Crete: 10 Fun Facts

October 29, 2016 Susan Arico

Oxi Day parade in downtown Chania (see #9 below!)

Little light fare here on the blog today - some facts about Crete, gleaned in the six weeks since we moved here. All sorts and sizes, something for everyone (you're welcome). I'll intersperse the historical stuff with the "daily living" stuff, just to keep you on your toes.

1. The famous 16th and 17th century artist "El Greco" was a born and bred Cretan. You remember the guy from art history 101? (I had to look him up myself). His full name was Domenicos Theotokopoulos, far too long and complicated for most people on mainland Europe to remember, so they shortened it to El Greco, and the rest is history. Literally. But his career started on Crete, and the Cretans are rightfully very proud of him. I'm told that every major city in Crete has a Theotokopoulos St in his honour. Here's ours in Chania:

Moving to Crete: existential at one month

October 15, 2016 Susan Arico

The kids trying out tennis lessons at Royal Tennis Club

So here we are: we've been Crete residents for a month.

Big picture, it's gone very well. It is a lot. lot. lot to move and resettle a family of six, and more so when it involves an international move to a foreign country where you don't speak the language. I keep reminding myself of this when we face decisions we're unsure how to handle or have hard moments. Which of course we frequently do.

So overall, we're doing great. We have an amazing house we all thrive in; I'm so thankful for that. We use the pool almost daily, there's a driveway great for biking, and bike/running trails behind the house we can all use - farm roads with no cars, virtually unheard of in Chania.

Moving to Crete: nightlife, dogs, and Joni Mitchell

October 4, 2016 Susan Arico

Beautiful and windy afternoon at Stavros Beach

We had the pleasure of attending a lovely party on Saturday night in downtown Chania. One of the Americans who works on the base and knows my husband turned 50 and threw a great bash at a restaurant we love. There were four or five dozen people, a mixture of Greeks, American, and Greek-Americans, with drinks, dancing, and heaps of fabulous food. Such a fun night.

A Greek standard evening affair, from what I understand, runs from about 9 or 10 PM to 1 or 2 AM. In the summer my husband reported that even kids' birthday parties started at 9 PM or later; it's just the Time When Things Are Celebrated. The party Saturday started at 7 PM; a new Greek-American friend of ours at the party predicted that the Americans would arrive at 7 and leave by 11 while the Greeks would arrive an hour or two later and stay till at least 1.

Moving to Crete: settling in

September 29, 2016 Susan Arico

On Saturday evening, after a long day of a) meandering through historic, old town Chania, b) hitting the huge, bustling farmers' market, c) navigating our way to Jumbo, the Walmart of Chania, where we shopped necessaries among masses, and d) swinging by the uniform shop for the kids' school... my husband got a call from a Greek man he knows through his work. He and his girlfriend were in the area and wanted to swing by to say hello; were we up for it? We were.

We spent a delightful hour or so with the two, sipping coffee and eating gluten-free chocolate chip cookies that our resident-baker 10-year-old son had made the day before. He's a burly, classically Greek-looking man with stellar English who obligingly translated for his girlfriend (who spoke less English, though she understood perfectly.) They've spent the bulk of their lives in and near Chania and clearly love it. They told us all about the sites we need to see, the caves we need to explore, the foods we need to try.

Moving to Crete: week 1

September 24, 2016 Susan Arico

The drive toward Chania from our house

There was a huge, glorious thunderstorm on Tuesday morning - torrents of rain, brilliant lightning, booming claps of thunder. I was unpacking at the house as the power flickered on an off, when an overwhelming thunder clap coincided with a loud buzzing sound... from the TV/electronics area. At which point the power went off for good. It came back on a couple hours later, but the internet didn't. And our router was fried - the sound I'd heard. We've been internet-less since then at home, though with help from the base housing dept we are circling closer and closer to getting it restored. Evidently the telecom office has run out of routers, so many got fried in the storm. Hopefully next week. For now for web access I'm using my phone intermittently (it hasn't been consistently working) and the free wifi on the base. Where I am now.

Moving to Crete: kicking it off

September 20, 2016 Susan Arico

So we've been here five days now. The house is... not so shambles-ish as it was at the start. Still a ways to go, but less of a "I can't find a single blasted thing that I'm looking for" feel. I'll take it.

The moving thing's not new to us; we've done it four times since 2008 (priors being to California from New Hampshire, within California, to Virginia). The difference with an international move is how much more complicated basic things are to figure out at first. You're like a toddler trying to make it in a grown-up's world. How do you work the washing machine... or dryer... or stove? What are the funny pictures on the instructions page trying to tell you? Where do you go to buy this or that, and once you've gotten there, how do you ask for the thing? <Repeat all day.>

Moving to Crete: first days

September 17, 2016 Susan Arico

I went under general anesthesia for the first time when I underwent ear surgery in late August at Mass Eye and Ear. Twenty-four hours afterward I felt good. I figured the worst must be behind me and thanked my stars that I'd tolerated the general so well. Next morning I woke up (surprised and) feeling awful - way worse than the day before. Turned out it wasn't a linear process like I'd expected. That learning curve pops up before me often this week as we cope with jet lag. It all went so very well the first day we were here in Crete - everyone so exhausted from the (nearly) sleepless redeye, to say nothing of the prior 10 weeks of nomadic and dad-less life, that we just crashed and slept 12 solid hours. Woke up "on schedule" in the Greek timezone, ate our three meals at the normal times, and figured we'd kind of sail through. Nights 2, 3, and 4 have proved me notably wrong - again. Good, then worse, then better is evidently a thing. Duly noted.

Sleepless nights and crying, disoriented kids at night notwithstanding, the transition's gone pretty well.