sunday morning quick-post

So, the outlook for the season is looking a bit grim, after Thursday's showing in Athens; Panahaiki (Steve's team, the good guys) lost to Panathinaikos (the bad guys) 3-1 and gained zero points in the contest. To stay in the league there are a few possibilities, and today is a new day; tonight's match is a crucial one - stay tuned for results. The most notable and must-mention parts of Thursday's game were the shenanigans (always red and yellow cards, always extreme gesturing, posturing, and finger and tongue wagging) and the fans (hooligans). The (very) unsportsmanlike behaviour - I can't adequately express, because I wasn't there... but perhaps these days (verbatim) from Steve will do the trick:

I'm in the locker room safe for the moment. Full water bottle assault at end of game. I got outta there pretty quick.

Some guy is now pissing down from the stands on some of our guys.

Panos got smoked by a full water bottle right in the side, 2nd set I think.

Many guys getting spit on all match.

Is this normal? Yes and no. It doesn't happen all the time in every game in every sport, but it's behaviour that's tolerated. And it's behaviour that has absolutely nothing to do with volleyball and everything to do with the club and the fans-for-life supporters of every team the club has running. So, for one of Greece's most historic organizations in sport, keeping a team in the top division is a matter of pride and honour for Panathinaikos, one that is non-negotiable, it seems. In any case, the guys get another crack at it tonight, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

at the Achaia Klauss winery, home to big barrels and old (1861) wine

And with just NINE more sleeps here (booooo!), we're starting to mad-plan and compile our must-do + must-eat list. It's in progress, and maybe I can get to it (and share) tonight if the kids get to bed at a decent hour. We've been invited for lunch at the baker's house - their daughter, Joanna, who also works at heaven's local phyllo and deep-dish pizza outlet, speaks English, and her brother and his kids will also join. The people here are so so kind, and I know that I'll miss the Greek hospitality, though I missed the Italian hospitality when we left from Vela for Canada as well.

I haven't taken a look at previous posts for quite a while, so thought I'd see if I posted on this day last year, and the year before and the year before, and found that indeeeeed I had:
2013: Mixed-bag blogpost - Hen recovering from surgery #1, forts, gym class and my memory board
2012: Hendrik at Alana's age, video, laughing...  ah-dorable!
But that's it, just two April 27 entries. I need to get dressed and get ready to go. More later, I hope....

with their mailboxes (crafty crafty) and the documentation from playing airport with Hendrik

Easter in Kavasila - top top!!

Happy Easter! Our weekend in Kavasila was incredible. Words won't do justice to the feel, the family, the food, the vibe... so I'm posting all but three of the (many) pictures that I took, with hopes that the images will do a better job of conveying just what kind of a weekend we had. No wonder Hendrik doesn't want to leave! I don't want to either. And if and when we do (we must, I think), it won't be the last time we see these places and these people. Thank you so so much to the Mixalopoulos clan for making us feel like a part of your family - ευχαριστώ!!!

saturday morning: the easter bunny came! the kids were verrrry excited to hunt for (and eat) eggs; after Steve finished his practice, we hit the road, and made it to Kavasila 4:00ish

Bill doing the kokoretsi, the walkway, kids
at play, at play, watching Max
more play, prepping the lamb, fleurs

A with her candle, and H with his; both - made by Nik's fiancee, Constantina (for the midnight church service)
more and more and more lamb prep, with Hendrik taking it all in
lamb #2, for chops + all-day appies, our boy, en route to town for coffee at 6:00ish

more en route to the cafe, and Alana stopping to smell (all) the flowers
shop across the way, coffee for some.... beer for others :)
across the street, big eggs!!!, much excitement about the rock-lawn

a cafe with an open space for kids = the best.
more fleurs, busy at the butchers, walking home with Nik
prepping the pit for Easter Sunday: all day grillin'

Alana LOVED the screen door (and Max the dog), I was the only Brinkman who made it to church at midnight (Hendrik had a serious meltdown after a long day full of sugar and stimulation, the poor feller)
my candle, the crowd, and people heading for home - to eat!
at the table, yamas! meat soup and meat meal, at 12:30am-ish

The next day: Bill and Nik had the fire going before we woke up, and it was all meat and beer and grillin' for breakfast.
(and the sign on Nik's door - gotta love it!)
taking it allllllllll in | CAKE! this is what I had for breakfast - the one on the right is an orange cake, made with crumbled phyllo.... soooooo good!!!!!
our family! Hendrik was Nik's helper, until the smoke started irritating his eyeballs. Pointing at the big lamb....

two grills and lots of meat, and it's not even 12:00 yet. gypsies arrived playing music ("oh sh$*," someone said, "the gypsies are here!" - I'm wasn't too sure what this meant, but they played music louder than ours and got ppl dancing...)
climbing, a bus sched from our walk into town (mis-placed photo), and watching the world
beer and meat, and tennis. from across the street (where there are chickens, bunnies and lots of fruit trees), looking back.

swinging, the table, beer and meat for lunch
lunching, laughing, cutting the Easter bread
there were people coming and going all day, with music and drink flowing perfectly | carving time!

meat plate!! a full table... and my plate
full table, happy kids eating dessert, Alana happily playing with rocks
nap time for all in the late afternoon was followed by coffee and play in Gastouni, a village away

Doesn't it all look amazing? It was. We reluctantly drove home at 8:30 after a serious chip chow-down, ate some fruit, showered up the kids and went to bed as tired as can be. There are more words to accompany some of these images, and hopefully I'll get to it soon. Easter 2014 was a weekend to remember, that's for sure! Again, ευχαριστώ to the Mixalopoulus family, and Happy Easter to all!

list-blog

from L to R: at the park today, she was all about the mud puddles, on the swing, saying "CHEEEEESE", ready to cook, and hammering away

 One of Alana's latest and greatest skills is climbing in and out of her relatively low to the ground crib, and until this evening it was something she'd practice during the day (nap-time), and only during the day. Now it's an all-the-time thing - what does this mean? It means I have to time an afternoon drive with her nap (until I figure out how to get her to stay put), and - in the evening? Not sure yet.

I could have should have listed the above as #1, because this is a list-type'o blog. Time is short (it's 10:49 and the kids have been in bed for all of 10 minutes), and I'm tired. Here we go....

1. Panahaiki won three points tonight in their contest against - I don't even know who they played, but it was somewhere in Thessaloniki. They've been away for six days are due back some time tonight; they hit the road right after the game, and I know that everyone is looking forward to having the big guy home.

photos from our souvlaki dinner the other night: the stuff stories are made of

2. Bedtime routines: take forever. We read books out here in the main room and then after I've put A to bed, I'll read Hendrik one more in his room and tell him a story with the lights off (routine to change with new night-time crib-crawl-out). We usually read something from Friendly Tales, but Hendrik has requested No Roses For Harry for a few nights going, and favourite requests from me have been the Antonella and the Cookies story (about going over to Antonella's house in Vela, where he reaches for the cookies that live in the jar on the kitchen table) or The Mr Burger story (yesterday after a late afternoon park visit we tried to go to Mr Burger but it was closed; Hendrik spied an open tavern where we enjoyed some delicious souvlaki, pita and salad: win win win!). The ding dong stories are hopefully a thing of the past - I much prefer the variety of Vela and souvlaki stories.

3. We've been without internet here, though not entirely (through phone data only). Steve took his computer with him, and with it went the plug into which the end of the longest modem-computer cord in the world gets plugged. Get this: when Steve moved in, building maintenance people drilled holes in the walls (multiple) and looped and connected a cord from a third floor apartment outside and around the building to ours. The cord is LONG, and I should just post a picture instead of trying to describe things. I mention this to legitimize the fact that it's been a week since I last blogged...

4. These days flying solo with the kids have had the usual highs and lows, but somehow the lows have seemed a bit lower - thanks to the terrible threes. The last two days have been good, but the two previous were not; Hendrik would push and push and push and with my patience and understanding and plan on how to deal with him and with things exhausted, I reacted in ways I didn't feel good about. I know that we're all learning here, and after a perfectly timed get-together with a friend I hadn't seen in five (?) years, I felt better - and Hendrik has been more well-behaved and my stores of patience are replenished. This makes me think of this job posting.... how true.

5. I've been meaning to mention this for a long long time: Steve's sister Erin started a blog - Life With Lennon - and it's a great way to keep up with them and their babe's ever-changing ways. We get to see them in Bowmanville when we return, and I can't wait to meet Lennon and see Erin...

6. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this or not, but Hendrik has decided that he doesn't want to go home to Canada, and that we should (and will) just stay here forever. With only three weeks left here, I feel the same way, (more than)  just a little bit. The weather and the green grass are his top reasons, and I'd add the food, people, pace of life and affordability to the list. As long as the team manages to stay in the top division, coming back "home" here will be an option; we'll have to wait and see....

the happy easter sign was all hendrik! easter fun :)

7. Easter is coming up, and we've had our crafty hats on. I've been trying to do the re-use + re-cycle thing, so nothing's too Martha Stewart, but I think it looks cute, and original. We decorated Easter baskets (yogurt containers) this morning and there are new eggs going up on the crates every day... and then we'll get to take it all down! It's been fun though. More on the Easter theme: we'll head down to Kavasila for Easter weekend, and all of us are looking forward to it. I'll see if I can dig out the picture-montage/video Steve made from Easter there seven years ago (wait, eight?) - there's food, family, sunshine.... lamb (poor fella), and more. Can't wait!

8. I woke up to trigonos in the fridge (I ate some for breakfast), and they. are. incredible. Good thing we don't live up north, or someone would find me in the shop window, a la Chocolat.

9. I started this blog last night, and didn't get to posting it - technical difficulties with the ipad (not sure what/why). Anyways! Steve is home, it's a beauty of a day, and everyone is happy - and tired. Bed early tonight I hope!

Greek Easter 2007:

a day to remember

Yesterday was a perfect day, and it was perfectly unplanned and unexpected. There were no grand events (that I have on film anyways - Steve scored 22 points in their 3-1 win over Panathinaikos), but with good weather, happy people and exploring to do..... it was lovely! I'll let the pictures do the talking, and then go to bed.

reading, cuddles, smiles

exploring patra's country roads after checking out the remains of a roman aqueduct (there were fig and olive trees - and orange and lemon trees - ALL OVER the place. I LOVE FIGS. going crazy over missing fig season here...)

playing library. for real. happiness off the charts for both of us. love!

it was a-ma-zing. more please.

and this morning...

We told Hendrik we were going home in a month and he told us that he wanted to stay here. And live here. Forever. "We can learn some more Greek words!" he said. With the weather and cake and food and fig trees and olive oil and weather and cake, I'm with him!

Panahaiki vs AEK

the weekend

Our weekend here was complete - with a visit to the morning market, a diaper blowout, an evening volleyball game (with riot police), and a nice Sunday beach visit (there was sun, there was rain, there was hail) wrapped up with a full-blown terrible-three temper tantrum. Yes, those times have arrived, and neither of us know quite what to do. Anyways.... the only things missing were - nothing, really. But on facebook I see friends getting together with friends and brunching, lunching etc., and if you've been a reader for more than a season, you'll know that this is my only real qualm with this itinerant life we are so lucky to lead (I miss my friends!). I would also like to move more, and reading this list of Fitness Laws feels right. Will I ever be able to forgo morning sleep in the name of exercise? Maybe when sleeping gets more predictable... (sounds like an excuse to me). I'm tempted to sign up for Ottawa's Race Weekend's 10km - stay posted. Quickly, to wrap this up: Steve's team starts playdowns with a home game on Wednesday, and then competes Wednesday and Saturdays until two winners and two losers emerge at the end of it all - April 30th is the last series of games, I believe. Fingers crossed that these guys can sort a few things out and stay in the first division!

top: police bus outside the gym, ppl being frisked upon entry and riot police separating the AEK fan club from fans
bottom: we sat upstairs (special!) - nice view, and I had to resort to phone-as-a-toy to keep the kids from going crazy

(Writing the above caption I realize I missed a few things: the home team's fan club and the opposing team's fan club (AEK) are "friends", which means that the AEK's fan club is granted entry into the gym - they are the only club whose fans are allowed to come and watch games here in Patra. I'll post a video of some game and fan club action tomorrow - it's taking way too long to upload. Someone turned off more than half of the lights in the gym partway through the second set, and it took at least 20 minutes to get them on and get everyone (athletes, coaches) calm and on the court and playing again (really). I felt way more comfortable being upstairs in the little office/room, but there was no bathroom, so Hendrik had his first pee in a bottle which I felt weird about because I had to hold it (bleccuggh). I was ready to run for it after set three, since both kids were starting to go bonkers - and so was I (both of them insisted on sitting on my lap to watch the game). After the loss there were temper tantrums (grown-up ones resulting in broken table, smashed freezer) - but I didn't see any of that. I got the kids out of there stat as soon as the game wrapped its ugly little self up. Steve said after the game, "there could be elephants on the other side, and guys wouldn't even notice"; this is a team that beats itself. Let's turn it around in the next month eh boys?)

Kalogria

site that dates back to the 13th cent. BC, not far from the beach: from left - the view looking back towards the water, on top of the building, and views beyond, with thunder calling down from the sky

family update

Life here is teeming with activities, day and night, and while most are welcome, those night-time ones (wake-ups) are not. Here's a shakedown of life in Patra, family member by family member...

HLB, three years + four months old

This guy is loving it here. Top activities include running around outside, playing soccer, doing jobs, hitting parks and playgrounds, eating bougatsa, oreos, ice cream, pretending (he's in dinosaur time, Santa is coming, that he's taking the bus to South Europe or Romania, he's building stuff), reading, doing crafts and... did I mention he likes being outside? Bedtime is late, he's learning a few Greek words and he's being nicer to Alana. We took the bus into town yesterday and he loved it, but the castle visit the day before was a grand slam, and he buzzed with excitement as he explored nooks and crannies and different rooms of the restored fortress (see pics below). There are the usual three-year old challenges - listening (or, rather, not listening), but for the most part he's a good little guy. Favourite books include the Easter tomes that I just dug out, and most of the stories in this book. He talks about things he'll do when he's older like driving and playing on a soccer team, and he tells me things I'll do when I'm older too - I can't say what, but he usually gives me an age in the 90s, which gives me a thing or two to think about. I should be writing down some quotable quotes - maybe I'll do that this week, and do an exclusive who-said-what blog; I'll add it to the list.

ALB, one year + seven months old

I'm just going to start with the most obvious thing about this girl, which could be one of two things: she LOVES eating cheese, and she's a horrible sleeper. I feel like I have to break up with her, she is so smothery and clingy at night, and I dream about the weekend in May when we are back in Canada in Oakville for a wedding - will this be the next through-the-night sleep for me? Maybe. It's not even that she wakes up a few times; her routine is this: she goes down late, between 9:30 and 10:00, and sleeps in her own bed for what feels like a very short while. Then, she wakes up calling for me "mommiee mommiee mameee" in a very loud, very whiny voice, and won't stop until I pick her up and take her into my (single) bed. Sometimes she'll fall asleep right away, and sometimes she won't, but she'll always wake up again calling for me in that same loud and aggressively whiny tone, even with my head mere inches away from hers. She flails, sleeps on the pillow or sideways on the bed, and then calls for me some more, and I feel like I'm constantly being woken up. I need to erase all expectations of a decent rest at night, and take what I can get. Aaaand I'm done with the sleep rant... we can move on. She's increasing her vocabulary like nobody's business, and loves looking at and talking about the chickens, sheep and lambs beside the park down the street. She'll still randomly start talking about the creatures at Ottawa's Museum of Nature ("di-saurs! fish. birds. fogs!") and is able to have a conversation (albeit maybe the same one) about this or that or the other. She also likes pretending, reading, doing crafts (chalk wall, play-do), and throwing food. And running away. She loves cheese, pizza, yogurt - she could be a poster girl for dairy products, she could. She sings Oh Canada (must get on film) and rivals Hendrik with her interest in all things Franklin. And, of course, she likes doing whatever Hendrik does... which means tug-of-war for tools, the new baby stroller that Nik brought over and anything and everything that Hendrik wants to do/is playing with. She also loves being outside, picking flowers and squishing ants ("SQUISH!"). And eating strawberries. Good thing she's so cute, this one....

Steve

Volleyball volleyball volleyball. The team has their last regular season game this Saturday, and since all points accumulated in regular season carry over into the play-downs, every set counts. It looks like we'll be here until May 6th (dates confirmed today), just five or-so days after the season comes to a close. This gives the big guy a few days to relax before we head home to what will hopefully be SPRING in Canada. Will it will it will the snow be gone by then? I hope so. He hopes so. I digress. What else is new with him? He gets to eat at a variety of restaurants that serve up delicious fare - to both him, his teammates and the three of us hangers-on. This includes a waterfront cafe/resto in Rio, a place called BeerBarCue, Toulas (I've posted pics of the food here - it's so so good) and more. I know he's loving having Nik around, and so am I. It's good to have a few pals in the same city you live in, no?

Me

And me? What's new? Not much really. I'm enjoying the same things the others are - outside time, the sun, the food, the phyllo pastry goods, the pace of life - it's all good. Well, almost. I'd change the brutal nighttime routine, and I'd take a shower that actually contains water, and - would it be to much to ask to make all bakery goods calorie-free? Bah! I made bougatsa the other day, and it was good, but I think I'll save a second batch for Canada when I can't find delicious pastry down the street. I have to say that I've really felt like I've been on vacation here; there are no to-do lists (actually, I'm just not making any), and with a grocery store steps away, I can plan meals on the go... easy breezy. Or we just go out! Easier breezier. Alright... Alana is sleeping so I should too. More to write about, but it'll have to wait until next time.

castle collage