And More Xanthi

June 5, 2007

More notes on Xanthi

I feel as though I did not quite do justice to Elena and the kids in my last entry on Xanthi. I was tired and the hostel I was writing this entry in was crowded. There are a few more events which I would like to relate.

One afternoon, I forget which one, I was sitting on the porch of Elena’s apartment checking my email. I had discovered a fairly quick wireless network there and usually every time I returned to the house I went and got my computer from the room I had been sleeping in and took it out to the porch where I could watch the sun play across the mountain face and the clouds roll in. On this particular day, as the light was just starting to fade from the sky, Katherine jumped onto my lap. She seemed to want to be doing exactly what I was, and watched briefly as I typed a few borin words across the page before she pointed at the computer.

I stopped. Obviously typing was not going to be entertaining enough for a three-year-old. So, I looked for some applications or games that might be more suitable for someone of her age. And then I though of it—PhotoBooth, one of those little goofy programs that Apple puts in their computers to jazz them up a bit. PhotoBooth uses the built in camera at the top of the laptop screen to take pictures, and it also contains some very elementary distortion devices so that the picture can be stretched or twisted or put into black and white or in infared.

I started the program, and Katherine leaned in intently as she saw her own face pop up on the computer screen, that moved as she moved. I turned on one of the distortions and all of the sudden the center of the screen sucked inwards. She giggled as her eyes contracted until they were inches apart, and then moved so it sucked in her forehead and made the rest of her face bulge. We played around with the program for a while, changing up the distortions and taking lots and lots of pictures. When George arrived, he wanted a part of the action too, and both of them climbed into my lap as they pressed their faces together to watch them entertwine on the “twirl” distortion of the program.

My computer is now full of pictures of these grinning children, and ever since then ever time they saw me one or another of them would tug on my clothes or my arm and say “Nicole, the Computer!!!” To which I would naturally oblige.



On the last day Elena took the three of us—myself, George and Katherine, on a drive up to the mountains above Xanthi. I had seen them from a distance, but I had never been closer than that first day when she took me to the café with the amphiteater. That day, however, we went right on past the opening in the trees where we could see the city, and continued up and up, pine trees passing quickly by us, as we spiraled and switchbacked up into the mountains. It was a beautiful view; I never cease to be amazed by the mountain landscapes of Greece because they are so foreign to me. Her silver car hugged the black ashphalt curves as we emerged into a clearing where the form of a monastery emerged. It was one of the typical Greek types I had seen so many times before, the lines of the building accented by the careful placement of blocks of red brick, which stood out against the white stone used for the rest of the building. We walked all around the complex, to the front of the church where we could see the paintings under the overhang of an imposing looking Christ.

A nun emerged out of a nearby doorway, dressed entirely in black, and started to make loud noises and throw rocks at a dog who had followed us into the enclosure. Both of the kids were really skittish at the sight of the strange dog, and they were more than happy to see him turn tail and head the other direction. The nun turned to us, and started talking to Elena in rapid Greek, to which I could understand that she was explaining my presence there. I heard the words “Ameriki” at least. We walked back toward the front of the complex as the nun gestured and talked. Elena strode along on her high heels, nodding as the kids ran out in front. The nun left, and we entered a small chapel where Elena handed each of us a thin tapered candle. We lit each of them and stuck them in a dish of sand, myself thinking as always of my family and friends so far away, and wishing them the best.

Elena and the kids each went forward to kiss the icon on the stand near the back end of the church, in which other pictures and oil jars were hung in gold finery on the simple white plastered walls. I stood, content to simply watch.

And then, just as quickly, we were out into the afternoon sunlight, and Elena strode to the car, taking myself and the kids along with her. And we were back down the mountain, me gasping at the beautiful views of the long line of hills and valleys retreating off into the distance, and as we descended taking in the other side of the mountain, where they leveled off to form the plain of Xanthi. That was one of my last memories of the place.



I am incredibly grateful to have been able to see everything I have seen so far, and I am looking forward so much to my further travels in Germany. Seeing all of this only makes me want to see more, and the chance to slow down a bit and experience the culture of Greece and Xanthi from Elena’s insider perspective was something incredibly invaluable. I do not think that this trip would have been the same otherwise. And I have made connections where I never thought possible—I have new friends and relations in Greece!

Hopefully I will be able to return. I also informed Elena that my hometown of Gainesville is only 2 hours away from Disney World. Perhaps it will be enough to convince her to visit me!