Attica and the Northern Greece Convention

Friday, Marios took Sean and me to Attica. Attica is a huge shopping center, comparable to the Harrods in London. It was dark, so I didn't get any pictures, but I will try to get back and take some before I leave. Before I went into Attica, Marios showed me a seven-story bookstore; it was amazing! I bought three books and am very excited to read all of them. Then I went into Attica. First item I saw was a purse for 550 Euros (about $825). Guess who didn't buy anything in Attica? I did go up to all the floors and walked around as much as possible, but eventually, I couldn't stand to be reminded how poor I was, so I went outside to wait for Sean and Marios.


This past weekend was the northern Greece church convention in Ioannina (Yah-nee-nah). It was a two-day, two-service event (Saturday and Sunday). I went with seven other people from the Crossroads Church of Athens, all Sri Lankins. We met on Saturday at noon and headed to the bus station to catch our 1:00 charter. It's about six hours Athens to Ioannina.


The bus ride up was really pretty. I don't really know how to describe northern Greece, but it kind of reminded me of Colorado/New Mexico. The terrain was extremely gorgeous and I tried to take pictures from the bus (when I wasn't reading one of my new books or sleeping), so I apologize that they are a little blurry.

We got to Ioannina just after 7:00. Church started at 7, so we booked it from the bus station to the hotel, where the conference was being held in a meeting room. When we arrived, I have to admit that I was more than a little surprised. I had expected a huge convention of people. I counted 38. But everyone was in good spirits and were grateful to be there, so it was good.





Greece has 13 churches and although Crossroads in multinational with services in English, many of the other churches are Greek with services in Greek. I can now proudly say that I "sang" in Greek (as a side note, they sang all their songs in minor keys, which I enjoyed immensely). The sermons on Saturday were preached in Greek and translated in English.



After church, after having gone the day on a banana and peanut butter and honey sandwich, I accompanied the Strictlands, his parents--also missionaries to Greece and Bro. Roger Buckland, missionary to Czech Republic to dinner.

Sunday, church started at 11. We got to church and sang in Greek some more, I've included a clip for you. Then Bro. Buckland and Bro. Jonathan Strictland preached. It was a very good service and I thoroughly enjoyed the conference.





After church we headed to the bus station to catch our ride back to Athens. We just missed the 3:00 bus, so we had to wait until the 5:15 bus. So we went down and sat near a lake.



We left Ioannina on time and as soon as it got dark, I feel asleep. I woke up when the bus stopped and everyone started reaching for their purses/coat pockets. The police had boarded the bus and were asking to see everyone's passports. Guess who didn't have hers? But I did have my Nebraska driver's license, and that was fine by them.

We pulled into Athens just after 11 pm. My group and I ran to catch the bus; many of the buses stop running at midnight and we still had quite a ways to go from the bus terminal to our homes. The bus that took us out of the terminal dropped us off in a questionable part of town. I'm pretty sure my Sri Lankan friends took me through the "ghetto," but it was still less frightening than some of the American city neighborhoods I've wound up in while traveling.

We managed to catch a bus back to Kifisia and I made it back to the hotel around 1 am, where I immediately crashed. It was a really good weekend and although I spent the majority of the trip on a bus, I'm really glad I got to go.

That brings you up to speed with my life. What about yours? Some of you are neglecting to email...

Yacht Harbor, Dinner on the Hill, and Ohi Day

Well I think I'm about two blogs behind, so please accept my humble apologies...

Two Saturdays ago, I took the bus down to the yacht harbor in Athens. My friend, Bea, from church took me there last year and I was able to actually go onto one of the boats and take pictures. This year, I didn't get that luxury, but it was nice to go anyway. The harbor is lined with shops and cafes. There is also a boardwalk-type area where a lot of people go to walk or run. From this walk, you can climb down onto the rocks and enjoy the view and sound of the sea or fish. Personally, I would NOT fish in this area, as some people have mistaken the sea/rocks and a garbage can. It's not overly dirty, but dirty enough that I wouldn't want to eat anything caught there.



Anyway, I sat on the rock until it started to rain, then I got back on the bus and when to see the old marble Olympic stadium. Anna said that later on this year, when the Olympic games start, they will actually bring the torch to that stadium for awhile. I think she also said the opening ceremony might be there, but don't quote me on that.


Sunday, after church, I was talking to Bea and we were talking about going to get something to eat. Suddenly, Ashley, the missionary's little came running up to me, saying, "There's water over there! There's water over there!" The church is in the basement of a building and whenever it rains (as it had been for the past week), the city's sewage system backs up and and basically throws up in the church, flooding the church with rain water and poo. There used to be a pump in the building that would pump the water back out, preventing the church from flooding, but whoever rented the building before had stolen the pump. So every time it rains, they have to deal with this. Also, their shop vac quit working, so yeah. I wouldn't normally do this, but if you the urge to, I've included two links where you can
1) contact them and ask how you can give them financial support: http://jstrickland.foreignmissions.com/contactUs.asp
2) send them a generic fund towards their special projects:
http://jstrickland.foreignmissions.com/projects.asp

They didn't ask me to do this, and they don't know I'm asking you. I just felt bad for them; they have done everything they can to make the building a decent place for church, but being able to purchase a new pump or at least a better shop vac would do wonders for them. Sooo...thanks for anything you decide to do to help.

Monday, one of our VPs, Paul, came to town, so we went to dinner. Anna wanted to take us to "a place with a view," so she took us up on a hill called Lycabettus to a restaurant called Horizons. According to Greek mythology, Lycabettus was created when Ahtena dropped a mountain she had been carrying from Pallene for the construction of the Acropolis after the box holding Erichthonius was opened. It's the highest point in Athens and actually, I've taken pictures of the restaurant from the Acropolis, without knowing that's what I was taking a picture of.

It was rainy the day that we went, so it was a little overcast and dark, so I didn't get any pictures from the hill, but I was able to see the Acropolis, Attica (the Harrods of Greece), Parliament, Zeus' Temple, the old stadium, pretty much everything.

The items are the menu were weird. They had dishes like wild boar and bull fillet. I got the veal. It was pretty good, but as always, with these "great view" restaurants, it was overly priced and the quantity of food was very small. I think this Citi Bank commercial sums up exactly how I felt about the amount of food we received: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiVRLgD8ZS0. It was very tasty and we had a good time.

Wednesday, the 28th, was Ohi(Oh-hee)Day. Ohi Day is a national holiday and celebrates when the Greeks stood up against the Mussolini who had come to take over Greece and establish Communism in WWII. Everything closes on Ohi Day. Businesses, shops, malls, everything but restaurants. I took this opportunity to go back to the yacht harbor and read my book by the sea.


As I was walking to my special rock, I was stopped by a couple of Turks who wanted their picture taken, so I took it and then they wanted their picture taken with me, so I obliged them and headed to my rock. I sat down and started reading. Next thing I know, they had come up and wanted to take more pictures with me. These European men are so forward, it's kind of refreshing because apparently American men find me intimidating and therefore don't even try to talk to me, but at the same time, it's very annoying, because I am NOT interested. Also, I was reading. And anyone that knows me, know that if I'm reading, and you disturb me, it's not pleasant. So, I let them take a few more pictures, silently thanked God for the language barrier and put my headphones on and kept reading. They left me alone.



When it got too cold to keep sitting there, I headed back to Kifisia, but stopped at a little mom and pop shop along the way for some homemade pizza. I'd passed this restaurant probably three or four other times, but could never remember where I'd seen it. I finally found and am very glad I did, because the pizza was delicious.

And that concludes the weekend before last and the days in between.

P.S. Sorry I don't know how to make the links active links, but you should just be able to copy and paste them into a new browser...?

Sounio, Ancient Corinth, and the Canal

This weekend Sean and I decided to rent a car so we could see more of mainland Greece. We were supposed to get a nicer car, but somehow we wound up with this little hunk-o-junk. I drove the first leg of the journey. Greece has roundabouts everywhere, which is kind of confusing at times. The GPS system would tell us to "enter the rotary and take the 3rd exit." So I'd count 3 and somehow I'd wind back up where we started. Needless to say, circling the rotary became fun and normal for me, but not so much for Sean...

After about an hour of driving, Sean and I reached the quaint town of Sounio. The area was very beautiful, the trees were still green and the land just looked lush with color. I think it might have been my favorite place so far. The town of Sounio is located at the tip of Greece. Here, the ancient Greeks built a temple to Poseidon, god of the sea, which is what brings people to Sounio. From the temples I’ve seen so far, the Temple of Poseidon looked to be in the best condition. And it had the best view. I tried to take a few creative pictures (and to make you nervous, Mom), so hopefully it was successful.

We came to Temple of Poseidon on a rainy day, so when it started raining hard, we left and headed for Glyfada. Glyfada is an area of Athens that’s supposed to be trendy and modern. We stopped here for dinner and shopping. Unfortunately, the majority of the shops were already closed by the time we got done with dinner, so the shopping was not so successful.

From Glyfada, we headed to Ancient Corinth. Unfortunately, the GPS didn’t recognize Ancient Corinth as a city, so we got directions to Corinth. The tourist book I borrowed from Kandis said that Ancient Corinth was only about 4 miles from modern Corinth. So 45 minutes later, after stopping to ask directions twice, Sean and I reached Ancient Corinth.

I had read on this website that you can see the church where the Apostle Paul preached to the church of Corinth and I really wanted to find the church. Fortunately, it was marked, since the GPS was now useless, and we were able to find it. When we got there, the doors were locked, so we were trying to take as many pictures from the outside as possible. The church is now a Triptych Mosaic, so I was a little disappointed that it wasn’t in the condition it had been, when Paul had preached in it, but I’m glad the church is well kept.

While we were there, the priest/minister of the mosaic came and he let us come in and take pictures of the inside. It was a LOT smaller inside than it appeared on the outside. But they had done a wonderful job of caring for the building.

From the church, we headed to see the Temple of Apollo. The temple is located inside an archeological site, and admission was 6 Euros and Sean and I thought the temple paled in comparison to the Temple of Poseidon, so we didn’t pay the 6 Euros to go in, instead we took our picture outside the gate like the cheapskates that we are!

After we left Ancient Corinth, we decided to head back to Athens. So we programmed the GPS and apparently confused the poor thing. It kept telling us to make turns that took us into olive fields. We spent probably 30 minutes trying to find our way back to the interstate. Finally, we got alongside a dirt road that paralleled the interstate, so being the careful driver that Sean is, he crossed a rock barrier and road dip to put us back on the road heading to Athens. I’m pretty sure we left the undercarriage of the rental back along the highway.

On the way back to Athens, we stopped to see the famous canal. It’s extremely narrow and big ships are pulled through the canal by smaller ships. Underneath one of the bridges, is a bungee jumping platform. It’s 240ft above the canal and has been featured on TV as one of the best jumps. It was pretty cool.

So after seeing the canal, we headed back to Athens, took another 3 or 4 wrong turns (Sean was driving and he didn’t listen to the GPS, sooo???) and called it a weekend.

Settled In

This is going to be a relatively short post. This week was spent working hard on the audit. (No sarcasm here, I did some work from home on it, actually).

On Friday, Marios, the other Greek auditor here, besides my boss, Anna, took Sean and me out to eat. Of course, he wanted to do a traditional Greek meal in traditional Greek style. So we left our hotel at 8:30 to meet him. We took the metro to the Keramikos/Gazi area. This is a popular spot with a lot of Greek restaurants. Marios took us around the area and then FINALLY at 10 we sat down for dinner!

Greeks value quality dinner time and conversation, so by the time we were actually finished and had paid, it was somewhere around midnight. I was full and exhausted and content to sleep the metro ride home. (I didn't, Mom, so don't worry, I practiced safe transporting).

Saturday, I slept in for a little bit, then headed to downtown Athens to get lost in the mass throng of people. I really didn't do too much sight-seeing, but spend a lot of time on Ermou Street and the Plaka area. I started my Christmas shopping, and Christie, I must say, I LOVE YOUR GIFT!! :)



Whilst I was walking around the area, I did pass an old church, so I stopped in to look. The inside was incredibly beautiful, but no one else was taking pictures, so I didn't either. I did notice that everyone was lighting candles as a sign of prayer, so I lit one too. Then on my way out, I realized that you were supposed to pay to light the candle, so apparently I stole a prayer.

Oh, and I collected 2 business cards and had the opportunity to get a 3rd, but turned it down. Apparently I look about 45 years old (not that 45 is a bad age, it's just not my age), because I had 3 guys over the age of 50 ask if they could take me to coffee. Now, these guys were also owners of jewelry stores in the Plaka, so it's possible they were trying to flatter me into shopping in their stores, but I didn't fall for it. The last guy was really trying to lay it on thick and by this time, I'd had enough, so I was a little not so friendly. He was telling me how he'd been to Chicago and Miami and loved it and blah blah blah. Then he asked me why I was wearing my sunglasses, I said, uh, because the sun's out? He told me he wanted to see my eyes. I said, "Not gonna happen" and walked away. Ugh, being a heartbreaker is so hard. NOT.

Sunday, I went to church and then had dinner at Goody's (the Greek McDonald's) with the Stricklands, the missionaries. Their daughter is 3 or 4 and likes me very much, it's super cute!

And that pretty much sums up my weekend. It wasn't full of excitement, but it was nice.

Anyhoo, love you all. And now it's time for your lecture: EMAIL ME!!! I have limited correspondence with home and I'd like to have my email flooded from people back home. Hold the forwards though... ;) rlkinney01@hotmail.com