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8-13 Wed. Today my mysterious Greek stomach pains began. My best description
of the pain is what you would expect it to feel like if you were to swallow a
long blunt object, such as a toothbrush, and it became lodged sideways in your
stomach. It didn’t hurt too bad, but was relentless. I believe it was
caused by a mixture of Greek food, constant high temperatures and humidity, or
possibly food poisoning from something in the water or food.
8-15 Fri. Met Natasha and played volleyball for a while on her beach. I also
ran into the Germans there and we talked for a bit.
8-16 Sat. I began taking measures against my odd stomach pains. Dzordzi took
me to a local pharmacy where the pharmacist spoke fluent French, allowing me to
talk directly with her about my symptoms. Partially at Dzordzi’s request, she
gave me the strongest stuff in existence for chronic acid reflux, and a separate
treatment to alleviate intestinal gas pockets that she explained commonly
accompany acid reflux. Months later, after having returned to the US, I would
consult my Merck manual to discover that that the medicine she had given me was
only recommended when traditional treatments are insufficient, and my dosage was
double the recommended amount! Due to my opposition to medicine, however, I
would only end up taking one dose of the other medication, and possibly by sheer
will and fear of having to take additional doses, I was cured. Or at least so I
thought…
Also today, I arranged a dinner date with Natasha for when we would be back
in Thessalonica. It would never happen however, because I would find other
interests.
8-17 Sun. Today Natasha and most of the other local tourists were scheduled
to return home since this marked the end of the vacation season. After
breakfast, I walked down to our beach which was nearly vacant, and noticed a
small group of people made up of two older women, one older man, and one younger
woman. As I walked by, I heard them speaking American English, which I hadn’t
heard for weeks, so I was surprised, and said, “Hello!” To my even greater
surprise, the old woman immediately came back using a strong Greek accent with,
“By the way, she’s married!” I excused myself and retreated to the opposite end
of our beach where it was less hostile. Later, I asked the younger American
woman what prompted the harsh response, and she explained that the older woman
was her overprotective mother-in-law, and that she had just married her son, and
that this was “like” their honeymoon. I said, “hmm”, and retreated back to my
corner of our beach since at least now I could understand.
Later, while still retreated, I was sitting near the sea-shore while the sun
was getting low on the horizon. As I sat there reflecting on the day and my
week, I jokingly thought to myself, “The people of this beach are on to me, it’s
time to move on!” Just about then, the beautiful girl that I had noticed several
days ago, but never spoken with, walked down the beach with her younger sister,
and they sat down a good ways past me. Once the sun had started to set, they
started walking back towards their area of the beach, but when they got to me,
Anela sat down and had her younger sister continue walking home. After having had a
vicious day, I wasn’t in the mood to really meet anyone, especially anyone
female, but Anela was extremely beautiful and friendly, and seemed to show up
exactly when I was feeling a bit knocked down. We talked as the sun set, and I
told her about my interesting day. I also confessed my past activities of the
week, and she confessed that she had been watching me for the last six days,
including my conversations with Marina. Later I walked with her back to her
beach where there was a path that led to her home.
8-18 Mon. Today was the day that I made my masterpiece sand sculpture that I
described on the last page. During the days it had been so hot that I would just
feel lethargic, but after the sun would go down my energy would return, so I
decided to go on a short run to release some energy. As I ran I seemed to get
even more energy, so I went quite a distance, including trails, a tunnel, a back
road through some strange youth camp, and a section of sparse Greek forest.
While I was jogging back along the highway, Anela’s parents drove by and dropped
her off. We walked together to where I was staying, and I showed her my picture
album while we sat on the roof of our apartment. Later I walked her back to her
home and wished her goodnight.
8-19 Tues. Anela and I swam together out into the surf. I used fins, but she
kept up just fine without fins. Even before I had met her, I noticed her on the beach and
in the water, and she was just like a mermaid. She would stand in the surf, and
rather than simply thrust herself forward into the water, she would gracefully
perform a cute little hop-dive into the water. As the sun started to go down, we
parted once again. Anela
would be leaving the next morning for Skopje, so we agreed we would meet at 8:00
AM before she left.
8-20 Wens. I met with Anela and we agreed that we would get together in
Skopje once I arrived there about a week later. I took the above picture
of her that morning, and would have taken more except that I was out of film. It
was sad to say goodbye, but I was pretty sure we would be getting back together
soon. Later I said goodbye to the Germans as well.
On an unrelated note, I discovered that my stomach pains would go away for
several hours after eating American style foods. To this end, I made myself some
spaghetti using ingredients I had bought after jogging to a nearby town. The
meal was great and it made my stomach feel good. However, several hours later it
started hurting again.
8-21 Thurs. Dzordzi took all
of us to Pefkoharya, a cool beach further up the peninsula where we would hang out the
entire day and soak up the sun and swim. I think it was near Gerakini. There was a
small rocky island off the coast that I was able to swim to. I put my towel and
shirt in a plastic bag and swam the distance on my back holding the bag above
the water. The island was entirely composed of super sharp rocks, and I hadn’t
thought to
bring slippers, so I didn’t hang around too long. By the way, today was my
originally planned return date to the US, since this would be the last day that I could still return in time for my last semester at WSU.
Needless to say, graduation would have to be postponed a semester…
8-22 Fri. Today Dzordzi took all of us to Kallithea where we had a great
meal. I ordered calamari, and it was the best I ever had. While getting some
groceries, I learned that “Everything must have a plastic bag around it.”
8-24 Sun. Today we packed up the car and headed back North to Thessaloniki.
Once there, I toured the town, did some art-supply shopping with Make, and
walked around meeting several other tourists. While walking around the town, I bought
some pizza-making supplies and some interesting cheeses. Later that day, I made
a nice American style pizza from scratch with lots of toppings and a thick
crust. I learned that a word similar to “Nasty” in Macedonian means “Tasty” in
English, or possibly it was a translation mistake. (Or possibly the pizza was
judged nasty…who knows)
8-26 Tues. Tiberia and I went to Waterworld and we had a great day riding the
monster slides and in the wave-pool. One difference between the US and many
other foreign countries is that in the US, there is heightened fear of liability
and lawsuits. Because of this, even though we have some of the largest water
slides and rollercoaster’s, everything here is pretty tame and adjusted for
maximum safety. Waterworld, in Greece, had a water-shoot that allowed you to
free-fall for most of the decent, and then at the bottom flattened out and shot
you into the water. If you weren’t careful to follow the instructions and brace
your head with your hands, you received a nasty concussion at the bottom of the
drop due to the G-forces required to stop your descent. I loved that shoot!
8-28 Thurs. We all returned to Skopje. It was a long drive and involved crossing
the Greek-Macedonian border, which can sometimes be a problem. There’s a lot of tension
in this region between each of the neighboring countries, and it’s sometimes
difficult to judge what the mood of the day will be at the borders. For us it
was no problem.
8-29 Fri. As planned, Anela and I got together as soon as I was back in
Skopje. Together with her friend Danko, the three of us ascended Matka and hiked
along the lake. Once we got quite a ways down the lake, we climbed out on a
giant tree that extended over the lake and ate lunch as we hung out.
After a while, we encountered an old man in a motor boat, and I suggested we
try to get him to take us out on the lake. I more or less jokingly extended my
hitch-hiking thumb from our tree-outcropping. The guy in the boat didn’t know
what to make of it, so he came over. We all talked for a bit, and he was
intrigued enough that he decided to take us in his boat. We chugged along over
the water, all four of us in his little boat. He was drinking some strange type
of liquor that looked like gasoline. I don’t remember if I tried it or not, but
I believe the others did try it. Also, his boat had some sort of gas-leak, which
contributed to the interesting atmosphere…
Once we made it back to the beginning of the lake, we thanked the man for
giving us a ride and began walking back towards town. I think we had missed the
last bus, or maybe we just decided to walk, but along the way, we encountered a
man on a little three wheeled motor-cart. After talking with him for a bit we
were able to convince him to allow us all to ride on the back of it as he went down
the mountain. It was incredibly fun, and I think we escaped death on multiple
occasions as we rounded sharp corners on the steep one lane road, partly out of
control, only to encounter cars and trucks going the opposite direction. At one
point the guy actually skidded towards where the road dropped off, and looked
like he would flip. Despite this, as usual, we arrived safely.
There
are
several great months missing here, I'll add more text when I get a chance...
Macedonia: Vodno and Matka, and Lake Ohrid
Serbia
Prague
Budapest
Vienna
Oktoberfest with my dad!
Back to Switzerland
There is so much more to be added here!
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Later, while still retreated, I was sitting near the sea-shore while the sun
was getting low on the horizon. As I sat there reflecting on the day and my
week, I jokingly thought to myself, “The people of this beach are on to me, it’s
time to move on!” Just about then, the beautiful girl that I had noticed several
days ago, but never spoken with, walked down the beach with her younger sister,
and they sat down a good ways past me. Once the sun had started to set, they
started walking back towards their area of the beach, but when they got to me,
Anela sat down and had her younger sister continue walking home. After having had a
vicious day, I wasn’t in the mood to really meet anyone, especially anyone
female, but Anela was extremely beautiful and friendly, and seemed to show up
exactly when I was feeling a bit knocked down. We talked as the sun set, and I
told her about my interesting day. I also confessed my past activities of the
week, and she confessed that she had been watching me for the last six days,
including my conversations with Marina. Later I walked with her back to her
beach where there was a path that led to her home.
