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
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4xUcBI_vq_R-R6A0r0VwUiMrjMuttEZ9C-rfFiIFIDZVcy4KK9f8QIpp6fMibpCarm22ukYve-aSleiBXHbuSDBgToEBAk3-AZ7y5uHH6OaxPoG0SMW2cGXY4W6AHsLrjZ0In7MbByK0/s1600-h/IMG_2027.JPG">
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

Days at the Beach

Just a load of pics from the semi family (no adam or leanna) trip to the obx. it was a wonderful trip and the summer has been awesome. only a week left this side of the atlantic, then it is back to the great wide world of the mediterranean. time flies as they say.

Alive and Kicking

i have outdone myself this time. i have missed over a month in my posts. not a very good blog writer. fortunately or unfortunately i don't really have any new business; just the usual i suppose. only not really considering i have 13 days of class left. that's right i am almost a real first year teacher. so you may be wondering, "well mr. harrington, are you going to continue this path that you have started down with such recklessness?" my answer would be that yes i am going to continue. though i have not signed a new contract i have not told anyone that i am leaving and being that this is greece i feel that that is about as good as any signed document i could acquire. so i will return in late august to resume my role as the sixth grade teacher at pinewood.

Now this leaves the summer up in the air right? of course not. i will be flying home approximately a week after i get out of school (that leaves me time to call the haz-mat crew to clean my apartment). i fly into jfk in new york and though my brother does not know it yet i am going to ask him to pick me up and then hopefully i ll be able to stay in ithaca for a few days while i settle back into the states state of mind. i will be in the states for about a month and a half and on the table are various trips, motorcycle lessons, sleeping and eating. hopefully i ll see as many of you as possible please track me down and take me out.

i have to thank adam for showing me new tricks with my camera.
ian

Easter

well, here are the much awaited videos from easter. the second and third are of the dynamite explosions on easter sunday. the explosions went on well into the night; eventually, it gets old and your ears ring real bad. the first is from midnight at the church. I was also hit with a firework while riding a scooter through town, pretty exciting.

Super Funny

so keith got me interested in ricky gervais last summer while i was home and if you have never heard his podcast . . . wow i would feel bad about myself . . . if i were you and you had never given it a listen. anyway, better still is his audio-book series. Look it up on itunes, there are five books so far. super funny.