Benjamin's Birthday

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We gave Benjamin the ultimate teenage birthday present and let him sleep in this morning. He is now, officially, a teenager. Hard to believe.

In the morning we got a call from my Aunt Helen. We are all set for meeting up with her tomorrow afternoon, just so long as each of our 5 bus connections goes smoothly.

When Benjamin finally gets up, we give him his birthday presents. He seems happy with the selection of books and new headphones for his ipod and equally happy with the Euros and American dollars that people have sent him. One of the presents, a book of Greek myths, seems to capture his interest and he quickly delves into it.

We take the afternoon bus into town (and get charged yet another different fare). We get off at the INTERNET place (Benjamin has made plans to call friends from home on Skype today), and manage to put a deposit on an apartment in Rome as well as confirm our series of bus connections for tomorrow.
After using the INTERNET, we walk by the street market (which they are just closing up) and buy some potted plants as a thank you present for our hosts. We check out a bakery for a birthday cake, only to find the cakes run 30 or 40 Euro. As Benjamin doesn't like cake anyway, we end up buying cup cake type things instead as well as some wine for our hosts. Finally, we find a Greek restaurant along the water front and celebrate Benjamin's birthday with a birthday dinner, before catching the final bus back to Koromilia.

In the evening, Benjamin gets several birthday phone calls including Pia, his zia Renza, and Granny and Grandpa. Our hosts from upstairs also come down for birthday cake (or in this case, birthday pastries). Joshua and Benjamin have blown up a bunch of balloons and our birthday party descends into final massive balloon fight with our Greek hosts holding their own! About 10 pm, we say our final goodbyes and finish packing for tomorrow.

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