NO TITLE

 It does not feel right to put a title to this entry. Even though, I will write about my amazing weekend, I would like to connect the title to this quote:

"The risk of love is loss, and the price of loss is grief -

But the pain of grief

Is only a shadow

When compared with the pain

Of never risking love."

It hurts to see people, who you love, grieve. There is nothing you can do and nothing you can say that will make it better. Only being there seems to be a slight support...

Ok, in memories of the past weekend and recalling the great experiences for a special someone:

Friday afternoon, after a long working week, I took off to Φενεόσ (Feneos), located south-west from Κορινθοσ (Korinthos) and over an hour to drive. The way that leads to all these little villages is very very curvy, so my car sickness kicked in quite often, but because it is surrounded by such a beautiful landscape (mountains with snow, acres and in general untouched nature) it is definitely worth it.

Our little tree house

Balcony view

We stayed...wait for it... in a...wait for it... TREE HOUSE! Yes, not kidding. Ok, to some of you it actually might look more like a gardening hood, but it was simply adorable with a tiny bathroom, just a bed and a nightstand and a great "balcony" overviewing the mountains. The thing I really missed most: Silence. Not a tone of the every daily life, not a car or highway sound, nothing! Just nature and a pure world to espace into.

Arriving in Πονοραμα (Panaroma), village of the tree house, early evening, we were certainly hungry and went straight for food in Γοθρα (Goura) the main village of this area. Giorgos, of course, knew the people and it was a nice chatty-evening. The owner gave me his Κομπολοι (Koboloi) to play with and I discovered that it is really not that easy, but you learn quickly and then it becomes like an addiction. :) It was very funny, because I could observe how addicted the owner was. He gave it to me and then took it back, but after 15min he returned giving it to me and the same happened a couple of times. The food in this Ταβερνα (Taverna) was great. We had grilled feta cheese, rooster with homemade french fries (with potatoes of the region), veil with spaghetti and a huge salad. Delicious!

It is just great when you go to a traditional Ταβερνα, because they do not give you a menu, but just tell you about five dishes they can make for you and then you decide from there. Just when we had our food the door popped open and Kristos and Isabel walk in (good friends of Giorgos from Korinthos), what a coincidence. That is how the night went even better, with more company, laughter and traditional Schnaps that comes close to Grappa, but I forgot the name now.

@ The lake

Saturday, we slept in and enjoyed a very tasty breakfast with homemade butter, bread and cake, fresh squeezed juice and other goods. Taking a ride around the lake that is located in the valley in between the mountains, we bought walnuts, crunchy bread flavored tomatoe-oregano and a huge loaf of bread from a local bazar. There is a tiny old monastery located IN the lake and until a couple of years ago people got married in there. I can really imagine why, since the scenery around is so stunning.

We started down there...

It started with 1 flower...

After this we started our hike. Basically, we had no idea where we were going. We just randomly picked a mountain (we could see from the tree house) and decided we wanted to hike up there, ignoring the fact that there was still snow up there and besides hiking shoes we didn't have any proper equipment.

Half way

On top (we originally wanted to climb the mountain in the back)

At then end it was of course not that mountain we picked, but a smaller one right next to it about 1600m high. We followed red dots and white-red barrier tapes to the top. The last stretch became very dangerous in fact, because we were not going to the other mountain's top we had to leave the track and started ourselves. Nevertheless, we made it and had great fun on our way, taking soooo many pictures. Our way down took only about half of the time, so in total we had a nice 5-hour-hike.

Binoculars

Not having enough we drove to the famous monastery, located about 300m from the lake. This monastery was taken apart from a different location in the beginning of the 18th century and built up again on this mountain. Priests still live there and give mass. On the first floor visitors can try something similar to rose jelly, that is made by one of the priests. It is very sweet, but has a incredible intensive flavor. Binoculars made it possible to spy over the region and follow other hikers from the distance... very interesting^^.

Way to the enterence

The cliffs

At night we were so exhausted that we only went for food to a different Ταβερνα and went home to sleep. Sunday morning we woke up with the rain. Of course, we forgot that time changed that night and were quite surprised when it was 11.30 am all the sudden. After breakfast we left Πανοραμα and went to a monastery that is built into cliffs.

View from above the enterance

Yeah, you read competely correctly. What a fascinating view guys, I am telling you, I have no idea where all of the sudden these cliffs appeared, but we came around the corner and there they were, just THERE. The road up to the monastery didn't remind much of a road, but some rubbish and stones thrown together to call it a "way". I was mostly surprised by the soil, which was not brown, but more reddish. So many different types of soils in this area, amazing!

On our way back to Κορινθοσ we drove through many small villages which were all stamped by lemon and orange trees. Almost every inhabitant has his own citrus trees in his garden.

A wonderful weekend and a very special thank you to the person that made it possible!

#Fun Facts of today#

Wanna sip?

Little monument

1. When somebody dies in a car accident people don´t put up crosses (like in Germany). Instead they build a small monument in form of a pilar that often has a little church on top with pictures of the victim in. 

2. Most Greek streets only have one lane (even highways). The Greek just make two out of it and have such little space that I have to close my eyes every time a car overtakes one another.
3. There is a tree offering spring water (source)!

Fun and Laughter...

Oh guys, last weekend has been very relaxing, let me tell you about it...

Triple block (Korinthos)!!!

Friday, Yianni, Giorgos, Benny and I went to see a volleyball match in the proximity of Korinthos. The teams: Korinthos vs. Thessaloniki (with many players from the national team of Greece). It was a fabulous and tight game and even though Thessaloniki should have been better, Korinthos won :)

Exciting hours with great music and such a cheerful atmosphere. I think the playoffs will start quite soon, so we will go more often! Can't wait!!

Afterwards we went for food and a quick game of pool, before we hit a party in a bar not so far away from Korinthos. I sat in Audi TT and almost had you know... an orgasm (thx Petros!!!), apparently I am allowed to drive this baby once very soon, excited! :) But I like the owner too, it's not just about the car...^^

Please don't disturb: SOCCER!

Saturday was dedicated to the shopping mall close my the metro station: Neratziotissa. Benny and I enjoyed a delicious frozen Greek joghurt with fresh berries at the beginning and then went three-story-maniac shopping. A lot of fun, funny faces and gossipping. We finished off at Ruby Tuesday's, an American franchise restaurant in style of an American diner. Benny could hardly believe his luck that they broadcasted the soccer game Dortmund vs. Bremen so he enjoyed his shrimp platter even more :) Besides that I think it was one of the first Saturday night's where we stayed in and really didn't do anything. Well - shopping is quite tiring.

YUMMY :)

Yesterday, best day ever! Sun. 18 degrees. Golden day. Went to Korinthos around noon and enjoyed the whole day on the terrace of our favorite pub Soul, got tanned and started developping a great business idea...

Nothing more to say for now!

#Fun facts for today#
1. In case of a funeral people slowly walk (they don't drive) behind the funeral car. It looks like they pilger to the cemetery.
2. A Greek cemetery looks very different from any I have seen so far. All grave stones are white and point in one direction. Moreover there are almost no flowerbeds on the grave itself (which are huge) and almost every grave has an integrated glass wall where old pictures of the burried person are in.

I < 3 Ναύπλιο

Overviewing Nafplio

Ok, this post was supposed to appear here a lot earlier, but I encountered some difficulties with the pictures, which are still not available, because the memory card does not fit into my card reader (guess what? My camera broke...), but I promise they will follow as soon as I have them on my harddrive.

Anyway, so here is the story, before I forget. There is already too much to tell, so that I will probably forget half of it.

1st breakfast outside this year

Last Friday I left to go to Ναύπλιο (Nafplio), the former capital of Greece (very touristic) and located about one hour south from Κορινθος (Korinthos). It was a great opportunity to just get away for a couple of days and see something else. Those days priceless!!! We stayed in a very nice suite located on the hill overlooking Ναύπλιο. The interior was very modern combined with the typical style of the city (olive dark wood and something similar to sand stone). Every day a woman brought us a breakfast basket with delicious goods (toast, croissants, cake, oranges, clementines, jam, ham&cheese, milk, orange juice, cereal and other biscuits) which we ate on the balacony one day :)

Greek coffee

Friday night was fanastic. After we left the suite we went to the city to have dinner and stopped at a typical Greek ΤΑΒΕΡΝΑ (tavern) eating delicious salads, great olive oil dunked grilled veggies, some traditional meat balls and finished off with Greek coffee and a sweet that looked like a cube dipped in confection sugar but not all that sweet. Oh my God, but Greek coffee my new favorite!!! The next day we went to a café called Εσ Αει (forever) where the owner let me look behind the bar how it is made.
So instead of pressing loose powder into a piece of metal and inserting it into a machine, loose coffee powder is put in a small metal pot. This pot is placed onto a sandcovered hot plate where the temperature is constant and lower than from a regular coffee machine. When the coffee is poured into the cup a lot of coffee dregs stays at the bottom. The taste is overall milder than normal coffee, but it still pumps my veins ;) I am very grateful for this experience!

yeah...this is not a dumpster but the trashiest and coolest bar ever!

BUT... back to Friday night, of course the night did not finish after dinner. Walking around the city made us discover small shops in even smaller streets with even smaller owners ;) At some point we went past a bar and paused with the next step. Giorgos and I looked at each other not believing what we just saw. Taking a few steps back we discovered a "bar" called λάθος (which means "wrong") and indeed I think there was nothing more WRONG in this bar that it could be. So much trash I have never seen in my entire life, seriously, if one had to move out, three containers would have not been enough!! From an old laundry machine, to ancient film equipment, to wooden objects, to a complete trashed up bar (where the bartender woman could barely look up from), to the most funniest thing: a MOVING leg of a store window mannequin!!! Hystrical, I am telling you!!! The owner probably completely out of his mind made the funniest comments about his bar and ended up singing to tunes Giorgos produced with an acustic guitar (I was sooo impressed). BEST NIGHT EVER!!!

I so want to go back to this city, it has so much to offer!!!

P.S. Ναύπλιο is also famous for the creation and production of κομπολόι (Komboloi) the string made of amber pearls (I told you about in one of my previous posts). I found out that people here use it to first of all calm their nerves, but also because they believe that amber is good for their health.
P.S.2. On the way back from Ναύπλιο I saw an orange stand where they sold 12kg of oranges for €3!!

# Fun facts for today #
1. The best olive oil comes actually from Greece and not from Italy, what I always thought. Truth is, in order to be able to sell olive oil it needs to have an acidity content of less then 1%. Italy and Spain have always over 2%, which is why they are not allowed to sell it (this way it could only be used for frying). Therefore, they import olive oil from Greece to mix it with theirs to be able to sell it. Pay attention next time you go to an Italian restaurant and the olive oil, often served with bread in the beginning, tastes a little bitter...

Gotta fly high!!! :)

2. Street signs, e.g. the triangle with a predestrian or "caution - right of way" are not white with a red edge like in Germany/Netherlands/France, but they are yellow inside.
3. When people are angry or telling each other to get lost they often use the middle finger. The Brits however often use their index finger and their middle (palm facing the body). Why? After the British conquered the French, they took the remaining soldiers as slaves and cut off their index and middle finger. In order to express their disgust they showed them these two fingers, because they were not able to do so anymore. So better think twice before you raise these two fingers next time you are in the UK ;) !
4. Why do waiters keep one hand on their back when they pour out wine (or any other drink) from a bottle? Orignially, this comes from the Roman times. People were afraid to get poisoned, with the waiter´s one hand on his back they believed this was not possible. In addition they clinked their glasses so hard that a little bit of content would swap into the other persons glass (and vice versa).

το αγγούρι...

@ Hotel Caravel in Athens

... means cucumber and is my new favorite Greek word. On Friday night I went to Corinthos to a conference about 'Tourism Development' in Loutraki, which was interesting and I felt rather important meeting people like the vice major of Loutraki and the representative for the Chamber of Commerce and president of a successful sport association. At some point during the next weeks we will have meetings with these people just named and try to convince them of our proposal for city branding in Loutraki. For those of you, who study at NHTV a few words probably sound very familiar - so yes we are indeed doing something that has to do with what our university offers (I would have not expected it myself...). Anyway, afterwards I went out for (originally) a quick bite to eat, which ended up taking almost 3 hours anxiously learning the Greek alphabet.Well, now guess what? το αγγούρι was my first word (not for the sense some of you might interpret now^^). I still find it difficult to read or say things, but I always get very excited when somebody asks me to spell a word in Greek. Yet I have to learn the meanings of the words as well... will see how far I get in 4 more months.


Exactly!!! 1 (!!!) month is already over, went my like nothing and I am still in trance of what I have experience already and yet there is so much more to come.


On Saturday was another presentation we had to attend, then went to our favorite bar/café Soul sipping some Muscato (sparkling wine) and a Freddochino (iced cappu). Of course we got hungry at some point and went to a Crêpe House after words, where some yummy Crêpe with chicken, lettuce and parmesan was waiting for me. Meeting up with some more friends we went to Mojo, which is a bar for people between 30 and 50 actually. When you enter you first have to get used to the very dimmed light (almost dark) and very much like a living room atmosphere. The waitress was probably the unfriendliest one I have ever seen in mz entire life and I was pretty close to tell her: "She better quit her job if she wants to earn one penny in her life by not being a complete customer service brick." 

Fish in a Suhsi Bar

Girogos

Sunday afternoon we left for Athens to attend a presentation concerning Network Marketing which offered a new possiility, one just has to grab... will see about that. Nonetheless, a very nice night, which ended in Sushi with Giorgos, Petra and Vaso. Admiteedly, just by driving through Athens, it is not a nice city and looks pretty much like how I imagine Paris in the 18th century. Nevertheless, the hotel, where the conference was held at, was quite nice and called Caravel.However, everything deserves a second chance so I guess, we will go there again to take a closer look at the city, but one says "First impressions don't change...".



#Fun facts for today# 
1.  I think, Greek either use the wrong tooth paste or non at all - why? Well take an educated guess!
2.  People in Athens go out to dinner even later then people in Corinth - the Sushi bar in Athens started filling up around 10.30pm.

A brief glimpse into my "Carnival-Weekend"

Petra (my boss) and I

Chris Ninos

Writing their own lyrics unfortunately in Greek :(

Last week was sort of busy - I mean not really - since I am still filing data, but every now and then I get a pretty cool assignment or tiny project in between. So this weekend was "different". On Friday night we had to go and see a venue in Loutraki where three rockbands performed. The first one YesterGaze started at 7pm (with covers of Red

Yiannis, Giorgos, Ben

Hot Chilli Peppers, Metallica etc.), however, we were already there at 5pm and just stood there, talking to the other band and trying to kill time... it was an outside venue and the sound check and the rest of the set up was dealt with by a local technician. ORAMA was the band we had batches for and came to support. Basically they consist of five band members aged 17 and 18 years - all very humored and funny. The last artist Chris Ninos perfromed another 40min with more Pop and Rock, but nice to listen to. Afterwards we went again to Waves with my boss, two other women and Benny. From there Giorgos picked us up and we went to Kenzo another great cocktail; the bartender really knew what he was doing.

"HihiHaha"

Saturday, we had to start working at 10 am to help setting up a performance from two artists from Athens. A children's play "HihiHaha" in the Cultural Center of Agoi Theodoroi dealing with two teenage, naïve girls taking a journey in a hot air balloon. The audience (about 40 kids) got so anxious and excited when they are actively included in the play that it was really fun to watch - again I just wished I could have understood it, but besides the body language I didn't. Shortly before the play started I had to run to the office an create a song list for a dance contest after the play, I think this will be something very nomral in my future - to arrange things very last minute. It might seem small to you, but even the smallest missions give an adrenalin kick :)

Yeah, I am wearing a pink WIG

Now - yesterday was rather interesting.  From 11am until 2pm we had to face paint children - well actually another woman and I did and Benny taught children how to juggle. On the square in front of the church we simply sat on the wall with a few paints and brushes, sponges and glitter. I totally lost track of time, since I was so focused on children's faces and the design they wanted. I have only done face painting once before and it only involved small flowers and some girlie designs. So there you sit with very excited kids, who actually never sit still and always want to look in the mirror or want to show the progress of their beauty (that's at least what they think...) to their friends or parents. Nevertheless it was great fun and I would always do it again. The smile of every kid afterwards is so worth it!!!

After 2 pm we rushed back to the office (just 5min walk) and had to get dressed into our clown costumes. Again we were a group of about 12 people which had to get their faces painted - here we go so I wasn't done yet. Around 3.30pm we took a march to the beginning of the carinval parade where we had spot to walk. For about an hour we slowly walked through the main road of Agii Theodoroi and enjoyed the crowd (there were a couple of thousands of people, which felt like the village would explode since it is usually so empty). One more thing I gotta tell you (Ben don't hate me now ;)): The son, 14 years old, of my boss, thought it was a good idea to help Benny find a girlfriend. So he drew a sign, which said in Greek: I am Benjamin and I am looking for a girlfriend, call me *and then his number*. He really held the sign in front of him and we cracked some jokes about it!! :)

Our walking group

Compared to the German Karneval it is very different though. There is a parade with different walking groups and also some trucks, which carry big figures or just signs, but no alcohol or candy is distributed to the crowd and instead for throwing confetti to the people, they throw it at you! In the middle of the parade were two girls with mics, who announced every group and said something about them (also not happening in Germany). A small concert took place when the parade finished, again with ORAMA. However, because we wanted to go to Corinth  Ben and I only saw a little bit of it and then left to discover the "leftover" from a slightly bigger parade in Loutraki (a lot more people and parties in clubs and bars). Another nice night out! :)

# Fun facts for today #
1. Yesterday 17 degrees sunshine, today 7 degrees and rain
2. Today is Clear Monday a holiday (nobody works) celebrated because it is 40 days before Easter

Είμαι είκοσι τέσσερις

Dinner party

... means in Greek "I am 24". This way I want to thank everytbody for giving me a thought, dedicating a post/letter/call/text or some personal hours. After work we went to Korinthos and went to a very nice restaurant. Just to describe it real quick: when you enter there is a big room with a high ceiling and woooden floor a well as the bar; if you turn to your right several steps (more like a half-round amphitheater) lead down to a second seating area with a fire place. It felt strange when we came in, because everyone from the lower level was looking up at you, but as soon as I was sitting next to the fire place and other people came in, I felt how I looked up automatically. This might sound irrelevant and strange to some of you, but just a crazy feeling I had (not sure if the owner thought of the psychologic side effect when he built it).

@ OR

Giorgos invited some people, so about 10 people showed up and we enjoyed some fun hours together, sharing food (typical Greek vegetable apparently - which I am still convinced was just Spinach ;)), getting a very nice birthday cake *yummy* and laughing together. The day ended at a bar called Or. What a cool place - let me tell you: completely white, about 100 degrees in the there (more like a living room feeling) and 4 people including the DJ. The inside walls were round-shaped and had several niches in the room, which created corners where you just talk. The place was not big, but because it appeared like an igloo it had style and was rather trendy. Even with not many people I had a blast!
Thanks to everybody who was there that night!

Again: Stupidity @ train station

Ok, what else? On Friday we joined a gym in Korinthos, called Vibes, great fitness center, not too big, very nice people, no anabolic bricks and a great atmosphere to work out close by the sea. We paid 140 Euro for 4 months - not too bad after all, since it includes also a sauna and very new machines. The downside is that it is in Korinthos in the Center (meaning first taking the train then walking about 40 min and the same back), but oh well - keeps you active and there is something to do after work. Speaking of work, we are still filing data, a little boring, but in a few weeks we can organize are own event, so Benny and I are very much looking forward to that. :) This weekend we have some Carneval events coming up in our little village (so yeah it is not going to be Cologne or Mainz...) with face painting, a carneval parade and a small rock concert, will see how that goes. Of course I will keep you posted.

# Fun fact for today #
When Greek people sit in the train or even in a café they play with something that looks like a string with several pearls/marbles and they swing it back and forth over their index finger and it makes clickclickclick. Pretty annoying if you keep paying attention to it - an the other hand also fascinating when you see three people talk and each of them doing this. I guess it goes for relaxation or multitasking ;)

Observations

Unfortunately, the Internet in our apartment stopped working since the beginning of the week; meaning I could not post earlier. Apparently, it has to do with a "power failure" and according to my employeur's son the connection will work again, when there will be another "power failure", very logical! ;)

Since we already talking about logic, here is what I observed about the Greek way of driving cars or parking. When a Greek driver wants to park, instead of using the turning light, they use their emergency lights. Why? I don't know. Next: when they come to a crossroad and have quite some speed, they just quickly honk, so that the other car knows that they are coming, in case the person to the right has actually the right of way. - Well, it's a way of driving, I guess. Oh yeah and a speed limit basically does not exist (cap driver on a country road drove 160km/h without moving a muscle, I just closed my eyes and prayed) --> Sorry Mum, but I am fine!

What else? Oh, the trains. In general, I think, the DB (German train company) should learn a thing or two from the company here, because if they are not striking (no wonder with the current politic situation) they are  always on time. Weird are the prices: for one stop, about 7 min ride, it's 3 EUR, but going to Athens airport, about 1hr10min, it's only 8 EUR.

Getting ready to look all business

Ok enough observations for now. Last weekend we had to attend a presentation (Saturday). Not so easy if you don't understand one word of Greek. The average age of the people was probably about 60, but they were nice, well at least that is my assumption since I did not understand their language. The presentation was given in a hotel, totally stuck in the 80s and freezing cold, but apprently it is running quite well during the summer months (not quite sure about that).

Too much coffee leads to INSANITY

On Sunday we went out with Yannis, a very good friend of Giorgos. He showed us more cafés and bars. A very cool place was Waves, located right next to the casino in Loutraki. We played UNO at Café Deluxe at the Korinthian Gulf and had some nice Iced Cappuchino. Other than that we went to watch a soccer match in a German pub called Allemania. The owner, German (husband Greek), was very nice and they had many German beers, which makes you feel a little bit at home. Their Schnitzel was incredible, I have probably not eaten a better one in Germany. After that Yannis invited us to his house, a very nice and cosy place, where we watched first a basketball game (Olympiacos against Panathinaicos) and then a volleyball game.
Thanks for the hospitality, great time/FUN! =)

More pictures will follow soon (I first have to wangle off some of Benji's pics) ;) So keep in ttttooooooouuuuch!!!!!