food and chaos!

Im (trying) to accept two things: Greek food is fabulous, Greek life is chaotic.

The first one is so easy! So i know its only been a week, but i LOVE the dining hall food. They have fresh fruits and veggies everyday, and it isn't only fresh but perfectly ripe. I cant believe its september and im eating peaches, nectarines, cucumbers, tomatoes, kiwi! I usually just have bread and cheese with the produce, but the stuff they cook isnt that bad. AND they cook all the hot meals in Olive Oil (not vegtable oil!).

Eating out is even better (although not free by any means!). Ive had some meet, but i LOVE cooked eggpant. AND desserts are AMAZING (Thessaloniki is known for its desserts!). There are special dessert shops all over, and as you pass by little gold and silver wrappers smile up at you. I hadn't tried these chocolates until one of the office ladies gave me one, but theyre RICH and delicious! There are also Turkish desserts with pastry flakes, but soaked in honey (REAL honey!). And I have a piece of cake waiting upstairs for me right now.

Luckily, portion sizes here are much smaller!

Onto the more difficult part of Greek life: CHAOS!

Im not going to lie, but today i was SUPER frustrated trying to get to yoga and back. It took an HOUR each way. I'm sure living in Kansas and Iowa doesn't help my frustration, but today I walked the bus route and it was faster than the bus. But then on my way back from swimming there were two 58 buses in a row. AND when you get to a bus stop, you never know when a bus is coming...its about 15 minutes..usually. But they are totally irregular. And while Im on the traffic soap box people here park wherever they want (double parking, on the sidewalk). Sometimes its hard to cross the street because cars are parked too close next to each other.

Swim practice is sorta like the traffic. I was moved to the 6-8 group (instead of 4-6) which has some older kids that arent as fast as the first group, then some younger kids. The older kids end up swimming around the younger ones...and it is total mayhem. Add in the weather today. I was doing backstroke and saw a bolt of lightening above me...but no one else seemed to notice. And to the left of the pool it was sunny and beautiful, to the right there was a huge storm! There was also the most beautiful rainbow... I could see almost the whole arch everytime I breathed.

Oh and the church's bells started ringing but it wasn't the top of the hour...what is that!?

The choas is a perfectionist's nightmare. But I guess its fun to fall in love with, too!

Kali Mera (good morning) (Im working on my greek)
Allie