Visit to the Village

On Wednesday, we were invited out to the village of Kato Scholari (about 30 minutes east of Thessaloniki) by our friends Athanasios and Sophia, the brother and sister-in-law of Gerontissa Efpraxia of St. John the Forerunner Greek Orthodox Monastery in Goldendale, WA.

The weather was beautiful, and the babies enjoyed playing around in their back yard. Above, you can see them checking out the rocks with Pelagia and Sophia.

This is a classic Phoebe face.

All together.

The boys had fun riding around the garden on a truck. Here's Benjamin.

Sophia helping Paul walk.

Paul's turn on the truck.

For a few more photos, click here.

In the evening, we went up to the little church in the woods above our house for Vespers for the Ascension, the feast to which the little church is dedicated (and for which our street is named).

The next morning we again had beautiful weather to celebrate the Liturgy outside in the front of the small church. This is an annual tradition in the parish, and we had over 200 people join us for the feast (that's why it's the one time per year we celebrate outside, because the church only fits about 15 people).

St. George Redux: At Hilandar's Metochion

Last Thursday, I was invited to celebrate the Divine Liturgy for St. George [OS] at Hilandar Monastery's dependency (metochion), St. Sava's, in Thessaloniki.

I've been taking a part-time advanced Greek language class, and a Serbian classmate of mine was celebrating her Slava that day, so it was an opportunity for her to celebrate and meet some fellow Serbs in Thessaloniki.

Here are some photos my Bosnian Serb friend Milenko took during the Liturgy.

After the Liturgy, a few of us went upstairs (the church is on the bottom floor of an apartment building right in the heart of Thessaloniki) to an apartment owned by the monastery (a konaki) and had some refreshments and fellowship.

Below is a short video taken during the Liturgy. It was truly an international affair, with English, Greek, Serbian, and Slavonic.

Pelagia's Birthday

On Saturday, we celebrated Pres. Pelagia's birthday with Divine Liturgy in the morning followed by a coffee with the babies and a few of our friends.

In the afternoon, we went downtown to meet our friends Justin and Kalliopi (and their 15-month-old son Michael) at a new Indian restaurant that I recently discovered in a hidden alley.

The babies had their first taste of Indian food (even some stuff with a little spice like tandoori chicken) and seemed to like it.

In the photo above, Pelagia and Kalliopi are letting the babies try a little plain Indian bread called chapati.

The two waitresses at the restaurant were wonderful with the babies, letting them crawl all over the place. The woman above is from Bangladesh.

Michael is trying to get Paul to give him a high five.

After Indian food, we walked over to Ble, Pelagia's favorite sweet shop, for some ice cream. In the photo above, we're trying to decide what to get.

Then we went next door to the courtyard of a little 1000-year-old church to eat our ice cream and let the babies crawl around. The church is sunk about 10 feet below the city's current street level, so it acts as sort of a contained area in which to corral the babies.

Kalliopi and Michael.

Phoebe and Benjamin playing around the side of the church.

Kalliopi and Phoebe walk around the back of the church.

Paul.

Here's Benjamin getting strapped on to Pelagia's back for the walk back to the car.

For more photos, click here.

The Zoo

On Tuesday, Pelagia took the babies to the Thessaloniki Zoo for the first time. By all accounts, the zoo is pretty unimpressive as compared to the zoos in major cities in the U.S., i.e. it lacks exotic animals such as polar bears, etc. But still it seems like a good place to take the kids on a nice day.

Pelagia went there to meet up with our friend Kalliopi and her son Michael, and they were joined by two other American mothers and their children.

Paul and Phoebe in the stroller at the zoo. Apparently, Paul was the only one of the three who didn't insist on taking the hat off.

Here they are looking at exotic animals such as sheep and goats.

The little girls all wanted to play with Phoebe.

Greek Wedding

On Sunday evening, our koumbaros, Paris, became a koumbaros again, this time as he married a young couple who attend one of Panorama's monasteries.

The wedding took place at a large church dedicated to The Three Hierarchs downtown, and Fr. Alexios and I both participated. Afterwards, we picked up our presbyteras from Panorama and went to the reception for awhile. Pelagia's friend Sophie agreed to stay at the house while the babies slept.

It's become the tradition for all the wedding photos to take place immediately after the wedding service and before the reception, and for some reason this takes several hours. In practice, this means that the wedding party usually arrives very late to their own reception, as many people are finishing their meals!

Even with the economic crisis, the Greeks know how to celebrate. There was a live band playing traditional Greek music (we were told that some of it was Greek Vlach music, inspired by either the bride's or the groom's heritage), and then the dancing started. Above, you can see Pres. Georgia trying to teach Pres. Pelagia.

During the dancing, a woman (an employee) stands in the middle of the dance floor holding trays of flowers. Dancers can then buy a tray of flowers to throw on the ground.

Until recently, we were told, they would break great stacks of plates specially made just for breaking, and workers would circle around the dance floor with brooms sweeping them up.

Here we are with our koumbaros outside the reception hall.

May Day Picnic

Saturday was May 1st (or May Day), and while it may not mean much to Americans, here in Europe it's a surprisingly big holiday, marking International Workers' Day. Most Greeks I've talked to are surprised that it's not also celebrated in the US, since supposedly it took its inspiration from the Haymarket Affair in Chicago in 1896. But I imagine it never caught on in the US due to its popularity with the various Socialist and Communist regimes here in this part of Europe.

In any event, like many public holidays in the US, for most people it's mainly an excuse to take it easy. Here at our parish in Panorama we organized a small cook-out, with Fr. Alexis in charge of roasting a goat.

Fortunately, we had a beautiful day--sunny, with highs in the 70s, and we spent a very pleasant few hours out in the large and manicured back yard of some parishioners here in Panorama. The babies really loved crawling around in the grass and the sun.

Here's Phoebe swinging.

Here's Paul swinging with his godfather, Paris, and giving him a five.

Everyone loved watching the babies feed themselves (and make a big mess). Here, Fr. Panayiotis' wife, Presbytera Despoina, sits with Presbytera Pelagia and the babies as they eat.

The goat, just before we ate it.

Elly, who works at the church, brought her family to the picnic. Here, her daughter Despoina, was playing with Phoebe. Below, she's helping Phoebe kick the soccer ball, which the babies loved.

It soon turned into a soccer match, with Fr. Panayiotis' daughters helping the boys. The babies had a great time kicking the ball around.

Here, Benjamin and Phoebe check out the fluffy dog, which, fortunately, was very patient.

For dessert, the babies got their own Panorama trigonas.

Here's Fr. Panayiotis with Paul, as Paul tries on Pres. Despoina's sunglasses.

The babies were totally exhausted after a full day of fun.

For more photos of the day, click here.