Saturday, June 25, 2011

Follow-up post: Duncan's marble carving and our last day

Well, the winds have somewhat subsided, which means they have gone down to a semi-manageable 45-50 kilometers per hour. Our friend, Annette, whose husband Petros, is the master marble carver Duncan has been working under, says that sometimes you think the winds have slowed, only to realize that they have simply changed directions. Still, we've experienced rain all of two times in the 20+ days we've been in Greece, once for a summer-style rain shower in Athens for about 20 minutes--and it was WARM rain, mind you--and another sprinkle for all of one hour of one day on Tinos, so it's been paradise as far as us Upstate NYers are concerned!!! Right now we're sitting at a VERY euro-chic beach bar, and the kids are yet again having an ice cream at dinnertime (so Lili, our "parenting" is less than stellar, but if it buys us a sunny moment with a iced frappe and the Mediterranean sense of time then we are willing to let the potential cavities slide!). The techno is pounding and the smoke is thick but the wind is carrying it away...and Duncan just remarked that he is worried he's going to have trouble getting back to a routine that's time-based--as we have not had a watch for the entire journey...

Below are photos of the games made by Nina and Angus that inspired Duncan in his carving, and below that, the in-process carving  itself. (I don't think it's difficult to discern who made which game!!! LOL. Clearly Alex P. Keaton made the capitalist's dream! But it was Miss Crafty who came up with the whole idea of her own board games to begin with and the found marble and snail shell pawns.)



Duncan wants to call his own game board Donkeys and Goats, but Nina may not share her trademark...

Tomorrow our ferry leaves for Athens at 12 noon, and the next day our plane departs for Toronto at the same time. As much as we loved it here, we are homesick, and look forward to seeing everyone soon!!!!  Angus and Nina REALLY miss their friends!!!! Thank you so much for responding; it meant the world to the kids to check who was checking in on them, and it gave Duncan the chance to drink more Nescafe!!!!  And me, to drink more Mythos!

 
EF KHARISTO PARA PO LEE!!! A DIO! YASSOU!

Friday, June 24, 2011

Goats Gone Wild (and a few other notes from Alisia and Duncan)

Hi family and friends who have been reading this blog!
We apologize for the inconsistent postings over the past two weeks. Due to the powerful winds here, called the meltemi, which come from Turkey and reach ridiculous speeds, the wifi at our house was broken and so we had to come into town to use the internet cafe. As you can imagine, even the best 8 and 10 year-olds only tolerate sitting at smokey coffee joints for so long before they'd rather be at the beach.
We have eaten some fabulous food, especially the small fish that is on many Tinos menus. Sadly, the Mediterranean and Aegean are devoid of bigger fish now, due to over fishing, so sardines and bourburaki, which is a yummy fish that Cycladeans fry and eat whole, are the only fish that are both fresh and affordable. Above is a picture of Angus and the bourbaraki we had on Mykonos, and below are the scrumptious sardines we ate in Panormos. You can tell how thrilled he was by it. Angus has, however, discovered the Greek equivalent of both the hamburger, which is a pork gyropita, and  queso, which is skillet fried cheese called SAGANAKI, that you then sprinkle lemon over.  He loves both of them.



The best restaurant we have visited was Aiolia Gravvi (in Panormos), which more or less translates to the navigational line less traveled. It was an apt name, as it was owned by a  wonderful woman with wild curls, skill in the kitchen, and a great sense of humor. When we sat down, her goat started bleating and Nina ran over to see him and pet him through the fence. The owner went inside and pulled the goat by his horns right through the window and brought him out so he could eat dinner with us. Here is a video the antics. Beware that the last few minutes of the goat shows him in all his priapic glory. As Nina was shooting the video, so this was obviously inadvertent.






After one week of hand-tool, marble carving boot camp, Duncan was handed the air equipment and began a project inspired by Alisia and the kids. When Duncan was at the studio, they would spend their down time making board games. So, Duncan decided to carve a relief that is also a board game of sorts, that was loosely based on our trip.  It is true that Tinos is the  marble capital of the Cyclades;  literally the streets are made of marble and everywhere you look there are beautiful reliefs. You can also find pieces of marble on the beach!!! Here are some photos of Angus and Nina carving marble at our house, and also of some of the MANY MANY MANY carvings we have seen (and photographed) here.

If we have access on Sunday, we will try to do one more post before we leave. Otherwise we will see you all when we are back Stateside!

This is a short post (Angus)

Here is a funny picture. We actually saw a donkey on the roof of a house the other day on the way to the beach!



Also, does anybody know who my teacher for next year is? Post back if you know. Thanks! Angus

Delicious desserts by Nina (Part II)

Here are some of the photos of the gelato shops we have been to.
In Crete we also ate a very good dessert called Boughatsa. It was made of phyllo dough with honey and ice cream and cream. Some just have walnuts and honey. We tried both kinds. My mom still thinks this was the best dessert we have had so far.  Angus thinks caramel gelato was the best. We also ate sundaes at the beach. Many times people here just give you free desserts after you eat.  Like pound cake with soaked on honey and sugar, and lemon rinds frozen in sugar water (which I actually liked!)

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Delicious desserts

Hi it's Nina. While I've been in Greece, I have tried lots of different desserts and I'll tell you about some of them. Well, some of you guys probably know what gelato is, but if you don't, I'll tell you what it is. It's like ice cream but it's made with milk and not cream. It's from Italy but for a long time people from Venice lived here in Tinos and on Crete. So, they probably brought gelato here. There are some gelato places near where we live in New York but they don't have as many flavors. The other day I went to a gelateria and there was a lot of flavors, about 50! There was one that was toffee and cocoa and a lemon and dulce de leche. But that was just three of them--there was way more! I have also tried strachiatella which is vanilla with chocolate shavings. I have also tried strawberry and toffee and cocoa. Maybe by the time I grow up I will try them all!

We have some photos to show you but they won't upload so we will try later.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Somethings I've Seen on Motorscooters by Angus

In this post I'm going to tell you about some of the things I've seen on motorscooters and motorcycles. People carry strange and dangerous things on their motorscooters and often they don't wear helmets:

1) In Athens, I saw a women carrying a huge mirror on a motoscooter, and a person carrying a ladder.
2) On Crete, we saw babies without helmets being carried on motorscooters and motorcycles, and a whole family with two adults and one child on a motorcycle, all without helmets
3) On Tinos, we have seen babies once again without helmets, and a person carrying a microwave as they drove.
This is my last post. See you this summer!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (My sister and parents will post more.)

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Snorkeling by Angus

Over the past few days we have gone snorkeling at the beach. We have seen some pretty cool fish. There will be some videos posted of us underwater. You may think snorkeling is like scuba diving but it's not even close. Snorkeling is when you have only a mask and a tube that you breathe through that sticks up out of the water. Scuba is when you have two tanks filled up with air and a mask and breathing tube, a wetsuit, and flippers and gloves. I saw a school of tiny fish, a fish that looked like it was plaid, and a flat fish that blended in with the bottom sand.




The Lunar Eclipse by Nina

This week there was a lunar eclipse here in Tinos. You guys probably remember learning about it when our class went to the planetarium. In the middle of the night my Dad he woke me up and he brought me outside and I saw the lunar eclipse. Here is a picture of it.  Was there a lunar eclipse in New York?

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Greek words we have now learned (by Angus and Nina)

Hi everyone,
The jungle friends in Miss Jones' class asked what else we have learned in Greece. When we went to lunch today we made a list of all of the Greek words we have learned so far. We have met a friend, a boy named Iannis, who speaks some English, but mostly speaks Greek. Instead of Spanish classes like we take, he takes English classes. He is 7 and just finished first grade.

Here are the words we have learned:
Apricots: VERICOCO
Hello: YASSAS or, as Angus wants you to know, informally, YASSOU
No: OHI
Yes: NE
Wait a second: MISO-LEPTO
I don't understand: THEN KATALAVENO
I do understand: KATALAVENO
Please and thank you: PARAKALO
Come: ELLA
Come with me: ELLA MAZI MOU
Pool: PISINA
Swimming: KOLYMBI
How are you? TI KANES?
Good evening: KALI MERA
Good morning: KALI SPERA
Thank you: EF KHARISTO
Water: NERO
Everything: OLLA
Finished: TELOS
Cold: CRIO
Hot: ZESTY
Good: KALA
Very good: KALA

Nina likes saying "KOLIMBYI--ELA MAZI MOU!!!"  Angus just learned the word for sugar, ZATHAF.

(Side note: Duncan's favorite sounding word is KARPUSZ, which means watermelon. His most frequently used word is NESCAFE FRAPPE. Alisia is practicing the very difficult "th" sound, which is alot like an "S" and a "L" together, as in the word for sea, which is THASSALA, but sounds like thasthalla. She also likes the word OMORPHI, which is beautiful, but it doesn't really sound so beautiful.)

Here are some words for Good-bye:
AN-DIO, which means "to God"
and you can also say YASSAS for good-bye (and hello)
!!!!YASSAS!!!! XOXOXOXO





Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The Myth of the Minotaur by Angus


Last week we went to the island of Crete, which is between mainland Greece and Africa! We went to a palace called Knossos where the minotaur supposedly used to live. The minotaur was a beast that was half-man and half-bull. I'm going to tell you about the myth of the minotaur in this post. But first here is a sculpture of him, my mom took this picture at a museum in Athens:

One day, the prince of Athens, Theseus, got very mad because every year the Cretan king, King Minos, would have seven young men and seven young women from Athens go into his labyrinth where the minotaur lived. The minotaur would eat them and they couldn't escape because the labyrinth was a maze and it was difficult to find your way out. Theseus decided he would replace one of the young men and kill the minotaur. He set off with black sails on his ship. Why he did this was because he had told his father that if he came back with black sails he had not been victorious. If he came back with white sails then had had been victorious. So he sailed off to Crete.

All seven men and seven women were presented in front of King Minos, the princess Araidne and the Queen. Ariadne fell madly in love with Theseus. When they were waiting in line for the labyrinth, Ariadne gave Theseus a spool of string and a sword. Theseus then went into the maze and laid down the string as he went and then he killed the Minotaur and then followed the string back out with all the other men and women. Once he did this he told King Minos he could not feed any more Athenians to the minotaur. Then he sailed back home. When his dad looked out at the horizon, he saw that Theseus' ship still had black sails. In his excitement, he had forgotten to put up the white sails. Theseus' dad was so sad he jumped off a cliff because of Theseus' carelessness. 




 
 The true history is that there was no minotaur only bull-leaping at the palace and probably some young men and women from Athens die in the sport. Here are photos from the remains of the palace where King Minos supposedly lived, and a picture of the bull that they worshipped there. Now we are on the island of Tinos and I will tell you more about that later. I hope you all enjoyed my story. Post back.






Monday, June 13, 2011

Nuisance pelican---or yet another weirder wilder animal sighting (by Duncan)

God certainly had a sense of humour when he designed the pelican! This afternoon when we were eating tyropita (pork gyro with french fries and tomatoes and garlic sauce) for lunch on a bench in the waterfront park, we noticed a bustling in the nearby jungle gym...and lo and behold a pelican the size of Nina was harassing the children for their lunch!!!! The kindly unemployed mumbling village "keeper" took it upon himself to briskly escort the pelican out of the square by going through the restaurants that lined the park. It was quite a sight, as man and beast were nearly equal in size, seemed to have similar fluffy forward hairdos, and mimicked each other in their gait!!!

Nina and the Animals of Greece


Hi, as you can see when we were in Athens and Crete, we met a lot, a lot of animals--dogs and cats. In Athens, no one owns the dogs that are on the street. Instead the city neuters them so there won't be more of their population roaming around and having babies. And all the shop owners take turns feeding them, so they are like neighborhood dogs more than family dogs. 




In Crete, we went to their aquarium and saw a bunch of sharks and snakes. So, Michael, here is a picture of one of the sharks for you!

Also, in Crete we went to a donkey sanctuary way up in the mountains in Anatoli. It's like a shelter, and the British family who runs it also adopts dogs and cats.  Lots of the donkeys have been abused or neglected and so that's why they take them.  A long time ago donkeys were like cars for the Greek people that lived in the mountains. They carried everything. Now they don't use them so much. The  donkeys in the pictures are wearing these masks that are like mops that pretty much keep flies from biting their eyes. You can adopt a donkey and learn more through their website Walk with Donkeys. They now love to be brushed and like to bite ladies' scarves--Bosco tried eating my Mom's scarf!





Also, my Mom wants to tell you that the Greek people believe that donkeys are God's chosen animal, even though some people think they are not as good as horses. A donkey carried the Virgin Mary to Bethlehem to have Jesus and that is why you can see a cross in the hairs on their back. You can see a cross in this picture:


I also met a mangy kitty in Mykonos. It was clear that people were afraid to pet him because he had plants growing in his hair but he was really nice and I petted him alot.


Wednesday, June 8, 2011

To Mr. Lagree's class: answers to your questions


To Makenna, yes our trip is going well except for right now, because our ferry to Crete is delayed by 6 hours!!! It's okay because it has eleven levels and a pool with a helicopter pad overhead! Riley, it has been really fun, the best part about Athens is that people tried to sell you stuff by lowering the prices and calling you, "my friend!" Alex, Nina is going to do a post about animals in Greece, so that will happen later. Alexa my favorite food so far was the yogurt with honey and peaches and tatziki is also my favorite. I have eaten a souvlaki, which is grilled meat and pita and yogurt cucumber sauce (tatziki) EVERY DAY! Now it has become my goal. 

Jack and Jaden, I like Greece better than Hilton, but I have no friends here so I miss you guys. 

Hannah, a few days ago we went to the Parthenon, as you know, which is dedicated to Athena because Athens is named after Athena and both Athena and Poseidon wanted to represent the city-state, so they each offered the citizens something. Athena offered them the Olive Tree and Poseidon offered them a spring of saltwater. They liked Athena's gift more. You could make olive oil and use it for cooking, oiling your body for beauty and athletics!!! and perfume. Once in the Parthenon there was a HUGE statue of Athena in the Parthenon. It was made of gold leaf and ivory and jewels. Athena was the goddess of war and wisdom and strategy. She was born out of Zeus's head. I strongly recommend reading the Percy Jackson series for more info. Today we went to the National Archeological museum and my Mom took a photo of a model of the original Athena sculpture. Imagine this 30 feet tall--Athena's symbols are the owl and the shield with medusa's head on it. She also once held a NIKE on her hand, not the shoe but a female goddess who represents victory in battle. Her snake represents the beginning of Athens.

Hannah, here is a picture of a small model of the original sculpture in the Parthenon.


Haley, some of the other ancient Gods are Zeus, the father of all Gods, Hera, the goddess of marriage, Poseidon is the god of the sea, Hades is the god of the underworld, which in Greek mythology there is only the underworld and Elysium, not heaven and hell. You can try for three lifetimes to get Elysium, which is basically living forever in a beautiful  neighborhood. You are judged for your lifetimes. We found out that Dionysus was the god of wine and theater and entertainment. and the god of satyrs, we saw his theater near the Parthenon. Greeks really liked him. Mr. Lagree here is statue of you, the God of teachers, we saw it in the museum in Athens.
I can't show you the other half of your God's body because he is naked. It's funny, all the women statues in ancient Greece had togas and all the men are naked!

THANKS FOR READING THIS! POST BACK!



Monday, June 6, 2011

Parthenon, Dinner and a Boring Opera by Angus

Today and yesterday we went to some cool places and a boring event at a cool place. First we went to the Parthenon. It was pretty awesome! I learned that the Greeks worshipped their Gods by making  really huge temples and the Parthenon was enormous. The center acroterion which went on the roof and was carved  was really about 12 feet tall. There was also a smaller temple that was dedicated for both Athena, who they named Athens after, and Poseidon, who wanted to be the main God, too. This building has women shape columns. They are called caryatids. In the other video you can see the main temple. It is now Lord Elgen stole many parts of the Parthenon that's why it's so ripped apart. Other reasons were because of bombs and  churches who did not believe in Greek gods.



Today we went to the best dinner we've ever had. there are some pictures below. For only 15 euro which is about 22.50 we got a meat platter that was HUGE!!! And that was the small. It was layer over layer of grilled meat with potato chip looking french fries and tatziki and I also had some fried cheese called saganaki. It was awesome!



Later we went to a boring boring opera about some cheating guy. But it was in a really cool place so I paid attention more to the building than anything else. This was a Roman theater called the Odeon Herodes which was built when the Romans took over. It used to have a roof but now it doesn't so we sat outside under the moon. We decided to leave after the first opera because  we were tired and there was no public bathrooms. But I will never forget how beast it was!!!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

A Trip to the Parthenon by Nina


Hi it's Nina. Yesterday I went to the Parthenon. It's an ancient temple made for Athena. It is on top of the Acropolis, which means the highest city. It takes forever to get up there and it was hot. It lights up at night and it's under conservation right now because it was once a church and a mosque and people didn't like the sculptures. Also, a king named Lord Elgin stole some of them cuz he said he would keep them safe and now England won't give them back. I'm gonna talk to Colin about that when I get home. I met a nice cat there, I called him Butterscotchy and he had icky eyes. I also brought Flat Nina up there.

Friday, June 3, 2011

Delicious dessert


Today I had the best dessert. We ate our first meal in Athens in Monastiraki. I had lamb gyro and then the waiter said Free dessert! It was greek yogurt with honey and peaches. IT WAS AWESOME! Here is a picture of it and me eating it.