A Day In Greece with Nicoletta!

Which Greek Dog Do You Think Is the Cutest? (Take the Poll)

2009-04-07T10:22:00.001-07:00

City Life in Greece

2009-04-07T07:21:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

I've spent a lot of time living in cities these past four weeks -- we rented an apartment in Athens for 10 days and another apartment in Chania on the island of Crete for one week. Living in the city has been different than living at home. My Mom says some of these things are different because it is a city and some of the things are different because we are in Greece. This is what I've noticed:

1. All the stores open at 8:00 am and close at 1:00 pm (they say 13:00). Then they open back up again at about 5:00 pm and close at 10:00 pm or 12:00 am!

2. You have to dry your clothes in the wind because they don't have dryers here.

3. Basically everybody speaks four languages -- even the kids!

4. The church bells ring every hour (and wake me up in the morning).

5. Basically everybody trusts each other. What I mean by this is that you can leave your door open and be gone for as long as you want and nobody will steal anything (people will leave windows or doors open -- I've seen it!)

6. You eat dinner at about 8:00 - 9:00 pm. One night we went out to dinner with a Greek family and dinner didn't START until 10:30 pm -- I was up until 1:00 am and got VERY TIRED.

Bye,

Nicoletta

Beach Combing on a PINK Sand Beach!

2009-04-03T22:15:00.000-07:00

Howdy Friends,

Hope you're gonna have a great day today! Yesterday I went to the beach and me and my Mom found a lot of colorful and beautiful shells. But here's the most exciting part: some of the sand was bright bubble gum pink! But, this is just too sad - you would have gone to jail if you collected the sand to bring home! So, I couldn't bring it back to school for the class sand jar -- but I can bring back a picture!

Truly,

Nicoletta

PS - the sand is pink because the sand is actually pink coral mashed up into little pieces. The pink sand is very rare.

RARE WEATHER (for us, not the Cretens)

2009-04-03T22:01:00.000-07:00

Aye, aye maytees (Mrs. Berger, I'm writing in pirate-speak, so pardon my grammar):

Hope you're having a great morning! Aye, but here maytees the sand from a Sahara Desert sand storm (in Africa) is what's blockin all the sun (that's why the sky is so dark in this photo)! Aye, but that's not stoppin in from bein warm. Aye, the storm is predicted to last 'em three more days and nights with them strong winds blowin in the tide from the South. I'll still be a lookin for shells and more treasure on the beach though (just like Tony in THE WINDCATCHER)!

Bye, Bye Maytees!

Truly your captain from Crete,

Nicoletta

PS -- I forgot to mention that we flew to Crete two days ago -- Crete is a Greek island that is farthest from the main land. It is about the same distance from Greece as it is to Africa!

Becoming a "Pythia" -- Greek Visionary

2009-03-28T23:41:00.000-07:00

Yassas,

Today I went to another archeological site - Delphi (which means "dolphin" in Greek). When I went, I got pretty bored -- until my Dad found a tunnel in the ruins. It was about two foot tall and two foot wide. Me and my Dad wondered what was inside and what the tunnel was for. Then we remembered that we'd brought a flashlight in our backpack. My Dad said "Etta, do you want to go in there?" I said "totally" and grabbed the flashlight. I crawled around for a while then I came out of the tunnel at a different spot. I told my parents what it looked like inside: it was cold and damp and cramped. There were lots of spider webs. By the way, I don't think I was supposed to go in the tunnel but it wasn't roped off ... so, I followed the tunnels and a lot of them came to a dead end and then I came to a very long tunnel and it came to an open area. I stepped into the light. I looked around and saw a flight of stairs. I walked up them. When I came to the top I looked around and I called "Mom, Dad" and my parents came to the stairs. They asked me if I had discovered anything new. I told them about the tunnel and stairs and said that I wanted to go in again! They told me to talk as I walked so that they could "follow me" from outside.

After my adventure in the tunnels, I got a little hungry, so we found a nice sunny area to sit down. My Mommy packed P B & J sandwiches for lunch with apples and oranges. Yum! Oh my -- I forgot to tell you where we got the oranges from. When we were driving to the site yesterday we stopped along the road to get a little fresh air. But since we were on the highway, there was no where to pull over except a giant orange farm -- it was about 300 acres -- wow! So we walked around the orange farm for a while. I saw about 100 perfect oranges on the ground! So I grabbed five oranges from the ground and brought them with us! The oranges were delicious for lunch.

While we were eating we read about the Delphi site ... and all of a sudden my Mom was reading about TUNNELS! The same tunnels I crawled around in! The Guidebook said: underneath the temple of Apollo (the sun god) there were tunnels that connected to the entrance of the temple. The Pythia would have been the only one who knew about the tunnel and could crawl through them. Everyone who came to visit the Pythia thought she appeared in the temple magically -- when really she was just using the tunnels! The Pythia was a future teller who would breath fumes from the volcano. It was believed that the fumes would open up her mind to see your future.

After me and my family read about the tunnels we were amazed that I had crawled through the tunnels that the Pythia had used. I was a Pythia for the day!

Bye, bye,

Nicoletta

Hiking in the Mountains

2009-03-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

Hi Class,

I'm sorry that I haven't posted for a while -- we've been traveling around the Tygetos Mountains without an Internet connection. A couple of days ago I got to hike in the Mountains. The hike was not any old hike though, I was hiking up a giant mountain -- 1,800 feet high (it took us seven hours). Have any of you climbed up a giant mountain? How about you Mrs. Berger? I bet the kids would like to know that. We saw lots of goats and donkeys on the Mountain and some old churches too. All of the goats wore bells around their necks -- we could hear them ringing all day! We were so high up in the Mountains that it even snowed (that's us in the blue car with snow on the roof)!

Have a great day and I hope that you enjoyed or enjoy your spring break.

Nicoletta

P.S. The mountain climbing was very tiring but also very fun and very beautiful.

Traveling Back in Time 3000 Years

2009-03-26T23:28:00.000-07:00

We drove to a place called Mycenea yesterday. I went to a Tholos tomb and ancient city -- where a king called Agamemenon was buried 3000 years ago. When you stood in the exact middle of the tomb it sounded as if you were on speaker phone! Other parts of the city were built later -- right on top of the tomb. When you listen to the video clip you will hear all about the site I was at yesterday. It was from the Hellenistic period of time. I liked imagining what it would be like to live in the city and palace.

Yesterday was also really exciting because I found a real diamond, a pearl, and my Mom found a piece of ancient pottery. I found the diamond and the pearl on the walkway to the site. It was old, but not ancient.

By for now (or I should say Yassas)

Nicoletta

PS -- Please ask a question about history. My Dad will make me figure out the answer and post it on my blog!

Greek Food!

2009-03-22T10:33:00.000-07:00

I've tried lots of new foods on my trip in Greece. Some of my favorites have been kiwi gelato (ice cream), HUGE sugar doughnuts, and pork gyro with yogurt-cucumber sauce. Some of my least favorite foods: olives, feta cheese and OCTOPUS tentacles (with the suckers!) I wonder how many of you would like Octopus ...?

Shopping Shopping Shopping Below the Acropolis

2009-03-21T12:14:00.000-07:00

Hi Class!

Today I went on a 3 hour walking tour about the Parthenon (a 2,400 year old Greek temple). It was cool but also kind of boring! But listen up girls, I got to go shopping for 4 hours afterward in the old area of Athens called the Plaka. I love Greece and Athens! My favorite thing I shopped for was "worry beads." When I get back I can bring some to class -- they are a string of glass beads in all different colors. In Italy they hold each bead and say a prayer to the bead. Here everyone just plays around with them and they do all sorts of tricks. I've seen mostly all men with the beads -- not many women. By the way, here in Athens they don't have many stray cats -- they have about one million dogs instead! No exageration! They have all kinds of breads and wear collars that the government gave them. I love them! They are all very nice.

Well, good bye for now -- thank you for all of your questions and comments! Keep them coming -- They are fun to read!

Greek music!

2009-03-21T11:53:00.000-07:00

One night we went out for dinner and there were Greek musicians who played the traditional bazouki instrument! It was really pretty -- listen for yourself!

Olympia

2009-03-20T01:52:00.001-07:00

Kalinikhta (goodnight)

Yesterday I went to Olympia with my family. Olympia was where the first Olympics started. In the first Olympics, little girls were not allowed and neither were married women because the men were naked when the Olympic games were played. Have you ever wondered what 'gymnasium' means? I know! I learned it yesterday! It means to practice or excercise naked or nude. Maybe one of you could tell Mrs. Denson that! I think she'll like that.

Last night I also went to Ageliki's for dinner. There was Greek dancing and singing. The singing and dancing were really pretty. It was a great end to the Peloponese and I can't wait to travel to Athens!

Nicoletta Digiacomo

Greece Independence Day

2009-03-18T01:09:00.001-07:00

Kalimera (Good afternoon)

Today was Greek Independence Day. It was celebrating independence sort of like the Fourth of July. We walked on an old castle built by the Turkish. A lot of the walls had collapsed but we were still able to get around. I think Briannon asked about landmarks. This was a landmark that represented that the Turkish had been there. It had a church-like house in the middle of it. It was very cool.

I SAW MORE CATS!

I hope you're having a great time at school and learning lots that you can tell me about. I am really sorry I have not been able to answer. I've only been able to get on the internet for half an hour every two days.

Nicoletta DiGiacomo

Hiking in the Gorge

2009-03-17T02:47:00.001-07:00

Kalimera (Goodmorning) Mrs. Berger and friends!

Yesterday we were hiking in a gorge in a dried up river bed. Me and my family had a lot of fun but it was a lot of work and we got tired. We hiked for 12 hours (really -- that's what my Dad told me). The hardest but funnest part of the hike was scrambling over rocks and jumping from one to the other. The highest rock was about 10 feet tall and I slide down it on my bottom. It was like a giant playground. On our walk we saw a giant beetle and a giant queen ant. They were both about one inch long. We also saw an old Greek man who had about 300 goats. We met another Greek man who carved hiking sticks from olive branches. He was really nice. I also collected a lot of really cool rocks. What's the longest hike you've ever been on?

We also went grocery shopping. We bought a sweet treat that was a wafer sandwhich with some kind of almond, honey, marshmellow center and peanuts. It was really good!

More cats today!! At our apartment in Stoupa, a cat had four baby kittens. They are about four inches long and their eyes are still closed. Their tails are about two inches long. They are VERY cute!

Yassas (this means goodbye and hello),

Nicoletta

PS - Can't wait to show you some of my pictures!

First Day in Greece

2009-03-17T02:40:00.000-07:00

Yassas (that's "hello" in Greek!),

Today we went into the town of Kalamata and ate at a Greek restaurant called: Agelika's -- which means "Angela's" in Greek. There is also a beach in town which we visited. I found two shells on the beach and a couple pieces of coral. I also meant to tell you we have not been answering questions because I have not been able to get on the blog (we do not have Internet connection at our apartment). We also took a walk around the village (called Stoupa). On our walk we saw about 20 stray cats on the sidewalk. Me and Angela (my babysitter who came with us) named one of the cats and played with it. Most of the cats you shouldn't play with but the cat we played with was nice. At the restaurant we ate some dough balls rolled in cinammon and dipped in honey. They were delicious!!!

Love Etta.

PS -- WE are writing this from an Internet cafe and can't use our own computer. SO that's why I haven't added any photos. But my mom says we should be able to add photos once we get to Athens next week.

Getting ready to leave

2009-03-08T13:11:00.000-07:00

Today I am getting ready to leave for Greece.

Before I go I'm going to tell you about SOME -- just some -- of the Greek gods. First of all there is one main greek god his name is Zeus. The Greeks say when there are thunder storms Zeus is mad and he throws thunder bolts. There is another god named aphrodite she is the god of love and beauty. Athena is said to be Zeus' daughter and is the god of good crops. I like that there is a god for basically everything in the Greek culture. Can't wait to learn more about them in Greece!