Afternoon Frappa


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Europe » Greece » Central Macedonia » Thessaloniki
October 16th 2008
Published: October 21st 2008
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The FrappaThe FrappaThe Frappa

Just the thing for a warm day and some good conversation.
So its been just about two weeks and things are finally starting to come together here in Greece. it was tough for the first week or so because i did not really have internet or a car or money for that matter but all that is now in the past and I have been exploring and trying to figure everything out here. Like so many other places the culture and daily life here is quite different than what im use to. My daily routine usually starts somewhere around 10 or 11AM for our first training session. After a quick shower most of the guys from the team will go to a coffee bar and have a "frappa."
A frappa consists of one part instant coffee and one part sugar, add some water and ice and begin whipping until its foamy and frothy. This little concoction is pretty tasty but has a slight problem. The foam, water, and coffee separate if it sits for about 2 minutes. Since an afternoon coffee session lasts an average of 1 to 2 hours most of the time is spent stirring feverishly. It definitely took a while for me to start participating because from my perspective,
TaxidiTaxidiTaxidi

this is the restaurant where we get two meals per day for free. Good food and they all know about my Gluten problem so they make me alot of potatoes.
watching a group of men arguing passionately about a news paper article while stirring their frappa's and then taking dainty little sips through a bendy straw, was.......interesting. For the first week i thought this afternoon tradition was a little lame but it's slowly becoming a necessity for a normal functioning day. This brings me to my next point about the coffee bars here in Greece. On any given day (week day or otherwise) these bars will be full of patrons. They will not be overly full on weekdays but they will have enough people in them to beg the question: When and what do these people do for work? If i solve this mystery i will be sure to write about it.
After an afternoon frappa comes some free time. This is usually when i can run my errands, take a nap, or write, now that i have internet. Then comes the meat and potatoes of training, the evening practice. From time to time we start this training at 8:30PM. What this means is that dinner is eaten around 11:00 and i do not get home until midnight. its taken some getting use to but its turning out not to
Greek SaladGreek SaladGreek Salad

Im still not a big fan of the tomato but the rest of the salad is really really good!! Feta cheese, some zucchini, red onion, all topped with a little olive oil. Yum!!
be as big of a deal as when i was still jet lagged. This is what its like 6 days a week with Sundays off. Nice on one hand because i am kept busy (unlike when i was in Bahrain) but tough as well for the same reason.
Its going very very well though. I enjoy the lifestyle and the people from the team are great. the other foreigners are awesome and we all get along great. there's an Australian and two Brazilians but the Aussy is the guy i have been spending most of my time with. His name is Nathan Roberts and hes teaching me some funny sayings and some of the rules for Australian football. He likes to go out and see things so its great to have a person to do that with. There is much more to tell but i only have so much time for a nap so this will have to do for the time being. Thats all for now.




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My PlaceMy Place
My Place

This view is from the front door. This is basically it with the kitchen and the bathroom to the right.
The BathroomThe Bathroom
The Bathroom

Its massive as you can tell. Most of my showers are at the training gym though so the shower is no big deal.
The KitchenThe Kitchen
The Kitchen

Massive as well. Dont worry mom i only need it for breakfast and snacks.
CandyCandy
Candy

This is my car. More on the parking around Greece will be coming but this is perfectly legal.


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