Happy Holidays

merry christmas and happy new year everybody. i hope that everything is going well and you are all having a wonderful holiday season. no real post yet, eleftheria and i are headed to spain to meet adam and leanna. we are very excited and are hoping for good weather and an even better trip.

miss you all, love
ian

Just Some Cool Graffiti

graffiti is pretty popular here, and even-though some of it is horrendous and stupid, some of it is pretty interesting. thanks for your help keith, worked like a charm; wish you were around more to talk to, it has been forever.

Commenting on Pictures is a Pain

commenting on the pictures in my blog is a pain because i cannot see the actual picture, i just see the code for the picture; so, i will comment on them here. From top to bottom:
1: Petrini under the moonlight. i went on my first big trip, 2 hours, to petropigi to climb. it was pretty fun if not a little nerve racking. the bike ran well and handled the dirt road approach very well.
2: baby scorpion. i did not know that we had those here; crazy cool and non-lethal.
3: it is very small. that is a snail shell for comparison
4: paper beats rock: a large portion of rock fell at the climbing area because a tree root was growing in a crevice. this bolt plus the anchors of the climb were among the casualties
5: i love clouds
6: leaf veins are interesting, i like to think that if my skin vanished i would look something like this.
7: how many species of snails can you identify?

Cool Pics and Lack of News

hey all, no real good news just the normal. i have had a very nice long weekend, flu day + thanksgiving; there is also a chance we may have an extra week at christmas due to the flu as well. it is crazy how hard the flew has hit here, a bit scary i might add. well at any rate things are well with my students and my classroom; they are busy, i am busy, and we are all working very hard. the whole MUN thing is moving forward, and, if everything goes well, we will have two more conferences this year, plenty for me.

The Dakar's First Day of School

i know that these are not the most interesting shots but it gives you an idea of what my new transportation. as i go more interesting places, i will take a few more beauty shots. i'll post more over the weekend and hopefully i'll be able to get in touch with everybody. happy thanksgiving

Quiet Tuesday

well, tuesday was a quiet day. no big issues; a little bit of excitement in athens, but overall no issues. no news really just the usual.

You Know You Are Somewhere Cool When . . .

you receive an e-mail like this.

WARDEN MESSAGE
U.S. Embassy Athens, Greece

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

November 16, 2009

U.S. Embassy Athens and U.S. Consulate General Thessaloniki wish to alert American
citizens in Greece of the potential for large demonstrations throughout Greece on
Tuesday, November 17. Demonstrations are expected to take place in Athens in the
afternoon and evening in the vicinity of the U.S. Embassy, and in Thessaloniki in
the area of the U.S. Consulate General, as well as in and near university campuses.


We wish to remind American citizens that even demonstrations intended to be peaceful
can turn confrontational and possibly escalate into violence. November 17 is the
anniversary date of 1973 protests against the then-ruling junta, and is often marked
by demonstration activity. In the past, some demonstrations on November 17 have
included violence and destruction of property. Americans are therefore urged to
avoid the areas of demonstrations, and to exercise caution if within the vicinity of
any demonstrations. The Embassy recommends that Americans in the Athens
neighborhoods of Kolonaki and Ampelokipi avoid leaving their residences between 4 pm
November 17, 2009 and 6 am November 18, 2009.

Traffic and public transportation in the vicinity of demonstrations are likely to be
adversely affected. American citizens seeking Embassy or Consulate General services
on November 17 should be aware that the Consulate General in Thessaloniki is
planning to close at 2 pm and the Embassy in Athens may do so as well. Many offices
may close earlier should circumstances warrant.

For up-to-date information regarding Embassy or Consulate General closures, please
visit http://athens.usembassy.gov/ or http://thessaloniki.usconsulate.gov/. In case
of an emergency when the Embassy or Consulate General is closed, an American in
Greece can call (210) 729-4444 or (210) 729-4301, and ask to speak to a consular
officer.

American citizens in Greece should also monitor the local news, and for the latest
security information, Americans living and traveling abroad should regularly monitor
the Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs website at http://www.travel.state.gov,
where the current Worldwide Cautions, Travel Alerts, and Travel Warnings can be
found. American citizens may also obtain up-to-date information on security
conditions overseas by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the United States or
Canada, and 1-202-501-4444 from overseas. These numbers are available from 8:00
a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal
holidays). American citizens living or traveling abroad are encouraged to register
with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate through the State Department's travel
registration web site at https://travelregistration.state.gov/ibrs/ui/.

For up-to-date information on current security conditions, Americans may also
contact the U.S. Embassy in Athens or Consulate General in Thessaloniki at the
numbers below. Please pass this information on to other Americans.

U.S. Embassy in Athens U.S. Consulate General in
Thessaloniki

91 Queen Sophias Avenue 43 Tsimiski Street

Tel. 210-721-2951 Tel.
2310-242905





This email is UNCLASSIFIED.


I'll let you know how everything goes. Hope it is not overrated.

Congrats Adam. . . Can't Wait to See You

hey buddy,

congrats on the finishing of your fire season. hope your party went well. i can't wait to see you at christmas.

love
ian

I don't want to be a secret weapon; i want to be an exposed weapon.

well, keith is the only one to have posted on the last entry and he is the last one that i thought would be interested in coming asdfgsehwsedfasdfaf . . . lefty has taken over . . .

keith has asked that i give him a dream itinerary for a week and a half trip to thessaloniki, so i put this one together. I think that it is pretty ambitious, but everything on it is worth doing so we could pick and choose easily.

10 days:
day 1: Arrive, relax, coffee, dinner

day 2: Walking tour of thessaloniki, coffee, dinner with my friends at the house

day 3: Up to anapoli for lunch and a coffee, down to the center for the evening for a walk, a giro, and a good drink

day 4: Day trip to olympos

day 5: Relax, trip to the white tower museum, to soula's house for good food
and drink

day 6: To town for a trip to the big market in the center and a taverna in the market

day 7: Trip to meteora

day 8: Trip to vergina

day 9: Trip to chalkidiki

day 10: Relax and go for a drink and then to the airport

Best Drink: There are many, but perhaps thermaikos
Best hiking: Olympos or meteora
Scootering: Chalkidiki

so, cometh i say; cometh and partake of the wonder and splendor that is thessaloniki. I CAN'T WAIT ANY LONGER, I WANT YOU, I NEED YOU, I LOOOOVE YOU!

come and see,
"howling mad"

as promised . . .

so my parents are planning to come visit me in june; since this is the case, and since i would like more people to come visit me, i am going to post a couple of blogs on traveling to greece and things that you should know and be aware of. i'll try to cover things like, what airports to travel through, things to do based on different trip durations, things to do based on different interests, when to come, a few cultural tid-bits that i have noticed, expenses, and i will try to answer any questions that i get on the comment screens. it'll be like my own little guidebook.

so we'll start from the beginning, flying. first we'll begin with buying tickets and what they should cost.

-tickets are pretty easy, basically you will most likely get a ticket that has two stops, one in the states and one in europe. now as far as cost is concerned, depending on where you are flying from, how inconvenienced you care to be, and when you want to travel, prices can differ by literally hundreds of dollars.

good price: 800-900, if you find prices in this range quit your job sell your house, rob a bank, whatever you need to do, come and visit.

bad price: anything over 1300, i am really not worth this much money; buy yourself something pretty.

-ok next, where to fly to, from, and through.
>best airports
cleveland- small, easy, and on time
columbus- amazingly nice and comfortable
vegas- big but easy
washington d.c. (kinda dingy and dirty, but organized)
munich- small, beautiful, and german efficiency
athens- easy, clean, and good location
thessaloniki- tiny and easy

>worst airports
jfk- disorganized, epically huge, and consistently late (unfortunately a major hub of east coast delta
rome- italian, ummm . . . yeah (sorry if you are offended, there are just a lot of problems; however, it has been redesigned since i went through so it could be a bit better)
frankfurt- hopefully sarah won't hurt me but it is old, dirty, dark and too small for the volume of flights

every other airport i have been to lies somewhere in-between. and this list does not mean that everything will be perfect at the good airports and that everything will go poorly at the bad airport, these are just my observations.

now for the airlines
>best airlines
delta- delta is not actually that great but it is one of the main airlines that flies to athens or thessaloniki.
british airways- nice airline good food (they do charge for multiple bags and they are sticklers about one carry on)
aegean- great all around airline

>worst airlines
olimpic- epically bad (under new management, could be better in a couple of years)
alitalia- again epically bad. they will loose your baggage.

again, these observations really mean nothing you can have good experiences on bad airline and a bad experience on a good airline.

there is the start, you can now shop for tickets with ease and peace of mind. haha that is if you trust my judgment. maybe we'll do important places to visit in greece next. don't feel like you have to wait though, come and see me, i'll give you the personal tour.

peace love and happiness

Just a Quick Something to Think

This is not mine, but i don't know whose it is. it was a comment on a video i was watching and i thought it was interesting.

...what do you call it when a dog shamefully slinks away from a counter he just stole a sandwich from? Or when an ape at a zoo protects a child that fell into an exhibit until it can be rescued? etc?

Isn't it convenient, that you call THOSE actions "instinct" but call it "conscience" when people do it?

More fun. Man I love long weekends . . .

yep four day weekends are great. more fun at the crag. this time in litohoro with dimitri thomas and oscar. school is going well and i am close to buying my motorcylce, well sort of but yeah close. hope you are all doing well. miss you all.

New Climbing, New Friends, New Pics

what's the beta? this is a really cool shot taken by one of my new friends, aliki (she took all but the last five pics on this entry). The guy climbing is niko, a friend of ours who incvited us to Xanthi to climb. Super cool.

Looking especially strong for my lady friend. I have lost a bit of weight since the beginning of the summer (that pic on mom's blog of me at the beach no longer applies). Still need to get rid of the love handles.

a super sick 7c. it climbs up the side of a cave onto the ceiling. it looks like just another climbing pick until you realize that i am completely horizontal.

another guy we met this weekend was giorgo. super cool, super strong climber, he was our tour guide. really nice.



this was at the other area we went to. the climbing was awesome. this climb is called african twin. we climbed with the same group of people all weekend, really nice climbers.

oh sweet knee bar.

this was one of the guys we climbed with. he was german, he wore black spandex only, chain smoked cigarettes, he is about 6'7" with an ape index of maybe +3, and his soulders are about twice as wide as mine. HUGE!!! and really strong and really a smooth climber.

giorgo

beauty

more beauty

my new friend, tenodera aridifolia sinensis

it was a great weekend. Tons of new people. i one hung a 7b and a 7c; not really good, but for climbing during the week at an indoor gym i am pretty happy. i am hoping to be able to go more often, especially when i get my motorcycle (in about a month). the climbing was great and the people are wonderful. Hope everyone is well. let me know how things are going and keep in touch.

Sorry Olga!!!!

olga is right of course (read comments on the last blog entry). i did go with olga, olga's brother, one of olga's brother's friends, and eleftheria to see not just the concert of the year, but perhaps my favorite band, murder by death. the concert was incredible, the venue was sweet and i got the drummer's set list signed by the lead singer. it was great. murder by death is kind of like johnny cash only a bit harder. super awesome; i can't wait to see them again.

checking in and coming up

so, it has been a little while again. life is as busy as ever as the school year has begun and i have taken on new responsibilities at school and have picked up a new job. at school i was recommended and chosen to be a part of the leadership council, a group of six, including the director, that act as advisers to the director and assistant director. It is quite a bit more work during the week and i am not especially qualified to be a part of it, but the experience is invaluable and the discussion is stimulating. outside of school i have picked up 2 private lesson students. One is a student at anatolia, a greek private school with a very good reputation but little backing it, and the other is an 8 year old student from a greek public school. I am working with both in english and science (the little girl likes science and the older student needs help). it is a lot more work and requires a bit of prep, but i make a good bit of money and it will expedite the process of buying a motorcycle. that is all the news i have, nothing else really, just the usual.

now, since i have nothing else going on, and since i am very excited about having people come to visit me, i am going to write a couple of posts about traveling to greece, my own personal travel guide. hopefully it will entice you and make you want to come and visit me. that will start when i post again (so another words who knows when i will get around to it). i hope all is well and good in your world. please keep in touch and maybe i will too.

ian

Astypalea

white boy tanning









the door in the lower left hand corning is the mail box.









crazy cactus that had flowers which look like wooden roses
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i once bought a flower for mom for mother's day, or was it grandma harrington? (my memory is so bad) anyways on the island there were bunches of them and they were huge. mine was in a small pot; it was still pretty.

this was just a really cool little window in a white wall

these are the restored wind powered mills that were used to crush grain to bake bread, now they are used as little museums

the castle. built to protect the town from pirates





SEA URCHINS!!! they were so cool. and i even found a whole skeleton and it made it all the way back to thessaloniki unbroken. yessss.





hey everybody, i just got back to greece . . . well that is not true, i actually just got back to thessaloniki. i have been in greece for about a week and had the wonderful opportunity to join elevtheria on a little island called astypalea. the island is close to kalymnos (the island where i go to climb) in the dodecanese of the aegean. The island has a number of ports and little towns, but the main area is the hora where the 15th century castle is located. we stayed in a little studio literally right underneath the castle walls it was very nice. The food was fantastic and cheap, the beaches were beautiful, the water is the clearest i have been in since costa rica with fish, sea urchins, and kelp, and the buildings were beautiful. really just a great trip.

it was wonderful to be home for a while this summer. if you have not seen my parent's house in a while you have to. my father has been building a new front walk and it is beautiful. hopefully they will make a blog and post some pictures. for all those i missed i am very sorry, but you will just have to visit me. hope everyone is doing well and for all those who have started school good luck, i'll be with you in a week.

adam- how do the fires in greece compare to what you are dealing with? you can check them out at the bbc. it was crazy. they are talking about desertification if new trees aren't planted soon.

cory- i don't have your e mail either so call my parents, they will be able to tell you.

keith and sarah- good luck with the house. save enough money so that you can come and see me.

mom- be careful on your scooter and have fun. when you take the maneuverability test the trick is to keep pressure on the left hand break while you stay on the throttle, this will keep you balanced and at a more consistent speed.

dad- i want to see pictures of the walk. thank you for all your help this summer and sorry for making you crazy towards the end; maybe i'll grow up a little be sometime soon.

i miss you all
ian