Carnival is here!!!

The big day is here and we are all set to join our Carnival group in the big parade tonight. So look forward to some good photos coming up in the next few days! In preparation for the big day there have been some fun events, like Souvlaki day and some relay races, but it all ends this weekend and we are ready! On Thurs. night we went to the "White Party" at W. Everyone had to wear all white. A lot of people rented costumes but Brian and I tried to throw something together last minute and it was very frustrating for me! No one actually ever wears ALL white so finding an all white outfit from my minimal Greek winter wardrobe was virtually impossible and I almost gave up. Maria came to the rescue and let me borrow these white bloomers, so somehow I managed to come up with a white outfit! The party was really fun and packed. The bad thing about being in a packed bar in Greece is that EVERYONE is smoking in your face, and I got some burning ashes dropped on my wrist, none too fun, and the Greeks are not afraid to push you or stomp on you if you get in their way. So, smartly we found a good spot at the bar with Fotis and Maria and some other friends and we tried to stay put for most of the night. We did venture upstairs to try to get some food but it was such chaos I gave up. We did snatch a few sandwiches though on our way back down. They played lots of Salsa music and I think I unintentionally showed some Greeks some new dance moves, haha. We had a great time!

Last Saturday Brian played a game against a team in Crete called Hania. They won 11-8! It was a good win b/c it would have put them in a very bad position had they lost and apparently it's much harder to beat this team at their home pool, so good for them! On Wed. they played NEP again, the other Patras team. It was a rough game. They were up at the beginning but fell a part in the 3rd quarter and were down by a few goals going into the fourth. I thought it was going to end ugly but in the last few minutes they scored 3 goals to bring the game up to a one goal differential and had the opportunity to score in the last few seconds to tie the game but missed two shots in a row! Such a bummer but it was really exciting at the end. Now their chances of going to the Championships are smaller but if they have a couple of good wins in the next few games they still have a chance.

Souvlaki BBQ Day

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(Our orchid that we have had for 5 months and that Brian takes care of.  It is beautiful and he is so proud it has lived this long, as am I!)

Today is a magnificent day.  Today most of the cafes and restaurants have barbecues outside of their establishments and are barbecuing slouvaki.  You see bbq smoke filling the air and the smell permeates the city and makes your mouth water.  I met Brian at a coffee shop after his morning practice and as Marco and I walked there he was going crazy, I think from the smells as we passed bbq after bbq.  After our coffee, and a few games of Tavuli (sp?) (Backgammon for us Americans) we walked home and stopped and got a kebab on our way.  It was AMAZING.  They dip the kebab in oil and sprinkle salt on it and it is perfect.  Jozef gave Marco his last little bit off of the stick and Marco lost his mind I think :-).  Tonight we are going to the restaurant where Brian gets his free meals to celebrate the day and eat a lot more kebabs, I hope!  Honestly though, I don't know what the celebration is for or the meaning behind it.  All I know is the Greek name for the day translated into English means "Barbecue smelling Thursday."  Can't get much better then that.  Kind of like the 4th of July!  Too bad it's so cold and rainy here now -- so not like the 4th of July.

Happy St. Valentines!

Let's start off with some Water Polo highlights, since that is why we're here.  Last Wed. Brian had a really tough away game against Panionios.  They lost by a lot....another tough game away.  On Sat. they played another really tough team, Panathanaikos at home.  Before the game there were banners set up over the pool, as you can see in the picture, that said "No Fighting, Yes to the athletes."  As suggested, Panathanaikos fans are pretty crazy.  They have a really good futbol team that is huge rivals with the other really famous Greek futbol team Olympiagos, and similarly have the same rivalry between waterpolo.  Unfortunately there was a huge fight when the two teams played each other and a player and manager got seriously injured.  Ever since then the rivalry has intensified and they have vowed to be even more obnoxious.  There was much anticipation for this game on how they would act.  There were rumors and whispering that they were coming to the game prepared to fight.  Brian was hesitant on me even going, after our futbol fighting experience and all, but I doubted they would do anything to clueless me.  I have probably the least amount of devotion to either team so what do I care?  I arrived super early, as instructed by Maria, and found a seat far away from the center, where I thought the ruckess would be.  But when maria showed up she ushered me to the center b/c apparently I had been sitting in the Panathanaikos section, whoops!  The young hoodlum Panathanaikos fans started to show up, luckily there was an excess of security at this game and they ushered them into the upper sections.  They didn't fail to bring their banners and lots of chants and songs, which they chanted most of the game (strangely enough most being meant for Olympiagos).  The beginning started off fantastic for NOP.  Brian played better then I have seen him since being here.  He scored a great goal and they were matching and even surpassing Panathanaikos in offense and defense.  This continued for the first half, and they were even up at some points but in the third quarter Jozef missed a penalty shot to get to 10-10 and then they lost their advantage.  Brian unfortunately got 3 ejections and had to sit out for most of the 4th quarter.  They ended up losing 13-10.  It was a disappointing game b/c they really could have won and were doing so well.  Now they are in 8th place and in a more vulnerable position.  They now have to win some of their games in order not to be in the bottom two and get moved to the second division.  Then again, who knows what could happen and they might surprise everyone!  We hope!

That night was Valentines so the next day we left to go to Cape Sounion.  Cape Sounion is 70km south of Athens and about 3 hours from Patra.  Here is where two temples were built in honor of Athena and Poseidon in 444BC, at the same time as the Parthenon.  They are beautifully situated on a mountain top at the very tip of a peninsula.  Only the Temple of Poseidon still stands and it is made of beautiful white marble from a local town called Agrilesa.  You can see the temple from great distances and its image gave great comfort to sailors in ancient times because they knew when they saw it that home was not far away.  The views from this mountain top are breathtaking.  From here we stopped at a Taverna not far away.  By total coincidence it was owned by one of Brian's goalie's families!  What a shock it was to walk in and see people we knew!  It was such a perfect coincidence and they welcomed us with open arms and wonderful smiles.  We had some of the best food I've had in Greece and one of the first fish plates!  After this fantastic lunch we went to Vouliagmeni, one of the nicest suburbs of Athens.  Here is where Tim Hutten plays and his girlfriend Kelli is in town so we met them for some coffee and to drop off Marco because they were playing babysitters for the night!  It was so nice of them and it gave us the opportunity to go to a nice dinner and stay at a nice hotel in town without having to worry.  This morning Kelli and Marco met us and we went hiking on some of the trails in the area.  What luxury that is!!!  I WISH we had trails like that here in Patra.  Marco was in absolute heaven running free and the views are beautiful.  Such a wonderful place to get away to.  All in all it was almost a perfect weekend (without the loss).

No news is good news

(This is Marco hi-speeding it around the corner as we play catch with him)

Well I can honestly say I have never appreciated hi-speed wireless internet more in my life.  After having multiple shut offs of our Internet stick we decided to upgrade to the better, faster, more reliable conn-x Greek wireless internet.  Who knew you could find this in Greece!  While we were away from cyber space we did a lot of reading, watching tv shows, water polo, shopping, coffee drinking, bowling, playing with Marco, hmmmm, what else?  Two Saturdays ago Lauren was in town for a game against Elsie's team so she stayed the night over and we all went back to the beer factory and had dinner and listened to some live music and then hit the town.  It is amazing what a bunch of Americans look like running around Patras.  I don't think the town knew what hit them :-).  It was a lot of fun.  On Wed. Brian played Faliro again for the cup and they lost 9-8 in the last minute of the game.  There was some controversy though b/c apparently a player on Faliro played who was supposed to be suspended so they are fighting the results so that NOP can play in the cup.  Brian's coach has been in Athens for a court case over the matter.  They take this stuff very seriously!

This last Sat. Brian played PAOK.  It was probably the most exciting game yet!  Brian played great and scored 3 goals but they tied 12-12 and there was an UPROAR.  The refs were TERRIBLE.  It is a known fact here in Greek water polo that the home team gets somewhat of an advantage with calls etc.  It is true for every team and it is accepted and expected.  But in this game the refs were calling all sorts of kick-outs on NOP, the home team.  Even in the last minute of the game and the fans rushed the pool and were screaming their hearts out.  Even I, the novice water polo fan that I am, noticed how ridiculous the refs were being.  Both Brian's asst. coach and manager got red cards from the bench and had to leave the pool deck and sit out the next game.  At the end NOP's president lost it at the delegate who is in charge of watching over the refs during games to make sure they are doing a good job.  His face turned all red and his voice filled the giant pool.  It was quite a scene.  Apparently playing in PAOK is a joke as far as the advantage they get and how obnoxious their fans are, so it really isn't fair.  The funny thing is Layne Beubian, another American on the national team plays for PAOK, and he told Brian after the game that he thought they got jipped.  There is always someone to blame I guess.  It was still a good and exciting game.

After the game Ian, Elsie, Brian and I went to dinner and then went bowling.  Bowling is one of my favorite things to do here.  We are getting pretty good at it too!  The place where we usually go was hosting a bowling tournament though so we went to a different place that we had scene but never been too and it was just as fun!  The manager loved Brian, of course, and bought us drinks.  We had a great time.  Romana, Josef's gf, was also in town this week and on Sun. we went bowling with them again!  Afterwards we went to Elsie's game and we said goodbye to Ian.  That night we went and saw The Dutchess, before hand hitting up the bowling rink ONE more time :-).  Brian scored a 154 and I scored a 120!  I think our best scores ever :-).  

On Mon. Josef, Romana, Brian and I, plus two other guys from their team, went back to Kalavryta.  Yes, after such a short time we sacked up and went back, the correct way, which was much less painful and a much shorter drive.  This time we actually went up to the mountain to go snowboarding.  It was a fairly small mountain, well in comparison to Mammoth I guess anything is.  But there was a lift that went all the way up to the top of the mountain and it was a really fun run down.  I had fun with the boys who were all beginners and who were happy to laugh at themselves at every fall.  We were on the slopes for a few hours and then headed back b/c the boys had practice that night.  We stopped at a really neat restaurant on the side of the mountain heading home and had a great meal.  This picture above is from here.

On Wed. Brian played Heracles and they won 18-9, obviously an easy game.  Yesterday they were supposed to play Olympiagos, the best team in the league, but they had a euro league champions cup game and they had to reschedule.  This Wed. they head to Athens for a game against Panionios, which will be tough.  They are doing well though.  They are tied with a bunch of other teams for 6th place right now and the top 6 teams head to the championships, so they have a chance!  

I will  be more on top of my blogging now that we are back online, yahoo!