Blogs from Veria, Central Macedonia, Greece, Europe

Same thing, different day. A sweet Greek woman, Vassi, appeared in our life and took over selling at our booth. And could she sell!!! I still ran back and forth from booth to sing or dance, but it was sure a relief to have someone attending our merchandise. Lunch again at the restaurant across the street. Many trips to the park concession stand for our frappes. Hot. Humid. More ebbing and flowing of people. Sunset and more people show up. We see familiar faces from yesterday. A busload from Athens is rumored to be on its way. The vendors shop at each other’s booths. Lots of picture taking by the participants as well as the festival attendees. I’m learning how to negotiate the square ceramic thingie bolted to the floor of our park-provided special washroom facilities. ... read more

We find out that although labeled as a pow wow, this event is not what we consider a pow wow. So, I’ll call it a “cultural festival.” There are five vendors: Lee and I (Sacred Grounds Trading Post), Ethnic Arts, Tdom Bah, George and wife from Athens and Merrick and Agnesta from Poland. We all have diverse items for sale. Johnny also has his cds for sale. The heat is relentless. Hot and humid, humid and hot. I know the guys are uncomfortable in their regalia. The crowd is like the tide -- ebbing and flowing. Not too many people show up during the day -- it is a work day and no one seems to venture out until the sun sets. We drum and sing, Johnny plays his guitar and tries to find songs ... read more

Tuesday - Veria We settled in and trashed the house. Didn’t mean to, but we have soooo many suitcases. Regalia takes up at least one suitcase! Poor things. Our crap is everywhere and we’re too tired to be organized. Sophia made us lunch, and we were very grateful. Showers were a necessity -- 24 hours in a car, shoulder to shoulder, no air conditioning (did I tell you it’s hot?) -- we were overdue! Demetrius took Johnny and I to the local market to pick up some snack food (we are learning to hoard food) and breakfast items. We are always on the lookout for water, no gas, but it appears Greeks aren’t as dedicated to mineral water with bubbles as are the Germans. We ate a late lunch -- I think we snacked for dinner. ... read more