Halloween and Greece

Well here is sit aboard a Lufthansa airliner on my way to Greece…. Next to me is a man from Nuremberg and he was in Beijing for a conference and some business…China is the place to be…lots of countries knocking on the door…if a person knew Chinese and English he/she would have it made…

Just when you think you have seen it all, the next level happens. Reg and I had just finished sending another set of clubs home and were on our way back…a man passes us on a bike and sitting n his shoulder is a parrot…eating away at some fruit…..now parrots are noted for the bottom of the bird cages as well…..so on the shoulder was a towel so that while traveling , the bird could crap….yep you see it all.

Morning runs have been a little more difficult…it is getting cooler and darker….someone switches the lights off…because you can be running in light and then all of a sudden all the lights go out in the area……just like that…

Have had a couple of interesting nights out at a place called the World of Suzie Wongs…..yes Jay the place that wouldn’t let us in with our shorts…an older teacher and I after the Thanksgiving dinner went there and stayed out too late ….but it was good…got to do some dancing and singing…manager asked us back the next week because it was Hallowe’en…..and we were having a good time so he thought we might help him I guess….we did go back but got home at a better hour….

Hallowe’en was celebrated at our school…the kids had a dance the night before and many dressed up on the day of …including two who wanted me to be Dr Seuss…as they were dressed as Thing 1 and Thing 2….guess I am not a Seuss fan as I didn’t even know Things existed…no other teacher would……guess I am special…will try to include a picture…

Got an email from Meghan and Romain…they are getting married and have invited me to the wedding in London on August 15th….yeah I’ll be going….well maybe…thought that I might fulfill another dream and that would be to spend a few months biking around Europe just to see what it was like….may even check out whether you can get a job teaching there ….then that would make it easier to stay a year there….and really see what it was like…so WHO KNOWS….

Brent and NJ want me to go to their wedding in New Brunswick at Christmas but I think I will stay close to home this time….grandkids need to see their Grandpa for a few days anyways….kids don’t need to see me….well maybe???

Had a business group Montpelier come and try to convince me (moneybags) to invest some of my money off shore so that I can reap megabenefits….well I am not sure if it will or even if I will…we shall see…one of the ideas would have almost made it necessary to continue to work until I am 65 and after I thought about it …felt not a good things as I may want to “retire” …… hahaha

Am starting to get a little more comfortable with my role as the athletic coordinator…the IB part is not quite my bag…yet…lots of organizing….we are planning a basketball tournament and have teams coming from as far away as Shanghai….for a two day tournament..

Greece is supposed to be a great place to visit….will have only a limited time there…Rosamund has promised to show me a few places…the islands I said and she said which of the thousands do you want to see…so I guess we shall have to pick…I arrive on Wednesday and will leave the next Wednesday and Sunday will be spent running my little butt off and Monday will be a day spent in recovery…brought along my Nokia and will take it with me on the run…will take more pictures this time…I am not too concerned with my time as I was in Boston…and I have a bruise on the heel of my right foot that is causing some pain….just getting older I guess…Parent teacher interviews when I get back and I missed seeing the premier of New Brunswick….oh well…got a little note from Mel Friesen the other day talking about Ontario becoming a have not province….I wonder if there are statistics about the provinces and how many years various provinces have been have not…I know that Sask has been but is not now and I wonder how much money has been transferred to the other provinces over the years…I am sure that the maritimes have been constantly on the receiving end….and they have a lot of political influence particularly PEI who gets Senators just like the rest of the provinces and they aren’t even as big as Vancouver Island…..I think a re-thinking of our democracy needs to be addressed…oooppps did I say Senate and representational gov’t

Enough of that….

Will sign off for now and finish this on my way back with stories to tell and lies to create…just kidding…..

Our softball season..all of four games wraps up this weekend….get this 5 teams…and the commissioner…has the playoffs ( because it was a fun league, I thought) with first playing fifth, 2nd playing 4th and 3 getting a by…..his team is the 3…and is team also is the home team when the next round starts….blatant favouritism or what….I pointed out that in a real league, 4th and 5th would play off to see who plays 1st… and 2nd and 3rd play off…..he had to have a conference with the other team reps and I guess they decided that my way was better…. duhhhh…..this is also the guy who organized our Thanksgiving dinner and we still do not have any financial details about how many people came or even if we made money to support the Special Olympics…anyone heard of sudden death in softball…well two teams were tied after 5 innings and we were next up to play…I asked if it was the top or bottom of the inning and “he” said no we are in sudden death to see who wins the game….the team scored a run and it was over….how about that…!!!!

Got off the plane and Rosamund was there to meet me…..took a bus into town and then a taxi…get this…if there is someone in the taxi, you just ask if they can take you to your place….had a good sleep after the long trip….

Got up and the first item on the agenda was to visit the Acropolis and the Parthenon….This seems to be the only thing going for Athens other than being the centre of democracy 200 years ago…interesting thing happened…I wanted to take a picture with the CIS flag and the Canadian flag and the Riders flag….pulled out CIS one first and got all ready to take a picture….a lady guard rushed up and said that it is not allowed….took the flag and told me I could get it down at the gate when I left…guess they don’t want people taking pictures of their flags at the Greek monuments…actually a couple had taken a picture of me with the lady and they will email me a copy…she was Chinese and wanted a picture with the Beijing Olympic part of our flag….so there Greece…..so I waited and took one at the base of it outside the monument….as well a couple of Americans were lying down on some rocks and they whistled them not to do that as well…and you were not to touch the marble….rules …..hmmmmm ….an eventful day…took a few pictures…..

We toured around Athens and it seemed like every other shop was either a clothes shop or a shoe shop or a jewelry shop…...and many were very expensive…at least out of my price range as I have become a Beijing shopper…Rosamund had not received her furniture from Beijing yet so is relegated to a couple of mattresses and some furniture left behind by a friend….she had taken off a couple of days from work just to tour around with me…..quite a nice gesture I thought…..

Tourism seems to be one of the mainstays of the Greek economy….and they even have tourism police I was told to make sure that tourists are not ripped off…Picked up my marathon package and it took about 4 minutes…far from the 3 hours that it took in Bejing…..very well organized…. One good thing…we got a pass for the public transport in Athens so that we could get around quite easily….and we did go around…We headed over to an island called Aegina….this was one of the islands that you see when you talk about the Greek isles so I got to one of them…different than Athens ..more relaxed…we rented a scooter after a very nice dinner at a local restaurant….the romantic side of the island visit…some very interesting scenery…Greek scenery…we visited a ruins that was a temple to the goddess Athena….my thinker pose again…something like the temples in Beijing…after a while you get templed out….but a very good day all in all and I fell asleep on the ferry ride back so the hour and a half went by really fast

This is a European city…duhhhhh reminds me of Quebec City with narrow winding streets….lots of one way traffic….no parking space available…so they park on the sidewalks ..if there are any….did I say narrow….they double park all over the place …no wonder it is narrow...apartments all over the place….markets both veggies and other stuff…...narrow sidewalks….did I say the cars parked on them well they do….even on some main streets…put one wheel on the sidewalk and one on the road….for a country that started democracy they don’t seem to follow many rules…..the speed limit is a suggestion…they double park…..they park wherever they want….they do follow the traffic lights but are constantly passing… lots of motor bikes….helmets sometimes….no police presence except at a protest for something…..Ros says there is a strike everyday about something…..country doesn’t seem to function very well…..has a chip on their collective shoulder…..

Saturday….went to a party on Saturday night…..a couple of Rosamund’s friends were there….we didn’t stay out too late as the race was the next day and I needed to be on the buses from the stadium at about 6:30……found out here is no clothing for Athens Universtiy…..the people at the party said it must be an American thing to have the university on some clothing….
we took the bus and there were thousands of runners to take to Marathon…they shipped us out in tour buses…it was about a 45 minute ride…..saw a lot of the country…couldn’t talk to the guy I was sitting with as he was Greek and couldn’t speak a word of English….got all ready….Vaselined up and had another runner use mine too…..he had forgotten…took some photos for the school and for myself….didn’t get one at the flame as there was a long line up and didn’t want to wait around…..

Starting time was right on and the race weather was good…..wasn’t 2 minutes into the race and several runners were off to the side taking a pee…I had to laugh…..was a good ½ as I think I was under 2 hours and then it was tough…..4’17.22….final time…..was not upset with the time…..was fighting a ham string all the way….and was not as motivated as Boston…Boston cannot draw on the kind of history for their marathon , so Greek one is special in its own way…....will get a photo for posterity…….went on the web site and was 77/203 in my age category, 1653/3163 in males….so did feel a little better…was emotional running into the Olympic stadium …..Panathenaikon Stadium…..lots of people there for the finals shouting BRAVO…… and lots of yelling…..made the Greek newspaper… my time and name were in the section on the marathon……world famous…2010 is the 2500 anniversary of the battle of marathon so they are doing something special for it…..who knows

Took Rosamund’s niece out to the new James Bond…..actually did not even sleep in the theatre….surprise….surprise

Next day went to the changing of the guard at the Parliament building….the buildings are not as good as ours……will try to put the changing on the blog as it is fun to watch…..I took a couple of pictures with the Greek writing….it is almost like the Chinese …now I know the expression…..it is all Greek to me…

Not really an Athens fan….but they did have some interesting features…markets get set up almost anywhere….and they feature food of course but also shoes, clothing pots and pans…..so even though it is expensive to live there, it looks like there is a way to make do with some of these places….not a fan of Greece women…told Rosamund that I hadn’t seen a good looking one yet…maybe because I wasn’t looking hard enough….

Headed out to the Olympic Stadium (2004) ….was surprised…there was hardly anyone there….they had 3 or 4 outdoor pools and tennis courts and a large area for gymnasium…none used….seems like if the public is paying to build the facilities that you would expect that they would be used after the Olympics….not today…guards wouldn’t even let me inside the stadium to take a picture….not allowed the guard said…interesting building but nowhere near as interesting or unique as the stuff here in Beijing….

Rosamund had to work the Monday and Tuesday but we did go out to lunch somewhere….we traveled for about 2 hours and found a restaurant that served up lamb and pork..not sure of the name but it was good and we enjoyed the evening…..the driving as I have said before is not my bag…..but she seems to get a kick out to telling off the other drivers….

Last day I went downtown to just walk around and see some sights and do some window shopping….met a fellow who told me of a place to get marathon shirst so I purchased one…lots of restaurants and tourist traps and shops with knick knacks…..didn’t find a good hat but saw some unique t shirts….Liked this one To be is to do….Socrates…To do is to be Plato……Do be do be do…..Sinatra Greece…

Went up around the Athens university…didn’t actually find the lecture halls but did walk around the residences….wasn’t too impressed…I don’t think they have a ground or maintenance crew as the whole area was strewn with garbage and bottles and in a general state of rubbish…..seems unusual but you would think that they could keep the placee a little better looking….the front was ok but once you got inside it was pretty bad ….Also walked into a park where they had some reminders of the Olympics…..some plaques on the ground with IOC members……Dick Pound was there…..but again, the place was run down and in general disrepair…

Last night walked around the Acropolis and stopped at a bar for some Ouzo…a powerful drink…..tastes like licorice but has a kick to it….then went to a restaurant and had a late supper….they eat very late there….about 8 or 9…..is that the Mediterranean diet…..????

Hardly thought of school…..need to organize the bball tourney when I get back…

Final day…Ros drove me to the central station and from there I caught the bus to the airport…..got there early….waiting to leave….trip to Frankfurt uneventful….Boeing 747 to go home and then pt interviews and then some rest…..another chapter in the life of Darryl

Later…