The Great Ski Escapade!

Yesterday I finally got to cross off one of my real legit bucket list items. (I have two lists—the real one and the this-would-never-happen-in-a-million-years-but-would-be-crazy-awesome one. This comes from the first.)  Now, for most people this item is a yearly vacation they've been doing since they were 5. But for me, this was an entirely new experience. I went SKIING!!!

So, I'm from Texas right. I can count on one hand the number of times I've been in real snow (not sleet or ice or the drippy stuff that melts after 2 hours. REAL SNOW.) So I loved it. It wasn't freezing outside, but the snow was still a perfect powder. Probably because we were so high up. We left the Artemis at 6AM for the three hour journey to Mount Parnassus. It took almost an hour to wind our way up to the part of the mountain where we bought our tickets (that took forever. With Greeks, you have to be aggressive in line. They don't wait quietly.) But the view was totally worth it. Here's a glimpse of our drive up (taken through the bus windows, sorry about the glare)

Our group had a few experienced guys who had planned on skiing during their free travel and were totally prepared with the right clothes and skills, but most of us were pretty new to the whole thing. Nevertheless, we were EXCITED!!

Part of the group!

First off, let me say this. If you've never skied before, it's probably best to start with the bunny slopes. You're going to have a much better time, embarrass yourself a lot less, and most importantly learn how to turn, and oh yeah, stop. We found out fast that was pretty important ;)
A group of us, ready to jump right into it, hopped onto closet ski lift after riding the gondola lift up the first part. And, well, we went up. Like, ALL the way up. To the top of the mountain.
(Also, let me say this. My exit off the lift was horrible. Horrible as in my foot got caught and was drug around and they had to stop the lift to make sure I was alive. I was THAT person.)
ANYWAYS. At first we we're like WOAH. Dude this is awesome.

THE VIEW. It felt like we we're touching the clouds.

And then we figured out we were going to have to get down...skiing. Which we barely knew how to do (I couldn't get off a lift right...and now I had to get down??!) The experienced ones took to it like pros and were gone, and the rest of us scrambled around, falling and losing our skis in the snow for a while. It was definitely an experience hahaha.

This is my sad trail down the steep slope. I got really good at skiing backwards. It kept me from losing control hahaha.

Finally, I reached the end of that slope with a few others. Turns out that the first slope was part of the red course (aka, the hardest) and we had reached the green course (the middle one), which was where I really had a blast. After finishing it we took a break and then did the same one again (and, I might add, I got off the lift perfectly the second time. So there.) It was so fuuuuun! Just wish we had more time. Apparently January 30 is a holiday in Greece (for the three holy hierarchs? Not sure.)
Oh yeah. Did I mention I had my baby, my really nice SLR Canon rebel T1i camera with me the whole time? I should be given an award because that baby is fit as a fiddle, no harm done at all! (I really wouldn't advise it though haha, I was more focused on protecting it when I fell than I was about falling correctly) I'm so glad I did though. Totally worth it to me for pictures.

Overall, the day was a success. I'm so so glad I had the opportunity to go skiing while I was here in Greece and had an amazing time. Standing at the top of the mountain gives you this feeling I can't even describe. It feels like the whole world is beneath you at your feet. It's beautiful. Feeling super sore and tired today though hahaha.

Today was not nearly so adventurous, but interesting all the same. We got to set foot on American soil for the first time in over 2 weeks. How is this possible, you may ask? Today, the HUG group visited the US Embassy! Alas, I have no pictures to prove this feat, as you're not allowed to take electronics into the building and you have to go through security and have your passport examined. Dr. J had set up a special meeting for us with them just to go over safety basics, how to travel, what to look out for, etc.

Greece fun facts:

• People don't drink to get drunk here, like in America. They drink socially here, which means they'll be sipping on one or two drinks over the course of a couple of hours. They rarely get rowdy drinking. It's just not how they do.

• They DO however, like to protest. Having protests is like an art form to them, and they will do it daily. Most of the time it is peaceful though, and it's not how it's depicted in the media.

• The main thing to worry about when traveling here are the pick pocketers, especially when riding the Metro to Athens or the ports, really touristy places. They will appear friendly or try to distract you, but take advantage of your wallet and your ignorance and naivety if you let your guard down.

 I was able to talk to the vice consul of the embassy, John Reed Payne, for a little bit afterwards which was awesome. Seriously thinking about interning or working with something like this in the future. Wouldn't that be the greatest job ever? They have a two year post in a country, then are moved to a different one. That's the dream life, baby. I want to travel like that. Being here in Greece had opened my eyes to so many more opportunities, changed my view of the world. It's so much bigger than I ever imagined. There are so many possibilities.

Ta ta till next time!

<3 Rachel

PS LEAVING FOR ISRAEL IN T MINUS 4 DAYS :)))

Walked where Paul did. No big deal.

We're baaaaack! From where you may ask? The Peloponnese. The southern part of Greece that consists of a large peninsula and is the site of many important historical events and mythological stories. This raw country is so so breathtaking I have no words for it. I might even dare to say that it's more beautiful than the mainland of Greece. As we drove into the Peloponnese over the Corinth canal we all just stared in amazement, green mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. I've never seen anything like it and I have no pictures to do it justice. >Heads up, this post is going to be pretty long. I've got a lot to say whether you want to read it or not ;)

The Corinth Canal (You can bungee jump off of this!!!)

Wednesday January 23, 2013 - Day 1

First stop: Corinth.

Paul spent 18 months in Corinth on his second missionary journey where he stayed with Aquila and Priscilla and worked as a tent maker while speaking in the synagogue.We were able to walk through the agora, or marketplace, where Paul once walked and preached to the Corinthians (to read the full story go to Acts 18 - I read it on the bus after and kept thinking I've been there. I've been there now!)

Our guide, Constantinos, talking in the Corinth ruins. This guy's hilarious.

CORINTH!!!

Walking up to the agora.

 Before we walked in the agora though, we went through the museum and the temples, looking at all the statues and reading the history of the Corinthians. And wow. It really hit me staring at all the tributes these people made to gods how desperately broken they were. These people devoted their lives to worshiping these gods. Not just money and time and sacrifices, their lives. How lost they must've been. How much they lived in darkness despite all their wealth and knowledge for their time. Thousands of these people lost together, praying to gods that weren't real, gods that could never answer their prayers, gods that could never save them. It's just so sad. As overjoyed as I was to be in the beautiful ancient city, I just couldn't wrap my mind around this Greek world's mythology. Sure, I've studied it, read stories, watched movies for entertainment. But this was their life. It was real for them. It breaks my heart. But I know why Paul was there, was his purpose was. What a light he must have been.

The temple of Apollo by the agora.

Cheesy ground picture, but this is the ground Paul walked on. Yes.

The agora ruins.

 The 2nd stop of the day: the Acrocorinth. "Acro" means upper, fitting because this was the acropolis of ancient Corinth. The view was incredible.The whole city, the ocean, the mountains, everything was beneath us. Normally we follow Constantinos around with our whisper sets on (headsets to listen to him) but here we were given time to run around and explore, a part we all enjoyed.

View from the castle.

Just chillin on a castle. You know.

The Corinth town below.

Showing that Grecian spirit at the top!

3rd stop: Cenchrea. An old important port on the coast.This is where Paul stopped to cut his hair (also on his 2nd missionary journey) to fulfill a vow (Acts 18:18)

The old port of Cenchrea.

4th and final stop of the day: The cutest little village called Tolo where our hotel was. Our room was  RIGHT next to the water and we had the most spectacular sunrise in the morning.

GOD IS AMAZING

Friends leaning out of our hotel room. Right on the water. WOWZA

The precious sleepy town of Tolo. It is their off season right now so not many people were there.

And that was day one :)

Thursday January 24, 2013 - Day 2

First stop: Epidaurus. A small town in the Peloponnese famous for its theatre and healing center, Epidaurus held many wonders for our group.

Apparently people would come here and pay to spend the night in the enkoimeteria, a big sleeping hall. In their dreams Apollo's son Asclepius would tell them how to cure themselves. 

At the bottom of the theatre you could here a coin drop. Fantastic.

2nd stop: Nafplio. A seaport town that I am madly in love with. Firstly, there was a castle there with a to die for view. Secondly, the town is out of a fairytale. We walked the streets after lunch and I couldn't believe it was real life.

3rd stop: Mycenae. Okay, history nerd that I am, I was super excited about this. Mycenae is the old site of Agamemnon's palace. (Troy anyone?) We walked through the ruins and Constantinos told us that even after Agamemnon died he would still reside there, watching everything. He said, "Turn to your right and look." And BAM.

Do you see it?

Okay, closer look. His outline is in the mountains! You can see his face, nose beard, chest. (I know it's dark, it was about to rain)

I just ate that up. So cool.

Entrance to his castle.

The burial site.

Afterwards Constantinos showed us an old honeycomb shaped temple lower down. It echoed beautifully, and someone had the idea to have the group sing in it. We sang three 4-part songs, "All Praises Be", "Magnificat", and my favorite, "The Greatest Command". Wow. Wow wow wow. Our group of about 40 blended so well. It was just one of those moments you want to hold on to and stretch out, relive again and again. I'll never forget that. Constantinos humored us even though it was raining outside and wanted to move us along faster to the museum. (and everyone know Greeks don't like the rain!)
After the museum we hopped on our bus again and headed to our hotel in OLYMPIA!

Friday January 25, 2013 - Day 3

Okay, first off let me say that our hotel, a best western called Hotel Europa was way cool. It was a five star and super duper nice in that chill cabin kind of way. I tried rabbit for the first time. Tasted kind of like chicken. Anyways.

1st stop: OLYMPIA

We toured the site for a couple hours, learning about the history of the games. It started in 776 BC. Fun fact. They used to run with loincloths but one guy's fell off and it was considered good luck, and welp, they all ran naked after that. Weirdly enough, we were there a long time and learned more there than anywhere else but I don't have much to say about it. Probably because I mostly remember it starting to pour and us trying to all cram ourselves into the museum to get out of it with a bunch of Japanese tourists chattering at each other. It was cool though, I ran on the stadium where they used to race.

Ready to race!

SO. That was my journey Peloponnese. Sorry it's super long! Didn't want to forget anything.

The places we visited starting with Corinth and ending in Porto Rafti back at the Artemis

OPPA GREECE STYLE

I haven't written in awhile! Spending time exploring Porto Rafti and experiencing all the wonders this Greek world has to offer :) Now that we've been at the Artemis almost a week, (What!!) we've settled into a little bit more of a routine. Class everyday starting at 8:15, Chapel at 9:15, lunch at 1PM, and the rest of the day free aside from dinner at 6:30 and tea time at 9. It's perfect.

Everyday has held something different in store for us. Saturday was our free dinner night, where they let our cook have a break and give us euros to eat out on. A group of us walked down by the beach, further than most of us had gone before and found this quaint little Greek restaurant. It had the cutest checkered tables and the owners were super helpful in helping us read their menu! A lot of us ordered the chicken kebob with pie...but we had no idea what pie meant. We found out when they brought it to us that it was just like a gyro except a skewer of chicken in it instead of pork. We were confused, but it was amazinggggg. We decided to go out for gelato afterwards...too many bakeries to choose from.

Walking along the dock of Porto Rafti at night

The restaurant!

Our Sunday schedule works different here. We have classes in the morning, like it was a regular school day, and church in the evening. So after classes we explored the beach on the other side and went down to what they call The Point. Wowowowowowowowowow.

Walking to the point. View on the right :)

I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M HERE

The beach with the point in the distance!

Cute Greek house. I'm moving in here. Like asap.

 Church that night was so wonderful. They have a Greek service in the mornings and the English one at night, but we were still able to meet so many Greeks and I even sat by a guy from Ukraine who could speak Russian, Greek and a little English. We sang the closing song 4 times, in English, in Greek, in Russian, and in Italian. So cool.

Some of my lovely friends and Alex, the Ukrainian!

 I can't say this enough, but everyday here is a blessing! I am so joyed to be here. It's more than I ever dreamed it would be.  Today was special in it's own way. Kids have always held such a huge place in my heart, and since camp ended last summer I haven't been near them. I missed that so much. We were playing volleyball in the back of The Artemis, and these boys were pressed up against the fence watching us. We talked to them, asked their names, what they were doing. They told us they were playing soccer, and the invited us over to join them in the school courtyard next door. And they were BOSSES. I think the ending score was a tie 6-6, but they held their own and scored on us twice in the beginning before we even got close. One little guy was so excited he scored he jumped in the air hollering and whooping and busted out "OPPA GANGNAM STYLE!" and started doing the dance. It was hilarious.

ayyyyyyy

gangsta style

Our soccer group!

I'm so excited to see what the rest of this semester holds. I miss so many people back home dearly, but this trip of a lifetime is more than worth it.