Back to Basics

My boss sent me an email with this song in it because she thought i’d love it and she was right. I do love it. In fact i loved it so much that i felt inspired to talk about it. The message of this song is absolutely admirable. In an age where little black girls are getting perms as young as 3 and they are learning the concept of good hair versus bad hair this is a breath of fresh hair ( haha)

Don’t need a trip to the beauty shop,
’cause I love what I got on top.
It’s curly and it’s brown and it’s right up there!
You know what I love? That’s right, my hair!
I really love my hair.
I love my hair. I love my hair.
There’s nothing else that can compare with my hair.
I love my hair, so I must declare:
I really, really, really love my hair.
Wear a clippy or in a bow
Or let it sit in an afro
My hair looks good in a cornrow
It does so many things you know, that’s why I let it grow
I love my hair, I love my hair
I love it and I have to share
I love my hair, I love my hair!
I want to make the world aware I love my hair.
I wear it up. I wear down. I wear it twisted all around.
I wear braids and pigtails too.
I love all the things my hair can do.
In barrettes or flying free, ever perfect tresses you’ll see
My hair is part of me, an awesome part of me
I really love my hair!

As hair is the pride of any woman, especially i feel black women, we should have the courage to wear our pride naturally. We shouldn’t look down on our hair because of its difference but rather accept it for its difference and versatility. The same way we want that wavy smooth, commercial shiny hair, is the same way someone wants our kinky, versatile, hair that can be change every week into a different style.

In fact the different things we can do with our hair as black women is form of artistic expression. I mean why is it that we have hair shows now, its to show what can be done with hair. Even looking at the lyrics we can see a small snippet of the things that can be done to our hair. We are lucky enough to  have options. Whether it be dreads, braids, cornrows, natural curls, short cuts, twists, or  fros. We can do it all, and most of it naturally. In fact at one point or another, we have done it all including the ones involving chemicals that is damaging to our hair. I can speak for myself when i say that i’ve tried it all. I’ve been through the stage where i loved my hair and then hated it. I permed it, cut it, let it grow naturally, texturized it, straightened it, let out in a fro, got cornrows, braids, weaves, I’ve even worn a wig. All because i wanted my hair to look like what the media considered beauty. And through it all even though i loved my current hair style every time i had something done, that feeling never lasted and  i can’t ever say that i’ve loved my hair. I’m not criticizing or judging those that aren’t natural or have perms, because if i was i’d be a hypocrite. I’m just saying i feel that there is more pride to be gotten when you carry your hair naturally, can have a natural style and can proudly proclaim that “YES….THIS IS MY HAIR”

More so, your hair is healthier when its less processed and why shouldn’t being healthy in body and mind include our hair.

Its time to get back to the stage where we really love our hair. And i mean OUR HAIR and in loving our hair we can take better care of it. If we can be happy with our outward appearance it makes it easier to be happy with your inside as well. So even though as india arie said

I am not my hair
I ma not this skin
I am a soul that lives within

Being happy with our hair can go a long way towards letting us be happy with ourselves, building up better self esteem and facing the world with a more positive attitude. And that can start as easy as this song

I want to make the world aware I love my hair………. 
My hair is part of me, an awesome part of me
I really love my hair!

Lets start loving our hair.

My Other Half

Having you so far away in Greece has made me realize that your not only my sister but my other half. You being so far away makes me feel like i've lost a huge part of me. So next time you decide to travel the world or explore somewhere new, take me with you. I don't know if i'll be able to handle someone so close to me... being away for so long. So i just wanted to say that ur the best sister ever Everest and I love you, mo ni ife re, 我爱你，사랑해 。♥   

                                                                                         - choco kolawole

Awwww. you're going to make me cry. if i had my way you would have been right here next to me this whole time. SO hurry up and graduate soon, so that we go start taking over the world. Doing the things we've always wanted, going the places we've only dreamed about and not looking back. So please grow up faster so we can start our travels. i miss you too and just so you know you're my bestie and i love you too σ'αγαπώ (s'agapo) i finally learnt how to say it in greek =)

                                                                                 

                                                                                        -honeybee kolawole

 

So i did. i cried and cried a little more and then some more. I mean, these weren’t sad tears mind you, they were like happy tears and nostalgic tears. I cried because i miss my other half, i cried because i love my other half and i cried because i wish i was with my other half. The tears felt good. This would be the first time i have cried since being in Greece and i think it was about time. In crying for this i cried about other things as well

I cried because i missed my family and my friends. I cried for what i was missing at home and i cried for what i knew i was gaining here and couldn’t immediately share with those i love. Its a conundrum when you know you’re getting so much from something but at the same time losing out on other things.

I’m so grateful for this message for making me cry. It was exactly what i needed but the whole time i was reading it i wish i could make the request on it happen. i wish i could take away the sad feelings it provoked in my other half. I wish i wasn’t so far away from her. I wish there was some way to be here and there at the same time. I wish she hadn’t felt that she lost a huge part of her with me away while i’m here gaining a new part of me. I wish she could have come with me on this journey, where i get to explore a part of the world and myself. i wish she didn’t have to deal with me being away for this long while i knew i have to be away for this long to be able to deal with myself.

I can’t wait till she can leave and start her own journey in life. I can’t wait for the times when i’m going to be the one writing the message about missing my other half. i can’t wait for when i’m going to be the one  feeling like i’ve lost a part of me. I can’t wait to be the one wanting to be taken on a journey with her. Because when that happens that will mean she’s getting the chance to explore herself, find herself and grow.

Most of all i can’t wait till we’ve both been on our journeys so that we can embark on the journeys we’ll have together. The places we’ll go, the things we’ll see, the things we’ll do, the pictures we’ll take, the stories we’ll have. I can’t wait till we can just go and not look back, together this time. That way we won’t be leaving any part of us behind or leaving each other being.

So this is to you. My other half. My best Friend. The one who completes me. My Sister. You’re the best sister a girl could ever ask for. I love you and i’m telling you in every way i can.

Mo ni ife re

Je t’aime.

Te Amo

s’agapo

HaPpiNesS

I’ve never thought to define happiness. But today i actually felt happiness and the need to define it. Today was one of those days that started off majorly stressful with a lot on my plate to do, all before 9 am. I had to lead a discussing in the class i TA and i had my first Greek quiz right after and i hadn’t studied. Upon finishing all that i had to get back to the office and start on my to-do list and try to finish as much as possible before 3. Then i left work and had the unfortunate pleasure of waiting for the bus, getting crowded on it and having my personal space invaded. I finally got home and thought I’d be able to take a nap….but no, i had work to do, so there was no nap. Overall, not my definition of happiness. Then just one thing happened, just one simple conversation and immediately my day was brightened. I immediately felt happy from the beginning of the conversation to the end, even when we were arguing and disagreeing on things, just because i got to see his face and hear his voice.

For me, all this made me happy and i wanted to define that feeling…..just because that’s the type of person i am. I wanted to be able to document the meaning of this feeling so that i could revisit it in the future and come back to this same place that i am right now.

At first i thought happiness is when you’re lazing around on a hot summer day either in the pool or posted in from of the tv on a couch with the remote and snacks within reaching distance.

Or when you spend hours telling meaningless stories with your friends and laughing until tears are pouring down your face.

It could also be that sense of accomplishment you get from finally getting the grade you deserve on a test or quiz after days of nonstop studying.

Or when you go shopping and find the perfect dress or outfit at half the normal cost and it fits perfectly.

How about when you find the perfect book and get lost in it, feeling like you’re actually in the book and the characters are your friends.

Or when you find your private, personal place in a city where you can always go and be alone and find yourself.

I also saw it as long walks to no where, just strolling along, watching everything and absorbing the humanity around you.

When you hear a story of someone finding and getting everything they deserve in life after years of suffering and pain.

When you hear and see that someone you care about is happy and you contributed to that.

All these are my definitions of happiness but today i discovered a new one.

Today happiness to me was defined as when you got to see and talk to someone you hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to and see in a while. Someone who mattered. And in that conversation every moment seemed like a gift. Every word a treasure. Every smile a blessing. And there was pure contentedness from just being in that person’s presence. So, when the time came to say goodbye, even  though it was hard, the sheer happiness from that conversation was going to be enough……….until next time.

The amount of happiness that you have depends on the amount of freedom you have in your heart.                       Thich Nhat Hanh

Hands of Time

Have you ever wondered about how time passes by. Sometimes it can seem like there’s not enough time in the day to do everything you have to do and other times it just seems like time is literally crawling at a snails pace.

Today i did nothing. Literally Nothing. I laid in bed, got up a few times to eat and came back to bed. As i was in bed, it occurred to me that I've been in Greece already 4 weeks and i didn’t even realize it. Granted sometimes during the week, it seemed like time could definitely go faster and it was just taking its time. Or sometime the day would be over before i got any of my work done.

But i looked back and realized I'd been here four weeks and i didn’t feel like i had anything to show for it. As humans we feel the need to know that we haven’t wasted our precious time on this earth. That we accomplished something in the time we’ve spent here on earth. Whether it be knowing you accomplished something meaningful in one day, one week, one month or in my case one semester abroad. Don’t get me wrong, I've been doing a lot that would be considered using my time wisely, but as my biggest critic, i had higher expectations for myself on what i wanted to accomplish my first time abroad and I've been slacking. I’ve been too busy  watching the hands of time go by. Trying to make it move faster so that i can get to the point where i want it to be….December 18.

In doing that I've been drawing out time longer than it actually goes by. Its like when you count down minutes or hours, it always seems longer than when you’re actually living time and doing something with it besides watching it. So by unconsciously counting down, I've been making things longer than they actually are.

Today i learnt. Today i learnt to leave time alone and let it go at its own pace. Its not slowing down for me, hurrying up for me or even waiting for me to catch up. Its just going. And if i really want to make the best use of my time, i have to start living time. If i want to live up to my expectations of what i want to experience my first time abroad, i have to stop watching time. If i want to leave my mark on this trip, i have to start loving time and making the most of it. Even if that means not doing anything with my time or doing the most i can with it.

Pineapple Whiskey Weekend

The fist weekend in October was our first official free weekend since moving to Greece
On Friday, Diana, Erin and I went shopping for like 5 hours and walked around town looking for a place that sold harem/genie pants. i got the coolest harem/genie pants at a store we dubbed harem city because it had so many varieties. and some safari looking pants near a place we called cat call alley because as we walked by there were many men trying to get out attention. creepers!!!! and the h & m  here is a fail. i wasn’t tempted in any way to waste money and that is the mark of a failure h & m. They don’t even have sales racks in Europe  =(. At my new favorite store BERSHKA , i got and the coolest dress/tunic…..that can be either. It looks like a toga, so i thought it was fitting to get here in Greece. And i absolutely love it. oh and i got my nose pierced = ) Granted this is the biggest part of that Friday.

Erin and i were walking to the tattoo shop to find out how much things would cost and apparently getting holes in yourself and tattoos are really cheap in Europe. The whole process to get the nose piercing was weird though. I bought my stud at one Nico store. Had to walk up the square to another to get my piercing done. We stopped at the second Nico store we saw and apparently that was the tattoo Nico store. Then we finally found the last one where i could get my piercing. The whole time all i could think was that a person could definitely change their mind as they walked from one store to the other….and would only have a random nose stud  and an unpierced nose to show for it. The total cost of my piercing and stud 14 Euros = $20 and i knew i was going to be coming back for my ears

At the end of the day i had no more cash meaning i spent about 85 Euros and was broke which meant someone else covered my drinks at the bar.

Later that night we went to our favorite bar, the music room, again we’re the only ones in there. We got the name of the owner, Stavros and the bartender, Leonidas. Like in the movie 300 but we were soon corrected that the movie is after the Greek Leonidas……i didn’t care that much i just thought Leonidas was a cool name. We got our drink, two pineapple and vodkas and a rum and coke. And the night of relaxing began.

Then Stavros pours five shots of pineapple whiskey and randomly placed it in front of us. I thought it was weird but when him and Leonidas also took up a glass i grabbed mine too. He wouldn't drug us all. Lol. It was free and it was delicious too.

Then we got a second round and then a  strange old man came in with a young woman. Like he was probably in his 60s and she in her 20s.  She was black and i was excited to see another black person and told her i loved her braids….which i sincerely meant. Then the old man proudly told us all in a weird combination of English, Greek and Italian that she was Jamaican. Okkaaay…..  After that he attempted to speak to us but no one understood the weird  combination of Greek and Italian so conversation was interesting although Leonidas who knows no Italian managed to find a way to translated for us.

The highlight of the night was when the old man bought us a round of drinks. We weren’t going to say no. But then he went outside with his woman and we didn’t think we were getting the drinks. Diana was on duty so she had to leave but as she was about to leave leonidas brought her the drink the old man had bought her. She had to rush it so she could leave but I'm pretty sure she was late for rounds by like 30 minutes. lol. Its all good, it wasn’t like we were going to report her.

Erin and i chilled. got our third drinks and then the old man and his woman came back in and started shouting. All we could hear was the girl shouting “WHO’S YOUR FRIEND?” we finished our drinks and left quickly. Considering that we were both broke we  walked back along the boardwalk which took us over an hour  to walk.

 

Of course we were kind of buzzed and had to pee. We peed into the ocean and speaking for me  it was very liberating. lol. Then we got back to Erin’s building and hung out with students while buzzed. Our conversation was very interesting and they never knew.

i got back to my room around 2 am, happy as a clam at how much fun i had = )

GREEK 101

so I'm going to be taking Greek 101 now
I'm the only one on the staff that has elected to take the class for two reasons. one to actually learn Greek and two to meet people and hopefully that class isn’t filled with NUin students
Activities fair was this week and it was so cute because all the clubs in the school had table and there was about 12 tables total. Never the less i joined the pottery club, the tennis club and I'm hoping to get into the cooking club if possible.
On Wednesday after our very emotional day me, two other ISAs, Diana and Erin, and the SD (Leighanne) and the ASD (Renay) got together and went to a bar to destress and relax. It was a little dive bar and we were the only ones there, which was not surprising since we went around 9.  The rule was that we weren’t allowed to talk about work and it was nice. We all got to know each other a little more and laughed a lot. I just had to leave by 10:30 because I'm on duty for the week and had to be back to do rounds.
Its really nice to be in a culture were you can go out with your bosses like that, talk, have a drink and just chill. I had a vodka and pineapple drink, someone had red wine, there was a rum and coke and two beers.  And i got to say the Greeks make their alcohol very strong. My vodka and pineapple was 3/4 vodka and the rest pineapple. I knew that would be my only drink for the night because I'm a light weight and i didn’t want to be drunk in front of my co-workers. Also i didn’t want to do rounds drunk. That would have been really professional. lol
Upon getting back to the building and going right into my rounds,  there was an incident and i had to write a report. it wasn’t bad but it had to be done and i hate getting people in trouble but again it had to be done because the person had broken the rules. One of my biggest fears about this job was wondering if I'd be tough enough to write someone up and well…..guess i am.
As of today I’ve officially been to two classes of Greek 101 and since i missed the first two classes i feel so behind. I’m now trying to learn my Greek alphabet and Greek combination words so i can actually know what's going on in the class. The teacher has been lenient enough that she hasn’t called on me to read anything in class yet. But i think my grace period is over and next week I'm going to be in the spotlight. Wish me luck
I leave you with this…….my current personal hell

Corfu day 2……and rain

So it essentially rained our second day at Corfu ruining any chances of personal sightseeing but we still had to go on the pre arranged bus tour of the town. Here are the pictures i took.

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After our day of sightseeing, we all (the staff that is) stayed in and at night we had a bowling tournament in which i came in 4th at first and then 3rd i think for the second round. It was fun!!! I really think i am going to take up bowling when i get back because i think i have untapped skills in that area.
The next morning it was time to leave so i made sure to go out onto the private beach one last time and get pictures of the sun breaking out of the clouds. It was absolutely beautiful and i’m glad i was able to witness and capture it all before i left. That last morning made up for the fact that i didn’t get to tour the town like i wanted and the fact that the weather had made me sick. More so, watching the sun over the water is one of the most humbling experiences in the world to me. You become very conscious of your tiny existence in the grand scheme of the world. You see how even something like the sun rising or setting is still beautiful despite how trite and commonplace it is. And the biggest lesson of all is that you learn not to worry about anything because if the sun can rise and set everyday then there’s really nothing to worry about.

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The journey back h0me to Thessaloniki was just as beautiful as the journey to Corfu. Memories were made along the way and overall, even though some aspects of this job might be frustrating and aggravating, getting to see another part of this beauty of the world and being able to be immersed in it make it worth it.

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Corfu…..Kerkyra day 1

A weekend trip to a five star hotel on one of the Greek islands = bliss. Real result due to being on Duty and rainy day = no sightseeing, sore throat, cold, body aches  and sniffles at a five star hotel. Priceless When i first heard early in the summer during our PDP that we would be going to one of the Greek islands for a weekend, i was pumped. I was soo excited that it was one of the biggest things i was looking forward to. Then we began our journey early Friday morning of the 24th. We were supposed to leave by 8am but come 8:30 there were still students missing or students who woke up late. –_- i was not happy about that. Then we started. It was going to be a long trip. It was a 4 hour bus ride after which we would take a ferry for an hour and then drive 20 minutes to the hotel.

The first hour wasn’t bad. Some of us started talking about our favorite tv shows. Which lead to a discussion about grey’s anatomy, private practice and glee. Then we got to a rest stop and it was nice to get out of the bus. Although in stepping off the bus we realized how cold it was outside. The weather made me apprehensive about when we would get to Corfu and if it would still be the same.We got back on the bus and one of the students next to me started watching glee and i watched with her. I was immediately hooked and i found someone from which i could borrow the first season from . YAY!!!

The view driving along the roads was absolutely beautiful. I kept whipping out my camera to take pictures

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We finally got to the ferry and outside the bus the weather was fabulous. The water was blue, the sky was blue with puffy white clouds. You could see the mountains and it all looked picture perfect. I looked around and everyone was bringing out their cameras to take pictures

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The ferry was the scariest part of the trip for me. My fear of heights and the reality of being on a boat where i could see the water and knowing that i couldn’t swim was a lot for me. Climbing up the stairs in the boat i could see the water through the railings on the side and i was freaking out. But once we got on and moved into a room where i could only see the water from the window i was fine. lol After a while, when we were getting closer to the port, i even ventured outside and took pictures by the railings. I was so proud of myself.
=)

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We got to the hotel, Corfu Palace and i loved my room. It was clean and nice looking and I guess i would give it 5 stars in Greek standards.

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Then i immediately put on my bathing suit and went on the private beach where i just laid in the sun.

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DETOUR: The Journey Not travelled……but postponed

 

de·tour. n

1. A roundabout way or course, especially a road used temporarily instead of a main route.

2. A deviation from a direct course of action.

3.To go or cause to go by a roundabout way.

So recently i reevaluated where i was and made a decision with the helpful opinion of my best girls, my best friend, and my sister. I had originally planned to go abroad in the spring to Australia but being abroad now I've realized that even though I'm strong enough to handle being away for that long, there’s no pressing need to do it. Its not like i don’t have alternative. I realized that the only reason i was going abroad besides for the opportunity,  was become i discovered this new found freedom and it was heady!!!!!! i enjoyed making my own decisions, living my own life, doing my own thing regardless of my parents opinions and based on that i just dove head first into everything.

Don’t get me wrong its not like i didn’t plan and analyze my trip to Australia before this. I’d planned and decided on that over the summer. Greece was the surprising curve ball. An international co-op as my first co-op wasn’t something I'd anticipated myself getting and when it literally dropped in my lap i couldn’t say no. I saw it as a great opportunity and a chance to start the travel bug that had bitten me a long time ago.

So there i was, going to Greece for the fall but already planned going to Australia in the spring. I told my parents and they were not for it. The fact that they had accepted Greece was enough of a big deal, a milestone for them and here i was pushing Australia down their throat when they had just accepted Greece. My reasoning was that Greece wasn’t my choice, it more or less chose me. Australia was my choice. My one first major independent decision. I didn’t want to let it go. I didn’t want to cave to my parent after discovering my newfound freedom.

I applied and got all my paperwork in before i left for Greece contrary to my parents feelings and without their permission. Then i got to Greece and the experience here is not typical of other abroad experiences. It not like studying abroad. And although it is working abroad, its also working abroad with a language barrier. So i can’t just go out and expect to have fun in an environment where not only can’t i speak the language, the same language barrier prevents me from fully and safely navigating the city alone. I started experiencing a feeling of nostalgia for my old life after just two weeks here. I missed my own routine, my support system in my friends, i missed my friends, my own busy schedule (because i had more moments of idleness here than i was used to)  and essentially my old life. I had gotten used to a certain way of life and the social aspect I'd developed with it in the last year that I'd forgotten what i used to do with my life when i was more of  a loner. So in the past week or so since i had this epiphany where i realized that i had to go back to the original oyin that came to Boston in fall of 2008. The girl that knew how to be alone without being lonely. The girl that knew how to find joy and happiness in the simple things in life be it reading or just people watching. The girl that knew how to be alone with herself and still be herself.

In realizing that i saw i had a lesson to learn from my next few months in Greece. Life lessons that i would appreciate and grow from. Life lessons and experiences that i didn’t want to jade my future experience in Australia. I knew that the things i would go through here in Greece and the environment i am in right now would affect my mindset going into Australia and i didn’t know if it would be positive or negative. I knew that combining that feeling with the undoubted feeling of homesickness that i would have come December would not be good for going and immersing myself in a new culture. I didn’t want my experience here to cloud my journey in Australia

Thinking about this i considered what would happen if i didn’t go to Australia next spring and instead postponed it. I looked at class offering and how i would arrange my schedule to fit it and i realized that it was possible. I had initially been going into it thinking this spring was my only  chance to go study abroad but no…….there’s spring of 2012. It would still be possible. I wouldn’t be giving up my first independent decision. I wouldn’t be succumbing to parental pressure not to go and i wouldn’t be disappointing myself.  I would just be postponing things till later. To a time when i can go abroad with a somewhat fresh view after being in Boston for a year. That way i can go in fresh and experience all aspects of the culture to its full potential without a cloud of my previous experience directly over me.  Overall when i thought of it this was i felt better, like a huge burden had been lifted over my shoulder and my heart felt lighter.

I guess if not for the brief moment where i admitted to myself that i had a weakness; homesickness, i would have suffered through a year abroad where i possibly wouldn’t have had the best time of my life.

The decision: postponing a journey till you’re ready to actually embark

The lesson: the decision isn’t a sign of weakness but a sign of inner strength. Strength enough to admit to yourself when you’re wrong.

Its The Mountain ……. and ……. The Sea

So there’s this theory in Thessaloniki that the geography of the city in which it lies right between the mountains and the sea makes it impossible for people to sleep. I mean that's a good theory and all but the truth of the matter is that even knowing this most of the NUin staff still haven’t fully slept.

Today at work was a very emotional high strung day. We had a little session where we each got to essentially vent about our feelings so far and for some people it got very intense and they got emotional. Now anyone who knows me knows i don’t do emotional…..like it sometimes appears like I'm cold. But these same people who know me also know that I'm the biggest empathetic person ever. So my emotions and feeling might not move me to display them but other people’s sadness, pain, frustration can greatly influence me and i can sometimes project this in my life.

Recently I've been feeling emotional and prone to tearing up and wanting a good cry. And i can’t figure out what to attribute the feelings to. There could be three causes. 1) it could be side effect of the pill I'm on because that's one of the known side effects 2) it could be that I'm home sick 3) it could be that my body is choosing to manifest the stress and differences its going through all at once in wanting to be emotional. I would have loved to call up my friends and talk but with the time difference and the timing of the moments when i actually felt the need to talk it wouldn’t have worked out. That also kind of added to the emotions because i realized that i missed my friends and how much they helped me deal with all the emotional stuff even when i didn’t realize that i had to. I was also feeling kind of sad because with my choice of being away this semester i was going to be missing out on so many milestones and parts of their lives. I think this probably all cumulated in me combined with all the emotions i saw everyone else dealing with today and got to be too much.The scientist in me wanted to remove each variable one by one to figure out what could be causing it and then fix it because i don’t like it but…..yeah that can’t happen. So i had to be a woman now and deal with the real underlying feelings behind all this.

All the emotional catharsis that everyone else on the staff seem to be having got me to thinking about why I'd been so sad lately and why I'd started internalizing again and closing myself off emotionally like i was prone to do. The answer: a boy. Its always a boy, its always been about a boy and it will always be about a boy. I realized that i was mad that the one person I'd wanted to talk to i hadn’t been able to talk to. I thought he was just ditching me and ignoring me and i was mad because i had reached the point in my life where he had become important and had enough power to affect my happiness.The fact that somehow it had gotten to this point and that I'd in a way allowed him in made me mad at myself because I'd allowed someone in and they were hurting me and making me sad. I was soooo frustrated because being me i was arguing for him and myself at the same time. Here was my internal dialogue:

For Oyin: you have all right to be mad he didn’t answer your emails

For Boy: maybe he’s busy. You’ve know all along that he’s a busy guy

For Oyin: Even if he’s busy he can and should make time to talk to you if he cares as much as he says he does

For Boy: its not his style to ignore you if he doesn’t want anything to do with you. He’d jut straight up tell you

For Oyin: He should have at least inquired himself by sending an email wondering what's up

For Boy: You can also send him a message inquiring about what's up to

And so it went. For over a week. Until today when everything blew up with everyone else and all i wanted to do was cry and at the same time all i wanted was for him to hold me. So i wrote him on facebook asking whether he’d gotten my email from a week ago or not or whether he was just taking his sweet time. I figured i had nothing to lose and at the most I'd get the truth that i was looking for (i.e. he didn’t care anymore) and i could stop pining for him.

He replied very fast asking “what email?” that he hadn’t received any email. So i replied again and he got on chat and i made it know that i was mad at him because i thought that he was ignoring me. He also told me that he was upset when he didn’t hear from me either….which made me HAPPY!!!! (call me evil…i just think its just me being female). Now I'm happy. At least I'm happy to know that he wasn’t ignoring me, lets see if we can make this communication thing which we suck at work.

Lesson learned is that if you have something on your mind say it. Don’t wait until it blows up and you end up crying like a crazy hormonal female because you were bottling up. Most especially if saying what's on your mind way in the beginning instead of waiting would have saved you tons of heart ache and sadness. Lesson learned.

Demetrios not Demetrius… spelt Δημήτριος pronounced …..tdih-mee-tree-uhs. MY GREEK GOD

Today was the beginning of the two day orientation for the NUin Students at ACT and of course as staff we had to go. It was so much fun ( i hope you can hear my sarcasm). I mean it wasn’t as bad as say a NU freshman orientation but that didn’t mean i still wanted to be there. Especially since it was still shark week and i would have preferred to be in bed.

So on they went about housing rules, field trips, student activities, cultural rules and differences and interesting group activities. Then there was the survival Greek class where we were essentially given 45 minutes of essential Greek. Those few phrases and sayings like

hi – ya sou
good morning- kalimera
thank you- efharisto
sorry- signomi
please- parakalo
yes- neh
no- okhi
okay- endaxi
excuse me- signomi
you’re welcome- parakalo
my name is- me lene

were actually helpful and the other ones would have been more helpful…….if i could have stayed awake. I’m pretty sure i nodded off so many times during the lesson and to think that i was responsible for making sure the students didn’t fall asleep. yeah  fail!!!For the life of me, even though the orientation was two days i can’t exactly remembered what happened on which day. The only thing i can remember happening on was meeting Demetrois  on the first day. Demetrios…..my two day crush. sigh.

Here’s what happened. We were split up into groups for campus tours and i lead my group outside. Who should join us to lead the group but this cute boy Demetrios. I looked around to all the girls around me and they are all smiling and giggling. Then he speaks and anyone who knows me knows that I'm a sucker for an accent and boy did he have one. I mean it wasn’t very distinct like a British accent or sexy like an of the accents from the romance languages but it was enough.

So here we are going all around campus and here i am being deliberately chatty, asking questions and making side comments to the girls in my group about boys in general. Sure it wasn’t professional but who cared at that point, the prospect of male species was too interesting to be professional. Then at one point i ask a question and i swear that he winked at me!!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought i was hallucinating but then we got to the library and he searched me out in the group and proceeded to introduce himself and give me a one minute lesson on how to properly say his name….the deliberately way. I didn’t actually learn it despite his teaching. Then we joined a group with my friend Diana and randomly at some point when we are alone together she turns to me and says “OMG he just checked you out hard core”. I didn’t really believe her until he came up to us, and asked for my name. I told him and Diana introduced herself because he seemed to have forgotten to ask her name (maybe it was my charms. lol)

Then he asked if i spoke patois…….mad random but no i don’t. I told him i was Nigerian which set him off on this spiel about an African dance which he showed me and i hid my face because i haven’t seen that type of dancing ever!!! Then he started talking about his Nigerian friend with a name so hard to pronounce it seemed like he was going to vomit when he said it…. his attempts at saying the name were exactly that and not attractive. Then he asked me about dreads and how he used to have dreads ( i couldn’t really picture if but since going around the city I've seen the European dread mullet and its as gross as it sounds. ugh). We were getting to the point where he mentioned numbers and us hanging out but he had to return to his tour. The moment was gone and i figured I'd just see him around campus (which shouldn’t be hard since there were only 600 students)

There was a tour of the city which wasn’t mandatory for staff and i was considering going only if i could confirm that demetrios would be there. And i could hopefully catch him and exchange numbers but afterwards we had a staff meeting which was fun….as fun as staff meetings are. I lost my chance again

The next day there was a scavenger hunt and as staff we were required to come downstairs and help organize the students into groups. Demetrios wanted us to come along but despite his cute face and accent i chose to nap instead  of walking around the city of Thessaloniki. That made me happier than seeing any boy would have anyway. I was relaxed and on my way to well rested.

I saw him later that evening at the ACT dinner with all the study abroad students and that was where my mini crush on demetris ended. He was a flirt, very big flirt and it turned me off demetrios. I mean he’s still pretty to look at and listen to but it was over….the relationship that never actually started. When we got up to leave and walk back to the dorms we stopped by his table to say bye to some friends and he came up to me, calling me “dread girl”.  I politely told him that my hair wasn’t dreaded at which point he offered to dread my hair for me. I declined and that was that. No way was i going to let some strange Greek man near my head not to talk of dreading it. THE END. On the plus side,  at the dinner though i met a girl I'd lived with in West F my freshman year and we made plans to hang out. It was so nice to meet the other study abroad students because they presented us ISAs with potential friends that we could go out with since we couldn’t go out with the students. More so, they weren’t freshmen.

My new thing now though starting next week is I'm going to do a Greek word of the day so i can actually learn more and maybe you guys reading can learn some Greek too.

Vergina and Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki: Victory over the Thessalonians
Vergina: place with a tomb (my translation)
On Wednesday we went on a tour of Vergina (not pronounced Vegina but veeer/geee/naa) and it would have been fun if i hadn’t felt like crap. It was shark week (aka period week) and it was jaws (aka the first day)….translation: cramps, bloating, nausea, and all round crankiness. And i was stuck on a bus for most of the whole thing. On a bus with over 40 students with non stop questions and a tour guide with none stop facts.
I was cranky at the students because they had been so noisy the night before that i hadn’t gotten enough sleep. So that combined with jaws = hell for everyone.But despite all that, it was a really cool tour of both places. In visit to Vergina the guide talked about the history of Thessaloniki and we got to visit the burial sites of the kings of Macedon….and it had the  tombs of Phillip II , the father of Alexander the great and Alexander IV, the son of Alexander the great. That’s about all i actually remember about the trip to Vergina. And then we had lunch at a tarvena but because of jaws i couldn’t it so i just sat there and absorbed the atmosphere. lol
Then we went on a bus tour of  Thessaloniki and the first stop was the church of Hagios Demetrios which was cool. The architecture was sick and there was a lot of cool arches and niches and nooks to hide in and take pictures by.

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Then we went to see the white tower of Thessaloniki where we had a very scenic view of the city and got to take awesome pictures.

        

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I got post cards here and this really delicious ice cream that had a French flag on it and made me think of my frenchie Alex, =), but i thought it was a French flag but it was actually a Dutch flag =(. Its the thought that counts here.

 I ended up buying post cards at a gift shop there and although i originally intended to keep them I've decided I'm going to mail them out to my friends. So people watch out =)

First Day: IKEA

The first thing we did this morning was to go get pay as you go phones from Cosmote! I got one too but i haven’t really had time to activate it and make sure it works….And i can’t do it on my own because Greek is still foreign to me and hearing it and deciphering what they are saying is not happening anytime soon.

Afterwards we went to IKEA!!!! I was so excited for this because my roommate from the Thalia had introduced me to the world of shopping on IKEA online and I'd already looked through the online catalog for Greece. I mean i didn’t understand one word of what the catalog said or what the prices meant but pictures really do say a thousand words.

We finally got there and my excited started waning a little. i spent the first 30 minutes lost in the show room area!!!! it was great seeing the set ups for kitchens, bedrooms, office and all sorts of things but  i just wanted to find a pillow, a towel and things for my kitchenette so i could leave. So first we walk and walk and walk some more and then you get to the merchandise. Now, discounting the first part of this trip where i felt like I'd just journeyed to get to merchandise, now i had to look for what i actually came there for. This is were the language barrier really was bad because no one could read Greek and no one could speak enough Greek to ask  people what we were looking for……that is if we even knew the Greek words for it. So again thank God for pictures that lead the way.

I brought out my list so i wouldn’t buy any unnecessary thing that would waste money and that i wouldn’t be able to bring back. We hit the bathroom area first where i bought a towel, a bath mat and a really fuzzy blanket because i had to leave my blanket behind when my luggage got to be too heavy =(.

Then we got to the kitchen area. I got a a couple of bowls and plates and then Diana and i decided to get a whole set of utensils and split it amongst ourselves because they didn’t have individuals. Thank God i didn’t have to get cups (because there were some left behind in my room) because I'd have had to get a set a four. Then i got my pots and pans because i definitely planned on cooking. There was only so much feta cheese and salad i could eat. And I'd brought my pepper, curry, thyme, maggi and other seasonings with me for food.

Finally i got a drying rack because we didn’t have a dryer, only a washing machine, so everything had to be dried outside. I was done!!! yay!!! But i couldn’t figure out how to leave merchandise to go pay. Some students were tagging along with me to figure out where to go but we just kept going around and around and around. Until we just followed another path and then bam!!!! registers. At the end total payment 100 Euros….in dollars $134. for like not that much stuff. Thank God i was going to be reimbursed 40 Euros out of that. But i am never going back there again unless i have a guide, a backpack, trail mix, and a map.

We were back on the buses and got back to the rooms. One thing i noticed around Thessaloniki was that there were stray cats and dogs everywhere. And it was all different types of dogs and cats and they were all so cute. Some were noticeably injured and some malnourished. Its a little hard to look at them because you can’t help but feel bad. I’m not even a pet person and i wanted to do something. But we have strict rules not to feed them or bring them back to our buildings.

Later that evening I had another informal staff meeting in which our Site Director (SD) took us all downtown to Aristotle square for dinner. It was absolutely beautiful there and there were so many things to look at. I can see myself spending a lot of my time in that area and just people watching. For dinner we ate at this restaurant that had a wooden menu..at least the front and back covers were wooden  had another round of Greek salad, Bougiourdi (i got the spelling this time) and a meat dish but this time we all got a little dry white wine called Retsina…absolutely delicious. We also got bread, a plate of different dips, fried zucchini (which reminded me of Katie and it was really good) and desert. The desert was absolutely heavenly, just the right amount of chocolate and ice cream.

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After dinner, Diana and i went grocery shopping for essentials like toilet paper, water, cereal and i know i still don’t understand Euros and my conversion is off but things still seemed expensive!!!!

καλως ηρθατε....Welcome to Greece!!!

There are many different definitions of the word journey. Just looking below its all dependent on how the person sees what they are doing. This trip to Greece for me was defined by all four parts of the definition of the word.

jour·ney

1.a traveling from one place to another, usually taking a rather long time
2.a distance, course, or area traveled or suitable for traveling
3.a period of travel
4.passage or progress from one stage to another

1) i was going from Boston to Thessaloniki, 2) Thessaloniki was going to be an area that was suitable for travelling in order for me to understand my surrounding environment. 3) essentially my three months away was going to be a period of travel . 4) i know that i was going to be progressing from one stage to another and possibly multiple stages: physically, mentally, emotionally and psychologically. The fourth definition was the one i felt applied the most to how i saw this journey i was on. That's why i really liked this quote i found

~ The only journey is the one within. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

So From Logan Airport in Boston we took a 7 and a half hour flight to the Munich Airport in Germany and then from Germany we took an hour and a half flight to Thessaloniki. The flights in themselves weren’t bad. The first flight with Lufthansa wasn’t bad at all. Each passenger had an individual TV to watch and there were many movies on demand. I chose to watch Letters to Juliet first. It was a good movie but i cried a little because of the whole idea of love and still finding it no matter how old you are or how long you wait. Its very inspirational to think that some people hold on to love from years and years ago because that person they loved was who they were always meant to love. So regardless of whatever other path they took, destiny had ordained them together, meaning they would always find each other in the end. I just got really sappy and emotional with the whole thing because it made me think if i had someone out there that was “predestined” for me. Then i watch the Karate Kid, which was beyond cute. I love the original with Mr.. Miyagi, but Jayden Smith was so adorable and cute in the whole thing that i couldn’t help but love the movie. And even though the movie was cute i realized that the movie was also about a journey that Jay took in all aspects of the 4 definitions of the word Journey. Last i watch the Last Song. I’d heard mixed reviews about it but the plot of the story was so moving. I couldn’t stop crying from mid way into the movie to the end. And i had to keep hiding my face because i was surrounded by NUin students and i was sitting right next to my bus. I didn’t want them to look over and see me bawling. Nickolas Sparks is such a great author in how he writes realistic stories of love and life. I always say that i can’t handle his stories because its never guaranteed of a happy ending but the fact that the endings are realistic endings actually make the stories happy endings. They don’t try to delude you like most romance into thinking that every ending is always going to be perfect. This was the last thing i could watch because as soon as we were allowed to get off the plane me and the other 3 staff members with me had to find a way to herd over 70 students through the Munich airport, through security and customs and onto a flight that was leaving in 30 minutes. It was crazy, we were rushing and barely all made it on before the flight attendants started calling out names.

The second flight passed by in a blur for me because i passed out on that flight. All i remember is getting on, settling in, talking with my friend Erin. Then next thing i was waking up and putting my seat belt on because we were about to land. Stepping off the plane, Greece was beautiful. From the airport we could see the mountains all around us and the weather was absolutely perfect. We got on buses for our different buildings (the students surpassed previous years so they were split up in two buildings Alexandrias and Papa K). I was in Alexandrias with the majority of the students and with another ISA Diana, and the site director Leighanne.

We got our keys (which are sick and crazy looking) and i got a single.

The room is really cute. it has a little kitchenette area, a bathroom, a desk area, and a little eating area. These are before pictures

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These are after i unpacked and decorated a little

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We all rested a little but then we had a informal staff meeting where i had my first ever Greek meal. it involved a Greek salad…hahaha…..some feta cheese, olive oil and tomato thing called Boyardee (its definitely not spelt like that) and some meatball things and a chicken kebab thing. I actually liked it. i would love some more of the Boyardee stuff because it was delicious. The whole time i didn’t feel like i was eating because the African in me was waiting for rice. lol. But it was all delicious and you don’t have to pay for deserts they just give you a desert or sweet thing at the end of the meal, so we got some watermelon.
That ended the day for me and i just went back to my room and called my parents and made sure everyone knew that I'd arrived safely.

Pre-Departure

So after waiting for the last week and counting down the days till the move to greece i’m finally here!!!!! Its so weird to think that i’ve been waiting for this day for over 3 months and now…..boom…..its here and i’m writing from Thessaloniki. i remember just a few days ago, literarily probably friday when i started packing. i just waited till the last minute because i’m one of those people who can be packed and ready to go as soon as possible. So thats how i went into packing. Except, as i started packing i realized that this was going to be harder than i thought. Imagine packing for three seasons, 3 months in one 50 pound bag. Yeah………….that wasn’t going to happen. I added a second bag and was willing to pay the extra $50 for it. Now the tough choice was narrowing down what clothes i really needed and what clothes were completely unnecessary.

2 Hours later my room was a mess. I had clothes all over my bed, all over my floor, in my luggage. Just everywhere. It looked like an explosion of clothes. And my sister was there to help me pack but all she was comment from the kinda safety of my bed. I’d hold up clothes to her to ask if they were good options for greece and most times it was no or what are you thinking and the occasional yes. Ii just kept packing more and more stuff into my bags and hoping that when i weighed them they would both be under 50 pounds. No such luck. I weighed both bags and i was at 52 and 56 pounds. Next day i repacked, took some clothes out, added some toiletries, food and now its was 54 pounds and 56 pounds!!! So i took everything out of the bags again and repacked, removed and reweighed. Verdict: 52 and 58 pounds. I quit after that. Nothing i was doing worked and i knew they were definitely more than what i weighed them because my scale was not accurate.

Sunday September 12 arrived and it was kind of bittersweet. I woke up feeling like it was just another normal sunday morning but my luggage on the floor of my room gave lie to that feeling. Then my mom came home, i grabbed my last few items, including a series of pictures with my sister which were sooooo cute. Then we prayed. Its been a while since we’ve done that as a family and i forgot how much prayer can make ever thing better. For those few moments everything seemed to be in God’s hands and all my worries seemed to disappear. So i’ve put every aspect of my stay in Greece into his hands and i know it’ll be okay. Next thing i know we got to the airport, and i was immediately put to work while my family was hanging around. I started meeting some of the students and their parents and things were moving fast.

Then i had to say good bye and it was fine saying bye to my parents but saying bye to my sister almost made me cry. I gave her a hug and its was done. Then students started saying bye to the families and there was this girl saying bye to her sister and they were both crying. Ironically enough i had to turn away from that image because i almost started crying watching them. Figures with me that i don’t cry when i’m saying bye to my sister but someone else doing that can move me to tears. lol. i’m such a mess. Then my last minute visitors arrived and the real test of goodbye came because about 15 minutes after they arrived i was told we were moving to the gate. We didn’t even get a chance to talk and laugh some more and poke fun at each other before i had to leave. I got my last hugs in and just turned away before i did that oh so female reaction of crying. We boarded and then we were off. The adventure to Greece had begun.

SWEET SIXTEEN!!!!!!!!!!

 

HAPPY HAPPY SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY!!!!!

 

So yesterday AUGUST 27 was my little sisters birthday. Its so weird to think that she's actually sixteen years old now. I remember when she was way younger, probably 5 years old and we first moved to the U.S. She was the most annoying thing ever!!! Always following me around, getting in the way and generally just being the baby of the house. Since i can remember we've always shared a room and even though we both had our sides i swear my sister was always either on my bed or in my stuff. It was so constant that even my parents noticed it....and you know if parents notice something like that then it must have happened all the time. After a while i got used to it. I even came to expect seeing her on my bed, using my stuff. Lets not even get into the clothes and sharing. At first, when she was younger all she cared about was me helping her chose outfits for school but gradually i started noticing her wearing my stuff......without asking me first!!!! i would just see it on her when she got back from school. Drove me crazy!!!!!!! But she was my little sister so i got used to that too. Then we moved and got our own rooms. You would think that would stop her but no. She was still always in my room. Now she comes into my room at all hours to take stuff or to wake me up always before seven, to help her pick accessories for school (I've totally forgotten that high school starts so early!!) At this point, it didn't even matter anymore. If she wasn't in my room then i was worried. lol

Now I'm in northeastern and i don't have to deal with her in my room all the time. (Although i do know that she still goes in my room at home because she takes pictures in there and posts it on facebook.. BUSTED!!!!!). I kind of miss it. I didn't realize how much i actually looked forward to coming home and listening to her tell me about her day at school and all the crazy things that happened to her. Nor did i realize how much i liked helping her with last minute assignment or projects that were due the next day. Granted when it was actually happening i wanted to pull my hair out because she wouldn't let me sleep until i helped her. lol. But if i had to go back I'd do it all again the same way. In fact i still do it because now she just calls me or texts me to help her with homework assignments and projects. And lets not forget emailing me essays to proof read.

I can look back now and see that i never minded doing all these things for her or tolerating her because its what you do as a big sister. Its one of the most important roles in my life. I know i sometimes complain of all the things i have to sacrifice as a big sister or all the things she gets away with because she's the baby but i wouldn't trade my role for anything. I love knowing that she looks up to me as her role model...as the type of person she wants to be when she grows up.That knowledge makes me feel like superwoman...like i can do anything in the world and she'll be behind me.. There's no one who's my biggest supporter than my sis. No one who pushes me to be the best i can like she does. Further more there's no one who understands me like my little sis. No one who i have that unspoken language with in which we can be across the room and still be communicating with each other. Most of the time i don’t think of her as my little sis i think of her as my friend...my best friend in fact because i know i can come to her as myself and there will never be any judgment because she loves just the way i am.

Now she's no longer that little sister i know that used to pester me everytime..when we shared a room and now when we don't....she's actually taller than me and looks older. lol. She's a young woman or should i say she's a woman becoming her own person...someone who i sometimes think is stronger than me in some ways. Every time i come home and hang out with her i see how much she's grown and i also learn a little sometime from her that inspires me to better myself. My sister goes through life full on, never hesitating because of other people's opinion or judgment. She's just herself and she makes no apologies for it. And i admire her in that way. I mean right now her slogan in life is Don't hate me because I'm black. Lol......this might sound weird but if you lived in New Hampshire you'd understand.

So, Happy Birthday to: My best friend, Partner in crime, The ying to my yang, My twin, The crazy black girl, The baby of the house, My little sis. May God grant you many more years of celebrating and may each year bring with it, innumerable joy, happiness, laughter, love and memories.

love oyin