the going ons

So the past two weeks here, everyone has been going to archaeological sites. The first week and a half I was in Mytillini (the big port town) working at different restoration sites as well as a "rescue site". This is a picture of Gussi, McKenzie, and Wendy (the three other members of my group) at the pottery restoration site. We got to put together a vase. We worked here for the first two days of our excursions. Day one was really boring because they had no idea as to what to have us do, so we spent five hours washing pottery fragments. The next two days were spent in the metal restoration workshop. This was really interesting on the first day because we got to clean metal objects with a scalpel. However, when we found out that those items were still going to be worked on on day two, that meant day two was infinitely boring. The days at the rescue site were the days I was sick, and it's too bed because I heard that that one was the most fun out of the workshops.

Last Tuesday was Wendy's 22nd birthday, so we threw here a Lesbian bash. hehehe. We went to downtown Mytillini to this bar called the Monkey (it's funny b/c a famous Cycladic wall painting has a picture of a blue monkey). The bar was fun and played a lot of American music. We all went and had a bunch of drinks and hung out. As the night wore on we knew that we were never going to be able to stay awake until 3AM when the dance club opened so we turned the bar into a mock dance club. I think the locals were amused and even a few of them joined our dancing in the middle of the bar.

(Pictures from left to right: Wendy surrounded by most of the guys on the trip; Clariece and her "tower 'o shots; Carolyn the "cake eater")















The weekend was amazing. Sophia, our professor for Modern Aegean Culture, took us on a roaming bus tour of the island. On Saturday we went to a monastery, an old mansion, another monastery overlooking a village, this really cool market street and then we stopped at this church with a famous icon which legend says the last surviving monk of a pirate raid built using only the bloodied sand of his fallen brothers. Apparently, sometime the face is smiling other times it's frowning, and its face can also be either brown or red. however, at the time, there was a wedding procession heading towards the church so we didn't stay long. Pictures will be forthcoming.

Sunday was spent almost entirely at this amazing ranch. Everyone cooked lunch, with different groups preparing a different dish. We made souvlaki, stuffed tomatoes and peppers, potatoes, fresh bread, tsatsiki, greek salad and then Sophia brought us baklava for desert. While waiting for lunch to cook, we took off for the nearby town and toured the local church. After lunch, there was a dance instructor who taught us many traditional greek dances. My favorite was the on that local pirates danced.

that's all for now. and no complaining that I don't update!