dear blog....it's me Katie

Sorry for the lack of posts.........life here is just never slows down. And the Greeks do not believe in sleep - I'm still trying to figure out how they do it...........when they actually work..........and how they continue to look so good. Once I find the answer I'll let you know.

So this past weekend we once again went to check out another part of the island. This time it was to a place called Elafonisi...........IT IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE I HAVE EVER SEEN. Pictures will follow this. SERIOUSLY AMAZING. Anyway we took a bus through the mountains to get to this beach - words cannot do this beach any justice........my pictures will have to tell the story!

Anyway Sat. night we decided to go out "greek style" .......... so we took naps.......got up around 11:00 PM.......and got ready to go out.........at 1 AM! yes you read that right......we left to go out at 1 am. See I told you the Greeks don't sleep! We went to a club called Distijl........not far from our apartment. Um....how do I explain this place.......combine the craziness of Vegas the "Poshness" (yes I made that word up but you know what I mean) of South Beach Miami and there you have Distijl. When we got there around 1:30 or 1:45 AM it was just starting to get busy..........SERIOUSLY it's bananas! We were ready to go around 5 AM but most Greeks stay out until about 7 or 8 am! They played a ton of good music.....both American and European and the scenery both of the architecture and people kind was fun to see! :) We clearly found where all the cute Greek boys were...........HOORAY! :)

I taught today and it went really well. Planning lessons is a little stressful but I really enjoy teaching so I have a lot of fun with it.......stress and all!

Here a few more pictures.................. actually I guess the pictures come first. Seriously am I ever gonna figure out how to use this thing?!


As always love to you all.

Pictures or Sougia

Pebble beach........so pretty.......little rough on the feet.
Cute little apartment.....I loved the colors!

Mountains + beach+ blue water = AMAZING
SUNSET on my way home from school. This is in Chania but I loved this picture!

These are a few of my favorite things..........

(insert song from the Sound of Music here)

This song was in my head last weekend........so I figured I would turn it into a post. Last weekend....gosh it seems like so long ago. Friday night the 8 of us headed to the Harbor to have some cocktails and enjoy Greek life........well the Greeks must never sleep - kind of like Vegas or NYC because we didn't get home until 5 in the morning......and most Greeks were still up partying! Needless to say - Saturday we didn't get up until almost noon! I can't even remember the last time I slept that late - I would imagine college!!!!!!

So, Saturday was a day at the beach outside of our "apartment". Rough life right?! Saturday night though the girls went to grab a bite to eat at a little Greek restaurant near our place and the waiters taught is how to do the ZORBA.....a traditional Greek dance. SO FUN! well the parts we could master were fun........I think the other people at the restaurant had fun watching us......a couple of them joined in the fun.

Sunday we decided to take a bus to Souja (souix -ya)......this beach was INCREDIBLE. Pictures are following this post....so watch for them. It's this little hippie town in the middle of the mountains with a pebble beach and the bluest water I have ever seen.........not to mention clear. The sea looks like drinking water .....it's that CLEAR!

Back to reality on Monday - if you can call living in Greece "reality" but I taught 3 days this week. It gets a little stressful in that we have school in the morning learning English grammar, how to teach certain lessons, etc. and then in the afternoon plan lessons and at night teach. It's a little nerve-racking but I love it so far.

I do want to write home though to all of my English teachers/professors and ask "why did I never learn English grammar?" I've been her a week and half and already know more than the many years of schooling I had in the states. Does anyone know what a gerund is? How about a present perfect continous verb? Our class just laughs because no one knows it...........and the Greeks do! hahha! But we're all learning and can now have an answer as to why a sentence is structed a certain way versus just saying "because!"

Okay pictures to come soon!

Love to all!

Let me catch up......

Life has been BUSY since arriving here...........where can I start?

Okay so I got to my residence at about 2 pm last Sunday....had a chance for a shower and to walk around a bit. Then at 7 our two teachers at the school, Maria and Cynthia, picked all of us up to show us around Chania (pronounced Honya).

Our class, there are 8 of us, and we get along famously.
Katie (me)
Katie (my roommate she's from England...and yes her accent is awesome)
Shannon ( from Canada)
Jen ( from Rhode Island)
Leela ( from Rhode Island)
Jennifer ( from Colorado)
Cara (from Connecticut)
Darren (from California)

We explored the city and then Cynthia left us in the good hands of her favorite bartender.....His name was Yanni but he looked like Fabio from all those romantic novels. Anyway Yanni clearly was on a mission to make us have fun as we all ordered drinks and then this stuff called Raki kept showing up. It's a Cretan liquor....that is insane. They serve it everywhere around here - usually with fruit. Well.....we got home at around 3 in the morning. Jet lag + hangover never usually is a good thing.......except the scenery walking to school the next day made me feel oh so much better!

We walk the beach too school - it takes about an 40 minutes to an hour depending on the route we take. It's awesome.....I love this part!

Now school - is INTENSE but I love what I'm learning. I already taught my first lesson and it went pretty well. I think my career as a teacher is starting! We do spend a lot of time at school but it doesn't mean we don't have fun.

The coffee here is good - thank goodness! This cute little Greek man near school always sells us coffee in the morning.......his English is pretty good so he helps us find things in town. His name I think with the English translation is Bobby......I'll get a picture - he's adorable!

We also found a dog here - we named him Pete! He followed us all the way home from school one day.......waited for us til morning and walked all the way back with us again the next day. Maria even let us have him in school all day. Pete must have found other friends though because we didn't see him today :(

I'm now addicted to Greek salads, Souvlaki (kind of like a Gyro), WATER to hydrate, and greek yogurt with honey and banana! It's been 90 + with no clouds everyday here - gorgeous!

Gotta run for now.... as this is my Friday night! I'm sure I'll have more to post

Love to you all.

A picture is worth a thousand words.....

Ready or not Greece.....here I am.......

I'm in Crete.....finally! Here's how I got here...... 2 1/2 hour flight to Atlanta.....two hour layover.....11 hour flight to Athens.....mad dash to my flight to Chania, Crete......50 minute flight to Crete. Okay so it wasn't so bad........but I'm glad I don't have to get on another plane for awhile.

It is beautiful here.....and so far the Greek people I've met have been so nice and so helpful - thanks to the strangers out there.

Speaking of thanks - A HUGE THANK YOU goes out to my family and friends for supporting me, sending me well wishes, treating me to dinners, and cocktails, and celebrating my journey. The biggest thank you of all goes to my parents - thanks for believing in this adventure and helping me have enough courage to do so. Also to my Aunt Mary - thanks for housing me the last couple of months.....but beyond that thank you for your encouragement!

Pictures to come soon.........

Love to all.....

Don't Stop Believin.........

In the power dreams
In the suport of family and friends
In the element of surprise
In yourself
In knowing what is right
In living each moment
In the love that you have for others......and knowing they love you too

Okay so I haven't posted in a LONG time.......still getting used to this online journal (blog) thing. I never feel like I have anything to say......yet I can have conversations with people that last in the early morning hours.....so I need to channel that I guess.

In the words of Journey's song.......Don't Stop Believin....Hold on to that Feelin!

I plan to hold on to the little moments in life....remember where I came from.....but look to the future with hope and excitement.

Here we go!