AHHH I'm finally back!!! Okay say let me tell you about the last few days. So after my last post we actually ended up being exhausted so we decided to pack and then grab a quick bite to eat at the corner market. We then checked out of the hostel around 8ish at night and then proceeded on what we thought would be a simple journey to Halkida. Haha, that was our first very wrong assumption. After calling the Sunshine House they told us that all we would have to do to get to their place would be take the train out of Larissa Train Station into Halkida and then catch a cab, sound simple? Haha, ummm not quite. First we had to take the metro from the acropolis station two stations over to the train station. That was actually really exciting because we were so happy to be on the move again and traveling! We arrive at the train station which is completely deserted and find all of the ticket booths are closed. We kind of stand there awkwardly while we try to figure things out when a policemen and his cohorts approach seeing if we need any help. We ask him where to find tickets, he then proceeds to tell us that the train station is on strike today and we will have to find another way. Me and Chelsea look at eachother and laugh because we see the hilarity in the fact that the train would go on strike the one day that we need to use it. Luckily the policemen in Greece are really friendly and end up being really helpful. In fact they kind of argue amongst themselves deciding what our best option is. Did I mention that a lot of the Greek policemen are young and reallllly attractive? So they finally decide that we should probably take a taxi to the bus station and one of them writes the address for our cab driver. Once we get in the cab we find that our driver once again speaks practically no ENGLISH. haha this results in another hilarious cab ride where our conversation covers the following topics: the fact that we only know one Greek person in America, the fact that Obama is good with a thumbs up sign, and that we aren't from Philadelphia. We arrive at the bus station and go up to the ticket window where yet another confusing conversation arrises in a mixture of english in greek. This conversation starts when the ticket man realizes that we are from america and begins to say DANGER DANGER. Not knowing what he's talking about, we look at eachother confused. Some how the message gets across that he's talking about the swine flu, o the stigma that comes with being an American. After waiting for about ten minutes at the bus station we board the bus, and ride for about an hour until we reach the city of Halkida.

After looking for yet another taxi we realize that it is going to be a little more difficult then it was in Athens seeing that not many greek people in these parts know very much english. We have the Sunshine house address written down, and after showing it to several drivers, one finally takes us in. After getting in the cab we are then joined by another girl, and a guy. The ride to the Sunshine House then takes another confusing turn. Hardly anyone speaks any English and at this point Chelsea and I know a total of three or four greek words. This results in our taxi driver becoming more aggravated by the minute after he realizes that he has no idea where the Sunshine House is. Chelsea and I giggle everytime he asks us a question because we don't know what else to do, he keeps trying to talk to us as though eventually we will just magically know what he is saying, and the girl next to us keeps rereading the address. Finally we end up on the correct dark scary alleyway but can't find the House for the life of us. AT this point it is about 11 at night and the driver is about ready to just kick us out of his cab and leave. Finally we decide to just call the Sunshine House (the obvious answer to our problem) and put Takis(the man that we are staying with) on the phone. Finally we find the right area and the taxi driver drops us off.

It is then that we hear the heavily accented voice of a man through a iron gate. He confirms that we are the people staying at his house and greets us around the side. The man that greets us is the owner. He is basically a thai massage yoga master who is famous in Thailand. He has a regal quality about him and when he greets us he gives us a kiss on each cheek he then leads us into his abode. This is Takis. He is a very nice man and shows us our room. The place that we are staying at is as hippie as it can get. There are om signs everywhere books on spirituality fill the library, and hammocks are hanging in the trees. We are also introduced to another volunteer named Tim. Tim is my favorite! He is a 26 year old from Germany and he has dreadlocks down to his hips. He is so funny and so nice, and when we first started getting to know him he told us that we are very giggly happy girls. haha pretty much describes us. We have now spent about 2 full days there and have worked HARD!!! Our first day of work we awoke to Tim who woke us up by whisteling and saying good morning repeatedly in his german accent(he's kind of like our personal alarm clock). He then made us organic oatmeal which was delicious!! We ate that outside and then got to work weeding the garden. After weeding for a couple of hours we had a breaktime where we ate another organic meal prepared by Takis. It was then that we got to know Tim, and proceeded to friendly joke with him throughout the day. After that we had a break where we ended up walking in the opposite direction of the internet cafe and ended up in some random town where we stumbled upon gelato AGAIN! haha it was a really LOOONG walk so we took a taxi back. We got back, sweeped a little, met two new volunteers and made spaghettie for dinner. The next day was super busy because we had to prepare for a group of Japanese people who were coming (they came from the peaceboat its basically a boat that sails around the world learning about peace and meditation etc). We also met two german lesbians who also live in the Sunshine House and met Takis' wife and kids (who are adorable). Anyways then the Japanese people came and took cooking classes and did meditation and we just kind of helped out. O and I made friends with Takis' little girl, she is three and her name is Jaia and currently I am wearing the braclet that she kindly gave to me. After the long day we went into the STEAM BATH which felt sooo goood and then we headed to a beach bar called Azuls.

AZULS!!! Ahhh its like the oasis of all life in this small town. Ahh so we have access to bikes at the Sunshine House, so that is what we took to Azuls. The bike ride was nice and everyone assured us that it would be safe. Of course we ended up taking one wrong turn going in the opposite direction of Azuls haha. Still it was fun because we were biking alongside the beach. Anyways we stop at some type of restaurant and ask for help they lead us in the direction and we take off on our bikes. Like two minutes later one of the guys from the place that we had just stopped at sped ahead of us and told us he would show us Azuls. (He was our age, so no worries and we were on bikes so don't worry about the whole stranger danger situation parents). Haha so he escorted us to Azuls which is this really really pretty beach hang out bar. We met up with a guy and girl who had been giving massages at the Sunshine House and hung out with them and two other volunteers, it was soo fun! We ordered a couple of beers (because we can do that here in Greece!) and stayed until about 1ish and then headed back. That pretty much sums up whats been going on! haha so far its been wonderful and has been going as planned. Unfortunately internet is kind of hard to come by here, so I probably wont be on as often to write. Anyways I am having an amazing time, and can't wait for the next adventure, ISLAND HOPPING!!! Hope all is well.

Jess