almost 2 weeks

and life is good..

we've moved into the house - which, by the way, is SUPER nice.. brand new, 2 story house, 4 km from the base and 9 km from town (chania), with a view over Souda Bay, we can see the Athens ferry coming in and leaving every night.

have grown brass balls, rented a little car and have been driving with the crazy greeks for a week, and that my dear friends, is no easy feat. stop signs seem to be merely a suggestion to maybe slow down, cause there might be oncoming traffic, and at red lights you pile up, 5 cars side by side on a 2 lane road.. speed limits are made to not be adhered to, driving 110 km/h in a 50 zone is something you just do, otherwise you'll be honked at and someone will pass you on the inside, in a blind curve.. they're NUTS here.
i haven't really done much at all since i arrived, been exploring beaches most of the time, done a little bit of shopping, and loads of tanning.. found a beatiful beach: Elafonissos, with pink sand and turqouise water.. sooo pretty. (i am soooo tan now, btw.. ;) )

part of our furniture is arriving next week - wooho!!!

oh, this past week has been interesting.. trying to get a greek tax number (kind of like a social security number), without speaking any greek, trying with a little handbook explain what i need, and being hearded around to different floors, with different ppl.. all good fun.

jen has been here since last thursday, too, and we've taken loads of pictures, walked lots, eaten good and slept on different beaches almost every day. tomorrow (tuesday) i think we're going to San Torini for a day trip. a 2 hr ferry ride out and home, and all day to walk around and take pics. should be good fun..

i know i've promised to post pics, and i will.. one of these days.. ;) finally downloaded stuff from my camera and from jens camera, and have all the pics on my little hard drive, just need to remember to bring it to the web cafe.

so much to tell, but it's all locked in my head.. been a toootal sensory overload the past weeks, seen so much, done so much, experienced sooo much, but i am having hard time getting it all down.. bear with me.

for now at least, i love it here. between 80 and 90 degrees in the day time, 'siesta' is the best thing ever invented, everybody should eat a little greek salad per day, and having 'raki' after a meal is capping it off the right way.
what i can't get used to tho, is all the smoking.. EVERYBODY smokes, everywhere.. even the electrician that came to our house walked in with a lit cigarette and started looking for an ash tray.. funny as all hell. even here at the web cafe there are ashtrays by every single machine... noone here believes in seat belts or motorcycle helmets either..

talk abt culture shock, btw.. walking the dogs here, ppl think that our dogs are dangerous, cause nobody else walks their dogs here it seems like.. you have them out in the yard, but that's it... and walking them we pass by chicken farms, goats, geep (cross breed of goat and sheep) and all kinds of loose dogs and cats. Tay is very amused by the goats.. :) oh, they live in a kennel now, next to our house.. first night we're staying at the house, first night they are outdoors, we hear this ruckus around 10 o'clock or so, and look out, and there's a whole heard of sheep passing by the kennel, not even a yard away from the fence.. thought tay was gonna have a heart attack.. :)

it's so nice to have an upstairs, btw.. to be able to leave windows wide open at night, to get a nice cross breeze, without worrying abt ppl sleeping in the laundry room or trying to break in.. to have a balcony to dry laundry on, a tub that's large enough to soak yourself in, without half of your body being above water, a washer and dryer in the house.. a bedroom, guestroom and office room, and open downstairs, with a fireplace and a wood pile (still to come) behind the house.

alrighty.. it's 3pm here, we're gonna walk over to a travel place and get the tickets for tomorrow and then head over to the beach.


letahs, getahs!!


.c & b

link to the beach:
http://www.travel-to-crete.com/place.php?place_id=72

finally here...

a long and somewhat stressful trip later, we all made it here in one piece, the dogs completely exhausted, and so am i.. arrived at 6.30 am on thursday to Chania, on Crete, cabbed it to the hostel, got all checked in and setup, and passed out.. slept almost a good 23 hrs, but.. think i managed to get the correct time difference all straightened out. ;)

spent ALL day friday walking around in the old part of Chania, sightseeing, being overwhelmed, taking LOADS of pics - which i need to offload from my camera at some point, but.. initial impression: loads of diesel cars, loads of tourists in various shades of red, a suuper laid back pace, loads of shops, crazy drivers, diesel fumes all around (i even saw a yamaha R1 Diesel.. )
old town is really cozy, loads of little alleyways, with mom and pop shops and/or bars, loads of funky little houses, lots of stray dogs, and a completely incomprehendible language (is that even a word?) First plan of attack - to learn at least the most basic phrases in greek.
i am staying at a hostel until monday or tuesday, and then we're supposed to get the house.. that'll be a change, for sure, to go from a small, super crammed 1br apartment, to a 3br house.. can't wait.

the hostel i am staying at "hotel alexis" is super cozy, and run by Canadians, a couple from Vancouver (go figure), really clean and neat, and quiet. Scoobs and Tay are staying in the backyard, poor things, going from being couch potatoes to outdoors pups, but.. at least they're here. :)

oh, man, there's soo much i want to write, so much i've seen just today, but.. i just can't get it all out.

i was walking next to the wall that surrounds the old part of chania, just minding my own world (as usual) and inbetween 2 cars there was an old man, playing the clarinett, playing the theme song to 'the godfather'.. it was the most surreal moment, felt like i was transplanted back to old time italy, but.. it was nice.

what else.. oh, waling around in a massively crowded shopping area today, all of a sudden i stumble upon a fish market, where they sell fresh fish out in the open, right on the street corner.. fish of all kinds, and octopus, and all kinds of seafood.. quite neat, and quite unexpected.

but.. enough for now.
am gonna drag myself back to the hostel for some din-din and to walk the boys.

more to come.


C - sliiightly overwhelmed

off i go

cheerio!!


not sure when i'll be able to write again, not sure even when we'll get the house, not sure when i'll even see mr.B, but.. what the heck, i'll be in crete. :)

oh, the one thing i know.. i won't be in crete until very early on thursday am, i think we arrive in chania around 7am, on thursday.. that much i've confirmed. :)


.c

tomorrow...

i leave. have to be at the airport in some 15 hrs, leave in some 18 hrs.. and will be in crete late, late on wednesday night...

nuts.

nothing is really set in stone yet, unfortunately, but.. at least i'll have a place to stay to start off with, and i'll at least be in the same country as mr.B, so.. that's a start.

fingers and toes crossed, ladies and gents, for all to go well tomorrow...

.c - almost, almost ready to leave.

3 days left - more

IF, for some ungodly reason we haven't gotten access to the house when we arrive in crete on the 15th, i just got confirmation that i can stay at the hostel i've been talking to, WITH the dogs.. the owners of the hostel have 2 pups already, and they said their dogs are suuuper friendly and that they'd love to have a couple of playmates.. :)

awesome!!!

and for the neat price of 14 bucks/night - can't really be beat. :)

so.. 3 days left, and everything is sllooowly settling into place.

YAY!!!


.c - muuuch relieved. :)

3 days left

completely forgot to update yesterday, but.. was out running errands pretty much ALL day, taking care of the very last minute things..
i think i am almost done now, tho..
almost, almost.

it's getting difficult to hang out with friends these days, cause.. chances are it's the last time i see each and every one of 'em, at least for the upcoming year to year and a half, so.. saying good-bye is getting increasingly difficult. :(

wish B was home.

.c

5 days left

and i've burned my back today. :)

ah, the joys of being unemployed...
tomorrow no sun, but back to the beach for some front side treatment on saturday.

heard some more abt the house today, supposedly huuuge bottom floor and all the living area is upstairs, which means downstairs is mainly for entertaining and chillin'. and cooking, above all. :)


can't wait to see it.


.c

6 days left

and nada much going on.

just waiting to leave at this point.


cheers,

.c

7 days left..

one week left... celebrated my first day as unemployed with sleeping in 'til 11am.. :)

and now - off to the gym, then tanning salon, then the post office.


letahs!

.c

8 days left - more

so.. i am officially unemployed now.. or in 30 minutes, rather. :)

8 days left

and B has potentially found a place today, and is turning in paperwork tomorrow...

so, hopefully we'll have a place.

and i am having someone look at my car today, keep fingers crossed that they like it.

if i have been absent/no too talkative/bad at returning calls in the past few weeks, i do apologize. Especially to you, Beppo. mycket ledsen.

.c

9 days left

whoa, it's under 10 days now..

and unless something very unexpected happens, i'll be unemployed for the first time in many, many years come tomorrow... unemployed, with no job lined up, with NO idea what to do with myself for a while.

can't wait.. sooo can't wait!
then i'll have a week to focus on getting ready to head out of here, a week to enjoy the beaches around here before i get a change of scenery, a week to say good bye to everybody we know.


i know, i know, updates have been sparse from the island so far, haven't really had a chance to get good updates from mr.B, but i promise to have more to report as soon as i get out there.. if we've got some kind of internet access. :)

keep your fingers crossed for the home hunt to go well tomorrow, btw. And, for everybody that celebrated cinco the mayo, raise a toast for mr.B, too, as it's his b-day. :)


SALUT!

.c

10 days left

amd my first weekend off in about 6 weeks.. was SO nice to sleep in, and be able to turn off the alarm clock.. :)

11 days left

alright.. where in the world did time go to??? holy h*ll. When did May sneak up on us? It was just the other day when B called early a Thursday morning to ask if I wanted to move to Crete, and gave me abt .2 seconds to make up my mind. It felt then like we had allll the time in the world left before we had to pack up and leave. It felt sooo remote that we were actually leaving.. but.. lo and behold, I close my eyes for .3 seconds, and now I am almost outta here. B has already been gone for almost 3 weeks - nuts. Feels like half an eternity, and no time at all. I am anxious to leave, I am anxious to get out of here, and try to get some kind of semblance of life back, because living out of a suitcase just isn't much fun.

i am anxious to get to the island, to get to know a new town, to get to explore and find 'our' favorite places and meet new ppl, get new impressions, take on a new culture and new challenges. I am sure some days will be better than others, but.. i think it'll be good. no, i KNOW it'll be good. I just want to get there and start living again. :)

.c

(oh.. it's B's birthday on Monday.)

12 days left - update

alrighty, so we're officially done. showed the landlord around our 'fixed' apartment and he seemed quite pleased with the fixes we had accomplished. :)

am even getting some of my deposit back.. lo and behold. :)
i thought for sure he was gonna be like 'uhm.. yeeeaah. i am gonna have to charge you more'. :)


.c

12 days left

and i am turning over the keys to our old place in 45 minutes. :) i sincerely doubt i'll get much of the deposit back, but.. whatever. we've been in that place for 5 years, not put a lot of wear and tear on the place, except for Scooby damage in a few places. :) if he wants to keep the deposit, so be it, we've tried to fix the place as best we can, it's not perfect, but.. it's better than it was. :)

besides - it's not as if the place wasn't in need of a renovation, period, it was grimey already when i moved in, almost 5 years ago, i don't think my landlord even re-painted the place in between the previous tenant and me. He was still spraying down the bedroom floor with clear lacquer when i started off loading my boxes the day i drove down from SF.

aanyways, i'll try to post some pics later, when i've pulled them off my camera.

gas is turned off, electricity is turned off, as is the internet and our cable is suspended (for now).
I even fixed the ceiling fan in the bedroom, as - being clumsy as i am at times- i managed to break one arm off, when i carried a tall light into the bedroom. the day of our move-out, at that.
fortunately there were spare parts to get at Home Depot, and the fan actually looks a heckuvalot better now than it ever did before. :)

alrighty. time to go meet ze landlord.


letah, getahs!

.c