heading home

We (Lisa, Sarah and Phil) catch a 6:30am flight back to Philly. We are packed. Our luggage has grown over 30 days!

It's a bittersweet night as our team will be split up for the first time in a month.
We will miss each other and Greece but have fabulous memories.

We have had a wonderful time in this beautiful country. Looking forward to telling you about it and showing you our video!

we are safe and fine

We are far from the riots in Athens. No worries. With our hosts. Will update more later. All is great!

Gorman and the Globe 4.19.10

The Greeks and the Gormans - One in the Same (4/19/10)

Amalia here ... We just visited Stacy's Dad's village where he grew up - Halandritsa - your average sleepy yet charming Greek village town. She was going there for the purpose of meeting her great-aunt for the first time ever. As her aunt wasn't feeling well Stacy went into the house alone, and it turned out for the best as she had a very emotional visit. She and her aunt exchanged thoughts and feelings and passed on loving messages from family members far, far away. While she visited I strolled the tiny town and snapped photos to share with Stacy's father upon our return. I hope that I've captured some familiar locales that will bring him back to his childhood days! As Stacy left it was clear that this is a memory she will soon not forget.

I am so happy to have shared this experience with Stacy as I feel like I also took something away from this joyous meeting. To see Stacy so touched by the love pouring out out of her 92 year old aunt - even though they had never met - truly exemplifies the Greek's cherished family values. Open arms and open hearts - the Greek mentality. It also made me stop and reflect on my own family and our valued relationships. I know how blessed I am to be so close to my relatives. We really are each others best friends, advisors, confidants and overall protectors. We know when to let each other roam and explore - while I miss them all dearly I will bring back to them profound ideas (perhaps!), insight, traditions and most of all - new ways to have fun and celebrate life. And they will welcome me home with open arms and open hearts - just like our fellow Greeks.

Stacy's example today personified the core Greek value - family is the most important thing. And it makes sense to highlight that connection to our Rotary trip because when you sense a strong family bond then you, the individual, are ready to go out into the world and share that good nature with friends and strangers alike. That is what all six of us are demonstrating on our excursion in Greece, and the Greeks are one hundred percent reciprocating. Rotary is the perfect platform for these types of values to be displayed upon - and with our journey here we are communicating that back to our little corner of the world - which is a very comforting thought.

Observations from the beach in Rhodes

This morning after breakfast, Sarah, Phil and I went for a walk with the goal of 'putting our feet into the Aegean Sea and then the Mediterranean.'. Both were right near where we were staying.the weather at about 10:30am was sunny and about 70 degrees. The sand is quite different from what we are used to. It is dark with thick granules. Closer to the water are stones and pebbles that we had to walk on. Honestly, they kind of hurt our feet! Next time beach shoes would be a good idea. Anyway, it was fun to roll up our pant legs and experience the water.



Caught up in the moment, I felt inspired to go up to my room and put on my swimsuit. I met Sarah and Phil on the Aegean side and dove in. It was cold at first but quickly became a totally pleasant experience. The water was blue and calm. It was very easy to swim in, and if you are wondering, it tasted very salty. Not exactly like the water back home but similar. The start of the summer beach season in Greece is May 1 but there were a good number of locals and European visitors enjoying the gorgeous day on the beach.

More about Zakynthos

Now that we have some free time, I want to write more about Zakynthos and show you some pics. That is the place where we saw some of the best scenery. Our hosts drove us up a mountain (on a winding road) where we stopped at various spots to take photos and enjoy the view. We also were amazed at the sight of mountain goats on the side of the road The grounds of a monastery provided some of our favorite photo ops. The day began with a visit to the beach. The water and sand were lovely. The beach is the home of the endangered loggerhead turtle which lay their eggs there. The surrounding nightclubs and clientele threaten this habitat. (Noise, walking on beach, sticking umbrellas in sand.) We did not see any turtles but the island is obviously well-known for them. All the souvenir shops had lots of items with images of turtles.

Symi

A beautiful day today. A 50 minute high speed ferry took the 6 of us to the small island of Symi. We enjoyed walking around the beautiful harbor and stopping into shops and admiring the nicely colored homes in the hills. A shop owner recommended we walk up to the village and visit the museum. After hiking up some hills and what seemed like about a 2,000 steps (slight exaggeration), we found the museum. Closed. Thankfully the views were nice up there, met a nice villager who seemed sympathetic and offered us water on the warm sunny day. We had a ton of laughs and burst out into song on the way back down the steps. Then we enjoyed frappe (like an iced coffee drink) sitting by the harbor. Then we lounged together at the beach until it was time to catch the ferry back to Rhodes. Another wonderful day here.

My hip Greek mom away from home

True to form, after a short ferry and bus ride from Zakynthos, our arrival in Patras was met with open arms and smiling faces from our welcoming Greek hosts who were looking forward to sharing the treasures of Patra with us during the next three days.  I had the fortune of staying with Kyria Lilly, who has an apartment in happening downtown Patra - I immediately felt right at home!  Gracious and open-hearted just begin to describe warm spirit of Kyria Lilly, who went out of her way to make my stay in her beautiful home very comfortable.  Her home reflected her zest for life and was full of happy photographs of friends and family, including her adorable grandchildren - all the best to them!  Our conversations flowed easily and after mere hours together, I felt like I had known her forever - perhaps we were long lost souls who were friends in a previous life. We shared personal stories over morning coffee (Ms. Lilly always made sure to make frappé, my favorite!) and laughed about the day's events together over a homemade snack (toast, another Greek favorite of mine) before retiring to our rooms for the night (she also allowed me to highjack her computer every night - yay Internet!).  It would be impossible to capture every special moment we shared during my stay, but one that bares mention is Kyria Lilly excitedly arranging for me to meet, for the first time ever, my 92-year-old great aunt, Angelica, who lives in a little village just outside of Patra named Halandritsa, where my father was born and raised.  Words alone cannot describe the emotional significance of my visit with Thea Angelica, but suffice it to say that it was an experience that I will cherish forever.  My farewell with Lilly was conditioned upon her promise that I would see her again, either in Patras or  Philadelphia which I look forward to fondly. 

Anastasia