Florence

So now we are looking at two options: working with IBM in Milan or working in a pasta making factory in Parma.

Farewell to Crete

Last night I stood at the back of the ferry and watched the lights of Crete get smaller and smaller until I could no longer distinguish between the line that separated the black sea from the black sky. A man asked me if I wanted a cigarette, but I nodded my head with a slight smile and said “oxi, evharisto,” (no thanks). This was the first time that I responded in Greek to a Greek person, or at least for the first time naturally. I spent my whole time on the island struggling to not instinctively use English. The man was disappointed that I did not take his offer but politely smiled back and turned his head out towards the undecipherable line where the sky meets the sea. So did I. I wanted to cry. I even tried to force a tear but my eyes stayed dry in the sharp wind. I then wanted to shout out, I'm not sure what, but something meaningful. I only managed to quietly clear my throat. I figured by this point that there is nothing I can do or say that can express the remorse I felt when I realized that might not come back. I wish I could recount all the stories, paint all the colors, capture the landscape in more than a dingy photograph, trap in a jar the distinct scent of olive oil, goats and oranges in the mountain air, or even bring with me an old Greek man with an oversized white mustache, cap, shepard's staff, brown leathered hands like bear paws twiddling around some glass worry beads and loud booming voice tracing the heritage of every success of the modern world back to the Greeks. But I cannot do any of these things.
For now I sit on a cold bench in the ferry terminal waiting for Jon to get a rental car big enough to fit all of our luggage. And so the adventure in Italy begins.

On the beach where Zorba the Greek danced

Cretan Storms A'brewin

Stormy seas in Hania for the last week

the view from our balcony

the morning after

locked up in our cave,
waiting out the storm

cold, jobless and happy

.

We woke up yesterday to snow. The heater in our room has been waging a valiant but loosing battle against the cold for the last few days. Greece was supposed to be warm. We are freezing. There is an upside though...We live right on the sea inside an old Venician fort and as we look out we can see the waves pounding the harbor and the coastline. When I came to Greece last time I only saw the Mediterranean in a calm and placid state. The stories of ship wrecks and violent storms in the Bible, like the type that shipwrecked Paul, seemed pretty unimaginable. I can see now why the sailors should have listened to Paul (Acts 27:21).

The TEFL course ended about a week ago. Laura and I have not found jobs yet. It has been impossible finding work in Greece at this time of year without the EU paperwork. We do have some solid leads elsewhere though. There is an American school in Florence, Italy, that hires Americans. We will be interviewing with them this week. They are looking for two teachers to fill six month positions. It would be a good situation for us as we could get our EU work permits there and then try to return to Greece with the right paperwork and some experience in time for the main hiring season. We are also looking in other parts of the world. We have job offers in Taiwan and some contacts in Korea. There are a lot of opportunities out there... though unfortunately none of them are in Greece.

On a different note, Laura and I have now been married for exactly one year... Its been a great year.

On one of our daily walks we stumbled upon
a secret open door that led into the heart of the
fortress.. we walked in and here is what we found...

The fort (built in the 1200's) was used
by the Nazis to house Cretan prisoners
(including our landlord's father) during
world war two. This is a picture of one of
the many holding cells. The door led
directly into the back of one of these cells.