Beautiful, Sunny Weather

Ok. The weather outside is absolutely beautiful. No wonder the Greeks have such a wonderful life. Today was a day that you would typically expect to be the 4th of July. The outside was warm, and
the sun was shining down bright, and the inside was cool. It is the perfect time to just be outside and enjoy everything. I now have a suntan because I was outside just hanging out painting and drawing, and the sun totally overtook me and stole my heart! I LOVE the light here. It IS different here, as many people say, and you really can't understand it until you've been in it. I love how the sun beats down on you in a friendly manner letting you know that he still exists.
These are the joys of the weather that I have experienced in the last two days. But you'd better watch out because if you get caught outside without layers of clothing after the sun goes down, you're one cold cookie. These are all of the things that I enjoy about being here.

Yesterday we went on a very, very special hike to Anti Paros. If you don't know what or where that is, get a map of Greece out and look for Paros in the Cyclades. Then look right next to it, that is Anti Paros. The two islands were connected during ancient times, but the water level rose and the land bridge is now underwater. Supposedly, there are plenty of artifacts around there under the water. Also, I saw another island off the coast where they found traces of ancient civilized people in Greece during 6,000 BC. I guess that information sparked things in the historical realm as it opened up the possibility that the people in Greece were indigenous all along. Interesting
how a little fact changes a lot.

We took a bus to the ferry and then rode the ferry for 5 minutes to Anti Paros. The town was beautiful. We stopped and I bought an orange that was to sustain me for the day. I was dumb though and I didn't have anything cool to wear, and the weather was up to the 80's. I just hiked my pants legs and arm sleeves up so that I didn't have to be so hot. I was wearing dark and that didn't help. We went on a hike all through the mountains. It took 3 hours to get to where we were going. A lot of it was uphill and owing to the fact that I only had 8 ounces of water with me, it was a rough hike up. We probably went in several miles. In fact, we hiked across the entire island that day! We went from seeing the shore on one side to seeing the shore on the other side. I really enjoyed being one with nature. Of course we walked down a lot of donkey trails and up mountains. I didn't have perfect hiking shoes on either, so it was fun. However, I did get to see the difference between the two islands. Though they are very close, they have different plants and different terrains. I picked some more Oregano because it's only the best. I also found a
lavender plant that I picked a top off of. I've taken so many photos of the plants around here that I know I could be hired to do the photos of a Greek plants book. Maybe I'll actually pursue that. We saw lots of goats and sheep along the way, and it was a great hike.

We had lunch at the very top of a peak that overlooked both sides of the island, it was beautiful!

We then hiked down to a very, very nice beach, which I am going to try to get photos out of. You'll never imagine the wonders of the Aegean. The sea is so clear you can see to the bottom, even if it's more than 30 feet deep. There is a mixture of deep and shallow, and that makes for some beautiful plays of green and blue. The tide only varies 4 inches at all. The waves are small and the water was warm. I waded in it, but some people swam.

After our swimming, we had to walk back, but it was quite late, and we were going to miss getting our ferry, however, a really nice guy pulled over and picked up the entire school group and took them back to the port. The man was so nice. He invited us to eat in his restaurant and he also told us to go to his farm where he grows olives. We plan to make a trip back to do that soon. The man was so incredibly nice though. How often in America does someone pick up 13 strangers and take them wherever they want to go?

We had milkshakes while we waited for the ferry and then we went home. It was very nice.

But the day hadn't ended yet. We went out to dinner with the whole school group. It was wonderful to eat traditional Greek meals with 20 people at the table. We laughed a lot and one of my very closest Greek friends taught me how to say sundry things in Greek. It was wonderful. My vocabulary has now doubled!

After that, it was my friend's birthday, so we went out and danced. It was a lot of fun. I had a small drink at midnight to celebrate with her. It was so much fun.

Today, I had another lovely adventure. The painting students went out with some Greek art students and we were videoed doing earthwork art. We were making art out of natural materials like clay and rocks in honor of Earth Day. I was very proud of the things that I did and though I am not able to bring them home with me, I do have photos of them! I will try to put them online and get them out! We were next to a beautiful beach the whole time and the sun was very warm on my neck. I got to make two wonderful works of art and then we went around and looked at those works that others did. The lady that videotaped us is going to edit it into a work of fine art that is going to be displayed in a gallery. Cross your fingers that my piece makes it in! I found a section of a handle of a clay pot today in the sea. It can be really, really old!

When that was all done, I came home to get a start on the things that I needed to do for the weekend. I stretched three canvases by hand (which is awesome and a blast) and then I made a pastel drawing while I was out in the sun. I have come in to avoid a burn and to write this wonderful email.

Things are going great here. I have been eating fruit and break like never before because it is all so delicious. It's just such a paradise to be here.

Hope all is going well.

Chris