Athens!

On Friday we took a bus & walking tour of Athens including all the usual tourist spots. We went to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon & the temples to Nike,
Athena, & Poseidon, to the Aereopagus or Mars Hill where Paul gave his famous speech to the Athenians, & to the agora which was the ancient marketplace - the center of the ancient city. It is remarkable to believe that those buildings (or what's left of them) were there well before the time of Christ. I could just imagine what it must have been like for Paul to be in the city at the time with all the temples to pagan gods & idols all over the place. ( click my Athens link on the left to see pics!) Unfortunately almost all the buildings on the Acropolis have scaffolding around parts of them as they are working on restoring it as best they can. It will be wonderful once all that is done.
On Saturday, we went to the new mall that has been open about a year. I guess it's the only American style mall in this area (probably in all of Greece). It had 4 floors, but still considered a small mall compared to some of our larger ones. It had a cinema so Vann & several students went to movies (most English w/ Greek subtitles). The girls & I were shopping for something to wear on our Nile river cruise, but didn't really find what we wanted.
On Sunday, we had the priviledge again of worshipping with the Omonia church of Christ. It is truly an international congregation!! It has grown so large that it meets in 4 groups/ Sunday. (small building - holds about 100 at the most at a time). The Greek speaking congregation meets at 10:00, the Russian at 12:00, the Bulgarians at 4:00 & the English speakers at 6:00. The English crowd is the smallest with our group making up 50 of the 60 or so people there. There were also people from the Phillipines, Sudan, Iran, Ghana, & a couple of Greeks (the preacher & 1 other). Vann preached & several students helped with song leading, communion, & prayers. It's really a blessing to be with brothers & sisters from all over the world!
Today we've been in classes & are finishing laundry/packing to leave in the morning for Egypt! I'll post again with more pics once we get back. Please pray for a safe trip for all of us!!

Our Mountain

There is a huge mountain across the way from our school that has become the favorite past-time for many of the students here. We decided to climb it on Monday afternoon. It is full of thorn bushes & is rugged, but we made it to one of the lower top levels!! From the top, you can see for miles - including a great view of the harbor! It took us 2 1/2 hrs. to make it up & back down, but was well worth it! Hopefully, we'll make it up to the very top level before we leave this place!

An interesting thing about this area of Greece is the huge number of "stray" dogs that roam the streets. We have about 7 or 8 dogs that must love Americans as they lie outside the school on the front walk & wait for some of us to come out so they can accompany us on our walks or runs. Today we had 8 of them walk with us down to the harbor. So far they're really friendly to us & just seem to enjoy the company. They appear in good health & are well fed as people will often leave food out for them & there are plenty of trash cans for them to rummage through. That has been one of the disappointments of this place. It has such natural beauty with the harbor, sea, & beautiful mountains, but everywhere you look around here, there is trash!! Not just a little - but trash cans overflowing & trash blown all over the place. They need a good "clean up weekend" (or month!) to return it to the beauty it could be!

Safe Arrival

We arrived safely in Greece after 4 plane rides & approx. 18 hrs. travel time. We were exhausted, but immediately unpacked & left for a walking tour around town to get acquainted with the area. We're adjusting to the time change, but still want to wake up around 4 am thinking it's not really the right time to be sleeping! We're all still pretty messed up.

It's been gorgeous weather since we've been here- in the 50's & sunny! We started classes today at the school & this afternoon took a bus to Point Sunion which is the southernmost point of Greece & on the Agean Sea. There stands the remains of a temple built to Posiedon, God of the Seas. It stands on a high cliff above the water & that area is famous for it's gorgeous sunsets. We had a beautiful, clear evening & wonderful sunset!

Tomorrow we head into Athens for a day around town & then will worship with the Omonia church there in town. I am trying to figure out how to do a slide show, so be patient for more pics!

Heading to Greece

Our first adventure of 2007 will be going to Greece with the Harding University in Greece program. There we will be traveling with the Yingling family & 37 students from Harding to live for 3 1/2 months at the Artemis which is a hotel owned by Harding. It is a 10 minute walk from the ocean & is in a small town just outside of Athens.

We are busy making preparations for our trip. Vann is preparing for the 3 classes he will be teaching & the girls & I are trying to make sure we have everything we're going to need for the semester. It's not easy paring it all down into just 2 suitcases to live for 3 1/2 months!! We will be there in the winter going into the spring & will be traveling to Egypt where the weather will be warmer, so it's hard to pack for all of those seasons (plus the frequent rains they have here). While we are here, we will be learning more about Greek culture, visiting worship services with the Christians in Athens, & traveling a lot. We are scheduled to travel to Egypt (where we will take a 3 day Nile River cruise & visit the pyramids - more about that later!), travel to Northern Greece & Turkey, Israel, & take a Greek Island cruise. It will be a very full semester! Somewhere in there we will be having classes & our children will be homeschooling! Our family will be planning to visit Spain to a timeshare we have at the beach for a week before flying back home. Needless to say, we are excited!