I'm finding it easier to do the blog in the early morning while Jim and Sharon are here. In the evenings everyone wants to be online and it takes too much time to write this and upload all the photos. Not that you care about such a minor detail, but it explains why I'm talking about "yesterday" in the posting.

I had the Comparative class yesterday morning. A major development: a Greek student came. As I've previously mentioned, the class has been just three students from other countries. In the 4th week of the class, we were finally joined by a Greek student. Stelios told me later that he had been the one to tell her to attend. She had sepnt a semester in Germany and approached him about the prospects of grad school in either the UK or US. He told her she ought to be in my class.

After class Stelios asked me if I would be willing to copyedit the revised book introduction and chapter outline, which I agreed to do. I also met a professor in the department who teaches conflict resolution and group psychology. The "department" probably might be better characterized a college because it is made up of three separate units, but together there are only about 26 full time faculty. Students get a liberal arts education but most of it comes from the department. Firts semester courses in the "department" are: Social Theory; Modern Greek, Language and Literature; Intro to Comm Theory; Intro to New Technologies; Contemporary European History, and; Intro to the Psychology of Communication.

I got back to the apartment in the early afternoon. The three of them hadn't been out and pretty much decided to spend the day inside. It was a good choice for the evening as we got a spring storm, complete with lightning and thunder.

Since they were unable to get onto the 4-day cruise, they can be more leisurely about doing things. They have a good attitude about traveling. When their kids were little, they always programmed in a "rest day" every third day or so. They never got back from vacation needing a vacation. Sounds pretty sensible to me, but I know I always feel like I should be moving.

They are also exceedingly attentive to each other's needs. They will tease each other and insult each other all the time, but when they're not in the room together, Jim is always talking about what Sharon would like and Sharon is always saying how Jim needs this or that. I know they'll read this blog, and if they're in the same room when they read it they'll probably make some joke about it. Jim's whole reason for coming to Greece was because Sharon wanted to, and Sharon will forego doing things when she thinks Jim has had enough.

In case it isn't obvious, I'm still uploading pictures from Nicole's visit.

In terms of a news story, I wanted to provide something out of China. There was a story in the International Herald Tribune about the Bird's Nest and how it is being used after the Olympics. I find it interesting because here in Athens it seems there are so many venues being under-utilized. That's just the observation of a non-professional, but I can't help but believe many of these structures that got built to host thousands of international guests, just 5 years later, are looking pretty run down.

Another brief posting with Nicole's pictures. Today Kim and I took Sharon downtown so she could see a few more sites: the agora (open-air market), changing of the guard and of course we had to get some street food as we walked.

I had office hours today (just like the US - no students came in) followed by the documentary class. Once again, I started with 10, finished with 8. Maybe we should stop taking a break :)

When I got back from class, Jim and I tried to find "The Blue Parrot," which the paper said was having a St. Patrick's Day celebration (Greeks don't celebrate St. Pat's) complete with a bar quiz. We took the tram to the town where the bar is located but didn't find it. I didn't map it in advance - my bad. Oh well. Jim and I rode the tram back, picked up dessert and had that with Kim and Sharon instead (no green beer, though).

Today's pictures are still from Nicole's Delphi collection. I'm getting tired of taking pictures.

I took Jim and Sharon downtown for a couple of hours. As soon as we got off the tram, Jim made a bee-line for McDonald's. Sharon and I watched him eat (we were going to get souvlaki). After our walk and seeing a few sights (Sharon remarked she only took 30 pictures - not enough) we got back on the tram and headed back to the apartment. Sharon, Kim and I then went for a beach walk, and she was able to take another 30 or so pictures. Tonight Kim made dinner. Jim is still struggling with the effects of jet lag, I think: he was in bed tonight by 9 p.m.

News for today: Couner-terrorism experts from Scotland Yard are in Athens to help Greece deal with its terrorism issues.

ALSO: I just read in today's paper that Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the Internet, will be speaking at a conference here in Athens this Wednesday. I'd love to go, but 45 Euros just to hear him speak would really make me a geek.

Kim and Sharon went to the Acropolis today, and I walked around downtown to give Jim some time to work. I happened across a marching band followed by poeple with flags in traditional costume, marching down the street. Why, I have no idea.

After I took the video, I wanted to get a little of the marchers following. Sure enough, the batteries on the blogging camera died. They're rechargeable, so I could have just gone without the video but instead I decided to buy a pack from the kiosk on the street. Five Euros for four Duracell AA batteries. Yes, batteries are more expensive from a kiosk than they would be from a regular store, but most things are more expensive here.

We met up back at the apartment and wanted to try to go have appetizers on the beach as we have done with our previous guests, but the restaurant was packed. We decided to just have something to drink and then head elsewhere for dinner. Didn't feel too guilty abut going out for pizza for the first time in six weeks (yes, we left six weeks ago today and still hadn't gone out for pizza).

Kim insisted I take this picture for Diane, visiting Greece vicariously through us (0r rather vicariously eating the food). Cutomarily after a meal in Greece, the restaurant will often offer the guests something on the house, such as a dessert, coffee or liquer. This is what the pizza place gave each of us.

Nothing more to report today. Here's a picture from our trip to Delphi from Nicole's camera.

Sorry - this video was supposed to be at the beginning of the blog (along with another) but there were problems. More tomorrow.

Pictures are courtesy of Nicole from last week during her visit.

She left this morning. We were up at 4:15 to get to the airport for her 7 a.m. flight to Paris. She had a long layover in Paris, and as I write this she ought to be between Paris and Atlanta. Good thing she has a day to rest before she has to go back to class.

Conveniently, our friends Jim and Sharon were flying in about an hour after Nicole took off, so we hung around and waited for them to arrive. Once we got back to the apartment we gave them an hour to nap, then I took them downtown where they could get on the sightseeing bus. I headed back to the apartment on the tram. They came back several hours later. They had gotten something to eat downtown and they wanted to turn in early so we just had a light dinner.

So, here are some random observations:

People here go for coffee often, but it's far more expensive than Italy. Last Wednesday after class I spent four Euros for a cup.

• But, when you order nothing more than a cup of coffee, they routinely bring a glass of water; sometimes they include a small cookie. In Italy, water was not something you were routinely give. Here, it is.









• Nearly everyone speaks English.

Today's news story is from Italy rather than Greece. A guy there is marketing vending machines that make pizza! Not a

frozen pizza that gets microwaved: it mixes the dough and makes it virtually from scratch.

Nicole copied the pictures from her camera onto the computer, so I'm just going to use a bunch of hers from the last week.

Today we went to Piraeus for our 2 p.m. lunch. Nicole wanted seafood mezes, the meal made of appetizers. At Fulbright, Sophie told me we had to go to Piraeus because if you want good seafood you have to go closer to where it's caught. Mind you, downtown Athens can't be more than 10 miles away, but that makes a difference. We took the tram and walked around awhile, finally deciding on Zefiros. Before we did, at least a half-dozen people tried to "welcome" us to come into their restaurants.

We had a nice seafood lunch (not this picture) right where some boats were moored. The restaurant wall was all glass, so the view was nice. It was the most expensive meal we've had in Greece, but it was our last time going out with Nicole before she returns home, so we really didn't mind. The food and service were very good, too.

After lunch we walked back to the tram and headed home. I had to leave by 5 p.m. to teach my 6:00 class. The first half of the class, there were some students doing a lot of talking - so much so I had to "shh" them a couple of times. This is my lecture hall class in TV production with 65 students. When it was time for our break in the middle of class, I bluntly said that those who just planned to continue talking ought not come back after the break. No attendance is taken so if they weren't going to pay attention they may as well leave. I said it was rude to the other students who wanted to hear. I could see a few students nodding their heads in agreement with me, so as awkward as it was, I knew I had done the right thing. Most of the students returned after the break, but a few left and it was noticeably easier to hear. Got back to the apartment about 9:30 and we ate a light dinner.

Got to get to bed. We take Nicole to the airport tomorrow morning to fly home. The driver will be here at 5 a.m. Our friends Jim and Sharon then arrive on the 8:20 a.m. flight for a week's visit. March has been a busy month - three different visitors in three weeks - then no other visitors.

Today's news: The radical group "Revolutionary Struggle" is threatening more attacks. They say their intention is not to hurt innocent people. Of course one of their targets is journalists.

Nicole and I headed out this morning to the National Gardens. The forecast was for afternoon rain so we wanted to go early. Not a lot is in bloom this early, but it is still a nice place to see some greenery in downtown. A little like Central Park in NY - but a LOT smaller. In fact, they have a "zoo" - the link I've provided says it has a lion and monkeys, but what we saw Nicole described as "a petting zoo without petting." Athens has a real zoo outside of town, not far from the airport.

After strolling around and taking pictures, we headed down into the Syntagma Square subway station. They actually have a number of objects from antiquity on display. The objects are things that were found in excavating for the subway. It's very cool that they made a sort of "public museum" with what they found. We also happened across an exhibit hall in the metro station that was having an exhibition of food and products from an area of southern Greece.

Sure enough it was just about noon as the rain started. Kim came downtown to join us. Our plan was to do museums since the weather was not going to cooperate. Our first museum was the Theocharakis Fine Arts & Music Center. There was an exhibit of landscapes, mostly of Greece but some done by Greeks of other places. The gallery wasn't huge but the collection was nice, and there was a coffee shop where we sat when we finished to rest up for the "main event."

The Benaki Museum is actually well known among museum people. It is an impressive collection of artifacts. The museum is pretty much arranged chronologically, beginning with pieces from about 6,000 BC. It's very nicely arranged and all labeled in Greek and English. It's located in a former mansion that was expanded and restored. It really is a nice place to view history. We spent a lot of hours in there, and didn't even stop in the museum coffee shop this time.

When we left the museum we figured we were ready for dessert (lunch had consisted of just some cheese in phylo bought on the street four hours earlier) so we stopped at a well-known local place. Then it was off for a quick trip to pick up some specific items (Nicole has only tomorrow before she has to leave).

We decided we'd eat "American" tonight, so we decided 6 p.m. was a good time to eat, and also decided to eat traditional American food: Chinese. Actually the restaurant was Chinese/Thai/Indian. We'd walked past it earlier and the smell caught Kim and Nicole's attention. Nicole got Vindaloo that made her sweat (she was happy). Kim and I didn't feel badly about eating Asian for the first time on the 39th day of our trip. Actually, we three have quite a tradition of eating Asian all around Europe. Of course Nicole kept reminding us that when she goes to Thailand in May, she'll be eating authentic Thai food.

This is actually a Roman aqueduct from Ancient Greece. They had running water in 5,000 BC!

One reflection for the day came to me as I was looking at the landscapes and reading about the artists, some of whom were "Greek," although they'd never lived in Greece and others lived in Greece but weren't Greek. I was thinking about cultural identity. In Greece, the child of immigrants born in Greece is not a Greek citizen. But, Greeks abroad are actually allowed to vote in Greek elections, even if they live in the US or somewhere else in the world. Right now that means returning to Greece to cast a ballot but it has been proposed that Greeks would be allowed to vote at any Greek embassy in the world. Religious difference matters (Greeks are 90+ percent Orthodox) but only some, place born and raised matters, but a number of places have gone from being Greek territory to parts of other countries and back again, so that's not useful either. Language is iffy, too. Although Greece is the country where Greek is spoken, it's not determinative. Identity is a very interesting concept, and national identity has lots of nuances. Nicole told me she has a book she wants me to read about Native American culture that addresses these issues.

I liked this. There was modern art scattered through the Benaki, including a number of figures with wire-frame heads. I liked the juxtaposition of this headless figure "looking at" the disembodied head. After I took the picture, I saw the museum shop selling posters of the same thing (theirs were better pictures, but the same idea).

From the Archaeological Museum at Delphi.

I left the apartment at 8:30 for my 9:30 Comparative class.

We started class in the seminar room at 9:30. At about 9:45 there was a knock at the door. A professor told me he had class in the room at 10. We gathered our things, and I suggested that since there were so few (three students and me) that we could just go downstairs and have class in the coffee shop. Professor Sorogas's assistant (a grad student) suggested we use his office, which we did and it was fine.

Late night in Delphi.

Stelios (the department chair) was very upset. He wasn't angry with me, but with the professor who interrupted my class. He apologized and assured me (in a loud voice) that it would never happen again. I told him it wasn't a big deal and he nearly screamed that it was a big deal, and that his faculty needs to be more professional; that my use of the room had been arranged properly and evidently the guy who wanted in there at 10 didn't do what he should have.

My documentary students - all Greek - told me they didn't get PowerPoint in most of their classes. The Austrian, Polish and Portuguese student all said it was pretty normal. I can't generalize based on that sample, but it is an observation.

Sunset on the beach - about 200 yards from the apartment (it's not an eclipse - that's just the blogging camera).

Class went well. Afterwards I met Kim and Nicole and we went to the National Historical Museum. The museum does not cover Ancient Greece, but rather begins in 1453 with the fall of Constantinople. It seemed especially focused on oppression by the Ottomans and the centuries of conflict.

Portraits of war heroes at the museum.

After the museum we walked, got some street food (souvlaki) and went back to the apartment. I then left at 7 to make an 8 p.m. board meeting of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Program. They do a lot of educational philanthropy, including supporting Fulbright. Of the scholars in Greece this year, they selected me as the one they would support. That means their donation to Fulbright this year was earmarked to support my grant. They had a ceremony in January when they handed out their grants, but I wasn't here, so they handed me my certificate tonight. I am officially awarded the Alpha Medal of Scholastic Excellence. Yes, the certificate will hang in my office and I will proudly add a line to my resume.

Implements of war - dozens of cases filled.

One of the gentlemen I met tonight at the AHEPA meeting actually spent a year at Ball State in the 1970s. He had gotten a graduate degree in NY and still had funding remaining. He ended up in Indy, so he decided to take a year's classes in marketing. He told me he had a Turkish professor, who I assume to have been Kumcu. It's a good think I always carry a little Ball State souvenir with me - I was able to give him a pen.

I didn't know the term "figurehead" referred to the carved wooden heads on the prows of ships. This one represents Aries and is made to look like Alexander.

The museum is actually housed in what used to be the Greek Parliament building. Here's the main chamber.