living like a real greek

So today was a free day. Nothing set in stone to do. I had made up my mind that I was going to do homework for Monday and some of my independent study classes for the fall. I was hoping to get some work done for that and be a tiny bit closer to finishing and enjoying the rest of the trip without homework to do......buuuuuuuutttttttt, that didnt happen. And here is why:

A group of us went cliff jumping.

A lot of Greeks do it for fun and a lot of younger boys do it so we thought we try the fun. We had to take our first trip on the bus line. Not speaking Greek in a Greek speaking country is not easy. Some people speak English but if they do it is so heavily accented and broken that I can barely understand it. So here we are a group of nine non-Greek speaking students waiting at a bus stop and having no idea where we are going. There was an older lady at the bus stop who barely spoke English but told us to do what she did. So we got on the bus and luckily a younger couple new of some good cliffs and we followed their directions.

The cliffs were BEAUTIFUL! One of the prettiest sites I have ever seen but we learned quickly that the rocks are very slippery and flip flops were not a good choice of shoes. Not only were they not good to climb in but they also were bad because we had nothing to swim in. We also discovered today that black sea urchins are not good to step on. Two of the people in our group accidently stepped on these sea critters and when they are stepped on the send needles deep into your feet, kind of like a splinter that burns. Luckily I had my flip flops on even in the water and didnt get attacked with a needle. Some tweezers, scissors, and hydrogen perioxde will get them out just fine. I did surgery on a guys foot to get it out...pretty cool actually haha

We stayed on the rocks for a while and yes I did jump. We also met a 14 yr old Greek boy and he told us that we had come to the male nude beach/cliff. After taking a quick look around we saw the nudity and didnt look again. This beach even included 80 yr old men. I was scarred. But the rest of the time, the view of the ocean and skyline was AMAZING. check out the pictures on facebook.

Tonight we had dinner on the roof because there was a wedding going on in the hotel and then went out to the beach to meet some guys from the church here in Glyfada. They told us their stories of becoming Christians from a Muslim background. Its very encouraging to hear stories like that. One guy, Donny, is from Iran and left due to the political situation. He became a Christian and hasnt been back to Iran in 7 years. When a Muslim converts other Muslims have the right in their belief to kill them. Its a sad situation and shows me how much I take advantage of the freedom of religion given to me in the USA. He also told us about some day trips to make to some islands and how to find non touristy shopping.

In the morning we have church and then more tours of Athens. We are also going to the Changing of the Guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

Goodnight. Enjoy.