H Patridia (the homeland)!

On Wednesday, June 23 we were picked up at the hotel, in Athens, by a taxi cab driver named Stathi, who had relatives from the same village as my Papou, which is Kokino. In the 40 minute drive to the airport, we conversed (in Greek) about several different connections of people that he knew and that I knew. [Jonathan, Marsha and Chris, in that order, sat in the backseat wondering what we were talking about.] We then boarded a small plane for the 40 minute flight from Athens to Kalamata. The countryside in Kalamata is far greener than the places we have been before in Greece. When we arrived at the airport Christo Christopulos, and Yanni and Nikki Angelopoulos were waiting excitedly to greet their distant relatives from America. After loading up the luggage, we drove along the coastline to Christo's house where his wife, Maria, had prepared a delicious dinner for us. Christos is a farmer and everything that we ate was prepared from fresh food from their land, including the olives, olive oil, cheese and wine. It was delicious and we were all completely stuffed. They do not know how to speak English so we conversed in Greek for the two hours we were there. [Jonathan, Marsha, and Chris, in that order, sat quietly wondering what we were talking about.] Christos then drove us to our new "home" where we will be staying for the next three weeks, in the town of Chrani. The house belongs to our cousin, George Christopulos, from Chicago. George came to America when he was 18 to go to school. He lived with my family for a short time before he attended the University of Wyoming, and before moving to Chicago for medical school. Our families have remained very close.

When we arrived at the house, the sun was setting. The shutters in the house were closed and as we began opening the doors and windows, we realized that the wait to get here was worth it. The view from the upper balcony looks out over the Mediterranean Sea. In the distance was the shadow of mountains both to the east and to the west. The water was glistening from the sunlight.
The front of the house faces a mountain, where olive trees and spruce trees cover it. Just beyond on the opposite side of the mountain, is my Papou's village. I was getting excited! Everywhere we looked through any open window was a beautiful view. There was a cool breeze blowing through house. We settled in and then sat out on the veranda just to take everything in. Thank you George... Thank you God!