Tag Archives: Greece

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Our school year in Crete

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Our School year in Greece

imageI was very proud of myself for finishing school in Greece because going to school was very hard. Greek is one of the hardest languages in the world. At the beginning it was weird not knowing what to do and I was so shy at the beginning.
The good part of it is that I learnt lots of Greek and when I finished school last week I felt like I learnt a lot but not sure how much. Today when I was getting the bus tickets the man asked something and mum didn’t really understand what he was saying cause he was talking so fast and I answered him easily. It felt pretty good. I enjoyed my Greek lessons – the ones that were my favourites were the ones that we played games but also learnt. I also liked when we had to bring in photos to talk about them. Kristalenia was our private Greek teacher 3 times per week for about 1.5hours until we decided to do more separate classes so Yasi had 45 mins and Kalika and I had 45 mins. We learnt heaps with Kristalenia – she was very patient and made learning finally nd gave us a good amount of homework. She also became our good friend and we met up with her lots. Her children, Gianni and Dimitri were also very nice.

By Toby

imageI told my teacher I wanted to stay in Greece because the school new a tiny bit of English and I now know some Greek and they ask me questions that I know. Also I have my friends Georgi and Engli and Dimitri and I used to have a friend called Manosari but now he wants to play superheroes but I didn’t want to play superheroes anymore. I liked school so I told them I wanted to live in Greece –

On the last day of school we did a concert – we had to dress up in Greek colours – blue and white. I also was in a group where we had to wear blue scarves – Zoi was in the yellow scarf group. I sang four songs with my group and said a poem which is lots of Greek words on my own – my teacher helped me a tiny bit with the words. I loved it because all my friends were there and my baba and mama and brother and sisters came and even our friend Manoli came.

By Moochie

imageI really liked the concert cause we had to dress up in blue and white and my scarf was yellow – that is kitrino in Greek. I really liked singing with the other kids. I liked seeing baba and mama clapping in the audience. My teacher was Kiria Leftheria and she was really nice to me cause I do my work very neat and sometimes I get it wrong but lots of times I get it right. She gave me a pretty box to take home with all the pictures and work I have done all year.

By Zoi

imageI am very happy with myself for what I’ve achieved at school in Crete with one of the hardest languages in the world. School was really hard but I did it and time flew like a butterfly. What I found difficult was understanding all the maths they did in year 4 was work they do in high school in Australia. The instructions in Greek were hard to understand and the teacher would often go off her head at some of the kids when they were playing up. She only gave them one chance and then they had to go to the office. She was nice to Toby and me but I was still really scared of her.
At the breaks I loved playing with one of my best friends called Isabella. She’s half English and lives in Crete forever. Every day I picked up words from school and then I would ask people what they meant and that really helped my Greek. I learnt lots of the history of Greece in school – it was one of the subjects I liked and understood. I will try to keep going with my Greek and try my hardest. When we start home schooling again in a few weeks one of the subjects we have to do for an hour every morning is Greek. The other subject is maths and also reading and writing in English.

By Yasi

imageSchool was very hard in Greece because at the beginning we hardly knew any Greek and almost everything they said I couldn’t understand. Now it’s much better and I understand lots and I am Miss corrector beacuse I even correct my grandma who is from Greece and my baba who was born in Greece. I had a teacher that was nice and I had lots of homework most days and sometimes I couldn’t get it all done. But it made my Greek very good now. I understand most things in Greek. Kiria Soula was good because she actually told me what I had to do when I didn’t understand and she made sure I understood everything. Before Christmas she sent me to do language with the grade ones but then I had caught up to my class in grade 2 so I came back for all classes with Kiria Soula in 2B. I was proud of myself for finishing and time really flew like a bird in the sky. It was a pretty good year for me.

By Kikibelle

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Mad Aunty Dessie comes to Crete – Again! By Dessie herself

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Well here we go …….

Arrived Thursday via Brisbane, Melbourne, Abu Dhabi, Athens, Heraklion then on to my other home – Agios Nikolaos.

imageOne day to rest then off to climb a mountain with the MiliKings near Chania to meet Joelle (Bowen family) and Lopez. I had never rock climbed or experienced a mountain before – it puts a new meaning to the song ‘Aint no mountain high enough’. Their was snow on the caps and I was proud of myself for conquering amazing fear of heights. What about those goats! It was like listening to a symphony of bells.


imageThen back down to Joelle’s paradise for sleep over, amazing Cretan food and a sing song with Lopez. Donkey riding with the kids and a fab yurt the Milis slept in. I slept in the resident caravan with Joelle & Seleni (that’s the dog) – funny! Thanks Joelle for a great experience.

 

 

 


imageOn the way home a lunch stop at the famous Store 311 cafe in Rethymno – home town of beautiful Bowen buddy Antonis Xiroudakis part of the 3 Stooges.

 

imageBack to Agios Nikolaos for Greek cooking lessons and drinking Ouzo with Vasiliki (Christos’ Mum).

 

 

 

Thanks Vass you are beautiful, the food was great as well.

Walking the children to school each day became a highlight – never a dull moment. In fact sleeping in the kitchen suite was a hoot in itself! – especially living only with a cat in Australia.
Saying good morning 8 times over and having someone ripping into clean their teeth while sitting on throne was a hilarious event that eventually became the norm. Keeping in mind there were 9 of us in a two bedroom apartment – but that’s what you do in Greece – love it!
imageMy adventures daily revolved between school, swimming and Gymnastiki – not to mention the many coffee’s at the Irish convention – ‘Bits and Bobs’ – Valerie’s tourist shop – where we would all congregate to discuss life, passion, the universe and maybe how many wines we may have sampled. Thanks Girls – Valerie, Sandy, Dara, Nicky, Jene and Iro and of course Orion the dog. Thank you also to Iro for the beautiful healings and introduction to ‘White time healing’.

So now it’s Wednesday which is market day. Our week ritual started first with a coffee with my beautiful Christos and Sandy took us at least an hour to make a list and sample the Bougatsa (cheese and spinach pie). Then off we go with Yiayia (the name that Sandy gave to her cart) to buy the freshest fruit and veggies, cheese and olives – Yummo!

imageYasi and Toby had their birthday while I was there and we had ice cream at Dodoni – it’s unbelievable how a whole cafe can revolve around ice-cream – every kids’ dream. Definitely only for special occasions. Not to mention the delightful screaming from Yasi when she opened her One Direction DVD which I bought from Australia – knowing that she’ll be going to the concert in Paris with mum and sister Kalika.

Mariana has the best ice creams in the world – and she’s so friendly

imageToby was just as impressed with his too cool sunglasses and white T-shirt. To my amazement all these children share their clothes with love. What a beautiful teaching.

 

 

 

 

imageChristos saw my competitive side when we went to Heraklion to watch Toby play soccer. Same rules as hockey. Christos couldn’t believe how much I was into it. I’m so competitive with my sport.

imageKalika became my resident Greek teacher correcting me with all my attempts. I started off saying calamari when I meant kalimera (that is good morning).

 

 

 

 

Zoi and Emilio delighted me everyday as we still looked for those dolphins (on the way home from school) that never seemed to appear – we did see some nice fish though.
Emilio constantly hiding my toothbrush and toothpaste in the Ouzo box. Whatever else I had missing I found in the most unusual places. Thanks Emilio. And thank you to my little Zoi for her helpful hands pegging washing and also for introducing me to miniature strawberry heart ice creams from Melissa Cafe – which often interrupted her lunch but it was so much fun.

imageSandy is an amazing person who taught me how to juggle life in many creative ways. When all else seemed to be coming undone just her presence could put things together in a heartbeat. Thanks so much for the late night cuppas and wines at Tutu cafe – when Christos was working and we had to be out of the apartment. We solved the problems of the world. Girl power!

 

imageNow what about my friend Christos – thank you for bringing me back to Crete. We never made the conference but thanks for letting me co-teach your amazing class in Crete. What a fantastic opportunity to broaden my skills in another culture. The village Laconia – where we had module 7 – was an experience in itself.

Thanks to everyone for the cooking – sitting down to a late lunch feast was a great end to each day. Big shout out to Christos for teaching and inspiring some excellent Bowen Therapists to paver he way for Bowen to grow in Agios Nikolaos.

imageOur two bus trips to Ierapetra were sensational. While I so busily sat on the beach or shopped Christos saw his clients – but then we always wound up with a delicious lunch and an odd wine only to sleep all the way back to Agios Nikolaos on the bus.

imageOur Bowen meetings in Heraklion with my buddies Christos and Antonis were crazy and enlightening to say the least. Antonis taught me how to eat traditional snails – that was a first. We didn’t see much of Heraklion – we just sat and talked and ate and drank ouzo and laughed till we hurt. Unforgettable.

imageWe had an awesome day in Agios Nikolaos when Antonis came to visit us. We shared a ‘Yiayia banquet’ of fish chowder, stuffed peppers and Greek salad saturated with olives of course.

 

Lots of fun with the kids, a beautiful dinner at Gargadoros – which has the most amazing outlook and food. It was also Yiayia’s last night (after a two month stay) before leaving for Northern Greece. Miss you and miss your cooking. We can still hear the laughter and banter between Antonis and Yiayia. So fun.
imageKaraoke and pole dancing will never be forgotten – Christos was silly enough to put our name down for ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and I’m sure no one will ever forget it. There were scratch marks on the ceiling from trying to reach the notes. Even the DJ said ‘I imagecan’t believe your going to try this’ – I just laughed and said ‘We’re Aussies mate – we try anything’. I said this whilst swearing at Christos under my breath – thinking ‘I can’t believe we are doing it either’. Not to mention my mate Christos singing ‘Karma chameleon’ – one lady at the bar said to me ‘that guy with the hat has just restored my faith in karaoke’. Had my first experience with pole dancing at another bar on the way home. Could probably have hurt myself if we stayed longer. Left while I was ahead.

imageJean (who is Australian, Kiwi, English lass living in Agios) introduced me to the many bars that I didn’t know existed in Agios. Thanks for the many laughs and my introduction to salsa. I think my legs are still platted and my glutes are imagelooking great. Thanks Jene and Kursheed Irani (Bowen therapist from Australia) for teaching us some moves that made us look good – I’m sure I’m going to continue in Australia. So much fun.
I will miss the early morning swims in the beautiful beach. Freezing cold. And the perfect days of lying on the beach soaking up the Cretan sun and reading my books.
Last day now in Athens with Christos – have ticked off all our traditions.
imageWine at the airport (even though it was 10am)
imageCoffee and ouzo and late breakfast at Athens beer bar.
imageShopping for hat (tradition that I buy Christos a hat each time we see each other – no shoes this time thank goodness).
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Spritz overlooking the Parthenon on the roof top of the Gand Bretagne hotel (almost needed a loan to pay for them) – we used the toilets so it made us feel like they were worth the money.
Now on top a the biggest hill in Athens (waiting for that sunset we missed last time) where our beautiful Greek friend Antonis recommend us to come.

We are actually right now waiting for the sun to go down – drinking margaritas – and we are three hours early – last time I was here in October Christos took far too long deciding what shoes he was going to buy and we missed the sunset! So this time we are here early – but I still might miss it cause I’ve had two margaritas – could pass out waiting! Ha ha!not to mention we still have to get back down the hill in my slippery shoes.

Thank you to the Milikings for a fabulous holiday AGAIN. Love Crete, love Greece, love all the people I’ve met. Bye for now…….I’ll be back!

PS – I’m going a serious detox when I get home!

By Mad Aunty Dessie

(Late edition after an incredible surprise by gorgeous friend Antonis)

Ok – the last night in Athens we have just watched an amazing Sunset at the Sky Cafe thanks to our friend Antonis for the heads up on where the best sunset viewing place is. Then we get a taxi to dinner at a place Antonis also has recommended. When we arrive, Christos shares that our Greek friend has organized to pay for our dinner as a parting gift – he had left for Istanbul on an earlier flight that morning as he had a Bowen course to attend.
As we are ringing him to thank him I hear a voice saying beside me ‘Can I help you?’ – When I look up he is standing beside me laughing with squeals of delight and Christos chanting ‘But you are in Turkey !!! From a Facebook post we had read earlier in the day!’ He even went to the effort to post a photo from Istanbul with the location of Turkey! Very sneaky! Perfect perfect twist to finish my stay thank you so much Antonis – You are amazing and funny I sooooo love surprises and that will be counted as one of the best. We finished a beautiful meal and wine with the three stooges together in Athens – just perfect!

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Diving with Meltemi Diving school in Ios

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Scuba didivng in Ios

imageScuba diving was too good for words…….but I’ll try to put it in words.
It was good right from the start because the instructors were our friends and we’ve known them for about 5 months.

imageThey are Jason and Kate and they were awesome instructors. We first met them in our Greek class and started talking, we found out they owned a diving school and they were in Crete for the winter. They first told us some safety instructions and how you know the difference between a good dive school which will keep you safe or a dive school that doesn’t take as much care.

imageOne of the tips they gave us about knowing a good dive school is looking at the equipment before you sign up. If the equipment is all sandy then go to another dive school. Or if they don’t have a spare breathing tube go to another dive school.
We learnt lots of instructions like simple instructions for many sports – such as listening to your teacher and learning how to be safe. We learnt a few hand signals that had special meanings because we couldn’t speak underwater. Some of the hand signals were:

imageA thumbs up meant ‘Go up’
Thumbs down means ‘I want to go deeper’

 

 

 

imageA circle with your fingers means ‘ok’

 

 

 

 

 

 

imageA palm out moving like a fish means ‘fish’

 

 

 

 

imageHand on top of hand and wiggling your thumbs means ‘turtle’

 

 

 

imageHands doing a snapping movement means an ‘eel’
Thumbs together with fingers waving means ‘octopus’

 

 

 

imageWe learnt: how to breathe with a regulator and how to be safe with a regulator under water, how to take it out and put it back in and then blow out if something was wrong or if you had to spit.
You could even cough, sneeze or vomit in the regulator and then press a button and the regulator would clear out for you if you weren’t trained to blow it out yourself. They said it was best not to vomit in the regulator.
The final rule was to have fun and the most dangerous thing about it was not getting hit by the bus when you’re walking across the road to the beach.

imageTheir dive school has won an award as the best in Greece and the third best in the world because they are so good at safety, do a lot to care for the marine environment and they are such good teachers.
The funnest thing about it was we got to swim through hoops and throw an underwater frisbee.

We saw lots of fish and these spongy things – I think they were natural sea sponges. I even saw some moving coral which Kate later told me was a live coral.

You can actually see some of our underwater photos on you tube if you press here

We sped past Jason and Katherine's sail boat - it looks cool

We sped past Jason and Katherine’s sail boat – it looks cool

This afternoon our friends kept a free day for us and took us on their own speed boat which is the fastest boat on the island and took us out to a wreck. It was very very fast and when we were at the wreck we anchored and then jumped off the boat and had a little snorkel. We saw fish and more fish and a little bit of the wreck. The wreck was wrecked 40 years ago when a cargo cement ship was going to the port. It rounded a corner but rounded it too soon and they ended up on the rocks.
The front of the ship got broken in half and split up everywhere and the hull was what we saw. The people on the boat did not get killed – they just went to the rocks and spent the night on them and walked to the main town in the morning. Two years later an almost identical boat carrying cement also got wrecked on the other side of the island.
imageOn the way back Jason taught us what he had to do if someone fell overboard. He told mum to throw out a floaty and we were going pretty fast. Then Jason tuned the boat so quickly that the inside of the boat went on its side and almost felt like it was going in the water but the pressure kept us in. Later Jason told us that we didn’t even need to hold on cause we turned so fast and the pressure would hold us in like when you swing a bucket of water. My dad says this is called centrifugal force.
We got the floaty back pretty quickly and that’s what we would do if someone fell in.

imageDeefer is their Siberian husky dog with pale blue eyes that lives with Jason and Kate on their boat. image He has been on ferries, planes, boats, quad bikes, buses, motorbikes and all kind of things like that. Even on a jet ski. He has even got his own doggles which are special goggles that he wears on anything that goes fast. If he goes to a snow area his pale grey fur goes really really dark which is like opposite to a suntan and probably protects him from the cold in some kind of dog way.

We actually just watched a movie called ‘8 Below’ with some Siberian huskies and it is an amazing movie. When watching the movie I also realised that when the dogs were on their own that was the made up part of the story – the rest of the story was true because when the storm came in and they evacuated they didn’t know what the dogs were doing cause no one was there. It’s an awesome movie and I really recommend it. I would love to get a husky but huskies don’t like to be alone for more than two hours so that wouldn’t work for us because we are at school or work for much longer and couldn’t hang out with it. They like to live with company or in a pack.
By Tobes

 

imageWe came to Ios to go diving at Far Out resort with a diving school called Meltemi. We met the diving instructors from our Greek class in the winter in Agios Nikolaos. They had their boat at the marina near our house and we became friends. They are from the UK and they gave up their jobs in banks to start up a dive schools and live on a Sail boat.

 

imageThe diving was an amazing experience. I loved seeing how the equipment worked and seeing all the fishes and sea plants in the water. We learnt how to dive and be safe in the water. We learnt that if equipment at diving schools is all messy in a pile and sandy then you should find a different school. If they say that you don’t need permission from your parents then you shouldn’t go with them either.
imageUnderwater you can’t talk as you know, so we learnt some hand signals – if you put your thumbs up it means you want to go up to the surface and thumbs down means you want to go deeper but you must have an Instructor with you. A circle with your thumb and finger like an ok means all is good.
imageI was with Katherine and Kalika, Toby was with Jason and my mum was with James. Most people had to wear heavy belts to make them sink further but I didn’t have to wear a belt because the weights were inside my pack. The oxygen was very dry but it was clean healthy air. It made our throat dry and we needed to drink water straight away after we got out of the water.

imageIn the water we swam through hoops and touched tyres, chased each other and played underwater frisbee. We stayed for about an hour or so under water but it did get a bit cold after a while.
The instructors, Katherine, Jason and James were very patient and calm and very nice people. They obviously love what they are doing.

imageIn the afternoon about 3 o’clock Jason and Lynne (who works for them and is doing her dive instructor course) took us out to see a wreck. We snorkelled above it and it looked very beautiful. The colour of the water was crystal blue. One night about 40 yrs ago there was a concrete cargo ship delivering some concrete to Ios – it was aiming for the port but missed and landed on some rocks. The boat split apart and the people basically walked off onto the rocks and didn’t get hurt. They walked into the main town in the morning and told them they lost their ship. About two years later almost an a identical ship carrying concrete also was shipwrecked on the other side of the island and no one got hurt then as well.
imageWhen we were diving there were black sponges in the water and what happens when people get them – they drain the water out and let them dry and then use them as sponges.
It was a very exciting day and Katherine and Jason said we could come back and get a job with them in seven years time.

By Yasi

imageScuba diving was awesome. We went scuba diving cause it was one of my birthday presents from mama and baba. My favouries thing about it was swimming through the hoops and wearing the tanks and jacket. imageThey were very heavy but they weren’t heavy in the water. You can make the jacket into a sort of life jacket by pressing a button and there is also a button for deflating it when you want to dive deeper.

imageWe went diving with our diving instructor friends Kate and Jason and their helper James. We played underwater frisbee. In the water we saw lots and lots of fish and I saw some natural sea sponges. It was hard breathing but I got the hang of it pretty easy.

imageWhen I’m older I would love to be in a dive school. Katherine and Jason said when I’m 18 I can come and work for them. It was the best experience in my life and I want to say a thousand thank yous to them.
By Kikibelle.

 

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Our village in winter

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imageIn our village the first thing we did was get off the bus at 4.30am and we met my dad’s aunt who lives in Florina – Tasoula who picked us up and we stayed in her house. We slept again – in the morning we picked up my aunty Jenny at the train station and we drove to the village where we went to church because it was a special day where they throw the cross in the water.

 

image imageI think it’s Jesus’ baptism or something like that. Even in the middle of winter the young men jump in the water to get the cross. Whoever gets it first it brings them good luck for the whole year.

image imageThen we went to visit our relatives at their houses. For lunch we went to aunty Seve (my Giagia’s sister) for a delicious lunch. We had burgers, potatoes, pitas, tzatziki, dips and salads. It was really yummy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by Yasi

 

When we left our village (Kato Ydrousa, 9 kms from the town of Florina – from hereafter called ‘the village’) back in August to move to Crete, we didn’t think we would be back till Easter time. Our house in the village is very big and comfortable though it has no heating. Since they have freezing temperatures and snow for approximately three months you simply can’t do without 24 hour heating. To get heating installed and the energy needed in wood or petrol would be prohibitively expensive so that is the main reason we didn’t consider living in our village for a year. Crete was the perfect choice for so many reasons.

imageWhen we found out that aunty Gigga Jenny was going to the village for a few days we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to join her. The kids so wanted to see the village in the winter time. A beautiful winter wonderland that I remember from my childhood. However – despite the freezing cold there was just no snow. We missed the huge cold snap in Northern Europe by a week or so. So we had to settle for a few wonderful days visiting our relatives.

Lunch at Aunty Mary’s
A warming hot chocolate
The kids just love Andoni
Tete Oge – my grandmother’s sister
Cuppa at Thia Patra’s place
Tete Oge
Jenny with our wonderful Papou Doni
Tete Oge reading our coffee cup

That always means going from house to house, having coffees and cake or chocolate, or a whole meal – you simply can’t leave without having something – that would be rude. You either end up feeling full or have a pocketful of chocolate. Or both.

On the 6th of January we arrived just in time for the end of the church service.

imageIt is a big day being Epiphany and everyone goes to church, then there’s a procession down to the river for the throwing of the cross.

 

 

 

 

 

imageThe small river was not so small when I was a young kid. It flowed strongly and maybe I had rose coloured glasses, but there wasn’t as much rubbish strewn along its banks. People take lots of pride in their homes but not so their village environment. This is a trend we see all over Greece – if it’s not in your backyard…….it doesn’t matter.

 

 

imageAnyway, back to the river, the priest does his appropriate blessings of the gold plated cross that he will throw into the water symbolizing Christ’s baptism. The village folk get into their best positions so they can cheer and watch.

 

 

 

The young teen or 20 something men get ready to jump into the freezing water with their eyes on the prize. All very dramatic and then over like a flash…….and everyone disperses and heads to the cafeteria (aka the cafe in other cultures) for celebratory drinks and nibbles.

image imageIt felt good to be back there in my hometown. Hometown – that’s an interesting word and yes I do feel a sense of homecoming when I arrive in my village…….but Crete has fast become my Greek hometown too. I feel a sense of home coming when I go back to Chicago and Tokyo where I spent a year each. Can home be many places? Sure, why not!

 

 

 

image imageOur last day in Florina was very sad as we had to say goodbye to aunty Jenny – we had so so much fun travelling with her for almost a month – it was very flowing and easy – definitely a good travel buddy and of course the kids adore her which helps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

imageThen the next day it was our turn to go – a train, a bus, a plane and a taxi ride later we reached our beautiful town of Agios Nikolaos in Crete and breathed a sigh of relief.

 

 

imageGood to be home.

Have a wonderful day
Baba Christos

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Toby’s English assignment

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imageThis is an exercise Toby did in English class in the first few weeks of school back in September. We came across it a while ago when cleaning out his papers! It was a very interesting read about his perception of why we came here and also the stark difference of being at a ‘concrete’ school where there wasn’t much time in the few 10-15 mins breaks in between classes let alone any sports equipment to be able to borrow. Despite being thrown in the deep end I was so proud of how the kids embraced school in the beginning weeks.

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‘My family moved here because my dad wanted us to speak Greek. One more (reason) was because it was too cold in the winter where he lived once upon a time (Florina) and a friend from here told him about here. It is a very nice place.

No. 3 School is very nice. Lots of people are nice. At my school in Australia it had lots of play space and you could get any sport stuff. I like it here, but I would love to go back home! And all my friends and family.

We were going to go to No. 1 School but it was full up so we came here to No. 3 School.’

By Tobes

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Naughty Aunty Desley

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I only met Desley in 2010 though I feel like I’ve known her forever. She’s a fellow Bowen Instructor and was absent during my first Bowen Instructors’ meeting in Hobart but I had heard a lot about her from Gael and many others. When I met her at our next Instructors’ meeting in Sydney the following year it felt like we were great friends by morning tea. Whilst we were at the International Bowen conference in Italy last year she mentioned that she might visit us in Crete – and she worked toward it and made it a reality. Here are some snippets of the kids experience with ‘Naughty Aunty Desley’ as they fondly call her. (I’ll write a bit more at the end)
By Baba Miliking

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Desley was awesome cause she gave us ice-cream when baba and mummy were away. She looked after us on her own for two days.

Desley walked us to school lots of times and we looked for dolphins near the port.

Desley made this awesome lunch with veggies and other bits but I don’t know what they’re called – it was yummy.

One day Desley took us out for pizza at our local pizza shop near our house – called ELA.

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Desley took us to sport one day. She is a very good cuddler. I miss her and love her up to the university (Zoi means universe) and back to the bottom of the dirt.

By Zoi

 

Desley came to visit us for three weeks from Brisbane in Queensland. Apparently it took her 32 hours to get to us door to door. Such a long time.

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We did lots of things and went to lots of places with her. Like we went to Santorini together. She even let mum and baba go away for two days while she looked after us. We were on our best behaviour. She took us out to a pizza place and we had Hawaiian pizza (but it’s called Brazilian in Greece) and a Margarita pizza. We also went to the beach and watched a movie together. She also bought us the movie Phar Lap, Rio, Red dog and Madagascar 3 all the way from Australia. But we are only allowed to watch English movies on weekends. This weekend we watched Phar Lap – it’s an amazing movie about a famous racehorse from Australia – I think he was the fastest horse in the world. He died at the age of 5 and he wouldn’t have normally died at that age so I reckon he was somehow poisoned even though his trainer was with him all the time and even slept with him. I loved the movie – it’s a great movie. It is highly recommended by me.

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We played some games with Desley also down at the beach – like running games and stuff. Also while Desley was here I also did two runs – one 5km one and one 5.2 km run. I knew it was that much from a running app on my iPod so I was listening to music and running as well around the athletics/soccer oval. It has to do with some sort of computer work which I don’t even understand because it even estimates how fast I can run each mile.

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My favourite thing that I did with Desley was in Santorini we went with her to the volcano and found out a lot of things about Santorini and how it was formed by the volcanic eruption.

 

 

 

 

 

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Desley also gave me an awesome and pretty cool long sleeve sports top and a sports bag. I use it for soccer.
She also gave me something very useful which is a pocket first aid kit to put in my bag with band aids and other things to use and instructions about what to do – it even has a mask if someone needs to do CPR – I take it to most sports things that I do. The only person I know who has done CPR is My uncle Chich George who used CPR recently when he saved the life of one of his good friend’s dad who had a heartache. It happened at 6am and and my uncle heard noises and got his jeans on and ran downstairs to where the man was – he did CPR and the man was out for about 5 mins but George managed to save him and when the ambulance arrived there was a pulse. Also while my uncle George was doing the chest compressions he accidentally broke 2 ribs

Desley also did a Bowen to help with my soccer and to help me stand straighter like a proud boy – it was a very good Bowen too. PS – I’m usually looking down, with shoulders down but now I’m trying to stand straighter. Thanks so much Desley.
By Tobes

 

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Desley bought me a microphone when she was in Athens – she saw it at a market and thought of me cause I like singing.

She also bought me a necklace and a bracelet and a hat – that I love. The hat looks like a priest’s hat in Greek church – the guy that you kiss his hand.

The bracelet is with beach crystals and shells. The crystals look like gold. It makes me want to rip them off and play pirate treasure but I wear the bracelet.

I loved going to the beach with Desley and we played in the sand. We made a giant hole and we made a hole bigger than my bed. We then decided what to do – Toby had a plan that we could make a house but I thought we could make a sandcastle TV. Then upstairs we were watching a movie and we went started to go to bed.

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When Desley picked me up from school – we were at the port and we looked for dolphins – I saw one it was a baby and mummy one.

Thanks Desley for Coming – it was epic.

By Moochie

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When Desley was here we went to Santorini with Millie Parkes as well. I liked Santorini- I liked the history of the volcanoes. Desley tried hard to find her special photo.

Desley was a great cook – when we had mashed potato she used the leftovers and put vegetables in them and made them into patties – they were delicious.

 

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When she left she gave us all presents and I got a bag to put my swimming stuff in and when I go to sleepovers. She also gave me lip glosses and nail polish and hair ties. She was very generous. She also said a little story about all of us before she gave us the presents.

When mum and baba went to South Crete for 2 days we all helped out and had a good time. It was fun. The first day we went to the beach and Emilio and Toby played so much with the water and sand.

We took her to our favourite cafe called Dodoni and it’s voted the best ice cream in all of Greece. It’s so yummy.

By Yasi.

 

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Desley arrived on the 20th of October, a Sunday, and it was fun to have her around. After six days, on the 26th, we went to Santorini (you have already heard about this on other blogs).

 

 

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Desley is a really cheeky girl, she lets us stay up late and gave us lots of treats and presents.

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On Wednesday evening before bed, she gave us some presents, and I got a beautiful bag, a headband and some hair ties. The next day Desley walked us to school, I held her hand the whole way. Later baba and Desley went to Athens. Desley left Greece on Saturday the 9th of November, she stayed twenty days in Greece. She stayed two weeks and six days.

By Kiki

 

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It was such a treat to share our little town here with Desley – she really fitted in so well in Agios Nikolaos and also with our family and our schedule. She also met many of our friends here and won many hearts. We all miss her lots.
When we arrived in Crete after about 5 months on the road travelling here, mostly overland, Sandy and I decided we would have some time away individually to recharge our batteries. Life has been pretty busy with school and activities and new Bowen work so I decided to save up my days for when Desley came. We had a few days with our amazing friend Antonis (fellow Cretan Bowen instructor we both met in Italy) and spent her last two days in Athens. Great fun though that will be a topic for another blog…….

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There are so many ways that we’ll remember Desley as she was so thoughtful in her gift buying for us – we only had one wine glass – now we have six – we’ll remember her when we have a drink. She bought us a big bathroom mat instead of those old towels we were using. She got us a potato masher so we’ll be singing her praises when we don’t have to make mashed potato with a spatula again and a three tiered metal fruit bowl which is gold as we had bags of fruit strewn around everywhere cause we have such little storage space. Last but not least a huge blanket for Sandy and my bed as the nights are getting chillier and a sheet isn’t quite enough anymore. All very thoughtful and practical presents that mean she’ll be here with us through our time in Crete.

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One of my most beautiful memories of Desley’s visit is our wonderful dinner the night before we went to Athens. We had just been to ‘gymnastiki’ (like little Athletics), we had a glorious dinner which included Desley’s favourite – eggplant chips and we exchanged gifts. She said some beautiful heartfelt words to each child and they said some back to Desley about what they enjoyed and wanted to thank her for as they gave her a little present each. They were so sincere and thoughtful. It was a very beautiful moment that I wish I had on video though will hold the beautiful memory in my heart.
By Christos

 

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I barely knew Desley before she arrived for almost 3 weeks, I had met her only once. So having her in our home was a matter of trust and belief. And that’s what grew more and more as we chatted, played, cried, ate, drank and wandered this magnificent town and land together. She cared for our kids, she grew bonds with our friends, she took time out, she created meals, she spoilt us all with gifts and she made cups of tea and alcoholic beverages, we nurtured each other’s souls. She fit in incredibly, I think she’ll be back in Crete in her lifetime. Desley’s planned visit also inspired our Santorini sojourn which was truly beyond imagination…we found the perfect sunsets, nourished our bodies and souls in the perfect bar with a view, and soaked up the sun… Thanks for choosing to holiday with us.
By Mama Miliking