Argh. I just wrote a really tough email. Remember how I said finding a grad school was like dating? Well, it's easy to say to yes to a school that wants you; I find it hard to say no. It's nice to be wanted, but part of me is a real "people pleaser" (not to be confused with purple people eater) and I do have a hard time saying no. It was a difficult decision between two really good programmes and, surprisingly, I found myself accepting the offer from the school I almost didn't apply to.
So I am going to grad school! I had the official visit yesterday and it's starting to sink in. It is rather scary and to be perfectly honest a part of me is thinking "WHAT HAVE I DONE???" But that's usual, I guess, when you're starting a new adventure with new challenges and lots of changes. Not the first leap of faith I've taken and it sure won't be the last.
My summer study tour is shaping up nicely, despite some initial planning anxieties. I have the movers and storage booked for the 27th of April for my flat, then the cat and I will head to the folks for a few days. I fly from Toronto to London overnight on the 30th and will spend the 1st and 2nd of May in London-- predominantly examining the Greek artifacts at the British Museum. There are 12 rooms of Greek artifacts and I want to see them all as closely as possible; after all, I am off to see the places they were taken from!
From the 2nd to the 5th of May I will be staying with my very dear, very wonderful friend I have known for something like 12 years or so but have only visited twice. On the 5th I fly to Istanbul, which gives me time to relax and sleep and rest before the tour officially begins at 5:00 pm on the 6th of May.
My plans following the tour are still a little fuzzy. At this point it looks like I will head from Istanbul to Kos, spend a day or two there then head to Athens to visit a select few sites (the Akropolis, including the Asklepion, the agora, the National Museum, and a few other monuments in the area). I am investigating a quick trip to ancient Epidauros, the site of a famous ancient Asklepion. Given that I'll be investigating Asklepia during my MA, I want to see as many as I can. If I can hit the four key sites I'll be quite happy.
And yes, I really am looking forward to spending three months on the farm. I have my car so I can go up to TO and visit friends there a few times and I'll be heading out to find a new apartment for August and will likely have to visit a university a few times for library books for research projects. But I see spending this time with my parents as a real gift, and I plan to enjoy it as much as I can. I just hope the cat manages to enjoy it a bit, too.
Anyway, it's super late and I have class in the morning. So I am off for the night!
Be warned, dear reader, whoever you are, that posts will likely remain infrequent with all this busy-ness!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Emerging From Beneath the Pile...
When I don't write on my blog for a while, it's usually because of one of two things: either I have nothing interesting going on in my life or I have too many interesting things going on in my life. You can probably guess what this past lull has been due to: too many things!
This past week has been reading week and it's been nice to have a break but also a little annoying. Nice because I managed a quick visit with my family and I did lots of sleeping. Annoying because my body didn't like coming out of a super stressful three week period into... nothing. With no plans or definite committments, aside from doing homework, my body kinda crashed on me. But I did get a few good days of work done, although there is a lot more to go.
The end of January and the beginning of February were two extremely stressful weeks for me. The undergraduate Classics club at school usually puts on a conference, which takes about six months worth of work to put together. I was on exec last year, but I'm not this year. However, the exec fell asleep at the switch and, with barely three weeks to go before the conference, the department secretary sent me and another girl a desperate plea for help. So, in just about two and a half weeks, I did six months worth of work and organizing, while slowly sinking beneath a pile of school work. What made it all the more stressful was that the un-planning of the conference was merely a symptom of larger issues on the exec and it really felt like I spent two weeks trying to push cows through mud. And oh, yes, I had already committed to giving a paper at this conference.
So I certainly earned my week off, and I needed it, too, to get caught up. I have a Latin midterm looming and I'm not keeping on top of my Greek as well as I would like and I have a paper and presentation due mid-March, another conference paper for the beginning of March and .... my summer to plan for.
I think I posted back in December about winning a province-wide scholarship contest. I applied to go study in Athens over the summer and had my heart set on it, hoping to visit Turkey and Italy another time. I mean, there are so many things to see and study that it's impossible to do anything comprehensive in a month and still have it meaningful enough. Well, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do a study tour of Turkey came along and I have decided to take that up (PROVIDED that I get the necessary approvals.)
This study tour is run by the university department in which I will be enrolling in the fall for my MA. It's a three-week tour of Turkey's Mediterranean and Aegean coasts, and it's definitely something that it would be extremely difficult to try to do on one's own. (A lot of good archaeological sites aren't readily accessible. They're usually well off the beaten tourist track, which explains why they are such good sites!) I will have two on-site presentations to do, a final exam and a final paper; in return, I will get credit for a graduate level course.
I have hemmed and hawed about this decision for two weeks now, although it feels like it has been much longer. The Athens programme is fantastic, but I won't know until later in March if I even get into it, and because it's run through the States it is also a bit more expensive. And it runs every summer, so it will be there next summer and the summer after and the summer after that.... You get the idea. So I have opted for three weeks and Turkey (followed by a personal week in England!) this time around. I have had myself mentally prepared for Greece for a while, but now that I have decided in favour of Turkey I am getting really excited. They are both good choices, I just hope that I made the BEST choice. Choices are scary!
The other scary choice I had to make was regarding grad school in the fall. I haven't heard yet from my first choice university, but I did hear right away from my second choice university. And on further investigation, the second choice is actually the better for me. So this was a little less scary-- even though it involves a lot more time and money!
However, having decided on Turkey, it means I have to have my stuff packed and moved into storage by the end of April because I will be living at the farm this summer. (Spending a third or a fourth of your summer overseas makes it hard to get a decent paying job.) Remember how I said I would never move during exams? Well, looks like I'm doing it again! At least this time half of my stuff is already in my parents' basement, so there's that much less to pack. But once I start putting stuff in boxes, this tiny place will fill up FAST.
Ah well. Now that the summer is decided (pending final approvals by the Mac powers that be and whatnot) and the fall is decided I can finally make a plan of attack. Don't expect to hear a lot from me between now and June, though-- just when I though I was emerging from beneath the pile of stuff I'm getting sucked right back in.....
This past week has been reading week and it's been nice to have a break but also a little annoying. Nice because I managed a quick visit with my family and I did lots of sleeping. Annoying because my body didn't like coming out of a super stressful three week period into... nothing. With no plans or definite committments, aside from doing homework, my body kinda crashed on me. But I did get a few good days of work done, although there is a lot more to go.
The end of January and the beginning of February were two extremely stressful weeks for me. The undergraduate Classics club at school usually puts on a conference, which takes about six months worth of work to put together. I was on exec last year, but I'm not this year. However, the exec fell asleep at the switch and, with barely three weeks to go before the conference, the department secretary sent me and another girl a desperate plea for help. So, in just about two and a half weeks, I did six months worth of work and organizing, while slowly sinking beneath a pile of school work. What made it all the more stressful was that the un-planning of the conference was merely a symptom of larger issues on the exec and it really felt like I spent two weeks trying to push cows through mud. And oh, yes, I had already committed to giving a paper at this conference.
So I certainly earned my week off, and I needed it, too, to get caught up. I have a Latin midterm looming and I'm not keeping on top of my Greek as well as I would like and I have a paper and presentation due mid-March, another conference paper for the beginning of March and .... my summer to plan for.
I think I posted back in December about winning a province-wide scholarship contest. I applied to go study in Athens over the summer and had my heart set on it, hoping to visit Turkey and Italy another time. I mean, there are so many things to see and study that it's impossible to do anything comprehensive in a month and still have it meaningful enough. Well, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do a study tour of Turkey came along and I have decided to take that up (PROVIDED that I get the necessary approvals.)
This study tour is run by the university department in which I will be enrolling in the fall for my MA. It's a three-week tour of Turkey's Mediterranean and Aegean coasts, and it's definitely something that it would be extremely difficult to try to do on one's own. (A lot of good archaeological sites aren't readily accessible. They're usually well off the beaten tourist track, which explains why they are such good sites!) I will have two on-site presentations to do, a final exam and a final paper; in return, I will get credit for a graduate level course.
I have hemmed and hawed about this decision for two weeks now, although it feels like it has been much longer. The Athens programme is fantastic, but I won't know until later in March if I even get into it, and because it's run through the States it is also a bit more expensive. And it runs every summer, so it will be there next summer and the summer after and the summer after that.... You get the idea. So I have opted for three weeks and Turkey (followed by a personal week in England!) this time around. I have had myself mentally prepared for Greece for a while, but now that I have decided in favour of Turkey I am getting really excited. They are both good choices, I just hope that I made the BEST choice. Choices are scary!
The other scary choice I had to make was regarding grad school in the fall. I haven't heard yet from my first choice university, but I did hear right away from my second choice university. And on further investigation, the second choice is actually the better for me. So this was a little less scary-- even though it involves a lot more time and money!
However, having decided on Turkey, it means I have to have my stuff packed and moved into storage by the end of April because I will be living at the farm this summer. (Spending a third or a fourth of your summer overseas makes it hard to get a decent paying job.) Remember how I said I would never move during exams? Well, looks like I'm doing it again! At least this time half of my stuff is already in my parents' basement, so there's that much less to pack. But once I start putting stuff in boxes, this tiny place will fill up FAST.
Ah well. Now that the summer is decided (pending final approvals by the Mac powers that be and whatnot) and the fall is decided I can finally make a plan of attack. Don't expect to hear a lot from me between now and June, though-- just when I though I was emerging from beneath the pile of stuff I'm getting sucked right back in.....
Monday, February 09, 2009
Favourite Fun Sites
Lolcats
http://icanhascheezburger.com
This is my all-time favourite time waster website. If you like cats at all and haven't seen this site, you are living a deprived life. You can upload and create your own lol pictures and view pictures others have made. Some are lame, but most are hilarious. There are even some non-cat pictures. If you login (free, no name or private info) you can vote on thousands of pictures. Only the highest voted pictures make it to the front page.
Photoshop Disasters
http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com
Self explanatory: advertisements, magazine pics, etc that have been bungled.
Cute Overload
http://www.cuteoverload.com
Pictures of cute animals. Especially stoats.
FAIL Blog
http://failblog.org
Perfect for anyone who enjoys laughing at other people's failures, but not in a mean way.
The "Blog" of Unnecessary Quotation Marks
http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com
How NOT to use quotation marks-- usually with humorous consequences.
Engrish.com http://www.engrish.com
Engrish Funny http://engrishfunny.com
These two sites contain lots of humorous mis-translations. Some are funnier than others.
Pundit Kitchen
http://punditkitchen.com
This is the political version of lolcats. It was really great during the recent American election. Like lolcats, you can make your own lols using the many photos on the site.
Once Upon A Win
http://onceuponawin.com
If you weren't a child in the 80s, this site is retro. If you were a child in the 80s, this site is a walk down memory lane. All the awesome things from our youth!
Bad Parking
http://badparking.wordpress.com
Exactly what it says. Photographic evidence of atrocious parking.
Cake Wrecks
http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com
I recently discovered this through a friend on Facebook. Hilarious examples of how not to decorate cakes.
Ugly Overload
http://uglyoverload.blogspot.com
When there is too much cuteness in your world, spend some time gazing at the uglier side of nature. Be careful if you're eating lunch-- you may loose your appetite. Unless you're Grissom from CSI.
PostSecret
http://postsecret.blogspot.com
Sometimes I like this site, sometimes I don't. The secrets are sometimes sweet, sometimes funny, sometimes thoughtful, sometimes disturbing. I'm not so keen on the disturbing ones. But it is addictive. New secrets go up on Sunday; old secrets are not archived, so if you don't check it out you lose out. This became a huge internet hit and there's a lot of social commentary there. Anyway, check it out and maybe send in a secret of your own.
http://icanhascheezburger.com
This is my all-time favourite time waster website. If you like cats at all and haven't seen this site, you are living a deprived life. You can upload and create your own lol pictures and view pictures others have made. Some are lame, but most are hilarious. There are even some non-cat pictures. If you login (free, no name or private info) you can vote on thousands of pictures. Only the highest voted pictures make it to the front page.
Photoshop Disasters
http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com
Self explanatory: advertisements, magazine pics, etc that have been bungled.
Cute Overload
http://www.cuteoverload.com
Pictures of cute animals. Especially stoats.
FAIL Blog
http://failblog.org
Perfect for anyone who enjoys laughing at other people's failures, but not in a mean way.
The "Blog" of Unnecessary Quotation Marks
http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com
How NOT to use quotation marks-- usually with humorous consequences.
Engrish.com http://www.engrish.com
Engrish Funny http://engrishfunny.com
These two sites contain lots of humorous mis-translations. Some are funnier than others.
Pundit Kitchen
http://punditkitchen.com
This is the political version of lolcats. It was really great during the recent American election. Like lolcats, you can make your own lols using the many photos on the site.
Once Upon A Win
http://onceuponawin.com
If you weren't a child in the 80s, this site is retro. If you were a child in the 80s, this site is a walk down memory lane. All the awesome things from our youth!
Bad Parking
http://badparking.wordpress.com
Exactly what it says. Photographic evidence of atrocious parking.
Cake Wrecks
http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com
I recently discovered this through a friend on Facebook. Hilarious examples of how not to decorate cakes.
Ugly Overload
http://uglyoverload.blogspot.com
When there is too much cuteness in your world, spend some time gazing at the uglier side of nature. Be careful if you're eating lunch-- you may loose your appetite. Unless you're Grissom from CSI.
PostSecret
http://postsecret.blogspot.com
Sometimes I like this site, sometimes I don't. The secrets are sometimes sweet, sometimes funny, sometimes thoughtful, sometimes disturbing. I'm not so keen on the disturbing ones. But it is addictive. New secrets go up on Sunday; old secrets are not archived, so if you don't check it out you lose out. This became a huge internet hit and there's a lot of social commentary there. Anyway, check it out and maybe send in a secret of your own.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Te Qween uf te Fishies
Oh hai. I is the qween uv te oshun.I haf wun te batle for te see.
Mai hooman, she try to keep me frum mai ritful plas,but ai prevaled.
Tese are mai loyal subjects, te fishies.Tey amuze me grately.
Tis is te warmest place in te house, on top uf te lite.Mai hooman, she put pokie tings on here to try
to keep me off but I teached her gud.
Anywun who tris to keep me frum my thron will be
extermenated.
to keep me off but I teached her gud.
Anywun who tris to keep me frum my thron will be
extermenated.
Ok, tat is all. You go now.Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Trying Times
If I had to choose just one word to describe the last week, that word would be TRYING. If I got to choose two words, the second would be FRUSTRATING. And it all boils down to computers.
Last Tuesday my internet connection went down and it's still not working. Yes, that is a whole week that I have been without internet at home. You don't realize how crippling it is to both your scholastic and social lives to be without the internet and email these days until it actually happens. Now, I have (had) a cheap ISP, and every month or two my internet would mysteriously stop working. Usually, an hour or more on the phone with their "internet support" would get it working again. Not this time. In the past week I have received four phone messages from the ISP saying that my "order" for a new modem has been received and that I will receive it in the mail in one or two days. Hahaha. I have yet to receive the replacement modem. But now I don't care; I am changing ISP and telephone companies to the local cable company. It will cost me a bit more, but it will work and they actually answer their phones with a real person instead of a recorded message asking you to wait because call numbers are higher than expected. (I could call at any random hour of the day or night and every single time these guys I'm with now would play a recorded message about higher than expected call numbers. You would think they would clue in and get more service reps, but clearly I wasn't paying enough to expect service.) At any rate, the cable guy is coming by NEXT Tuesday (one week from today) to set up the phone and internet since they both go through the cable line. Since I have no faith that the replacement modem will ever come from this current company (and no faith that replacing the modem will actually fix the problem, since my personal computer dude has already tried that), I am expecting to be without the internet at home for another week.
Now, at the same time that all this started to happen, the Mac PowerBookG4 I had been loaned fried itself. This laptop was about eight years old and my computer dude had it fully tricked out when he got it, so it had been hanging in there pretty well. He loaned it to me about a year ago, so I have gotten some decent use out of it and it has been a huge help. I had been plotting to buy a new netbook at some point this spring or even summer; This plan got moved up by the death of the PowerBook (apparently the hard drive is shot). So, I unexpectedly found myself netbook shopping last Friday and I got a sweet little machine for a decent price and I'm really happy with it and my computer dude, even though he is a hardened Mac fanatic, admits that it's a good machine I got. But the saga doesn't end quite there.
Now a netbook differs from a laptop in two key ways: it is half the size of a laptop (about 10 inches or smaller) and a fraction of the weight; and, because it is so small and light, it doesn't have a CD/DVD drive built in. These are meant to be more of a supplement to another computer than a full-blown replacement, which is exactly what I wanted. I wanted something lightweight and easy to carry that I could use for my schoolwork. The plan was to network the netbook (named Athena, by the way) to my desktop (named Zeus; yes, I am a geek.) Computer Dude had already loaned me a wireless router, so I didn't need to buy that, and since the computer store people would charge close to a hundred books to come and set up my network and drive sharing (so Athena could use Zeus' CD/DVD drive), Computer Dude offered to save me some money and come down and see what he could do.
Which is what this wonderful man did on Sunday. And it's not his fault that Windows "sucks" (direct quote). Despite a trip to Toronto and back and several hours of fiddling around, he could not get Athena and Zeus to talk to each other (perhaps they need family therapy?) and neither could he get my internet working with a new modem. Even though I was not the one doing the actually computer geeking, I did get rather frustrated with the whole situation (but not with Computer Dude, I want that to be clear.) But Computer Dude gets frustrated with nothing and getting to spend the day together meant it wasn't a complete waste of time. During our trip back to TO to his place to test the modem and pick up a replacement one (he has something like three extra ones floating around), I was able to use his wireless internet to download enough programmes to make Athena usable for school on Monday.
But the problem remained: how to get my programmes on discs (such as Microsoft Office) on to Athena. It would cost as much to pay take Athena somewhere to get it done or to have someone come in and set up the network as it would to buy an external CD/DVD drive. Which is what I wound up doing: I spent the money I had saved on my really good deal of a netbook to get the external drive. Still, a little frustrating to have that unplanned extra expense.
I guess it will all work out. I am very happy with Athena and she does well at school. She has a pretty decent battery life, as laptops go, and because she is ten inches long she has a decent-sized keyboard that is comfortable to use. I'm still adjusting to using the touchpad as it's more sensitive than the one on the PowerBook was. And I can easily use my USB drive to transfer files between Zeus and Athena. Once my internet is set up and working again, the wireless router Computer Dude set up will work and I will have internet access on both machines at home. I'm looking forward to that.
Last Tuesday my internet connection went down and it's still not working. Yes, that is a whole week that I have been without internet at home. You don't realize how crippling it is to both your scholastic and social lives to be without the internet and email these days until it actually happens. Now, I have (had) a cheap ISP, and every month or two my internet would mysteriously stop working. Usually, an hour or more on the phone with their "internet support" would get it working again. Not this time. In the past week I have received four phone messages from the ISP saying that my "order" for a new modem has been received and that I will receive it in the mail in one or two days. Hahaha. I have yet to receive the replacement modem. But now I don't care; I am changing ISP and telephone companies to the local cable company. It will cost me a bit more, but it will work and they actually answer their phones with a real person instead of a recorded message asking you to wait because call numbers are higher than expected. (I could call at any random hour of the day or night and every single time these guys I'm with now would play a recorded message about higher than expected call numbers. You would think they would clue in and get more service reps, but clearly I wasn't paying enough to expect service.) At any rate, the cable guy is coming by NEXT Tuesday (one week from today) to set up the phone and internet since they both go through the cable line. Since I have no faith that the replacement modem will ever come from this current company (and no faith that replacing the modem will actually fix the problem, since my personal computer dude has already tried that), I am expecting to be without the internet at home for another week.
Now, at the same time that all this started to happen, the Mac PowerBookG4 I had been loaned fried itself. This laptop was about eight years old and my computer dude had it fully tricked out when he got it, so it had been hanging in there pretty well. He loaned it to me about a year ago, so I have gotten some decent use out of it and it has been a huge help. I had been plotting to buy a new netbook at some point this spring or even summer; This plan got moved up by the death of the PowerBook (apparently the hard drive is shot). So, I unexpectedly found myself netbook shopping last Friday and I got a sweet little machine for a decent price and I'm really happy with it and my computer dude, even though he is a hardened Mac fanatic, admits that it's a good machine I got. But the saga doesn't end quite there.
Now a netbook differs from a laptop in two key ways: it is half the size of a laptop (about 10 inches or smaller) and a fraction of the weight; and, because it is so small and light, it doesn't have a CD/DVD drive built in. These are meant to be more of a supplement to another computer than a full-blown replacement, which is exactly what I wanted. I wanted something lightweight and easy to carry that I could use for my schoolwork. The plan was to network the netbook (named Athena, by the way) to my desktop (named Zeus; yes, I am a geek.) Computer Dude had already loaned me a wireless router, so I didn't need to buy that, and since the computer store people would charge close to a hundred books to come and set up my network and drive sharing (so Athena could use Zeus' CD/DVD drive), Computer Dude offered to save me some money and come down and see what he could do.
Which is what this wonderful man did on Sunday. And it's not his fault that Windows "sucks" (direct quote). Despite a trip to Toronto and back and several hours of fiddling around, he could not get Athena and Zeus to talk to each other (perhaps they need family therapy?) and neither could he get my internet working with a new modem. Even though I was not the one doing the actually computer geeking, I did get rather frustrated with the whole situation (but not with Computer Dude, I want that to be clear.) But Computer Dude gets frustrated with nothing and getting to spend the day together meant it wasn't a complete waste of time. During our trip back to TO to his place to test the modem and pick up a replacement one (he has something like three extra ones floating around), I was able to use his wireless internet to download enough programmes to make Athena usable for school on Monday.
But the problem remained: how to get my programmes on discs (such as Microsoft Office) on to Athena. It would cost as much to pay take Athena somewhere to get it done or to have someone come in and set up the network as it would to buy an external CD/DVD drive. Which is what I wound up doing: I spent the money I had saved on my really good deal of a netbook to get the external drive. Still, a little frustrating to have that unplanned extra expense.
I guess it will all work out. I am very happy with Athena and she does well at school. She has a pretty decent battery life, as laptops go, and because she is ten inches long she has a decent-sized keyboard that is comfortable to use. I'm still adjusting to using the touchpad as it's more sensitive than the one on the PowerBook was. And I can easily use my USB drive to transfer files between Zeus and Athena. Once my internet is set up and working again, the wireless router Computer Dude set up will work and I will have internet access on both machines at home. I'm looking forward to that.
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Resolutions Schmesolutions
I believe in making resolutions I can keep. So this year, I resolve:
- I resolve not to diet. And I have the support of scientists on this one: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7807848.stm
- I resolve to not sleep in past two o'clock in the afternoon. Getting up for a morning snack or washroom break that is more than five minutes and going back to bed DOES NOT count as sleeping in. Medication-induced sleep also does not count. Laying awake in bed for half an hour or more and then going back to sleep also does not count.
- I resolve to lay on a Mediterranean beach and get a tan.
- I resolve to nap.
- I resolve to continue to do my laundry.
- I resolve to make no more resolutions.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
The Adventure Begins
Christmas is done and over with and I survived.
This week has been a strange one weather-wise and it is taking a toll on me. We went from well below zero with half a meter of snow to spring-like temperatures of 9 or 10 C and now today we are having a windstorm, with winds up to 90 and 100 km per hour. Exactly the sort of weather that wrecks havoc on me. Time for better living through chemistry.
And time for daydreaming about Greece. I picked up a travel guide at Chapters the other day and started reading it, although I've since found out that it's not the "recommended" guide, so I may take it back. But it seems pretty good. I am going to start another blog which will be just about my adventures in Greece. As far as I'm concerned, my adventure started Christmas Eve (although I wasn't here) when the great big cheque was delivered by UPS. Ok, not physically big, but it has enough zeros on it to make me happy. In fact, it had bigger numbers than I expected, which is an awesome provision of God.
I'm a little nervous about Greek food, not having had much exposure to it. I've decided that I will have to start dining out at Greek restaurants to start getting used to it. I will have to learn to like olives and tomatoes and figs and feta cheese. I've never actually had feta cheese or figs; for some reason, though, I associate figs with prunes and I don't like prunes so I avoid figs. I am very unadventurous with my diet, I know, which in part is due to the fact that my digestive system is not keen on adventure. I refuse to venture into squid and octopus and other slimy seafood. Thankfully, they like to eat lamb, which I enjoy. And I will try Greek coffee and goat for the sake of trying them because I'm there. Goat is supposed to be very good and healthy. I'm not a coffee drinker but I may as well try Greek coffee while I'm there, since it is different from what we call coffee. I will try ouzo, but I plan to steer clear of some of its even more potent cousins altogether-- I'm a cheap drunk to begin with. And for sure I will sample Greek wines. And I will learn to love olives, although I do not like capers and cannot be convinced to like capers. *shudder*
The guidebook also warned of the many hidden dangers: giant centipedes that bite hard, poisonous snakes that sun themselves in inconvenient places, sting rays and fish that hide in the sand to inflict painful wounds, jelly fish of all sizes and sea urchins that are just waiting to impale your foot. Note to self: wear waterproof sandals in the ocean. Still, I am dreaming of floating in the warm, luxurious Mediterranean again. *sigh*
But all that aside -- and it's really only the centipedes that creep me out-- I am eagerly looking forward to going to Greece. And while it would be a bit of a hassle, I think that if I don't get into the American School I will be comfortable designing my own itinerary and backpacking though Greece. I'll find out in March if I get in.
March is when I'll really have to kick into high gear, making arrangements to store/move stuff, house the cat someplace, find someone to care for the fish, purchase tickets, etc etc.
I'm actually going to GREECE!
This week has been a strange one weather-wise and it is taking a toll on me. We went from well below zero with half a meter of snow to spring-like temperatures of 9 or 10 C and now today we are having a windstorm, with winds up to 90 and 100 km per hour. Exactly the sort of weather that wrecks havoc on me. Time for better living through chemistry.
And time for daydreaming about Greece. I picked up a travel guide at Chapters the other day and started reading it, although I've since found out that it's not the "recommended" guide, so I may take it back. But it seems pretty good. I am going to start another blog which will be just about my adventures in Greece. As far as I'm concerned, my adventure started Christmas Eve (although I wasn't here) when the great big cheque was delivered by UPS. Ok, not physically big, but it has enough zeros on it to make me happy. In fact, it had bigger numbers than I expected, which is an awesome provision of God.
I'm a little nervous about Greek food, not having had much exposure to it. I've decided that I will have to start dining out at Greek restaurants to start getting used to it. I will have to learn to like olives and tomatoes and figs and feta cheese. I've never actually had feta cheese or figs; for some reason, though, I associate figs with prunes and I don't like prunes so I avoid figs. I am very unadventurous with my diet, I know, which in part is due to the fact that my digestive system is not keen on adventure. I refuse to venture into squid and octopus and other slimy seafood. Thankfully, they like to eat lamb, which I enjoy. And I will try Greek coffee and goat for the sake of trying them because I'm there. Goat is supposed to be very good and healthy. I'm not a coffee drinker but I may as well try Greek coffee while I'm there, since it is different from what we call coffee. I will try ouzo, but I plan to steer clear of some of its even more potent cousins altogether-- I'm a cheap drunk to begin with. And for sure I will sample Greek wines. And I will learn to love olives, although I do not like capers and cannot be convinced to like capers. *shudder*
The guidebook also warned of the many hidden dangers: giant centipedes that bite hard, poisonous snakes that sun themselves in inconvenient places, sting rays and fish that hide in the sand to inflict painful wounds, jelly fish of all sizes and sea urchins that are just waiting to impale your foot. Note to self: wear waterproof sandals in the ocean. Still, I am dreaming of floating in the warm, luxurious Mediterranean again. *sigh*
But all that aside -- and it's really only the centipedes that creep me out-- I am eagerly looking forward to going to Greece. And while it would be a bit of a hassle, I think that if I don't get into the American School I will be comfortable designing my own itinerary and backpacking though Greece. I'll find out in March if I get in.
March is when I'll really have to kick into high gear, making arrangements to store/move stuff, house the cat someplace, find someone to care for the fish, purchase tickets, etc etc.
I'm actually going to GREECE!
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