Leaving Livadeia...and Europe

It feels like Alan and I have really only scratched the surface of what Greece is all about, but here we are at the end of our time here. Livadeia was an ideal place for us to stay this past month, and our hosts have been terrific. I feel perfectly comfortable helping myself to snacks from the fridge, and we have played cards (Biriba, which I'm pretty sure is the same thing as Hand and Foot!) every single night that we've been here. The weather has also been dreamy. Today we could have worn shorts. Imagine - it's the middle of December! I love it.

So we're feeling the bittersweet, end-of-an-adventure thing. It's not helped by the fact that we'll have to look for jobs when we get back. BUT we are really excited about seeing people we love, eating Mexican food, getting haircuts, and being able to communicate with the general public. I'm glad that we planned to come back right before Christmas, because we'll be able to see a lot of people we've been missing in a short amount of time.

Our flight out of Athens is this Wednesday. We have a 12-hour layover in London, where we will meet up with one of Alan's Clay Center friends who is stationed there, and then we'll camp out with some Bethel ladies in Chicago for a few days before heading back to Kansas.

Here's hoping the Greek train company isn't on strike when we're trying to get into Athens, and that we don't run into weather-induced flight delays as we try to make it back to the other side of the world. It doesn't look like we'll have problems on either front.

I don't like posting blog entries without pictures, so here are a few from the last month:

Alan hand-sawing the branches off of a tree in the yard

This is the family dog, Hera (pronounced EE-rah).
You can't tell in this picture, but she is the most hyper, jumpy, and licky dog I've ever met.
Her presence has reinforced to me the Greek words for no, go away, and down. So...thanks Hera!

One of the many chapels in Livadeia.
I'm going to miss seeing these guys every few hundred meters. They're cute.

We're so excited to see you all soon! Stay warm!