thekristydave

Dave and I recently received a Christmas card from friends of ours in Brooklyn – the first time I have ever gotten a Christmas card from a Hasidic Jewish couple. Anyway, it was addressed to Kristy and Dave Gapoostoliriweeds, but delivered first to another address a few houses down. By now all the neighborhood knows there are a couple of foreigners living in Alexi’s house, most know that the girl in his house is half Greek and half American, and quite possibly they even know my last name, which is a very common name here. Certainly the mailman knows my name and probably Dave’s as well, but apparently gets a bit confused when encountering an anagram of the two.

So the card found its way to our Mediterranean island and landed at the wrong foreigners’ house on the right street. This morning it concluded its journey when I answered the bell and was greeted by a gray-haired woman and her wiccan-looking companion, neither of whom I had met. Holding up a letter and speaking in deliberate Greek with a seemingly German accent, the gray-haired woman asks me, “Can it be you?” Looking closely at the names, I let out a giggle, confirm that it could be me and thank her as I close the door. I laugh a little more when I realize that the letter, missing a house number, was wrongly delivered to the house of the foreigner without a Greek name, that our anagram name appears more German than American, and that the wrong foreigner immediately knew which house held the correct foreigner.

So we bought a chicken today with the hopes of roasting it tomorrow. We are spending Christmas day with a Frenchman and our favorite Palestinian and I wanted to make something a little special. So we went to the butcher and stared at the giant ducks and pigs’ heads and rabbits with the fuzzy feet still attached and remembering our tiny “fournaki” or literally “little oven”, decided on a chicken. (Ok, it wasn’t only the small oven that made me decide on a chicken. What do they do with pig’s head anyway?)
Continue reading It’s Christmas Eve and this chicken’s got everything but its head…. »

Material things have been leaving me these past few days…yesterday my bike rode away from me. Moment of silence, please. That was my only possession with wheels. Today I got off the bus, which I took to school because my bike left me, but half my shoe decided it wasn’t at the right stop and continued on its journey.

I suppose one good needs to meet one bad (see previous post …bike…), but I was hoping the one bad would happen to someone else.

On the other hand, or foot as the case may be, my shoe-handicap caused me to ask a friend for a pair of shoes. She only had sneakers to give me, and along with them came these socks with toes like gloves. I don’t think I have experienced an article of clothing that has made me this happy since I discovered scarves. Turns out loss can lead to love…

We woke up this morning to a darker day. For the first time in five months there were clouds in the sky, blowing by bringing intermittent shadow and bits of cool shelter from the hot sun. In the distance the mountains were covered in a gray curtain and no longer held their imposing purple presence over the skyline. The air was filled with electricity and you could hear the excitement echoed in the townspeople. Summer was leaving us.

Continue reading Water falling from the sky? »

In case we forgot to mention it, we live in a resort area: a beautiful island in the middle of the clear waters of the Mediterranean sea with lots of sunshine and soft sandy beaches. Just a short (10 minute, 80 euro cent) bus ride away is a small resort area called Ayia Apostoli. Golden beaches flanked by small peninsulas of rusty rock create an illusion of seclusion in the swarming reality of northern European sunseekers…and we manage to have our fun.

Continue reading Just another beach day… »