The Odyssey 12: Life in the Horio (village)

Well, it's been a good couple of weeks since I last wrote. Lisa and I have fallen very easily into the routine of small village life: eating, swimming, eating, reading, eating, sleeping... Work on the project fits in there too, but in a less definitive sort of way. If I've learned anything about Greece it's that you'd better just go with the flow if you want anything to potentially ever get done. So, I'm going with it. Everyday brings some sort of new character or discovery as long as I don't try too hard to make it happen. The key I've found is to make plans to do one thing and then something else is bound to happen instead. For example, a few days ago I set out to explore the small primary school in the village and see if I could get in/photograph it. As I walked around the corner from the house though, a little old lady sitting on a patio saw me with my camera and started yelling. I couldn't understand what she wanted at first, but then two more elderly ladies came out of the house and began yelling at me too. (Not out of anger, mind you, it's just the normal tone of voice Greeks tend to use in regular conversation). After explaining who I was (this is how every conversation starts here: i.e. I'm a Tsocanos, Andonis' granddaughter, Mark's daughter, from New York, etc.) I then realized they wanted me to take their picture! So I willingly did and they invited me to sit and have a coffee with them. (Coffee and most food, I'll just add, is something that you MUST go with the flow about. It doesn't matter if you want it or not, the decision has been made up already: you will drink/eat it. Even if you do by some miracle successfully decline what you're offered it's somewhat insulting to the host…hence, my increasing waistline). Anyhow, as I chatted with these ladies in my pigeon Greek, I found out that they had all been in a coffee club with my great-grandmother when she was alive. I think this just means that they would get together everyday for coffee (why that's different from anything else people do here anyway, I don't know), but it was a very sweet story. I chatted with them for about and hour then set out again to the school. I didn't make it more than two houses though before I spotted/was spotted by a cousin of my grandfather and his brother-in-law. I sat with them and ate peaches while they told me their abbreviated version of the history of Karitsa. I think I was only there maybe 45 minutes but they sure covered a lot. World War II, the Civil War, going to America, people coming back and dancing on church holidays, how the Albanians are the only ones that work here now, "Greeks so lazy," beautiful here, best beaches in all of Greece! By the time this was over there was no time to go to the school as I had to meet Lisa and my Aunt Efthamia for a beach date, so I went back to the house to get ready and postponed my school adventure to a later date. The day didn't turn out as expected, but was fruitful none-the-less! The school trip still hasn't happened yet, but I figure if I really want to go I'll just plan a trip somewhere else and I'll probably end up there.

So, slowly but surely things are moving along here. We've taken a few trips to break up the routine a bit. We went to Thessaloniki (Greece's second biggest city) for a day last week. We visited the State Museum of Contemporary Art, went to an internet café, drank Starbucks coffee with soymilk—had ourselves a big city adventure. Then Friday we drove out to Meteora to see the hanging monasteries—so incredible, but so crowded. And tomorrow we're going to Larissa (the closest city to us and according to our guide books the 5th largest one in Greece) to do some errands. Carrefour, here we come! (Carrefour is basically the European version of Costco incase you were wondering).

All in all, all is well here! I hope everyone is keeping relatively cool wherever you are.