Today was a chilly (high today was 47), gray (it rained a little this evening) day, so Kim and I decided it would be a good museum day. We paid a visit to the Byzantine and Christian Museum. The website doesn't have an English version yet, but it does provide nice pictures. As usual mine won't be quite as good, but they're all you'll see posted today. The museum appears to be in a Tuscan villa, but actually the exhibits are below ground, so the villa isn't disturbed and things are exhibited in a museum-like atmosphere.

I had to include this chain mail picture (15th Cent) for Anthony and Nicole.

A few of the articles were copies of the actual artifact, in some cases pillaged and now in Rome, London or some other world capitol museum. You can actually detect the snarl in the voice as you read the descriptions.

In spite of the weather, we took a short stroll through the National Gardens. It's not yet spring but a few things were still blooming. Kim had a good time taking pictures with her (good) camera of oddly-shaped tree trunks and other anomalies of nature.

Afterward we actually trammed back to the apartment to eat, call my mom (it's Sunday) then head back downtown for an English-language mass. We had read that mass was at 7 p.m. and were rather proud of ourselves for getting to the church at 6:30 when we came to discover that from Oct. to April mass is actually at 6 p.m.: the later time is during "season." So we arrived late to a Standing Room Only church. It was about as diverse a group as you can imagine. There were westerners, Africans and Asians.

On the tram ride back home afterwards, a teenage male discreetly graffitied a tram door. An older man saw him and started hollering at him. The young guy smirked a little but said nothing and took a seat as the older man continued to chew him out. A young woman not with the graffiti guy yelled back at the man in defense of the teenager, telling him to leave him alone. A couple of stops later the young guy got off the tram without incident. Signs are posted about the severe penalties for vandalism but obviously no one who would enforce it was around.

These mosaic floors were quite impressive. All different patterns - all from the 6th to 11th Centuries.

I was also impressed with this book of the Gospels, from the 12th Century.

Today's Greek news is about secondary education. There's debate in parliament about reform. College admission is all based on an entrance exam all high school students take. Most middle-class and above students enroll in private prep schools for a year to prepare for the exam. Many of them don't even care about high school and skip lots of days, don;t do homework, etc. It's all irrelevant - all that matters is the exam. Reformers want to change the system so that a combination of the entrance exam, class rank and high school grades is used. Others simply want high schools to do what the prep schools do an "teach the test." Obviously the students aren't being well-served.

Valentine's Day began with me getting a Valentine e-mail from my wife. She normally stays up later than me, so last night after I went to bed she sent me an e-card. I usually get up first and check my e-mail (how sad is that?). Kim had also bought a mold so she could make heart-shaped omeletes for breakfast.

After eating and cleaning up, we got some grocery shopping done (stores are closed on Sunday - needed to stock up) then jumped on the tram to head downtown. A note about the tram: it's incredibly convenient, but not terribly fast. Our trip downtown - about 6 km, takes 35-40 minutes.

The plan was to do more walking around, with a goal of eating after 2 p.m. when a particular eatery in Plaka opened. We started out by stopping off at the Tourist Information office. In Europe they're clearly identified and usually conveniently located. It was unusual that we were in country this long and still hadn't visited it. I attribute it to the fact that we had both Matta and Martha providing us with tourism information, not to mention the maps and information Fulbright provided. When we entered the info office, I immediately remembered the office in Macerata. I was always surprised that the people who worked there never seemed very happy. The two people behind the desk were not really interested in talking. We just picked up a couple of brochures and headed out.

This time it seems we entered the Plaka from the more "normal" entry point. Not only did it look more picturesque (by that I mean "suited to tourism") but we also had to run the gamut among all the restaurateurs trying to talk you into stopping into their establishment. Many of the places looked very tempting, and I'm sure we'll go back to one or two in the future, but today I had a mission. I had read about Damigos, a traditional eatery (dating to the 1860s) known for its fried cod. The restaurant was actually below street level (some might say "basement," but there were stairs down from the street). Unlike the other restaurants, this place had no one standing outside with a menu trying to coerce customers. Although the staff spoke English, we were the only English-speaking patrons. I was going for authentic, and I really believe I got it.

This was our Valentine's dinner out, so we splurged. Got a salad (no lettuce - just tomatoes, onions, olives, feta and cucumbers), fried cheese, falafel and the house wine. We split main courses of the fried cod and grilled swordfish. The waiter kindly tried to teach us the Greek words each time he brought out a course.

After lunch (hard to call it "lunch" when you finish eating after 3 p.m.) we continued our walk, just looking at things and stopping occasionally. We still have a lot of time here, so neither of us has been anxious to start buying souvenirs. I can tell you there were plenty available. But, when I do buy, I'm going to buy from places where the prices are marked. I know you can dicker but I prefer not to. As much as I like to talk about getting into the local culture, there are some things I'm just not equipped to do.

Plaka is just down from the Acropolis and from time to time you can catch a glipse of it. We know the spot on the tram ride into downtown when it becomes visible, and there's even a spot or two in our neighborhood where you can see it.



Don't just look at the top of the hill, but look at how they've pruned the trees in the foreground.

Here's Kim's artistic picture. The reflection of the Acropolis is in the glass wall of the museum below. It came out pretty cool.

Our poor landlords aren't going to make a nickel on us while we're here. When we got back from downtown, Kim switched on a burner for tea and it tripped the main circuit breaker. Turned it back on, same thing happened. It doesn't happen with the other burners. Kim called Martha and told her, and Martha will get an electrician to check it out.

Today's Greek news update: There is a heated discussion about the prospect of an early election. The two major parties, Pasok and New Democracy, are at odds over whether to change the system of allocating seats for members of parliament. Current rules divide 260 of the 300 seats proportionately based on votes. The remaining 40 seats are a "bonus" to the party with the most votes. The proposal is to increase that to 50 bonus seats, and 250 divided.

Friday is market day in our neighborhood, and Kim and Martha felt I should come along to see. Here they are looking at scarves. Unlike the Macerata market in Italy, this one runs exclusively along one street. Stalls line both sides and people walk in the center of the street. OCD person that I am, I noticed the stalls were not uniform in how far they stuck out into the street. In fact some people "extended" their stalls by putting more merchandise on boxes, resulting in bottlenecks to an already-crowded street.

Like the Italian markets, you could buy
everything from clothes to food to housewares.

Salespeople were a mix of Greeks and

immigrants. I don't know what time they opened but they were tearing down about 3 p.m.

This picture shows Kim (second from left) clawing her way to a stand that was shutting down and selling off his remaining stock of oranges for 3 kilos/Euro (that works out to around 35 cents a pound). He became very popular very quickly.

Unfortunately the pictures can't show the length of the market.

Martha wanted to take us afterward for coffee/tea to a place about a 15 minute drive south of us down the coast. Very nice cafe - they even had valet parking. High temp today was only 53 degrees, so we sat inside and looked out. There were a couple of people in the water (I said they must be Germans). Just a couple of minutes from where we had coffee is the picture below: it's a natural brackish lake where the water is warm and supposed to have healing properties (a mineral spring, I assume). Martha said that some retirees actually get their pool fees paid by getting a doctor to prescribe the treatment.

Finally I'll close with some Athens news. When I was in Italy I noted all the immigrants. Because of Greece's location, it has

even more of an issue. Greece is an entry point to the EU for Africans from the south, Eastern Europeans from the east but also middle-Easterners and Asians. Obviously a large influx of immigrants causes a drain on the social system. Unlike the US, if a child of immigrants is born in Greece that is no guarantee of Greek citizenship. In fact citizenship has more to do with heritage than it does with location. There are Greek citizens around the world who have voting rights in Greece yet someone born here who is over 21 may not.

I already told you that Matta was coming for dinner last night. She has a master's from Ball State from 20 years ago and found us our apartment. Kim had two appetizers (artichoke dip and stuffed mushrooms), her terryaki chicken pizza with a Sicilian salad and homemade brownies (although Betty Crocker mix is for sale in the grocery across the street). We had a very nice evening. We gave Matta a gift we had brought her from Martin as well as one we had brought. Matta provided me with a SIM card for the cell phone Professor Sorogas lent me (Kim and I both now have cell phones with Greek numbers) and gave Kim a silver ring that she had

designed and made herself. (Sorry for the blurred picture but I can't get close with the simple blogging camera.) Matta makes a lot of jewelry for fun, and would love to be able to sell it but in Greece to be legal she would have to apply for a tax number and pay a hefty fee, so unless she gets into it in a big way, it really wouldn't pay. Matta knew as Americans we would want to eat early, so she suggested she would arrive at 8 and we could eat dinner at 9 - about an hour earlier than she does normally.

This morning one of the things I had to figure out
was how to open the phone to get the SIM card
in: more difficult than you might imagine. I had to

go online to find out what to do. Then I went onto the SIM company's site to find out how to change all the settings so it wouldn't block incoming calls. A minor accomplishment, I admit, but I did feel as if I made progress.

Kim had had coffee at the marina a few days ago with Martha and had been dying to take me, so we hopped on the tram and went. It wasn't the best of weather but it wasn't raining, so we were able to walk among the amazing yachts. Martha had told Kim that some of the richest people in
the world dock at the marina and I certainly
believe it.

I am reminded of the importance of time abroad for seeing the world from other perspectives. For example, the subject of bailouts came up in discussion, and there was a little bit of disdain for the fact that the U.S. was considering "protectionism" in providing bailout money. The U.S. is not the only country suffering from economic crisis.

Long-standing scars still exist. It's interesting to hear Istanbul still referred to as Constantinople. The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey is still a sore subject. It's a centuries-old conflict. News reports in the US focus on ethnic disputes in other places because it's "calm" here, but the roots of the dispute are extremely deep.

I need to digress from Greece to return to sad matters on the homefront. Our family lost a cherished pet. Ŝiŝka was part of our family for 13 years and we will all miss her, but no one more than Nicole. They grew up together and were best of friends. I truly regret that I was not in Muncie to hold my daughter tight at this very difficult time.

I mentioned yesterday that Kim and I were attending a concert at the Hellenic American Union. Here is Professor Sorogas introducing the evenings' events. He's president of the "alumni association;" 800 Greeks with degrees from US institutions. All the speeches and vocals were in Greek, but it was very good music. The atar of the show was a Greek-American from Chicago who played piano and sang. Various singers came out on stage to join in for one or two songs. The place was standing room only (seats 200). I've included a brief clip so you could get an idea. We left after 2 hours, and they were still going. No idea how late they went.

HAU has some really great activities. Later this month, Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple is delivering a lecture.


Today Kim spent most of her day preparing for dinner. Tonight we are having Matta over. She's the woman who found our apartment for us. She was a graduate student at Ball State decades ago (long before we arrived). Martin was still in touch with her and contacted her on our behalf. She not only found the apartment for us, but she came to pick us up at the airport when we arrived. So today we shopped, cleaned and prepped. Obviously Kim did much more than me...but I helped!

Here's a picture from last night's premiere of Frost/Nixon. The ambassador sat up above in a reserved balcony. We were actually only a few feet away from him as he and his family came in, and watched from up close as they posed in front of the movie poster for pictures, but we never got the chance to meet him. Maybe next time.

People who know me know I'm not a big fan of going to the movies, but this was different. It was almost a documentary rather than a film. It was also an opportunity to see a Greek theatre. Very nice. The "concession stand" was a room to the side of the lobby.

Today we had to take two documents to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get the officially translated (9.5 Euros each). We had to bring a notaried copy of our marriage certificate and a notarized copy of a letter from BSU explaining my medical insurance. Each of those I had to have an Apostille affixed to in the US. Because that's done by Secretaries of State, I had to do the insurance letter through Indianapolis and the marriage certificate in Missouri (states can only provide apostilles for documents by their respective notaries).

Once we found the Ministry office the procedure

was pretty painless. We had free time before my 2 p.m. appointment so we wandered around, including through this central market. I don't know whether you can fathom the size from these pictures. The first photo is ONE of the meat aisles (there were several) and the second was seafood. Pretty amazing.

At 2 I met Professor Sorogas and he, the dept. chair and I chatted a little while about responsibilities. Prof. S had suggested I compile a list of courses where I felt competent to guest lecture. He provided that list to the chair. The chair's suggestion was that instead of me being a vagabond, going from class to class, that he and I could team teach his comparative media systems class, where we could cover the various topics (media law, news reporting, etc.).

Prof. Sorogas and I were joined by Dr. Karatza and headed to lunch (yes - lunch at about 2:30-3 p.m.). She's Greek but spent her early years in Australia and schooled in the Netherlands. She suggested that I might collaborate with some of her Dutch colleagues in Greece. I said I thought it was funny to go to Greece to collaborate with Dutch, but she rightly pointed out they're all Europeans.

Prof. S walked us past the main university building but it was locked. He explained it might have closed at 2 p.m but it may have been due to the loudspeakers and group forming in front of the building. He said the space in front of the main university building was similar to the spot in front of the White House as a place for protesters to gather as a free speech zone.

Prof. S invited Kim and me to a concert this evening at the Hellenic American Union. He's president of the alumni association there: 800 Greeks who have degrees from US universities. Wow - social events two nights in a row. I sure don't do this in the US ;)

Here's a short video of a children's choir we saw performing Sunday in Syntagma Square.

Went downtown today on a few matters of business. First I want to mention the cat-and-mouse game played by the police and the immigrants who illegally sell on the street. Unfortunately you can't see in the photo, but as these cops walk down the street, the sellers take off running. The cops don't make any effort to run after them or anything. They appear to do it just to disrupt them. It worked exactly the same way in Italy. Salesmen lay out their wares on blankets so as to be able to collect them quickly and run. It's kind of comical.

This picture shows a few things. First you can see the immigrants selling on the sidewalk (no cops around). Second you can see the graffiti spray painted on the side of the building. The university was the central staging area for the student riots in December and there is still cleaning up to do.

Kim and I got invited by Professor Sorogas to attend the Greek Premiere of Frost/Nixon. The US Ambassador will be there. I guess it's a big deal.

This morning Kim and I headed north of the downton to try to attend a Roman Catholic mass in English. I looked online for listings and found three different lists, each of which listed different churches offering English-language mass. We decided to try the only one with a morning service. We took the tram to the subway and walked right to the church, thanks to Kim's navigational skills. Unfortunately, the mass wasn't in English. Oh, well. Next week we try one of the other two. Afterwards we got on the subway and went back south, stopping a little before reaching the center and walking back. We were able to wander aimlessley, just looking at

stuff. Until we got to the Plaka - an area just SE of downtown. We weren't terribly picky about where we ate - we just wanted some place where we could get authentic Greek food. So, this became our first stop. Surprisingly they had pork, chicken and beef, but no lamb. We "settled" for one pork, one chicken.

If you read the link to Plaka that I have above you don't really need to read through anything I have to say. Still, I'll tell you that we saw lots of interesting stuff. Kim already pointed out the bracelet she wants for our wedding anniversary
(in May!!!) though it's unlikely I'll ever be able to

find my way back to the same shop through all the winding streets. It was rather crowded: I wonder if it's more or less so on a weekday. Talked with one shop owner who had lived in Boston for 25 years. Finally decided that if he didn't return to Greece right away he never would.

While some of the shopkeepers were subdued, many others called out to passersby to coax them into coming in to see the great deals. They had an uncanny knack for knowing the native language
of whatever person walked by. One elderly
woman followed Kim around for several minutes

(seemed longer) trying to sell her a tablecloth.

Some of the sidewalks were almost impassable.

We were having a lovely walk when Kim stepped funny on the uneven pavement and wrenched her back. Not so terribly that she couldn't move, but enough so we decided that it was time to start walking in the direction of the tram station to head home. It was just as well because by the
time we made it back, we had been out for about
six hours. Don't want to push too much this early
in the trip after Kim's still recovering from the
trip.

Kim insisted on taking this picture of this knife rack. It sells for 158 Euros. I think I should be afraid that she was so amused by it.

The plaka has more than just food and shops. This is the excavation associated with Hadrian's library.

Nothing much else to report. I talked with my mom this evening. A Sunday can't pass no matter
where we are. Florida's had a cold snap - it's been
much warmer here in Greece.

Today was a very quiet day. Mark and Martha called to say that the overcast weather made it less-than-ideal for an excursion they were planning about 90 minutes away. It was just as well as Kim was also having a less-than-ideal day. I did some work, we shopped at a neighborhood grocery and just hung around the apartment. Kim suggested that today's blog entry be about the apartment: not just because that's where we were today but also so our guests can get a sense of what to expect.

The first pictures are really of the balcony rather than the view, although you can certainly see some. The first picture is looking north, toward Athens (the balcony faces east). You should be able to recognize that the balcony runs the length of the apt: not wide but very long. Athens is very much a balcony culture. Most apartments have balconies and people are seen using them. We've been a little voyeuristic: not lewd or anything, but we have been able to see into some very nice apartments. You'll see that some people across the street (west-facing balconies) have rolled their awnings down to avoid the harsher sun. We may have to do that before we leave but certainly not in February. The seond picture, facing south, shows the balcony from the other end (laundry in foreground) with the sea in the distance. Our tram stop is immediately in front of that (you can see the gray-roofed shelter).

Our bedroom has a queen-sized bed. It's low to the floor but otherwise just fine. I didn't want to include multiple pictures from each room, so I'll just explain that it has a door to the balcony (right of picture), large dresser (behind) and build-in closets (left). The picture is taken from the doorway to the hall. We can hear the church bells (see top picture) each morning at 7. We also hear a fair amount of street noise, but it's not too bad (light sleepers might have trouble).

The kitchen is very small. There is a table (on the left) that would seat two very snugly, but we use it for prep because counter space is limited. The refrigerator is good size, but the electric stove would never accommodate one of Kim's more elaborate meals.

This room I guess we'll call the family room, although it is actually serving mostly as an office right now. Just to the left is the secretary desk where we have the laptop. The daybed in the lower right is one of two guest beds. Notice the door to the living toom (straight ahead) and dining room (left) are both pocket doors. Yes, they still work. The building is from 1971: Mark says it's an "old" apartment. I didn't have the nerve to tell him our Muncie house is 7 years older. You may be able to tell that there are hardwood floors. The sketch on the wall is of the former owner/resident. Some of her many books on art can be seen in the built-in shelves on the left.

The dining room obviously has the table in the foreground (covered with 42 applications from Greek graduate students seeking a Fulbright to study in the U.S.). In addition you can see the second daybed on the left.

The living room obviously centers on the TV. We get a number of channels (20 maybe) including one Swiss (in French) and CNN International. Many of the Greek channels carry some US TV shows. Some are dubbed into Greek but many are subtitled, so we can watch and actually work on our Greek reading (we did that in Slovenia years ago - in Slovene, not Greek).

I didn't include a bathroom picture because I couldn't get back far enough to take in the whole room. It's large enough, though, for a toilet, bidet, sink, washing machine and full-sized tub.

Kim and Martha went to the Friday farmer's market this morning, so I worked at home. When they got home, Martha said Kim had been a big hit in the market. She mispronounced something and a Crete made a rhyme out of it (Martha tell us that's something they do).

I'm a little frustrated with the Internet connection. We're paying a lot (50 Euros) for wireless access and sometimes it works and other times it doesn't.

Martha and Mark took us just a short way down the coast to a place they sometimes go for coffee and a walk along the shore. The forecast had been for nice weather but it clouded up. They were very disappointed, as they said the scenery is far better when the weather is nice (Kim and I thought it was pretty just the same). We sat for a while enjoying the scenery then went for a stroll. Our timing was perfect. Just as we were getting into the car after our walk, the rain started.

We managed to figure out the washing machine (with a little help from Martha) and did our first Greek laundry. I know - pretty exciting, huh? But actually, the point I always make to students about good study abroad programs is that you actually live overseas rather than just visit a country like a tourist (like some others).

Another episode in living overseas was the visit today by the plumber. The toilet kept running so he came over. He also checked a minor leak in the kitchen. The bill was only 20 Euros. In Muncie it's over $60 just to get him to come to the house - whatever time he spends is extra. Martha explained that it's because he's the neighborhood guy and they've used him for years. I still can't imagine an American plumber who may have worked decades for someone changing so little.

Today I felt like I got to begin my "work" as a Fulbrighter. My day of dealing with bureaucracy on Tuesday was work, but it isn't why I came.

This morning Kim and I got our monthly tram passes (each a reasonable 15 Euros, given a single ride costs 1). We headed downtown to Syntagma Square. A correction to my earlier post: I thought Syntagma was "Parliament" given the square's location but it's actually "Constitution Square." We wandered around for awhile before my appointment. We wanted to try some street food. We found vedors with carts selling these all around. There were massive doughnuts, but we opted for the pretzel-looking things on the right. They were covered with sesame seeds and slightly sweet. Other vendors sold chestnuts, sweet corn and other baked goods. There were immigrants selling kids' toys, pirated CDs, knock-off purses, etc. as we'd seen before in Italy.

Kim and I parted company and I went to visit with Professor Sorogas, my contact from the University of Athens. The College of Communication and Media Studies has its offices on the 7th floor of an office building just off Syntagma Square. He showed me around the offices and introduced me to those who were available. Classrooms are in another building a few blocks away. We didn't visit the classroom building. It's still being put back in order after the riots of last month. A lof of vandalism to the building.

It appears I may be doing more teaching than I had realized. Professor Sorogas discussed the possibility of me taking on three different two-credit classes: Mass Media and the Visual Arts; Television and Radio Production, and; Telefilm and Documentary Production. In addition he asked me to go through the course offerings and suggest other classes where I might guest lecture. I met the media law professor and discussed doing a guest appearance in his class. He also suggested I visit the class he teaches in the law school. I was very excited about that. The only setback is I probably need to use PowerPoint so the non-native English speakers can follow. Drat!

Oh, yeah - and the TV Production lab. Professor Sorogas said he has assistants that handle the technical end but we would be involved with students actively producing production. Not sure if it's more like advising a BSU student organization or what. I guess I'll find out.

The actual class schedule has still not been completed - delayed due to the "events" of the past few months. The course offerings are known, just not the dates and times. Just another reminder that not everything can go according to plan, and the best attitude is to be flexible. That's a tough lesson for an OCD/control freak like me, but an important one.

I hate to rub it in to my midwest friends, but the temperature reached 64 here today.

Today was our first opportunity to "recover" from the trip. We arrived Monday after about 21 hours of travel (including driving to the airport, layovers, etc.) and spent most of the day doing things. Yesterday was very busy. Today our agenda was clear.

Good thing, too. Kim woke up in pain about 3 a.m. The airplane seating and all the walking was taking its toll. I got up for a couple of hours, too but returned to bed about 5. It was later than that for Kim. We awoke to the phone about 10 a.m. Professor Sorogas, my contact at the University of Athens, was calling to arrange a meeting. His schedule today was very hectic so we'll meet up tomorrow.

In spite of Kim's soreness she still wanted to get out...a little. We restricted ourselves to walking around our neighborhood. We stopped for a lunch/snack at a bar/cafe sort of place and shared two different items. We stopped in a couple of shops to pick up items the apartment doesn't have. The landlord kindly provided instant coffee but I insisted on buying a regular pot. We wanted a dish drainer (miss the built-in one from Italy), oven mitt, etc.

No tourist pictures yet (maybe this weekend) but I'll provide a culture lesson. We were sitting outside at lunch and here was one of the many random dogs. Dogs and cats are plentiful. As you can see from the picture, though, they don't pay much attention to people and people react the same way. At lunch Monday, Martha explained to us that it exemplified the Greek "live and let live" attitude. Dogs don't bark at people or otherwise bother them and people return the favor. This dog didn't even lift its head as people went by (yes, it was alive - we saw him get up and leave). We even saw little kids walk by and not attempt to pet the dog.

I promise to get around to pictures soon, but we haven't been sightseeing. Today was very busy dealing with lots of moving in issues.

We slept well. The apartment is not palatial but comfortable. At 7 a.m. the church bells up the street began ringing rather loudly.

At just before 9, Matta arrived to help us learn the tram system and walk us to the Fulbright office. The tram's last stop is right in front of Parliament (Syntagma) Square. From there it was a short walk to Fulbright's offices. We didn't even stop to take pictures of the guards or anything.

She was going to wait for us but they advised her it would be a while. We had some paperwork to do, and after we had to go three places. Most of the time we spent with Nicholas, a nice young man about as bilingual as you can imagine. It's nice to have a Fulbright Commission here: in 1995, none existed in Slovenia. Nicholas had so much already prepared for us, and has done quite a bit in advance to grease the wheels, including dealing with 14 Greek Consulates in the US making sure they provide the correct visas for Fulbrighters and their families.

First we had to go to the Tax ministry. There's a lot you can't do without a tax number. We took the subway - Kim even navigated transferring lines - and walked a few blocks to get there. After finding the correct floor we waited in line (several other internationals needed the same) then worked with a very nice man. We presented the letter provided by Fulbright (in Greek, of course), but still he had to call Nicholas for information. Evidently laws had changed and he needed a different bit of info.

Second, we got back on the Metro to find our way to the national bank. We had to cash our check from Fulbright (travel reimbrusement and adjustment) at the bank where Fulbright has its account. Again we waited and produced the letter that Fulbright provided. We had to then take the cash from there and walk to a differnt bank. Greek law requires nonresident aliens to open accounts at a specific bank. After waiting we presented another letter in Greek to the bank and they processed our information, including the tax papers we had gotten earlier.

We stopped back in at Fulbright to pick up two large sacks of 42 Fulbright applications (I'm helping interview candidates in two weeks) and then walked back to the tram to head home. We got back about 4. We called our landlady Martha and she came over about 5. We signed the rental agreement, paid our first month's rent and security deposit (now that we had enough Euros) and then she volunteered to take us to the phone company. It was there that we arranged our Internet using a 3G thumbdrive to connect wirelessly (note: 3G is still not available in Muncie). It took time to set up (of course) so Kim, Martha and I crossed the street and had coffee, then returned.

As we walked back to the apt. we stopped in a grocery store and picked up a few items. We haven't done serious grocery shopping yet but we were hungry (hadn't eaten all day) and just wanted to get stuff we could go back and eat.

We're now back online! I may even get on Facebook again one of these days.

I'll finish with local news. Farmers are striking because of the low price of food. They have pelted police with all sorts of produce. Here's a picture from the news that my friend Tim "modified" a little. Look carefully.

Just a quick update to let everyone know we've arrived safe and sound.

Nicole drove us to the airport Sunday and things went about as smoothly as they can. Flight to Philly, Frankfurt and Athens all departed and landed on time. My headphones didn't work and I was too cheap to buy another pair on the overseas flight, but that didn't matter. Kim's worked fine (she watched a couple of movies) and I slept most of the time. Thankfully the overseas flight wasn't crowded so we were able to spread out.

When we arrived we were met by Matta - the friend who arranged the apartment for us. She drove us to the apartment where we met Martha, the landlady. She's lived in Greece 25 years but originally from the US. Then we all went a couple of blocks over to the sea and met Martha's husband for a meal. The 5 of us sat at at an outdoor table about 20 yards from the water. We had a wonderful mix of seafood: fried smelt, grilled octopus, fried calamari, another small fish I didn't know, pureed fava with onions, an eggplant salad and a plate of greens. They're doing us favors picking us up, renting us the apt., etc., and they picked up the tab. My first impression of Greek people is they are very generous.

Tomorrow morning we head to the Fulbright office downtown. Matta has volunteered to go with us the first time to show us how it's done. We're very fortunate.

My friend, colleague and racquetball buddy Tim Underhill took some photos. I'm posting this one not to show me at work but rather to show the spectacular window in my office. Yes, that's a Greek flag hanging in the window.

Kim and I leave for Greece one week from today.

Once we get there, it will probably be a few days before I blog. We have to arrange for Internet access in our apartment, and it will likely take a few days.

Our address is Achilleos 13-15 Palaio Faliro, 17562, Greece. If you're a Google Earth user, I strongly encourage you to enter the address. Not only will you be able to see we're just a couple of blocks from the shore but you'll be able to click on some photos, including one of the electric tram that stops just outside the apartment.

The apartment is on the 7th floor (yes, there's an elevator). If you'd like to call, the number is 30-210-981-8897. If you're planning to stay with us, call or e-mail with your reservations. Kim and I have decided that guests older than us can have our bedroom but younger guests get the sofa.

We've been very fortunate. Martin and Mary Catherine's friend Matta found the apartment for us and will pick us up at the airport. The landlords both speak English (she's a former American) and live nearby.