| Dear Family and Friends, The other night, I smelt like a Greek gyro. Every time I sniffed, I�d get a big WHIFF of succulent meat, juicy vegetables, and special sauces all wrapped up in a big pita bread. No wonder I couldn�t get a date with that strapping Greek hunk. Because the other night I smelt like a gyro. It�s not pronounced j-ai-row . . . it�s pronounced ya-iiiiiii-rrrow. Or something like that. The night that I smelt like the gyro, I had just stopped by a gyro stand for what was possibly my 129th gyro . . . that day. It was dark. My gyro was messy . . . aren�t ALL gyros messy?! I dove into it with my entire face . . . mmmmmmm. I didn�t see the messy juices dripping slyly down the front of my sweatshirt. I was too busy inhaling what was probably the best gyro in all of Greece. I munched, slurped, and gobbled, using all 32 teeth AND my tongue. My fingers caressed the greasy pita bread as if it were a garment of the finest silk and I took a nosedive into the special yogurt sauce . . . mmmmmmm. Before I wolfed down the last scandalous bite, I smelt like a gyro. You can ask anybody and they would tell you that I did, indeed, smell like a gyro. In case you�re wondering why I was bathing in so many gyros, it�s because I spent my spring break (a.k.a. Freedom) in Greece. What a trip it was too! Besides all of the fun with gyros, my friends and I explored the cities of Thessaloniki and Athens, as well as the islands of Santorini and Crete. It was my first time on an island (EVER), so that was a cool experience. We even rented a car one day in Santorini and drove it from one end of the small island to the other, breathing in the salty sea breeze and taking in the beautiful cliffs and the black sand beaches of the amazing, volcanic island. Santorini was my favorite place . . . it is beautiful and all of the quaint buildings are painted a bright white with blue trimming and accents. But, exploring the Palace of Knossis on Crete, the Acropolis and the Parthenon in Athens, and the beautiful Byzantine churches of Thessaloniki, was also quite an incredible jaunt. We spent many of our nights curled up on floors and in chairs of HUGE ferries that carted us across the mighty Aegean Sea and we were delighted with the friendly nature of the Greek people everywhere we went . . . I went into one small shop and the shop owner didn�t hesitate to give me a ripe, juicy orange that he had plucked from his orange tree that morning! I spent all of my money and then some in Greece, which really isn�t a cheap trip! Even the night I smelt like a gyro, I was basking in the joys of my wonderful spring break trip. And you meet so MANY interesting people when you travel!!! We met a lady from Georgia who is spending her retired years charting the journeys of Paul, a Canadian family who has taken six months just to travel the world, etc. At the beginning of our journey, we were on a long train from Thessaloniki to Athens in a train compartment with a Greek grandmother, or YaYa. Poor YaYa, stuck on a train with a bunch of Americans who don�t speak a word of Greek! She tried to babble at us in Greek as we tried to babble at her in a mixture of English and sign language. And there�s just something about my friend Marisa that makes her a natural at guessing a lot of what others are trying to say in languages she doesn�t understand and so we guessed that this YaYa was on her way to visit her son with bags and bags filled with food. Through out the trip, YaYa offered us various treats that she had stored in her bags. She sat there with a smile on her wrinkled lips and a traditional black scarf wrapped around her head, as her way of communication seemed to be through offering food. She offered sweet sesame breadsticks and little rolls and crackers, she even offered us a bite of her lunch of rice wrapped in fresh grape leaves. In turn, we offered her some of our treats, which were new to her as she smelled them in confusion and timidly bit into them. She helped us with our �Greek� and we enjoyed trying to understand a word or two. When it came time for YaYa to get off the train (before we reached Athens), we assisted her in carrying her endless bags of food to the door of the train. I love to travel . . . you experience something new, interesting, and exciting every single time. And guess what?!!? I don�t smell like a gyro anymore . . . Sniff Sniff, Chantel (the Gyro Queen) P.S. Guess what, guess what?!!? I applied for a slightly early COS (Close of Service) date so that I can get home and manage to get a decent teaching job, so I will leave Bulgaria on June 1st instead of the original date of June 30th. Do you realize what that means?!!? In LESS THAN two months I�ll have finished my Peace Corps service and I�ll be HOME!!!!! I still can�t believe that�s already almost here . . . . . |
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