Athens

We are entering our last week in Athens and I can't believe it! We have been here for 2 weeks and are so used to our little section of the city, it will be weird to move somewhere else and have to adjust all over again.

This weekend was pretty cold and crappy out, but we had a good time. Friday night we had Traditional Greek dancing lessons with an old non-profit dance studio downtown. It was SO fun! We learned a bunch of dances, mostly they dance in circles so it didn't matter that we had 18 girls and 2 guys! Some of the dances were really hard and most of us just hopped around to the count, our teacher was a big guy named Demitris, and he called himself our "big fat Greek dance teacher." He was such a good time! We got done dancing at 10 and decided it was time for a night on the town. We found a cafe recommended by some people who have traveled to Athens before and crammed in the adorable little place in the middle of a busy street, it is called The Old Fashioned. The owner was a cute old Greek man and his wife and we had some great conversations with him about our travels. We also met some nice young Athenians, one was celebrating his last weekend in Athens because he is being drafted by the military, something everyone has to do. We also met some nice Austrians who just came for the weekend! Everyone was begging us to stay when we left around two, the night life lasts until dawn here!

We went to two museums on Saturday, one was called the Museum of Cycladic art and is of the oldest hellenistic artform. The other museum was at the Kerameikos, which is an ancient gathering place for pottery collectors and sculptors that was turned into a burial place. The museum was full of interesting statues used to mark tombs as well as things found inside tombs, buried with the people. We were allowed to walk around outside in the cemetary area, but it was windy and rainy so we didn't stay for long. We searched for the tomb of the spartans that was known to be there, but no one could find it for sure.

We had our final Greek dance lesson Saturday evening and they surprised us with costumes, traditional dress worn by men and women at the festivals, where young men would choose their brides. The dresses were very cool, but very heavy and we all looked the same, I dont' know how they chose which woman they wanted to marry! One of our professors was dressed in the classic Greek costume which was a white skirt with wool tights, he looked hilarious and did a few twirls for us all. My professors are both such great guys, we have a LOT of fun together. They are also two of the smartest people I have ever met.

Today we went to an Orthodox church service in Greek, we were supposed to go to one in English, but it was not open when we went by. It was such a strange experience, I truly felt out of place in an entirely different culture. They sing the entire service besides the Nicene Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Sermon, which I learned later because I had no idea what was going on the whole time! We also had to stand off to the side because it was so full and there were 23 of us. The service was also different in that people just come whenever they want, and when they come, they pay for a candle or two, light them, and place them in a pit of sand, this is to represent the person they wish to pray for. Then they walk around and kiss the icons, some of which are switched out after some time and others are permanent. They cross themselves alot! Sometimes they even reach down to the floor for this. They generally do not join in during the hymns, and the men and women are seperated to each side of the church, men on the right, women on the left. They also use a lot of incense, it is a way of blessing the images of God, and they shake an incense burner at the icons and the people in the congregation, as they are all images of God, smoke is left behind and it smells really weird. We have a dog named Rufus, the one in my picture, who accompanies us to church, he picked us up on Wednesday for Ash Wednesday, waited for us outside the church, and walked us home after. He did the same thing today, like he is our church dog...I have a really funny picture of Rufus from after church today.

Later we went to another museum, one of the greatest museums in the world. Roy said it is among those like the British Museum and the now destroyed but equally great Iraq museum. It is the Museum of Archeology and it was massive! We saw some really famous things, most of which I took pictures. Lots of amazing sculpture, mostly of the gods and burial things. After today I am officially sick of museums...sadly, and we won't be going to one for a while now so I can rebuild my interest in them...I hope

Tonight our professors are being treated to dinner by our travel agents and us kids are on our own in the hotel dining hall...whoohoo! I love eating dinner here, they always make such interesting things, I can't wait to see what is on the menu tonight!