I heart our First Lady

First let me say that I personally can't stand Oprah, or as I like to call her "Pope-rah" (sorry Hody I know this is like sacrilege for you). Over the years I just think she has become so pompous and self-righteous. Which I suppose is hard to avoid when women all over act like you're, well, the Pope, and in such think you're somehow infallible.

But, I love Michelle Obama. It was because of her that I even began to look at President Obama as a viable candidate. I adore how she comes across as so genuine and I really find her to be truly inspiring...as an American, as a woman, as a wife and as a mother.

So although Pope-rah annoyed me with how she asked some of the questions (don't even get me started on the cover photo with her hands in that praying position) I did enjoy this interview.

I don't know about you, but I feel at this time more than ever we need her brand of optimism and hope...to remember it isn't about our differences but about our similarities...

Pope-rah: Okay, shifting gears now. How are you a different woman today than you were when Barack Obama announced his candidacy in 2007?

Michelle Obama: I'm more optimistic. More hopeful. It comes from traveling all over America and connecting with so many different people. And this was long before anyone thought Barack had a chance. This was the kindness of strangers. I think we should all have to get to know one another around kitchen tables. It changed me. It's helped me to give other people the benefit of the doubt.

Pope-rah: What did you see that changed you?

Michelle Obama: I saw our shared values. We fundamentally want the same things for ourselves and for each other. We want our kids to be safe and to grow up with some resources and aspire to a slightly better life than ours. No one's looking for a handout. People just want fairness and opportunity.

Pope-rah: That's so good to hear. Because you know what? We live in an American Idol culture where it seems like everyone just wants to be in the spotlight.

Michelle Obama: That's not the America I saw. People value their communities. They're rooting for one another. Even in places where I thought people wouldn't accept or relate to me, I always walked out feeling like, "Wow—that was fun." That changed me. And it helped prepare me for this. Because I think if you're going to be First Lady, you have to believe in the possibility of what this country stands for. You have to see it in action and know what you're working toward.

Ancient Delphi & Meteora

Another road trip had us heading deeper into the mainland of Greece this weekend. Our destinations were ancient Delphi and Meteora.

We left Athens on Friday after the team got off work and arrived at Arahova in a few hours. Arahova is a skiing village very close to Delphi and promised to have nicer hotels and a better choice of restaurants and bars. Our hotel was really cute and the owners couldn't have been nicer. The one who spoke English made us reservations at his favorite restaurant and gave us some late night recommendations. The restaurant was wonderful (see food blog) and the bar, well we could have skipped the bar. It was a late night.

Morning arrived a little too early for me but it was a beautiful day out and we drove the short distance to ancient Delphi after breakfast.



Delphi was of incredible spiritual importance in ancient Greece. It was thought that when Zeus released the two eagles from opposite sides of the world it was here that they met, thus the center of the world. It was here that Apollo defeated the python that guarded the Oracle and where the python's body was said to send up vapors as it decayed. These vapors were used by the Oracles to speak the word of Apollo. These Oracles (women over the age of 50, usually peasants picked from local areas) were consulted by all leaders on all matters.

It was also here that every 4 years athletic games were held here to celebrate Apollo's victory over the python. These Pythian Games predated the ancient Olympics Games.

The ruins were really impressive and we spent about 4 hours hiking up and down the flower covered hills.



After this we had a long and very curvy drive to Meteora. Tired from the 3 hour drive we had an early dinner with hoards of senior citizens on a tour group at the hotel's restaurant and headed to bed for an early morning of sight-seeing.

Meteora has 6 or so monasteries that were built on top of isolated rock formations. Not only are they impressive from the outside but also held incredible treasures and paintings from the Greek Orthodox monks that lived there. Truly amazing...



Our drive back on Sunday was long but completely worth it. Once again, Greece dazzled us with its rugged natural beauty and drew us in with its long and rich history.

Next weekend we hit the islands!

spoiled brats

okay, our life is ridiculously privileged. i am completely aware and thank my lucky stars on a daily basis. seriously, my one pledge to myself and the Wife is to keep us grounded. i don't ever want to take this opportunity for granted.

when i hear constant complaining from other such privileged people i want to shake them until their head comes out of their arse and ask them "just what planet were you living on before getting paid to travel and see this one?"

that said i would like to know just how many euros it would take for our laundry service to deliver our underwear and socks in a way just a wee bit nicer than damp and wadded up in a plastic bag.



i am in no way "above" folding our own unmentionables but you'd think for 10 euros a pair (that's right- $13 bucks per panty) that they'd come delivered by a white horse drawn carriage, folded into the shape of the acropolis and wrapped in an ancient greek scroll...or at least dry.

Independence Day- Take 2

We celebrated our second Independence day this year with Greece's yesterday. We had just arrived the night before India's and although it was nice for the Wife to have a day to settle in it wasn't much of a day. We unpacked, relaxed by the pool and talked about how strange it was that India doesn't allow alcohol sales on national holidays. Can you imagine a 4th of July without alcohol sales?

Needless to say things are a bit different in Greece. The GM of our hotel greeted us with shots of traditional alcohol at breakfast. I believe they were also serving Ouzo to anybody who would take it as we watched the parade from the restaurant windows. For a parade I guess it was okay...a lot of military stuff. It was cool how they flew jets over the city though. After we watched for a little while we headed to the coast to enjoy the ocean and have some coffee.

Christian was kind enough to drive us and we easily found the recommended restaurant and plopped ourselves down at a table by the water. It was extremely windy and a bit chilly but we were determined to enjoy the elusive Greek spring sunshine. After the wind sprayed the majority of the foam from my latte all over Jules and myself we gave in and went inside to finish our coffee.

We then headed down to the beach where we had seen tons of surfers but found it to be small, a bit dirty and too windy to enjoy. We hopped back in the car to drive along the coast and decided to go ahead and drive down to Poseidon's Temple.

The drive was really breathtaking. Greece has such raw beauty is it difficult to take it all in...rocky coastline, water the most gorgeous shade of blue and on the other side mountains dotted with white house and olive trees. So nice.

We stopped for a few photos and some fresh air...3 out of the 4 of us suffer from motion sickness so although beautiful the curves were taking their toll.



We reached Poseidon's Temple to find it closed but in truth the best pictures of it are taken from a far.



Breakfast was wearing off so we headed back for dinner. We stopped off at a one of the many fish shacks and enjoyed some of the local catch. Pretty good grilled fish, wonderful Greek salad (didn't think I'd let a meal pass without one did you?) and Jules had some de-lish prawns.

After refueling ourselves we went in search of a gas station. The low fuel light had been on for quite a few kilometers and the one gas station we had found was closed for the holiday. The sky was turning dark and the rain had already started so we were not looking forward to being stranded. Luckily, we ended up finding an open station so no pushing was required.

Although, I'm sure there are much worse fates than finding yourself stranded on the coast of Greece.

Resisting Change

I love the earth as much as the next guy...maybe even a little more than the average bear. I try to do what I can to lessen my personal impact and God knows after the Wife watched "An Inconvenient Truth" our home life became anything but convenient. Hello? Are those 5 gallons buckets in your beautiful shower? Why, yes, yes they are but doesn't our grass look nice?

Anyway, I know that paper money is not great for the environment. I know it has a fairly short shelf life and even though it is comes from a renewable resource coins are much better. They last longer and that means less energy is used producing them.

Got it.

Except I'm American and coins don't mean much to me. Back when we lived at home at even given moment there would be 100's of them floating around the bottom of my numerous handbags, inside our furniture, in our cars, under our dryer, on the floor...and I never missed them or really ever tried to use them. Just like the bobby pins that litter my life I took them for granted and only occasionally put them where they needed to go.

Indian ruppees come 50 to a US Dollar so you can imagine how careless I was with those coins. If I couldn't garner enough energy to pick up a dime back home no way I'm caring about a fraction of a penny.

Now here we are in Greece and using the Euro. It takes $1.30 US Dollars to make up one of these puppies so I care a great deal more. Except I'm dealing mostly with coins for the smaller denominations and it is driving me bonkers.

I can't seem to wrap my head around the importance of a coin and I think they are too small to keep up with. I want to casually stick them in this pocket or that pocket or just let them loose in my purse.

I'd like to appeal to the EU and suggest that if they're going to keep this coin thing going they should at least make them bigger...like the size of those Plinko discs from "The Price is Right"...I could keep up with those.

She's no Glen Burns...

Okay last night the Wife and I were flipping through the 3 channels that sometimes have shows in English when we came across this girl...



We thought it had to be a sketch comedy show so we watched her all the way through.

Only to realize that, nope, it was just the weather report. Her name is Petroula Kostidou and she is seriously the weather girl for a channel that we had thought of as the Greek NBC because of their logo and the fact they play old ER episodes.

I still can't get over it.

travel stuff

i get a lot of questions about surviving the hotel life. what kind of things we can't live without, how we cope, etc.

so many of our friends have graciously offered to send things to us and believe me one day soon we'll start taking you up on it.

the one good thing about us being delayed is that we had a lot of time to plan what to bring. of course some things work and some don't...we're definitely learning as we go.

hopefully you're all planning a trip to come visit as some point...so be sure to check out our weekly "can't live without" travel item. link will be on the sidebar.

Nafplio

We headed to the Peloponnese region of the Greece mainland this weekend. Our ultimate destination was Nafplio, a town that is supposed to be one of Greece's most elegant with a ton of ancient stuff to see on the way, so we were pretty excited.

I was even more excited not to be getting in a plane so I packed like a maniac...oh, that's right I brought as many over 3oz liquid bottles my short arms could carry. No need to worry about my stuff fitting in an overhead bin...of course I need these five sweaters and 2 coats! I'll be there for 2 days won't I?

Maria volunteered to drive us out of Athens and it really was lovely. Mountains, olive and orange groves, little herds of sheep...it was really nice. And better yet, our luck held out and it didn't rain. Which is apparently really good because Maria said she doesn't drive in the rain and we'd just have to sleep wherever we were when it started.

We got to our hotel without much hassle. Although it was here where my overpacking came back to bite me in the rear...2 flights of narrow stairs had to be navigated before getting to our room. Both rooms were very pleasant and with the help of the sweet woman from the hotel, also Maria, we headed out to the town square for dinner. Well, really we were headed out for snacks. Not even the elderly eat dinner at 7pm in Greece so our plan was to eat something light, have some wine then head to dinner by the water.

After our giant "cheese plate" (see the food blog for this story) and what I had thought would be a small cheese pizza we were too full to eat any dinner. We still headed down to the waterfront for some dessert and some of course more vino. We ended our night pretty early and had plans for a lot of sightseeing the next day.

Saturday morning arrived and it was clear Mother Nature had other plans so we hung in our rooms until the rain let up enough for us to venture out for a late breakfast. On our way out the hotel lady suggested taking the little train we'd seen out by the port to see a little bit of Nafplio.

Considering the weather we thought it was a good idea and climbed aboard. I'm not sure what we expected from a "miniature train tour" but when the kiddie music started we realized it was going to be a pretty painful trip. After this we decided to grab some lunch and try to salvage the rainy day with some massages and facials at the Nafplio Palace Spa.

Our late lunch allowed us to eat at a "decent Greek hour" and then we headed back down to the water to grab some drinks. We ended up in a little bar with decent music and a friendly owner that kept us entertained into the wee hours of the morning.

The sun returned on Sunday and after breakfast by the port we headed out to finally see some sights. We went to the ancient theatre of Epidaurus and the ruins of Mycenae. Both were beautiful, serene and definitely "must-sees" if you're in the Peloponnese region.

The wife did an amazing job driving us back to Athens and to our hotel. Although the rain slowed us down a bit on Saturday it was a nice weekend and a great way to start our stay in Greece.

After living in India for 2 months I can't tell you how nice it was to just be outside and enjoy such beautiful countryside. It really did our souls good.

Cuban, Greek = Same, Same, not so different apparently

Before departing for India I had thought my dark hair and complexion would have helped me blend in a little with the natives. I was very, very wrong. Without being dressed in full regalia (sari or full Punjabi suit) I stuck out almost as much as my red-headed wife…okay maybe not that much, but I did not in any way pass for Indian.

Coming to Greece I wasn’t worried about sticking out. Although our bit of celebrity in India could be amusing (I can’t imagine how many Indian photo albums we’re in by now- “hey look at these freaky foreigners we saw out today!”) I was ready just to be another face in the crowd, albeit a far less fashionable, non-European face in the crowd.

There is no denying that my Cuban genes are by far my most dominant. I look nothing like my mother and other than my short stature and easily rattled nerves I really inherited very little from the maternal side of my family. I am, as far as looks go, undeniably “not white”.

It seems my features of dark curly hair, dark eyes and olive complexion do, however, pass quite easily for Greek. I’m not talking about by tourists. I’m talking about each and every Greek person I meet. Whether it is an employee of the hotel, an instructor at the gym, a waiter at a café or just random people attempting to speak to me on the street I am spoken to in Greek.

Not so unusual right? It is the native language here.

It's after I give them a look of utter confusion and confess that I don’t have a clue as to what they are saying that I find funny. Each time I state that I don't speak Greek they seem so utterly surprised. Sometimes they even continue to speak to me in Greek as if I am pulling their leg. “No, no, really?” I confirm again in my plainly American (Southern American at that) accent and am almost always met with a look of defeat. Like, how could they ever confuse a non-Greek for one of their own…especially an American.

I may be far removed from my Cuban heritage but I’m more than positive there is no Greek blood running through my veins. Greeks aren’t the type to let lineage be forgotten.

I wouldn’t mind the confusion and actually find it a pleasant experience to not be seen as a bumbling tourist but I’m sure most of them believe I’m Greek-American. This of course is a title in which “true Greeks” find as offensive as “f&%k head”. If you are Greek you are Greek no matter where you live. And a Greek who doesn’t speak any Greek is even worse.

I had planned to really crack down on my Spanish lessons while here but now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t try my hand at some Greek…just enough to pass as a very shy and quiet Greek girl…although not too quiet because that and the fact I don’t smoke like a freight train might give me away.

A little late but better than never...

While in India you can't help but be overwhelmed by the cultural differences. Working in India proved to be just as different..

Just a few of them...

1)Back home, if the power were to go out in the Coke building, I am sure we’d be in the midst of some catastrophic problem.

In India, the power goes out as often as I go for a bathroom break. Usually the backup generators kick in quickly, but today we were left with about 2 full minutes of complete darkness… so dark my computer didn’t even produce enough light to see my keyboard… earlier this week I was stuck in the bathroom in complete darkness.

2)Back home, the cafeteria is a pretty sophisticated scene… 10 different stations for food of all kinds…. salad bar, grill line, desserts, salad bar, meat and 3, deli, etc.

In India, the cafeteria serves free lunch to all Coke employees out of 4 big cooking pots. The dishes are split between veg and non-veg options, always accompanied by rice and Nan (local bread similar to pita). I really enjoy the authentic India food, which is not as spicy as I had feared (although a lot of my team can’t eat the level of spice). I have also turned about 95% vegetarian since being in India.

3)Back home, I typically don’t feel like I am going to die every morning on my commute to work (unless it is of course raining in Atlanta).

In India, I typically don’t feel like I am going to live past my 5 minute commute to work.

4) Back home, we enjoy going to a cabin on the weekends to enjoy getting out of the city, especially during the fall.

In India, I work in a “cabin”, along with every other employee that isn’t stuck in a cubicle.

5) Back home, I understand and am familiar with all aspects of the Coca-Cola restrooms.

In India, I have yet to fully understand (although I have some ideas) the complexities of the bathroom situation. Between the hoses and drains I’m not sure if I want to understand.

6) Back home, although I look somewhat different than most people, I tend to blend in okay with the other redheaded, fair skinned people (or at least fair skinned people).

In India, I sometimes seek reassurance from my colleagues that I have not turned into the red-headed devil that all of the stares lead me to believe. I just looked in the mirror a few minutes ago – no worries, everything seems to be okay.

7) Back home, we tend to lay off employees that aren’t essential to our business.

Here in India, they tend to employ people with totally nonessential tasks. No lie, there are two full time elevator button pushers and one guy that sits at the coffee machine to push the button for whatever you want.

8) Back home, when you park your car the most you ever worry about is maybe parking too close to someone else and getting a scratch or ding in the door.

In India the employees have to worry about the cows that hang out all day in the parking lot eating trash getting into a fight and ramming their horns into vehicles parked in their way. Seriously, I’m not kidding-two team members actually witnessed a full on cow brawl that led to some pretty nasty damage to some poor soul’s red jeep.