Happy Green Beans to me!

14 September, happy name day to me! And to every girl called Stavroula and to every boy called Stavro.

What is a name day? A name day is a tradition that consists of celebrating the day of the year associated with one's given name. Most Greek children are named after some saint or some other churchy thing. My name comes from the crucifix - the male version of my name literally means the crucifix. Most Greek children in the good old days were named after their grandparents, my sisters each got a grandmother's name and seeing as I popped out a girl not a  boy I simply got the female version of my grandfather's name. A name day is basically like a birthday but way bigger. Greek people won't remember your birthday but will most certainly not forget you on your nameday. And they will bring you presents or money. TWO birthdays. Who cares if we get hard boiled eggs for Easter!

Grandpa Crucifix / Παππού Σταύρο

Last year, Niko the good boy sent me flowers for my name day. All the way from Greece!! Well technically he made an online payment and netflorist did the rest, tomato tomatoe, all the way from Greece!!

 Niko sent me pink roses because my favourite colour is pink, Niko is a good boy!

Thank you Niko! For last year. Ηe forgot me this year... με ξέχασε ο πούστης!

The correct wish for a name day is Χρόνια πολλά, it literally means many years. Happy Green Beans came about when some English speaking friends of mine just couldn't pronounce it and decided it sounds like green beans. And it stuck. Ξένοι.

My favourite name day message this year was from Katerina:
"Σταυρούλα χρόνια σου πολλά κι ευτυχισμένα!!!!Πολύχρονη, σου εύχομαι να έχεις πάντοτε την υγεία σου, να περνάς πολύ όμορφα και να διατηρήσεις αυτή την ζωντάνια και την ζωηράδα που σε χαρακτηρίζει!!!! Πολλά φιλάκια!"
Translating it loses some of the fabulousness of the message but here goes:
Google translate says....."Stavroula many years you and happy!! Longtime, I wish you always to your health, to spend very nicely and maintain this vibrancy and vividness that characterizes in!! Many kisses!"
 Erm. Did I select Chinese translation? Here's a better version:
"Stavroula happy nameday! I wish you many years, good health, good times, and for you to maintain the vibrancy and vividness that characterises you! Lots of kisses!"
Lost in translation. Learn Greek!

.

Nelly says

You think I talk a lot. You haven't met Nelly. I am one of those annoying people that insists on chit chatting with the passenger next to me on flights, I met my match. I will chit chat for the first hour or so but once the dinner service has been completed leave me alone so I can sleep. Not Nelly. She jabbered on and on and on, right through dinner, right through the night. I wasn't offering any conversation other than " oh okay, yes, no, wow, soooooo interesting", and all my face was saying was "SNORE!!!!!", at least that was what it was trying to say, I need more Botox.

As annoying as it was Nelly was actually very entertaining . She came up with some pearlers:
- "You know how Jamaican girls dance so sexy? Well they are terrible in bed! They look like they will be wild in bed but they just lie there,"
- "Caster Semenya is a man. Definitely. Didn't you see at the Olympic Games opening ceremony she was carrying the flag? That's a man's job! That's why they put her to carry it. She's a man"
- "I'm 8 weeks pregnant and my 3 year old son knew before me. He started becoming obsessed with my boobs and always putting his hands down my shirt. I said what's wrong with you Bradley but you see he knew there was someone in there" ........if someone is in your boobs we have problems Nelly.

She was actually very funny, I wish I wasn't feeling tired and fluey on that flight, if I had been on top form I'm sure Nelly and I would have been kicked off the flight for disturbing the peace!

Hey Next Door Passenger on my return flight, you have big shoes to fill. Big clown shoes.

.

Mati and the mavraki

My first question at the check-in desk was "Are there a lot of kids on this flight and if there are can you move me?". Before all you good parenty types get a knot in your nappy bag strap let me clarify,I love children, but I was running on minimal sleep and was starting to feel a bit fluey. I needed to sleep on that flight. Corenza C and Grippon overdose recovery kind of sleep. I cannot, I WILL NOT be sick on my summer holiday. Must.Sleep

And then I met Bradley. 3 year old, extremely sick with flu Bradley. My next door passenger for the flight. Damn you Murphy!

Mati! Polu kako mati! His mother Nelly wasted no time telling me how he has been sick for over 6 weeks, SIX WEEKS, what does this kid have?? TB?? Thankfully she was already pouring medicines down his throat, she just kept them coming, and sweet baby angel Bradley drank them without putting up any fuss whatsoever. She just kept them coming.

"Jeez Nelly, how much are you going to give him?" *serious face from Nelly* "I want him to sleep for the whole flight". And just like that sweet Bradley was out like a light before take-off. Oh Nelly, you deserve the best parenting medal there is, bless you!

Bradley had his head in his mom's lap and his teeny body lying across his seat. So cute. And then came the feet. The damned feet!! Anyone who has had a small child share their bed will know the feet. The snot nosed brat kicked me the entire flight, while fast asleep of course.

I hardly got any sleep.

And not just because of Bradley. Oh my god Nelly can talk the hind leg off a donkey!!! Way more than me!! She didn't shut up for a second. On a night flight. While everyone, INCLUDING ME, was trying to sleep. WOOOOAAAAH NELLY!! The sneaky bitch had asked for my headphones at the start of the flight, there was no way to ignore her! Well played Nelly, well played.

.

2011?

A year has passed since I updated this blog. A whole summer holiday in Greece has gone by and not one single blog post from me. How did this happen? *hangs head in shame*

So I thought it apt to post a brief summary of my 2011 holiday on the eve of my 2012 holiday. This is a brief visual summary. There is lots more to see. Plenty more. One day I will get around to doing it *eager face*

Welcome to Greece!

FINALLY!!!!! I have been waiting a year and nine months to be back in Greece. Fuck it feels good to be back. Don't let me leave!!!!!

.

The road to Greece

Olympic Airways always had a terrible reputation in South Africa. The staff were extremely rude and unfriendly. We bitched and moaned about them. But we didn't stop flying with them because they had a direct flight to Athens - you left Johannesburg in the evening and by early morning you were ready to order your first greek coffee. In 2009 Olympic Airways stopped their direct flight to JNB, and we never stopped bitching and moaning.

No other airline offers a direct flight to Athens. I decided to fly with Qatar because they had one of the shortest layover times (of course I booked at the last minute and all the short layovers were fully booked, lesson learned). We left home at 6pm on the Saturday evening and only finally arrived in Athens the Sunday evening just before 6pm, a 24 hour trip, exhausting, bring back Olympic!

Qatar Airlines far exceeded my expectations. The service was amazing, the seats are huge with lots of legroom, the plane was massive with all of the latest state-of-the-art features. Each seat has an entertainment station with endless options of music, tv series, movies, documentaries, news channels, games and much more - there is even a language learning facility!

Not only do you get great in flight entertainment but you get a complimentary little bag with a bunch of goodies inside Eye/Sleeping mask (wtf are those things actually called?), socks, earplugs (very useful in case of singing girls and squeally babies), and a toothbrush with toothpaste. No I didn't need any of those things but I am a sucker for free things! I am impressed to no end, cheap date I am.

Our flight was at 10pm and I was starving, my biggest concern was that I would fall asleep before the food service. Not on Qatar's watch! I slapped the 'Please wake me for the food service' sticker on my seat faster than bullshit spews out of Juju's mouth.

The flight was great overall and we arrived in Doha around 7am. Welcome to Doha!

Doha International Airport has got to be the busiest airport in the world. Every two minutes a flight took off, but bizarrely enough only Qatar Airlines was flying, we didn't see any other international airlines, weird. Apart from watching planes take off you can make use of the airport's free wifi, check into their fancy Oryx Lounge, or head to the canteen for breakfast That's what a 14 euro breakfast looks like...gulp... oh and the chips are standard no matter what your order, at 7am,weird.

My experience with Qatar Airlines was so fabulous, I will always fly with them from now on. My uncle was equally impressed, he couldn't believe we paid so little for such a great flight, his final conclusion is that the airline gets free petrol from the government!

Bye bye Olympic, Qatar please give us a direct flight!!

.

Oumense, vroumense...

Dino, Goomy and I are flying to Athens via Qatar. It's an 8 hour flight. We had a state of the art airplane and were super impressed with the nifty gadgets provided for our onboard entertainment.

The first 3 hours were spent being fed and wearing off the initial excitement of over 300 movies, songs, sitcoms, audiobooks, games etc to choose from. I could hear a cellphone ringing faintly, harmapalarma! But an airhostess with supersonic hearing never leapt out of the shadows to reprimand the culprit. The cellphone kept ringing.

It was only around 3am (once the masses had started sleeping and the cabin was quiet) that I was able to pinpoint the culprit. It was a double discovery, Dino and I glared at each other at the exact same second...
"Oh my god"
"Is that?"
"Is she?"
"Oh my god she is!"
Together now: "SHE'S SINGING!!!!"

The chick sitting in front of us was getting her money's worth out of the audio options. Every time she got to the chorus, of each song, she would sing. Loudly (I heard her through my earphones that were set to almost max volume). At 3am. While everyone else was sleeping. The guy sitting next to her is making a voodoo doll of her and sticking needles in it's beady eyes. I would.

WANTED: for disturbing the peace:
.

A dream come true

Let's leave Istanbul for a second and pop over to Greece for just another split second, I swear I'll have more Istanbul posts up soon. This is a worthy deviation.

Remember I raved about Dreamy Skin? Well reading the post again I see I didnt exactly rave about it, I definitely downplayed how amazing Dreamy Skin shower gel is! I was all nonchalant about it, who was I kidding?? The smell is to die for, and it really does make your skin feel, well, dreamy.

Of course being on the bottom of the world means that we South Africans don't have access to little luxuries that are deemed basic necessities by the rest of the civilised world. I knew Dreamy Skin wouldn't be available here. But then about 3 months ago I found a night cream from the Dreamy Skin range, if I could cartwheel I would have done one-handed cartwheels all the way down that aisle!

At night I slather a dreamy blob all over my face. The second the smell hits my nose I am back in Greece getting ready for a day drenched in summery sunlight or a night massaged by the sounds of party animals getting their Greek groove on. And then I open my eyes and I'm back in this work-obsessed, live-to-work cuntry of ours (nope it's not a spelling mistake).

Today is the best day, ever! Today I found Dreamy Skin shower gel, right here in South Africa! There is a God and he believes this princess needs pampering!

The shower gel is a fraction of the cost, and quadruple the size of the night cream, so no need to use sparingly. Tonight I am gonna lather up a storm, I am going to lather up hurricanes and lightning, very very frightening (you know where I'm going with this right?) I am even tempted to wash my car with Dreamy Skin!

If there was a Guiness World Record Prize for product most effective at smell association, Dreamy Skin would win, every year. I smell it and it's as if somehow, somewhere, some clever little scientist managed to capture all my emotions and memories of summer 2009 and squeeze them into this pretty purple bottle. I smell it and I feel like one of those people in the movies who suddenly wakes to find themselves in a bathroom on the opposite side of the world at a previous time. I smell it and I am staring in the bathroom mirror at 25 Argostoliou in Galatsi and it's the summer of 2009. I smell it and wonder why I'm not back in Greece yet *googles flight prices*

.

Behind every good man is a woman in a hut

Our tour guide Hassan took us for lunch and insisted we try Gözleme - "a savoury traditional Turkish hand made and hand rolled pastry. Fresh pastry is rolled out, filled and sealed, then cooked over a griddle" - according to Wikibooks Cookbook (those Wiki guys have thought of everything haven't they!). We decided on the cheese and the potato, you get different combinations such as spinach and feta, but even our plain choices were delicious. We restrained ourselves from seconds and thirds only because Hassan insisted on treating us, next time we're going alone and hungry!

So how exactly do they make Gözleme?
Take two sprinkles of women and place them in a hut

Set them to work, kneading and leavening the dough

Open a little window so that the women can pass the dough to the man

Ask for your flavour and watch the man cook your request!(I got this pic off www.herdaily.com)

What you can't see clearly from these pics is that the floor that the ladies are sitting on is at waist level, so they literally have to climb into the hut, reminds me of caged birds!

DISCLAIMER: I have no clue how to cook, so the terminology used here may not be actual cooking words.

.

I don't wanna play! :-(

I hate having my photo taken. It feels so corny, say cheeeeeeze! And my face does weird things in photos, my eyes become Chinese, my mouth can only fake smile, it's all hideous really. I'm definitely a behind-the-scenes kinda person. I have never understood people who love having their photo taken. And then I went to Istanbul for 5 (FIVE!!!) whole days with not one, but TWO people who love having their photo taken.

People who love having their photo taken are like people who love cats.
Cat person: "And this is Mr Whiskers /(insert any dumb cat name, cats never have cool names), say heeeelllloooo!" *human waves cat's paw*
Sensible person: "Um. I don't like cats"
Cat person: *confused look* "Are you allergic?"
Sensible person: "No, I just don't like cats"
Cat person: "But he's sooooo cute!! Here, hold him"
Sensible person: "Um, no thanks"
Cat person: "But he's so lovable, just hold him and you'll see, you'll love him!"

Photo people are the same, they are convinced that if they can just get you to pose for a photo you will love it and want more taken! They will love any photo of themselves, even a bad one, it's as though they lack the self critical receptor as well as the see-things-as-they-really-are gene. Maybe my view is clouded by too much photoshop and abnormally gorgeous models.

It started from day one of our trip. Take my normal camera unwillingness and add THREE huge fever blisters to my lip (they were so big that Glykeria laughed at them on the Saturday night, and when she woke to the horror they had become on the Sunday morning she took one look at me and went to get takeaways from her parents house - we were invited for lunch but she knew better than to unleash my beastliness on the rest of Athens. True story). So I REALLY didn't want a photo of me, yet they persisted, and I perfected my hand-face-paparazzi-avoid pose. The downside of not having your photo taken is that you have to take the photos....





I have hundreds more.... :-)

Glykeria was determined to get a pic of me and took this sneaky one, yes I was feeling sorry for myself that day!


On the last day Athanasia kept hassling me about not having pics of me in Istanbul, she gave me some speech about making my parents happy, so I sighed heavily and let her take one of me while we were waiting for the tram
See? Chinese eyes and fake smile. Thank god the fever blisters had calmed down by then!

.

The best of both worlds

Istanbul is the only city in the world that is situated on two continents - Europe and Asia. The two continents are connected by the Bosphorus bridges. The Bosphorus is a large river that divides the two sides of Istanbul. There is a Greek saying, roughly translated,"I need to drink the Bosphorus", when times are tough others need a drink but the Greeks need a river full of alcohol!

Both sides of Istanbul are equally interesting, lots to see and do. And no just because its Asia it doesn't mean there are a lot of Chinese people there *acts like she wasn't expecting to see a China Town in Istanbul*


.

The best advert in Istanbul

Dentist + Istanbul = Dentistanbul! Genius!

.