Things I Miss

Today was another good day. I have made excellent progress on my burial, so it should be done by tomorrow. Ill be happy with a 3 day turnaround on my first solo soil ball (which has ended up being pretty difficult, just for a change). The goal is to finish a soil ball in 2 days. Today I lost about 90 minutes as we had a lecture, and yesterday we finished nearly an hour early, so I figure I am not too far off goal time!

We have settled into a really nice routine here. Every morning we leave between 5:45 and 6, and we walk around 3/4 of the way together. I go the long way, which is more difficult but the view is better. Em and Gen usually go the shorter way. Then we do yoga or stretch, and then Gen makes Em and I coffee. We hang out until about 7:15, and then work until breakfast is called around 9-9:15. We take a short breakfast break (usually 20-30 minutes). For breakfast, Em and I trade duties: one day I will make us both coffees and she will make our "cereal:" greek yogurt with muesli and a bit of local honey (on fridays we add a blob of nutella - so delicious!), and the next day we switch duties. Lunch varies - its either sandwiches or a local lunch treat like ham and cheese pies. Then we walk back down the hill of doom for dinner - its different every night. Last night was Moussaka, which is my FAVORITE thing that I have tried here. I am going to miss it so much when I go home, its what I get every Sunday for lunch.

On the note of "Missing Things," I have made a list of stuff I miss as 32% of my trip is complete. In a completely random order:

1) Real shower: aka with shower curtain and cold water! The pipes for the shower here are outside so get super hot during the day. In other words, hot water, all the time. No exceptions. Boo.

2) Salmon burgers: Oh Giant Eagle (grocery store in PA), how I miss thee, and your ready made feta and spinach salmon burgers and everything else you have conveniently prepackaged.

3) Couch: I miss the couch in Fern's basement. We don't have a single couch here, only hard wooden chairs, no pillows anywhere, and I don't like them. Neither does my bum, especially post-jellyfish.

4) Sully: Every day I wake up and look at a picture of the best horse to ever walk the face of the planet. Sully, aka Squeaky-Dee, aka Sullivan the magnificent, aka Squeakers, aka Soily-bum is THE DUDE of the horse world. I miss him and our afternoon tea breaks.

5) Family: In case you didn't know, I do have the best family in the world. End of sentence. I mean, check out the dedication-faces they pull on Skype:

This is the face of concern at the eldest child deciding to dig for bones 5000 Miles from home.

6) Extra Pillow: I have 2 pillows here. One is a rectangle and squishy, my extra pillow is a square and is made of concrete. Uhm.... weird. And useless. And painful.

7) Espresso Machine: Team Roque has the best espresso machine in the world. If I ever leave again, I'm bringing it with me.

8) Laundry machines: I am already bored with hand-washing smelly archaeology underwear. It isn't pleasant.

9) Fern: I also have the best boyfriend in the universe. I really dislike that his work schedule puts him at his desk every single time I have a free afternoon. Boo.

10) Sandy/Pogo/Lacey: Whether I am in Canada or the USA, there are 2 cats or a small elderly-yet-hyperactive dog to greet me when I come home. The apartment here is way too empty.

Obviously, there are a lot of things that are awesome about being here - but I will save them for another day. While I miss these 10 things - I love Astypalaia, and I am SO GLAD I came. I am learning tons, and having a great time being here.