Wanderlust: OPA! GREECE

   The day after Mumsy returned to the states, I embarked on my next adventure, Greece! One of my housemates, who has become a very good friend of mine, is from Athens and he invited me to stay with him and his family for a week during Easter break. Of course I accepted this offer! This trip was going to be my first international voyage on my own, surprisingly, there were no hiccups! All went very smoothly. Xenophon picked me up from the Athens airport, and we arrived to his parent's home early evening. After meeting the family and their very sweet housekeeper, Xenophon, myself, and his friends headed out for our first night on the town! I was exhausted from my early flight, so we had an early return of 2am. The following morning, we were to catch the 7am ferry ride from Athens to the Greek Island, Paros. It was here that we spent the majority of my stay.
   The only way to access Paros is via boat or very small plane, it was about a 3 hour high speed boat ride. The island is gorgeous! Paros is one of the less touristy islands, so it was brimming with natural beauty. The warm weather was a very nice change of pace from freezing London. It was cloudy and rainy for part of my stay, but was warm for the majority of my visit. I was even able to lay out on the gorgeous patio and get a bit of a tan!
   The house that I stayed in was incredible. It is owned by Xenophon's parents, but the entire family stayed there for the week to celebrate the Greek Orthodox Easter. This family isn't like mine, they do not fit in one car or at one dinner table. There were 20 people staying in this house, not even an exaggeration. The house was a modern version of classic Greek island style. I was thrilled that I got to see the iconic little white houses with blue doors scattered through the hillside of the island. Just like on Mama Mia, which I found out wasn't even filmed in Greece.... It was such a relaxed lifestyle, very different than that of London, that is just the island way of life.
   In Greece, Easter is the largest holiday of the year. It is a weeklong event that is celebrated in unity with the entire family. One fun tradition that I learned is egg fighting. This is done by hard boiling a large batch of eggs. Each of the children in the family is given an egg. Then they have "egg fights" where one person tries to hit the other's egg, cracking their opponent's egg while keeping theirs in tact. The owner of the last egg without any cracks is the winner! To anyone wanting to try this at home, just remember to boil the eggs first, or it could get quite messy! Two nights prior to Easter Sunday, all of the villagers attend the services provided by the local church. The epitaph(coffin with Jesus in it) is carried from the entrance of the church, and is paraded through the island, to be safely returned to the church for the resurrection. All of the locals follow the epitaph processional and sing hymns. Along the route of the processional, are people acting out scenes from the Bible. It is similar to the Greek's version of "Walk Through Bethlehem." The following evening slightly before midnight, everyone returns to the church for the resurrection. The holy light is passed via candles from inside the church to all of the people gathered to pray. At midnight, everyone hugs each other and shouts "Hristós anésti," meaning "He has risen!" The response is "Alithós anésti," meaning "Truly, he has risen." Many of the locals are very religious and this is an extremely important night to them. On Easter Sunday, the celebrations really begin. We went to the neighbor's house, along with the entire family, for lunch/dinner. One of the main dishes is the roast lamb, which I actually helped prepare! This is not just a slab of meat that is cooked in the oven, the entire lamb is put on a spit, and roasted over a fire all day until it is perfectly cooked. I was able to rotate the spit and assist with the lamb cooking process, it was so tasty!
   It seems as if every time I turned around, more food was being shoved in my direction. YaYa(Xenophon's Grandma) insisted that I was too skinny(bless her heart) and that I needed to eat more. And eat I did! I tried all sorts of exotic things! My favorite was souvlaki with tzatziki sauce!
   Once we returned to Athens, I took a tour of the Acropolis! It is amazing what that building has endured and still stands to tell the story today! It was quite the educational experience to learn about the Greek gods and goddesses, and their ancient stories. Filakiaa for now! (kisses)