He says “oh good, this is holy water and my mother was afraid you would throw it away because you don’t understand what it is. We must bring this to her, it is very important!” Then I look at him rather sheepishly and tell him I drank the water, but refilled it with tap water- and would she know the difference?
4. Two men can hug and kiss without being gay – or drunk. Yup, and in public even. No insecurity about it, friends being friends. It’s beautiful!
It’s not glamorous or comfortable, but it happens. You are sore in the morning, you look like a train wreck, you wonder why there are bootprints on your face and pray the pile of drool on your shirt is yours (seriously, how did the bootprint get on my face?).
I enjoyed watching the lightning display for 3 hours, until the thunder and lightning gave way to the first colors of the morning. Soaking wet, with the thunder above my head and the lightning bleaching the sky to a fluorescent white- I heard the beating of my heart growing stronger, the adrenaline pumping through my body from head to toe, I breathed in deeply, and even the air felt electric.
Sure enough, he drives up to me “ahhh come- we will go for a ride, slowly slowly, I will not go fast!” I immediately make up my mind about him and decide that I 1) do not want to ride this joke of a moped 2) do not trust this guy as far as I can throw him 3) would be altogether happier if he never talked to me again. However, in a town of 1500 people, it’s best not to make enemies within two weeks of living there.
The spirit of Greece is what keeps me coming back. The feeling in the air every minute of every day. I set foot on the street and feel the earth giving me life. I place my hand on the ancient marble column and there is an invisible umbilical cord, feeding my soul.
43 days ago I heaved my Kelty Moraine 3200 on my back, walked into San Jose International Airport, and haven’t looked back. Life out of a backpack is different than any other style of life. The biggest triumph of a day (or week- let’s be honest) is a shower- a hot shower is just pushing it.
I was praying to everything I believed in, and things I didnt believe in, please stop the wind, just stop the wind. I looked back across the valley to other side of the moutain- Christos was now stamping on fires and using a branch to put out another fire at the same time. Oh, I’m going to kill him if he lives through this.
I slowly used my imagination to fill every spot in the theater with people I know, faces I remember- even if only in passing. Now, with a full audience I proceeded to give a speech. It’s of no use to you what the speech was about, but it lasted for about 15 minutes before I politely excused myself from my imaginary audience as I was starting to get a sunburn.
oday he came to my door with homemade chicken soup and rice, bread and he even brought me a spoon! (yeah, no spoon in my flat) This was completely unexpected so I responded with “soup! Thank you SOO much! ” uh oh. Busted. “Brandy- what did I tell you? Now I am late, I must go”. With that, he was gone.