the upper city

on friday ado joji and i went downtown - which is the major shopping, commerce area, etc - and then walked up to the upper city and wandered around. in the downtown they have some great outdoor market areas with different sections -- meat/fish, produce, restaurants... the flower one smells the best :). the upper city is an area of thessaloniki where most of the houses are still in their traditional state and/or are being restored in that fashion. you can just ramble around on the small cobbled streets and walkways and refresh in the quiet. most of the city has been altered and built up into these massive cement apartment buildings in the past 30 to 40 years... before that it was apparently a beautiful city. now there are only a few places where any of that remains. it's been pretty warm lately - when i first got here it had just cooled down and rained for the first time since before august. but now it's warmed up again into the high 80s which makes the city muggy and a bit difficult to manage - have i mentioned how nice beer tastes here? :) 

joy is

joy is long days refreshed with cold glasses of beer, little hands holding onto your legs while making dinner, the giggles of happiness as siblings entertain each other and baths wash away the residue of the day.

landing

so i've made it! 3 planes and 20+ hours of traveling later, and i'm now on the Mediterranean side of life :) ... i arrived the evening of lia's 8th birthday which added even more elements to the already crazy and experience filled event of a first day in greece - but there were banana splits, so everything was worth it :)

the family is doing well - chris (my brother-in-law) is a bit stressed, but that's nothing new there. ado (my sister) is good - and on a six-month late spring cleaning kick which has managed to keep us busy this week. lia (my niece) is not only 8, in third grade, continuing with ballet, backing off on the tai kwon do to start french lessons, fluent in 2 languages, & the coolest sister, but still  absolutely adorable as ever. joji (george - my nephew) is almost 11 months, very happy and just took his first steps 2 days ago and has been doing a great job ever since! :) chris's family is well and the day after lia's birthday was his sister sophia's birthday, so we went over to her house and had a massive and delicious dinner! i got to meet her children, since i haven't seen her or her husband since they were pregnant with their first - 11 years ago at chris and ado's wedding. 

so that's the abbreved update on everyone here and my first week in greece.  the weather has been nice and cool, with rain and thunder and lightening a couple of nights.  i've been drinking lots of coffee and trying to adjust to the jet-lag and having loads of fun playing with my niece and nephew!!!!