I know it's been an obscene amount of time since I've written any update email whatsoever, so this one will just skim over the time lapsed between the last one up until now.

Potty trained twin boys, taught the seven-year-old to read in English, improved my French... and I think that might be it.

The thing that has impressed me about Greece is how crazy this country and it's people are. The people always seem to be yelling at each other, angrily or friendly. There are stray dogs and cats alllllll over the place, including in restaurants roaming in and out looking for fallen scraps. There are kids walking around all day playing music or trying to sell you things when they should probably be in school. They park wherever they feel like it, including in the MIDDLE of traffic at a roundabout. They love their Christianity. The so-called "Bible Belt" has nothing on this country. They LOVE to smoke anytime, anywhere: indoors, outdoors, in restaurants. The guy serving you or cooking is probably smoking, with cats running around on the floor. And they LOVE coffee at anytime of the day.

As for now, I'm in Greece with my friend Jose on vacation for a few weeks before returning to the good ole US of A. Our original plan was to run the Athens Classic Marathon, but injured Jose bailed and I ran it solo. It was surprisingly fun, and went by pretty quickly, just like everything in my life. I didn't train for this race whatsoever, and astonishingly, I only added 9 minutes to my last race time to finish at 5 hours 29 minutes. I was in some severe pain the days after, but it was ok. We ended up staying in Athens for a few days since it took me so long to walk around from monument to museum to archeological site, then went to Delphi for a day trip. That was kind of a joke because we were on a bus 4 hours each way, and only stayed an hour and a half in Delphi. It rained the whole time, except for when we were going up the steps to where they supposedly kept the Oracle. I didn't see anything spectacular until I turned around and looked out over the valley with the lake and the little town. It was really pretty.

I'm going to borrow Jose's wording and talk about when we were accosted by an overly friendly Greek lady who, after learning of our inability to speak Greek, proceeded to spend the next half hour telling us what to order from this bakery, and then telling us where we should go all over town. She took our Lonely Planet and wrote all over the maps underlining the things she approved of and crossing out the things she didn't like. I really liked this lady.

After Delphi we ventured to Nafplio, the ancient capitol of Greece. It's a very quaint town by the water and the place we stayed had some great views of the castle and the bay. The castle is nice, although there were no explainations for anything anywhere except arrows proclaiming "Archeological site", or "Achilles' Bastion". I'm kind of strange and I count things, and I counted up to 300 stairs going up the mountain, and then I lost count and gave up. It was hot. I was tired. It was high up the mountain.

After two nights in Nafplio we took an overnight ferry to Crete. I wondered aloud "do you think they'll give us beds on the ferry?" To which Jose said "Of course. They have to. It's overnight." Of course, they didn't, and we slept on couches in a huge room with a bunch of other people. It was actually very nice. Sleeping there was alright, except for the lights. There was a man that worked on the ferry who walked by us when we were taking up probably too much of a huge bench-couch thing and he was telling us something, but the only indication that he was speaking to us was his very loud proclaimation of "Parakalo! Blah blah blah stuff in Greek." For some reason this was really funny to us because he was not happy, but we had no clue what it was.

After a failed attempt to find a campground that doesn't exist, we wandered around Hania for a while and found a place to stay and made plans to go hike the Samaria gorge the next day. The next day comes around and we go to the bus station to get the bus and there were no more as the only one that goes to Samaria on a Sunday leaves at 7:30am. Oh well. We made our way to Iraklio and found some things to do. We went to see some ruins in Knossos yesterday but as Jose says "I don't get feelings from rocks!"

Now we're in Santorini. It's very nice and the water is reallllly cold. I thought that there was a big concrete slab in the water, but Jose swam further out than I did and said it was still there, and we came to the conclusion that it was one huge rock from the volcano. Very interesting. Somehow we need to make our way back to Athens for me to catch my flight back to Germany to see my brother and the fam for Thanksgiving, then take the train back to Geneva to get my stuff from the house and see the kiddies again, then go to NYC to see some more friends (and find a job and apply to schools).

I know it's been WAY too long since I've sent an update. When I have time off, I'm usually trying to catch up on my running or trying to relax. These kids can be exhausting. They're really great and I've got the boys saying "Check ya later" and "Excellent!", among other things like "please" and "thank you" of course. I attempted to start a blog to keep you all updated, but it didn't work out. At any rate, I'm still here in France. I am very (VERY VERY VERY) excited that my cousin Elisa and I are going to travel during my 2 weeks off when the family goes on vacation. We have our trip planned and places to stay and I'm very happy for her to come visit! If only there were more time... *sigh* I've been doing well here and have been training to run in yet another marathon. Yes, I'm a bit crazy, but, ya know. After the first one I said I would never do it again, then after the second I said the same thing, yet here I am training for another. I'm going to be running from Marathon to Athens, Greece with some friends and if things work out, I'll be spending almost all of November in Greece backpacking with my SF marathon running partner! Life is pretty good.

I do have some sad news. Geronimo isn't doing so well. He's been sick for quite sometime and just recently has begun to eat less and less, and is coughing more and more, a result of his heart murmer and fluid in his lungs. It's been a LONG, long road and one of the hardest decisions I've had to make, but next Saturday the 8th I'll be taking him to his final visit to the vet. Luckily, Elisa will be here with me to help me through, and I have another week after to come to grips with it some more until I join her for our "Elisa and Angela take over Europe" adventure. He's an old dog at almost 16 years old, and I've had him since I was 8 years old when "Santa" brought him for Christmas. It's definitely going to be hard. He's been a good dog, and an amazing companion as we've quite literally grown up and old together. From the days when he used to chase racoons up into trees when we lived by the park, to when he used to run away and come back (a bit tipsy maybe??) at 3am. He's been quite literally from coast to coast in the US and across the big pond to Europe. He came with us to the top of Mont Blanc, well almost to the top. He was there for our Italian adventure to Venice, Rome and Pisa in 3 days, and to the south of France when we've gone with the family. He's quite the traveled pooch and most people can't say they've been to as many places as G. These days, I don't think he's happy, other than his travels, so I'm glad that he'll not be in pain and he'll be happy again when he goes to be with God. To those of you who know him, please keep him in your thoughts and send him (and me) some good vibes to help us through.

Some France

I am having a wonderful time here, and I think that Geronimo is too, although he doesn't' like the snow. I didn't like it too much either until today. I went snow shoe-ing for the first time today, part of a sort of compromise with my friend who loves to ski. Last night was LOTS of fun, which usually makes for a rough morning. (Another story all together!) We went up the mountain from where I live, which is literally 10 or 15 minutes driving. We parked and rented racettes (snow shoes) and took off. It was so amazingly beautiful. It was so silent! When I looked up to see the trees, it reminded me of Yosemite or Muir Woods. I guess it's just me missing home. We got to the top, Le Turet, and realized that we were quite literally on the top of a mountain, and looking out at the Alps and Mont Blanc. The view from up there was so different than the view from home. Being up there made me realize, even if just a little bit, how immense and high up it is. The atmosphere fogs the view from the towns at the bottom, and on the top it was so much more clear. It was so amazing! I think I'll go back tomorrow, and take a lunch and eat up there. In the summer I am definitely going to hike up there, and if possible, camp up there.

The kids are doing well and responding more and more to me. They're usually very good, but sometimes, I understand why it's called the "terrible two's". The boys are learning English extremely easily since they're just learning to speak at all, and it's very good. Emily is doing well too, but she gets the sentence structure mixed up. Her dad has let her down by not speaking English to her or correcting her English. Almost every question she asks me I repeat correctly and ask her to repeat before I answer her. I think she gets frustrated that she doesn't say it right, but she's learning. Hopefully next weekend my friends and I will go to Chamonix in the Alps! One of my good friends from CA will be passing through on his way from Italy to Ireland so I am looking forward to seeing my friend and going to the Alps.

As much as I love being here, learning French, I miss home. And as much as I enjoy spending time with my new friends here, I miss my friends from home. I've never been homesick before, but I think that after 3 months of living in France, I'm just beginning to get a little homesick. I couldn't find baking soda at the grocery store, so I went to ask, and of course, didn't know the name for it in French. I went home, asked the kid's mom, she looked for it in the store too, didn't find it. I went to a different grocery store and finally found it hidden behind a post. (At that same grocery store I was walking around with a stupid grin on my face because they were playing YMCA by Men at Work, and THEN the chicken dance song... in FRENCH! I didn't know such a thing existed.) So 3 weeks later, I got the baking soda that I needed for the cookies. It's hard for me to find anything here. And I miss being able to communicate with people and know where to go to find something that's hard to find, and I miss knowing where things are. Mostly, I miss my mom's breakfast taco's. The kid's dad was frying potatoes today and he cracked a couple of eggs over the and I looked at him and said "Oh! That's how my mom makes her tacos." And just walked away. I was so sad! As much as I miss home, I don't get too down about it. It's not like it will do me any good to be depressed. So I eat lots of awesome baguettes, pain chocolat, good cheese, and awesome French wine! Ha! And no I'm not fat now, I just like to think about the things that are good, that I can't get in the US. So this update is getting too long. Hopefully you are all doing well and enjoying life on the other side of the pond.