Day 6

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Day 6: First full day in our "home" town

I got up at about 9:30am, took a deserved shower and caught up with my boyfriend again (my morning, his night). It’s Sunday, our first day to ourselves mostly; we’re meeting up between 12noon and 12:30pm (Greek island time varies by the half hour apparently!) for lunch back at the same restaurant as last night along the beach; I had the spaghetti napoleon. We were under the impression that our prof was going to pay for it, cuz he said it was his treat last night, but he didn’t make it for lunch with us. After we were fully digested, Hetti (the lady who is responsible for starting the SFU Archeological program in Greece, along with her husband who is the mayor of Kefalonia, and who is hosting us for dinner at his hotel tonight with an open bar) took us for a tour of the main areas around our island, it didn’t last more than half an hour. She showed us the 3 grocery stores, the butcher, the bakery, the doctor offices, the post office and the bank. We finished off the tour by checking out our classroom; it definitely had that musty museum smell, for sure made for archaeology students!

After that we had a free day! Some students had their swimsuits on already, but the rest of us went back to the hotel to change and I also dropped off the leftovers of my lunch in my fridge. Once I was changed and sunscreened up, we waited for everyone to finish and we ventured out onto the waterfront. We stopped so some people could buy some beach mats, then we headed to the beach. It was so nice!! Warm blue waters, fine sands and a scorching sun. I couldn’t think of a better way of spending my September 12, 2010: completing course credits in Greece at the beach!! I swam in the Ionian Sea, tasted the salt and sunbathed along the water. Once we had had enough sun, a few of us headed to the grocery store to grab some breakfast foods for the week. I bought a 3 pack of yogurt, digestive cookies (Greek style) and strawberry jam; their fruits were pretty expensive and from what I’ve heard, there are usually fruit and vegetable stands during the week selling fresh produce, so I’ll wait for that!

At 8:15pm we met up at the dock for our dinner in Skala with the mayor of Kefalonia, at his hotel. It was about a 10 minute drive; the resorts all around us were beautiful and when we pulled up to the mayor’s place, the first thing we saw was the clear blue pool and other guests dinning in the outdoor restaurant. We were welcomed by the mayor, his wife and his sons. They had set up a huge table for us along the poolside, close to the live music (a Greek pianist and a singer). We had to add a few more tables, I guess they underestimated our group’s numbers. We had bottle service of white wine and an open bar complete with everything under the sun including the delicious European Gordon’s rum cocktail cooler. For dinner it was buffet style complete with souvlaki chicken, souvlaki pork, Kefalonian sausage, Greek-style yellow potatoes, a fresh Greek salad, fried zucchini, fresh tzatziki sauce and bread. We wined and dined, sat by the pool, took some pictures of course, and participated in some Greek dancing. A few people in our group even sang a few English songs with the piano accompaniment. We stayed until about 12:30am and headed back to our hotel in Poros. Vasili, our bus driver joined us for dinner, danced a few songs solo, and generously drove us all the way back to our place.

My boyfriend graciously kept me company as I stumbled around my place trying to get ready for bed and I had the best sleep ever! It was much-needed!

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