It has been awhile...

Yeah I know. Pole sana (very sorry). This is the first time I've been able to sit down at a decently fast computer since we left Geneve. I have about forty minutes of internet time and a month to catch up on, so I will summarize (and probably will use bullet points towards the end).

Brussels

Chocolate...waffles...beer...pissing statues (seriously), this place rocked. We had a huge surprise when we arrived at our hotel (brought by the Kazimyster) and walked right into Bob and Margie. We knew they were heading to Europe, but had no idea they would meet us in Brussels. We stayed up late and talked about our trip, the engagement, yada yada. We spent the next day exploring the city with Bob and Margie, met up with Kazi and his son Sammy, had a yummy dinner, and watched Ghana beat the US in an Irish pub. Oh well....

Took a train early next morning to get to Amsterdam (Bobby wanted to arrive as early as possible). Half way on the train I realized we made our first mistake on the trip...we (me) forgot to empty the safe. 2 passports and a camera. Whooops. Thank gawddd for Kazi and Sammy, who showed up the next day with the passports and camera in hand, and turned right back around on the train to Brussels (THANK YOUUU).

Amsterdam

After a 3 hour train ride, we took a cab to our hotel where Bobby and I were "upgraded, free of charge" to an apartment. While Bob and Margie had a nice modern hotel room, Bobby and I were given a two story, 70s esque apartment in a different building (we had to lug our bags up 5 very steep stairs that rivaled my sorority house in Lanc). Very cool. We met up with Bobby's british bud Sam Mitchell and his gf Rose. We walked around the city a bit, checked out some shops, and then headed back to the hotel where we awaited the "surprise," my parents. Had dinner, explored the city some more, and the local culture, I guess. haha. Ummm...yeah it was nice seeing the family and catching up. Glad we had this nice little break with the adults to take care of everything! The city was great, left several days later to fly straight to Kilimanjaro Airport.

Tanzania

Bobby and I were in the very last row possible in KLM, which we wouldn't have minded except we were worried about being the last through passport control. False, we were the first through it (the unloaded through the back, woooooo, love Africa). Got through control okay, bags came, kind of skipped customs, and we were met outside the gates by Bruno and Eliza, from TVE (our volunteer company here). It was about 8 pm at this point, and we were wiped. We were driven straight to our homestay, about an hour away from the airport. We pulled off the main road (covered in pot holes) and onto and even worse side road. We bumped our way to our house, which was surrounded by a huge wall, and metal painted gate that says "Mother Weather's school and day care." We pulled through and into the drive way. The house is two stories, blue, and very nice. There were 9 other volunteers there (one left the next day); 4 irish, 1 scottish, 2 australian, and 2 americans (not including us).

The house was previously an orphanage for children, but Mama Weather (whom we call Mama) was diagnosed with bladder cancer, and since then most of the children are staying at different places. It is also a day school. There are two class rooms adjacent to the building, as well as one right downstairs in the house (if we don't go to work till late we are woken up at 7 30 but kids screaming, playing, and singing). You walk into the house through the kitchen (very spacious), into a tiny room used as a nap room for the children, into a classroom, and up the stairs. There are three bedrooms for volunteers upstairs, one dorm style with bunkbeds (where we slept the first night), one double bed (where we slept for two weeks), and one big queen bed (where we've slept for the past two weeks). Each room has a bathroom with a normal toilet (yessssss, its rare) and a bath. Two of the rooms (ours) have hot water, yet the showers do not work so we bucket shower (fill up a big bucket with hot water, and use a smaller bucket to dump it on you). You never get really too clean. I don't think I'll ever get all the dirt out of my toe nails, but at least the water is hot.

We really got along well with everyone at the homestay. Two of the girls had been there for several months now, and the Irish Clan (and one Scott) arrived the same night as us. Living in the house also was Ibrahim, an orphan who's bibi (grandmother) didn't pick up one day and has lived at the house ever since. He's six and adorable, speaks pretty damn good english, and all of us volunteers spoiled him rotten from the beginning. About 10 days in another orphan, Mickey, started staying at the house again. His twin sister has several cognitive disabilities, and his grandparents can't afford to take care of him as well. The boys are great, and we play soccer a lot with a majority of the school kids once they are done.

Our first day we had orientation, not much to say about, but we learned more about the area and how we would get to our placements, as well as security issues (can't walk around at night, must take taxis as night, do NOT take boda bodas, which are motor bikes, watch out for pick pocketers on the dalla dallas). We took our first dala dala, which is a public transport van that runs from Arusha to different areas. There is a driver and a person that collects money. One ride to town normally costs about 200 tsh (tanzanian shillings, 1,400 tsh=1 USD), but its more depending on how far you are going. People pack into the dalas like none other; our first day 10 of us jumped into one that was already jam packed, and we counted 34 people in a van that should normally fit about 20, not even. There is no such thing as personal space here; people sit on each other, grab each other, and do what ever is possible to be comfortable. Many people stand in the dalas and hunch over other people. On our first day I was smooshed up against an older man, who gave me a look, put his arm around me, and it only seemed natural to lean in and get comfy. Haha.

We ended that day buying necessities at Shoprite, a grocery store in an extremely westernized strip mall (where I am right now at the internet), bought a few soccer balls for our school and the school at the home stay. We had "social night" with the volunteer group, where everyone in the organization goes to one of the volunteer houses and have a bbq. As we were walking towards the house, we saw 4 kids playing with a sack as a soccer ball. We couldn't help ourselves and gave them one of the balls. Although we left the v.h. late that night, one of the Australians staying at our house left earlier and said there were about 30 kids playing with the ball, and all the parents laughing and watching them!!

Placement-POSA

We were placed at two different locations, POSA (Positive Steps in Arumeru) for two weeks, and St. Dymphina's Special Need School for two. POSA is located in Usa River (pronounced uhsah, but supposed to be named after the USA rivers, hmmm). For us to get there, we have to jump on the yellow dala dala outside our homestay and take it to Manzini, where we get off and catch a green dala up to our next stop (Ngunga). It takes about 20 minutes to get to Manzini, but about 45 minutes on a good day to get to Ngunga. We always meet a local in Manzini called Ali, who takes us by the hand and puts us on the right dala, and usually one that is empty. Once in Ngunga, we walked 2km down a dirt road to our school.

POSA is a school for orphans in the local area, aged 2-7, whose parents had died from AIDS. They either live with family members or with strangers who took them in. Bobby and I went to several of the kids' homes while we were with them, and I can't even describe the conditions without tearing up. These kids are so happy, so sweet, so damn FUNNY and wonderful, and they have absolutely nothing. No parents, many share a bed with several family members, many don't have medicines to fix tiny problems that we get taken care of right away. The homes are made out of cow dung with metal roofs. Three of the kids have HIV, but they are lucky to get medicine for free. The director of the organization also is living with HIV, and POSA has a outreach education program for people living in the area with HIV and their families. On a public holiday we visited a home of a man living with HIV, and he told us how he was feeling and how he lost hope. It was horrifically sad...

When we first walked in to the class on our first day we were met by Johnny, who speaks pretty decent english, and he was teaching the children because the teacher was having family problems (we didn't have a teacher for about a week). The classroom is built outside with trees (no concrete), there are no desks, no tables, no chairs, only a blackboard and a mat where the students sit. We were astounded that 2 year olds were placed together with 7 year olds, but the organization doesn't have the money to pay for another teacher or to rent out a legit class room. We were thrust into teaching the first day, to our shock. The kids eat porridge (ugi) around ten, play for an hour, and then are in the class room for another hour. We at first thought it wasn't enough time for school, but we later found out that once kids move on from POSA they start kindergarten, so really its like a pre-school.

The kids are absolutely gorgeous. I can't even tell you how much Bobby and I talk about them, how many pictures and videos we've taken. I wish I could find someone to sponsor or adopt all of them (you can't adopt in Tanzania unless you've been here for three years...damnit). Since they are pretty much preschool age we are working on all the basics; colors, abcs, body parts, numbers. Attention span seems to be a big issue, but once the teacher came back we were able to split up the younger kids and older kids so that worked much better. After our first day (a Friday) we had all weekend to decide what we would teach and what we would do. We made posters (they had none) and made up a few songs (I'm massively creative in Tanzania, no joke).

The kids call us Teacher Bob and Teacher Samantha (you have to hear them say Teacher Bob, its makes me chuckle every time). Every morning when we walk into class they say "Good morning teacher (or sometimes Brother and Sister)." We respond "good morning how are you?" "WE are find thank you teacher!"

There are so many funny stories with these kids I can't even begin to tell them all, and there is so much more to talk about Tanzania I'll have to move on. The pictures and videos really do speak for themselves (will be updated shortly once home on Monday).

I have about 8 minutes left in my session, so I will conclude (for now) that Tanzania is wonderful, I can totally see myself coming back here again, for a longer period of time, and probably working at the same placements. I'll update about other adventures (placement number 2, masai village, visiting Kitoi's family, and other cultural stuff) once we get back into the states. For now, kwaheri, we are running to the photo shop where we have printed out pictures of all the kids and we are giving them out tomorrow! Should be exciting, but we're sad its our last day at placement! Ninakupenda!

Muenchen and Soloturn

Muenchen
Unfortunately it rained the whole time we were there. Our first day we got in late afternoon and went to a bier house for dinner (mmmmmmmmmmmm). We spent the next day walking around the old part of the city. At noon the big clock in the center of the city has figurines that dance and move around; I was really excited to watch this, but obviously Bobs was not. oh welll. We had a delish lunch of potato pancakes, soup, and weinerschnitzle (the best schnitz was at this place). We walked around a lot and found ourselves amidst the summer festival in a little courtyard. There were many stalls of food, cheese, bier, wine, souvenirs, chocolate, etc. We had an early long train the next morning to Zurich, and then to Soloturn to meet Larissa, my swiss exchange student from two zears ago!

Soloturn
After a long morning of traveling (four hours to Zurich and 1 to Soloturn) we arrived at this cute little town. The old down is all walking streets, no cars can come in unless they get permission. the town is filled with old clocks (we were right next to the main tower that kept me up every hour it went off) and many fountains. Larissa and her sister picked us up at our hotel at 3 and we went to a bar to watch the Swiss and Chile football game (hopp schwiezzz). The bar was PACKED but surprisingly the Swiss werent that crazy,,,it was funny that apparently all the shops closed down so the workers could go watch the game. After the first half we were tired of standing in the bar so sat down in an outside cafe that was showing the game (too bad Schweiz lost). We then walked to Larissas car and got to see her highschool (way nicer and more high tech than any of ours) and drove to her home.
We met Andrea and Patrick (Larissas parents) and had a delicious dindin of roclettes (cheese that is melted in little ovens that you pour over potatoes and veggies), wine, a special alcoholic drink made from prunes in their backyard (tasted like whiskey, Bobbz liked it more than I), and frozen yogurt and berries. To "help our stomachs" we took a little drive to a canyon area where we walked (in the pitch dark) through the woods, by a few old churches and a wall where everyone leaves candles to remember lost loved ones. We lit a few candles and continued our fifteen minute walk. Did our stomachs feel better? Yeah actually!

the next day Patrick took of the day from work to take a "little vacation with his American friends". We drove around beautiful farmland, into a vallez where two lakes meet. We walked around the beautiful town of Interlocken (between lakes), ate good food, and enjoyed the fresh air. The lakes are gorgeous, clear and blue! We then drove to a little station where we took a rail car all the way up to the top of a mountain. You can actually walk up and its the Guiness book of world records longest staircase. Unfortunately the top was covered with clouds, but it was still beautiful. So cold too, there was still snow at the top! We had some hot drinks and took the car back down.
We then drove to the capital of Switzerland, Bern, which must be the most beautiful capital citz int he world. The city sits over looking the river, and the buildings are old and so picturesque. The iconic animal of Switzerland is the bear, so on the outskirts of the city right by the river there are two adult bears and two cubs. They seem smaller than our grizzlies, but still majestic. We walked around the city, enjoying all the clocks and pretty shops, and green areas. We then drove down to a restaurant that actually is built on the river right on top of a waterfall, met Aline and Larissa (they had to study for finals all day, booo) and had a great dinner (I had entrecote and Bobby had risotto). I guess its important for me to say I had entrecote three days in a row...hmmm. Well, Andrea kept saying we had to eat a lot since we will starve in Africa. I guess any excuse works with me...

In geneve now about to leave for Brussels but Bobby is getting impatient with me so we must leave! Will write lataaaa

Greetings from Salzburg!

Hi hi! Long time no talk...the prices in internet cafes have been crazy and it actually normally takes awhile for me to write one of these. Bobbz and I are currently sitting in Salzburg, getting ready to check out and take the train to Muenchen! Since we last chatted...

Florence
We had a great time there! Our last night we went to a restaurant reccommended by the Metals called Illatina. We were sat at a table of four next to a young Aussie couple (we always seem to find ourselves close to these people..). The restaurant literally just brings out food and dumps it on you, no menu. They also do the same with wine. Great food though, and we had lots of fun with the Aussies! Great steak, soup, lots of bread, and we went through 4L of wine...woops. Afterwards, we walked around the city and went to several bars before heading home (that part of the night is very hazy to us). Woke up bright and early next morning to catch a 1.5 hr train to Venice! Yah, it was a rough one.

Venezia
Our cute hotel was situated literally around the corner from the train station, which would have been very convenient if we didnt walk out the wrong way, oh well. Venice was probably our second favorite place we visited (after Santorini, naturally). I loved all the buildings, little squares, markets, and of course the canals. We walked everywhere in the two days we were there. Great pizza out of the little market stalls, and I had to get some chocolate out of the famous chocolatier in the area. Our second day we made it to the Murano glass island, which was even more picturesque and beautiful. The weather was warm and sunny the whole time!

Travel Day
On the fifteenth we traveled all day to get to Vienna, Austria. The stopped the day trains between the two cities, so we had to take a three hour bus from Vienna to Villach, and then hop on a four hour train to Vienna. The bus was really sweet; it was a double decker coach bus and we got to sit at the verz top, right in the front so we could see everything. This wonderful lady sat next to us two, and we proceeded to talk throughout the ride. Bobby and I had no food and didnt eat breakfast, so she showered us with heaps of food she was bringing home from Italy (she lives in Vienna). She was also taking the same train as us, so we traveled with her all day. She took the time to feed us, and made sure we took the right train-tram to get to our hotel. We love Teresa! She also offerred to meet up with us in the city the next day!

Vienna
We got into our hotel after the train ride pretty late. Our hotel is one of the nicest we stayed in. Its located out of the city, but its an easy tram ride into the center (only ten minutes). We really got to know the transportation system. As requested, we called Teresa at 9am to arrange a meeting time. We met outside the Opera (so pretty!) around noon, and walked around the city center. Unfortunately it was raining the whole time, but we still enjoyed it. Teresa suggested this adorable old fashioned tradition Austrian restaurant in the city, and I had the best meal in a long time. Bobby ordered the tradition weinerschnitzle, and I had risotto and chicken brisket. mmmmmm! Also some banana mousse dessert thingy (I should probably just write a blog about all the food weve eaten...next time maybe).
The next day we continued to walk around the city, which is much less spread out then any of the others weve visited. We went to the Sigmund Freud museum, which is located in his old house. That was interesting! People in this city are so friendly, we had another lady come up to us at the station when we were looking at a map and asked where we needed to go. Our last night in Vienna, Teresa invited us to her flat and cooked us a delish meal of steak, pasta and tomato sauce, and dumplings for dessert! We then took the ubahn to see the Danube river (old and new), and parted ways with promises that Teresa had to come visit us in Miami!

Salzburg
This city is small and quaint, and I love it! Grandma Evans gave me great places to visit (we did them all, minus the sound of music tour). I bought some painted egg shells at her favorite shop. At night we watched the US soccer team play Slovenia in a pub with several other Americans. One of the Americans we met hung out with us for the rest of the night. We went to a tradition Austrian bar afterwards, and then dinner (we made sure all the places had TVs so we could watch the games). Yay for the world cup for bringing people together! We are leaving for Munich soon, after we walk around a bit more. The weathers been cold and rainy here, but we dont care.

Miss everyone! love zou

PS: i keep looking at my ring about every hour, hah! Proposing early in the trip was smart on Bobbys behalf, we have yet to fight.

Alive and in Firenze!

Bobby and I are currently sitting at an internet cafe in Florence (Firenze) after eating dinner at a local restaurance, watching South Africa play Mexico in the world cup. We had to get a new sim card for our phone, so won't be able to make/recieve calls until tomorrow. We loooove Florence! Its so pretty, and not at all crowded! The place we are staying is...interesting. The room itself is nice and air conditioned but its not really a hotel, or a bed and breakfast (which I thought it was)_. Hard to describe.

Rome was nice, we did tons of walking and had a great tour yesterday with Alex, the tour guide of "lovers of Rome." He took us down to the Catacombs, where we explored with only a flashlight, and "against the rule of the Vatican." It was dark, scary, but a powerful experience. you can almost feel the ancient energey pouring from the different tombs. We then went to the Vatican, and saw the most amazing museum, and the Sistine Chapel. It was gorgeous!

Hopefully all the walking will equal out the amount of pasta I've been eating. And wine, and pizza. whoops.

Out of time, hopefully we won't have to pay for internet at some point of our trip!

hugs hugs

ignore the typos...i don't understand this italian keyboard.

Well I didn't see that coming...

Haha okay I can see why so many people told me before the trip that "they were sooo excited to read my blog," with a major wink. And I thought people were interested in my trip, harumph. Apparently the whole world knew about this before me! Oh well, here's the story...

Bobby and I lounged around the pool in Mykonos our last day, waiting to catch the ferry at three. Naturally, like all things island time, the ferry was running very late. We finally got on 45 mintues after three, found that we were not assigned seats together (the tickets were obviously in greek and illegible to us, we were clueless). We spent the three hour ride separated, bouncing along the sea to Santorini. We arrived and were luckily greated by our faithful hotel, the Mill House Inn and Suites, and we were quickly driven to Thira, the main city on Santorini. The ride from the port towards the city was unbelievable; the houses are built high up on the cliffs, and we took a road that traversed the mountain all the way to the top. What a view!



Our hotel is spectacular: its located about 10 minutes from Thira (pronounced Fira) by foot, overlooking the caldera, with stunning views of the sunset. We arrived and were greeted with two glasses of champagne. We showered after our long ferry ride, and Bobby was running "downstairs to ask the manager something" and "wanted to take a walk" while I got dressed and ready. I wasn't suspecting anything so I just thought he was anxious to get moving and to see the city. I took my time getting dressed (Bobby was wearing a nice button down and jeans so I put on a dressier outfit too) and met him outside. He can bounding up the stairs while I sat at the table watching the sunset.

I think Bobby suggested a walk? Maybe, but we walked down from our hotel a bit (the entire city is connected by beautiful staircases and all the buildings pretty much sit on top of one another). We walked out on a roof of one building, watching the sunset. Bobby of course was acting...different, but I didn't really notice. I was feeling nervous for no good reason (or so I thought). Bobby later said he tried to ask several times at this location but chickened out. We took several (MANY) pictures with the sunset, but still no question....

As we stood there (I'm beginning to see how incredibly corny I am...please bear with me) I looked down and saw the most picturesque, beautifully white washed location that seemed to have a much more clear view of the sunset. It was, as Lauren would say, "Santorini heaven." We took some more pictures, using self timer, and then Bobby asked to take a picture of me. I cheesed it up, then he asked to take one of me facing away, gazing into the sunset. I complied, and when I turned around he was on one knee, with a shiny ring in one hand. Neither him nor I can remember what he said to me, I'm pretty sure it was short and sweet. I know I kept saying "are you serious? Really??" I also fell to my knees and hugged him. I think it wasn't until about ten minutes later Bobby looked at me and said, "so, will you?" My response: "oh, yea! (matter-of-factly)" Bobby later showed me a picture we took with self timer where we were facing the sunset; he was holding the ring in his hand in the back. I actually looked at the picture right after it was taken and didn't notice!!

We laughed (I cried), he told me he had asked my dad in Nevis (January!) if he could ask for my hand, and he bought the ring several months later (the ring is BANGING by the way, wish I could show pictures). The ring is that much more special because the diamond was Bobby's grandmother, who passed away end of April.

We proceeded to call the parents, and my sister, and my best gal pal Britt to share the good news (all of which were not surprised in the slightest), and then the minutes in my phone ran out. Naturally, haha!

But anyways, it was absolutely perfect! We got back to the room after our celebratory dinner and had a chilled bottle of champagne waiting for us (way to go, Bobby!). It was an absolutely perfect proposal, and perfect night. I'm still in shock that our six and a half year relationship has culminated to this. We are both really happy (and obnoxiously calling each other fiance every chance we get...okay...thats just me too...).

Today was spent relaxing on the black volcanic beaches of Santorini...can't have celebrated any other way! We are off to Rome tomorrow (its exciting we get to celebrate the rest of the trip as a newly engaged couple).

Thank you to all of my friends and family members (apparently theres a lot of you) who kept this secret from me; I don't know how you did it. Love you all! I wish I could write back individually, but its impossible. And no, we have not set a wedding date yet! We have some very important weddings coming up (Mike and Lourdes and Britt and Wilson!!) and then we may start talking about planning. Both got a few more years of school left too, so who knows! Who am I kidding though, everyone knows I have colors picked out already.

Lataaaaaaaaaaaaa

xoxo Sam (and Bobby)

Lovely Mykonos..

We arrived at lovely island of Mykonos June 4th, after a five and a half hour ferry ride from Athens. Our ferry left the Port of Pireaus at 7:35 am (last time I woke up that early was in highschool probably...) and we spent five hours on the Superfast Blustar Ithaki that sailed around the Greek Isles to Mykonos. We rode the cheap seats, meaning plastic chairs outside on the deck, but the view was still beautiful. The ferry stopped in port Siros and Tinos before arriving to our destination.

Once we got to "new port" in Mykonos, we spent an hour waiting for our hotel to pick us up. I frantically called my mom, hoping it wasn't too early, for the Hotel Vanilla's number since the one we had was not working. We asked several of the other hotel workers that were picking up tourists if they knew where our hotel was, and it appeared not many even knew about it! A British ex-pat exclaimed he had never heard of it, therefore it can't be good, and then offered Bobby and I jobs as receptionist at his hotel (I have his card in case OT doesn't work out, hah).

We finally grabbed a taxi to take us. Although he had not heard of it, we showed him the address and he drove us fifteen minutes to a drive way for a hotel that overlooked the beach. He quickly got out all our bags and the moment I paid him drove off without even giving us a chance to make sure it was the right hotel. It wasn't. Luckily the nice Greek man working the desk called our hotel (he also hadn't heard about it...at this point Bobby is wondering what kind of shit hotel I had booked for us) and claimed it was "just 200-300 meteres down the street, turn left at the fork, and its on your right." Thank goodness he was right.

The Vanilla Hotel is and pretty, located at Ornos Beach in Mykonos, just 3km away from Mykonos Town. The room was small, but manageable, although we had some issues with the teeny shower (impossible to shave legs). We spent our first day eating lunch on the beach (I fed half of Bobby's burger to a really skinny tabby kitty who sat at our feet the whole time) and lounging by the pool, where we met a sweet British couple. We planned to hit the beach again the next day and the town in the afternoon.

However, we woke up to pounding rain, thunder, and crazy lightning. The receptionist at the hotel claimed this never happens, but the rain was necessary for the farmers. After a simple breakfeast in the hotel, we took the local bus over to Mykonos Town wearng rain coats and sneakers. The town was the typical Greek town you can imagine; white buildings with blue, green, or red shutters, teeny roads, and heaps of shops and cafes. We avoided the rain by eating traditional Greek food in a taverna called Nicos. Bobby had a special lamb dish wrapped in olive leaves with cheese and potatoes, and I had spicy meatballs and potatoes. mmmmmmm...

We walked around town a bit and did some shoppping (Sam did shopping). We picked up sandwiches, fruit, and two bottles of local Mykonos wine (6 euros for both of them, hahaha) for dinner since it did not seem the rain would stop all night and all restaurants were a bit of a hike away. Our bus ride back had two Aussies on it, and us four reminisced about that amazing country and "Aussie rules Football." Gotta love 'em. Our hotel only has BBC News in English, so we've become very well-read in international current events and have both finished two books. I'm in the middle of Vonnegut's Cat Cradle.

Even though it rained all day we still enjoyed our selves traveling around town and conversing with locals. We've gotten down the "please" and "thank yous" in Greek, kind of. Bobby and I are currently waiting for our three o'clock ferry over to Santorini, which one of my best gal pals in college claims is "heaven." Can't wait!

Adio! (goodbye in greek)

Gyros galore!!!!

HI everyone from Athens! We are sitting in a teeny internet cafe; Bobby currently has his head down resting on his arms and will probably take a small nap whilst I write this. Our flights over here went very well; there was a slight panic when we got onto Alitalia and we thought we were not going to have any movies, but thankfully this was not the case. Transferring from Rome to Athens proved to be quite a hassle; two security points where there really did not seem to be a line for 500 people as well as passport control. Luckily we got to our gate on time, and I was able to enjoy authentic Italian Gelato...mmmmm.

We are staying in the Amazon Hotel in Plaka, the ancient part of Athens. We are right on the foothill of the Acropolis, the perfect location! We are surrounded by small, quaint streets with heaps of stores, cafes, and restaurants. Right after we got to our hotel we ventured out and ate delicious gyros with tzatsiki sauce. Most people seem to speak english and are very nice helping us when we get lost (which has happened twice in the two days...whoops). We went to bed super early so we'd be energized for our 8am full day tour with GEORGE!

Our tour the second day was awesome. We started out with brekkie at the hotel and then headed over to the highest point in Athens, where George told us all about Greek ancient history, the Acropolis, and the other ancient sites in the city. It was absolutely gorgeous up there! We then proceeded to the Acropolis, where we spent almost two hours exploring the ruins. The Acropolis was unbelievable, but really crowded. The city also has many wild dogs running around, and they are also in all the ancient sites sleeping and hanging around. But these dogs are FAT! All the restaurants feed them, and they truly are living the life. It was hilarious watching these dogs walk across the sites, where no humans are allowed to wander.
After the Acropolis we headed along the coast to see the Temple of Poseidon. We ate at a cute taverna along the way, and enjoyed the hour scenic drive along the beautiful coast. The temple was also beautiful, and much less crowded since it seems to be out of the way. It is on a big hill overlooking the water, and is very intact. There were also a bunch of cool partridges running around with babies (obviously I enjoyed this much more than Bobby).
After getting back to Athens we visited other ruins in Plaka including the Agora and the Temple of Hephaestus. We finished our day at another tavern close to hotel, and two bottles of white wine...perfecto!
This city is absolutely amazing; it is the perfect mix of modern and ancient, the old and the new. We are relaxing more today after all the walking yesterday, and just enjoying being here. Tomorrow we leave by ferry to the beautiful island of Mykonos, woohoo!
Oh, and apparently there is a public transportation strike today. lame!
TTFN!
Love Sam (and Bobby)

Packing for the big day...

Last Day in the States: Bobby and I had a great time last night dancing at Jason and Laura's wedding (Bobby was a groomsman), but now we are packing for two full months of living out of a suitcase...ah! My room is still a wreck from moving in four years of college-ness, and we have to map out the train stations, buy camera memory cards, get gifts for our Tanzanian host family, actually put clothes in a suitcase... (is it really really Sunday?).

We will be flying out of MIA tomorrow at 4:45pm on a 9 hour flight to Rome, and then hopping over to Athens for three days. SO STOKED!

HOPEFULLY we'll be able to keep this blog up so family knows we are safe and sound!

Till next time!
-Sam

By the way, Bobby says "I will never write anything on this blog, woman." SO I guess you are all stuck with me. :)