Sorry for the Delay

Hi there, I am sorry I haven't been able to write at all lately. All of my time has been taken up with teaching and writing.
It has been an exciting few weeks. In addition to the work I have spent a little bit of time participating in the festival activities that have been going on. Monday marked the beginning of the fasting time for the Greek Orthodox faith. Majority of the population participates in this fast. That same majority also participates fully in the carnival period, which is approximately a week after Christmas to clean Monday. Carnival time is a time of big eating, of course, and costumes. On any given weekend but especially when you get closer to clean Monday. People have festival parties and children are always dressed up in costumes. There is no real timing of the costumes they just wear them whenever they want. I went to a festival party with a few teachers from my school and it was really fun. It was fairly popular to go as the opposite sex that night. I was surprised by how similar costumes were to the costumes from the US I guess I was hoping to see something kind of Greek but no such luck I did meet Frida Kahlo which I must say I have never met at an American party. There were celebrations going on everywhere. I went to Monastariki square which is where the flea market is, and there was a carnival band people were dancing and singing. It was really contagious and fun to be a part of. You could hear the music all over the down town. From the square I went to the street of tombs. I was heading for the Agora but it was not open for some reason. There are not many stones marking the graves anymore because they were moved to the museum to preserve them. Most of the tombs are from the 4 century B.C. and are covered in soft grasses. The tomb of Dionysois is in the cemetery it is one of the only marked tombs in the area. The walk leads straight up to the Acropolis and to Aries rock. Where Saint Paul gave his sermons it is a beautiful view in the night and the day. Also during my walking I visited the sight of the Tower of the Winds, it is part of the Agora. I could only take pictures of the outside of it but it was really beautiful. They Tower of the winds was built in the 1st 2nd century BC and was used as weather vane and water clock It has eight sides signifying the 8 directions of the wind. Each side of the building has a different sculpture on it signifying the characteristics of the wind from that direction North is Boreas and he blows the cold North wind through a conch shell, to the East is Apeliotes and he is young in age, he brings fruits and corn form the warm winds South is Notos and he is the bearer of rain. He is portrayed pouring out a pitcher of water. Finally is the West Zephyros and he is the youngest figure pictured scattering flowers. The North and west walls have small windows in the top of them to let in the light because it is completely closed off. It is rumored to be either a school or prison of Socrates during the middle ages and was later used as a monastery in the 18 century by Muslims ascetics as place for whirling dervishes or sema. Inside there is also a set up of ancient canal piping for the water clock. I didn’t get to see inside but I will go back sometime. It was a captivating building. The sun was on its way down by the time I reached the area and the marble gleamed against the bright blue sky that came to visit for a day.
The weather had been very rainy and cold the days before and after that day. It is winter here which means it rains most days and the temperature hovers around 45 degrees. It has gotten substancially warmer in these late February weeks but last week while visiting the village I thought I was going to remain damp and cold for the rest of my stay. We went to Ana and Angela’s village for the celebration of Carnival and clean Monday. The village was a very damp place but it was beautiful and green. Village is actually the size of a small city probably close to the size of Des Moines but they think it is very small it was a bit funny calling it the village. Life was simple in the town people were very friendly and incredibly interested in me. We went to the most amazing souvlaki shop while we were there. Souvlaki is a meat kebab usually pork but you can get chicken goat or lamb in some places. While we were at the shop half of the village came to meet me. The governor even toasted me. They all ordered things to go for the evening but they all somehow managed to wander their way over to our table. As the night went on people bought us wine and we danced until the early morning. Two gypsies came in to eat and were commissioned for half of the night to play music for me the rest of the party. The local men sang along with the music and Ana danced with the governor in a traditional style. They tried teaching me some of the dances but I didn’t really have a rhythm for them. I had 5 marriage proposals that night ranging from 2 lamas to 3 thousand Euro and a herd of goats. Thankfully my father was not in the shop or I might have been sold off right there. Arranged marriages are still part of some of the more traditional families and it is not uncommon for them to occur in very small villages. The village was very quiet outside of the souvlaki shop I spent some time at the beach which was beautiful. I have only been to the Hudson bay before. The water was crystal blue but the sky reflected back a lot of gray in the photographs so they are not the spectacular blue they can really get to on a clear day.
It has been a great couple weeks. It is going to probably be a few more weeks until I get around to posting again. Hope all of you are well. Yeea sas!