Things Maria Erini finds fascinating

I saw Maria Erini (the two-year-old I'm helping learn English) twice over the weekend, and I have discovered a number of things that she, in classic two-year-old style, finds amazing or hilarious or otherwise worth her attention.

1. My hair.
One of the first things Maria Erini ever said in my presence (in Greek, translated by her mother) was that I had "painted" my hair. And now, every once in a while, she seems to rediscover this fact with renewed wonder. We'll be playing or looking at a book or drawing a picture and suddenly she'll pause and stare at my bangs with a cheeky little smile on her face. Then she'll slowly reach out her finger and gently poke this strange and fantastic color: "Pink," I tell her. "My hair is pink! Can you say 'pink?'" And if I'm very, very lucky, she'll respond, "Pink!"

2. My Winnie-the-Pooh ladybug keychain.
She discovered my keys quite some time ago. I left them out on a table, and unsurprisingly, Maria Erini was drawn to the big, shiny, jangly, metal object. Her main interest in the keys themselves is just to swing them around and make noise, but the little plastic ladybug with Winnie-the-Pooh inside provides her with limitless occupation. Especially after I showed her how to take Pooh out of the ladybug. She can never accomplish this on her own, of course, so I ended up taking him out and putting him back in probably at least a dozen times. But it wasn't in vain, for when she showed this amazing object to her father, she clearly enunciated, "Ladybahhg."

3. The sound I make when I blow my nose.
Admittedly, I sound like an elephant when I blow my nose. This did not escape the notice of Maria Erini. She stood entranced by this incredible noise and giggled gleefully when it ended. This process was repeated three or four times, and every time she was just as entertained.

4. When I hide behind things and suddenly appear.
I don't think this requires much explanation. Just picture me popping out from behind a wall several times and a curly-haired little girl laughing hysterically every time.

More to come, I'm sure....

P.S. We're going on a class trip to the Peloponnese this week, so I'll be incommunicado until Saturday or so. Will return with pictures!

Back from Crete

The trip to Crete was exhausting and, at times, full of ridiculous, but Crete itself is lovely. We did a lot of bopping around to different archaeological sites, all of which began to blur together by the end of it. I'll post some pictures, but don't expect me to tell you where or what anything is.

Some highlights:

This is a monastery we visited. I don't remember where. It was quite beautiful, but unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the church. Lovely murals. I donated fifty cents and lit a yellow candle.
This place was also called "Greece's Alamo," having been besieged for some period of time at some point in history. You can see marks in the walls left from shell casings.
At the moment, monks live here.
I'm a terrible virtual tour guide.




This is a mosque, but I don't think it's used as a mosque anymore. From what I understand, there are few Muslims in Crete. I don't remember exactly the story, but there was this massive trade of Greek Muslims and Turkish Orthodox Christians back in the day, essentially leaving no Muslims in Crete. Any who live there now are recent immigrants, I think. But anyway....
This building looks like it's used for concerts now. It's a great space for it. The acoustics were nice.







A pirate ship! Sort of. Note the lack of sails.
This is in, according to Nigel--the 60-something British archaeologist who became the object of our annoyance, if not outright wrath--the marina, not the port. See, we were meant to meet up with the other students and the bus at the port, which is a place where ships dock, but some of us mistakenly went to the marina, which is where yachts and pleasure boats dock.
How we ever managed to confuse the two is utterly beyond me.
In any case, this pirate ship was in the marina, so it, too, was mistaken.


A beautiful, beautiful synagogue we visited at the end of the trip. One of the top three loveliest places of worship I've even been to.
The story behind this place is nice--and I actually remember it. It was built... um, many centuries ago, and there was, I think, a sizable Jewish community that worshiped here. However, during World War II, the Jewish community in this town was wiped out when nearly all who lived there were taken prisoner on a submarine and perished when the submarine was torpedoed.

In the absence of anyone to maintain the building, it fell into disrepair. I think some earthquakes did a number on it as well. Then, in the 1990's, I think, a man whose name I forget came to this Cretan town to retire, and decided to try to have the synagogue restored. He did a presentation on it in New York, where an heir to the Lauder family (of Estee Lauder), as well as a member of an international preservation society just happened to be present and wanted to help. Between them and a wealthy friend of his, they raised the funds to restore the synagogue to what it likely resembled originally. It is once again in use as a place of worship, and as I said, it is wonderfully lovely. Paper cranes hang from a simple chandelier in the center. Behind the woman in the picture is a tapestry of a tree. And on the walls hang writings in Hebrew. I really loved this place, and I'm so glad we got to see it.

There was also a lot of breathtaking scenery, of course, and whenever Facebook decides to let me upload pictures, I'll put them all up. I maintain that Greek mountains are prettiest mountains in the world. They're part of what made me fall in love with Greece in the first place.

Alright, enough rambling. I didn't actually get any video, so apologies for that. I hope you enjoyed the pictures, and as always, I hope you all are well.

Love,
Marissa

P.S. I almost forgot! I have to rep the greatest restaurant in Crete. It's called Ciao, and it's on Chaldon in Chania. Amazing gyros for not too much money. If you ever go to Chania, do not go to any of the restaurants on the water. They charge too much and the food is all the same. Also their maitre d's are annoying and try to muscle you into eating there. Don't even make eye-contact with them. Walk down Chaldon and find Ciao and eat there. That is my advice.