Let's See what I remember.....

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Ok, so I'm writing this almost 20 years later, but I want everyone to know where I've been. Heck, I wanna' know where I've been!

First and foremost, I LOVE to talk, but can't spell worth a lick.....so get over it, try to understand what I mean, enjoy it, and read on!

Let me start off with how our trip was set up.

The group I traveled with was: 16 from my high school (Science Hill), 1 from the rival school (Dobbyns Bennett in Kingsport), and 3 from Nashville. We then added a few from Ohio, and "Poof" our group was made! We started out by all meeting up in Washington DC for 3 days of "debriefing"......I'm sorry, itwas SO very boring and I did fall asleep! I tried so hard to listen to what all the speakers were saying because I didn't want to do something and accidentally offend someone, but hey, I was 16 at the time so it was difficult at best.
We flew from DC to New York then onto Germany then to Greece. Gotta' love those lay-overs. UGH!

The itenarary was set up:
Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia, Hungry, Austria, Germany then home (YEA!) And we would have host families in Greece, Austria and Germany. I loved ALL of my families, but to me the German and Austiran cultures are very close, so why didn't they put us with any Italian families?

We arrived in Greece and instad of breaking us all up into our "home stays" and traumatizing us even more they kept us together for a week. That was nice because I was SO afraid and homesick and.....well.....I WANT MY MOMMY!!!!!!! Ok, sorry, over that now.

We did the usualy "touristy" things, and I really enjoyed the food. I think seeing the Parthanon and the adjoining museaum (SP?) really had an effect on me because just 2 years later I studied art history for 2 years and LOVED every minute of it. But I digress.
The day came for all of us to meet our families for the next week. My family was in Partas, their "summer" home. I was scared, but my "mother" seemed very nice, and then she informed me that we wouldn't be staying in the city (where my friends were!), but rather going to their house in the county. OK, country....."country" to me means animals, and farming, and wide open spaces. That's cool.
We drove and drove and drove. We talked and that's when I eralized that my host sister, Katerina, was only 14, and her English wasn't the best, but she understood most everything I said, IF I didn't use any "slang". Her mother was something "big" in busniess so her English was perfect. We stopped at a store to pick up a few "essentials", and began driving again. It was bout a 30 miunte drive, and I began to notice NO animals, NO fields, and NO wide open spaces. UUmmmm. OK. We drove thru, what can best be described as a "compound". There were TONS of gates and wire fences surrounding each house, but you could see lush gardens thru some of the brush. Wee finally pulled in and there, it seemed was the entire town. Everyone wanted to see "the American". I felt like an oddity. Now, let me explain something, at that time in my life, I was this tiny, petite, blond (NATURAL, NO dyes!) that was as shy as could be......so they took COMPLETE delight in teasing me.
They had a BEAUTIFUL kitchen inside the house, but instead Mother cooked in the kitchen that was OUTSIDE the house in a seperate building. I didn't understand this until many years later when I began to cook and understand HEAT! I remember that every morning Mother would fix me HOT milk and some strage local food. Kat was still in school, so I would go into town with ehr every day, but the teacher (she was NUTS) would scream and yell and tell the Americans to "GET OUT!!!!!" Soooo, thankfully my friend Mindy (from the Ohio group) would be in town, and we'd get something to eat, shop and just sit and talk. Eventually most of the SHHS (my) group ended up in town too so it wasn't too lonely or scary.
I got my first (and last) try at a nude beach. I just couldn't go nude, so I went topless. OK, so I looked like an 11 year old boy, but it was freeing! I'll admit, if I had the chance (and now that I've "matured") I'd do it again in a heartbeat! I fell in love with these little appleish type things that I couldn't find here in the states until recenly......but I can't think of what they're called, but I do know them when I see them! The week I was there is amlost like a dream now. One thing that stays in my mind is when Kat and her friends and I would walk during the afternoon. We'd pass by the church ans see the Sisters in their Habits and they would fuss at all of us because the other girls werwe supposed to come help them with something, then one started to yell at me, but I had no idea! She yelled more and louder until Kat got my attention and I turned to look at her. I must have had the "deer in the headlights" look because she stopped yelling so much and began to lecutre me.....at least I'm guessing it was a lecture. The other girls were trying to hide their giggles and all I could do was stare, blakly at the old womana nd wonder if she was going to pull a ruler out from her sleeve and slap my hand. Finally Kat stopped her and explained that I spoke NO Greek and was her "foreign sister" for the week. The Sister didn't seem impressed, or touched, or anything.....and she started to yell at me AGAIN! This time for NOT understanding Greek! (LOL!!!) That same afternoon there was this little old man, exactly like something you'd see out of an old world painting, walking with his donkey loaded down with brush. I just about cried it ws so beautiful! There he was, walking that donkey with the steep rock cliffs and the beautiful blue sea behind him. Oh, that image will sustain me for years to come.
All the neighbors wanted me to come eat with them, not only because the Greeks are SUPER nice people, but they wanted to see "the American", and laugh at her funny accent. My Mother is from Asheville NC, so she has a DEEP "twang" in her voice, which I had at that time also. I can only imagine how it sounded to them, me butchering their incredible language. Oh, those poor people! At lunch one afternoon the neighbors 3 year old daughter was jsut amazed by me. I don't think she'd ever seen anything like me before and she crawled right up in my lap and began trying to teach me Greek! She was grabbing my hair and saying the word, I looked at her, perplexed, and the more I didn't understand the more she'd pull. (OUCH!) The girls couldn't make her understand that I didn't speak her language, but she tried. So, as the afternoon went on she would pull, point or peck at something, and I would repeat the word, then I would do the same to her. Oh, and did I mention that this same 3 year old put away 6 beers BEFORE lunch?!?!??? WOW! Then during lunch she had milk, and after I think she had a few more beers. Now, I know that that's their way of life and she was used to it.....but if that was here.....NAPTIME!

The day we were leaving they took me to Katerina's aunt's shop and she told me to pick out something. I was SO embarrassed because I didn't expect anything, but I chose a small bottle of bath salts and some cute stationary (which I still have!), then we went to her grandmother's bakery. OH that smell! HEAVEN!!!!! I can still almost smell it! She was a large woman with that beautiful olive skin and dark black hair, and these happy eyes that danced. She took my hand and looked me over, then bear hugged me, and handed me an empty box and began to gesture at the cases. WHAT?!?!?!?? I have my pick? REALLY?!?!?!?? For someone like me, sugar is is my blood type. (Yes, I know it's not healthy, but I'm sorry!) I first, timidly, chose a couple of small cookies that were lemonish, in Greek she kept saying "NO, no.... MORE! MORE!!!" So, I obliged! Who am I to offend someone of turn down a granmother trying to feed someone? I chose SO much Backlava it wasn't funny (LOVE the stuff!) and some other philo dough goodies, along with another box SHE put together with half of a cake and I can't remember what else!
Trust me, when I rejoined the group I was VERY popular! I was SO ahppy to share with everyone, not only because if I'd eaten all of that I'd be SO sick, but I was happy to have my traveling family back. I loved my home stay, but I felt safer with the people I'd been with for almost 2 weeks now.

We boarded the bus and went to the docks wehre we took an overnight steamer to our stop in Italy.....and that will be the next entry!

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