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!

Weekend in Athens & Beginning of Carnival

(Ian, Elsie, Me, Brian, Nina & Lauren)

Here are some pictures of the main square in Patras, Plateia Georgiou, now that Carnival has officially started.  It started last weekend and the stage and statues were set up for an event we missed because we were in Athens.  Carnival lasts about a month and includes a host of minor events leading up to a wild weekend at the end of Feb. that consists of costume parades, colourful floats and lots of celebration.

Elsie is the American here playing for the women's team of NEP.  Her boyfriend is in town for the month visiting and his sister plays for a professional team in Glyfada.  Her name is Lauren and both she and Elsie went to these past Olympics in Beijing and won a silver medal!  Well Ian, Elsie and I drove to Athens on Saturday to follow Brian and see his game against Faliro.  It was quite the adventure since none of us had ever driven there on our own and weren't exactly sure how to get there.  Elsie volunteered to drive, since she knew the roads, having traveled it many times with her team.  I wasn't about to let Ian drive since he is just visiting and doesn't know what he's getting himself into driving here.  I think I emasculated him a bit but he had to get over it :-).  Elsie was a very responsible driver and I felt very comfortable with her behind the wheel.  We made it to Athens successfully but finding Faliro and the pool was quite a challenge.  We followed a few signs and stopped to ask a few Greeks and literally by a small miracle stopped at a gas station that was owned completely by an English family.  I got out of the car to ask directions, preparing myself for a gas attendent to look blankly at my face after I spoke English but when I asked the women if she spoke any english she said in PERFECT english, yes, I speak it very well, haha.  So luckily they pointed us in the right direction with specific details and we made it to the pool after 3hrs, a few frantic moments and only having missed the first quarter.  When we arrived the boys were up by one goal but as we seated Faliro scored to tie the game.  That's how most of the game went, and I really thought NOP would win but just with a few seconds left on the clock Faliro scored to tie the game 9-9.  Oh well, they still gain a point for a tie and so they are up to 6th place!  There is supposed to be a game tomorrow against Hercules but we just learned that thousands of farmers are on strike in Northern Greece and have planted their tractors in the middle of the National Roads so no one can get through so we don't know if the team is going to be able to make it down for the game and they might have to reschedule.  It would be a real bummer.  Leave it to the Greeks.

On Sat. night Lauren took us to the BEST dinner.  It was in a very simple cafe and they ordered us Beafsteaki (sp?) and they brought them out on wax paper covered in potatoes (french fries).  It was so delicious and we devoured them.  I tried not to keep up since Ian and I were the only non-professional athletes at the table and I especially did not need as much as everyone else!  After dinner we went to an Irish pub called Mollys and enjoyed ourselves like true Americans with lots of beer and games!  It was one of the best nights I have had since being here.  Lauren was kind enough to let us crash at her apt. and the next day we slept in and had another fabulous meal and then took it easy because she had practice the next morning early.  On Mon. we cooked breakfast and then drove home.  It was a great weekend!  Oh and Marco was with us, the trooper that he is, the whole time and everyone just fell in love with him.  

Yesterday Ian, Elsie, Brian and I went to this really cool Beer Factory here in Patras that Brian and I had driven by many times and had been wanting to check out.  The bar was really nice and we will definitely be going back!

Kalavryta or Bust!

We have not had Internet for the past week, hence no posts, so this post is from last week.  I will post a new one from this week soon :-).

(This picture directly above is just a fun little picture of one of the typical Greek buildings.  As you can see, it is about 4 stories but only one of the stories is done and appears to be an apt.  Who knows when the rest of the building will be done.)

Well we are back to the grind here in Greece.  On Saturday Brian played a game against a team from Chios, an island in the Northern Aegean.  They Won!!!  The score was 12-11 and they outplayed them for most of the game.  They were even up 7-4 at one point.  After some questionable calls on both sides they succeeded, Josef scoring 6 goals, Brian scored 1 and played stellar defense.  Everyone was so happy and excited, it was a really fun game to watch, especially since Chios is ranked 4th I believe.  That brings NOP up to 7th place.  They have 3 games coming up that could be instrumental in moving them up and possibly taking them to the championships.  The boys are lookin good!  After the game Brian and I went to a nice dinner near our house.  I think the other boys probably headed off to Bozukia but we wanted our energy to go to Kalavryta the next day.

Kalavryta is a town about 77km from Patras high up in the mountains.  Looking up towards the mountains from Patras you can see that they are tipped with snow caps so we were excited to head towards what we had heard was the elite ski resort town.  Since it is not far we took our time in the morning getting ready to leave and didn't leave the house until around noon.  Marco came along for his first Greek road trip.  We followed the signs and headed in the direction that we were told to.  The signs weren't as clear as we had experienced from other driving adventures but we spotted a few Kalavryta signs pointing in semi-clear directions.  After a few u-turns and fork debates we started heading up the mountain, and assumed we were heading in the right direction.  The road we were on leaded up and up and in no time we were high up in the mountains, looking down on the sea and small towns that speckle the hillsides.  What confused us though was that there was no snow in sight from where we were.  We had assumed once we were getting close we would start seeing lots of snow, it being a ski town and all.  We pulled over a couple of times to inspect the map, no help really.  Finally, after about 2 hrs, we hit a more substantial road then the dirt, pot-holy, bicycle lane-sized one we were on and realized that we had somehow gotten to a sign leading us to Kalavryta but from the wrong road.  Oh well, now we knew we were heading in the right direction.  Snow around any corner we kept saying.  Up and up some more we went.  We spotted a few piles of snow, ah ha Brian said!  But then, once again, no snow.  It was getting colder though and finally we made it.  Kalavryta here we are!  To our surprise, an average town, with no snow.  Where the heck is the snow we wanted to know.  In our heads we had imagined drinking hot totties at the bottom of the ski slope enjoying watching Greeks on skis and snowboards, similar to what we had done in Mammoth (with many less Greeks of course).  We, and by we I mean I, was very sick of being in the car winding up the mountain so we got out and had a short walk through the town, cute enough, nothing special really, then had some hot chocolate and a crepe.  The hot chocolate was good at least.  Brian was getting frustrated at this point.  He wanted to see snow and skiers damnit.  We did see some cars with ski/snowboard equipment on top so we decided to follow them, guess what, up another mountain.  On the way up this mountain though we did see the Martyr's Monument.  On December 13, 1943, in one of the worst atrocities of WWII, the Nazis set fire to the town and massacred all its male inhabitants over the age of 15, as punishment for resistance activity.  The total number killed in the region was 1436.  The hands of the old cathedral clock stand eternally at 2.34, the time the massacre began.  The monument is a huge white cross, as you can see in the picture above, on a cypress-covered hill side.  Beneath the imposing monument you see a poignant little shrine to the victims.  It was worth coming to see that in my opinion.  

It was getting late in the day and we had read about some other worthy sights in the area that we thought we could at least fit in to make the trip worthwhile, but after just a glimpse of the ski slopes so as we were turning one of the many sharp turns up this mountain to the phantom slope we hit a gnarly pothole and I saw our tire rim fly off and start rolling down the hill.  I shouted, Brian our rim just flew off!  He pulled over the car and ran down the hill to get it, kicked it back on and off we went again.  This was getting rediculous, all for a little snow.  Around the next turn I see the rim come off again.  Do I mention it?  I thought it best to so I softly said, Brian the rim.  That's it, no more snow for us.  Brian had had enough.  This time the rim stopped in the middle of the street so he quickly jumped out threw the rim in the back of the car and off we were, back down the mountain, and back home, the correct way.  No more mountain trips for us, at least not for a while.

We're Back!

Well after a month of relaxation and family time I am back in Greece. Brian also had two great weeks back home.  Here are a few photo highlights of our trip.  Marco made best friends with Roxy, my mom's goldendoodle, and it was really sad to have to take him away.  He is growing like a weed though and barely was able to fit in his carrier for the plane ride home.  He has turned out to be quite the traveler though and knows when he goes in a car or plane it is time for him to sleep.  It was definitely a lot less stressful then I had anticipated.  Unfortunately for him he has one more plane ride home in May and then I promise to never take him on a plane again.  He has been quite the sport.

Mammoth was great and I think I got Brian into snowboarding, we had a great time.  He brought his sister Danielle and she got her time on skiis, ultimately with a slight collision into a fence but I think she is optimistic for the future :-).

We also had an amazing time in NYC.  My friend Sarah's wedding was something out of a movie, it was so beautiful.  All in all we made the most of our time back home.  Now that we are back in Greece I plan to do the same.  It was actually nice to get back here after some reflection back home and realize that there is still so much to see and that we are so lucky that we get to experience this.  Saturday Brian has a home game and then we are thinking about going up to the mountains on Sunday where there is snow and a small ski resort.  We just have to figure out whether Marco can come with us.  Oh the joys of puppy ownership ;-).

Welcome December

I can't believe it is already December!  These last 3 months have really flown by.  I feel lucky that we have had the chance to see so much since we have been here and I know the next 4 months that I am here are going to be even more packed with activities.  I go home on Monday and am so excited, but sad to leave Brian.  The house will be very quiet without Marco and I!  He will either love it or hate it :-).  The town has decorated the streets and shops for Christmas time and I love it.  Some of the apts. also hang decorations from their balconies.  I love this time of year!

This past weekend Brian's team played a team from Crete.  They needed to win, and by a lot, so I think everyone was a little nervous.  Fotis came up to me before the game and said, we need to be up 10-5 from the very beginning.  I was sure the boys could do it.  It turned out to be very close to 10-5 and they won 13-7.  Brian scored 4 goals and pretty much dominated the whole game!  He and some other players missed some shots, so they could have been up even more, but Brian definitely showed everyone what he was capable of.  It was an exciting game!  This Saturday is going to be the biggest game of the year against their rival NEP.  I think the stands will be packed.  Keep your fingers crossed that NOP wins!

There was also a street fair in front of the big cathedral.  It was the anniversary of the crucifixion of the Saint of the Cathedral so there was some sort of celebration.  We walked down the fair where they were selling everything from toys to jewelry to candy.  It was right in front of the park where we tried to take Marco the week before and this time there were other people there with their little dogs, so I got excited.  We let him run around for a bit, he mostly just wanted to roll around in the grass :-).  On Monday he got his final shots and his pet passport for the big trip!  He also got a micro-chip put in him b/c they require that here.  The needle was HUGE and I felt so bad for him!  I couldn't look.  Luckily Brian was brave and held on to him.  I just heard him yelp but then he was ok.  But now he is registered here in Greece and he is legal!  He will be quite the little traveling companion :-).