Hey Everyone! Sorry I have not had any posts lately. We have been busy and I have been exhausted when I get home from work at night.

Well we had a very nice weekend. Friday night we had dinner at home and then went to Dan and Stacy's for drinks afterwards. On Saturday I got up early to beat the crowds at the supermarket and I was actually successful which was a surprise. David wasn't feeling too great this weekend so we spent the rest of Saturday around the house. On Sunday we were both supposed to go hiking with Vicki and Jason and since David was feeling under the weather just I made it out. It would have really been a great hike had it not been for all the snow we got the previous weekend. The trails were pretty muddy and when they were not muddy they were either covered in snow or slush which made for some pretty wet shoes. After the hike we changed our shoes and headed for a Greece taverna for lunch.

So far this week we haven't done too much other than work. I think I told some of you think but we found out who hit our car in the Embassy parking garage. I wont go into how we found out but we did and other the past few days we have been trying to navigate the Greek insurance claims process. Luckily for us the Embassy has a full service garage on site so we are just waiting for them to find out how much it is going to cost to fix it and then hopefully they can figure out the rest with the insurance company. We are just glad that someone else will be paying for it!

Well I hope you are all doing well. It was great to talk to those of you who I spoke with on the phone this weekend! Thanks for the chat!

Love from Athens....

Hey Everyone!

Hope everyone is having a great week. Well we finally got mom and dad hooked up with the webcam and Skype and it is so much fun. Mom, Alison and I have talked the last two nights and it is a riot. If anyone has a webcam let me know and we can chat.

I got back to work this week with a lot on my plate. The Greek woman who works for our office is going to be on leave for the next 6 weeks so I am gaining all of here work. It is nothing that I can't handle expect for the small detail that I don't speak Greek. I had a couple people hang up when they called me today thinking that they would be getting her. It is funny how we think that if we just speak louder they will understand us and the Greek are the same way. I had a guy today just shouting at me in Greek while I am trying to tell him I have no idea what he is saying. Oh well that is just part of life in Greece.

Not too much planned for the weekend. I need to go to the grocery store tomorrow after work and I need to clean the house at some point. Planning on going on a hike this weekend with Vicki and Jason so hopefully the weather will be nice.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Love from Athens....

Switzerland

Hey everyone! Well we had a very nice weekend in Switzerland. We had an uneventful flight from Athens on Friday. When we got to Geneva we picked up the rental car which was a VW Polo which looks a little like a VW Golf and it took us a good 10 minutes to figure out how to put it into reverse. For some reason VW put reverse in a different place than it normally is on a stick shift but after re figured it out we were on our way! We stayed in the town of Montreux which is about 45 minutes from Geneva right on Lake Geneva. Our hotel was a nice historic hotel with a great view of the lake.

On Saturday we headed into the mountains to Ski. I have to say I was not overly impressed with the place we went. They were not offering lessons and the runs were very narrow and even the beginner runs which pretty steep at times. David really kept his spirits up I was very proud of him but it was difficult going at times and we had a few falls. It was absolutely beautiful up there which you can see below in the pictures.

On Sunday we stayed around Montreux and had a great lunch, toured a castle on the lake and
had a great dinner. It was an incredibly relaxing weekend and just want we needed. Until Monday when we got to the airport.....

When we arrived at the airport on Friday our flight was canceled and since we were on a Greek airline we were in for more than the normal amount of stress. Our airline was Greek and of course it didn't have a representative at the airport in Geneva. They have a partnership with Swiss Air but Swiss Air didn't have the ability to rebook us from Athens. After a few attempts at rebooking and being told by our airline that we would not be able to get back in Athens until Thursday we finally got on a flight this morning. We had to have the women from Swiss Airlines tell us what flights were going into Athens the following day and then ask our airline if we could get on each flight. It was very stressful to say the least. The reason our flight was canceled in the first place was because Athens got 15 centimeters of snow believe it or not. Of course it is 50+ out right now and sunny so it should be gone before tonight.

View from our hotel room...

Another view...

And another view...(it was a really great view)

View from the summit of the mountain

Here is David on his skis at the start of the day.

Great view of the mountains from the bottom of the ski lift

Us at the restaurant at the top of the mountain where we had lunch

David taking a break



Unfortunately this is how David spent half of the day. He still said he had fun though!

Us taking a break from skiing


David by the mountain stream that ran through the small village by the ski resort

Us in front of the castle on Lake Geneva we visited on Sunday



Having a type of fondue for lunch where you grill your own meat at the table on a little grill. Not what I thought I would be getting when I ordered fondue but it was still really good and a lot of fun



Below are all pictures of Geneva from the day our flight was canceled and we did some exploring...





Geneva is a very charming and a classic European city which is so different from Athens...It was very refreshing for us!

Well evidently there were two earthquakes here but we didn't feel them at the Embassy. I get Google Alerts on my State email on Greece and one popped up around 1:00 from the AP saying that Greece just had a strong earthquake and it was felt in Athens. Once again the earthquake was in the southern part of Greece in the Peloponnese and no one I talked to felt either one so we are safe and sound.

Today was our last day of work until Tuesday we are taking tomorrow off and Monday is a holiday. We are heading to Switzerland in the morning at 9:30 and will get back Monday afternoon. We promise to post pictures once we get back. I can't wait to get out of Athens I have been having way to many "Greek Days" recently.

Once we get back I can start to plan our next adventures, Joanna and Alex's visit in March/April and a trip for us over Easter (Greek Easter) when we have a four day weekend. I am pushing for Italy but David wants to hit an island. We will see who wins :)!!!!

Not much else to report hope you are all well! Have a great weekend!

Love from Athens....

Hope you are all having a wonderful day. We had lots of rain today and it was cold for Athens. Here are two links that pretty much sum up what is going on in Athens right now. I thought you might all find them interesting.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/12/2160119.htm

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/185190,nationwide-strike-to-paralyze-transport-across-greece-on-wednesday.html

These should illustrate why Greece struggles so much to function as a society.

Sorry not too much to write today. Hope you are well!

Love from Athens...

Hey hope everyone had a great weekend! Saturday we were running all over the place or at least I was. I rode in with David to the Embassy in the morning because he needed to take care of a few things. I dropped him off and headed to the grocery store with a stop at Starbucks. I am not a big Starbucks person but it tasted so amazing so much like home. In the afternoon I went to the Hilton to get a haircut. They have a salon where everyone speaks English and I really needed a haircut I hadn't had one since before we left Virginia. Well I am fairly certain that I received the worst haircut of my life. I have bangs now which I have not had since middle school. Greeks in general could care less what you say they are only interested in what they want. I never told this girl I wanted bangs yet here I am with bangs. I feel like I am back in the 90s. You will all see when you are here in Athens as far as their hair and fashion goes they are stuck in the 80s and 90s. You would think that since they are so close to Italy and France that they would be on the cutting edge but that is not the case. So anyway this woman did not listen to me one bit and did what she wanted which is so so Greek...lesson learned.

Sunday David got up and helped me clean the house which was great! Now that I am working he is helping out more which I appreciate. We went for a late lunch at Dan and Stacy's for some Indian food. After that we went to church followed by a little cocktail party at a friends house. It is so strange how much more social we are here in Athens compared to back home.

Today was another good day at work. Trying to get organized for our trip to Switzerland this weekend.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Love from Athens....

Hey Everyone!

Not too much going on today. Starting to get settled in at work and I am getting to know my coworkers and the mission. Vicki came over this evening after work for a Pilates lesson. I cannot tell you how much better I feel after our lessons. I love that you guys seem to be proud of me for getting up and running in the morning. I used to go to the gym or run every morning back in DC and I prefer it to running later in the day because I used to get out of work so late and by the end of a 10 hour day I was exhausted. While I am not going to working near as much here in Athens it is great to get your run out of the way in the morning and then be done with it. It only takes about 2 weeks of getting up early for your body to be used to it. And no David does not get up with me. I have a hard enough time getting him up in the morning. I think he thinks that Vicki and I are crazy. Well I need to finish some laundry before I head to bed.

Love from Athens...

Happy Super Tuesday!!! Some of you have primaries today so make sure you get out and vote. It is so important!

I hope you are all having a great day! Another pretty day here in Athens. Vicki and I got up and ran this morning and then off to work for day two. I think it was another successful day. I am learning more and more, getting to meet people and learning how the embassy works.

They are ripping up our street right now. That has made getting in and out of our driveway challenging.

Not too much to write today sorry. Well I hope you all have a wonderful today. Love from Athens....

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend. David and I had a very relaxing one. On Friday I made dinner at home and we watched a movie. On Saturday night David and I went out to a great Asian restaurant to celebrate our Anniversary in a little town outside of Athens right on the sea. On Sunday we got up and went to one of the beach communities outside of Athens and we had lunch overlooking the ocean. It was a beautiful day sunny and in the high 60s low 70s. It was a great weekend and a wonderful first anniversary.

We received some interesting news at church on Sunday. Evidently the Catholic Church in Greece has taken it upon themselves to follow the same calender as the Greek Orthodox Church instead of the Church in Rome. They want to be able to celebrate holidays at the same time as the Orthodox Church. This might not seem like a big deal but it is this year because the Orthodox Church is celebrating Easter 5 weeks after the rest of the world. Thats right so when the Pope is giving Easter Mass in Rome we will be celebrating the first Sunday in Lent here in Athens at a Catholic Church. This is so infuriating to me simply because it is just another example of how the Greeks believe they are above the rest of the world. It makes absolutely no sense to me if you so desperately want to follow that calender why be Catholic? You just can't change a religion to fit your wants and desires. Sorry I really needed to vent about that :)

On another note...today was my first day of work and it went really well. I really like the people I am working with and the work seems like it is going to be interesting. I have a lot to learn of course but it is really exciting to be back to work. David even had lunch with me today!

Well that is all for now I am heading off to bed now....Love from Athens...

Well I promised pictures of the snow and I finally got them up on the blog. These are pictures from our run up on the mountain. We did not have this kind of snow down by our houses. Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Me in the snow

Pretty view of the snow

Vicki and I at the start of our run

Vicki acting silly

This orange trees are all over Athens. It is a cool pictures because you can see the snow in the background.