Perfectness

How does it feel to be okay? How does it feel to be liked? How does it feel to be minimally admired? How do you feel today? I will tell you about me. I feel nice, okay, comfortable, good and confident. I just want to keep this in mind in order to be like this more times. I just need to remember, or if the memory fails, I just need to read it again. And certainly think about what it meant in the past, what it is meaning just right now. I am sure I can remember that! It is very easy: how does it feel to have lots of things in your personality that can interest such perfect person from very far from your home place? How does it feel to know that other cultures can like you? How does it feel to know that someone with such a different background could maybe be the perfect one? And then, mostly fantastic, how does it feel to know that that person at least admires you as a person? It feels great. Even if with more days we could become evil persons. Because then I just lay down and relax; my first impressions are [almost] never wrong and “we live with the qualities and we learn to live with the bad ones”.

If a small and sweet supposed “angel” liked me, then why couldn’t the normal beings like either? Yes that’s it. Let’s keep this text for the future, let’s keep it as a guarantee for me of my possible value. Being accepted intellectually and maybe more, in not just my culture is something comfortable. For now it is relaxing, it is reflective, it is happy. Anyway let’s just hope that the same can be felt by you. Let’s hope that all I said, all I’ve done [or I haven’t] and all I showed just allowed you to feel the most fantastic person I knew for a long time. Why do you look like the perfect harmony between external and internal beauty? I want you to feel special, I want you to be yourself and then to cast a smile to me! And tell me without talking that you heard what I haven’t said about you. Tell me with your kind voice, again, that I am special and wait for me to tell you that you will always be! Just tell me now, perfectness, how does it feel?

Green Roofs

"Hello world."
As my project has been having some problems mainly due to a local partner organisation that is not doing the reforestation as they were supposed to. Anyway, I have been searching some things for the "office" work. My mentor told me about "Green Roofs", something I have never heard before. Some easy search and I have lots of information already!
Today's step was to make a list of materials so we can buy them in order to make a small "maquete". I found some easy-finding materials that are generally used, so I hope next week I can start making it! With this we can estimate a price/m2 for extensive green roofs too.

Easter in Greece

I wasn’t expecting anything special in the Greek Orthodox easter celebrations. I just had no idea. Everyone wanted to go to the church “just to see it”. So I went to. “Just to see”… Well it starts from the best way. As we were walking to the huge square around the Metropolis Church we noticed that everyone in the streets were very well dressed, dressed as “Domingo”. Tonight was Saturday night, but okay it is easter, let them use their good dresses once per year!

Arriving at the square we moved through the people to get closer to the outside “altar”. First impression: “Que CARALHO ‘tá aqui o exército a fazer?!”. An army battalion was just standing making like a human cord so that the people didn’t occupied the space for the priests to pass. WTF?! The army?? And 6 or 7 police officers too? It was enough to see the army parade in the greek liberation day after all the schools and everyone looked soooo happy! Now....the army together with religious celebrations? WWWWTTTTTFFF?! In this moment I got sick. Ah! And the soldiers looked like cheap actors who don’t even know exactly how to be in those situations... Advancing. Lots of children too, with candles in the hands, listening to 2 men “singing” things (yes, something) that didn’t even worked as “mantras” for buddhist people. Disgusting, I am sorry... Poisoning those small heads with chants who look that directly came from a book of dark sorcery. The whole ambience reminded me of that indeed. Dark, only light from the candles that 80% of the people had and one or 2 light poles. People from all ages could be seen there. Really, all ages without exception. All well dressed for a celebration that took like 15 minutes. As all the bars were closed, I suppose they used their fancy clothes for like half an hour! “So much for the All-Stars”! Show-off, contest, exhibitionism... Fake...

The only thing that kept me there was the army. I will never understand how could they use the army in religious celebrations. Control maybe, it is all about [mind] control. Anyway, my airsofter side was active and real G3-A3/4 were there and some very ugly costumes too. Just have been observing in case someone wants to re-enact (such bad tastes!...)

Enough. It is just to say that my children will never be exposed to such demonstrations of fanaticism. Neither religious or militarist or now both as it seems it is possible. I won’t choose for them anything so decisive for them. You don’t agree, you don’t marry me. Kiss, see you tomorrow!

Volunteerism

For most of the EVSrs in Greece holidays have come in easter time. I had only two days but many of them have 1 or 2 weeks. It is okay! So, we are now hosting 8 volunteers (and 1 extra) here for the weekend! House at around 250%!

Most of the volunteers we met in our on-arrival seminar, established contacts and now here they are. We just met 2 new people. It’s good to have the house full of movement, but it is easy to start missing privacy and “solo” moments. Anyway, it is greeeeeat! We can now know better some of the friends we made in our on-arrival seminar and that is fantastic as you my assiduous readers should know. Interculturalism is just fantastic for me!

Κορώνη (Koroni): Part 2

This is how the stairwell looked like, or it just simply doesnt looked like anything.

No flash

W/ Flash

The only light we had was the focus-helping light of mt camera that stayed on for less than a second. Better than cameras' flashes that are not viable... Down there I got astonished about the place! A huge and large and tall and geometrical tower in a dome like room. Traces of "picnics" were everywhere and there was lots of sand even being like 20 meters above the sea.


We then found that there is a normal and harmless entrance besides the dangerous and totally dark stairs...

Walking north, with the huge green field on our right (with goats, chickens and a donkey around), we found Jeronimo and the entrance of this side of the castle/fortress that leads to that big open green space. There are pieces of the walls just having a bath in the blue/green sea. Massive pieces of medieval walls just down there, probably for a looooooong time... Why they dont get them and try to use them to reconstruct the place? Is it so hard? I dont think so... Is it viable? I am not an archeologist...


After this we tried to retrieve a carpet that was swiming in a beach right close to those wall pieces. We went into the green zone and there we can realize how big that damn fortress is. If it is that big from that point of view, I assure that into the west it is a lot bigger than this!


So, we tried to go down to the sea, but only rocks, difficult paths, Greek "sea-side silvas"... We found some caverns and we went back to the fortress. Then one or 2 more rooms in the walls and then we searched for a place to eat. Passing by some houses (yes, inside there), one car and one bike, some goats and one roulotte, we found another tower and we had our lunch there, with a great view to Koroni.

Then we went to visit the monastery inside the fortress and a tower where a lady was saying the καστρι was. Not a big deal, the monastery area very very white, you cannot enter with shorts or mini-skirt or sleeveless or showing more than half of your arms, you cannot make noise (supposely) and probably you cannot produce your offspring either...

Then we tried one of the beaches of the zone... Only the "wavy" beach is a beach... This one on the north part of the town is a big σκατά! It has something in the sand that I have no idea what it is. Looks like pieces of some tissue mixed with the wastes of a carpenter's shop. It could be a good beach, with fantastic water... But as usual, in Greece...
We slept there a bit and then we slept in the bus back home.

From Kalamata to Koroni
From 11h to 21:30h
For 4.80€ x 2

Photo count: 620
Photo artifacts found: 15

Κορώνη (Koroni): Part 1

Κορώνη was called by the Venetians as Corone and the Ottomans in their times. In greek this means flower garlands, and it looks like it doesn't mean "crown" in italian (corona). Anyway, and despite the true meaning, for me it means Greece.

We (me, Jeronimo, Ece and Laszlo) took a local/regional bus. Fortunately we entered in the first stop, so I expect the other people who stayed stand just enjoyed the sardine experience. Unlike in Portugal we enter the bus without paying and we start the trip right away. A few stops after a man starts to collect the payments. At least they know the numbers in English and are smart enough to understand I wanted to pay 2 tickets, one for my friend too. Of course I could have said "Ghia Koroni parakaló. Mu ké tu" (this is the sound of the thing, i dont want to risk transliterations...eheh). Probably he would understand I suppose... Anyway we met an old man in the bus who is living in South Africa after working there many years. Very nice person and he even gave us a bus schedule with all the links and times from Kalamata!

Then, after 1h45m we finally reached destiny. I really am no good....for a bus driver! The streets looked sooo narrow when we are inside the bus! And the balconies on the houses didnt help... But he managed to go down to a plaza one street near the sea. Guess what was in the middle of it?! A church! Very good!... Now that I am here, let me count them... hmm... 1... 2... 3... 4... and a Monastery! For a city with 1668 inhabitants... Yes I think it is apropriate! I just need to tell this to the mayor of my home town so he can start to save some money to build 3 or 4 more churches. In Amares, the town, all! This is Greece.

Advancing... We started to look for the castle of course. On our way there we found a great view over a sea with waves! Yes, waves, more or less like in Portugal. Not ondulation like in Kalamata where the sea looks lazy and is just moving to say that he is there.

We then walked into the castle/fortress and we decided "right". There was a cemetery and a bird wandering above my head of which I took exactely 15 photos. Those helped me to discover (at home) that my camera's sensor had some dirt... A bit further in the walls and a good view again.

The water looks great at least! (you will know why I say this further on)

The nest thing of interest was a tower just a bit to the inside of the previous location. Lookde very at first view, it looked well preserved. We went uo the wall and we saw the tower from there. At the first view it looked that the only way to reach the tower would be to jump down to some wooden planks and then walk carefuly towards the tower... I found two balls somewhere and then I did it. Reached the tower I just found an entrance/exit that passed just below the stairs we took to go up the wall!... Saintly stupidity... I called the others (by this time we had already lost Jeronimo somewhere as usual), we found some stairs leading down in a totally dark tunnel and after a while we decided: Let's go!

To be continued...

I miss...

- my dog/cow;
- my friends;
- the nights in Concelho and Sintomas;
- my bus travels;
- my mom's food;
- my room and my house;
- genetics;
- portuguese humour;
- my speakers;
- Vila Real;
- my airsoft things;
- ...ed our Carnival parade and will miss the 25th of April;
- driving;
- riding a motorbike;
- my DVDs;
- my drawings;
- love;
- you;
- you;
- you;
- you;
- my closet;
- cinema;
- my city;
- my misunderstandings;
- coffee for 55 cents;
- my father's complaints about the politicians;
- my garden;
- portuguese yoghurts;
- Limiano's halfs;
- talking in Portuguese;
- portuguese ladies;
- laughing about the "olive oilers";
- shopping;
- my bridge;
- my sun and my pool;
- etc...