The Ice Cream Walk of Death

Today was a very interesting day here in Athens. I am here as a guest to Tiffany so while she is in class, the rest of us are out and about in the city. This morning we went to a "Flea Market," which was pretty much like a Farmer's Market with amazing fruits and vegetables and other homemade things. Here are a few pictures of the market.

Opa!

Some of the most delicious strawberries I have ever tasted!

Olives are big here.....obviously.

After about 35 minutes, we had seen all there was to see of the market. We then decided that because our ride would not be there for another hour and a half, we needed to find a place to have some coffee. We found this cute little restaurant that had an outdoor patio covered in grapevines. I even had my first Greek cold coffee called a Frappe. I had to keep asking for sugar since I like a little coffee with my coffee and cream. I think the owner thought I was a little crazy.

Sipping my first Frappe.

When it became 2 hrs and no van, we began to wonder what we should do. One of the professors tried calling the college on several different phones and the call would not go through. Finally, one of the host ladies came to pick us up in a car. All 13 of us...in 1 car. Obviously, that was not going to work so she took 4 people in the group and was going to come back in shifts. We were about 20-25 mins from the campus so we just sat at the restaurant and waited. After another hour, and more failed phone calls, we decided that we needed to find the bus to take us back. Now we are HOT and hungry and have walked nearly 3 miles to the main street to catch the bus. At this point, we knew we were not making it back for lunch, so we decided to eat at one of the best Gyros places in Athens. Yum! I am glad to say that we made it home just fine and we even had an adventure. If you aren't a flexible person you may not want to travel internationally. It's all about going with the flow!

*Sidenote: The van had broken down and that is why another host came with the car. When she was told to come back to get the rest of us, she heard that we were going to take the bus instead. Language barriers are FUN!

We got back and had some time to rest and then we ate dinner together. I love that we get to eat all of our meals with each other! Living in community is tough, but I believe it was the way God intended us to live. After dinner, we were informed that we were going to walk to this amazing ice cream shop. I do NOT do ice cream at home, but I was told that the milk processing is different here and I should be fine. That got me excited..... until we started to make the trek to the shop. No one told us it would be about a 2 1/2 mile walk on a road with no sidewalks and HUGE barking dogs around every bend. These dogs were so large that they looked more like horses! Also, did you know that the Greeks don't care much for rules such as speed limits or traffic lights? We practically had to jump out of the way many times so that we were not run over.....while the dogs were looking at us like we were dinner. We did arrive safely to the ice cream shop and while we ate our ice cream, I chickened out and went for sorbet, I was wondering how we were going to get home in the dark? The road we walked on was not what you would call paved. Well, almost too quickly, I got my answer. We were going to try and walk some on the main road to cut off a little time and then head to the back roads after that. This way was even more terrifying than the way over! We were pretty much playing chicken trying to get across the main street and were straddling the guardrail while we waited to cross. Did I mention that Greeks don't care much for rules?! For a different take on this trip and this incident, see my friend Tiffany's Blog (just click on her name).

Well, I am happy to say that I am back in the dorm safe and now just getting ready for bed. I will leave you with a few of my favorite, and not so favorite, things about Greece.

What I do NOT like so much about Greece:

*Older Greek woman who yell, or encourage strongly, at you for singing on the bus. I wasn't quite sure what she was saying since I do not speak Greek.

*The lack of deodorant used. I am breathing through my mouth a lot!

What I LOVE about Greece:

And to all a good night!