Tuesday, June 30, 2009

I'M HOME!!

Hey all!

I'm back from my holiday! This is just a quick post to state that I had a lovely time (the proof will be posted later :) and to send each and everyone of you a big hug for the wonderful comments you left me the time I was away. It was so nice coming home and reading your words :)

I don't know where to begin really. So much has happened to me and around me these past 7 days! I guess that's life, things evolve and move on, even if you're taking a break! I will start organising things and a video-with some lovely images-will be up soon! I will start by reading your blogs, something that I missed a lot while away :)

View from a cafe in Zakinthos (just a little teaser :)

Take care! Glad to be back and missed you all lol
xoxo

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Vacation Time!!!


Off to Zakinthos, a wonderful Greek island, to visit my friend Maria! I'll be gone for a week so CU all when I get back with lots of pictures and stories and...well you know what I mean :)

Dedicated to you and you and you :)



Take care you all!
xoxo

Thursday, June 18, 2009

A...roof with a view

Food, Education, Health Care, Work, Roof. I would say that these five words include and sum up a person's vital needs and rights. The needs...one needs to fulfill in order for him/her to live a great life. A human and happy life...and then you start thinking...

This week's Theme Thursday made me think about homes and how important they are. How essential it is to have a roof over your head for you and your family. How a 2% of today's world population owns houses, when it is estimated that the number of people that own not even one house in Athens/ Greece is 11.000 and rising (I dare not to add the numbers for a worldwide example). How did a human right become an inhuman wrong?

I mean imagine a world that didn't sacrifice its basic human rights in the altar of consumerism and profit. A world where all people own a house, a regular sized one with solid foundation, secure doors and a roof that keeps nature out. With functional and usable rooms (not 30 bedrooms that no one will ever see their inside). And when I say all people I mean ALL people, no exceptions, no discrimination. And I start thinking again...how is it OK if one person owns a piece of land with a house the size of 5 (or more) houses when, at the same time, people live in a carton box? How is it OK to preserve endless fields for private use, like golf courses and 'hunting' areas, when at the same time there seems to be no place (a complete lie) to build a shelter? How is it OK for just 3 people to eat their 5-course meal in a room so big that they can't even see each other (!) when, at the same time, hundreds of people eat garbage, literally on each other?

Just thinking...just imagine...

The "Fiddler on the Roof" (musical: music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905) because the scene and the colors are unique.




Happy TT everyone and 'see you' all when I read your posts :)
xoxo

Friday, June 12, 2009

This past week...

...the case is that for us Greek teachers it is an exam period (as I'm sure the same goes for many other colleagues abroad:). So this means hours in front of the computer, trying to figure out the perfect exercises for my students (ones that are both easy and complicated, valid and objective blah blah blah). Then there comes the grading part which is hard, considering that it is summer time and you wanna go to the beach and drink a mojito instead! Surprise, surprise your students wanna do that too (minus the mojito, hopefully:), so they didn't pay much attention in class and now you gotta figure out how to grade a paper, so that the particular child will have...a nice holiday with the parents and not a "you're going to summer school!!" one...

Apart from all the work (which is almost over), the week went from great (over the weekend) to something I'm still trying to recover from, get over, understand, forgive (or not)...

Something, that I can't call "person", poisoned our 10 year old dog. Flox has been a member of our family, keeping company to my grandma in our village, protecting the house from strangers and above all he was a good friend. I still can't believe that this happened in a neighbourhood filled with dogs (in every house), where people are around all kinds of animals every day...

While reading some blog posts this week, I found a meme on Leah's wonderful blog, an "I love-I hate" one...it said something about "most hated person". Well it is needless to say that the person I hate most right now is the one that did this to our dog...

"The Scientist" by Coldplay, cause I feel like crying...



PS My fellow bloggers I'm sorry I missed out on Theme Thursday and haven't been able to read your posts! I'll try to catch up over the weekend and play along next week! Wish you all to have a great weekend!



Peace and love
xoxo

Thursday, June 4, 2009

"Same Time, Next Year"-A Theme Thursday Post

Hello everyone! So today I noticed that this post is the 60th for this blog. Today's Theme Thursday is also "Clock" so I figured, 60th post+60 minutes (as in an hour)= important blogging moment :)

I thought about time and how we say it always passes so quickly or the opposite! Then two people came to mind. Two people that managed to 'fool' time and make it 'stop' even if it was just for two days, every year.

Of course I'm talking about my favorite theatre play (one of the many I enjoy). Its title is relevant to the theme, "same time, next year" (written by Bernard Slade). The 'people' I'm referring to are the heroes, George and Doris. Two characters living separate lives who, somehow, manage to make them parallel by meeting the same weekend of each year, in a hotel room.

The scene I found on YouTube (from the movie) is the reason I thought of this play for today. The fact that George's watch, when Doris asks the time, is "3 hours and 25 minutes fast"! Time is so relevant, isn't it? I mean would you wear a clock that doesn't work as it should? Are you obsessed with time or do you struggle to make time your friend?

The way I see it, one thing is certain. We can 'make time' by choosing what is important or not in our lives. Time keeps...ticking in that monotonous sound. However life is so much more than that and the sound is far from monotonous out there, in the real...clock!



Have a great day you all!
Peace and love
xoxo



Monday, June 1, 2009

Motocross or..."camera gone bad" (as in "fairytale gone bad":)

Have you ever been to a motocross competition-/race? Well my friend Helen convinced us to go this Sunday and I have to tell you...I enjoyed it (thank you Helen)!! So I'm all excited to be around all these motorcycles and people with helmets and all the adrenaline! Got my camera with me to capture the event's most memorable moments! They start warming up and I'm all like "OK let me take a few pics, warm up the...camera".

So I take this small series of photos...




...and then the camera's batteries go from low to...dead!

Of course I missed capturing all the good parts of the race. But hey, later on we went walking next to a river (after getting back to civilization and...batteries) and found an abandoned tree house...that should count for something right?





Wish you all have a great week :)
xoxo