Greece lightning I

Got back over a week ago from Greece, but had the usual inundation of e-mails and work to take care of. I know you were ALL dying to find out about the trip (all 2 of you, that's counting myself). I took the 6:30am Alitalia flight from Barcelona to Rome to Athens. OK, guys, there is a REASON Alitalia is so cheap. I will not mention the nauseating green upholstery or the snack, which was a little cake, which they didn't even offer, you had to ask for it, and I also won't mention the sketchy landings, which felt more like skip-the-rock than gently gliding to the ground. But I will mention the lurvely soundtrack that consisted of "My heart will go on", "Saved the best for last" and a small selection of any of Whitney Houston's earlier works (a hero lies in youuuuu). This would not have been so bad except for the fact that I had had 3 hours of sleep and was looking at 5 hours of travel, with a mere 20-30 (?) minutes of soundtrack. So by the end I'm sure I could have told the exact order of all of the songs frontwards and backwards. Luckily, the mind has a way of protecting its host by blocking out certain unpleasant, and potentially sanity-threatening moments, so I am actually having trouble now remembering all of the songs (Oh!- the one the blind Italian opera singer made famous, "Con ti partire"?, later translated into English by a pop diva and played at all your local dance clubs).
ANYWAY, got to Athens, and according to the last instructions as e-mailed by my dad (yes, I am pointing fingers) I was to take the 78 bus to Kali-something square and meet them at bus terminal B for the 3pm bus to Litochoro. I didn't find the bus my first round along the bus lines, so went inside the airport to find the information desk when, who did I see? My father waiting for me at the arrivals gate! (*uhmh* no comment) Well, for those of you who can't put two and two together, SOMEBODY changed the meeting point without telling me, which could have led to potential disaster if I had made it all the way to bus terminal B in crazy downtown Athens. Mo (my step-mother) showed up a moment later and off we went to find the train (NOT the bus) to Litochoro, on the Aegean coast.

Gods and coffee grinds

Well, I am off to Greece for a week with my dad and step-mom. Greece- a land full of mythology and ancient sites, its coffee full of grinds. You're fine as long as you don't drink it to the last drop! It'll be a great little adventure starting with a bus trip from Athens to a little coastal town, 2 days climbing Mt. Olympus (see if I find Zeus!), then 2 or 3 days around Meteora, which is an area filled with monasteries built on top of rock formations. Gotta get up early to catch the flight to Athens with a short layover in Rome, then I will go to the bus terminal to find Dad and Mo.
On Thursday I took the train back to Barcelona, then on Friday went into the office for meetings and catching up with what was going on. I kind of dreaded going in, but in the end I was glad to spend a day with my office mates! It makes the day so much brighter! Then the weekend was spend doing errands, visiting friends and watching the Barça soccer match- Barça became national champs for the first time in 6 years- we all went down to Pl Catalunya to see all the people celebrating. Everyone was dancing and singing "Madrid se quema, se quema Madrid!!" and later on I guess people started knocking over trash containers and burning them, the usual... Anyway, must go pack, so I will give you all an update when I get back.

Meaning of a 5-star

Spencer, Simone and some others were sitting around when Spencer says, "We have here a five-star man." Most things Spencer says leaves us confounded, so we just looked at him and waited for him to continue: "Simone, he's a 5-star, he knows 5 languages: Italian, French, English, Spanish and Norwegian." Spencer's a 4-star: English, Italian, French and German. So I counted my own languages: English, Spanish, Catalan (I can only speak it weakly, but understand it very well, so I counted it as 1/2) and French. Three and a half stars. Not bad, it's passing, like a Holiday Inn, but no Ritz Hotel. So now I have to think of another language I could learn to catch up with Simone. Maybe Italian, then I could go bug him where he lives in his "little village 3 hours north of Roma". Of course, Chad knows Chinese. Now that would be a challenge.
One day I was asked why I was learning French. Since I don't really have a good answer besides the fact that I like learning it, I said I wanted to be like the Pope (JP II knew something like 12). Spencer perked up and said he wanted to be like the Pope too, but I kind of think he actually would like to BE the Pope. And that's a whole other challenge.

First 3 weeks part III

Monday was devastating when I walked in and asked if class was in the same place and they'd sent me back a level. I spent the whole class fuming, especially since no one had even discussed it with me. After class, I saw my old teacher and she asked where I'd been. So it turns out it had only been an administrative error but I still felt irritated by the morning's events. So Tuesday I was happy to go back up to level 4 and felt silly for not having double checked before going into the wrong class. Friday was Simone's going away dinner. This is so hard, we make friends every week then every week some other great friend leaves. That will be the worst part about being here, the endless goodbyes. Hopefully at least we'll be able to keep in touch with the key people who come and go over these three months. Now there are only me, Cristina and Chad from the original group who are over 25 (or even over 20!). It's funny because a lot of times I feel like I'm in college again, but just feel a lot more tired after going out. Oliver continues to have a great time, and is making friends too (I wonder if what language they speak in??). The other night I was getting ready to turn the lights off and heard a scratch on the window. It really scared me because Ollie was already inside. I look out the curtain and there is a black cat with big green eyes staring in, like he belonged there! Then a couple of days later, Ollie hadn't come for bed when I called him so I left the window open for him and when I heard noises coming in, I turned on the light to shut the window and that damn black cat was looking at me. He shot out the window when I yelled at him and called for Ollie, who came right away. I do NOT want strange animals, especially Pet Sematary cats, coming in my house. I have enough with capturing lizards that Oliver's hunted and taking them back outside into the garden.
Victor came this weekend and we had a couple of hours to look around Montpellier city center before going to another going-away bbq, for a German girl, Kirsten. Then Sunday we went to Aiguesmortes, a cool 12th century village that was once the maritime gateway to Montpellier and Nimes, and port to the Crusades built by St. Louis. It is surrounded by a huge wall and a tower 6-meters thick to protect it from raiders, though the Tour de Constance was later used as a prisoner of Protestants when the edict of Nantes was revoked. The town has changed almost not at all, except for rampant tourism and a tasty shop of homemade cookies and candies you can buy by the kilo! Have I mentioned my pants have gotten tighter since I got here? Between the wine, cheese, and croissants, there's nothing I can do! That's it for weeks 3- I will try to do better at keeping a regular log and also post photos sooon.

First 3 weeks in Montpellier I

We had a great little going away gathering at home on Saturday night and early Sunday morning we got up, I finished packing, doped up Oliver the cat with sedatives so he wouldn't be scared on the trip and Victor drove us from Barcelona to Montpellier. The sedatives did NOT work and Ollie complained the whole trip. We got to Montpellier in about 3-1/2 hours, though got lost due to crappy directions I'd printed out from one of those road map sites. We got to a roundabout and it said go right and there were 4 places to go right- it's a roundabout! You can only exit right! So eventually we found the place, I am living in a little studio adjacent to a house. The studio is teeny tiny but the garden is huge and so beautiful- it is exactly how I imagined living in France would be like. We let Ollie play around in the garden. He grew up as a street cat in the city, but quickly learned the ropes (and how to jump the fence). I guess the little one had to grow up and become independent eventually. uh-oh, too much crazy cat lady talk. onto another subject...
On Monday 8:30 am Victor drove me to school, it was raining and made the shabby school look even sadder. I said good-bye to him, took a deep breath and went into my level test. I don't know how I did on the test, but the interview consisted in asking for my name and where I was born, then they sent me into class. That's it?? Yup, you can go now. Ok.... Class was fine, but afterwards I was in reception and other new students were hanging around too so we decided to go to lunch. I realized the big difference between 17 and 28 when the kids I went to lunch with (sandwiches) complained that they had to cook EVERY day! God I was depressed, and panicked- what am I doing? Am I the only one over 20 in this school? Day 2 was a little better when some people who'd missed Monday came into class and were 25 and 26 years old. Well, getting closer! I think I left right away that day, but on day 3 I invited myself along for coffee with the other students. They didn't try to ditch me or ignore me, so I guess it was ok for them! That's what happens when you are in a new place like this, everyone has come by themselves and are desperate for companionship. We are all lucky that we truly enjoy each other's company. In my class was an American ex-pat living in London and studying theatre. Our teacher Valerie made him sing and wow, what a voice. The kind that carries right to your gut. Spencer was the class entertainer and I almost felt a little bad for him that he had to get up and sing whenever the teacher said so (though he said he didn't really mind, since it's his profession and all). Saturday was Spencer's 27th birthday (he complained of being soooo old until I smacked him with my walking stick), so we went out to play laser tag. I'd never played it before, but it was so hilarious running around in vibrating suits shooting all the 12 year olds who came with their dads. Some of those kids really have a great aim! Then Sunday was Cristina's birthday, and since it was raining and we couldn't do the picnic as she'd planned we all went iceskating. Now I really feel like a little kid again.

Intro

So as to deflect a little of the flack I am getting for not writing to people while I am in France, I thought I'd try to start writing here and whoever likes can look me up and see what I'm up to. I've now been in Montpellier for 3 weeks. Decided I really needed to be in France to learn French and also to take a break from Barcelona and try something new for a while. So here I am for 3 months, taking French lessons for 3 hours every day and working from home in the afternoon, which seriously cuts back on my exploring-the-area and social time, but I can't complain - I love working at home, and I can go out into the garden with my laptop, or work at my desk and look out the window and watch Oliver the cat climb trees, though lately he's taken to bringing me "treats" in the form of tail-less wiggly lizards. At least they are not mice. I suppose lizards a slightly more hygenic? Anyways, this has been my garbled introduction and in the next entries I'll start writing a little about what I'm doing. -Kelley

First 3 weeks part II

Gosh, now I can't really remember what happened the second week... oh yeah, on Monday I walked into class and Valerie told me to go upstairs, that she'd changed to the next level up! That was a nice surprise, the previous week I guess I'd been a bit bored, but probably needed the practice. Patricia the new teacher is great and class is challenging, so at least I am making more of my time here. She also gives more homework, which I am happy to do. I want to learn learn learn. Friday was S's and Inés last day, so he was asked to sing Inés a song. Then Friday night was dinner at V's with other students and teachers. I had to bring dessert so on my mom's suggestion decided to bring chocolate-covered strawberries. You would think it's the easiest dessert to make in the world, since it has exactly 2 ingredients: chocolate and strawberries, yet somehow it was not easy. the chocolate didn't melt right and was chunky, so the strawberries were very ugly. I was embarrassed to bring them to a French person's house since they are so into food and eating. I told everyone that it was the inner beauty that counted. After a lot of laughs and joking, every single ugly strawberry was eaten up. Afterwards we ended up going to the park and talking and laughing as a way of sending Spencer off to London. Saturday was Inés' going away party and I think I must have spent Sunday sleeping all day. The life of a student is exhausting!