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