I’m alive! and I’m getting fat from all the goat butter and feta!
It looks like we are going to be spending the holidays in Crete, which is ok by me. The town is all lit up and everyone is out buying gifts. Our landlord and lady, Efetehis and Natalie, are very nice people and we have been talking with them a lot more now that all of our fellow classmates have shipped off. Meghan is interviewing in Florence and Sarah in Seville. We are trying to decide between Prague and Spain…as soon as we know, you will.
It is a bittersweet realization that staying in Greece isn’t a realistic option. In a way, the short time I have spent here has captured me. It is well knit, friendly, and wholesome but it is also small. Living here is like living in Ellettsville, IN,…but in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and with several languages being spoken, thousand year old ruins, fresh food pouring off of the street corners, grain alcohol after every meal, and a huge tourist boom economy and an equally significant off-season slump…so nothing like it really. Regardless, it can certainly feel small. The way I see it, it doesn’t hurt to keep moving along; there is always more green grass out there somewhere.
Bethany and I took a walk out of town today and followed the coast until it became craggy and rough. It was very beautiful and the cliff-side tide-pools were a unique sight. Check out the new pics, it was one of my favorite places I have been to around here. The waves were crashing in right up to my feet and the air was so briny that I had some salt crystals in my eyebrows when we got home.
For a while, I watched some fiddler crabs spin around in their own little world, carved into the safety of the stone. I couldn’t help but get philosophical as I looked out into the vast blue of the sea; I knew that the crab would never see my perspective on the true magnitude of the sea and he would certainly never understand it if I told him. But I understand him, he is rational; he has all of his necessities in his shallow pool. I sometimes wonder if I had all I needed in mine. Then again, it may be because I had all I needed that I felt the compulsion to leave.
After our climb, we caught a water polo game. Greeks are serious about few things but smoking cigarettes and water polo are definitely two of them. It may seem like a pool game but it is intense. These guys drown each other for 45 minutes and all the while the crowd is lighting off explosives, banging on giant drums and sitting on air-horns. It was fun to watch. I would go to another one.
Not much going on, life is quiet here. It will be strange not being home for Christmas. I wish you all the best.
Happy Holidays!
Καλα Κριστμας!
