pulled up into a pony tail. She laughs at Rusty's crazy antics, which I love because it reminds me how lucky I am to have such a great husband- he makes people laugh wherever he goes. Olga is married to a guy named Bill. She told me she met Bill through her brother who was dating Bill's sister and that she and Bill ended up getting married on the same day as her brother and Bill's sister! Olga speaks the best English out of everyone at Eyenet. She said that here in Greece they start learning English when they are eight years old, but that people forget it because they do not get to use it very often- I'm surprised there are not more people who speak English since they begin learning that early.

There is Mixalis, who goes by Mike- the crazy, grungy delivery guy. Since he does deliveries, he is always pulling up and driving off on his scooter. He is in his mid-twenties and has super thick eyebrows, which are connected, so I guess I should say he has one, super thick eyebrow haha. He also has a full beard and mustache. He wears a worn t-shirt, sweats, tennis shoes, and a fanny pack everyday. He wears one little diamond earring and on occasion, he wears a train conductor type hat, with a really short brim. He speaks some English. He wants to go the the US to live with his cousins who live in Ohio, but the US rejected his visa so he is going to try again.

There is Costas, the sleek bartender- except he is usually making coffee and espressos rather than alcoholic drinks. His hair is always styled, he either plucks his eyebrows or gets them waxed, and he is usually wearing jeans and a tight t-shirt. The other night I went down to Eyenet and he was wearing a plaid button- up, the top three or four buttons were undone, exposing his shaven chest hair haha. He is nice, but he seems a little bashful, which could just be because he cannot speak English.

And there is Catherine, the spunky waitress- She is super friendly and always gets excited to see me. She has blonde hair and a little diamond glued onto the bottom of her tooth! Catherine does not speak any english, but one day she called my name and waved me to come inside Eyenet, so I went inside and sat down at a table with her and her friend. Her friend spoke English, so she was able to translate for her. The friend told me Catherine wanted to learn English, so hopefully I can help her out with English, while she helps me learn Greek.

Anyways, so now that you know everyone at Eyenet, I will continue with the story haha...I sat down with Catherine and soon Mike joined. Then Catherine's boyfriend, Dimitrius, and his sister, Roza arrived and joined us as well. I asked them where I could find nail polish remover because I had not noticed it in grocery stores. Roza seemed super excited to help me, she walked with me across the street to the supermarket and picked some out for me. After sitting with them for a little bit, I headed up to our apartment.

The rest of my weekend basically consisted of deep cleaning our apartment, doing laundry, video chatting my family, writing in my journal (thanks mom for the new journal!), blogging, and watching shows on Hulu. I was able to stay busy throughout the weekend, which made it go by pretty quickly. Before I knew it Rusty was back and we were planning out our week!

Sunday Sightseeing

Rusty has Sundays off, so we spent the entire day going from one activity to the next! Rusty ran into Dimitrius, the vice president of the volleyball team, down at Eyenet Cafe, which is an Internet Cafe we live above. They have apartments above almost every business here. I like being above the Eyenet Cafe because it is a good place to meet people. Dimitrius wanted to take me and Rusty, and Jay, the other American out for breakfast. Jay was still asleep, so Rusty and I went with Dimitrius to a place called "Look Up Cafe". It was on top of a hill, so it had a great view of the city and you could even see out to the ocean.

Dimitrius is in his mid fifties and speaks some english, but it is hard to converse with him because he doesn't always understand what we are saying. His friend, Costas came and met up with us. Costas does not speak any english, so he he just sits there and smiles haha. They both smoke non-stop. Everyone here smokes, which I can't stand. Both Dimitrius and Costas carry small purses, which cracks me up, but it is pretty standard for men to carry them here. Costas rolled his own cigarettes the entire lunch. When he finished smoking one, he would reach into his little man purse and proceed to roll another one. Besides the smoking, lunch was great. It was the first time we had left the city, so we were pretty excited just to be sitting on the patio, let alone drinking fresh squeezed orange juice and eating club sandwiches, while looking out over the city!

Dimitrius and Costas

After we finished lunch, Dimitrius wanted to take us up to an ancient castle. The castle sits on the highest point of Lamia, so the view up there was even better than the Look Up Cafe. There is a small museum in part of the castle that we went into. It had display cases of things like ancient clay vases, Greek accessories for men and women, coins, weapons, and armor. Apparently pictures are not allowed in the museum, but I had taken a few before I found out, so I got lucky! haha   

When we left the museum, Dimitrius wanted us to come to his apartment for lunch. We had plans with three guys on the volleyball team to go visit, Thermopylae, a historic battle ground where Leonidas and the 300 Spartans fought the invading Persians, but apparently Dimitrius does not take "no" for an answer. We tried telling him we had plans, but he said in his thick Greek accent, "No, tomorrow you go Thermopylae, today you eat my apartment." So we went back to Eyenet Cafe to meet up with Jay and Mike, who were waiting to go to Thermopylae. Mike is the opposite on the team. He is from Holland and speaks english almost perfectly. I feel so lucky that out of the two other foreigners on the team, one is American, and one speaks as if he were American. We got to Eyenet and found Jay and Mike standing out front. Dimitrius informed them we would be going to eat at his place, and they knew there was no changing Dimitrius' mind, so off we went.

Dimitrius lives in an apartment right up the street from us. We arrived to find his wife and daughter preparing lunch for us. They had made a casserole type dish that had noodles and cheese, a salad, which was made up of vegetables only, bread, and cheese. Dimitrius cooked pork and sausage on their barbecue. We all ate out on the balcony. Dimitrius' wife was upset we were not eating more, but Mike, Rusty, and I had just eaten lunch! She kept looking at our plates, her eyes would get big, she would say something in Greek and then shake her head haha. After lunch Dimitrius had more plans for us! He wanted to take us to his other apartment, which is right next to the beach. Jay needed to Skype his parents, so we decided to meet up with Dimitrius at Eyenet in about an hour.

Mike from Holland, Jay, and Rusty at Dimitrius' Apartment

Jay lives in the apartment above ours and Mike lives at a different apartment building a few minutes away, so Jay went to Skype his parents and Mike came over to our apartment while we waited to meet Dimitrius. An hour passed by so we headed down to Eyenet and found Dimitrius. Another player on the team, the back-up setter was with him as well, his name is Mixalis and he is from Greece. Dimitrius got in his car with his wife, daughter, and wife's mother. Rusty, Jay, Mike, Mixalis, and I got in Mike's car. The cars here are small, so it was quite the squeeze, but we managed! The driving in our city is kind of crazy because all the streets are small, a lot of them are one way, there are tons of hills and all cars are manual, and drivers basically disregard pedestrians. Rusty and I have never drove stick before, so we are nervous to drive, but if we learn here, it will seem easy when we get back to the US!

After about a 25 min drive, we arrived to the beach! I was so excited because I had been waiting to go to the beach ever since we arrived in Greece. Lamia's beach is not the most beautiful beach, like the beaches on the Greek Islands. The beach was made up of little rocks instead of sand, but the water was pretty warm! We walked across the street to Dimitrius' other apartment. We sat out on the balcony which over looked the ocean. Dimirtius' wife fed us even more food! We had two types of dessert. One was an orange cake. The other was a cake that had layers of croissant that had creme poured over it. The orange cake was okay, but I didn't really care for the other one. I took Mike and Rusty's plates, which had more eaten off of them, and smashed them on top of mine, hoping Dimitrius' wife wouldn't notice I didn't eat much of the cakes haha.

Dimitrius wanted to take us to the top of a mountain, which was right up the street, to show us the view, so we drove up a windy road to get to the top. The view was the best we have seen so far. We could see the ocean and the little Greek city that sat right along the beach!

After we finished up taking pictures we headed down the mountain, over to Dimitrius' friend's house who lives a few apartments up from him. We chatted out on their patio. Chatting with people here is actually kind of tiring because you have to talk slowly and try to explain what you are saying multiple times and then you have to try to interpret their response. We finally headed back to our apartment! We were so tired from a long day, but also happy that we got do do so much!