Written 27th March, 2011

Fiachra says:

Richard came back from England at the start of February.  His friends came out to visit. 

I went to an Olympiakos match in Athens.  We went up on the Friday night and stayed with Tao’s aunties.  The match was on Saturday and we came back on Sunday.  They were playing against Panathaneakos.  Olympiakos won 2-1. 

We left Gythieo on Thursday.  I was sad because we had to leave.   But I was joyful to leave the school. 

We had a party on the boat before going away.  We went out with some friends to the islands on Richard’s boat.  We swam and dived off the diving board. 

We are now in Porto Kayio again.  We just had Saoirse’s birthday party.  Matina and Dannai were here for the weekend.

Oisín says:

I’ve done a lot since the last blog, so I’ll only give the major highlights. 

Richard came from England two months ago. 

Fiachra and I went to Athens with Tao and his Dad and we went to the Olympiakos match against Panathanathos in the Karisaki.  We won 2-1.  We were in with the Gythieo club crowd at the match.    We stayed the night with Tao’s aunt and uncle.  We ate pizza very late at night.  I had very spicy pizza with assorted objects on top. 

In school there was a massive strike which included every single child and a handful of teachers.  We went in with chains and locks and locked up the school, so it was closed for three days.  The strike is because they want to join the two Gimnasios in Gythio together.  The class sizes would then go up to the gigantic number of thirty.  There are currently 23 in my class. We would also lose the athletic section, which is where we go to the stadium three mornings a week at half seven and have sport for an hour and a half.  The guards supported us and helped us with our marches around the town. 

Last weekend we went out on Richard’s boat with some of our friends and we went swimming – it was cold (Lucina says: or maybe Oisín is just turning Greek!).

With itchy feet and heavy hearts we left Gythieo on Thursday.  I stayed my last night in Tao’s house on Wednesday night.  I went to Skala for the evening – played billiards and went on the internet.  I went to school on Thursday morning to say goodbye.  Then we left for Porto Kayio.

We had a fun passage on Richard’s boat.  Before we even left the harbour we picked up a 50mm chain on the fishermans anchor.  When we got rid of that we went to lift the main anchor and we lifted a large anchor.  We then had fun on the way down as the autopilot wouldn’t work and the steering was jittering when you moved it too far and fast.  We got here safely and came in to land to say hello to everyone that we know from Porto Kayio.

It’s Saoirse’s birthday today.  We also sang happy birthday in Greek and in English.  We had a lovely brownie cake.  Eleni has headed for Kalamata and we have said we’ll see her tomorrow, so it might be Tuesday before we leave.

Saoirse says:

I need water!!!

Richard came back from England.  Everyone was happy to see him again.  We’ve played lots of chess again.  Richard’s friend Stuart came over.  I liked him very much.  He went on a drive around the Mani peninsula and he took us and Richard and Dad as well so that we could see it.  Then Tracey and Lorna came.  It was nice having them for company.  They had great fun up in Taki’s with Taki and Pat.

The puppies in Taki’s have grown a lot and there is only one puppy left now.  He is a boy and he is called Oliver.

There was a big carnival in Gythieo.  It’s like when we have Halloween.  It’s like a celebration before the start of Lent.  You dress up.  I dressed up as a clown in a beautiful outfit we got in Lillian’s.  We dressed up in school in Friday.  Sideris dressed up as the diceman.  On Saturday we paraded around the streets of Gythieo.  At the square we had a big fight with foam. 

Lots of people don’t know about St. Patrick’s day here.  We went up to Taki’s and hung the Irish flag up.  We gave Taki a flag and Guinness hats.  Taki played Irish music from Dad’s ipod for the night.

Then there was another festival for defeating the Turks and getting them out of Greece. The fighting started here in the Pelepponese. Sideris’ older brother Jimmy was in that parade dressed up as a soldier with a gun. 

Last weekend Richard let us take his boat out on Saturday and we went out with Oisín’s friends to the lost islands.  We swam and had a bit of a party.  The water was like the temperature of Irish water in summer. 

On Sunday I had my birthday party.  I had all my friends from school.  Lillian and Nico, Anna and Eleni all came.  We left Gythieo on our boat and Richard’s boat at 11 o’clock and came back at 2.30pm.  All the boys were on our boat and all the girls were on Richard’s.  We went to Marvrovourni and anchored there.  We had a party there, but we didn’t do the cake there.  We did it when we got back into the harbour.  I had two cakes, three big sparklers and eleven candles. 

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we went to school.  On Thursday we came to Porto Kayio.  We met Eleni and did hugs and kisses and had hot chocolate.  Then we went out early to the boat because we were tired.

Yesterday we did school work and after that we went for a hot chocolate.  We went for a swim and then came back for more hot chocolate because we were cold.  Richard gave me earrings – a dice one and a spike.  The family got me a t-shirt that I had wanted from Lillian’s.  When I came into Akrotiri (Eleni’s) Eleni, Ada, Nico, Matina, Dannai and Mohammed gave me a necklace that says “forever” with an arrow and two butterfly earrings and a keyring with a key.  I made a brownie cake and melted chocolate and caramel and put it on top.  I made the brownie all by myself with a tiny help from Mum and Eleni helped me with the topping. 

Bye, bye – that’s it for now.

Love Saoirse.

Fergal says:

Hi,

Richard came back.  His friends came to visit.  They were nice friends.  We had lots and lots of fun with them.  We played lots of card games.

We went to school all the time and had lots of fun.  I did extra Greek lessons every day.  I learnt lots of Greek.  We got special Greek books.  I did Tae Kwon Do every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and had lots of fun there. 

For carnival I dressed up as a red terror for the school party.  Stavros gave me a present of the outfit.  Then for the parade I got an outfit from Lillian’s – it was a ninja costume.  After the parade we went to Taki’s and had something to eat before we went home. 

I had another sleepover with Stavros and spent loads of evenings playing with Sideris up in his house.

On St. Patrick’s day we had lots of fun.  We gave Taki Guinness hats and had lots of fun up there.

Last weekend we went out on Richard’s boat on Saturday with Oisín and Fiachra’s friends.  On Sunday we went out on both boats with my friends and it was Saoirse’s party.  I was on the boy boat which was our boat.  

I said goodbye to my friends in Gythieo on Thursday.  I was sad.  I went on our boat with Fiachra.  We sailed to Porto Kayio.  We played lots of games.  It is Saoirse’s birthday today.  We had a cake with Eleni.

That’s all for now.

Lucina says:

We are on the move again.  The motivation to do blogs while we were in port and living “normal lives” was non-existent!

School worked out very well.  Fiachra, Saoirse and Fergal had the first hour and a half every day together with a support teacher working exclusively on their Greek.  They had no difficulty keeping on top of the Maths and managed to varying degrees in other subjects.  Oisín went for a Greek immersion in the secondary.  He didn’t have special support, but picked up fluent Greek very quickly and is well able to understand and make himself understood on just about any topic.  He loved school – even though it was a struggle to get to the stadium three mornings a week for half seven for an hour and half sport before school.  He went into the sports stream and got on well.

I tried for school reports for all four of them, especially as it took so much effort to get Oisín’s paperwork sorted out to get him into the school here.  However, I didn’t score even one report.  Because of the strike and lockout at Oisín’s school we didn’t get a report there and in the national school there was a “small problem” as they weren’t there for the full year.  Our friends Lillian and Nico are going to chase it down for us.  It will be no harm to have them for Ireland and for any other school they go to.

Despite the fact that it is really lovely to be on the move again, it was difficult to leave Gythieo.  We have made many good and close friends there and it was hard to say goodbye.  We did our final night in Taki’s and went back up on Thursday morning to say goodbye to him, Eva and Sideris.  Sideris had a lovely goodbye letter written for the kids who will really miss him.  Lillian and Stavros also came by to say goodbye.  No doubt we will have visits back over the coming years.

We did our goodbyes and had goodbye spins out on the boats with the kids and their friends.  Everyone thoroughly enjoyed going out on Saturday with Oisín and Fiachra’s friends and Sunday with Saoirse and Fergal’s.  We also had a birthday party for Saoirse on the Sunday trip, so a great time was had by all.

We have come as far as Porto Kayio – where we stayed for several weeks before we went to Gythieo.  It is a very enclosed sheltered bay at the southern end of the Mani peninsula.  We met up again with Eleni, who had also come up for last weekend in Gythieo.

Hi,

Sideris dog had puppies – they are little small plain black and black and white ones.  She had eight.  One died and five of them went to a hunter.  There are still two (if you know your Maths, you’d have been able to calculate this!) They are both black and white, very nice little doggies.  We buried the one that died. 

We played with Sideris lots of the time.  We went to his house.  We played lots of games.  I practice my Tae Kwon Do with him sometimes, by kicking each other.  We play tag and lots of games like that. 

One Sunday we went out to Illiakos with Lillian.  Illiakos is Georgias boyfriend.  His family have a lovely restaurant with very nice food.  There was a beach and rocks and it was in a cool place.  He has lots of boats which people put in his yard.  He has a dog called Jack.  We wanted to swim but we had no togs.

Now we are back in school.  We started doing extra Greek lessons.  I go with Saoirse and Fiachra for the first two classes every day.  We are learning Greek now.  We are learning lots and have special books they got for us.

Yesterday I had a sleepover in Oisín’s best friend Tao’s.  We had lots of fun.  It was his sister’s birthday.  We played a really fun game where someone puts on a blindfold and you have to catch someone and guess who they are.  We played on the computer and lots of other stuff.  Then we came home.  Aaaw.

Bye, bye – I have to go and do my Greek homework that I nearly forgot about.

 Fiachra says:

On the 10^th of January we went back to school.  We have been going to school up until now, doing school work and school every single day.  We have new extra Greek lessons. 

I have started Tae Kwon Do as well.  I go three times a week. 

Zena had puppies.  Zena is Taki’s dog.  There were eight puppies, but one of them died. 

We went to Illiakos restaurant.  We went onto the beach beside it and had great fun down there.

I spent the money Derval gave me for my birthday on an Olympiakos hoodie.  The team came to Gythio last week.  We went up and met them.  The next day Tao’s Dad brought Oisín and I to an Olypiakos match in Tripoli.  It was brilliant.  They were playing against Ike and they won 1-0.

Today is the celebration of the foundation of Gythio.  There is a big ceremony at 11 o’clock.  I should be gathering at the school, but I don’t have a uniform so I don’t have to go.  They only wear their uniforms for parades and to go to church.

Oisín says:

We went back to school after the Christmas holidays. 

Zina has her puppies, which were about the size of my hand.  They were blind, had no teeth and flopped around on the floor wailing.  They have now grown teeth and opened their eyes.  They are shivering and toddling around.

We went to an Olympiakos match against Tripoli.  They are the football team with the Tipperary colours.  Olympiakos won 1-0.  Teo’s Dad brought us.  The night before Darko Kovasevitch, one of the players on the team, had come to Gythio for photos and autographs.  That night I had lots of photos taken and we are in the Olympiakos newpaper – Gavros.  The Gavros also has an article about going to Gythio and meeting two Irish kids who support Olympiakos.

We went up to Illiakos restaurant and I had a really, really nice burger with cheese inside it.  I ran through some grass and got red spots on my hand and said “whoa, dude, I’m allergic”.  Then I ran off to Skala again with Teo and his Dad.  I go there lots of nights.

Teo, Georgo, his mum and sister, Fiachra and I went to the abandoned hotel out the Skala road.  We walked back to Gythio.  Out the Skala road we found a puppy that Teo previously brought to the animal centre.  We brought it back again, but just put it in over the fence.  All the other dogs licked it and we just left it there.

Last night we stayed in Teo’s because the port police advised us not to have children on the boat.  We went to the port and fixed all the ropes with Teo.  The water was freezing and splashing up in my face while I was tying off.  This morning we came back and fixed and replaced all the warps on the boats. Then Fiachra, Teo and I went for hot chocolate and I burnt my tongue.  Now I can’t taste anything which passes my lips.  (Mum says that should keep me under control when I see my girlfriend.)  I’m not sure.  (That worries my Mum.)

I’m going out now.

Saoirse says:

We went out to Illiakos with Georgia and Lillian’s family.  We had a nice dinner and walked down the beach.  He gave us a tour of his boatyard and Georgia showed us all the dogs.  Then we came back home.  On the way home Georgia stopped the car and showed us a mill she’d be talking about.  It was quite nice and there was a pound beside it where they take stray dogs.  She dropped us home then.

The next day Sideris and Konsatina came down to the boat to tell us that the puppies were born.  We went and they were so small.  They were born under the floor of a different café.  We moved them to their hut and had to be very careful as they were just born.  There were eight of them. 

I had a sleepover up in Maria’s one night.  We had great fun and I played some games.  The next day I went to Nefeli’s party.  It was good fun because she had a trampoline, but then it started raining.  We went inside and started eating pizza and peanuts and crisps and fruit.  Then the cake came and we all loved it.  It was homemade and so was the pizza.   It was around ten o’clock when we went home – the party started at half six.   Lillian dropped me home and I went to bed.

We started school again.  It was quite fun.  The first week went slowly, but then it started getting faster.  Every day we went to see the puppies on the way home from school.   One day we noticed one of the puppies had died.  We thought it was a boy, so we called it Stewart and we made a graveyard for him.  Then one day on the way home from gymnastics we noticed that five of the puppies were gone.  So I went in and asked Taki and he said that he gave them to a hunter to learn to hunt.  So there is only two left and they are able to walk now.  They are getting very big now. One is fat and one is average.  They are both boys.  One is very scared and one is very brave.  The one that is brave is the fat one and the one that is average is scared.  We called them Oliver and Bubbles.  The fat one is Bubbles because we thought it would be a good name and we called Oliver Oliver because we felt like calling it Oliver.

Last night I stayed in Sideris house because it was very rough and the port police said that no-one should get back onto the boat.  We played lots of games with balloons.  We played one called Ludo. 

I do extra classes in school now.  It is to learn more Greek.

That’s all for now.

Saoirse.

Lucina says:

We fell very quickly back into routine after the Christmas break, with school, gymnastics and tae kwon do all up and running again.  Fiachra has now also started doing the Tae Kwon Do along with Fergal, so that keeps them busy three nights a week.  Saoirse spent most of her free time in the holidays cartwheeling and handstanding on the quay side and is very enthusiastic about her gymnastics.

Fiachra, Saoirse and Fergal are all getting extra learning support to bring on their Greek.  The three of them go out for the first two classes every day and are working their way through Greek as a foreign language books.  They then join their normal class for the rest of the day.  Oisín continues to learn his Greek on the streets and from his friends.  I’m told having a girlfriend with no English at all also helps – except he couldn’t possibly have a girlfriend, because the condition for having one was that she was to be brought home for a cup of tea first. 

We went out for a lovely meal with Lillian and Nico in Illiakos family restaurant, which is on the coast out on the road to Skala in a very picturesque spot.   Georgia recently got engaged to Illiako and we saw the motorboat on which she plans to be brought to the church which he has been getting ready for the event.  She and Lillian are starting to get busy now sorting out the plans for the wedding, which will be in September.

We had fantastic weather for the first three weeks after Christmas – not quite back into the shorts, but certainly in t-shirts during the day most days.  However, that all changed this week.  We have had a long stretch of wet rainy days – not quite like Ireland, because it wasn’t cold.  The wind picked up and we had massive swells inside the harbour on Tuesday.  By the time the kids were due home from school we were moving about so wildly we didn’t think we’d get them on board safely.  We sent them to Taki’s to eat and then Oisín and Fiachra went to Teo’s and Saoirse and Fergal stayed playing with Sideris.  The original forecast was for it to die off around five in the evening, so we thought we’d get them on board then.  In the meantime there are four boats beside us which the port authorities have seized, mostly for running illegal immigrants.  There is a fishing boat and a large wooden boat which are docked alongside beside us.  There is a small sailing boat then rafted outside each of them.  First the stern warp went on the nearest sailing boat, so I rang down to the coastguard.  Once they fixed it up and left the bow warp went on the further away sailing boat – so another call.  The swell picked up even more and the wooden boat started to smash up against the quay wall – taking chunks of concrete out of it and I couldn’t see the boat side from on board ours, but the damage to the wood was worse.  Then the near sailing boat lost a cleat and the warp that was tied onto it.  At this point they were suggesting that we should leave the boats for our safety – the biggest danger being that their boats would break free and crash into us, as we were very solid at the time.  This is the same port authority that said Richard could only go back to England and leave his boat here if I stayed aboard it!  We opted to stay aboard.  However, at about five o’clock one of our friends in the port authority came back to say that the new forecast wasn’t giving the wind as dying off and that it would be a good idea to keep the children off for the night.  Oisín and Fiachra stayed in Teo’s and Saoirse and Fergal stayed in Sideris.  Eva very kindly agreed to keep them for the night and luckily there was no school the next day as it was a celebration for the founding of the town.  They were all delighted.  Oisín, Fiachra and Teo came by and with them on the shore and us on the boats we backed up some of the warps and settled down for the night.  Paul took the first watch and I went off to bed about nine o’clock.  When I got up to take over at two it was dead calm – great, so I just went back to bed and got an even longer nights sleep than usual.  We continue to watch the weather with interest even though we are in port!

Saoirse says:

Hi,

We went up to Lillian’s on Christmas Eve.  We played on the laptop for around half an hour, then dinner was ready.  So we shut them and went and had dinner.  We had shepard’s pie that Dad made and a lovely thing that Lillian made – it had pasta and ham.  Violetta also made a spinach pie. We swapped lots of presents.  I got an underwear set and a puzzle that you need to be in love to solve.  I’ve nearly solved it, but I’m not in love yet and that’s why I think it won’t undo for me, I might give it to Caoimhe for a few tries. 

We came home really late.  It was past midnight.  I couldn’t get to sleep because I was so excited.  I heard rumbling around in the main cabin.  I looked out and didn’t see anyone.  I went out and there were loads of presents. 

On Christmas day I got a book from Mum called Ingo.  Ok. This is what I got from Santa. I got tracksuit bottoms, books, an iPod, sweets and thermal underclothes.  Daddy made a lovely dinner on Christmas day.  We had turkey and pork with a lovely sauce on it and lots of vegetables.  We even had Christmas crackers and pudding that Muireann sent us.  In the evening we went up to Taki’s and had a drink.

Over the holidays I had to do Maths with Mummy.  I had to do Maths from school too, so it was a very busy holiday unlike the other ones where we didn’t have to do anything.  I don’t think we had to do Maths last year.  We were always out with Gonzalo and his family.

We had a very nice Christmas.  Between Christmas and New Years we went up to Sideris (Taki’s son).  We played in the bar or we went up to his house or else he came down to the boat.  Mostly on the boat we played Monopoly.  In his house we played on the Wii and played ping-pong.  In the bar we ran around doing handstands and cartwheels.  We did them out on the back on the beach.  We went into the storage room too and there is a big rope we can play on.

On New Year’s Eve we went up to Taki’s.  We had dinner there.  Dad didn’t come because he was sick.  We played a few games of cards.  Sideris didn’t come up until about 11.30pm because he was in his granny’s and he fell asleep for a while.  But when he came he said hello to everyone and then we went and played in the attic and did cartwheels.  Then we were called for midnight.  We kissed and hugged everyone.  Then Eva cut the cake.  I was late getting in and Fiachra and everyone else had theirs.  Fiachra got the cake with the €1 in it.  Here they do a sponge Christmas cake and they do the money in it – like what we do with the ring at Halloween.  If you get the €1 you get good luck for a year.  So Fiachra has good luck for a year.  Now when we play Monopoly Fiachra uses his €1 coin as his piece on the board instead of the hat and he seems to always win.  After everyone had their cake, all the adults had champagne. 

Yesterday was 6^th January.  In the morning at around 11 o’clock here they throw a blessed cross into the water.  Swimmers go to get it.  Whoever gets it wins a gold cross necklace.  The high priest said prayers for all the boats in the harbour, even ours.  We watched it all from the bow of our boat.  Nico and Spiros came onto our boat and watched it with us.  After that we had a game of Monopoly.  After that we went to Taki’s.  When we were at Taki’s we found out that Jimmy, Sideris big brother was one of the swimmers, but he didn’t win it.  A guy in orange togs won.  Then we went and played with Sideris and Konsadina, who is in his class.  Then when we came home we burnt incense.

Fiachra says:

Hi,

On my birthday I got a book from Mum – the third of the Wee Free Men.  I got a puzzle from Mamó which is 3-D and Derval sent me money, which I haven’t spent yet. 

On Christmas day Daddy made us a dinner that took 5 hours to cook and it was very nice.  Then we had Christmas crackers from Muireann.  I love Christmas crackers and you don’t get them here. 

The next day we played with our toys.  I got a phone and my old hat back and lots of books.  We played with them until New Years Eve.

On New Years Eve we went up to Taki’s and waited until twelve o’clock.  At twelve o’clock we watched TV to see fireworks in Athens for the new year.  Then we threw out bangers on the streets.  There was a New Year cake and there is a €1 coin and whoever gets it will have luck for the next year.  I got it.  

The last six days we did school work.  Yesterday was the 6^th we burnt incense because we had Myrrh which the kings brought on this day to Jesus. 

Oisín says:

Blogs, I hate blogs. 

I’ve been having a great time here.  I have to do this blog really fast because I’m going to jump onto my bike and cycle away in ten minutes.  I am going to a place called Skala.  I want to stay in Gythio because I have made friends here and I don’t want to leave.  I’m trying to do this in ten minutes.  It’s a bit hard. 

We got a Christmas report except I didn’t because I haven’t been in the school long enough.  I did a few exams, but I don’t think the Geography one counts because it was translated into English for me – Re.  We have been on holidays for the last two weeks.  I have been having a good time out with my friends – if I describe it in more detail I may be hung. 

I have a Greek grandmother who will not stop feeding me – my friend’s granny.  We have to bring her down to the boat to feed her.  My friend, Teo and I have slept on Richard’s boat several times. 

For Christmas I got wonderful presents from Santy Claus – loads of books and some chocolate.  Re figo apo deca lepta.  Tora dn denina deca lepta, ina peda lepta. 

My mum is very impressed by my Greek even though she spelled it wrong there (she did say I will be more than 5 minutes though, so she does understand it!)

Christmas dinner was lovely.  It was the best Christmas dinner in two years because Dad made it.  I spent the rest of the holidays having great fun.  Yesterday was January the 6^th and the bishop came down, did a ceremony, blessed a cross and threw it as far as he could into the water – a great feat for someone of his vintage.  All the hardy boys dived in after it and whoever got it held it up in the air.  He got a gold necklace and supposedly good luck for a year. 

I have a nice warm Olympiakos hoodie that I got from Mum and Dad for Christmas.  That’s the Greek football team I support because if you support them you can go to the club where you can drink coca-cola, play PS3 and watch football games on a plasma screen TV.  It’s red! It isn’t Panatinakos who have a shamrock as their emblem. 

Bye.

Fergal says:

Hi,

On Christmas Eve we went up to Lillians.  We played lots of games and had fun like that.  We had a lovely dinner of shepards pie and stuff Lillian and Violetta made.  We got presents.  I got a spider robot.  It’s very cool.  We came home very late to the boat, but Santa hadn’t been.  We got into bed very quickly.  We got lots of stuff off Santa Claus. 

We had a Christmas dinner, with crackers that we got from Muireann.  Caoimhe gave me Monopoly.  We love Monopoly.  We used to play it with the Mitril crew and with Kayia in Siracusa.  Yesterday I played it with Sideris.  Now I have played the Irish version, the English version, the Norwegian version and the Greek version so I know lots of places in all those countries. 

On Christmas night we went up to Taki’s and we had lots of fun with Sideris.  We didn’t eat because we were very full from Christmas dinner, so we had a drink.

On New Year’s Eve we went up to Taki’s.  We ate first because Sideris wasn’t there.  Dad wasn’t there either because he was sick.  Then Sideris came and we played.  When it was midnight we all came in and hugged and kissed.  We set bangers off on the road.  That was really cool. 

We sent a postcard to Richard and we found out that Smily’s real name is Rolan and that he can’t write in Greek because he is Albanian, so he wrote on Richard’s card in Albanian instead.  We think Richard will understand it just as well as he would have understood Greek anyway.

All the days since then we played with Sideris.  Sometimes we play in the store room.  It’s really fun.  There’s a big rope for climbing and a punch bag.  We practice our Tae Kwon Do on it.  Sideris is a red belt since his last test.  He did it a different day to me because he’s a higher belt and the test for the higher belt was on a different day.

We did lots of our Irish school work.  I’ve to do lots of fractions, it’s really hard.  I preferred long multiplication because it’s easy.  We’re actually doing long multiplication in school in Greece. 

On 6^th January there was a big thing where the bishop of the Mani peninsula comes down and throws a cross into the harbour.  People dive to get it out and we found out afterwards that Sideris older brother Jimmy was one of the ones jumping in.

We go back to school on Monday and Tae Kwon Do too horray!

Bye, bye.

Lucina says:

We have had a really pleasant Greek Christmas.  Christmas is much lower key here than in Ireland.  Traditionally present giving in Greece is on New Year’s Eve and Vasilius comes to the children that night.  However, more people are starting to give presents on Christmas day and over the period between Christmas and New Year. 

We spent Christmas Eve night with Lillian and Nico and their family and celebrated Fiachra’s birthday there.  We were home after midnight, but luckily Greece is two hours ahead of Ireland and Santa hadn’t passed by.  We can nearly pinpoint when he arrived as I can’t have been in the bed more than half an hour when Saoirse found that he had been!  It was high excitement throughout the middle of the night. 

We had a lovely Christmas dinner.  The ham turned out to be pork – we haven’t seen ham except sliced and in sausage and we weren’t sure exactly what we had.  In any event it and the rest of the dinner was delicious.  In the evening we went to Taki’s and had a drink there with them.  Interestingly most of the restaurants and bars were open and there was quite a bit of action.

We have taken it easy since then, pottering around during the days.  The kids are doing their Irish school work in the mornings and then going out with friends in the afternoons. 

We brought in the new year in Taki’s and celebrated Greek style.  There was champagne and cake.  The cake had a coin in it (similar to our Halloween brack) which is to bring good luck to the person who gets it for the year.  Fiachra got it and is minding it since. 

As part of the celebrations for the 6^th January there is a blessing of the boats in the harbour.  The bishop comes and says prayers down in the harbour.  Then a cross is thrown into the water 3 times.  On the first two throws it is on a rope and on the third one it is thrown free.  All the brave souls then dive into the water, which the Greek think is freezing, but is actually better than the Irish sea on a summers day.  The one to bring back the cross receives a cross and good luck for the year.  Interestingly it was all young lads who dived in, not a girl among them.  No reason other than that the girls just don’t do it – I’d have seen that as a challenge !  We watched it all from the bows of ours and Richard’s boat and Nico and Spiros joined us, which was great as Nico explained the ceremony to us as it went.

School is back on Monday and the kids are quite looking forward to going back – it must be easier than the work I’m having them do!

See we did get snow in Greece - but it was on the mountains

Mum, Dad and Oisín above Limini bay

Oisín and Mamó near Vathy

Grandad and Oisín Southern End of Mani peninsula

Oisín, Mamó and Grandad in Porto Kayio

Christmas Presents from Richard

Reading the Pirate Books

Watching Fergal at Tae Kwon Do

Fergal at Tae Kwon Do test for new belt

View of the Port from near Lillians house

Fiachra's Birthday Cake

Fiachra's Birthday Party

All the Party Goers

Fergal and Stavros with Greek Legend books

Maria and Lillian

Oisín, Fiachra and Spiros

Paul and Nico

Fergal relaxing with his presents

Oisín eyeing up the Dinner

Fergal and Paul split the last of the starters

Oisín got a new book - we'll see him again when it's finished

Christmas Dinner 2010

Taki and Smily get Christmas hats

Paul and Oisín posing

Fergal and Sideris

Saoirse out sailing

Oisín on the Boom

Saoirse up the Mast

Paul relaxing on passage

Fiachra on the Boom

Saoirse at the Halloween party

Fiachra Halloween night with his new hat from Richard

Dinner on Richards

Lucina, Dad and Mum at the Caves of Diros

Dinner at Taki's

Mamó and Grandad at Mistras

Singsong in Session on Cú na Gaoithe

Lucina's birthday party

Putting the lights up the mast

Time for a Weigh-in

Richard at Taki's

Hi,

A few weeks ago some of the lads in my class glued the doors of three classrooms shut, which wasn’t very smart.  They were in the most massive trouble ever.

For the last few weeks we just went to school and did school work with Mum. 

We got a bike from a new age cyclist.  There were 4 of them and they got a lift to Crete with the Austrian boat, but he only had room for 1 bike and so they gave us one of the 3 they were leaving behind.  They gave another to the animal welfare and the last to an old man they met. 

Mamó and Grandad came out for the last week.  We went up to the island and I went up on the new bike – the pretty one.  We didn’t go into the museum on the island. 

We played lots of cards with them.  We taught them how to play knock-out whist.  We went out to Taki’s several times.  They left last Sunday.  On Sunday Fergal did an exam for his Tae Kwon Do.

I’ve been in school up until today.

Fergal says:

Hi,

I am learning lots of Greek now. 

My Tae Kwan Do is getting on well.  I passed a test and got a new belt.  You had to have the uniform to go to the test and I got a present of one from Sideris that is too small for him – it’s really cool.

Last week Mamó and Grandad came out.  We played lots of card games with them.  I think Grandad liked knock-out whist the best.  I don’t know which one Mamó liked best.  We went up to the island with them and had lots of fun with them there.  We found crystals and other rocks.  I still have a stick up on the island.  It’s cool, it’s a stick that fell off a tree and I put it in a place so that I can go back again for it.  Maybe somebody took it – I dunno. 

I have lots of friends in school.  I play lots of stuff with them.  I’m collecting football cards.  My favourite team is Panataneakos.  It’s a Greek team.  Their symbol is a shamrock. 

Tae Kwan Do is over for Christmas and we thought we were going to have a big party in school today instead of doing work, but we had to do some work and we saw some of a film, but had to go and do work during it.

Fiachra is fixing the new bike because there are jobs he wants to do on it and he thinks the brake needs to be fixed because it makes a funny noise when you click on it.

We put up the Christmas lights on the boat.  They are around the stern of the boat – that’s the back.  They flash and do stuff like that.  We took out our crib again and all our Christmas decorations.

Today was the last day of school and the teacher gave us all a present of a little house filled with sweets.

We’re having a great time, that’s all for now.

Bye.

Lucina says:

We are getting ready for Christmas here in Gythio.  The temperature is back up to 20 degrees and it’s sunny today.

Mum and Dad were with us for the last week and a half and it was fantastic to have them.  I hired a car and collected them from Athens airport on Wednesday a fortnight ago.  Richard volunteered to look after the gang so that Paul could come up with me and we could split the driving.  It’s about a 3-4 hour drive each way without diversions into Athens.

The day before they were due to arrive the thermostat and element went in our water boiler, so no hot water, which is just what one needs when the visitors are due!  We sourced a place selling the parts in Athens and decided to go into Athens to buy them.  That turned out to be a lot easier said than done.  The directions and signposting were not great and the fact that we were in the main port and the girl was giving us directions from the marina in the centre didn’t help.  We didn’t get there in time before the shop closed and headed off to the airport instead.  Luckily our friend Lillian was able to help with the logistics and organise a courier, so we had the part delivered during the week.  That is when we discovered that the socket size for opening the old one was an unusual size…. There’s always something, isn’t there.  Having searched four hardwares in Gythio and five in Sparti we were fast running out of options.  But again, it was friends to the rescue.  Taki’s friend Jorgen came and had a look and made a tool the right size to do the job.  Hot water again – horray!

Richard survived!  He even took the photos to prove that he fed them all and by all accounts great fun was had by all, scrambling out on the boom included.

We went the next day to the Caves of Diros.  They are on the West side of the Mani peninsula and we had stopped there on our way down that side in the boat on our way here.  They really are spectacular and it was an easy pleasant scenic trip over in the car.

Taking advantage of having the car we went the next day to the Byzantine ruins of Mistras.  Again I’d been already with the kids and so was able to do the tour guide nicely.  Another great days outing.

The car went back, as I had negotiated a split week’s hire – a week’s rent for 3 days last week and 4 this week.  We then explored Githio – the island, the town and had numerous good meals in Taki’s.

On Friday I went with Dad, Mum and Oisín for a spin in the car down to Porto Kaiyo.  This is the fantastic cove where we were anchored for two weeks before coming here.  Although Eleni’s is closed for most of the winter they do open for weekends when they have bookings.  Luckily this was one of those weekends and we had a drink by a blazing fire.  We came back by the east side of the peninsula, which we had sailed up by.  The roads were small and windy and very spectacular.

Saturday was the School Christmas Bazaar.  All the arts and crafts which the kids had been working on were for sale.  There was food and drinks and music and a good time was had by all.

Then it was time for Dad and Mum to go.  Their flight was on Saturday and Richard had a flight on Sunday, so he was also coming as far as Athens.  However, the snow kicked in and Dad and Mum’s flight was cancelled.  We rebooked them for Monday.  They decided to stay the night in Athens on Sunday night so I took them and Richard there on Sunday for his flight. 

The flight was late and they were worried about making the London Dublin leg.  They were in time as it was also late, but unfortunately it was then cancelled!  There were no more flights available from any London airport to anywhere in Ireland before Christmas Eve.  By the time the flight was actually cancelled the last spaces on the ferry that Mac had been eyeing up were gone. 

We started to think a bit further afield and found a flight from Newcastle, where my aunt Jo is based, back to Dublin today.  It was a hard trek there yesterday, with trains cancelled on the way.  However, it was great that they had the chance to see Jo, who is unfortunately in hospital at the moment.  The flight was late, sat on the tarmac for a further 2 hours but finally made it home.  They have finally made it home today – four days later than scheduled!

In the meantime, on Sunday, Fergal had his first Tae Kwon Do test.  The teacher gave a big spiel about how universal Tae Kwon Do is and how Fergal had come from Ireland, started only recently and was so keen that he had learnt everything in a short space of time and was really good.  He did really well and was awarded his first belt – half yellow and half white.

We are now getting ready for Christmas.  After Paul’s very sad Christmas dinner last year in the fancy restaurant – turkey, soggy chips and gravy, with nothing else - we are going for cooking dinner on the boat this year.  We ordered a turkey this morning.  We got to check out the birds and pick one.  They come with all body parts attached!  So we are looking forward to taking off the head and legs and all the rest.  We’re not sure what sort of ham we have – we think we’ve asked for the part from the bum of the animal, but we’ll see on Friday.

We have been invited up to Lillian’s for Christmas Eve and will celebrate Fiachra’s birthday there, so we’re looking for ward to that.

Saoirse says:

It’s so hard to do the blog after such a long time, because I can’t remember what we did. 

Mamó and Grandad came out to visit us for Mummy’s birthday.  They came on the 8^th, before Mum’s birthday.  They arrived in Athens and Mum and Dad drove up to collect them.  Richard was left to baby-sit us.  I think Richard is the best babysitter ever in the world.  He swung us out on the boom over the water as far as we could go, until it was at the stopper knot.  He specially made my favourite dinner – spaghetti bologense and it was very nice.  I went to gymnastics that day because it was Wednesday and I go on Mondays and Wednesdays.  I know now how to do a handstand and a cartwheel.  I can also do a handstand into a crab.  We dressed up teddies on the bed so that when Mamó and Grandad and Mum and Dad came home during the night they would think we were all asleep in the bed in the main cabin when really we were all in our own berths.  Grandad woke me up by laughing very loud, so I came out and joined the chat.  Fergal felt me moving so he woke up as well.  We all came out to say hello to Mamó and Grandad, but it was midnight so we were shortly hooshed back to bed.  They had left Greystones at 5 o’clock in the morning. 

The next day we didn’t see them until after school because they were fast asleep.  Dad collected us because they had gone to the caves of Diros with Mum.  He was late so we started walking but we met him on the way.  He said it’s only two o’clock on my phone, but it was actually ten past two.

Mum, Mamó and Grandad came home from the caves of Diros at four o’clock.  They said it was fantastic.  Then we had dinner up in Taki’s.  Sideris was there making pancakes.  So Fergal and I went up and helped him.  When he was finished he gave us one.  There was chocolate all over it and sprinkles and lot of chocolate pieces.  We ate it after dinner.  For dinner I had spaghetti bologense.  After the dinner Sideris, Fergal and I went to Sideris’s teacher and gave her a pancake.  Then we went back to the bar and had a great time and took photos.  Then we went home and sang songs together.  Teo and Oisín and Teo’s family came to the boat.  We sang more songs and Oisín and I played the tin whistle.  They liked it.  Then they left and we all went to bed an said goodnight to everyone.

The next day we went to school again.  Mamó and Grandad went to Sparta and Mistras with Mum.  They liked it very much.  They found a big Chinese shop.  Mum and Grandad found a plate that said Happy St. Patrick’s Day.  Then they came home.  Dad cooked curried mince beef.  I think that’s a very nice dinner. 

We had a lovely time over the weekend with Mamó and Grandad.  On Sunday we went to the island.  We went to the lighthouse, but they decided not to go to the museum as we’d just be waiting around for them. 

On Monday it was Mum’s birthday.  We left for school saying Happy Birthday.  We had a good time in school.  Then we went to Taki’s and met Richard.  We had a party on the boat that night.  We gave Mum a tortoise with a shell that can open and you can put something secret inside it.  Mamó and Grandad gave Mum a lovely necklace. 

The next day we went to school again.  We went to Taki’s that afternoon.  Then we went home and we were singing Irish songs and putting music on.  The following day we had a lovely chicken dinner that Dad had made. 

Mamó and Grandad were supposed to go on Saturday, but their flight was cancelled.  That meant they were able to go to the school with us.  They liked it and they met all our friends and they bought some things to bring home.  On Sunday Mum drove with Richard, Mamó and Grandad to Athens.  She dropped Mamó and Grandad to the hotel where they stayed the night.  She dropped Richard to the airport and said a last few goodbyes and left him there.

On Monday Mamó got on the flight to Gatwick in London.  It was delayed and they were worried they might miss their flight to Dublin, but it was cancelled anyway.  There wasn’t going to be another flight until tomorrow, which would be 4 days waiting, so they went up to my great-auntie who lives in Newcastle and they got a flight from Newcastle to Dublin.  Everything is closed in Ireland because of the snow and we are wearing shorts and t-shirts here.

School finished today for the Christmas holidays – woo hoo!  But we don’t know when it starts again.  Things are much calmer here, no one knows when the holidays start until about two days beforehand. 

Tomorrow we are going up to Lillian’s for a party for Fiachra’s birthday.  Then I can’t wait until the 25^th, for Christmas.

That’s it for now,

Saoirse

Oisín

Is out gallivanting again, so will have to do his blog tomorrow!

Oisín says:

I have finally gotten into Gymanio properly and I am now in a class which I like.  I’m in second year and it isn’t that hard, apart from the fact that it’s in Greek. 

Richard broke his toe and cut it right up in the process.  It didn’t heal for over a week so we brought him to the hospital in Sparti where they kept him in a few days and did a deep surgical clean without anaesthetic – we are all very sympathetic (ya hear that Richard).

We went to Sparta to see Harry Potter.  Fiachra and I couldn’t help but make fun of the fact that it’s coming out in two separate parts just to make more money.  Lillian brought us up as a treat.  The movie was in English with Greek subtitles.

I got homework the other day.  It was easy.  I had nice curry the other night for dinner.  The gyros here in Greece are very nice and that’s it.  I’m in trouble because now that we are in a routine I can’t think of anything  interesting to say – well not anything I’d put up on the internet anyway.

Fiachra says:

For the last three weeks we went to school.  Last Saturday we went to Sparta with Lillian to see Harry Potter.

Richard is doing ludicrous stunts trying to kill himself – like breaking his toe, cracking his rib and then walking up to Taki’s even though he has a broken toe.  He had to go to Sparti and stay in hospital for a few days to pay for his ludicrous stunts. 

We go up to the park most nights and meet our friends.  We do work with Mum at home even though we are in school.  It’s very annoying.

Saoirse says:

Hello,

We are going to school here now and settled into the routine.  My favourite day is Thursday because I have 2 lessons of Greek, then Drama, English, Geography, Art and French.  In primary school they have a new option that came in on the third day after I started in the school.  You can choose between French and German.  You have to do English, which isn’t that hard for me.  I choose French because my best friend picked it and it’s closer to Spanish than German and it might be more useful because we might go along the north coast of Africa on the way home. 

I have been going to school now for 5 weeks.  My Greek is coming on.  I am going to gymnastics twice a week after school.  I like it, most of my friends go there.  I have made a lot of new friends.

I think Richard is a lunatic.  He’s broken his toe and damaged his rib.  He broke his toe because the gas alarm went off in the middle of the night.  He tripped on something on the deck and cut and broke his toe.  It has a very deep cut in it.  He hurt his rib when he was getting onto his boat along the plank.  He was minding his toe and then he tripped and grabbed the self-steering so that he wouldn’t fall into the water with his phone again.  He whacked his ribs off the self-steering.  First he thought he broke it, but in the end he thinks he just bruised it.  He went up to the health centre for his toe.  The first girl went ooh and aah and she got more people who went ooh and aah and then he was sent to Sparti to the hospital for a few days.  Mummy and Daddy went to visit him.  Since he has a cut on the toe as well they cleaned it right out with no anaesthetic and he says it was very sore.  Mum arrived with Lillian to collect him just after it was done.  Richard was very happy to leave the hospital.

We went to Sparti to see Harry Potter last Saturday.  It was good.  Lillian and Georgia took us and she brought some other friends of Maria and Spiros as well.  We went to Goody’s after the film.  I got a big plate of spaghetti bolognese even though the rest were getting snacks, but I ate it all and it was lovely.  They weren’t hungry because they had so much popcorn in the cinema.

A new boat has come in.  They have two dogs – one very small one and a German Shepard.  They are 50 foot and I like their boat.  Their names are Delphine and Yab.  They are from Holland.  We had a big chat with them on their boat and then we had to go up town.

There’s going to be a Christmas Fair in the school on the 18^th of December.  We are making lots of arts and crafts for it.  My friends mum is organising it.  We went to the school for 3 hours last night and 3 hours this morning to make things to sell at it.  Fiachra made key-rings with monkey fists and taught other people how to do them.  I taught the girls how to weave.  While I was sorting the boxes for the weaving they painted glasses and things.  We are going to start the weaving the next day.

Then we came home and had a lovely coconut chicken dinner which Dad had made for us.

That’s all for now,

Saoirse.

Fergal says:

Hi, how are you?

I’m having a great time at school.  I’m learning Greek.  I’m doing lots of Maths.  They’re doing division.  In computers I learnt how to do the bold and the underline on words.  Their letters are different though because they do Alt Shift to get the keyboard into the Greek alphabet.  It doesn’t work on Mum’s keyboard.

I play with Sideris who is in a class higher than me.  He lives in a house near his Dad Taki’s bar.  I went there to play one of the days last week and I want to go there now, but mum says I have to do my blog first.  Even though I really want to go up….

We went to a film of Harry Potter with my friend Stavros in Sparti.  We went for burger and chips afterwards.  My burger was nice.  It was a very good film.

We are doing Arts and Crafts for the Christmas fair.  I’m thinking of something, but I have to go to the island to get wood for it. 

My tae-kwan-do is getting very good.  I can do blocks and get out of holds. 

That’s all for now,

Bye

Lucina says:

We are now back in the inner harbour.  After much negotiation we were still on the outer wall with a forecast of high winds the day after our terrible night.  Our friend Nico went to the port authority to negotiate on our behalf.  They were still very reluctant to move anyone else’s boat.  We only needed one boat moved a couple of metres to make room for everyone.  It was all solved very quickly when Nico found out who owned the boat and he knew him.  Illiaco, Georgia’s boyfriend is a friend of his and he was happy for Illiaco to move his boat.  He came with a friend and sorted it very quickly.  We were delighted to get back into the much more sheltered spot and have been happily here since.  There is loads of room for everyone and the fishing boat is getting in and out no problem.

We’ve settled into the routine of school here now.  School is on from 8.10am to 2pm.  The process for getting Oisín into the secondary school continued since the last blog.  I took our translated and well-stamped documents up to the school.  It turns out that our Irish school report just didn’t do the trick.  It’s not a certificate to prove that he has completed primary school in Ireland and the principle really wasn’t happy that excellent, very good, good etc. was the right scale.  He wanted a certificate with a score out of 10 for his primary education.  He gave me an Italian sample.  He doesn’t have much English and I have less Greek, so the German teacher helped a little too.  The easiest solution was to translate the Italian sample into English, add Oisín’s details and ask Mairin to oblige with the cert just the way they wanted it.  This proved much easier than trying to work through the process with our original school reports.  This then had to be translated into Greek, stamped by a solicitor, our friend Nico did the necessary again, stamped by our obliging Irish embassy in Athens and re-submitted.  We haven’t heard anything back since and Oisín is well settled, so I think we’re sorted.

Lillian and her daughter Georgia took us all along with more of her kids friends to Sparta last weekend to the cinema.  We saw Harry Potter.  Films here are in English with Greek subtitles, so it was easy watching for us.  They were all very excited to be going to the cinema.  We hadn’t been since we were in Portugal.

Our friend Richard has been in the wars over the past couple of weeks.  He got up in the middle of the night when his gas alarm went off.  He did a very deep slice underneath his little toe and broke it.  He tripped on the gangplank while minding his bad toe and gave his ribs a bad bang, just to deflect the pain in his toe one of the nights.  A week and a couple of trips to the local health centre the toe wasn’t any better and wasn’t closing over.  There was a gathering in the health centre and they told me to take him to Sparta hospital.  Taki, who runs a bar and restaurant here kindly gave us a loan of his car and Paul drove him to there.  He was told he was very lucky not to lose the toe, stuck on an antibiotic drip and kept in two nights.  Then they did a deep surgical clean – cut off all the dead skin around the wound.  He also had burns from the iodine we were liberally pouring on the wound.  (Those of you that know me would know that it was Richard and Paul looking at the wound and not me, of course!)  Apparently it is critical to dry the iodine really well or it can burn.  Richard was putting his shoe on too fast after putting the iodine on.  Lillian and Nico knew the head nurse in the orthopaedic section so we were able to get good updates on him.  Lillian brought me up to Sparti hospital to get him out and he’s now improving.

Mum and Dad are coming out to us for 10 days in a couple of weeks and we are really looking forward to seeing them.

Matina doing Fergals hair

Fiachra with Spartan warrior

Oisín in Ancient Sparta

Oisín and Fiachra outside the Museum in Sparta

Fiachra with another Spartan warrior

Waiting for the Gythio parade

Saoirse and Maria after the parade

Fergal and Eleni stoking up the fire

Fiachra with his house of cards

Saoirse above Porto Kayio

Fergal above Porto Kayio