My heart was broken this weekend, and I had no words, only tears. Matt Weiss, an amazing teacher whose American History class at CMU was one of the highlights of my undergrad experience, describes my beloved Squirrel Hill so well here. For many years, Forbes and Murray was the center of my universe and the…
Read MoreComing for Your Hate.
On the Road… to the Peloponnese
I LOOOVE road trips!! Like LOVE them LOVE them. One of the things I looked forward to, and was terrified of, when we moved to Greece was taking road trips. Looking forward to exploring all the amazing history and geography of Greece, yet I was terrified, of course, by the driving. I knew how challenging…
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Two Moms on a Train
Dateline: Athens. Sunday, July 12 Green line train After a day of sightseeing, my two daughters and I rode the train from downtown to Yiayia and Papu’s (to pick up the moussaka she had made us for dinner, natch). When we got onto the train at Monastiraki, it was jampacked, sardine-style, which was not unusual. However,…
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Athens: Off the Beaten Path (Slightly)
I am a notoriously travel book-averse traveler. I like to arrive at a place, and blissfully figure out the details of a place on the fly. Maybe I’m stubborn, but I really like to learn as I go, in terms of traveling. But not everyone is like me. Many people like to prepare in advance.…
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Surviving the Greeks in Greece
Coming to Greece means sea, sunshine, delicious food, and, well, Greeks!! The Greek people are a notoriously tricky lot: at once welcoming and insular, they epitomize the word dichotomy. It’s no surprise that many visitors are curious about exactly how to navigate the mentality of the people who gave us drama, and are now perfecting it. Surviving in Greece…
Read MoreLife is Beautiful. And Complicated.
Today is Katie’s birthday. Happy happy birthday, Katie. In our 20’s, I once sent you the same birthday card two years in a row, which caused uproarious laughter, but as I have not sent you a birthday card in quite a few years, this year, I give you, not a card but my words of…
Read MoreFear and Living… Everywhere
One of the perks of living in Europe is the proximity to parts of the world that would be very difficult to get to from our home base in Colorado. And, since my kids went along with the crazy plan of public school for the second half of this year (who sends their kids to two new…
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Finders Key-pers
I lose things. All the time. It’s a character flaw that I wish I didn’t have, but I have learned to be circumspect about it. I don’t get too attached to things (usually) because I am liable to forget, misplace, lose, or otherwise find myself not in possession of all manner of objects. Of course,…
Read MoreMy Right To Swing My Fist
In middle school civics, we learned an important lesson about living in a civilized society: “My right to swing my fist ends where your nose begins.” This simple idea was a deep thought to my 7th grade brain, and I would really like the smokers in Greece to learn this lesson. Dear smokers: if that swinging fist…
Read MoreI’m A Legal Alien
I keep forgetting to update my blog. It’s not for lack of material, because I have so many ideas of what to say about this experience: driving in Athens, the drama of the Greek in-laws, the fear of grocery shopping when you can’t read the labels, the beauty of the islands, the Greek concept of…
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