sorry for the delay!

Hello to whomever reads my blog and thank you, I must apologise for the delay in updates, I will be honest in this matter and tell you that I couldn't be bothered but I will try my best to finish the big update I'm currently in the middle of and then bring you daily ones. But in the meantime here's some pictures of things I have seen and/or done:

the beach, it was lovely and warm

me at the beach, i now have rather brown/pink shoulders 

from left to right: Me, Maria and Kyle. This was at the costume party we went to

Mine and Kyle's shadows on Filopappos Hill 

View from Filopappos Hill

the Acropolis from Filopappos Hill

A church from Filopappos Hill

Another view from Filopappos Hill

Lycavittos Hill from Filopappos Hill

Me and Abi at the Masquerade party

A little friend that joined Kyle and me for a while, never found out what it was though

So there you have some pictures to keep you intrigued for a short while longer while I work on my update, thank you for your patience.

Goodnight x

Pathetic valentines and a pathetic zoo!

Valentines day! Its exactly what I did not want. Opening David's card however made me smile. Kyle also got a card from his boyfriend. so at least we were in a better mood than we could have been. We decided to make ourselves feel better by having a little shopping trip in town. I said I would treat us to dinner seen as it was valentines. I bought a pair of high tops, some baggy bottoms and a denim sachel bag, so I dont have to carry my lovely but massive purple one everywhere. We walked back towards the flat because I think kyle needed to pick something up and I dropped off my purchases. But on the way we decided to walk through the park and find the mysterious pathetic zoo thats supposed to be there. Well we found it and boy was it pathetic. there was an enclosure with turtles in it. Lots of them, bless they were all trying to get on the small island of rock in the middle of their pool, but ended up sitting on top of each other because there wasnt enough room for them all. there was a lot of chickens, some goats and more chickens. round the other side of the "zoo" we found a large enclosure with what I honestly never thought I would see in my lifetime. It had Rabbits (poor tatty looking things), chickens and cockerals. And you will never guess what else happened to be in that enclosure. A cat, yes of all the things that end up with a load of rabbits and chickens. But one thing I have noticed around Athens is that the cats dont bother with pigeons, you would think that they see them as a free meal, but no they dont bother with them. Just as the dogs dont really bother with cats. And just like all the other cats i have seen/met the cat in the enclosure never bothered the chickens or rabbits. In all honesty it looked terrified by the cockeral that was next to it.
We continued our walk through the big park and ended up come out of a different gate than we usually do, but we ended up looking at what we think is the Priministers Mansion. It was gorgeous and all the police and guards around kinda gave it away. We tried to peek over the wall and managed to see perfectly manicured lawns and a swimming pool. It was very interesting to see that we lived just up the road from the Priminister. I mean we're practically neighbours, I do so hope we get an invite to any parties he has coming up, (just kidding of course, too many bureaucrats and snobs for my taste).
We went for a meal at the restaurant we went to last time because it was really nice, and whenever the man sees us he always shouts "HELLO ENGLAND!" its great and never fails to make us smile or laugh. For tea we both had kontosouvli which is bascially a plate of meat and chips (its fabulous) its also a traditional greek dish.
After our meal we did a bit more window shopping on the way to the bus stop. I was so full I needed a nap so we went home. I dont think we did much after that, we probably had a couple of beers on the balcony and then went to sleep.
so, goodnight x

Isn't life grape?

Sunday morning, fabulous weather, good day to climb a massive hill/mountain. The hill in question was Lycavittos. We decided to be very British and have a packed lunch, for me and Kyle this consisted of a giant bottle of cheap lemon fanta, a big packet of paprika Lays and of course the now traditional, cheese pie. Unfortunately getting to the bottom of this monster hill was pretty rough going. There were millions of steps to climb up.

here is a view from the top or near the top of the stairs.

At the top we bumped into two girls from London who had came to Athens for a small getaway (who goes from one city to another? madness I say). We chatted to them on the way up the massive hill/mountain thing inside an underground tram thingy. It was very different and unfortunately I didnt take pictures of the inside as there was a lot of people in the small cabin with us and I didnt want to look like a complete berk. Anyways we gave the girls some advice when getting around, such as the taxi drivers and that if they try to overcharge them just to say 'police' and it will change their minds. Instantly i've heard. We get out at the top, and there are a few more stairs to climb, but when we reach the top of these stairs what a view we are met with. You can literally see for miles, especially because it was a nice clear day, it was quite breathtaking. Especially after all the stairs.

I dont really know why we look so daft but thats Abi, Kyle and me in front of a tiny church on top of a big hill

 Yeah it was very nice up there, we had our picnic, Kyle and Abigail did some skipping and Kyle sang "the lonely goatherd" from the sound of music.

After the hill we were going to see the Ancient Agora, but Kyle had forgot his student card so we had to go back for it. On the way past Zappeio we noticed what looked like a market from a distance. We decided to check it out, because you never know what you will find in a market. By complete chance and obviously some god or other smiling down on us we found: A Wine Festival! It was 10 euros to get in, each. At first we decided we wouldnt go in. Our resolve is not very strong. We got a wine glass and a nice little wine book where you could make notes on the wines you tasted. The glass came in handy, the book was in greek and so went in our bags. There were some fabulous wines and a little ouzo and raki here and there. Reds, whites, rose, desert and champagne. All you could "taste" for ten euros. Best 10 euros I think I have ever spent. We didnt see many people spitting the wine back out and we thought it would be rude to do so, so we swallowed it. Like i said some wines were fabulous and then there were some that weren't so nice. We played 'guess that flavour' whilst looking distinguished and educated at the same time. We were in there for about 4-6 hours, and came out quite merry. Oh and bagel goes very well with wine, especially when it has cream cheese on it.
After we managed to tear ourselves away from all the wine we went to get our free meal from the university cafeteria. Kyle and Gareth were in the que before me and Abigail, the woman behind the counter (who does not speak english, we have no idea if she understands it) gave Kyle and Gareth a cheese pie each and then what looked like a bowl of custard with meatballs in it. "But I wanted the chicken!" Kyle piped up, we all started laughing because the woman pointed to the bowl of custard with meatballs and basically told him he will have this and like it, even she started laughing. Me and Abigail on the otherhand got chicken and potatoes each, as well as a cheese pie. Kyle was devastated. He did not eat the custard dish, but Gareth ate everything in front of him. To be fair Gareth was wasted and so probably didnt notice the taste.
We went our separate ways and stumbled on home after this, collapsed into bed and went to sleep. A very interesting day had by all.
goodnight x

Re-cap

Right, where to begin then?
Tuesday: on placement, our mentor was not in today as she had done a nightshift and we saw her leaving in the carpark, but she stopped long enough to talk to us, which was nice. We were dreading what we would do for the day. On the ward initially we were ignored by the nurses and just stood around looking useless, which in fact we were. But then, to our mercy, the Greek student nurses arrived and said hello to us. We  said to the two Marias (both of their names) that our mentor was not in today, and that we were being ignored by the other nurses. They were more than happy to take us under their wing. The shift was very enjoyable, having a laugh with the two Marias and learning some Greek from them. We met other Greek student nurses on our break when we had the longest break in history, they were all very welcoming even if they didnt speak English. So what started out as a pretty naff shift had turned out into a very fun one. In the evening we went to get our free meal from the city restaurant, I wish the women in there spoke at least a little bit of English, can't understand a word they say. Anyways I had a really wierd meal of pasta and a sort of carbonara sauce, followed by hotdogs and these wierd boiled potatoes in an oily sauce thing, followed by a sponge cake with a wierd syrup soaked into it. Overall for free I honestly can't complain, because it could have been worse.
Wednesday: Back on shift, again. We were looked after by the Marias, so we had another fun shift. At lunch we were introduced to yet more student colleagues, including a few more nurses and a doctor. The only thing was, we were sat at a table with these like electrician students (I think thats what they meant anyways) and they were very immature, but you know when you're being talked about in another language? We heard a lot of the Greek word for "English". Me and Kyle were not amused because there was a lot of laughter, and from the sound of it on our behalf. With this aggravating us we decided to speak to each other in our native north-eastern tongue, which and lets be honest, not even half of the north-east can understand, nevermind those who dont really understand English. Having this advantage made us feel better, even though we were still feeling aggravated by the two electricians (students, whatever!). Everyone else at the table was very nice, and made us feel welcomed. The cafeteria was closing, so we went and stood outside so the smokers could smoke and we could all chat some more. Unfortunately our relationship status's came up, for me this was not a problem, for Kyle it was a different matter. We couldn't stop ourselves from giggling because we didnt know how to say to the two Marias that Kyle didn't have a girlfriend because he had a boyfriend. So he avoided it as best as he could, while they tried to convince him that Greek women were very nice, am sure they are but they simply aren't his taste. That evening we met up with Gareth and Abigail for the free food, i had pretty much the same as the night before minus the tasty cake, Kyle on the other hand had a wierd pasta bolognaise with Squid in, or what looked like squid as one of the pieces looked like a minature heart, which at another point in time would have been cool. Kyle did not think so and so left most of it. Abi and Gareth told us about a live music thing which was just round the corner, and so, suspecting something free, we had a look. It turned out to be a concert to make money for the immigrants in to Athens. We went to a small vendor on the street and grabbed a beer each, and sat in the park listening to slightly familiar but very Greek music, drinking a can of beer. It was a very interesting and fun night.
Thursday: Didn't wake up til about lunchtime, checked my emails and found one off my Nana and Grandad titled "Greetings from the old country", I dont know if it was a combination of the content of the email and the song that had just started playing at the time (Nights in white satin - the Moody Blues), or whether i was hormonal, but I suddenly burst into tears. It made me smile getting the email, saying that the family (yes all of you) are reading this blog (makes me very happy by the way so thanks for all the support guys), and that it looked like I was working hard (obviously sarcasm). I would like to make it clear that I work as hard as the Greeks will allow me to do so. With my mind set on making Mince and Pea curry with Buttery Rice (Madhur Jaffrey style) I  formed a plan to go to ikea get a jug and some scales and then on the way home the rest of the ingrediants. TWENTY NINE EUROS!! thats how much it costed for the cheapest set of kitchen scales I could find, and that was in IKEA. Absolutely shocking. IKEA had let me down for the first time in years. I was missing one spice, Garam Masala, and I was gutted, I made the curry still but it didnt taste the same, i had also used a Kilo of mince because of the lack of scales, so now we have  just over half a kilo of mince and pea curry in our freezer. Personally I found it to be quite bland, but Kyle enjoyed it which is the main thing. However after cooking I forgot that I had chopped up chilli, and scratched my face and rubbed mosituriser into my Stress rash, which unfortunately went into my armpits. You can just imagine the consequences, my face was on FIRE as was my armpit, when I had done this I was on the phone to David, who immediately burst out laughing at my shouting about being on fire. Oh so very painful, I must have washed my hands about ten times last night. So when I woke up this morning I thought I would be okay to rub my eyes. How wrong can one person be? Painfully so apparantly, this morning I had an eye which I thought was on fire. Not pleasant at all. Forgot to mention , on our way back from IKEA we sat and watched a peaceful protest in Syntagma Square, however we were'nt naive enough to believe it would be just a peaceful protest and after seeing how many police were in full riot gear (including gasmasks) we made a contingency plan, should things get a bit more heated.
Friday (Today) : Back on placement, and we were with the two Marias, followed them around, asked lots of questions, and taught them some Geordie dialect. Kyle's head inflated dramatically because he was asked his opinion of why something wasn't working with a patient, and he had GUESSED correctly that the NG tube had moved from the stomach to the lungs. We also discovered he had a thing for neat and tidy beds, and so he became "Matron" Ambler. It was emergency day, and so we had to go down to the Emergency Room to observe, help, I have no idea what it is we are meant to do there. Mostly though we got ignored. When we went in the Doctor (who was part Canadian and spoke very good English) chatted to us and said she would have us doing things. We tried to do 2 ECG's and because their ECG machine is ancient (it uses suckers instead of clips) we struggled to get a good reading, after that we stood around getting in everyone's way. A lot. After work we went and got some shopping in so Kyle could make us Italian style carbonara. We bought the most amazing bottle of white wine for only 2.30 Euros. Got home and found that we didnt have a corkscrew, I tried the method suggested to me by my Nana and Grandad, but it didn't work. So I used the modern version of borrowing the preverbial cup of sugar, borrowing a corkscrew. I ran up to the next floor, knocked on a door where there was sound coming out of, and got totally ignored, I could hear the person on the other side raking through their bags, but no answer. Just as I was about to give up hope I hear someone leaving their flat on the floor down from us. "Sygnomi!" I shout at the top of my voice, to get them to stop while I leg-it downt the stairs. A man is waiting and looks at me, "do you speak English?" I ask he replies with "a little". Which is good enough for me. I try to explain as best as I can what it is that I want and eventually he understands what it is i'm asking for. "Ahh no problem" he tells me and leads the way back to his flat to get the corkscrew (which is directly under ours so I can return it back to him), I tell him I will only be a minute with it but he tells me to just bring it back tomorrow. A very nice man indeed. Tea was fab, as of course was the wine.
And so after a busy week and finishing it with a glass of wine I will go to sleep.
Goodnight x

This is a picture of us with the two Marias, simply because they are awesome girls, from left to right:
                                                            Maria, Kyle, me and Maria

Getting lost, found and not giving up the gravy fight!

Today I think we spent more time getting lost than anything else. 7 am start, not very happy at all, thought we had to be at the University for a Greek language class. I vaguely remembered someone saying something about it being not on, but I wasn't 100%, so we went in anyways. We got there and looked around for the class we were supposed to be taking. No sign of it. Asked one of the librarians, she wast very aggressive in her answer, but I dont think she knew anything either. Abigail and Gareth were planning on coming in for lunch time, and so we were going to meet them at the University. Whilst waiting I had a chocolate milkshake and it was fabulous, Kyle had a Freddo which is a very Greek thing to have in this city. Its essentially a cold coffee drink, and everywhere you go you see Greeks drinking them, including the hospital. Yes on the ward. It was a very nice day so we sat outside enjoying the sunshine for a change. We then decided to go and talk to the lady from the international office, she told us that class didn't start until the 1st of march. I was not amused. Neither was Kyle. so we arranged to meet Abigail and Gareth in town and go to the more local free cafeteria. Well we got on the wrong bus didn't we and ended up god knows where, because we certainly had no clue. But we saw a shopping centre and jumped of the bus we were on to have a look around. I have still not given up on my hopes of finding some gravy granules. We have searched many, many shops now and still  no luck. We asked for directions back to Syntagma, and found that we would have to get a bus to Omonia instead, this was close enough for us.
In Omonia we asked which to go to Victoria station, a local was very nice and gave us clear directions. we followed them but couldnt find the area that we needed, which was Vathis Square. We didnt know it at the time but both of these locations are no where near each other. After getting lost, again, for an hour we asked for directions in a Best Western Hotel. They gave us the right directions and a map, because I managed to memorise the address of the cafeteria I was able to ask for this directly.
We made it! Finally after hours of being lost in Athens, we made it to the free food place and boy were we hungry. The only thing on the plate I could identify was a burger, the rest I was unsure of, the potatoes I have had before and were nice, the rice dish I had no idea about but it looked as though there was spinach in it.
Meanwhile Abigail and Gareth had also gotten themselves lost on the way, and rang me for directions, I used the map while telling them which way to go. In the end me and Kyle decided we would go find them. We met them on the right road at least, so this was good news. We chatted while they had their free lunch, and then split off into our pairs again, me and Kyle going one way, Abigail and Gareth another.
Finally back in Syntagma we had a wander around the Flea market because Kyle wanted an ashtray for the baclony and I wanted a bandana. The merchants kept trying to get us to spend money in their shop by yelling things in Greek at us. Which obviously did them no good as we didnt understand what they were saying. Kyle managed to find an ashtray for a couple of euros, I found a square of patterned silk to use as a bandana, and we also remembered the Kyle needed a button for one of his pairs of jeans, so he bought that as well. Which no doubt I'll be sewing on later.
On our way home we bought some more groceries so we would be able to have something proper to eat tonight, instead of sandwiches or toasties. Tonight I peeled potatoes, cut up the onion, grated the cheese and did the washing up, very efficient. Kyle started joking on that it had only been a week and he had domesticated me. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MEE!" I yelled in jest back at him, which made us laugh even more. And so on tonights menu is: roasted vegetables and cauliflower cheese. The butchers was closed and the mince we have got would take hours to defrost as we have no microwave, So vegetarian it is then.
And thats pretty much it for today, we are on placement tomorrow so if there is no post its because nothing of interest happened, but am sure something will.
Goodnight x

Why is everything so bright and loud??

Woke up with the hangover from hell! My head was actually pounding. I open my eyes and the first thing a I see is Kyle wrapped up in his quilt on my sofa, asleep. I lay there wondering when that had happened, and started laughing because Gareth has the biggest bed all to himself, and us three are all sharing my room, with a tiny sofa and a single bed. I get up to go and get some water and Kyle and Abigail wake up. Abigail also starts laughing when she sees Kyle on my sofa. He isn't a morning person/waking up person to begin with so it was probably best he slept on my settee instead of sharing a room with Gareth. Gareth happens to snore. Like a Whale! We could hear him from my room with my door shut, Abigail says to us "see what I put up with,  I just usually shout at him until he wakes up though". We all  struggled to get ourselves pulled together, but eventually Abigail and Gareth managed to sort themselves out in order to go home, "I'm getting a taxi, too tired for buses" Abigail says to us.
After they left for their own flat Kyle went straight back to bed, so did I but couldn't sleep. I lazed around all day, reading my book, updated my last two posts, and just generally milled around. There was nothing in to eat though so I formed a plan of action: to sober up and get food! Cold showers are brilliant for hangovers, wake you right up and out of it. Feeling much more human, I gently wake Kyle up to tell him I'm off out for food and to ask if he needs anything getting in.
Out in the sunshine I felt a millionn times better and quite lively too. It was 15 degrees C and boy was I feeling it with my tank top and cut off jeans, it was like the middle of summer for me. The locals however did not share this sentiment, for them it is still winter and are wearing wooly coats and scarves. I wandered up and down the street looking for somewhere to get some bacon, I really needed a fry up. I soon realised it was sunday, nearly everything was shut, apart from small and expensive markets, like our papershops, the bakeries were also open which is just as well because 'papershop' bread is very expensive, I only paid 70 cents for a loaf of bread, which by the way is fantastic. I managed to get a big bottle of fanta, 6 eggs, toilet roll and the bread. At least I got the essentials anyways. I took the long route back to the flat, just enjoying the sunshine and the heat, but Christ! walking up the banks in this place is a nightmare, I was all puffed out and sweating by the time I got back. I had to have a sit down before I did anything else, such as the washing up from the previous night and cook something for dinner. I sat on the balcony, feet up, with a cold mug of lemon fanta (perfect summer drink) and a book on my phone. It was glorious just relaxing on the balcony without the preverbial care in the world. Lunch went horribly wrong and I now have a new found love for non-stick frying pans. what started out as a salami, mushroom and cheese omlette turned out to be scrambled eggs with salami and mushrooms, it was not my best effort I have to say, but in my defence I was still hungover.
Kyle finally emerged from his room at half 4 and decided we would go for a walk. We walked in a different direction to the one we usually take, and found a big shopping centre, don't know what shops were in it as it was closed and no signs. But we decided to come back to that another day. I picked up a cake on the way home from a cake shop becuase I simply needed sugar and because I can.

It is very tasty and has lots of cream in it, but also very sickly and I couldnt eat it all in one go, so I still have half in the fridge. We didn't do much when we got back in, there wasnt a lot to do, what with no tv. So I found Beverley Hills Cop to watch online and Kyle watched will and grace, and also phoned friends and family. So that was my sunday.
Goodnight x

Greek IKEA hotdogs

It was decided earlier in the week that Gareth and Abigail would come over for tea on saturday (last night) and then we would all go out drinking. Kyle said he would make a shepards pie and cauliflower cheese. Only problem was we had no knives, nothing to cook a shepards pie in and no gravy. We decided to head down to IKEA next to the airport because we knew we could get the utensils from there if nothing else. One very long metro ride later and we're at the airport, all we had to do now was figure out how to get across the very busy motorway to actually get in to IKEA. It turned out that a bus from the airport stops at IKEA.

We made it! It's just like the one at Gateshead, I walked in and said "it smells like home!", Kyle agreed with this statement, if I ever get homesick I will just come here for the day. The layout is a little different, but not a lot, at one point we thought that we should be in the North-East of England, but then spotted posters with Greek on them and got brought back to Athens. It was a fun trip out and they even did the hotdogs at the end, following age-old traditions in my family I was obliged to get one and also to see if they tasted the same. They were just as tasty, then I spotted the tins of ginger biscuits and had to buy a tin. Feels more like home now. Its amazing what a tin of IKEA biscuits can do. With our new purchases for the flat we headed for the bus stop. Got on the long bus didnt we. Didn't see anywhere to get off and jump on a metro along the way. We ended up on the other end of the metro line, how we got there without stopping at Syntagma I will never know.

The Airport is where IKEA is, where we were, and if you look at the red metro line at "Agios Dimitrios" thats were we ended up. By this point we were running very late to meet up with Abigail and Gareth and still did not have any gravy. But in the end we got back to Syntagma, and met up with them to take them to our flat. whilst waiting at the crossing we were all talking and this lady turns around to us and says "are you from England" Kyle said "yeah Newcastle" she replies with "oh excellent I'm from Sunderland" to which I shout up very excitedly "so am I, we're practically family!" laughing she asks me from what part, obviously pennywell, she lives in grindon. I was all very excited about this, and we start chatting to her, because shes the most sensible person we have had to talk to for a week, and we can understand her. She tells us that her daughter had done the Nursing Erasmus in Greek some years ago and loved it. we continued to chat until she was at her bus stop, we began to walk away when Kyle remembers something he wanted to ask her, as he runs back towards her I shout "ask about gravy!"

We still didn't find any gravy, so we improvised with stock cubes, the juices drained from, frying the mince and roasting the carrots. Kyle shouted at anyone who entered the kitchen without permission, I was allowed in to chop the onions, grate the cheese and help Abigail mash the potatoes. Abigail was allowed in to peel the potatoes. This was all done while Kyle was out of the kitchen and having cigarette on the balcony. The shepards pie and cauliflower cheese were to die for! it was so tasty.

After tea we all got ready to go out, putting make up on or changing clothes, etc. The first little bar we went to was really nice, Abigail and I had Cosmopolitans, the lads had beers. We had a second round in there, but we all had beers. After this we hopped in a taxi and went to a bar that the bartender who served us had recommended. It was all the way over at Lycavittos Hill. We tried to get into a few bars here but were told that you needed reservations, finally we found one that let in the likes of us. It was far too crowded, we left shortly after going in. Second bar we went into was alright, we sat outside for a while and then went inside and had some more beers.

We left at around half two in the morning and went back to our flat. Kyle and Gareth had one room, Kyles sofa is also a bed so Gareth slept there. My sofa on the other hand is not also a bed, so Abigail shared my bed because my sofa is way too small for someone to sleep on.

Overall a very good night and lots of fun.

Goodnight x