The rest of our time at the Artemis was fairly uneventful. When I say that I mean that we didn't really do anything major, besides our trip to Marathon. We still had a good time hanging out with each other and finishing up classes (not as much of a good time in classes (I did fine, though)).
Our trip to Marathon was nice, though. The site itself was pretty boring. It was pretty much just a big grass field with a mound in the middle. Fofi and her children came with us, though, so that was cool. We also went to museum for the Olympics, which mostly had a bunch of torches. It was actually pretty fun, though.
We also went to swim in some hot springs. It was kinda cold. It was the first time I had been swimming in a while, though.
Before we left the Artemis we had a banquet where we all dressed in togas and had a talent show. Mark and I performed along with Mary Beth and Amanda. Video can be seen in the Greece 4-12 album. It was a big hit.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
i'm on a boat!
We left on the morning of March 24th to go on a short cruise around the Greek Islands. That same day we sailed to the Isle of Patmos, where John received his Revelation. We went up some mountain and saw St. John's monastery and then went to the cave where John wrote it all down. It was pretty interesting because they are at least pretty certain that they have the right sites for the events that happened there.
The cruise ship was pretty decent. It was much smaller than the other ships I've been on, but it was still better than I expected. A lot of people in our group went to the club/bar/whatever it is room and danced with a bunch of teenage girls. It was pretty funny to watch. It wasn't actually as creepy as it sounds. I didn't stay in there for long because I went to do other stuff, but it was still fun.
The next day we sailed to Rhodes for Greek National Day. There were a lot of parades and whatnot going on. Cody and I walked around for roughly two hours looking for an ATM. Turns out if we had turned left when we left the dock we would have ran right into one. It's over now, though. Rhodes was really nice, though, because there are a lot of castle walls still standing. The Colossus isn't, though.
The next day we went to Crete and went to see Knossos, which is supposedly the home of the Minotaur. We didn't have much time there because we had to sail to Santorini, where most of our group got off for a weekend of free travel.
I went with Caitlin, Cody, Calea, Shannon, and Jane to stay in Perissa, which is a small town on Santorini. It was really nice there. We were the first guests of the season to stay in our hostel so we got free breakfast every morning and that was really nice. There was some random American from San Francisco named Steve that worked there. He was pretty awesome. He really helped us out a lot.
The first day there we just took a bus to Fira, which is the main city. All we did was walk around and shop some. It was pretty fun, though. The next day we rented ATVs and rode all the way around the island. We pretty much went from end to end. That was really a blast. I would recommend going to look at my Santorini pictures. It was pretty awesome there. We ended the day by going to watch the sunset and then riding back in the dark. Cody and Calea got a little lost because Cody swore he knew the right way back but he was wrong. The rest of us did just fine, though.
The next morning we rode on a ferry for something like 10 hours to get back to Athens. Then the buses stopped running and Tim and Dr. Fred had to come pick us up. What great guys.
The cruise ship was pretty decent. It was much smaller than the other ships I've been on, but it was still better than I expected. A lot of people in our group went to the club/bar/whatever it is room and danced with a bunch of teenage girls. It was pretty funny to watch. It wasn't actually as creepy as it sounds. I didn't stay in there for long because I went to do other stuff, but it was still fun.
The next day we sailed to Rhodes for Greek National Day. There were a lot of parades and whatnot going on. Cody and I walked around for roughly two hours looking for an ATM. Turns out if we had turned left when we left the dock we would have ran right into one. It's over now, though. Rhodes was really nice, though, because there are a lot of castle walls still standing. The Colossus isn't, though.
The next day we went to Crete and went to see Knossos, which is supposedly the home of the Minotaur. We didn't have much time there because we had to sail to Santorini, where most of our group got off for a weekend of free travel.
I went with Caitlin, Cody, Calea, Shannon, and Jane to stay in Perissa, which is a small town on Santorini. It was really nice there. We were the first guests of the season to stay in our hostel so we got free breakfast every morning and that was really nice. There was some random American from San Francisco named Steve that worked there. He was pretty awesome. He really helped us out a lot.
The first day there we just took a bus to Fira, which is the main city. All we did was walk around and shop some. It was pretty fun, though. The next day we rented ATVs and rode all the way around the island. We pretty much went from end to end. That was really a blast. I would recommend going to look at my Santorini pictures. It was pretty awesome there. We ended the day by going to watch the sunset and then riding back in the dark. Cody and Calea got a little lost because Cody swore he knew the right way back but he was wrong. The rest of us did just fine, though.
The next morning we rode on a ferry for something like 10 hours to get back to Athens. Then the buses stopped running and Tim and Dr. Fred had to come pick us up. What great guys.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
no, you're a turkey!
We left Kavala on the morning of March 18th and headed into Turkey. As soon as we entered the country, it was evident that there is a lot of Turkish pride. I think I saw something close to 16 million Turkish flags all over the place. Our bus even had one hanging in the back window. Once we got into Istanbul we saw a lot of mosques, as well. It was pretty ridiculous. We spent two nights in Istanbul and we looked at all of the normal stuff: Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, and a big museum. It was all good stuff. Our first night there a small group of us went out to a little restaurant and drank apple tea and ate chocolate cake. They might have been a little upset that we didn't get any real food, but it was all good. The second day we were dropped off at the Grand Bazaar to do some shopping and that was a lot of fun.
We also went to Nicea, which is where they had some of the Ecumenical Councils a long time ago. It might sound interesting, but all we did was go see a tile factory and it was actually a little boring. We went to some other places but it's really not even worth noting.
We went to Troy the next day and it was very crowded. I'm sure most of you know basically what happened at Troy, at least I hope so. As far as describing what it was like there, I really can't. It was cool. A lot of ruins. Check out the pictures. The whole city isn't uncovered yet, but I know that Schliemann did a great job when he started to uncover it as he went around, tearing things up and assuming things were something they weren't. Best archeologist in history!
We stayed that night in Izmir. The next day we had a free day, or at least they called it that. We still had to get up relatively early and head to some restaurant across town to eat lunch. Then they gave us something like 3 hours to do whatever. So what is there to do in a big city like Izmir for three hours? Some people chose to go shopping, others went and just walked around, but Mark, Cody, and I went with the more obvious choice of going to go see a bad Dennis Quaid movie called The Horsemen.
The next day we went to Ephesus, which was one of my favorite parts of this trip. I've said before that these sites are never what I expected, but this one was even different from that. Ephesus was huge, and there was a lot of it that was preserved fairly well, mostly the library (which I took pictures of). The library actually looks more like a movie set than ancient ruins, but that was pretty cool. After we had spent something like 2 hours walking around here they told us that they still have only uncovered something like 10 percent of it. It was pretty awesome. At the end they gave us some time to walk around and a lot of us went to a spot where I'm sure we weren't supposed to go. We climbed around on the ruins and then went down to pet some horses that were tied up near to the ruins.
We stayed in Kusadasi that night and got ready to leave on a cruise the next morning.
We also went to Nicea, which is where they had some of the Ecumenical Councils a long time ago. It might sound interesting, but all we did was go see a tile factory and it was actually a little boring. We went to some other places but it's really not even worth noting.
We went to Troy the next day and it was very crowded. I'm sure most of you know basically what happened at Troy, at least I hope so. As far as describing what it was like there, I really can't. It was cool. A lot of ruins. Check out the pictures. The whole city isn't uncovered yet, but I know that Schliemann did a great job when he started to uncover it as he went around, tearing things up and assuming things were something they weren't. Best archeologist in history!
We stayed that night in Izmir. The next day we had a free day, or at least they called it that. We still had to get up relatively early and head to some restaurant across town to eat lunch. Then they gave us something like 3 hours to do whatever. So what is there to do in a big city like Izmir for three hours? Some people chose to go shopping, others went and just walked around, but Mark, Cody, and I went with the more obvious choice of going to go see a bad Dennis Quaid movie called The Horsemen.
The next day we went to Ephesus, which was one of my favorite parts of this trip. I've said before that these sites are never what I expected, but this one was even different from that. Ephesus was huge, and there was a lot of it that was preserved fairly well, mostly the library (which I took pictures of). The library actually looks more like a movie set than ancient ruins, but that was pretty cool. After we had spent something like 2 hours walking around here they told us that they still have only uncovered something like 10 percent of it. It was pretty awesome. At the end they gave us some time to walk around and a lot of us went to a spot where I'm sure we weren't supposed to go. We climbed around on the ruins and then went down to pet some horses that were tied up near to the ruins.
We stayed in Kusadasi that night and got ready to leave on a cruise the next morning.
Monday, April 13, 2009
just when you thought i was never speaking to you again..
Things around here have been pretty busy for the last few weeks so I haven't been able to make any updates. For anyone that doesn't know, we went on another 2 week trip that took us to northern Greece and to Turkey. We left on March 15th and headed to Meteora, where there are some pretty awesome rock formations that have some monasteries sitting all throughout. We ate our lunches on top of one of the cliffs and then headed in to see one of the monasteries. I have a feeling that the best place to get some descriptions about these places is to look at my pictures. They are kinda hard to describe. We stayed in Kalambaka that night, though. It is a small town at the base of the cliffs. At some point during the day we also stopped by Thermopylae, which is where the whole Leonidas and the 300 Spartans thing happened.
The next morning we left and headed to Berea, where Paul came in Acts 17. We didn't stay long here, just long enough to go and see the vima (step) where Paul might have stood when he preached outside of one of the synagogues.
After Berea we went to Thessaloniki, which is the second largest city in Greece (next to Athens, of course). We went to a museum (which is a huge surprise, I'm sure) and then Tim took us on a little walk around the city to see some old stuff. We were looking at some old baptismal pool when a bird pooped on my shoe. I apparently have pretty good reflexes because when I saw something falling out of the corner of my eye, I instinctively scrunched my toes, which is why I said a bird pooped on my shoe and not on my foot. Dr. Alice had some alcohol wipes to clean it off, though. Tim took us to get some ice cream after that and it was delicious. Then Jane did a back flip and sprained her ankle.
The next morning we left Thessaloniki and drove for a very long time until we got to Philippi. We didn't get to eat lunch until like 3:30, and when we did finally get to eat we only had about 10 minutes because we had a lot to do. We saw another theater, the marketplace, the prison where Paul and Silas might have been kept, and then went on a walk to the place where Lydia might have been baptized somewhere near Acts 16. We stayed in Kavala that night, and Tim took the guys to some coffee shop-like place and we played shuffleboard and drank tea. It was a lot of fun.
Then we left.
The next morning we left and headed to Berea, where Paul came in Acts 17. We didn't stay long here, just long enough to go and see the vima (step) where Paul might have stood when he preached outside of one of the synagogues.
After Berea we went to Thessaloniki, which is the second largest city in Greece (next to Athens, of course). We went to a museum (which is a huge surprise, I'm sure) and then Tim took us on a little walk around the city to see some old stuff. We were looking at some old baptismal pool when a bird pooped on my shoe. I apparently have pretty good reflexes because when I saw something falling out of the corner of my eye, I instinctively scrunched my toes, which is why I said a bird pooped on my shoe and not on my foot. Dr. Alice had some alcohol wipes to clean it off, though. Tim took us to get some ice cream after that and it was delicious. Then Jane did a back flip and sprained her ankle.
The next morning we left Thessaloniki and drove for a very long time until we got to Philippi. We didn't get to eat lunch until like 3:30, and when we did finally get to eat we only had about 10 minutes because we had a lot to do. We saw another theater, the marketplace, the prison where Paul and Silas might have been kept, and then went on a walk to the place where Lydia might have been baptized somewhere near Acts 16. We stayed in Kavala that night, and Tim took the guys to some coffee shop-like place and we played shuffleboard and drank tea. It was a lot of fun.
Then we left.
Friday, March 13, 2009
a dance competetion in the rain at olympia
The Peloponnese trip was great. Unfortunately, I have no idea where we were for most of the trip. It's not that my memory doesn't serve me right, it's just that I couldn't understand the tour guide when she told us and I didn't care enough to ask. I can tell you some of the important things that we did and hopefully that will hold your interest.
The first day we went to Mycenae, which was awesome! Actually it was just like another site that we've been to so far. We saw ruins and stuff. The most interesting part was the Lion's Gate, which has this big triangular shaped rock holding the arch up.
We stayed in a hotel in some small village in the mountains, which was nice. There was a nice view from the window in the room across the hall from mine. My room had a great view of our bus.
The next morning we were supposed to go rafting, but it rained and the river flooded so that fell through and we ended up going on a long hike through the mountains to see some monasteries. The hike really was awesome, though. I liked going to the monasteries because they weren't actually tourist attractions and it was very quiet. We broke up into two groups so that probably helped some. 'Twas good. After that we drove for a long time to Olympia.
Olympia ended up being great. For those of you who don't know basic word derivations, Olympia is where the original Olympic games were held (Athens had the first modern Olympics in 1896). It was raining pretty much all day and all of the ruins were outside, so at first that wasn't fun (and also why I didn't take a whole lot of pictures), but it ended up being a lot of fun when we got to the stadium. We got to run all the way down the track and back. Then Mark and I had a synchronized dance competition against LaRell and Cabot. Now, I'm not going to say that we were the first, but I'm sure it's rare for people to have a synchronized dance competition in the rain at the original Olympic Stadium (I feel like I could be a baseball commentator, just coming out with random obscure statistics).
Then we drove home.
On Tuesday, 12 of us went in groups of 4 to the school next door to help with the English class. That was fun. I had 4 boys in my group that were all 12 years old. We played a game.
Today we went to Delphi. It was pretty cool. It was just a day trip so we left this morning and then got back before dinner tonight. We saw some ruins and then went to the museum.
Tomorrow some of us are going to see Watchmen in Athens. I'm looking forward to that.
We're leaving on Sunday morning for another two week trip to northern Greece and Turkey. So there's that.
The first day we went to Mycenae, which was awesome! Actually it was just like another site that we've been to so far. We saw ruins and stuff. The most interesting part was the Lion's Gate, which has this big triangular shaped rock holding the arch up.
We stayed in a hotel in some small village in the mountains, which was nice. There was a nice view from the window in the room across the hall from mine. My room had a great view of our bus.
The next morning we were supposed to go rafting, but it rained and the river flooded so that fell through and we ended up going on a long hike through the mountains to see some monasteries. The hike really was awesome, though. I liked going to the monasteries because they weren't actually tourist attractions and it was very quiet. We broke up into two groups so that probably helped some. 'Twas good. After that we drove for a long time to Olympia.
Olympia ended up being great. For those of you who don't know basic word derivations, Olympia is where the original Olympic games were held (Athens had the first modern Olympics in 1896). It was raining pretty much all day and all of the ruins were outside, so at first that wasn't fun (and also why I didn't take a whole lot of pictures), but it ended up being a lot of fun when we got to the stadium. We got to run all the way down the track and back. Then Mark and I had a synchronized dance competition against LaRell and Cabot. Now, I'm not going to say that we were the first, but I'm sure it's rare for people to have a synchronized dance competition in the rain at the original Olympic Stadium (I feel like I could be a baseball commentator, just coming out with random obscure statistics).
Then we drove home.
On Tuesday, 12 of us went in groups of 4 to the school next door to help with the English class. That was fun. I had 4 boys in my group that were all 12 years old. We played a game.
Today we went to Delphi. It was pretty cool. It was just a day trip so we left this morning and then got back before dinner tonight. We saw some ruins and then went to the museum.
Tomorrow some of us are going to see Watchmen in Athens. I'm looking forward to that.
We're leaving on Sunday morning for another two week trip to northern Greece and Turkey. So there's that.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
i forgot to tell you that i have agoraphobia..
Some might say that it is my fault that I have so much to type right now because I've waited 2 weeks to submit another blog post. I would have to agree with these people. There is a lot that has happened but thankfully my memory is better than that of a goldfish.
When we got back from Egypt we had a day to rest (which I actually spent updating my blog) and then started classes again. There's not too much to say about classes except that I am doing well in all of them.
We went to church in Athens last Sunday morning and then spent the say running around like mad to make it to the Roman and Greek agoras before they closed. The agora is the ancient marketplace, for those that don't know. It was interesting to see the sites, but I forgot my camera, so if you really want to see pictures then you should look them up on the internet. They do have the only complete temple at the Greek agora. Complete in the sense that it still has its original roof and is not nearly as deteriorated as most of the others. The Parthenon was actually in the same boat until about 200 years ago when the Turks occupied Greece and stored ammunition there. During the Venetian wars, a stray Venetian bullet went into the Parthenon and blew it up. I'm saying all that from memory, though, so don't look it up and prove me wrong. There is a good chance that I'm wrong.
Sunday night I went with a few others to the church in Glyfada again. It was still good. Dino drove us back in his van. I'll go ahead and note that every car here is a standard, so riding in the back of a crowded van that rocks back and forth a little bit every time the driver shifts gears as well as the fact that there was someone talking in my ear the whole time made me feel pretty car sick, so I went to bed pretty quickly after getting back to the Artemis.
On Monday night there were 10 of us that went to a soup kitchen in Athens to help out, which was a really good experience. There were over 300 people that came, most of them non-English speaking Muslims. A lot of them actually spoke French, which Roman loved because he got a chance to talk to people in French. One lady got really mad at me because I spilled about a drop of soup on the table in front of her (not on her at all). I cleaned it up but she continued to glare at me for about 5 minutes, which I thought was funny. I went upstairs to the kitchen a guy clean the pots after everyone was served. I wore an apron so it wouldn't get all over my clothes (but it still did a little bit), and when I went downstairs to get another pot some of the people there laughed at my tea-pot covered apron. It was all good fun.
There's a bit of an argument on campus about the name of one of the dogs. I gave Flapjack his name for no particular reason other than him being my favorite one, but Devin and Roman both claim that they named him Copper. Hunter calls him Buddy but since he calls everyone that it doesn't really count. I've got roughly half of the people here calling him Flapjack, while others call him Copper. It's true that whoever it was called him Copper before I named him, but Copper is too boring a name for this dog. He's definitely Flapjack.
I didn't really get out much in the first week that we were here, but on Friday I went to the store with Ben and Cabot. We found a little trail right next to the little shop we went to and ended up going hiking for 4 hours. Flapjack stayed with us the whole time. We made it to the other side of Porto Rafti, where we found this big open field with some caves to climb in and sat there for a while. Then we climbed out through one of the caves and jumped a fence to walk through someone's vineyard to get to the street. We had to lift the fence to left Flapjack through because he couldn't make it over and we couldn't get back over to pick him up.
On Saturday I went to Athens with Brittany, Tillie, and LaRell. We just did some shopping and walking around. That's really all I have to say about that.
We had church at the Artemis on Sunday afternoon so we had some time to do whatever we wanted beforehand. Roman, Cody, and I went walking along the coast to the other side of Porto Rafti. We were trying to make it to some cliffs to look out but after walking for about an hour and a half and getting within a half hour of getting there we decided that we had to turn back to make it home in time for church.
We were supposed to leave yesterday to go to the Peloponnese, which is the big peninsula in the southern part of Greece, but there was a mix up with the travel agency. They had moved our trip to the first week in April because yesterday was a Grecian holiday. Tim managed to get the trip moved to Wednesday and got us a day trip to Corinth for yesterday.
We saw some nice stuff in Corinth. It was really the first place that we've been to that Paul spent a lot of his time ministering to. We went up to the Acrocorinth, which is the high point, where there was an old castle. Morgan has had a bad knee the whole trip and Rebbecca was going to wait with her at the bottom since it's at least a 30 minute hike but Jordan got Roman, Justin, Richard, and me to help carry her up. We took turns carrying her on our backs but it turned out to be really tough because it was so steep. We got it done though. Cody and Hunter carried her down after we ate lunch and sat up there for about 45 minutes.
We had classes this morning so we wouldn't have to have them on Saturday. They weren't bad, though. We watched a movie in Paul and Greek is always pretty fun. Who knew that Anthony Hopkins played Paul in a made-for-TV movie early in his career. It's actually a pretty good movie so far though. It's interesting to note that the role that Anthony Hopkins played right before he played Paul was Adolf Hitler.
We leave tomorrow to continue our trip. It should be fun. We get back on Friday night. It's a beautiful day out right now, though, so I'm going to go ahead and go outside.
When we got back from Egypt we had a day to rest (which I actually spent updating my blog) and then started classes again. There's not too much to say about classes except that I am doing well in all of them.
We went to church in Athens last Sunday morning and then spent the say running around like mad to make it to the Roman and Greek agoras before they closed. The agora is the ancient marketplace, for those that don't know. It was interesting to see the sites, but I forgot my camera, so if you really want to see pictures then you should look them up on the internet. They do have the only complete temple at the Greek agora. Complete in the sense that it still has its original roof and is not nearly as deteriorated as most of the others. The Parthenon was actually in the same boat until about 200 years ago when the Turks occupied Greece and stored ammunition there. During the Venetian wars, a stray Venetian bullet went into the Parthenon and blew it up. I'm saying all that from memory, though, so don't look it up and prove me wrong. There is a good chance that I'm wrong.
Sunday night I went with a few others to the church in Glyfada again. It was still good. Dino drove us back in his van. I'll go ahead and note that every car here is a standard, so riding in the back of a crowded van that rocks back and forth a little bit every time the driver shifts gears as well as the fact that there was someone talking in my ear the whole time made me feel pretty car sick, so I went to bed pretty quickly after getting back to the Artemis.
On Monday night there were 10 of us that went to a soup kitchen in Athens to help out, which was a really good experience. There were over 300 people that came, most of them non-English speaking Muslims. A lot of them actually spoke French, which Roman loved because he got a chance to talk to people in French. One lady got really mad at me because I spilled about a drop of soup on the table in front of her (not on her at all). I cleaned it up but she continued to glare at me for about 5 minutes, which I thought was funny. I went upstairs to the kitchen a guy clean the pots after everyone was served. I wore an apron so it wouldn't get all over my clothes (but it still did a little bit), and when I went downstairs to get another pot some of the people there laughed at my tea-pot covered apron. It was all good fun.
There's a bit of an argument on campus about the name of one of the dogs. I gave Flapjack his name for no particular reason other than him being my favorite one, but Devin and Roman both claim that they named him Copper. Hunter calls him Buddy but since he calls everyone that it doesn't really count. I've got roughly half of the people here calling him Flapjack, while others call him Copper. It's true that whoever it was called him Copper before I named him, but Copper is too boring a name for this dog. He's definitely Flapjack.
I didn't really get out much in the first week that we were here, but on Friday I went to the store with Ben and Cabot. We found a little trail right next to the little shop we went to and ended up going hiking for 4 hours. Flapjack stayed with us the whole time. We made it to the other side of Porto Rafti, where we found this big open field with some caves to climb in and sat there for a while. Then we climbed out through one of the caves and jumped a fence to walk through someone's vineyard to get to the street. We had to lift the fence to left Flapjack through because he couldn't make it over and we couldn't get back over to pick him up.
On Saturday I went to Athens with Brittany, Tillie, and LaRell. We just did some shopping and walking around. That's really all I have to say about that.
We had church at the Artemis on Sunday afternoon so we had some time to do whatever we wanted beforehand. Roman, Cody, and I went walking along the coast to the other side of Porto Rafti. We were trying to make it to some cliffs to look out but after walking for about an hour and a half and getting within a half hour of getting there we decided that we had to turn back to make it home in time for church.
We were supposed to leave yesterday to go to the Peloponnese, which is the big peninsula in the southern part of Greece, but there was a mix up with the travel agency. They had moved our trip to the first week in April because yesterday was a Grecian holiday. Tim managed to get the trip moved to Wednesday and got us a day trip to Corinth for yesterday.
We saw some nice stuff in Corinth. It was really the first place that we've been to that Paul spent a lot of his time ministering to. We went up to the Acrocorinth, which is the high point, where there was an old castle. Morgan has had a bad knee the whole trip and Rebbecca was going to wait with her at the bottom since it's at least a 30 minute hike but Jordan got Roman, Justin, Richard, and me to help carry her up. We took turns carrying her on our backs but it turned out to be really tough because it was so steep. We got it done though. Cody and Hunter carried her down after we ate lunch and sat up there for about 45 minutes.
We had classes this morning so we wouldn't have to have them on Saturday. They weren't bad, though. We watched a movie in Paul and Greek is always pretty fun. Who knew that Anthony Hopkins played Paul in a made-for-TV movie early in his career. It's actually a pretty good movie so far though. It's interesting to note that the role that Anthony Hopkins played right before he played Paul was Adolf Hitler.
We leave tomorrow to continue our trip. It should be fun. We get back on Friday night. It's a beautiful day out right now, though, so I'm going to go ahead and go outside.
Monday, February 16, 2009
on the sleeper train to luxor
Alright, here all of my details will be getting very sketchy because I wasn't able to write anything down. Actually, I'm not sure if I have any details. I know that we went to a few more churches, which weren't terrible interesting. I would have been fine going to a few churches throughout the course of the trip, but because we visited something like 3 a day it really made all of them very uninteresting.
We also went to Memphis and that was nice. There were some statue and a sphinx. Not the Sphinx, but a sphinx. I also met some tourist police behind a statue of Ramses II who wanted money. I took a picture with them and then walked away before they could ask. There was another guy who grabbed Shannon and wanted to take a picture with her so I took one. Then he wanted to take a picture of us but we just walked away before he could ask us for money. This was a bit of a trend in Egypt.
We also saw the Step Pyramid in Memphis. That was cool. It was a nice little break in the day.
We then went to see some people make rugs. They asked us for money.
We also took a boat ride on the Nile, which was a lot of fun.
We rode on the sleeper train to Luxor that night. It was a lot of fun, but I didn't sleep very well. I got some good rest, but I woke up quite a few times.
In Luxor we saw a few ancient temples and went for a sailboat ride on the Nile. It was a good day. We had church in one of the temples, which was a little awkward considering how many people were there, but it was still good.
We took another late flight back to Athens and I couldn't sleep well on the plane. We got back to Porto Rafti and the Artemis around 7 and I slept from 7:30 to about 12:30. Then I started working on updating my blog and pictures and now it's 11 and I'm almost done.
We also went to Memphis and that was nice. There were some statue and a sphinx. Not the Sphinx, but a sphinx. I also met some tourist police behind a statue of Ramses II who wanted money. I took a picture with them and then walked away before they could ask. There was another guy who grabbed Shannon and wanted to take a picture with her so I took one. Then he wanted to take a picture of us but we just walked away before he could ask us for money. This was a bit of a trend in Egypt.
We also saw the Step Pyramid in Memphis. That was cool. It was a nice little break in the day.
We then went to see some people make rugs. They asked us for money.
We also took a boat ride on the Nile, which was a lot of fun.
We rode on the sleeper train to Luxor that night. It was a lot of fun, but I didn't sleep very well. I got some good rest, but I woke up quite a few times.
In Luxor we saw a few ancient temples and went for a sailboat ride on the Nile. It was a good day. We had church in one of the temples, which was a little awkward considering how many people were there, but it was still good.
We took another late flight back to Athens and I couldn't sleep well on the plane. We got back to Porto Rafti and the Artemis around 7 and I slept from 7:30 to about 12:30. Then I started working on updating my blog and pictures and now it's 11 and I'm almost done.
Friday, February 13, 2009
i don't love her, she kicked me in the face!
Today started with a trip to the mosque of Mohammad Ali (not the boxer). It was very ok. Then we went to the Egyptian Museum, which was pretty good. That's where all of King Tut's stuff is. We also had the opportunity to pay to see some mummies, which was definitely the creepiest part of my day. I don't really think I need to explain why. People were tiny back then, though. I'm confident that I could have taken any one of them should they come back to life.
We spent some time in an Egyptian market to try to find some clothes for the night's activities. We also lost Blake and Cabot here. They didn't make it back to the bus in time. Tim had to wait for them.
We then made our way over to the Pharaonic Village where we saw some replicas of many of the items we had just seen at the museum. It was very silly. Blake and Cabot were reunited with us here.
The night ended with us going on a nice little dinner cruise. We were dressed in Egyptian garb and all looked quite silly. It was fun, though.
We spent some time in an Egyptian market to try to find some clothes for the night's activities. We also lost Blake and Cabot here. They didn't make it back to the bus in time. Tim had to wait for them.
We then made our way over to the Pharaonic Village where we saw some replicas of many of the items we had just seen at the museum. It was very silly. Blake and Cabot were reunited with us here.
The night ended with us going on a nice little dinner cruise. We were dressed in Egyptian garb and all looked quite silly. It was fun, though.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
and there was much rejoicing
Who knew that Egypt's two most famous tourist attractions were within a quarter mile of each other? Probably a lot of people. I didn't, though.
Today we went to see the Pyramids at Giza and the Sphinx. We got to touch the first pyramid, go into the second one, and laugh at the smallest one (but not really). Perhaps the greatest memory I will have is when Caitlin and I were harassed by a man who wanted money outside the first pyramid. "Harassed" may not be the best word for it but he certainly wanted money very badly. I gave him a euro that I had in my pocket so he would leave us alone. He didn't.
The second pyramid was cool, though. the passage was about one meter by one meter and very hot. We got down to the tomb and saw a stone coffin thing. Cabot got in.
We also saw the Solar Boat but I don't really know anything about it. Apparently it carried Pharaohs into the afterlife or something. We had to wear these bags over out feet to protect the wood floors. That's what I'm guessing.
We got to the Sphinx about the time it was closing. Most of the pictures that I got were with the police blowing their whistles in my ear to get us to leave.
We also saw how ancient Egyptians made paper.
The lamest part of the day was the Sound and Light show at the Pyramids and Sphinx. The first word that I would use to describe it would be "lame". The second word would be "hilarious". The best part of it was when they were telling a story about something (I wasn't listening) and the story ended with the phrase "and there was much rejoicing."
Not even kidding.
Today we went to see the Pyramids at Giza and the Sphinx. We got to touch the first pyramid, go into the second one, and laugh at the smallest one (but not really). Perhaps the greatest memory I will have is when Caitlin and I were harassed by a man who wanted money outside the first pyramid. "Harassed" may not be the best word for it but he certainly wanted money very badly. I gave him a euro that I had in my pocket so he would leave us alone. He didn't.
The second pyramid was cool, though. the passage was about one meter by one meter and very hot. We got down to the tomb and saw a stone coffin thing. Cabot got in.
We also saw the Solar Boat but I don't really know anything about it. Apparently it carried Pharaohs into the afterlife or something. We had to wear these bags over out feet to protect the wood floors. That's what I'm guessing.
We got to the Sphinx about the time it was closing. Most of the pictures that I got were with the police blowing their whistles in my ear to get us to leave.
We also saw how ancient Egyptians made paper.
The lamest part of the day was the Sound and Light show at the Pyramids and Sphinx. The first word that I would use to describe it would be "lame". The second word would be "hilarious". The best part of it was when they were telling a story about something (I wasn't listening) and the story ended with the phrase "and there was much rejoicing."
Not even kidding.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
should i believe that this is the oldest bush in the world?
Today was a pretty boring day until we got to our hotel and even then it was still kinda boring.
We had our wake up cal at 5:30 so we could pack our bags, load the bus, eat breakfast, and leave by 7. Roman woke me up at 6:34.
The bus ride to the Egyptian border only lasted about 20 minutes. Then we said our sad farewells to Waleed and Rashad (our driver). We loved them. It took about an hour to get checked into Egypt and then we hopped on our new bus to head to Cairo.
I don't like our new driver, mostly because he isn't Rashad, but also because he hasn't shown any personality. I'm not sure if he knows any English at all. Rashad at least knew broken English. Our new guide, while likable, has a LOT of work to do to match Waleed. I'll give him a shot but it's a long shot.
We stopped at Sinai and St. Katherine's monastery for about an hour and a half, including lunch. It was cool to be there but the monastery was boring and I felt like the claim for them having the actual burning bush was lame.
Then we rode the bus for like 8 more hours and arrived at the hotel at 9 pm. Bear in mind that we left at 7 this morning. The hotel is super nice. 5 stars.
Very nice.
We had our wake up cal at 5:30 so we could pack our bags, load the bus, eat breakfast, and leave by 7. Roman woke me up at 6:34.
The bus ride to the Egyptian border only lasted about 20 minutes. Then we said our sad farewells to Waleed and Rashad (our driver). We loved them. It took about an hour to get checked into Egypt and then we hopped on our new bus to head to Cairo.
I don't like our new driver, mostly because he isn't Rashad, but also because he hasn't shown any personality. I'm not sure if he knows any English at all. Rashad at least knew broken English. Our new guide, while likable, has a LOT of work to do to match Waleed. I'll give him a shot but it's a long shot.
We stopped at Sinai and St. Katherine's monastery for about an hour and a half, including lunch. It was cool to be there but the monastery was boring and I felt like the claim for them having the actual burning bush was lame.
Then we rode the bus for like 8 more hours and arrived at the hotel at 9 pm. Bear in mind that we left at 7 this morning. The hotel is super nice. 5 stars.
Very nice.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
a dead sea focus
It's hard to rank the days on this trip but if I did then today would definitely be near the top. It's not that anything we did today was the best thing we've done, just that I really liked everything we did, which actually wasn't a whole lot.
We started off early this morning going to Qumran to see some reconstruction of the Essene community there and see where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.
Then we headed on to see the place where David hid when Saul was chasing him. It was a really beautiful place. I was with Shannon and Caitlin the whole time and we didn't have time to make it to the top but it was still a really good experience.
After that we got to go swim in the Dead Sea, which was just awesome. It's impossible to drown in that water if you don't want to. It's very hard to swim because your feet are pretty much out of the water when you go horizontal. You also don't want to put your head under. I didn't, but some people did. They regretted it.
We're in Eilat now, which is the most fully modern city we've been in yet. There are a lot of stores and stuff.
Tomorrow is mostly a free day so it will probably be a very short entry. I can probably tell you now what it will say: "We rode camels today. It was awesome."
We started off early this morning going to Qumran to see some reconstruction of the Essene community there and see where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.
Then we headed on to see the place where David hid when Saul was chasing him. It was a really beautiful place. I was with Shannon and Caitlin the whole time and we didn't have time to make it to the top but it was still a really good experience.
After that we got to go swim in the Dead Sea, which was just awesome. It's impossible to drown in that water if you don't want to. It's very hard to swim because your feet are pretty much out of the water when you go horizontal. You also don't want to put your head under. I didn't, but some people did. They regretted it.
We're in Eilat now, which is the most fully modern city we've been in yet. There are a lot of stores and stuff.
Tomorrow is mostly a free day so it will probably be a very short entry. I can probably tell you now what it will say: "We rode camels today. It was awesome."
Sunday, February 8, 2009
at the wailing wall
I'll say that today was another good day, even though all of them have been pretty good up to this point. We spent all day in Jerusalem looking at some pretty cool sites.
We started off this morning going to the Western Wall. It's also called the Wailing Wall but I don't like that name. It makes sense though because there were a lot of Jews there praying on the wall and it looked a lot like wailing. I just thought it was cool to actually be there and be able to touch it. I don't mean any offense by the wailing Jews comment, I'm just stating what I saw.
After that we went to the Temple Mount and saw the Dome of the Rock. We didn't get to go in but I did hear a lot of information from our guide that I didn't really listen to.
The coolest part of the day was going to St. Anne's church. It was empty when we got there so we just went in and sat on the pews and started singing. I saw a few people come and and sit down to listen to us while we were singing. We only sang 2 songs and then got up to leave. We turned around to find that about 50 people had come in and were listening to us. They started applauding as we left and I wasn't sure how I felt about that but it was still really nice to know that we made an impression, even if it was on fellow Christians.
After some more churches, we went to see a museum for the Dead Sea Scrolls, which was way better than I thought it would be. There was a lot of information about the Essene community at Qumran (where we go tomorrow).
We also went to Hezekiah's tunnel, which was by far the most fun I've ever had while walking hunched over for thirty minutes in a three foot wide tunnel with water flowing hallway up my legs, getting my pants wet. That's actually a truthful statement, though. It was pretty cool.
We went back to St. Anne's for our own church service after that. I didn't know you could do that but apparently all you have to do is ask.
We started off this morning going to the Western Wall. It's also called the Wailing Wall but I don't like that name. It makes sense though because there were a lot of Jews there praying on the wall and it looked a lot like wailing. I just thought it was cool to actually be there and be able to touch it. I don't mean any offense by the wailing Jews comment, I'm just stating what I saw.
After that we went to the Temple Mount and saw the Dome of the Rock. We didn't get to go in but I did hear a lot of information from our guide that I didn't really listen to.
The coolest part of the day was going to St. Anne's church. It was empty when we got there so we just went in and sat on the pews and started singing. I saw a few people come and and sit down to listen to us while we were singing. We only sang 2 songs and then got up to leave. We turned around to find that about 50 people had come in and were listening to us. They started applauding as we left and I wasn't sure how I felt about that but it was still really nice to know that we made an impression, even if it was on fellow Christians.
After some more churches, we went to see a museum for the Dead Sea Scrolls, which was way better than I thought it would be. There was a lot of information about the Essene community at Qumran (where we go tomorrow).
We also went to Hezekiah's tunnel, which was by far the most fun I've ever had while walking hunched over for thirty minutes in a three foot wide tunnel with water flowing hallway up my legs, getting my pants wet. That's actually a truthful statement, though. It was pretty cool.
We went back to St. Anne's for our own church service after that. I didn't know you could do that but apparently all you have to do is ask.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
what are we doing, rashad?!
Today was really our first day in Jerusalem. We stayed here last night but it was our first time to see the city.
We started out this morning going to the Mount of Olives. We got a pretty good view of the city from up there. It was kind of weird to see some of the old city mixed in with the newer parts.
One of the best parts of the trip up to this point was going to the Garden Tomb. It as really nice because it was a private area that you had to make an appointment to get into so there weren't a lot of crowds. They also give you a guide so Waleed didn't get to guide us, but some awesome British guy named Peter did. It was also good because they made a strong case for their site being the site of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus but also acknowledged that it is impossible to know for sure.
We also visited sites like Gethsemane, Bethlehem, and the Mount of Ascension. It's a little frustrating going to places like these to see the beautiful orthodox churches that have been built over them. It's even more frustrating to see the gift shops inside of the churches. It brings to mind a little table-turning incident I heard about once.
it's interesting to note that Waleed could not legally guide us while we were in Bethlehem because it is a Palestinian area and the Israelis do not allow Israeli guides in Palestine. We acted like Tim was our guide when we went in and then we had to stop at a gift shop on the way out so Waleed could be "smuggled" out by a friend. Walled the citizen is allowed. Waleed the guide is not.
We started out this morning going to the Mount of Olives. We got a pretty good view of the city from up there. It was kind of weird to see some of the old city mixed in with the newer parts.
One of the best parts of the trip up to this point was going to the Garden Tomb. It as really nice because it was a private area that you had to make an appointment to get into so there weren't a lot of crowds. They also give you a guide so Waleed didn't get to guide us, but some awesome British guy named Peter did. It was also good because they made a strong case for their site being the site of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus but also acknowledged that it is impossible to know for sure.
We also visited sites like Gethsemane, Bethlehem, and the Mount of Ascension. It's a little frustrating going to places like these to see the beautiful orthodox churches that have been built over them. It's even more frustrating to see the gift shops inside of the churches. It brings to mind a little table-turning incident I heard about once.
it's interesting to note that Waleed could not legally guide us while we were in Bethlehem because it is a Palestinian area and the Israelis do not allow Israeli guides in Palestine. We acted like Tim was our guide when we went in and then we had to stop at a gift shop on the way out so Waleed could be "smuggled" out by a friend. Walled the citizen is allowed. Waleed the guide is not.
Friday, February 6, 2009
on jordan's stormy banks
Most of today was spent driving. Not that it's bad. It brought us to some pretty cool places.
We left Tiberius early this morning after staying there for two nights. We stopped for a little bit in Dan and took some pictures f a stone arch that was around in Abraham's day. That was interesting. Then we went on to Caesarea Philippi to walk around some. A lot of this was more interesting than I make it sound.
We also went to see the Hermon Springs, which was really beautiful. I got some good pictures there.
We are lunch on the Jordan River. Well, next to it. A lot of us wanted to put our feet in the water, so we did. The mud was slippery, and a lot of people slipped. One person fell. Not me.
The last thing we did today was go to the West Bank to see Jericho. The West Bank is a lot closer to what I had always imagined Israel to be. Very sandy. There wasn't much to see in Jericho but it was still nice to be there. I did see some peacocks.
The hotel we're at in Jerusalem is super nice. I think it's a 4 star. The dinner we had tonight was outrageously good, mostly because tomorrow is the Sabbath. I had a full plate of meat, bread, and potatoes and then 2 plates of dessert. Very good.
Very good.
We left Tiberius early this morning after staying there for two nights. We stopped for a little bit in Dan and took some pictures f a stone arch that was around in Abraham's day. That was interesting. Then we went on to Caesarea Philippi to walk around some. A lot of this was more interesting than I make it sound.
We also went to see the Hermon Springs, which was really beautiful. I got some good pictures there.
We are lunch on the Jordan River. Well, next to it. A lot of us wanted to put our feet in the water, so we did. The mud was slippery, and a lot of people slipped. One person fell. Not me.
The last thing we did today was go to the West Bank to see Jericho. The West Bank is a lot closer to what I had always imagined Israel to be. Very sandy. There wasn't much to see in Jericho but it was still nice to be there. I did see some peacocks.
The hotel we're at in Jerusalem is super nice. I think it's a 4 star. The dinner we had tonight was outrageously good, mostly because tomorrow is the Sabbath. I had a full plate of meat, bread, and potatoes and then 2 plates of dessert. Very good.
Very good.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
there's a sea of galilee..
I don't know if I said that yesterday was a good day. If I did then I was lying a little bit if you compare it to today.
They gave us a wake up call at 7 this morning so I rolled out of bed at 7:35 and went downstairs for breakfast. At 8 we left the hotel to hop on a boat to go out on the Sea of Galilee. There's not really much I can say about the boat ride but it was just awesome being on there on the same sea where Jesus walked on water and calmed the storms. It one of the only places that the Catholics can't build a church over.
Then we went on to the Mount of the Beatitudes, which is supposedly where Jesus gave the sermon on the mount. Again, there's not really much to say other than it being awesome to see some of the same things that Jesus and the apostles saw. It was a beautiful view of the sea, though. Israel is much different than I expected. Much greener.
Later, we moved on the Capernaum, which was kind of like Jesus' second home town. This was really cool because some of the town hasn't been touched in centuries. Part of the town has been preserved by the Franciscans for quite some time.
My favorite part of the day (although Galilee was the most meaningful) was when we hiked up a mountain.We got to explore some caves and and do some actual rock climbing, which I like a lot more than just hiking. When we got to the top there was another great view of the Sea of Galilee.
When we got back to Tiberius (where we're staying), I went with Shannon, Calea, Cody, and Eric to get some how chocolate from some coffee shop. Then I went again after dinner with Mark, Molly, Tillie, and LaRell because it was delicious.
They gave us a wake up call at 7 this morning so I rolled out of bed at 7:35 and went downstairs for breakfast. At 8 we left the hotel to hop on a boat to go out on the Sea of Galilee. There's not really much I can say about the boat ride but it was just awesome being on there on the same sea where Jesus walked on water and calmed the storms. It one of the only places that the Catholics can't build a church over.
Then we went on to the Mount of the Beatitudes, which is supposedly where Jesus gave the sermon on the mount. Again, there's not really much to say other than it being awesome to see some of the same things that Jesus and the apostles saw. It was a beautiful view of the sea, though. Israel is much different than I expected. Much greener.
Later, we moved on the Capernaum, which was kind of like Jesus' second home town. This was really cool because some of the town hasn't been touched in centuries. Part of the town has been preserved by the Franciscans for quite some time.
My favorite part of the day (although Galilee was the most meaningful) was when we hiked up a mountain.We got to explore some caves and and do some actual rock climbing, which I like a lot more than just hiking. When we got to the top there was another great view of the Sea of Galilee.
When we got back to Tiberius (where we're staying), I went with Shannon, Calea, Cody, and Eric to get some how chocolate from some coffee shop. Then I went again after dinner with Mark, Molly, Tillie, and LaRell because it was delicious.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
we're here, o israel.
Today was a pretty extreme day. We left last night at 11 o'clock to head to the airport. Our flight left at like 1:30 so we had some time to walk around and get some food. None of that is important.
I tried to sleep on the plane but was unsuccessful. Then I tried to sleep on the bus but was unsuccessful. By the time we got to the aqueducts I was completely out of it. I didn't even realize that we were getting off the bus until over half the people had gotten off. It was pretty cool to see something that old that was such an amazing engineering feat for its time.
We went to breakfast at some small place that was pretty decent. The cereal was good.
We also saw a Roman theater, a Hippodrome, Herod's castle, a Crusader's castle, and some beaches, but I can't remember if that was before or after breakfast. It was such a long day. This all happened in Caeserea.
One of the coolest parts of the day for me was going up to Mount Caramel. It was awesome to be able to see places where all of these great biblical events happened. It's starting to hit me now just how special an experience like this really is.
After Mount Caramel we went to Nazareth. We took a tour of the Nazareth Village, which is supposed to be a representation of what it was like in Jesus' time. It was alright. A little boring.
It's 8:30pm and I'm about to go to bed and end one of the longest days of my life.
Goodnight.
I tried to sleep on the plane but was unsuccessful. Then I tried to sleep on the bus but was unsuccessful. By the time we got to the aqueducts I was completely out of it. I didn't even realize that we were getting off the bus until over half the people had gotten off. It was pretty cool to see something that old that was such an amazing engineering feat for its time.
We went to breakfast at some small place that was pretty decent. The cereal was good.
We also saw a Roman theater, a Hippodrome, Herod's castle, a Crusader's castle, and some beaches, but I can't remember if that was before or after breakfast. It was such a long day. This all happened in Caeserea.
One of the coolest parts of the day for me was going up to Mount Caramel. It was awesome to be able to see places where all of these great biblical events happened. It's starting to hit me now just how special an experience like this really is.
After Mount Caramel we went to Nazareth. We took a tour of the Nazareth Village, which is supposed to be a representation of what it was like in Jesus' time. It was alright. A little boring.
It's 8:30pm and I'm about to go to bed and end one of the longest days of my life.
Goodnight.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
aek, se agapo!
I've started a bit of a Tips phenomenon here at the Artemis. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's just a basketball game. I'm not going to explain it now. We can play when I get back. We play all the time here, though. It's a lot of fun. I jammed my thumb real bad playing a few days ago and it's still a little sore but I'll get over it.
We went to church in Athens again on Sunday. I can't say with any honesty that the service was good because my whisper set broke again so I didn't get any of the translation. I'm sure it was great, though.
After church we went over to the National Archeology Museum for a tour. I'll just say it wasn't the best part of the day. It would have been great if they had just given us a few hours to walk around and look at things and take notes at our own leisure but instead they gave us a tour guide to tell us things we were perfectly capable of reading for ourselves. There were a few cool things but they were things that were really only cool to see, not talk about.
We had a few hours after the museum to do whatever until the football game (there is no soccer here) so most of us rode the metro (train, not bus) down to the Plaka to do some shopping. I bought an AEK shirt that I wore to the game, which was a lot better than last week. There's something to be said about having a crowd at a sporting event. AEK lost this week 1-0 to Olympiacos, who is kind of a cross town rival, but the crowd being excited made up for the loss. I don't think I ever mentioned that they won last week 3-0, but that's what happened.
We leave tonight around 11 to head to Israel. We'll be there for about a week and then go to Egypt for a week. This is the part of the semester that really draws people to HUG so I'm getting excited. Anyone that knows me knows what it looks like when I get excited. If you don't then just picture me normal and that's pretty close. I'm excited in my head, though.
I don't know if I'm going to be taking my computer on this trip. I have room in my bag but since so many people are asking me if I'm taking it I might not. I will be making a few posts when I'm gone but they probably won't show up until I get back, especially if I don't have a computer to submit them.
I don't have anything clever to go out on. Sorry.
We went to church in Athens again on Sunday. I can't say with any honesty that the service was good because my whisper set broke again so I didn't get any of the translation. I'm sure it was great, though.
After church we went over to the National Archeology Museum for a tour. I'll just say it wasn't the best part of the day. It would have been great if they had just given us a few hours to walk around and look at things and take notes at our own leisure but instead they gave us a tour guide to tell us things we were perfectly capable of reading for ourselves. There were a few cool things but they were things that were really only cool to see, not talk about.
We had a few hours after the museum to do whatever until the football game (there is no soccer here) so most of us rode the metro (train, not bus) down to the Plaka to do some shopping. I bought an AEK shirt that I wore to the game, which was a lot better than last week. There's something to be said about having a crowd at a sporting event. AEK lost this week 1-0 to Olympiacos, who is kind of a cross town rival, but the crowd being excited made up for the loss. I don't think I ever mentioned that they won last week 3-0, but that's what happened.
We leave tonight around 11 to head to Israel. We'll be there for about a week and then go to Egypt for a week. This is the part of the semester that really draws people to HUG so I'm getting excited. Anyone that knows me knows what it looks like when I get excited. If you don't then just picture me normal and that's pretty close. I'm excited in my head, though.
I don't know if I'm going to be taking my computer on this trip. I have room in my bag but since so many people are asking me if I'm taking it I might not. I will be making a few posts when I'm gone but they probably won't show up until I get back, especially if I don't have a computer to submit them.
I don't have anything clever to go out on. Sorry.
Monday, January 26, 2009
my big fat greek birthday
My birthday was Friday. That was good. It was also LaRell's birthday and he got aggravated with me a few times because I wasn't anywhere near as excited about it as he was. He kept asking me if I was going to throw a party and I kept telling him that I didn't care. Then he got mad at me for not telling him happy birthday on Facebook or telling him thank you when he said it on my Facebook. I did both of those things face to face but apparently that doesn't matter as much. Oh well. Maybe next year.
They did throw a bit of a party for us, though. At dinner they had cake and they sang to us and sprayed us with silly string. The cake was delicious. I had two pieces. They also made us giant cards but then they misplaced them and found them yesterday. It was good.
Saturday was a good day. After lunch, Tim took us up to the roof of the Artemis to take some pictures. Then some of us went to climb the mountain. I took some pictures that I will be putting up later. When we got up to the second peak we found a pole and Jordan took off his undershirt and we claimed the mountain for ourselves. On the way down my group thought they knew the right way down but I also thought I knew the right way down so I went my own way and beat them back by 9 minutes. Their way was probably safer, though.
Yesterday we had church here at the Artemis. Cabot led singing, Cody said the opening prayer, I led the Lord's Supper, and Mark did the offering. Jeff Hopper (who I think is is charge of all international programs for Harding) is here for the week and he gave the lesson. It was pretty good.
After church, a group of us, including Brinley and Dr. Jewell, went to Athens for an AEK Athens soccer game. It was a lot of fun. Cody and Roman were raving about it after the game but they were lying to themselves a little bit. It was good, but the stadium wasn't even half full and it wasn't near as loud as it could have been. I get a lot more excitement from going to an Astros game. Or even the Pearland Oiler playoff games my senior year. Our team won 3-0 though. Next week is a big game and I'm thinking about going to get a better idea of what it should be like but I haven't decided yet. Now I have been to one more European football game than American football.
Thanks to everyone for the comments, emails, and birthday wishes.
They did throw a bit of a party for us, though. At dinner they had cake and they sang to us and sprayed us with silly string. The cake was delicious. I had two pieces. They also made us giant cards but then they misplaced them and found them yesterday. It was good.
Saturday was a good day. After lunch, Tim took us up to the roof of the Artemis to take some pictures. Then some of us went to climb the mountain. I took some pictures that I will be putting up later. When we got up to the second peak we found a pole and Jordan took off his undershirt and we claimed the mountain for ourselves. On the way down my group thought they knew the right way down but I also thought I knew the right way down so I went my own way and beat them back by 9 minutes. Their way was probably safer, though.
Yesterday we had church here at the Artemis. Cabot led singing, Cody said the opening prayer, I led the Lord's Supper, and Mark did the offering. Jeff Hopper (who I think is is charge of all international programs for Harding) is here for the week and he gave the lesson. It was pretty good.
After church, a group of us, including Brinley and Dr. Jewell, went to Athens for an AEK Athens soccer game. It was a lot of fun. Cody and Roman were raving about it after the game but they were lying to themselves a little bit. It was good, but the stadium wasn't even half full and it wasn't near as loud as it could have been. I get a lot more excitement from going to an Astros game. Or even the Pearland Oiler playoff games my senior year. Our team won 3-0 though. Next week is a big game and I'm thinking about going to get a better idea of what it should be like but I haven't decided yet. Now I have been to one more European football game than American football.
Thanks to everyone for the comments, emails, and birthday wishes.
Monday, January 19, 2009
absence of poseidon and closing the the acropolis
We've had a really busy last few days. On Saturday we made our first trip into the city and that was fun. We all split up and spent some time walking around Glyfada and just looked at stuff. We saw the Conga Palace Hotel, which is where Harding's Greece campus (HUG) started a few years ago. It's been renovated since then so it's probably a lot nicer than it was a few years ago (they moved to the Artemis in 2000). This all took up a large chunk of time but there's really nothing on note. We just looked at stuff.
Then we went to the Temple of Poseidon and that was awesome. Poseidon wasn't actually there though. I guess he was out of town or something. It was really interesting to think that this building was much older than anything I've ever seen at home and it still stands mostly intact. We stayed up there for a while and then some of us climbed down the side and played on the rocks.
Sunday morning we went to a small congregation (like 15 people without us, almost 60 with us) in Athens that speaks in Greek, Russian, and English. We've been using these whispering sets so that Tim could translate everything they said so that Dino (the guy heading up the church. More about him later) wouldn't have to translate it all for us. Basically how the whisper sets work is that Tim has a microphone that he can speak softly into and everybody else can hear him clearly through a set of headphones that we carry with us. If I think about it I'll put a picture of them up later just to show you. We also use them when we're touring Athens, except the one I had the first day didn't work and the one they gave me to replace it yesterday worked in church and then just screamed static into my ear for the rest of the day until I turned it off.
After church we walked around in Athens and got some gyros for lunch. They were good. Then we hiked up to the Acropolis and got there at 3:15 to find out that it closed at 3. Tim had checked 2 weeks ago and it closed at 5 then but I guess they changed it. It was ok though. Mars Hill was right next to it so we went up there and Tim talked to us some about it some and then we had a short devotional, which I was a little unsure about at first but because of how many people were up there but then it turned out to be pretty cool because a few of the people came and sat next to us and took picture and recorded us on their cameras. Not to show to the authorities or anything, though. It was all good.
Then we went over to where they had the first democratic meeting. Mark wanted to sing God Bless the USA here after singing church songs at Mars Hill but we didn't. All we did here was take pictures and stand around.
On the way home the bus dropped Mark, Cabot, Molly, and me off in Glyfada to go help with an English speaking service at the Congo Palace Hotel, which probably actually ended up being the best part of my day. It was the first time that they had it there and there were about 20 people, including us. It was just like any regular Church of Christ service in terms of format: singing, prayer, sermon, singing, Lord's Supper, closing prayer. The four of us stood at the front and led singing and Dino gave the lesson. There is nothing really that stands out about the service, but it just felt like the most real church experience that I've ever had. I think it was more like the Church as it was intended.
Dino drove us home and told us about some of the stuff that he's done which was pretty interesting. He was actually the one that started the Harding campus at the Congo Palace Hotel in 1991 and then found the Artemis a few years later. He also knew the Brinleys from years ago and recommended Tim for the director's position when it became available. This is actually Tim's first semester here, I think. He and Rebbecca were missionaries in Russia for 14 years before this.
That's really it for now.
Then we went to the Temple of Poseidon and that was awesome. Poseidon wasn't actually there though. I guess he was out of town or something. It was really interesting to think that this building was much older than anything I've ever seen at home and it still stands mostly intact. We stayed up there for a while and then some of us climbed down the side and played on the rocks.
Sunday morning we went to a small congregation (like 15 people without us, almost 60 with us) in Athens that speaks in Greek, Russian, and English. We've been using these whispering sets so that Tim could translate everything they said so that Dino (the guy heading up the church. More about him later) wouldn't have to translate it all for us. Basically how the whisper sets work is that Tim has a microphone that he can speak softly into and everybody else can hear him clearly through a set of headphones that we carry with us. If I think about it I'll put a picture of them up later just to show you. We also use them when we're touring Athens, except the one I had the first day didn't work and the one they gave me to replace it yesterday worked in church and then just screamed static into my ear for the rest of the day until I turned it off.
After church we walked around in Athens and got some gyros for lunch. They were good. Then we hiked up to the Acropolis and got there at 3:15 to find out that it closed at 3. Tim had checked 2 weeks ago and it closed at 5 then but I guess they changed it. It was ok though. Mars Hill was right next to it so we went up there and Tim talked to us some about it some and then we had a short devotional, which I was a little unsure about at first but because of how many people were up there but then it turned out to be pretty cool because a few of the people came and sat next to us and took picture and recorded us on their cameras. Not to show to the authorities or anything, though. It was all good.
Then we went over to where they had the first democratic meeting. Mark wanted to sing God Bless the USA here after singing church songs at Mars Hill but we didn't. All we did here was take pictures and stand around.
On the way home the bus dropped Mark, Cabot, Molly, and me off in Glyfada to go help with an English speaking service at the Congo Palace Hotel, which probably actually ended up being the best part of my day. It was the first time that they had it there and there were about 20 people, including us. It was just like any regular Church of Christ service in terms of format: singing, prayer, sermon, singing, Lord's Supper, closing prayer. The four of us stood at the front and led singing and Dino gave the lesson. There is nothing really that stands out about the service, but it just felt like the most real church experience that I've ever had. I think it was more like the Church as it was intended.
Dino drove us home and told us about some of the stuff that he's done which was pretty interesting. He was actually the one that started the Harding campus at the Congo Palace Hotel in 1991 and then found the Artemis a few years later. He also knew the Brinleys from years ago and recommended Tim for the director's position when it became available. This is actually Tim's first semester here, I think. He and Rebbecca were missionaries in Russia for 14 years before this.
That's really it for now.
Friday, January 16, 2009
the port of the taylor
Alright so here's whats happened in these first two and a half days:
My flight from Houston to Detroit was good. I mostly just read Child of God by Cormac McCarthy. It was pretty good. We got to Detroit, which has a pretty cool airport, and had about 20 minutes before we boarded the plane headed for Amsterdam. Then we sat on the plane for at least 45 minutes before we left. I sat next to Tillie on the plane and that was fun. Everybody had their own tv on the back of the seat in front of them and you got to pick what movie you wanted to watch. I watched Meet the Robinsons and The Jungle Book. It was great.
I think that they engineer these planes so that the seats are comfortable enough to sit in but it is impossible to get any sleep at all. I tried to sleep for at least 3 hours and got 10 minutes. Once I actually fell asleep they turned on the lights and fed us breakfast because it was 5 am Amsterdam time and I guess that's supposed to help us get used to the time change or something.
The airport in Amsterdam was really the first time that I had a chance to talk to anyone besides Tillie so that was fun. We all just hung out for about an hour before we left for Athens.
On the plane to Athens I sat between Ben and Neil. I finished reading Child of God. It was good. McCarthy has a very different style of writing, though. And it's not a religious book at all if you're wondering. A lot of people got sleep on this plane but the guy behind me was pretty huge so I couldn't really put my seat back and only got about 10 minutes of sleep in 2 minute increments.
We got to Athens and got our luggage after waiting at the wrong baggage claim station for a few minutes. Then we all hopped on a bus and drove to Porto Rafti while Tim Brinley, the program director, gave us a tour of the city. It's really a lot different than I expected. I was expecting it to be pretty secluded but our hotel is right in the middle of this busy street. Not like actually in the middle of the street with cars driving all around us but there are plenty of stores down to the left and right. Porto Rafti is right on the sea. It's about a 2 mile walk that we've made twice already.
The first night that we were here we (me, Molly, Mark, Ben, Waddell, and Roman) went out walking at night. We got a little lost. It was a lot of fun though. We ended up probably walking 4 and a half miles. Yesterday me, Jordan, Jane, Molly, and LaRell went down to the point, which is just a big piece of land that juts out into the sea. It's apparently a good place to go swimming. We didn't swim though. The water is too cold.
There are stray dogs everywhere. They follow us around. Last night we went to get ice cream and some of the dogs kinda attacked some lady leaving the store. Not like a vicious attack but they barked at her and annoyed her. Some of the dogs will stop traffic for you, which isn't safe at all. I think we had seven of them following us around last night.
I accidentally got a job here when I signed up to be a computer science major. I'm in charge of pretty much all things computers and they'll give me something like 5 euro a week. More if I actually do any work.
Classes started today and they were fine.
My room is good. My roommate is good. The food is good. None of the girls mentioned above is my girlfriend. I don't have a girlfriend. Things are good.
I realize that the second picture is a little bit more curvy than it should be. It's because it's taking a lot of space and scrunching it up into a little space. I tried to make it fit better but that's pretty much as big as I can make it and make it fit in this border.
By the way, Porto Rafti is "The Port of the Tailor"
My flight from Houston to Detroit was good. I mostly just read Child of God by Cormac McCarthy. It was pretty good. We got to Detroit, which has a pretty cool airport, and had about 20 minutes before we boarded the plane headed for Amsterdam. Then we sat on the plane for at least 45 minutes before we left. I sat next to Tillie on the plane and that was fun. Everybody had their own tv on the back of the seat in front of them and you got to pick what movie you wanted to watch. I watched Meet the Robinsons and The Jungle Book. It was great.
I think that they engineer these planes so that the seats are comfortable enough to sit in but it is impossible to get any sleep at all. I tried to sleep for at least 3 hours and got 10 minutes. Once I actually fell asleep they turned on the lights and fed us breakfast because it was 5 am Amsterdam time and I guess that's supposed to help us get used to the time change or something.
The airport in Amsterdam was really the first time that I had a chance to talk to anyone besides Tillie so that was fun. We all just hung out for about an hour before we left for Athens.
On the plane to Athens I sat between Ben and Neil. I finished reading Child of God. It was good. McCarthy has a very different style of writing, though. And it's not a religious book at all if you're wondering. A lot of people got sleep on this plane but the guy behind me was pretty huge so I couldn't really put my seat back and only got about 10 minutes of sleep in 2 minute increments.
We got to Athens and got our luggage after waiting at the wrong baggage claim station for a few minutes. Then we all hopped on a bus and drove to Porto Rafti while Tim Brinley, the program director, gave us a tour of the city. It's really a lot different than I expected. I was expecting it to be pretty secluded but our hotel is right in the middle of this busy street. Not like actually in the middle of the street with cars driving all around us but there are plenty of stores down to the left and right. Porto Rafti is right on the sea. It's about a 2 mile walk that we've made twice already.
The first night that we were here we (me, Molly, Mark, Ben, Waddell, and Roman) went out walking at night. We got a little lost. It was a lot of fun though. We ended up probably walking 4 and a half miles. Yesterday me, Jordan, Jane, Molly, and LaRell went down to the point, which is just a big piece of land that juts out into the sea. It's apparently a good place to go swimming. We didn't swim though. The water is too cold.
There are stray dogs everywhere. They follow us around. Last night we went to get ice cream and some of the dogs kinda attacked some lady leaving the store. Not like a vicious attack but they barked at her and annoyed her. Some of the dogs will stop traffic for you, which isn't safe at all. I think we had seven of them following us around last night.
I accidentally got a job here when I signed up to be a computer science major. I'm in charge of pretty much all things computers and they'll give me something like 5 euro a week. More if I actually do any work.
Classes started today and they were fine.
My room is good. My roommate is good. The food is good. None of the girls mentioned above is my girlfriend. I don't have a girlfriend. Things are good.
I realize that the second picture is a little bit more curvy than it should be. It's because it's taking a lot of space and scrunching it up into a little space. I tried to make it fit better but that's pretty much as big as I can make it and make it fit in this border.
By the way, Porto Rafti is "The Port of the Tailor"
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