St. Andreas Church

I have changed my template, thoughts?  I like it better b/c you can see the pictures better.  Anyways, this picture is of Brian in front of the biggest, most famous church here in Patras (they use both Patra and Patras).  It is the church of St. Andreas and is named after Saint Andrew who came to Patras to preach Christianity during the reign of emperor Nero and who was crucified as a martyr.  He has ever since been considered the patron saint of the city and the relics (which consist of the small finger and part of the top of his cranium) have been kept in this church since 1964 when Pope Paul VI sent them back from The Vatican.  It is well known that the Greeks are very religious people and you see people making the sign of the cross whenever they cross in front of a church.  There are many superstitions in the Greek culture, one of them being that it is bad luck to see a priest outside of a church.  One solution for many of their bad omens is to spit twice on to your collar, I kid you not.  

There is a guy on Brian's team named Billy who has gone above and beyond to help Brian and I with everything we need.  He and his gf Kate (the seatbelt avoider who I mentioned yesterday) have really gone out of their way to make sure we are feeling at home and welcomed.  Lucky for me Kate is an aerobics/tae-bo/personal trainer and she has snatched me up and has been taking me to her gyms.  She is INTENSE.  The girl does not have an cm of fat on her and I think she could beat Brian up, but she is the sweetest thing and I am so appreciative of her for getting me off of the couch and sweating!  It was an interesting experience, my first time to the gym with her.  First of all I have to tell you, when I was waiting for her to pick me up (with her scooter, no helmets [ok I'll stop]), I was sitting on our front steps of the apt minding my own business when out of nowhere this little homeless girls with tattered clothes, matted hair and some crummy bike pulled up next to me and plopped practically in my lap.  I looked at her and thought, ok this girl is either a professional pick-pocketer (think Oliver) or I have just made a new friend.  She procedes to talk to me energetically in Greek, which I respond, "I am sorry, I do not speak Greek and I cannot understand you."  She didn't care, she went on and on...even screamed at me about something, hit me on the arm and pointed in the opposite direction (I glanced and held tighter onto my purse).  I just looked at her and shrugged.  Finally she just pulled out a juice box and was content with my company.  Luckily, Kate showed up and jumped onto her scooter gladly getting away from the uncomfortable child.  As I turned around to get one last glimpse the young girl trotted off leaving her juice box on my door step.  She must not have been that thirsty afterall.

Back to the gym.  The first gym Kate took me to was a cute, one studio gym in the center of Patra.  She taught an aerobics class that I gleefully participated in, trying my best to follow along with her Greek commands, ena, thio, tria, tesera, pendeh, exi, epta, okhto, enia!  That's 1-9 in Greek.  What was a little bizarre though was the owner is an older women who has muscular dystrophy.  She sits behind the counter SMOKING A CIGARETTE and telling Kate what to do, who to pick on, how fast to go etc.  It is an interesting situation, one Kate is even annoyed by, but I thought it just another quirk of Greece!  We are going to her other gym tonight, which she says is much better.  Mekhri Avrio!  Until Tomorrow!