Merry Christmas! We are chez Steve, at home, with the Brinkmans in Bowmanville and all is well. All is very well - great food, great company and good Christmas vibes all around - I love it! I don't want to be spending too much time on the computer while we're here, but I thought a short Christmas blog was in order. And so...

Our trip over the big sea was uneventful - we awoke at 3:30am on Monday to get to the small Bucharest airport with plenty of time to catch our 6:15 flight to Frankfurt, and once we arrived there, only had 1 1/2 hours to kill before boarding AC 872 to Toronto. We were lucky enough (or tall enough) to snag some bulkhead emergency exit seats, and with personal TV sets and a wide range of movies, shows and music to choose from - so the eight-hour flight went pretty quickly. I watched Vicky Cristina Barcelona, a Woody Allen flick, and liked that (set in Barcelona with lots of Espanol - muy bien), and also watched Mio fratello e figlio unico (My Brother is an Only Child), a good Italian movie. Somewhere before we left for Bucharest I saw a preview for the new Brad Pitt movie and just felt MEH about watching another Hollywood movie, packed with the same make-up wearing, perfect skin and style and hair actors and actresses... so I opted for the Avant-Garde and Foreign film categories. Anyways! The travel was fine (minus the food - barf) and we arrived safe and sound in snowy Toronto! SO... we're ready for a fine fine Christmas, and are so happy to be here - so thankful that we were able to come home for the holidays. Of course I'm thinking a lot of my family over on the other side of this snowy country, with loads of snow of their own... and missing them, but we were lucky enough to spend Christmas there last year and, of course, are always together in spirit. Awwww... So Merry Christmas to all! I'm off to eat some cookies... yum!

Making Christmas Eve dessert a la Greece - Baclava!

Father and Son out shoveling snow...

Erin and Fred

Gathering around the goodies!!

Cheers! Merry Christmas!

last romanian blog of '08!! to TO we go!

So the guys won a set in Holland (two actually, but one was all they needed), and won tonight... and without Steve! (In a French accent:) Impossible! He was inadvertently honoured with early Christmas holidays, and instead of dressing for the game tonight, sat in the stands wearing a fancy looking headset - so he could communicate with the on-the-bench assistant coach. I'm not so sure what they talked about but it couldn't have been shop - the other team was horrrrible. SO! It's Christmas holidays! We are packing up and getting ready to leave tomorrow afternoon for Bucharest. We fly early-early Monday morning, and land in Toronto around noon on Monday! Fingers crossed that all goes according to plan... from our ride to the BUCH to our final flight segment back to Canada. The past few days have been full of unnecessarily rude and thoughtless gestures, comments and actions from strangers and people we've trusted to follow through on their words and promises. I won't go into detail but here's a taste... Tammy's president and his entourage of secretaries promised that they would get the four of us to the airport (Tammy, Sherisa, Steve, Heather), and was almost insulted (acted that way at least) that Tammy wouldn't/didn't believe that they'd organized everything when she went into the office a few days ago to confirm. And then last night? What? We can't get you to the airport. No sorry, no nothing - really. She got a phone call while she was on a 10 hour bus ride from Constanta straight to a gym to practise in Targu Mures, a town on the other side of Romania. So, needless to say she was a bit peeved... but we've found something else - one of her teammates found two people to take us - a brother and a husband of a player, so it's all good. I hope!



We've been enjoying our tree and the Christmas decorations, and opened a few presents last night! Steve brought me back the most awesome gift from Holland - a pair of Dutch slipper-clogs... they're awesome! I've been wanting slippers for a while, and what's better than authentic clog slippers, eh? I got him a massive puzzle, and Tammy gave us some mugs with an assortment of hot chocolates and coffees, a bottle of wine and a massive box of Toffifees which are yum yum yum. Now it's down to business - packing, tidying up and getting all ready for departure time... I guess I should get back to work! Merry Christmas!!!

ponderings

A few years ago, armed with a newfound interest in pursuing a career in Urban Planning, I subscribed to a newsletter from Planetizen - and it continues to be the only e-newsletter that I actually open and read... and I love it. The rest of them go in the trash. Anyways, there were several stories that I opened from last week's e-pub including "Friday Funny: Google Maps for Stinkiness" - there is a site in Japan that geomaps smells: "watermelon smells, ferret odor, old lady stench, gasoline fumes, and curry." Old lady stench? Really?

Another story that caught my attention reminded me of the garbage chute in our building in Yaroslavl - but in a much more progressive and friendly way. (I think.) New buildings in what sounds like a small area of London have been equipped with mixed-use suckers: garbage, recycling and compostable materials all have their separate boxes, and share one sucker tube. (Sounds.... gross.) Anyways... the new system is in full operation as of today, and will eliminate garbage trucks and bins in the area - fantastic. These are my questions: who regulates what is put in each of the chutes? In many places people don't actually care if a little bit (or a lot bit) of oozy garbage gets mixed in with plastics and paper, or if recyclables get recycled at all! (Constanta, Romania.) Next query: Who cleans out the jammed chutes? The Russian garbage chute was always, er, backed up... and I can't really say who was the one to ha! clean the pipes. I like the idea of underground garbage, recycling and composting chutes, but wonder if there is someone on hand to monitor the health and... regularity of the system.

Finally, a story about a report that claims that Wal-Mart has no negative effects on the small business sector also caught my eye, only because some huge numbers had jumped off the page of my Dwell magazine (from October - just reading it now, oops), highlighting the megalithic nature of the biggest-box machine. Some numbers:

2007 revenues for Wal-Mart - $379 billion
2007 GDP for Sweden: $384.1 billion

Number of people in the U.S. who attend religious services every week: 55 million
Number of people in the U.S. who shop at Wal-Mart every week: 136 million

Number of colleges and universities in the U.S.: 4,140
Number of Wal-Mart-owned stores: 4,191

Percentage of eligible Americans who voted in the last presidential election: 60%
Percentage of Americans who will go to a Wal-Mart this year: 90%

So, Wal-Mart rules the roost, no? Save and buy chez nous - so what's this about Wal-Mart not affecting the small business sector? Maybe this is wrong of me, but I couldn't read past the first page of the report. Numbers, statistics, analyses - these things can be bent and twisted, placed in different lights, backdrops, perspectives, with some things in(cluded) and other things out (excluded), but, um, excuse me, what about common sense? Really? I mean, I'm aware that many people lack this attribute but... Anyways, whatever. I can't say that I've never shopped at Wal-Mart so I'll just can it. Lesson: let's try as best we can to be responsible, conscious consumers, because there's no escaping consumerism, even when it comes to beards.

How fabulous is this - handmade beards: Made by and Erin Dollar and available at Etsy.com:
"Buy, Sell and Live Handmade"

countdown!!

Yay! Less than a week until we go home for Christmas! Home is where family is... and we are going to one of our families in Bowmanville and I can't wait! It is going to be awesome. AND! I bought myself a Christmas present! Well... I ordered it - I've had my eyes on a pair of ankle boots for a long long time and they went on sale (25% off) and I couldn't resist! I ordered them over the phone (Skype) and when the lovely American woman who helped me asked me where I was calling from, and I said Romania, she said, "Well I sure hope it's warmer there than it is here!" I'm thinking the company is based out of NYC or Chicago, but when I asked her how cold it was at her locale, she said 15. Me: "Above or below?" Her: "Oh oh oh above thank goodness but GEEZ it's still cold!" Uh, right. Not that it's cold here, but Winnipeg? That's cold. Anything in the positives should not ever ever ever count as cold. Okay, I'm calling myself out - I've definitely complained about it being chilly in above zero weather. Oh well, whatever. I just had to laugh: 15? Cold? Pah, I don't think so.

So us girls around here had a great weekend - of course I missed Steve terribly - but we had tons of fun! On Saturday after Tammy and Sherisa's game we made pizza chez Tammy - yum yum yum times a million - and drank wine (ditto on the yums). We were sort of on the fence as to whether or not we felt like going out, but around midnight rallied and walked the two blocks to Wish - the club in town. At first the music was mega lame-o (I even, in complete sassiness, asked the DJ to play some better music) BUT... as the night wore on and on (and on and on) it got better, and by around 3 or 4 Tammy and I were seriously cutting a rug - so fun! We stayed waaaay too late, and it was getting light by the time all of us made our way home. This meant that Sunday was recoop sleep day and full of blobbing and sloughing around, though we did make it to the other big grocery store in town - where we found NORI! So we can make sushi again! We're learning that if you see something you want, buy it tout de suite! Because next time it's almost guaranteed not to be there... This happened with nori and sushi kits at Carrefour, and cell phones at Carrefour and two cell shops that, just today, claimed that they hadn't had the phone I was asking about since the summer. Super frustrating! Oh well. My junker phone (I've had it for 5 years) is still holding up and will hang in there (please!) until I find one that I like and am prepared to buy on the spot. I suppose.

Along with the rest of his team, Steve is back in the motherland - Holland. They're in Doetinchem, which, on Wikipedia, looks nice enough. Apparently they're staying at a small-ish resort type place with little cabins - it sounds quite lovely - but, what a rip-off! Internet is 10 euros/hour... so we haven't talked at all. I gleaned this info from an email, so there you go. They play tomorrow night and I really hope they win - a long road trip is just that much better if it's punctuated with a win instead of a loss. Too true. Okay, time to get outta here (cyberland) - the girlfriends are getting together tonight for dinner - and I'm running late!

el traffico

The days are flying by and soon we'll be back in winter wonderland! Er, that would be Toronto - more specifically Bowmanville - and that is if there's snow there. In any case it will be more wintery than it is here. It's a bit chilly but the temp has been hovering around 10 degrees with lots of large gusty winds blowing here there and everywhere - I thought the Tomis car was on it's way to being fully airborne this afternoon... which I suppose shouldn't be much of a surprise - it's not much bigger than a Tonka truck. Anyways, Tomis won their game against the Dutch team on Wednesday and took off today for a weekend game in Bucharest. From there they make their way to Amsterdam and then drive somewhere for round two - they only have to win the game, which shouldn't be too difficult; team Doc-Stap (sounds like someone trying to say jock strap with their mouth full) wasn't too strong.

So... I haven't said too much about the crazy traffic in these here parts, or the crazy Romaniacs and their (lack of) respect for road rules BUT we took this video the other day driving through an intersection in our neighborhood - two lanes in each direction and no traffic lights.



Speaking of things traffic, all Romanian stop lights are equipped with countdown timers, telling you, the driver, how long you have to wait for the light to turn green, and what your chances of running the yellow (or red) are. It's kind of neat, but I always think about the time that I'm wasting just sitting there at red lights. Hmm... there must be a statistic for how many hours a person, in his or her lifetime, sits at a red light. I have absolutely no desire to look it up - so there you go. It's time to get off the computer - Oscar and Lucinda are calling (Peter Carey) - and read my book!

Okay, this seriously cracks me up - a security company called Save Self Security - every time I see them I yell out, "Save yourself!!!"

After the game the other night some girls went out for dinner - me and Agustina (the setter's girlfriend, from Argentina)

The light timer...

a day of yumminess!

Pizza anyone?

What a day of sweet and delicious productivity in the kitchen. We had pots and pans and trays and plates working overtime to deal with goodies and delectables. Despite a tentative decision (that I made to myself) to not eat too many Christmas treats before we arrive in Toronto, this afternoon we made sugar cookies... and then ate sugar cookies. There was decorating and creativity in between these two activities, and, also, more eating. And for dinner tonight we made one of our favourites - home-made pizza! How delicious is home-made pizza... seriously! As I mentioned earlier, we used all of the same mixing bowls and baking trays, so our kitchen equipment got a work out today - as did our stomachs! MMmmmm... and taste buds. I also made myself get to the gym, where I sweat on the treadmill and stairmaster for a total of 60 minutes (I'm proud of myself - I almost didn't go at all), after which one of the trainers at the gym asked me (with a crazy look) what... I was training for. My response? Christmas. I'm training for Christmas.

Having fun baking....

... and eating!

afters and befores - in hand-made shapes...

The snowman family!

Que mas. This afternoon I ventured across the hall to say hello to a neighbor that I'd met earlier in the year. About a week or so after I arrived, I was sitting at the kitchen table (did I blog about this already?) when I heard American English in the hallway - I couldn't help myself, and yanked open the door - to the surprise of two women standing at the top of the stairs. It turns out that our across-the-hall neighbor isn't really a neighbor, but an office of a charity for HIV positive orphans here in Constanta. One of the women, Cynthia, is from California, and runs the charity with her husband through her church, visiting the city and the orphanage several times a year. SO long story short, I popped over to see if her Romanian colleague was around to say hello and see if there were any opportunities to get involved, seeing as how volleyball isn't going to work out for me over here. We had a nice chat over a few sugar cookies, and she asked me if I'd like to come and visit the orphanage when I get back from Christmas holidays. So we'll see if that leads to anything - regular or not.

What else is going on this week... Steve got a cable that connects the computer to the TV, so we can watch movies on the big screen - woohoo! We watched Charlie Wilson's War last night and liked it, though it was a little, hmmm... dry? at times - it wasn't boring, but neither of us were really captured by it either. It was good though - my favourite line was, "the ball keeps on bouncing..." - doesn't it just? Anyways. Speaking of bouncing balls (ha!) Team Tomis has a big game tomorrow night - they're playing a Dutch team in the second round of the European Cup, so hopefully that goes well. It should be a refreshing, challenging game - a change-up from the monotony of playing bad teams. Having said that, I hope they never lose a game in this league (the Romanian one) - it's not exactly the strongest. Oh well. We are listening to Christmas carols and slowly getting in the Christmas spirit, though I have a feeling that it won't really hit me until we are on our way back to Toronto.... I am (we are) soooo excited... it's going to be great. Busy, but great! Can't wait!!

home again!

I started out in Thessaloniki, and after four days made it to Patras via Athens; Kavasila is between Patra and Olympia on the coast (approximately!)

Home at last! And a blog at last! My trip was amazing - I had an awesome time visiting with Carla, Chris and Layne in Thessaloniki and also with Nik and his family in Kavasila. I didn't really budget much time (any really) in Patras which I kind of regret, but I was able to see some friends there for a short (but sweet) time. I left Salonica on Monday morning, and bused all the way to Patras - about 8 hours (eep); I spent the afternoon in Patras with some basketball friends, and then met up with Nik for dinner - a stuff-my-face affair at one of our favourite tavernas. Afterwards, we made the trip south to Kavasila where Nik's dad said the most becoming thing: after having fully pigged out on saganaki, keftedes, pulled pork, meat pie, cheese pie, tsatziki, olives, bread and fries, I walk in the door and he says, "You look skinny - you lost weight?" Sweet sweet music to my ears. (And stomach and taste buds.) The rest of the trip was a veritable food-fest - I could go to Greece just to eat! We had fish, grilled chicken, salads, lentils, broccoli, pizza (probably the best deep-dish I've ever had), feta, mandarins fresh from the orchard, bougatsa, trigonos... on and on I could go. Nik and I went for coffee every day at least once - the coffee tradition is even more pronounced in Greece than it is at home, and the selection and assortment of coffees is just yum. Plus, it's enjoyed over a two or three hour time span - none of this rush-rush to-go business that is the norm at home. We went out on the town on Tuesday and Wednesday nights to Zeppelin, a fabulous little rock bar in Amaliada - a town not too far from Kavasila - that serves up beer and great music until the wee hours of the night. What else did we do... ooh! We went to aerobics and pilates, both of which made me feel better about the copious food inhalation that was part of my daily (er, okay, hourly) routine... and, yup, that's about all of the exercise I had on my trip. I did hit up my old yoga class on Thursday night, which was super fun - great to see some friends and get a good stretch-strength workout. Nik and I made it back to Patra in time to have a club sandwich (they're a big thing in Greece - and are again, super delish) before he had to head to work and I had to get to yoga. I'd bought a ticket for the 2:30am bus - it would get me to the airport just in time for my 7:30 flight - but wasn't sure what to do after yoga (class finished at 10:00)... Well! Who was I kidding - I was going to eat. I met up with Nantia, a friend that I'd met just before we left Patra two years ago, and she invited me out to have some drinks and food with some of her friends - and drinks and food we had. She took me to a small, cramped place that was a bit like a tapas bar; every time you ordered a new drink, they'd bring you a little plate of this or that - first salty and then sweet. I stuck out like a sore thumb in this place, and food was traveling to our table (and empty plates traveling away) like the speed of light... it was all so so so good. I was filling up fast, but stopping was not an option - especially when the dessert plates started coming! It was unreal... the amount of food I ate and how delicious everything was. I should have taken pictures but was too busy eating - there were plates of cheese and meat, fish and vegetables, more cheese and cured meat and salami - and then the sweet: candied oranges and figs, dark chocolate chunks, chocolate mousse and pudding, thick yogurt topped with stewed cherries (my favourite) and turkish delight... it was amazing. So, when Nantia dropped me off at the bus station at 2:15, we were both stuffed, and I was looking forward to catching some zzzz's on the bus. Alas, I think I was too full to sleep. I made it to the airport in time to catch my flight and, just like that, the whirlwind trip was over. It was great though, and I really can't wait to go back to Greece!

Me and Eleni

Me and Nantia - we had a blast!

So here I am, back at home - and still a bit full from Thursday night's feast... I'm not sure how this is possible but I am really not that interested in eating dessert yet - super strange and extremely unlike me BUT... I think I just need a break. I'm sure I'll be ready to seriously indulge again by Christmas. Or tomorrow. Anyways, we bought Christmas decorations this morning and decorated this afternoon! It still seems a bit bare around here, but there wasn't much (anything) on the walls to begin with! While I was away Steve bought a small tree and a beautiful poinsettia, and downloaded some Christmas tunes to get us in the spirit! Yay! And... the countdown is seriously on - only two weeks until we leave for Toronto! How exciting. Also exciting are my plans for the evening... the opera! Random, I know, but why not? Some girls from the team are going and Tammy asked if I was into it - so sure! Steve can't make it (he's crushed) as he has practise SO... I'll have to tell him all about it later. Okay... time to get ready!

Decorating our little tree!!

pics now, commentary later!

The Wolfenden family - day one in Thessaloniki

Layne happy after a bath

The market - full of broccoli and oranges and souvlaki... YUM!

Enjoying the afternoon sun - all three of us!

The Wolfs live in Nea Epivates, a seaside suburb of Thessaloniki...

Layne doing sumo-baby - super cute!

An incredible array of treats at a bakery in Nea Epivates - impossible to say no to!

On the bus on the way to Patra

At a Taverna in Patras - amazing food!!!

Kourouta - a favourite place for coffee

An empty beach and a beautiful day

Kourouta

At Zeppelin - best rock bar in Greece!

The day isn't complete without a few frappes....

My fabulous hosts!

At work - preparing an amazing meal...

The chef - after a most delicious pizza meal... SO yummy!!