Unexpected Friendship

Another beautiful day in Amoudara.  What a beautiful sky – not a cloud in sight.

Marty met Sotiria, Eirini and Maria for their early morning walk.  Along the way, they introduced Marty to various herbs and how they were used in Greek cuisine.  Marty, in turn, helped them with their English.

Marty ventured out enroute to Knossos by bus.  Cathy stayed in Amoudara taking a stroll in town, dined with the hotel staff, prepared lessons and then relaxed by the pool.  She also did some translating for potential guests of the hotel.

Marty returned from her adventure and said it was worth the trip.  She was glad she made the effort.  An unexpected highlight was meeting a 14 or 15 year old young man with a skateboard at the bus stop.  Words exchanged were small at the beginning; however, during the bus ride from Knossos to Heraklion, the young man sat by Marty and asked “who is the favorite singer in the U.S. … Justin Bieber?  When asked what his name was, he replied “Yiannis” and a friendship developed.   He then took out his ipod and shared an earpiece with Marty.  He played small selections of music from Justin Bieber, Celine Dion, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Mariah Carey; and then, he played in its entirely “We are the world”.  Yiannis also showed  Marty where to exit for the continuing bus trip to Amoudara.

In the early afternoon, Cathy took the teenage students to Heaven where they enjoyed various sweet treats (crepes with ice cream; waffles with ice cream and chocolate syrup).  As a continuing teaching exercise, the students were introduced to a new game where one person says a word and the next person has to say a new word using the last letter of the first word.  The game was very competitive and at the end, it was a tie.

Marty did numerous games and activities (indoors and outdoors) with Aliki and Rafaela. 

Nikos and Maria were not able to attend this evening.  Cathy continued to teach English to the hotel staff..