31 August 2007

I found It


I now have it all, I found Chinese food with rice and egg noodles in a Macro Store (kind of like our Sam's and Costco Clubs) in Larissa about a hour and half away. We drove through Larissa on our way to the beach about a half hour outside of Larissa on the East Coast of Greece. The beach was nice but the waves were a little bit rougher than our hidden cove in Milina. It is a great beach for kids to go to because you can stay ankle deep and go fairly far out, I tried to take a picture of how far Arthur could walk out at mid chest hieght but it's so far that on the camera you can't even see him anymore (the black dot).

28 August 2007

Pictures

Here is a picture for Kelly, the last 2 weeks have been very big in the belly area. I am wearing glasses because I had an eye infection and the drops made me have a metallic taste in my mouth so I stopped taking the drops and am now just wearing my glasses.
These picture are for Rhonda, here is our kitty. He was sleeping in the flower pot but decided to wake up for the photo shoot.

Trip Plans

Our trip plan for March 2008 is extensive, the original plan was to come to the States for Thanksgiving and fly to Washington and then Texas and drive to New Mexico. But Arthur feels more comfortable with me traveling after the baby is born rather than being 7 months pregnant, so our new plan is to come in March after the baby is born.
We will fly into Texas first (whoever is cheapest DFW or IAH), then we will hop over to Denver for about two days before jetting off to Seattle WA. Arthur and I thought it would be a little more entertaining to either drive or take the train down to Sacramento and do a little stop over in Portland. Of course it would help to know "Where In The World Is Mom/Waldo" because right now I have no clue to where she is hiding, will she still be in New Mexico (we will need to change plans) or will she be living in Washington by this time. Of course, the trip should be fairly entertaining traveling with a one month old so if anyone would like to join us and help out you are more than welcome (MOM!HELP!). I am just hoping for no words starting with the very large letter of P. So we will see everyone in March, except our family members hiding in Pennsylvania.

26 August 2007

Little Post Its

Greece is burning, but we are fine here in the middle of Greece. Most fires are set on purpose (arson) and are in touristic areas (Kalampakians are smarter and don't start fires) near the coast or on Islands.

I found Brown Rice.

We had a visitor from Mauritius Country, if you know where this is you get an A+.

I am making Bar-B-Q Ribs today, and the family has never experienced Bar-B-Q Ribs before, wish me luck that it will taste good.

It's still hot here.

Arthur says Hi! and we can't wait to get the gag gift. We are coming in March with the little one, keep a beer cold in the fridge. (Australian thing, he made me write it)

Love Mara

23 August 2007

YEAH!

Yeah!, another package from the states, I am a popular girl. This one came from my friend in Sacramento, Renee Corpos, she sent me some yummy soba noodle snacks. Of course, I did ask her to send them to me because I knew that she would be able to find organic foods and I am so excited that she sent them. Greece has Organic shops, but they are very small and the choices are limited with a lot of organic wheat pastas and I was looking for non wheat products. We did find one fairly large organic shop in Karditsa but it is undergoing a construction phase and wasn't open yet. It is also hard using Arthur as an interpreter since even he doesn't understand exactly what I want, but one day I will be able to explain exactly what I want in Greek.
Thanks Renee for the awesome package. I should explain that we have plenty of organic fruits, vegetables and dairy products, I was looking for non wheat products since they eat alot of bread, pasta and rice (no brown rice available) here.

13 August 2007

Celebrity News

Okay I know I am a little behind on American celebrity news, but did you know that Nicole Ritchie is 4 months pregnant too. Maybe our kids will be BFF, of course this is if her kid lives through the Drunk Driving mayhem Nicole is into.

Green Chili Stew

I made green chili stew, yummy, yummy, yummy, it was soo good I had 2 bowl fulls, for my shrunken stomach that was very good. Not only is the kid on California time but he also enjoys New Mexican food. I can see in the future he will be in the States alot.

10 August 2007

Kitty

I now know for sure that Arthur loves me. Today he went to a Veterinarian and asked for pills to make our little feral kitty feel better. For a Greek man this is like, unheard of, (I can't think of a word to go here). Greek people do not have cats and dogs as pets, some dogs are used as hunting or shepherding dogs, but most are homeless, feral, and lonely. Animals in the house, SORRY not in Greece, they are outside animals only. They are well taken care of to a degree, people will feed them leftovers and on the Islands I saw a women giving out cat food and in Athens there is a corporation who puts dog food out in certain areas. The government in larger cities will also catch dogs and give them shots and place collars on them.
Our little kitty has been sick for the last couple of days and hasn't been able to eat. Arthur risked being scratched by the kitty in order to give it the medicine the vet gave him, he was very brave to do this and this is why I now know for sure that Arthur loves me. Because he did all of this without asking me, he just knew how I felt about letting our little kitty die on his own naturally. The way most Greeks feel about animals is "If they can't make it on their own then oh well there will always be another dog or cat to come along".
This is the story of Greek Life for Today.

09 August 2007

Package from Rhonda

Yippee!!! I got another package from the States, Thanks Rhonda. This one contains some yummy crackers made by the company TLC but made with the Kashi 7 grains, so very healthy and nutritious. She also sent along some scrapbooking supplies that I can play with, I can't wait to get started. As I told Rhonda, Greeks have never heard of scrapbooking or pretty much any hobby that Americans tend to do with their extra time. For example, Golf is a sport not a hobby, unless if you are a foreigner or own a shipping company. Adult education classes, what are those? Maybe in the future I will have some Greek girlfriends and can teach them a few hobbies i.e. stained glass, fused glass, jewelry making, wood working and scrapbooking. Just to name a few, I could fill a whole workshop of fun things to do and I think some of the stuff we make could sell. Wait a minute that wouldn't make it a hobby anymore but a job, we definitely don't want to do that.

07 August 2007

Hello Waves

Arthur and I went to the doctor today to do the 4 month check up on baby. Both the doctor and nurse laughed as they caught sight of the baby because he was using both hands to wave and bouncing up and down. We also had an intern in the room with us, she was very young and spoke English so it was nice talking to her. The doctor spent more time checking out the baby because he was showing the intern all of the body parts, she was fascinated by the brain. As a side note I still haven't gained any of the weight I lost, even though I am feeling fatter it hasn't added up to any extra pounds (kilos on the scales here). So no tummy pictures yet, unless if you want to see Arthurs, he's in future empathy mode, hehehehe.

02 August 2007

The Pension

Some of you might think a pension is a rooms to let place or a small hotel, but here in Greece it is your retirement fund. Arthur is starting his today, his father went on Agriculture Pension about 4 months ago and just got his 2nd payment today in the mail. Now this is the fun part the mailman brought the pension in CASH, that's right this mailman is carrying around thousands of dollars and handing out pensions in cash, only state workers get their pension in check form. Katerina has owned Koka Roka for 20 years and her birthday was in July so this is why she has "retired" and now Arthur will run the business and start on his pension. You only pay into a pension for 20 years you do not get more money out of it if you stay in longer, so you work 20 years and then you hand over the business to someone else.
This is also the reason why you will find many businesses run by family members, because if you hire someone you have to pay their pension and this can get very expensive. If it's all in the family well then it's all under the table, so to speak. Now the pension is not only for retirement funds, but it is also for the health insurance and when Arthur starts his I am also under his pension and will receive the same benefits.
This is the Story of Greek Life for today.