Goodbye Fira, Hello Hania!!! (again)

Leaving Fira today.

womp womp.I think I've pretty much explored the island but I'll definitely miss the mom and pop restaurant that ive been going to every day.

my bill has consistently between 8e80 and that includes starter , main and water.

Fried tomatoes. Its a definite do.

Im off to see Old thira today then I head back to Hania to conclude the Greece leg of my vaca!

I hope Rome lives up to expectations! Although Im pretty sure I'll spend some time outside the city.

Im an island girl! Give me some  sun and water and we are good to go !

Cuz Wow can never be enough

Soooo I arrived in Santorini yesterday after a hell raising fast ferry ride.

Wow.  That ferry was fast. The name of the boat was "hell cat" and now I know why. That ride tested my diaphragm and gag reflex. I had no choice but to fall asleep on the boat. Thank god I was exhausted from my 5.30am wake up call and 2.15hr bus ride cuz damn. Anywhoser moving on.  

Arrived in Santorini at about 11.45am and all I could say was Wow. And that does not even cover it. Its not beautiful. Its not prettt.  Santorini is a dramatic island. The coastline is sheer cliffs and eroded volcanic rock and sandstone to make something that looks like it came right out of Narnia. 

Santorini, based on my observations,  is the rim of an old volcano. At least what we see is the rim. The crater or spine of the volcano collapsed and eventually filled with water to form what they now know as the "Caldera". However,  just me speculating here, if two new volcanic islands have sprouted from the caldera or the old crater and even continue to show volcanic activity, doesn't that mean that Santorini island is somewhat active and not totally dormant ? I'll accept corrections please and thank you!

Enough speculating and postulating!

Luckily the guesthouse that I booked offered free transfers from the port which was uber convenient as I was dog tired and didn't want to wait on public transport.Although the bus situation here seems to be quite reliable (as compared to Nimes that's for sure) . I booked my stay at Antonia Apts and my room came up to about 35 € a night which is excellent considering I had a huge room with couch, fridge , private bath and the owner keeps plying you with JUGS (whats with Greeks and these huge servings of alcohol? lol) of wine and tea and coffee.

I only had time to freshen up as I was booked on the boat tour to explore the two still active,  volcanic islands;  new and old burn ( I not even going to try to spell or pronounce the Greek names lol ). Those 3 hours were really unique . I hiked a volcano for the 2 time In 3 months,  got some glorious SUN, was on the water for 3 hours and just checked out the overall scene.

Santorini is cheap yo. Like. These islands are a problem. Anywhoser,  to get to the old port to go on these cruises, you have to descend about 587 steps that were built around christ was born so imagine their shape and imagine having to ascend after a 3 hour tour!! This is where, unfortunately, the donkeys come into play.

So yes we've watched the romantic movies and we've seen the local Greeks go up and down via donkey.  It looks cool and now that I've experienced it, I can definitely say ....it looks cool lolol. Straddling a snorting, smelly, heaving, braying,  peeing, pooping animal for 10 minutes cant be fun..but! I did it lolol.
I can tell you the exact pt that I fell in love with Santorini.

I went to the atm and withdrew 40euro. Somewhere along the way to the local spot where my guesthouse owner eats, the 40euro slipped out of my pocket (womp womp) but I still headed to the local cuz I was reaaaaallly hungry. Anywhoser, I presented myself and said  ,'hey, _______told me to come here to eat anytime I was hungry . do you accept cards?, little mommy (so cute) said ' sorry no but come back tomorrow'.

at this point I thought she meant, come back tomorrow when you got cash lady,  now beat it. Until she startes clearing a table and pulling out a chair for me to sit! This woman doesnt know me from adam. Yes I know she can always track me down based on the guesthouse but WOW. That has NEVER happened to me before abroad or at home. Money talks! Who cares if you were mugged by a group of dancing ducks? So of course,  this is where I go to eat my breakfast lunch and dinner now without fail. lolol And I must say im prob losing weight here. the food is fresh and superbly healthy;  but it tastes so good! How am I ever to go back to Trinidad with their substandard yogurt, bacclava, gyro and feta cheese? HOW! !! This life can be cruel. 

I also checked out the local scene and bars are really popular with one ever 10feet it seems. I went to one and had to show them that Angostura bitters Is a product of Trinidad and Tobago. They were truly impressed lolol. Got home at 10 duh-runk like a skunk after just 2 drinks and called it a night.

The next day (today) rain. Like seriously? Thunder and lightening!!! Ah well. It did make me think of home lolol. I planned to fo the Fira (Thira) to Oia walk today. What originally was meant to be about 3hrs turned to 5 because of the rain and I kept finding the most wondrous sites! These Greeks would put a church ANYWHERE!  Like on the side of a mountain that has NO access except one precarious footpath! That church service better be good if I was a member having to brave death by cliff diving or bee stings just to get to church back in the day.

The walk was insanely long but I am soooo appreciative that I get to do these things now at 29 instead of 59 when most likely, I wouldn't have made it.

This day was epic. Wowser. amazing and all of that jazz. Oia was beautiful but a little too sticker tape and pretty for me. Perfect for the high end tourists who want nothing to do with Santorini. ..in my opinion.

Anywhoser,  Im going to brave the bizarre but timly bus service to check out Perissa and Old THira tomorrow. In the meantime...pictures!

The end of the road

Its been reaaaalllly a while.

10 pounds have been gained (I blame my Spain/Portugal trip), my boyfriend has cme and gone and I'm finally riding my bike with some semblance of finesse and frequency. 

Yesterday the 24th was my last day of work. Hoorah for that. Being an assistant is definitely good if you like mind numbing drone like work and this generation of teens scare me dearly but its over now. No more listening to "madame comment dire avec? " Jeeezus. The struggle has been real for the last month.

But now it is basically over. ive always prided myself on my ability to not be homesick. Well this ability flew out the window this time. I am hella ready. after 8 months. im done. i dont know how other caribnean people put themselves  through this. But..id rather be home doing nothing lolol.

But alas..you know we love to end things off with a BANG and so .. Im in Crete!    I AM BEYOND EXCITED. lolol

Ever since I was a (very) young girl ive been fascinated with the greek islands. not Athens.  Specifically Crete. I have no clue why. Now I am here I realise that I was definitely on to something. 

I myself was a bit nervous coming to Greece as we know how much they loooove black people (not) but boy oh boy was I  wrong. These people know hospitality and how to get the money from your coiffers. But they are so good, I dont even mind.

My flight arrived late last night (thanks for the tardiness Ryanair) and of course I took the bus from the airport .only 2€30 and got a bit lost whilst looking for my lodgings. But thank god these Chanians are the way they are. my host at Stoa ros is amazing. Great, jovial, dry humour and left a huge bottle of alcohol in my mini fridge for me. A fridge I wasnt even expecting at € 30/night. Walked into my room and saw two huge beds . When I reminded my host that it's just me he responded " I want you to be prepared.you may go out on the town and meet someone or several someones". After I picked my jaw off from the floor and checked out of the bathroom I was ready for a walkabout.

Negating my little embarassing moment when I banged on the wrong door of a building thinking it was my hotel. ..moving on lolo.  Chania harbour is beautiful.  The streets are narrow and you can  tell that's more or less untouched since the first Minoans ( I think ) from 2000 years ago.

I had a gyro with yogurt that was ok. Simple in taste but I am still yet to wrap my head around the concept of a healthy gyro lolol.

Today. Today. Today. I am definitely not much of a shopper but Chania is hella cheap . I did get bullied by a grandpa into buying some stuff..but in my defense he did scare the crap out of. me lolol. But soaps , body things, bags. cheap.

Lunch was...an adventure.  I heard of this place from another blog thats right on the harbour close to where the trail to the. lighthouse begins. Vasiliko. Well yes. If you wsnt a tour of the chef s kitchen,  ask how fresh the fish is. Every fridge was opened and I was shown the catch of the day all gutted and wonderfully dead and of course....fresh.

So for 17euro I had. Bread. Some kinda spinach green business in olive   oil and grilled sardines.  I am no sardine fan. But I am sure one now. 2 unwanted but free shots of some local shot...will get the name soon and an unwanted but free bowl of ice cream and of course my very own bottle of local Alfa beer. light just enough for a girlie girl like me .

Tomorrow we are off to Santorini!!! My expectations are high!

CAF strikes again

Why me lord...why me !

All of a sudden I make TOO much money for the CAF.

Jesus.

Save me.

Worries

I am immensely worried.

In this economic climate, jobs are so hard to come by.

I've been applying and applying and applying and nothing !

Sigh

My fun in France is being marred by the worry that I return to nothing.

Hopefully things change :)

I can only stay positive .

The Isle of Destitution

God I need to be paid.

There's so much I want to see and experience, but unfortunately the bank balance is just not having any of it !

On the bucket list we have:

Amsterdam (again)
Berlin
Ibiza
Greece
Italy (Rome, Firenze, Tuscany)

If somehow I find some trips for €60 return, I'm there !

Oh la la !

That's why I love powder

Wow. I think a truck ran over my body.

Multiple times.

Seriously.

Besides experiencing this odd phenomenon of strapping your two feet to a plank of board and propelling your body down the side of the mountain, the FALLS that you experience in this activity are just short of EPIC.

Faceplant, ass plant, arm plant, fold up, twist body slide are all the types of falls that I did over a cumulative 6 hours of snowboarding.

Wow. Am I in pain now.

This experience was part of a bet that I won( thank god cause lord knows I wouldn't have been able to afford it otherwise), and now I am certain about two things.
Snowboarding and snow sports are for people with money.
Snowboarding is for the fearless. I.e. you have no fear of falling nor of looking like a complete idiot while sliding squat like, arms out down a mountain.

Did I mention the falling HURTS ! If you are lucky enough you may fall in the wonderful powder of fresh snow that displaces itself with the magical grace of baby powder.

If, however, you meet that stubborn ice. God help you. That ish ain't for old people nor the old at art.

The weekend is over and it seems like it happened in a whirlwind. Nimes to Lyon St Expury (with two stops in Valence TGV and Valence Ville), then on to meet my host who rented a car from Hertz. A Two hour drive and 30 minute pitstop in Carrefour later, and we are rushing towards the equipment rental place and my 2.5 hour torture ski session where I just managed to stand up on the board upright. :s
Thank god Mercure included dinner cuz at the end I would have eaten my host I was so amazingly hungry.
We also hit up Le Brézilien, a cool club/pub/bar with lots of drunk young people , snogging by the bar (what else is there to do when you're young , its cold and there's a copious amount of liquor around).
Day 2 wasn't much better with the first 1/2 of the day being a lesson in falling...ungracefully.
But ! By after lunch and a new sense of 'you gotta stick it to win it', I spent my last 1.5 hrs going up and down the magic carpet (really cool) to perfect my snowboard/crawl/bawl whatever you want to call it.

So on my last run. I feel twice.

What a record :)

Will I try it again once I get the opportunity?

Hell yes !

Hopefully, I'll be financially secure enough to perfect this little indulgence.

It's hard being a perfectionist!

Things (about myself) that I've learned in France

Today, I had a long conversation with a school mate.

Marathon long.

Teenaged. Tie up the phone lines and no call waiting long.

5 hours.

However, it wasn't all giggles and 'ole talk' (as we trinis say). Somewhere, weaved into the fabric of our conversation, was some introspection into where we are and what we have achieved at age 28.

What we both agreed upon was that never in our wildest dreams we imagined we would end up where we are now.

Me in France as an English Language assistant, and she as an aerial artist; flying with ease through fire, up silk fabric and through hoops.

We realised that , although our intensely academic and strict background primed us and trained us to always make plans; whether it be 5, 10, 15 years, these plans can always, quite frankly, go to shit.
This is life. Life follows no Plan. She doesn't care about a dream that you had 10 years ago. She cares about moving forward. Only.

As such, we both came to the realisation at the same time that maybe we looked upon life with naive , hopeful eyes at the age of 18.

For me, I realised that at age 28, I've fulfilled the goals I set for myself at age 18. Never did I realise that over the years I should add and modify these goals. So one day, with masters and consultancy experience in hand, I realised I felt lost . Incomplete. Unfulfilled. Without a plan. Without direction.

If I am going to be honest with myself, at this moment , the plan that I made for myself and conscientiously followed over 10 years, is one that, frankly, I did not enjoy too much.

Very quickly I realised I didn't enjoy the rat race which was my initial exposure to consultancy. The bidding for projects, trying to get on project teams, overcoming prejudices, being black, being female, seen as untrustworthy, etc. Etc. Eventually, I saw no growth in myself or my professional ability.

Lost and stagnant. That's how I felt.

For 2 years too many.

Break to 2 years later, and I'm in France, doing the most basic activity that has absolutely nothing to do with my academic training. Pleasantly so.

Listening to young french teens butcher the English language and hope that my input and influence allows them to butcher it less...horrendously.

It is mind numbingly boring. Period. But , through this wave of boredom, of course is self inspection. Too much time alone with oneself can only allow for testing, prodding and examination. Sometimes you like what you find. Sometimes you realise that you've been an idiot for too long. Sometimes you find nothing. Thankfully, the final option did not apply to me.

So what did I learn about myself ? I'll put it simply. As goals, plans, endeavoirs are founded from a simple wish, a simple interest. Born from a simple need to belong and contribute in whatever way to society.
1. I like teaching. Specifically, I love when students find that 'Eureka' moment and you can see it in their eyes.
2. I am a natural entrepreneur. I have the ability to think up of a viable business from thin air.
3. Relax. I've been too uptight for far too long and focused on the next feat/obstacle/challenge to notice what was in front of me. Competition steals life. Now, I simply take time to notice.I do.
4. Calm. Lying still with a calm mind and heart is now my favorite activity.
5 . I love fiercely and grow attachments quickly.
6. A career in the private sector is not for me. Perhaps not even in the energy sector (finally. I've said it).
7. Patience. French bureaucracy has given me a thorough lesson.
8. Expect nothing.
9. Stay positive. Keep trying. It will get better.
10. I don't have problems. We as humans make molehills into mountains. However, many of us do not have REAL problems.
Thankfully, I am one of these people *first world problems*
Hopefully, in the final stretch of this sejourn, I can reflect more on myself, my abilities and ultimately my furture. But for now. I'm happy to lay still. Feel the sun on my face and wonder wether or not I should go to Sweden to fête.

Definitely a quick minute

It's been definitely a quick minute since I've posted something.

It is so easy to get out of the habit of these things ! I don't believe in resolutions but its a new year..so I've decided to yank the chain and I'm ready to go.

So what have I been up to ?

Well . I went to London to go to a party (yes I was that desperate). Turns out I wasn't the only desperate Caribbean national as gals from Germany and New York came to take part in the daily pump :)
London also served as my depot for sending out my PhD applications (obviously I enjoy torture). If the applications were so stressful, I'd hate to imagine the next 4 years if I'm accepted :s

It was good to see my family - my uncle and aunt - who are always hilarious, ever cool, up to the times and I ALWAYS learn something when I go there (ever heard of iPhone-ography? ...u laugh...ish is real. Photography with your iPhone. Real courses which people pay money to do :s )
But! I indulged my aunt and bought her a 360 degree scope for her iPhone so she could take panoramic photos in one go :)

I also went to the island who shall not be named (Malta). More or less I would like to forget this trip ever happened. The only good thing about Malta is ...hey it was cheap. 10euro per night for a basic hotel with breakfast and amazing, never ending hot water supply? Priceless.

Otherwise , in my opinion, the people are weird and RACIST (evidenced by a tourist operator calling me a monkey in the middle of the street after I politely declined his horse and buggy ride) and the country , outside of the tourist areas, looks like a nuclear catastrophe occurred.

Yeah. Not my kind of pump :/

The christmas and new years were spent in Nimes and Bordeaux respectively where I ate and ate and ate like a Ngyumayum (Trinidadians over 25  would know this :D ) .

I've had my full and more of things I've never tasted or done in my life. Foie Gras, oysters, ice skating (just like rollerblading ..who knew lol ), risotto (yum), onion jam (its really really good).
What made it even more amazing is that one of the family members that I hung out with is a chef in Paris !!! (Cue greedy and satisfied grin).

Ah I can only say, I've been detoxing for the past 4 days. Boy do I.miss that chef. My cooking is just downright deplorable sometimes.

So school is back on and the next trip is Luxembourg ! :) I'm excited and not at the same time but, I'm keeping an open mind after Malta.

White people, you guys are ok. But some of you have some SERIOUS issues (besides all the mass murder :s)

That's it for now. As usual. Photos !