Good Morning Everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend. David and I had a pretty low key weekend which was very nice. David and Judy gave us Netflix for Christmas and we received our first movies on Friday so we watched a movie on Friday and ordered in Chinese food. On Saturday we slept in and then went to the grocery store and watched two more movies. Sunday I took down all of the Christmas decorations. I know it is not New Years yet and most people keep them up until then but for the first time in a week I had the motivation. Vicki arrived back from the States yesterday after being gone for a month so we went on a run in the afternoon. I actually felt really good. I had taken at least a week off for Christmas and a cold. I am hopeful that yesterday's run is an indication that I have not completely lost the work that I put in prior to Christmas. I had a sore knee towards the end of the run but a little ice and some stretching took care of it.

Today I am planning on cleaning out the fridge and organizing the office. I have left the office until last because I need to get in a do some serious organizing. I am also hoping to get a run in with Vicki and maybe some pilates.

David had to go into work today but for those of you former or current federal employees he has an early dismissal. Tomorrow is a federal holiday so the Embassy will be closed. Not sure what we are going to do tonight. We have been invited to a party being held at the house of a guy David works with so we will probably stop by there. It should be a pretty low key New Years Eve.

Well I hope everyone has a fun and safe New Years!

Love from Athens.....

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas! David and I had a very nice Christmas. On Christmas Eve we took a drive to Ancient Corinth and to the town of Loutraki. Loutraki is on the sea about 1 hour from Athens. It is a very cute town with a beautiful beach. For dinner on Christmas Eve we went to a wonderful Thai restaurant for dinner. Of course we went at 9:00 and we were still the only people in the restaurant. The Greeks don't usually eat until 10:00-10:30 which is beyond me.

On Christmas we woke up in the morning and opened all of our presents. We were extremely blessed this year! We had planned on going to the 11:15 Greek/English mass on Christmas day but unfortunately we were given the wrong mass time and ended up sitting through the French mass. It was a beautiful service very traditional but still in French. After church we came home and had Dan, Stacy, Colin and our friend Ann over for Christmas dinner. We had ham and all the usual sides. It was hard to be so far away on Christmas but it was still a wonderful day.

David had the last three days off of work which was great. We had Monday and Tuesday off from the US Government and then yesterday was a Greek Holiday so the Embassy was closed yesterday as well. I think Mr. Mark had a hard time getting out of bed this morning.

Sorry I didn't keep up with the blog last week. I really didn't have anything going on so I didn't post to spare you very boring blog entries. Today it is cold and rainy and I am going to clean up around the house and go to the farmers market with Stacy and Colin. Tomorrow I am going up to Susan's house for a girls lunch.

Enjoy the pictures from Loutraki and Ancient Corinth!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=nchytxl.c9b3b9a9&x=0&h=1&y=-dzbf69

Here is a little video we made this morning to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas! We are very thankful to have such wonderful family and friends and appreciate all of your support! We love you Merry Christmas!

Good Morning Everyone! I hope everyone had a great weekend! I am glad to report that the party went really well on Saturday night. The food turned out great and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves.

Sunday we hung around the house for most of the day and then went to church in the evening and then to Dan and Stacy's house for their Christmas party.

I have been fighting a bad cold the last couple of days and it is only getting worse. I have been laying on the couch for most of the day today. I did manage to finally get the office a little better organized. Tonight David and I are going to see the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the Athens Concert Hall so I am trying to rest up so I feel up to going.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Happy Friday everyone! Well today it is cold here and rainy. I would guess that it is in the low 40s. Yesterday afternoon I finally finished my cookies. I found a new sugar cookie recipe without butter and they turned out great. I like the flavor of the other recipe better but they are still pretty good. Today I got the frosting out and decorated all of them. I am glad that I did not do double batches because I would have been decorating all night. I have provided a few pictures because I am rather proud of how they turned out.

I still have a lot to do before tomorrow's party. I need to get to a store and find a red table cloth for our dining room table. I ordered a really nice one from Macy's two weeks ago hoping that it would get here in time but it hasn't made it so I have to go out either tonight or tomorrow and find a red table cloth. I am going to be making my a bunch of appetisers tonight and then I will just have to pop them in the freezer tomorrow. I also have to go to the farmers market by the Embassy tomorrow because I missed ours on Thursday because I went to IKEA with Stacy and Susan.

Well lots more to get done before David gets home. Have a great weekend everyone!

Love from Athens....

Hey everyone! Today I got up early (7:00am). Ok it is not that early but if you didn't have a job or any kids would you really get up at that time? This morning I went to IKEA and the Greek equivalent of Home Depot with Stacy and Colin and our new friend Susan and her 15 month old daughter Caylin. We had lunch out and spent some money so it was a pretty good day!

We had another big rainstorm last night which continued into the morning. The sun is trying to come out now but it is cold in the high 40s I would guess. I didn't have a chance to make it to the farmers market today so I am going to head to the one in the adjacent neighborhood tomorrow.

So my gingerbread cookies came out great yesterday! My sugar cookies did not. I am pretty sure that the butter I used is causing them to flatten out and not keeping their shape. My gingerbread cookies did not have butter in them and they came out great so I am thinking that it must be the butter. Susan told me that some of the butter here has some olive oil in it which would make a difference in the recipe's outcome. I am going to try a different brand and see if that works.

I heard on the news that you guys are getting some pretty bad storms in the Midwest! Hope you are all well and are staying warm!

Love from Athens.....

Hey Everyone! Today I started the cookie baking finally. Yesterday I thought I was going to be productive but I ended up watching 3 movies and laying on the couch until David got home and then we went to the grocery store together. Yesterday it rained so it would not have been a pleasant walk to the store. I have the gingerbread and sugar cookies mixed and in the refrigerator and am getting ready to roll those out now.

We got a call yesterday that our car has finally arrived at the Embassy. David went to look at it today and said it looks fine except that it is filthy and has a dead battery. The maintenance people at the Embassy are going to try to charge the battery today otherwise we are going to have to buy a new one. David said the car is so dirty that it looks like it is brown instead of black. I am so excited that I will finally be able to drive somewhere on my own without having to make David take me.

Tonight we are planning on trying out a new Thai restaurant with a person David works with. Everyone says the food is amazing so I am really looking forward to it. I haven't had Asian food since we have been here and David and I used to get it all the time back at home.

Well I hope everyone is having a great week!

Love from Athens....

Happy Monday!

Hey everyone! I hope everyone had a great weekend. Friday night David and I went out to IKEA to return a VAT form. I am not sure if I have explained this process to you yet. Since Greece is a Socialist country they pay extremely high taxes in return they receive medical care and an education. Many people may think that these services are "free" but the Greeks pay around +25% of their income in taxes and have a 19% sales tax. To me this seems far from free. (On a side note we have been told my the Embassy that the public hospitals in Athens are not up to our standards and that we should use private hospitals. They have told us that we should not call the Greek equivalent of 991 unless we are near death because the ambulance that shows up will most likely not to stocked well enough and would certainly take us to a public hospital so we are better off driving ourselves to the Emergency Room This is what socialized medicine is like.)

Being a diplomat we are not supposed to have to pay the sales tax and we obviously are paid in dollars by the US Treasury so we pay US income tax and not Greek income tax. In the US diplomats show there Diplomatic ID and the tax is not charged on any of their purchases. Unfortunately in Greece that is not the case. We have to make our purchase and then fill out a form and provide a receipt to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who returns the form with a stamp of approval. We then have to take the form back to the merchant and get our money back. The Greeks only allow us to do this on purchases of 75 euro or more. So Lauren and David have the pleasure of funding the Greek people on a regular basis whenever we make less than a 75 euro purchase.

Saturday David and I finally got a Christmas tree. We ended up getting a small about 5.5 foot tall fake tree. I was afraid that it was going to be too small for the space but it turned out great! I am in love with it! David and I hung the lights and ornaments on it and it looks wonderful. Saturday night we had some people over that David has met through work for dinner. Sunday we laid around the house and watched a few movies and read. We went to Church and then had dinner at home.

This week I am going to start baking Christmas Cookies. Thanks to everyone who sent recipes. I am going to get David to take me to the store tonight to pick up everything I will need. I am planning to make 1-2 different cookies each day starting tomorrow. I am also getting ready for our Christmas party which is on Saturday. David is inviting 15-20 people from work to come over so I am trying to make up a list of appetizers and drinks to serve. Luckily the house looks great so it should be a great party.

Went for a run today and felt like crap! I took the weekend off and I am hurting because of it today. I hope to have a better run tomorrow. It is warm today in the high 60s and sunny. Can't beat that in December!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Love from Athens.....

PS I have posted some pictures of our very cute little tree and the fireplace. I am working on learning how to upload video today and I hopefully I will have a video posted tomorrow.

Hello everyone! Sorry I didn't post yesterday I completely forgot until right before I went to bed. Yesterday I didn't do much at all so I am not sure I would have had that much to post anyway. Yesterday I came to the Embassy in the morning with David to get a Flu shot and maybe it is just the ones we got from the Embassy but they hurt really bad this year. It hurt when the nurse gave me the shot and my arm is still sore today which has never happened to me before. Yesterday I went for another run and I managed to run the full 30 minutes without stopping to walk and then having to add running time onto the end. I was very proud of myself but now I am pretty sore.

Today Stacy and I went to the farmers market in the morning and then headed to the Embassy for the spouses luncheon which was great. We went to the fanciest and oldest hotel in Athens for a tour and luncheon and it was spectacular. The hotel is the Grand Bretagne (http://www.grandebretagne.gr/index-eng.htm) and it is spectacular. It was a really nice event and was nice to get out of the house and spend sometime with other women who are pretty much in the same boat.

This afternoon I am going to take a day off from running and probably clean house or take a nap we will see how I feel when I get home (still at the Embassy). Thanks to everyone who sent cookie recipes I am going to short through them tomorrow and then go to the store and pick everything up.

Hello Everyone! Hope you are all doing well. Another day in Athens...today the maintenance people came to the house to hang a few mirrors. They used nails and screws so I tried with mixed success. Instead of destroying the walls I am just going to wait until the hooks arrive. I finished another book today and my supple has almost been depleted so it looks like Amazon is going to be getting a bit more money from me.

Well last night David and I saw some real Christmas trees for sale in Papagou. We are still trying to decide between a fake tree and a real tree but will be buying one or the other tonight finally.

I got some news from the Embassy today that we will not be getting our mattress until Friday now. I am more than a bit irritated by this development. Yesterday when the mattress did not arrive I had David go down and talk to the Customs guys who called the moving company who told them that it was not even cleared through Customs yet. Why did they tell us on Friday that it would be arriving on Monday you ask? Because this is Greece and it takes a couple of tries to get a straight answer. Needless to say I phoned the moving company back in DC and let them know that I did not appreciate the misinformation and we would be expecting straight answers from now on. God help them if that mattress does not come in the same condition it left over two months ago. Ok enough of that...

I am going to start making Christmas cookies next week. If anyone has some good recipes please send them my way. I am going to try to make at least 5 kinds and could use some suggestions. I am going to make the standards: sugar, gingerbread, those ones with the little peanut butter cup pressed in the center and the ones with a Hershey's kiss pressed in the center but could use a few more ideas.

Well it is a pretty dreary day here but I still need to get out for a run. I have been doing 45 minutes of running/walking 30 minutes of which is devoted to running. It has been hard to get the motivation since I lost Vicki my running partner back to the States for the holiday but I am doing my best. I am over the initial hard part which are those first few days when you are really sore and you suddenly realize how out of shape you are. Now I can tell it is starting to pay off.

Hope you are all have a wonderful week! Love from Athens.....

I hope everyone had a great weekend. David and I had a very nice weekend and the weather was beautiful. On Saturday Stacy and I went to get our nails done and left the boys to themselves. I knew that Stacy needed to get out of the house so she could do something for herself and I don't really need an excuse to get my nails done. Saturday night I made Mom's beef stew and Dan, Stacy and Colin came over for dinner. Every time Colin comes over I am reminded that my house is not baby proofed. I put out the nativity set that Aunt Beth gave me a couple Christmas ago and he so desperately wanted to pick up baby Jesus and I feared throw him across the room. Not the best image during the Christmas season.

Sunday David slept in and I tried to catch up on emails and clean the house a little bit from the night before. Sunday afternoon I took David up to Imitos for a quick hike because it was such a beautiful day and because David doesn't get enough exercise. After the hike and a shower we went to church were David read again. I think they are starting to take advantage of him now because no one else seems to be reading other than David.

Today I had Property from the Embassy finally bring some of the stuff that I have been asking for since we got here. We finally got desks for the office and the hutch for the dining room. I had originally asked for a headboard for the guest bed which still didn't come so I have given up on that. I have also been waiting for a bookcase that they said came broken in the box so they have to come back. I am sure that will be another month wait. I can't really complain since it is all free but if I knew it was going to be this much trouble I would have just brought my own stuff which is now sitting in storage in Virginia. We are supposed to be receiving the mattress today. I will believe it when I see it considering it is almost 3:00 and it has still not showed up.

Since our walls are plaster on top of concrete I have had to order special hooks in order to hang things on the wall. I cannot find anything in any of the stores here in Athens which surprises me because I know they must hang stuff on the wall. You can't just put a nail in the wall because it hits concrete after about 2 centimeters and I don't have a drill that can go through cement so screws are out. It is very frustrating. I have said it before and I will say it again--NOTHING IS EASY HERE!

Well that is about all for now. The house is really coming together. Once we get things on the wall it will be our home instead just an apartment in Athens. Hope you all had great weekends!

Love from Athens...

Hey everyone! Well today I went to the farmers market with Stacy, Colin and Vicki. The farmers market has to be my favorite part of Athens. When I got home I found out my the constant beeping coming from my security system that the power was out. I called the Embassy and was told that the entire neighborhood of Papagou was without power. Let it be known that it is a beautiful sunny day here in Athens and the power is out for no apparent reason. Luckily the power came back on in about an hour.

I spent most of the afternoon wrapping presents and trying to decorate for Christmas. I have my wreath up on the door and garland on the fireplace. I am waiting for some new stockings that I ordered from Kohl's over 3 weeks ago. We bought lights for the balcony which I am going to wait until this weekend to string because right now the balcony is filled with boxes at the moment. Hopefully when they deliver the mattress they will take the boxes away. Still waiting to buy a Christmas tree. We are going to try to go again this weekend to look at fake trees because we still haven't seen any live trees lots.

Headed out for another run today with Vicki back up to Imitos. Should be a great run because it is such a pretty day here today. Hope you all are having a wonderful week.

Love from Athens...

Sorry for the late blog today. I had a busy day. This morning Vicki got me up and took me up Imitos mountain which is our neighborhood's mountain. I am not sure if I have told you guys before but Vicki is a personal trainer. When she got back to Athens last week she called me on Friday and asked if I would be interested in going running with her. I told her I was fairly certain that I would not be able to keep up with her but I went anyway. We went to this great park in the center of Athens and ran/walked for 45 minutes. Then she took me back to her house for a 30 minute private Pilate's lesson. That was Friday. When I woke up on Saturday I was so sore it was unbelievable. On Sunday she took me up Imitos for the first time and took me on a trail run which was pretty much all down hill on the way out and therefore all uphill on the way back. I was fairly certain in the 45 minutes that we were out that I would die. It is beautiful up on Imitos; very peaceful with an absolutely amazing view of Athens. We are so lucky that we have something so amazing so close. On Monday after we got done unpacking for the day we went running again and then this morning I was up and out the door and back up the mountain at 7:30. I have really been pushing myself because I want so desperately to get back in shape. Vicki is a great motivator and she knows how far to push me which is great. Unfortunately she has a family emergency so she will be heading back to the states on Saturday for the next 3 weeks so I am going to have to keep up with my workouts on my own. Vicki has created her own business here in Athens giving Pilate's lessons so in January I am going to start private classes.

Ok so today Vicki, Stacy, Colin and I went to the Ambassadors house for a meet and greet with the Ambassador's wife. It was very nice and the Ambassador and his wife have a very nice residence. Not sure if I told you this or not but we didn't have an Ambassador until last week. After that we went to lunch at the Embassy and then ran a few errands. In the afternoon Vicki took Stacy and I to Carrefour which is like a Wal-Mart and showed us lots of new stuff that we had not yet been told and let us in on some secrets such as what we can use to substitute for American items that we can't find.

When I got home I made Brandon's homemade salsa, biscotti and enchiladas for dinner. It was a full day! Hope you are all doing well!

Well yesterday was a big day for us! The rest of our household goods arrived. It was a little overwhelming but wonderful. The movers were very friendly and worked fast. They had everything loaded into the house in about 2 hours. The way they load everything is by crane. I have attached pictures so you can see. We are on the 5th floor and they just brought everything up to the balcony by the crane and then into the house. It was very cool!

My sponsor Vicki came over and helped me unpack and stay organized since David had to work. With her help we got the entire kitchen unpack and mostly put away. I am still trying to figure out how I want everything to go. So far only a couple of things have been broken. They broke off two of the hooks on the coat tree that Grandpa Fuchs made me and a couple figurines.

Oh and our mattress didn't make it. Evidently our moving company only asked for customs clearance for 4 crates instead of 5. The 5th crate being our mattress. The moving company has assured me that they will deliver it sometime this week but we will see.

My goal for today is to get all of the boxes unpacked so I can have the moving company come pick up all of the empty boxes before this weekend.

I am still missing a bunch of furniture which the Embassy owes me but has not delivered from the warehouse. Once I get those pieces we will be all set. I am hoping to start to decorating for Christmas this weekend!

Well hope you are all well! Love from Athens....

Good Morning Everyone!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. David and I went to Dan and Stacy's yesterday and had a great day. Stacy cooked a wonderful turkey and all the sides were great. We managed to watch the first NFL game and I believe once we got home David watched the start of the Cowboys game on the Slingbox.

Today I went to the Embassy and talked to the Customs guys and our HHE shipment (which is are big shipment that came on the boat) is being delivered on Monday at 9:00am. I am beyond excited to get all of our stuff and a little nervous to see what was broken. Luckily we were just married and I have a copy of our registry so I know exactly how much everything cost so the moving company and I shouldn't have to much of a war.

This weekend David and I are going to try to hit up some of the Christmas stores that have started to pop up everywhere around Athens. The real Christmas trees in Athens are tiny so we are going to try to find ourselves an artificial tree that is a decent size.

Ok sorry that is all for now. Going to go have some left over Thanksgiving now.

Have a great weekend!

Love from Athens....

Sorry for the late posting today. I had a pretty busy day actually. I got up and went to the Embassy with David in the morning for my first Greek class. The teacher was very good and it is a small class so it should work out well. After that I met David for lunch at the Embassy and then made the long trek up the hill from the metro to our house. It only takes me 20 minutes but I dread it.

It did not rain today which was a first in quiet some time. I made two pies for tomorrow one pumpkin and one pecan. The pumpkin looks better than the pecan but I am sure they will be fine. I also hard boiled some eggs so I could make deviled eggs. I am also making Cornbread Casserole and Green Bean Casserole tomorrow.

An army of workers came by today to put up our curtains. It took them almost a month just like they said it would. They actually look really nice and they do make the house feel more homey. My only complaint is that for the sliding doors they did not put a break in the middle so you could pull them apart. Instead you have to pull the whole curtain to one side or the other. For someone like me who enjoys symmetry and balance this is no good. I will wait until Mom comes and see if she can figure out how to remedy the problem without me just cutting them down the middle.

David and I are going to a concert tonight at the Athens music hall. We were invited through the Embassy. It should be fun and I get to get dressed up which I don't get to do very often anymore.

Well hope you are all well. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving we will be thinking of you!

Love from Athens....

Hello Everyone! Today I got up and tried to do some Christmas shopping here in Athens. Everything is just so expensive it just doesn't seem worth it but I did find a few good deals. It rained again today which is becoming a daily event here in Athens. This is what winter is like in the Mediterranean.

Tomorrow I am starting a Greek class. A woman I met from the Embassy called yesterday and asked me if I would be interested in joining. They are using the same book that I used back in DC and the Embassy covers the cost. The class is made up of about 8 spouses and they meet twice a week for an hour.

Also tomorrow they are also coming to install our curtains which will be great. All of our windows (except our kitchen window for no apparent reason) how metal security shutters which are sort of like what I would imagine hurricane shutters to look like. They either slide to the side or they are automatic and raise with the push of a button. They are a pretty good idea that I am surprised has not caught on in the states. At night we have everything closed up because we don't have any curtains and it sort of feels like a cave so I will be glad to have the curtains installed.

Well that is it for today pretty boring sorry to say.

Good Morning! Sorry I failed to post anything on the blog on Friday I was running around and forgot all about it until it was late and I figured everything could wait until Monday.

David and I had a very relaxing weekend for the most part. On Friday night we went to Applebees for dinner. Believe it or not but it was wonderful. You might all think that it is strange but when you are surrounded by Greek food and culture all day long everyday sometimes it is nice to get a little piece of America. David and I both had steaks which we would never order at home from Applebees but they were pretty good. The Appleebees was packed too and expensive. I believe our whole meal appetizer, steaks and drinks was 75 euro which is not cheap but it was worth it.

On Saturday we went to the grocery store in the morning and then spent the rest of the day lying around the house. I made dinner and we watched college football on the Slingbox. We had two really bad storms on Saturday so we were happy to stay home.

Also Saturday was November 17 which is a Greek Holiday and also the name of a Anarchist group in Athens.

Some history from Wikipedia, "The group's name, 17N, refers to the final day of the 1973 Athens Polytechnic uprising, in which a protest against the Greek Military Junta (1967 - 1974), also known as the Regime of the Colonels took place. The uprising ended after a series of events that started when a tank took down the main gate of the Polytechneion and security forces, including soldiers, stormed the campus."

They are mostly disbanded in Athens now after a big crackdown by the Greek government in early 2000. They are very anti-American but really have not been relevant for sometime. But on November 17 each year the Anarchist spend the day inciting riots in some of the poorer neighborhoods of Athens and then they come to the Embassy and protest America all day. The Embassy was locked down all day and Americans are told to keep a low profile. Last year there were close to 12,000 protester's and they like to throw molotov cocktails and usually get pepper sprayed by the Greek Police. November 17 is also the reason that college campuses in Athens are classified as Asylum Zones and the police are not allowed to come in for any reason. So they can insight riots and throw there man made grenades and then run back into the campus and the police can't do anything about it. Lovely!

Sunday we went with Dan, Stacy and Colin up to a Casino on the top of one of the mountains close to Athens. No we were not taking a child to a casino. It was actually really neat. You have to park about halfway up the mountain and then take a gondola up to the Casino. There were amazing views of Athens from the gondola and then we had lunch up top at the Casino. We did not actually go into the Casino. We were looking for something to do and it was a fun little day trip. We again had a really bad storm on the drive home. David and I made it to church on Sunday night and for the second week in a row David did all of the readings. I was so proud!

Today I am at the Embassy taking care of a few errands and then I will head home for the rest of the day. It is cold today in the high 40s I would guess but sunny. Since winter is approaching we are going to start getting a lot of cloudy and rainy days so I am happy to have sun.

Hope you all had great weekends....Love from Athens...

Hey guys! Well today I had the Bring Your Own Pie Party. My pecan pie did actually setup which was a gift from God. It turned out pretty good but my crust could use some improvement. The woman who hosted had a really cute and cozy house in the suburb of Kifisia. It was a much smaller group than the last luncheon and I would say a lot more welcoming as well. It was really nice and I am really glad I went. Once I get my stuff I would like to host something too.

I heard something interesting today about the schools...they serve alcohol at the prom here at the American school. Can you believe that? One of the moms was telling me that and I couldn't believe it. Evidently 70% of the kids in the American school are Greek so their parents insist that they have alcohol at the prom. I know that underage drinking is not an issue here like it is at home but really at the prom? We were all talking about how when we were in high school they would bring in that totaled car the week of prom to show you what could happen to you if you drank at prom. They are also currently debating whether or not they should put a smoking lounge into the high school. Can you believe that? I am certainly glad that we don't have any kids in school here!

Well I am currently watching the Today Show on the Slingbox in the middle of the afternoon it is so strange. Not too much else going on!

Love from Athens...

Well unfortunately I don't have too much to share today. I was so tried last night that I slept until 11:00 this morning and it felt amazing! I think I have recovered from my strange sickness. I started feeling bad last evening and didn't eat much of a dinner but this morning I had some toast and am feeling much better. I think I needed the sleep. Today I made my pie for the BYOP (Bring your own pie) party tomorrow. I had to make my own crust for the first time in my life and I think it will turn out alright. I have attempted to make a pecan pie. As many of you know my mother and I both have had difficultly successfully completing a pecan pie. Our pecan pies have a tendency to not setup all of the way but fortunately taste pretty good. I tried a new recipe this time so we will see if I embarrass myself in front of a bunch of Embassy women tomorrow. Stay tuned....

I am currently in the middle of moping my floor. It is so dusty here it is unbelievable. Part of the problem is that there are two new houses being built next to us so hopefully when they are completed we will have a little less dust. Now with the way the Greek work it might be 2010 by the time these houses are finished so I am not holding my breath.

It is chilly and raining again today. Fall has finally arrived in Athens! I am trying to get up the energy to walk down the hill to the grocery store to pick something up for dinner. Planning on doing that after I get done with the floors. I am thinking pork chops for dinner tonight.

Oh I need to send a shout out to Ben Chadwick for his amazing chocolate chip cookies. Ben was very nice and made me a batch of chocolate chip cookies to take back with me and David informed me last night that they are the best chocolate chip cookies that he has ever had (even better than mine). I have been feeling too crappy to have any until today and they are truly amazing so Jenny you are a very lucky girl!

Back in Athens

Well back from a whirlwind trip home to the great United States of America. Thursday was a long day but it was pretty uneventful. Flying that long is not fun and anyone that thinks international travel is glamorous has never flown coach for that long. It was 4 hours from Athens to London with a 3 hour layover then 8 hours and 45 minutes from London to Chicago with almost a 4 hour layover and then 1 hour to Des Moines from Chicago. When Jenny picked me up from the airport I had been either at the airport or in a plane for 24 hours. It was a long day.

The wedding was beautiful and a great time. Kristin looked stunning and planned a beautiful wedding. I did not take any pictures but hopefully Mrs. Hunter will have some to post when she returns from her honeymoon. On Sunday Mom, Dad and I hit Barnes and Noble for some new books since I get through one about every 1-2 days. The we went on to Target where I stocked up on a bunch of exciting stuff like peanut butter and lint rollers. Then onto the new mall in Des Moines for a little early Christmas shopping. I found two really cute dresses at Gap for what a quarter of a dress would cost here in Athens and I didn't even have to pay shipping.

The way back to Athens was harder than the trip from Athens. I amazingly was on time for every flight which rarely happens anymore. I slept the entire flight from Chicago to London and then proceeded to throw-up in the bathroom in London and then twice on my flight from London to Athens. I am not sure what happened but I felt like crap. When I got home I took a shower and David made me some dinner and I went to bed. I feel better today but not 100%. I am guessing I picked something up and since I was overtired my body just couldn't fight it off.

It is another pretty day in Athens with a high in the 60s. I didn't sleep great last night so I am lounging around today. I watched Grays and Desperate Housewives on the Slingbox from David and Judy's DVR which was great and now I am doing laundry and getting the house back in order. I have to give David credit the house was in great shape when I got here and then I just kind of dumped everything out of my bags so it is a bit of a mess.

Well hope you all had great weekends and have a great week!

Love from Athens.....

Well everyone this will be my last post for a couple of days. Tomorrow I leave in the morning to head back the glorious USA for Kristin's wedding on Saturday. I am really looking forward to coming home but not looking forward to the flight. I leave Athens a 9:00 am my time and arrive in Iowa at 10:30 pm. It is going to be a long day but it will be worth it! I am carrying on all of my clothes and then checking an empty bag so I can fill it full of stuff to bring back to Athens.

Today I didn't do much. It was cold again and looks like rain. I cleaned the house and walked down the hill to the grocery store so I could stock up on a few things for David before I leave. I plan on making lasagna tonight and then David can put it in the oven tomorrow for dinner and eat out of it for a couple of days. Oh this was a fun discovery. I picked up chicken legs to make for dinner tonight and when I was washing them off before I put them in the marinade I noticed there were still feathers on some of them. That's right it was awful. Not sure why they didn't see a reason to remove all of the feathers but hey this is Greece!

Oh I also wanted to give everyone our APO address. I keep forgetting to do that. You can send us mail just like you send it in the States and it even costs the same. It takes USPS Priority mail 5-7 days to arrive here.

David and Lauren Mark
PSC 108 Box 22
APO, AE 09842

Well I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week and a great weekend and I will have a full recap of the wedding when I return.

Today was a glorious day! We received our air freight this morning!!!!! Very exciting. I never thought that hangers, towels and knives could bring such joy...but they do!!!! Sorry for all of the exclamation points.

So I spent most of the day putting our clothes on hangers, washing clothes and using dryer sheets and getting my kitchen put together. We now have our own comforter and pillows which will be wonderful tonight. Since our house is built out of poured concrete there is not a lot of insulation so it does get cold at night and our down comfort will be a welcome change.

And luckily our air freight came today because it got cold here today. It has been raining for the last 4 nights and it rained off and on for most of the day today but it is also cold which is a first. Now not cold like Minnesota cold (Erin updated me today that yesterday Minnesota received its first snow of the year). Cold for Greece is in the low 50s which is what it is today.

Tonight we are going to make it to the grocery store. Didn't make it yesterday because of the rain. Need to get David stocked up before I leave on Thursday.

Well I need to get in the shower. Yes I know it is like 3:45 in the afternoon and I have not gotten in the shower. I was waiting for it to clear up so I could go for a run but it hasn't and I am not hard core enough to run in the rain anymore. Hope you are all well, Love from Athens....

Hydra

Well I hope everyone had a great weekend! The weather was wonderful on Saturday so David and I took a boat out to the island of Hydra which was about 2 hours away by high speed ferry. There are no cars allowed on the island just donkeys so it was a nice change of pace from Athens. We had a wonderful lunch and just relaxed. Hydra is a must see for anyone who comes to Greece. Here is the link for some pictures we took.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=nchytxl.72sdah9d&x=0&h=1&y=2wcj47

On Saturday night we finally figured out the Slingbox. The Slingbox worked fine when we used it at our sponsors house last weekend but when we tried it at our house it wouldn't work right. David went into the modem settings and figured out that there was an internal firewall in the modem and then with David's firewall on the computer it was making the connection way to slow to run the Slingbox. So with the modem firewall disabled we are in business. David watched the Texas game on Saturday night from the comfort of our house so he was very happy.

On Sunday since we had such a late night on the Slingbox we slept in and then watched a movie on the Slingbox from David and Judy's HBO. I love the Slingbox I got to watch some Food Network yesterday for the first time in forever! You can all laugh at my Food Network love it is fine with me. We went to church yesterday and then was about it for our weekend.

Today I already got up and ran and this afternoon I plan to do some exploring down by the Embassy and then head by the Embassy for a little while. Need to go to the grocery store too some time so I can stock up on easy to make food items for David while I am away this weekend at the wedding.

Well enjoy the pictures and I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Love from Athens....

Well sorry everyone for not having a blog entry yesterday I am sure you were all very sad. :)

Yesterday was beautiful it was in the high 70s and very sunny. Last night it rained and washed all of the pollution out of the air so this morning we had a great view from our house of Athens and the Aegean Sea.

Yesterday Stacy, Colin and I went to the farmer's market in the morning and got some great deals. In the afternoon we went on a little adventure. We decided to take a radio taxi (Embassy calls a taxi to come to your house and pick you up) to go to Carrefore which is like a big Wal-Mart. Well our plan was to grab a taxi for the way home off the street. Well taxis in Athens are not like taxis anywhere else. If you can actually get them to stop for you they will ask you were you are going and if they don't want to go there they just drive away. So after like the 25th attempt we gave up and decided to walk to the closest metro station only about 2 miles away pushing a stroller and carrying many bags. It was a very long day to say the least.

And then the highlight of the afternoon....we were standing at the kiosk in the metro station buying tickets. There were two kiosks both of which worked and a Greek women proceeded to push the stroller (with Colin in it) to the side with her entire body so she could use the exact kiosk we were attempting to use. Granted there was no one else around and the kiosk to the right our ours was in perfect working order because just seconds ago I had purchased my ticket from it. I couldn't help it and I had to use a few choice English words on here. She of course could have cared less. I have to come to see this type of behavior has being the rule in Greece and not the exception unfortunately. Everyone is in there own world and seems to care only about themselves. The Greeks treat each other that way not just foreigners but that still does not make it any better. With that said I have met some very nice Greek people who have been very welcoming and courteous too.

Today I hung around the house all morning. A women from the Embassy came other to inspect the house for problems so we would not be liable for anything broken now when we leave. Since our house is new she didn't have much to do. The only real problem we have are the floors. We have wood floors which are not of the best quality and they tend to scratch easily so she took note of that.

Now I am sitting in Embassy hanging out on the computer. If it is nice tomorrow we are planning to head to the island of Hydra which is a little less that two hours away by boat from mainland Greece. If we go I will be sure to post lots of pictures. Oh today we received our AFN (Armed Forces Network) box so we just need someone to come in to install the Satellite dish and we will be able to watch American TV on our TV and not just on the computer. Luckily the Embassy gave us a small TV to use until our HHE shipment gets here sometime in the next month or so.

Well I hope you all have a great weekend and if you get a chance and want to chat our Vonage is working perfectly.

Love from Athens....

Well today I went down to the Embassy after I ran this morning. I found out that our Air Freight will be delivered on Tuesday morning which is great! We are very excited to be getting part of our stuff. The car is supposed to arrive in Athens on November 15 and our big shipment of stuff is supposed to arrive in Athens on November 20. If we get out car and our stuff before Christmas I will be happy.

It got a little cold today and the wind is picking up so I would guess we are going to get rain tonight. Everything in Athens is actually getting green which surprised me since that usually doesn't happen in the fall. I am guessing it was caused by the 4 days of rain we got two weekends ago. That was the first time it had rained since May so I imagine the plants and what little grass there is are thriving.

IKEA last night was insane it was just packed. We ended up getting pretty much everything that we wanted. We only got one rug though which we put in our bedroom. We have a rug coming from home for the office and I am going to keep looking for one for the living room and the guest bedroom. I need to see what it looks like with the furniture in the guest bedroom so I can tell what size rug I need. Oh my books came yesterday from Amazon so I have 5 books to read now. Very exciting.

All for now hope you are all well....Love from Athens!

Well today was actually pretty productive. I got up and ran this morning and then came home and my Vonage which was not working last night magically started working this morning. After my shower I walked down the hill about 0.5 mile to the grocery store and today was the first time I was brave enough to order from the deli counter in Greek. I was extremely proud of myself and didn't have to use any English. Then I made the mistake of buying 6 liters of water and i had to carry it the 0.5 mile home only this time it was up hill the whole way. I was wishing that I was one of those African women and I could carry it on my head.

This afternoon we went to the Embassy and took care of a bunch of housekeeping stuff. I also got 7 packages in the mail. All stuff that we have been ordering over the last couple of weeks. I order 5 books from Amazon on Wednesday and they were here today so that was a pretty good turnaround.

Still know job on the horizon but I heard they are getting ready to advertise a bunch of new positions in the next two weeks so I am hoping something good pops up.

Tonight we are planning to make a trip to IKEA so I am looking forward to that.

All for now.....

INTERNET!!!!!

All good things come to those who wait! Friday David picked up the modem and Saturday when we plugged everything in it didn't work! We were disappointed but were expecting it. Of course this is Greece and our Internet service provider OTE is run by the Greek government so we couldn't do anything about it until today. So after my run this morning I called the help line and once I told her I only spoke a little Greek she went right into English and told me how to fix the problem. She was extremely helpful and very nice. Luckily we are in a new house with a new phone line. Most people have has someone from OTE come out and look at it. So 2 months of waiting turned into about 3 weeks. Not too bad. So this also means that our Vonage line is up and running so please give us a call if you would like. Our number is (703) 286-7813. Remember we are 7 hours ahead of the EDT and 8 hours ahead of CDT.

So I am sure you guys are all dying for a recap of our weekend :)....

On Friday we ate dinner at home and then went over to our friends Dan and Stacy's and had a few drinks and talked. Since we only got here a week apart they are going through everything that we are going through only they have a 19 month old. It could be worse for us.

We stayed up pretty late on Friday night so on Saturday we slept in and stayed around the house until the Halloween party. No I did not dress up in a costume. People did ask me why we didn't and I answered with I just arrived 2 weeks ago and didn't know anything about a Halloween party instead of what I really wanted to say which was I hate Halloween. It was about 50/50 half with costumes half without. It was held at a huge house with an amazing yard. They had food, drinks, games and trick er treating for the kids. They also had an amazing haunted house. We were told that one guy brought over 200 pounds of Halloween stuff in is HHE (surface) shipment just for the party. It was a lot of fun and we got to meet some new people too. Since the Greeks don't celebrate Halloween I am sure they were asking themselves what all these crazy Americans were doing dressing up in costumes. It felt like you were in the US which was very nice but we were brought back to earth when we walked and a 3 security personnel with very large weapons where guarding the entrance.

After the party we went to our sponsors house and David watched the Texas game on the Slingbox and I fell asleep about 15 minutes into the game. The game didn't come on until 10:30 pm our time and didn't get over until about 2:30 am so David was dragging a little on Sunday.

So on Sunday we got up late and went to the Acropolis and did some tourist stuff. Since nothing else is open on Sunday. I have a link to some pictures we took from the Acropolis below. It was an overcast day so the views are not as good as if it were sunny. It is also free on Sunday so there were a ton of people running around. After the Acropolis we walked down to Plaka which is the neighborhood at the foot of the Acropolis and it has lots of shopping and restaurants. It is very much a tourist destination. We ended up finding a Turkish/Greek rug for the house. It is silk on cotton (David and I were too cheap to spring for silk on silk) It is beautiful and we got a pretty good price. So when you all come visit we have a place to buy rugs which we can ship back home for you for next to nothing from the APO.

Sunday night we went to a new church, St. John's. It is a very small church about 15 minutes from our house. They have an English Mass at 5:00 on Sundays and it is mainly filled with Embassy people. The church is beautiful with very pretty stained glass windows and stone work. It is very different from going to St. Mary's as there is no choir or even a cantor. They have a nun who sings and plays a guitar for the hymns. Our priest is the Bishop from the Vatican Embassy and he is Irish so his English is easy to understand and his homely was very nice and thought provoking.

Well not much else going on today. The Internet was my big accomplishment today and I made it on a run so all and all it is shaping up to be a pretty good day.

Love from Athens....

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=nchytxl.65h809a9&x=0&y=ylgusw

So yesterday was a busy day Stacy and I along with her son Colin went to the farmers market in the morning and then we ventured out to the big mall outside of Athens. This mall which is called "The Mall" was built for the Olympics in 2004 and sits right next to the main Olympic Complex which has been sitting empty since the Olympics ended. It is actually really sad. The mall is just like a mall in the US put without department stores. They had about 3 stores of shops. We just walked around and didn't buy anything we just wanted to see what it had and how to get there. Oh they did have a Hooters which made me laugh.

On the way home we tried to take a quicker and shorter route back via the light rail versus the metro. This proved harder than we imagine. We needed to head towards the airport so we got on the train that came to the airport platform. Well this train went up one stop and then reversed itself and took us back to where we had just left. So we got off the train and waited for the next train to come to that platform, confused but still determined to complete our mission. Well then a train came to the opposite platform which goes to downtown Athens and this women on a loudspeaker keep saying "airport, airport" in Greek. We had made it our plan to follow all the people with luggage because we assumed they were going to the airport so we got on the train on the opposite platform which said it was headed to Athens and prayed. Well believe it or not that train actually did go to the airport and we made it home safely. Now if that whole sequence of events was confusing to you imaging what it was like for us. Stacy and I decided that we are in Athens and what makes sense elsewhere does not work for the Greeks so you just have to go with it.

Today I cleaned our house. There is so much dust in Athens and we have hardwood floors so you really have to sweep and dust at least every other day to keep up. Then I ventured to the supermarket about 0.5 mile down the hill on my own for the first time. It was fine except it seems either the service is really bad at that store or just for me. The women sat and talked to her friend for 3-4 minutes instead of checking me out. Then I walked up the hill to the bakery and that was fine I only had to say 2 please and point to what bread I wanted. Oh no whole wheat bread here either.

David picked up the modem today for our Internet. Everyone has told us that there is a 50% chance that it will work when you plug it in. If it doesn't work that is when the 2 month waiting period begins until they get someone out to fix it. We are holding our breath and praying that it will work the first time.

Tomorrow is a national holiday in Greece, Όχι Day. Όχι Day according to Wikipedia is the celebration of the Greeks refusal to yield to the powers of the Axis in 1940. There are all kinds of banners and Greek flags everywhere. No idea what you do on Όχι Day but if we figure it out I will let you guys know. I know it probably means nothing will be open so our planned shopping trip to find rugs will not be happening.

Well all for now I need to get home. Hopefully I will be writing you all from home with my own Internet tomorrow but no promises. Oh we also have the big Embassy Halloween party tomorrow night, I will let you know how that goes.

Love from Athens....

Shopping!

Well today I ventured out to go shopping. I went to a neighborhood in Athens down from the Embassy called Kolanaki which is known for its shopping. I have to say I don't know how anyone in Athens can afford to buy anything. To give credit most of the store in Kolanaki where very high end and would be out of my price range back home as well. I did start my Christmas shopping and bought one thing. Tomorrow I am going to hit the mall that was built for the Olympics which is supposed to be pretty large and has a few more reasonably priced stores.

Kolanaki also had a ton of great tavernas and cafes which were packed. It looked like a weekend. The Greeks get off from work for like 3 hours every afternoon and I guess they spend that time sitting in a cafe drinking coffee or beer and smoking.

Sorry guys this is a pretty slow day for the blog. I did order some new books from Amazon. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know. I average about 1 book every 2-3 days and I am out now.

I have really enjoyed some of the English that I have seen written on signs. Last night there was a restaurant with a sign that read "Delicious, Tasty, Yammy" I am pretty sure that Yammy was supposed to be Yummy but I thought it was pretty cute just the same. I have a hard enough time spelling English so I can feel for them a little.

Just another day in Greece. I stayed at home today and had someone come over to the house from the Embassy to measure for curtins. He told me he would be back in 1 month to put them up. I wanted to ask him if the reason it would take so long was because he was making the fabric himself before he had to sew them. Since my mom has made a few curtains I know about how long it should take and we are talking about tab sheers here no fancy valances or anything.

We were also having trouble with our security system so we had someone else come over and fix that. I cleaned house and read pretty exciting.

Last night we went to a new grocery store. The same one we attempted to go to on Sunday but it was closed. It was much better than the previous one we went to and had a pretty large selection. I was finally able to find some ground beef and it was 20.00 euro a kilo (2.2 pounds). Can you believe than for ground beef?

Yesterday I had a huge disappointment. I went over to our sponsors house and I decided to get online and catch up on all of my shows since I have missed the last 3 episodes of most of them. Well evidently the FCC has made it illegal for the networks to allow you to watch any of their shows which are posted online if you are outside of the US. How about that for a bunch of crap. I am living in Athens paying US Federal Taxes as well as State Taxes in Virginia (still can't figure that one out) and I can't watch American TV shows online. The same thing happened to David when he was listening to the UT game on Saturday on the radio over the Internet. About 5 minutes after he turned the game on they cut him off because we are outside of the US. At least they allow you to request access if you are an American stationed overseas (still waiting on an email back I am sure). Once we get Internet in 2 months we will have the Slingbox and we can just DVR all of our shows at David and Judy's and watch them online but until then I am paying $1.99 an episode to download them off of iTunes. And it takes about 3-4 hours to download a single show. Good thing I have plenty of time on my hands.

Tomorrow I am planning on hitting the Embassy in the morning when David goes in and then heading out to do some shopping on my own. We just got a Management Directive (the State Department issues these for everything) from the Embassy indicating that we have to ship our packages by December 11 in order to make sure that they arrive by Christmas. This means I need to get a jump on my Christmas shopping early. So Fuchs family that means we need to draw names soon. I have also programed a conversion calculator in my phone so I can find out how much I am really paying when I buy things over here. I will have a full report tomorrow.

Hope you are all well.

Love from Athens....

Not much news for today. The property people came over to switch out our furniture for the new furniture I requested. The good news is that it is brand new the bad news is it is not what I requested. I will add pictures tomorrow if I get a chance but while it is an improvement from the green and gold it is still stuck in the early 90s. They didn't bring any of our office or guest bedroom furniture so they have to come back in a couple of days for the rest. At least everything matches now and now I can set out in the very expensive world of Athens (or the lesser expensive WWW) to find accent pieces to make it more our own. That is a struggle here from what I can see. Every one's house looks exactly alike on the inside for the most part since we all have the same furniture. At the luncheon this women told me she has had the same couch at three different post in three different continents and they were not moving it with them. I hope that doesn't happen to us.

Came to the Embassy this afternoon after the property folks left and have been doing some serious online shopping which is fun. Most store do ship to APOs and a bunch have free shipping so that has been a welcome surprise. Before we left for Athens David and I shipped some stuff we didn't want to take in our bags on the plane. We shipped it USPS Priority from DC on Wednesday and it arrived here the following Monday. It is only a couple more dollars to ship Priority compared to First Class and with Priority you know it will arrive in a decent amount of time.

For those of you who plan on making a trip to Athens (Yea to Brandon and Rebbecca for booking a trip for April 08 already!) we cannot wait to have you. Let me know if you are looking to come at a specific time and I can help you hunt for cheaper flights. Remember you will have a free place to stay once you get here. Jenny C I know I told you I would look for flights for you for next summer. I checked flights in June and you could save at least $300.00 a person if you were willing to drive to Chicago or even Minneapolis and fly out. Summer is the high season here so it is going to be anywhere from $300-$500 more expensive to come June-August compared to the rest of the year. Unless you like the heat you don't want to come in August or at least that is what everyone has been telling us. The good part about August is that all of the Greeks live Athens for a month holiday.

Love from Athens......

Well David and I had a nice weekend. On Saturday morning our landlord's son came over with an electrician to fix our stove and the hot water and so now everything is fixed. He was very nice and from what I have heard from other Embassy people very responsive. Usually you have to wait a couple weeks for the landlord to get around to coming over since he is on Greek Time. What a relief I though we were going to have to take cold showers tomorrow because it is cloudy today. The son was about David's age and wanted to know if David wanted to come play basketball sometime with him and his friends only with European rules. I laughed since David has not worked out since our Wedding.

Friday night we went to a party for Embassy employees who live in our neighborhood. The women who had the party works for the Department of Homeland Security down at the port checking on cargo heading to the States. She is also from Texas so she had a large spread of homemade Mexican food which was amazing. That is one thing that David and I love that you just can't get in Athens. She even gave David some jalapenos to take home which was very nice. We also met a Marine Corps Gunny who is in charge of all of the Marines at the Embassy and he offered to have David and Dan (one of David's friends from training who arrived the week before us) over to his house to watch football next weekend. They already have AFN (Armed Forces Network) which we have ordered and allows you to watch American TV shows and sporting events just one day late and they also show news and American movies.

Saturday we headed outside of Athens to a small town on the coast where Poseidon's Temple is located. If you can remember your Greek Mythology Poseidon is the God of the Sea. We have posted a few pictures at the link below. It was a cloudy day but the drive was still beautiful. On a sunny day it would be truly spectacular. The coast is just amazing. Poseidon's Temple was very cool. The Greeks take very good care of there historical artifacts. The sunsets are supposed to be breathtaking but since it was cloudy and rainy we are going to save that for another day.

Today we slept in and tried to go to the store and it was closed. Evidently everything is closed on Sunday even the grocery store. Well enjoy the pictures and hope everyone had a great
weekend!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=nchytxl.8zwto7a9&x=0&y=8s1ice

Another Sunny Day in Athens..

Sunny and in the 80s today.

Today was a pretty uneventful day but since this is sort of a digital diary I selfishly am going to detail everything. Since we are still having hot water problems and our stove loses power when more than one burner is on the maintenance people came out today from the Embassy. They could not figure out how to fix either problem so now our Greek landlord has to get involved and everyone has told us this is not a good sign. As I have said before the Greeks move at a slower pace so I know that this may take some time to fix.

Today I had my first good workout since we have been here. There is a very nice park about 3 blocks from our house that is actually well maintained for Greek standards and it has a nice path that goes along the perimeter so I made about 5 laps today and since I am incredibly out of shape I am exhausted now. The Greeks are not big on exercise (even though this is the birthplace of the Olympics) they kind of just stared at me as I ran by each time. When my sponsor was running in a park one day these old men started cheering her on though which I thought was cute. This is the nicest park I have found yet. Most of the parks in Athens are overrun by stray dogs and covered in dog poop and graffiti. I don't think I have told you about the stay animals. It is actually very sad. Greeks do not believe in fixing their pets so there is a large population of stray dogs and cats running the streets. It is actually very sad. The Greeks don't want to fix them but they have no problem with them running around starving and hurt. It is very strange. They also do not pick up after their own dogs so there tends to be lots of dog poop. And then there is the graffiti. It is on everything hotels, peoples homes, every street sign, even churches. It is awful it is really the worse part about Athens. And they right the most bizarre things for instance the English word "since" is painted on a wall of a school by our house.

This weekend will be filled with more exploring. There is a beach about an hour outside of Athens that everyone says has the most amazing sunsets so we are going to try to do that tomorrow. We also have a big all Embassy Halloween party next weekend so David and I need to hunt down some costumes. Even though I really do not like Halloween it should be fun and will give us a chance to meet lots of new people.

Oh David was told today that our air freight is in country but the Greeks will not release it to us for a couple weeks. Why you ask....that is just the Greek way. So it is sitting at the airport right now just waiting.

Well after one full week of living in Athens I would have to say we are starting to get the hang of everything. We are starting to learn our way around and we are getting lost less often so that is a plus.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Love from Athens.....

Another exciting day in Athens...

So today was a busy day that is why we have such a late blog entry. This morning I went to the market with another woman who lives in our neighborhood and her husband also works at the Embassy. Then the two of us went to a luncheon put on by the Embassy's Community Liaison Office (CLO) which sponsors different activities from trips to classes to parties for everyone in the Embassy community. Once a month they have a lunch for spouses of people of work at the Embassy. It was great because I got to meet a lot of other women. Most if not all have children so I am in the minority but they are all very nice and it was just nice to meet some new people.

I had a Greek moment this morning...all along the streets they have these metal boxes for you to but your trash in. I didn't think anything of it and put my trash from our house in the one across the street for us because it is the closest and this Greek man came out and was yelling at me so I just moved my trash to another box and pretty much ignored him because I couldn't tell what he was saying. It is not his box it his own by the city for everyone to use. I figured it all goes the same place. I am not sure if it is the Greek language or if everyone here is alway very angry but it always seems like they are yelling at you or you have offended them in some way. Something to just get used to I guess.

Well that is about it for now. Today I am justing my sponsor's computer while just is back in the States and they have everything set to Greek so I am having a little trouble with the blog today so sorry if you have trouble reading it.

Love from Athens...

Good morning everyone. It is 0932 Athens time which means it is 0232 (EST) or 0132 (CST). Another eventful day in Athens yesterday. David and I spent the afternoon driving down to the coastal beach community and suburb of Athens Παγκράτι (Pangrati). It has lots of shops, bars and restaurants and is located right on the Mediterranean. It is as close as we have gotten to a beach. The real beaches are on the islands. Most of the beaches around Athens are not safe to swim in according to the EU. Hopefully we will get to head to the islands soon. You can do day trips very easily and cheaply.

I forgot to tell you all about our shopping experiences this past weekend. On Saturday we went to the market. It is just like a farmers market back in the states. There is one everyday in a different neighborhood. Our neighborhood, Popagou, has its on Thursday so on Saturday we went to the one right by the Embassy (3 miles from our house). It was amazing they have all kinds of fruits and veggies and everything is really cheap. This is the only cheap thing I have found in Athens everything else is outrageously expensive. You can get 1 Kilo (2.2 pounds) of tomatoes for 1 Euro. That is so much cheaper that what you get at home. We bought cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, onions, apples and olives which are amazing. Everything is so fresh and tastes amazing. There is lots of screaming by the owners wanting you to buy there stuff because it is so fresh and tastes the best. It is a pretty cool experience.

Saturday afternoon we went to Carrefore which is a French based store that resembles a Wal-Mart. It has pretty much everything. That was a little harder shopping experience for one everything is expensive. Try 3 chicken breasts for 9.70 Euro. Now that is ridiculous. And don't even think about beef it is outrageous. So that is going to take some getting used to. Plus I cant read the labels so you have kind of guess what is what and what products clean what. It was a little frustrating but I will get used to it and as soon as our stuff gets here I will have all the cleaning supplies that I need since I stocked up a Costco before we left. On Monday I cleaned our hardwood floors and I had to spend about 45 minutes with the dictionary translating the label so I would know how to use it.

Yesterday morning we went to the property people at the Embassy to switch our some of our furniture. As you can tell in the pictures the green and gold couch although lovely would not have been my first choice. The furniture is actually very nice and of good quality it is just not exactly my taste. It is a bit more traditional that I would have liked. So we ordered a new couch, love seat and chairs. We had a twin bed in each of our guest rooms and we a swapping one for a queen bed (for all of you when you come visit) and once for office furniture.

The State Department has a book of furniture which you can look at to see what is available. And whoever picked out our choices back at State had very interesting taste. If it were me and I was having to pick out someone else furniture I would have chosen neutrals or maybe all blue, all tan, all red even but not this person of infinite wisdom they choice red with gold flowers, green with gold flowers and ivory with ivory flowers (my new couch). I swapped our our green and gold set for the ivory set.

Well I actually need to get to the gym today now. I have to get back in shape for Kristin's wedding and I only have few weeks and without a job I really have no excuse. Hope you guys are enjoying the blog and I hope you like the pictures. The link is below you do not have to log in to view the pictures. Please let me know if you cannot view them and I will try another way.

More to come..... Love from Greece!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=nchytxl.b279j39t&x=0&y=f113yr

We Made It!

Hello From Athens.....

We finally made it to Athens on Thursday morning. The flight was pretty uneventful and we even go some sleep. Our house is wonderful. We are on the top floor (5th) of our building and have the most amazing views (pictures to be posted tomorrow). Our house is brand new and we have a wonderful kitchen will brand new appliances. There is a balcony off of every bedroom and a huge one off the living room and kitchen. And the roof deck is amazing. The Embassy is very nice and actually pretty big. They have pretty much everything that you would need (gym, pool, store stocked with all your American favorites, etc).

Living in Athens is going to take some adjusting. I would describe Athens has much slower paced than the US but in absolute chaos.

For starters one knows how to drive here to save their life. Traffic signs and laws are not followed except for stop lights and no right turns on red. They drive like crazy people with seemingly no care for there own safety or the safety of others.

We went on Saturday to have them setup our Internet and were told that it will be installed in TWO MONTHS!!!! Can you believe that? Only 3% of people in Athens have high speed Internet and I am fairly certain 1.5% of that is made up by Americans and other westerners. So I am on the Embassy computer today and will be making the 3 mile trek each day to use the Internet.

Other fun adventures.....Our water heater is solar powered (can you believe how green we are?) but it only heats enough water for about 1 shower per day and you are done which means no hot water for a second shower or washing clothes, dishes, etc. And here is the kicker...if it is not sunny one day you can forget about having hot water on the following day. This maybe fine for Greek who do not shower everyday but not for us. We have been told there is an electric water heater that is supposed to supplement the solar one but we are waiting for the Embassy to get around to turning it on. Also when they built our apartment and installed these beautiful new appliances in the kitchen they forgot to add sufficient power so when you turn more than one burner on at a time the breaker switches and you lose power to the kitchen. Make for a fun cooking environment.

Our air freight is supposed to arrive sometime this week which would be amazing. Our other belonging are supposed to get to Athens the week of Thanksgiving and everyone has told us they sit at the port waiting to get out of customs for at lease a month so I am hoping we get our stuff for Christmas or New Years at this point. Same for the car. People have waited as long as 6 months so we are keeping our fingers crossed that doesn't happen.

David doesn't really have to start working until next week so we are spending this week getting to know Athens and how to get around. We have had some really good food so far too. The weather was amazing on Thursday, Friday and Saturday but has now turned pretty cold. I am hoping our airfreight gets here this week because it has all of our coats.

That's is all for now I will update this everyday once we get Internet at home and at least every other day once until then. Oh our Vonage number does not work since we don't have Internet at home. We will let you know when it is up and running.

PICTURES TO BE POSTED TOMORROW!!!!

Goodbye Virginia, Γειά σου Αθήνα

Well tomorrow is our departure date for Athens. It feels like it has been an eternity but it has finally arrived. The movers took our belongings for shipment/storage on September 27th and they picked up our car on October 1 so everything should be well on its way by now.

We have a 1:30 flight from Washington to New York and then a 4:00 flight from New York to Athens. We arrive at 09:10 Athens time on Thursday morning. Our sponsors will pick us up and take us to our place and to the Embassy so we know how to get from one to the other. David should not have to do too much work until Monday so we can spend Thursday-Sunday getting used to the neighborhood and trying to learn our way around.

We will let you know via the blog once we get access to the Internet so we can use our Vonage number to contact you and you us. I I hope to have pictures of our neighborhood and place posted at that time as well. The Internet could take some time since we will be working on Greek time and not American time. As you can all imagine Greek time will be a fun experience for David and I to get used to.

As you can probably tell the blog is going to work as our way of communicating with you guys from Athens. I will do my best to post something daily (once we get our Internet) to keep you updated. Feel free to post responses. Of course once our phone is up and running we will love to hear from you via phone as well. Just remember the time difference.

All for now take care and we will talk to you once we get settled in Athens!

Update....

We found out last week that a nice young couple will be renting our house for the next year starting on October 1. This is such a relief and we could not be happier to get this taken care of before we leave for Athens. It will be so nice to have someone else paying our mortgage!

Speaking of Athens from talking to our sponsor Vicki the fires are really as bad as they look on TV. The Greeks are just not prepared for anything of that magnitude. Hopefully they will get it under control soon.

My last day of work is this Friday August 31st. I am sad to leave but excited for what is in front of us. I am fondly referring to August 31st as the first day of my retirement. Unfortunately David seems to think I need to get a job for some reason. Once we get on our feet in Athens I will work to find a job at the Embassy. They have lots of opportunities for spouses and work hard to accommodate so I am not too worried. Luckily I have accumulated a lot of vacation time in my two years with the federal government so I will be on the Navy payroll until October 20th!

All for now hope everyone is well!

New Contact Information

Hello Everyone!

Just wanted to pass on some new contact information.

David and I just signed up for Vonage (I am sure you have seen the commercials). It is basically a phone line that runs over your Internet. What it allows us to do, is take our same phone number to Athens and make and receive calls just like we would in the US. We have a Virginia number and you will be able to call us just like we were still in Virginia while we are in Athens and we will be able to call you all as well. This means no international long distance charges just one flat fee we pay per month for unlimited calls and no addtional charge to you. It is really remarkable!

We have it setup now at our house in Virginia so feel free to try it out. Once we leave for Athens our cell phones will no longer work so this will be most convenant way to get a hold of us but feel free to call our cell phones until we depart in October!

Once we are in Athens feel free to call whenever but try to be mindful of the 7 hour time difference! :)

(703) 286-7813