Kastoria day five. Greece day seven. Vacation day eight. We spoke of hermaphrodites today, we were in the English speaking room and I was asking about the book Stella is reading, “MIDDLESEX” by Jeffery Eugenides. You see, the rest of the country speaks Greek, in the room we are staying in we speak English. Anyhow the story so far is about a Greek couple that have a grandchild that has both sex organs. Oh yeah, the couple are brother and sister. Vomit! At 1100 we met with an old woman that was neighbors with Stella's grandparents (on her fathers side), she has been holding the keys to the house in the village, Messovraho. The village is about fifty kilometers from the house in Kastoria. It is well into the mountains. It is also just a few kilometers from Albania. In the past there was such a problem with Albanians coming into the villages that it is legal to shoot and kill any Albanian who comes onto your property. To my knowledge it has not happened in this village. I am getting a little off of the subject. The drive to the village took about an hour. The hills and mountains are so very green, full of life. The sky is deep blue, the clouds stand out in stark whiteness. If this is not the reason for the colors of the Greek flag then it has to be from the colors of the sea and the bleached buildings. There are so many things that are blue and white. It’s great! Once we arrived at the village I was breathless, my lungs collapsed from the lack of air at this altitude. Seriously my breath was taken from the beauty of the area. There are about fifteen houses, one church, one school and one cemetery. The four people that live in the village full time are farmers, they grow beans. We were to meet Christostomos, an older man whom was born in this village, in the very house he lives in now. He worked for a security company in Chicago, IL for thirty years and came back to his home town to retire.

¶ 5/28/2005 08:59:00 AM

Post a Comment