First Day at ISKL!

On Monday, August 8th Irini woke up with the rest of us (at around 6:20 am). She walked around, realizing that this day was 'different'. Everyone was busily showering, brushing teeth, dressing and finally, out the door. Natalia was taking the family (Laurence, Emilia Patricia, Avi and TTimouz) to school and then coming back for Irini. Idah gave Irini a bath and put her into her new uniform which proudly announced "ISKL" on the breast. It was Irini's orientation to what ISKL refers as Prep Reception. It only lasted an hour (from 9 to 10 am) and Irini was taken and brought back by Natalia, but she was comfortable and happy there, especially since Carter (a good friend of hers) is in the same class. As of Tuesday she began her new task of going to the Elementary campus with TTmouz on the bus. It has been mostly fun, she thinks. After all, she loves buses!

And speaking of new beginnings, last week also marked the first day of the extended family at ISKL. Emilia Patricia had her first day of classes (noting how well behaved ISKL students are) and Avihurik and TTmouz went to their first day at ISKL. Though we didn't see them all day, we made a point of having dinner together to wind down and get 'the scoop'. All first reports were positive. Avihurik did note, however, that Mr. Fisher (her humanities teacher who lives across the hall from them) was more strict than she expected. But she did an experiment in science which was really cool. They filled a cup with water and put paper clips in it until it spilled. They were studying how the molecules stick together. It turns out, it took 331 paper clips to make it overflow. Can you believe it? TTmouz had his first Mandarin class, and found three friends who he likes very much. He seems to be looking forward to PE this year where they had a 'mission impossible' obstacle course set up.

Tomorrow is a new day. Slowly these days will blend into a routine, and the final vestiges of summer will become seemingly distant memories. 2011-2012 has officially begun.

Amalia's Day

For some, it's birth. For some it's sweet sixteen. For them Greeks it's the baptism. Two years ago Irini had been baptised in the small church of Panagia ("Virgin Mary") in Kifissia. She was just six months old and spent the entire process watching and being handed from one person to another.

On July 23rd, 2011 it was Amalia's turn to be baptised in the same church. She was 14 months, mobile and knew what she wanted (and what she didn't want). She sat in Aleko and Anna's (the godparents) arms for roughly 5 minutes watching the ceremony with interest but, once it became obvious to her that the priest was just going to keep talking, she decided that perhaps it would be best to try to get down... and therein began the 'tricky' part. She swung from one side the next in a futile attempt to get down. With each passing movement - since it didn't work - she got more and more frustrated. By the time the clothing was taken off for the 'plunge' she was crying wildly. The Greeks in the crowd, seeing this as a right of passage (of sorts) smiled. Laurence was close to calling it quits, seeing Amalia in such dire straights.

Aleko and Anna were rushed through the reading of their script and finally Amalia was allowed to be removed and dressed in her new white clothing. Irini sat in wonder, perhaps asking herself what was happening. How nice that Amalia too will have no recollection of this soon enough.

Adri and her fiance Luca had flown in from Milano. Patty had flown in from Madrid (as she had for Irini's baptism). Monica and Walter had flown down from Sweden. Vincent had flown in for the weekend, also from Sweden (thank you Vince!!). Sammy had flown in from London. Aleko and Anna had flown in with him from London where they had attended his graduation from the London School of Economics. They were celebration hopping! The rest of the group was made up of Athens-based friends, young and old.

Later on, with the tears dried up and the food being consumed with gusto, Amalia would sleep soundly in her stroller. For the rest of the group of 25 or so it was a perfect chance to re-unite, to share stories and chat about life. Irini and Mikaela (Stelio and Maria's daughter) played for hours on end in the space in front of two adjoining shops, now closed, oblivious to the signs of economic difficulties.

Amalia is now, formally, Amalia Sienna. We are all happy. The tears have dried.

Island Life

It was quite a while since we'd been to a Greek island. In fact, Amalia had never been, so Natalia decided that it was time to put the budget aside and head for the Cyclades... Andros to be more precise. After some logistical workings (Papou and Moca were coming too, and we only had one car) and some waiting around for the boat (sipping on frape, of course) we boarded what would turn out to be a very exciting experience for the girls. With wind blowing our hair to and fro, and with no less than 10 dogs around the deck, the girls essentially spent the two hour ride giggling, asking if dogs bit, and were offered goodies by the people close by. Everyone smiled watching them running back and forth.

Once on the island it was more of the same, but with a new beach-based location. On the small strip of Agios Petros, nestled 2.5 kilometers from Gavrio and 5 km from Batsi, we found a spectacularly clean sea and lots of Greek families sharing the sand, the small (for the most part) waves and the wind that came in gusts. Add to that the 150 meter walk to/from the apartments where we stayed, the tree-shaded back yard and a friendly couple who ran the place and you've got yourself one relaxed experience. Pappou and Moca chose to visit the beach twice a day. We went only in the mornings and spent the post-nap afternoons in the back yard playing on the kiddie swings and slides. All of us were happy.

But we couldn't get to Andros and not visit one of it's villages, so the final evening we loaded everyone into Bessie (the car) Malaysian style and drove gently across the five kilometer windy road to find a place to eat, a place to roam about and a place to have some ice cream. In the meantime, we watched the sun go down, dusk arrive and the stars shine down on our return.

It was a wonderful three days. Can't wait for next year!