Separated :-(

Kenneth has been gone for three days and it feels like an eternity!!

Still 11 days to go...

Mattias, Kenneth, Carina and Zion took the big camper on Friday and made their way to Thessaloniki where they stayed the night.

On Saturday morning Carina and Zion took the airplane to Sweden while Kenneth and Mattias started their journey through Europe. They went through Bulgaria and in the evening they reached the Rumanian border. Sunday night they where part of a Church service in Bucharest and this morning they had almost reached the Hungarian border. Last thing I hear, a couple of hours ago, they where still in Hungary but who know maybe they are already in Austria or Slovakia...

At Thassos I feel... half :-( my man is missing!

But I get a lot done, both fun and good things.

And Harald is faithful like a dog :-) taking long walks together with me.

"No cloud without a silver lining."

Our friends from Sweden that came a couple of months ago are now packing for their trip back home. We sure have enjoyed having them here! The winter at Thassos is slow and gray. Many stores on the island are closed, rain seems more common than sun, all the tuorists are gone and if you go to the mainland you most remember that the last ferry back is already at 7pm.
So couple like the Ristholms that are full of new ideas and eageness, and a happy shiny one year old babyboy, can light up any grey day. Thank you Ristholms for making your way here this winter!

As they were packing and sorting out their stuff they also found some extra supplys that they were leaving with us. Among other a package of rye floure with a lovely recipe that I had to try at ones.
So now I have had a nice evening with yummy fresh newly baked bread and a cup of nice hot chocolate.
With our cat in my lap and candle lights on the table it was just to enjoy!

(Lena at the keys and Kenneth is out with Mattias, one last time at the english pub before departure. Not the last nigth for Kenneth and Mattias though since Kenneth will help Mattias drive the camper/trailer back to Sweden. He will be away from me two long weeks...)

Rosetta Stone

We now got going with our interactiv language course, Rosetta stone, and we are very pleased! It's realy a brilliant way to learn, fun and playful (like a computer game, matching words and pictures). The idea is that you learn a new language as you learned your first one, no translation needed but when you got one word you can add an other and then put it in a context. On our stationary computer the microphone is working so there we can't get away with bad pronunciation...

As I was going online to look for a picture I also found out about "the" Rosetta Stone. A stone found by the Frence in Egypt in 1799. It's a stone with one text written in three scripts (greek, Egyptian demotic script and hieroglyphs) that's been the key to the modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Thessaloniki

Friday we took the children of Dimitris (our pastor) and went to Thessaloniki for one night. It was a great time. They are great kids, so fun to spend some time with them and good to get away from the island to the big city for some adventures and entertainment :-)
The first day we went shoping. The girls (Lena and Nasia) enjoyed the many nice stores in a big city! :-) The boys (Kenneth, Kyriakos and Michalis) didn't quite like the same stores so they went on their own and found some nice music and technical stores. In the evening we joyned up for cinema! We saw Narnia- The voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Demonstation on the bus. Big poster, hand outs and loud speaker.
A common sight in the bigger cities. This time about that they are raising the bus fee.

The next day (a bit delayed for different reasons) we went to an icerink together with the family we where staying with. It was the first time for the kids to try the iceskates but they where all doing good. Kenneth was really steady on his skates while Lena felt like Bambie first time on the ice... It was fun, we all enjoyed it. We also been planing for a visit at Ikea before heading home to catch the last ferry- since we been so late in the morning we just manage to go there to have some Swedish meatballs though and a quick rush through the store.

More from Jan 6

Here is a film that Thomas has made. Click here to see the film.
It's from the Blessing of the water last week but from another village on the island,
where the boys did go in the water to fetch the cross.
Thomas is one of the boys that Kenneth has done some filming together with.
And here is a picture of two boys acting...

ἐπιφάνεια

Beeing raised in a more western context January 6 is known to me as the day when the Magi came to the baby Jesus. But introduced to the Greek traditions I have found out that we actually is celebrating the epiphany of Christ.

In our tradition we celebrate how he was manifested to the gentiles through the wise men from the east. But here in Greece it is the day of the baptism of Jesus. The day when he was manifested as the Messiah and God in his trinity (the Father speaking, the Son beeing baptist, the Spirit as the dove).


So since it's the day of the baptism the Ortodox has a tradition this day to "bless the water" (and nature?). There is a cermony when they bless a wooden cross, they bring it through the city with march band playing, flags and ornaments, then they are throwing the cross into the water (in Thassos they throw it into the sea, but if you live inland it might be a river or a lake). Then the tradition is that boys compeat to get the cross back to land. Who ever get the cross will have blessing in the coming year, with good health, and can also go around from house to house singing and reciving money.


In Limenas harbour however the priest kept the blessing for himself :-P he had tied a rope to the cross and then he pulled it in. But I guess he didn't want to take the risk no one would jump into the cold water :-) (We did see it on tv though, how some men did go into the water at other locations). When we asked some peopel about it they laught and said "maybe next year". So I guess we have to wait for next year to find some bold men.

Happy New Year

Hope you all have had a Merry Christmas and we wish you all a happy new year!

Christmas is not a big commercial thing here in Greece even though it's becoming it more and more. Even this quite conservative country has been influenced by the western ways.

The Greek word for Christmas, Xristogenna, meens birth of Christ and traditionally they celebrate it with a churchservice and familydinner. Some people are buying Christmas gifts, there is some "Santas" every here and there and I've seen quite some Christmas trees. A more typical Greek decoration though is the boat (from Dec 6 when they celebrate St Nicholas, if you remember the saint for the sailours). On Christmas eve however the Greek children are making a fortune by going around to different houses singing and playing the triangle. And then a week later they're making
another fortune, going around singing the same song again. Listen here, or if you want the real stuff listen here :-)

Then on NewYears day they have their own "Christmas" when they are celebrating Sankt Vassilis, a bishop from Caesarea who died on January 1st 379 ad. His story is simular to the one of St Nicholas; he was a kind-hearted and helpful man, who was aiding the poor and needy ones.
This is when the greeks traditional are giving gifts to one another.

Our own holyday celebration has been international :-) Christmas eve we did a bit of Swedish traditions- "mustardcoverd ham",salmon, presents, glögg... On Christmas day we celebrated with our "greek/albanian/dutch family", enjoying a Christmas tree, the open fire, more good food and fellowship. Second day of Christmas we had Carolservice that fitted our british friends -and we too enjoyed the Christmas carols! And with that more food, goodies and fellowship. A few days of rest and so it was time for New year celebration. Marjo and her kids came to our house. We made a fire in our fireplace on the balcony, barbecued some hotdogs, made a chocolate cake and watched X-factor. It became a quiet night since we all were tired. When the kids started to fall a sleep they decided to go home and by midnight we were already in bed.

We have kept the church open as usual during the Christmas-brake and it's fun to see more kids comming. They all have brake but there is not all that much to do on the island so the kids are happy that we are offering something.

(The snowpictures are from the snowy days in middecember, and Annika is to have credid for this pictures. The picture of st Vassilis is from the internet.)