Γεια σας φίλοι...

They say that everyday is a school day - that we never stop learning, we just lose the power to recall everything that we have learned.  Well I blinking well hope that I don't because when you are paying to be taught something you want to be able to retain and recall!  So what am I talking about?  I am talking about the fact that today was to be the first of my official Greek lessons.

Prior to my first Greek lesson I was going to Sheila and Klaus's for Art.  These two photographs will show how my picture is progressing and how, after three hours of work with little conversation as both Sheila and I had our heads down working away, it doesn't look like I have done much!  Poor Sheila didn't get much peace as she had to keep getting up and down to advise me on what I should be doing next, this meant that her picture of a wolf barely got touched at all.  She is both patient and encouraging and I am enjoying having the opportunity to try and new skill and to create something half decent.

All this and we are accompanied by luscious smells emanating from the kitchen and the cheerful strains of Klaus singing along as he cooks - what a great way to spend a Monday morning!  Sheila and I packed up early because staring so closely to an A4 piece of paper for long periods at a time makes your eyes go a bit funny after a while.  We took the opportunity to take a walk round the garden before lunch and Sheila and I embarked on a bit of a photographic competition.

Sheila and Klaus's garden is lovely with an English/Mediterranean mix of plants and flowers.  The entrance to their house is a riot of osteospurmum in shades of violet and indigo and the most stunning jasmine you could wish to see or smell.  In the back garden they have some fantastic roses which actually look and smell as a rose should.  Top of the class though is an absolutely stunning clematis - if anyone can identify which one this is I would be pleased to know because it obviously thrives well up here in Droushia.

Our lunch was taken in a quiet shady spot and we were accompanied by Charlie and Benji who were as good as gold - I am obviously no longer a novelty in their eyes because I just get a brief but exuberant welcome on arrival and then they disappear.  Lunch was a triumph - I take my hat off to Klaus who can make me eat things I would not normally consider.  Today we had a fish dish which was absolutely delicious accompanied by stir fried vegetables and a kind of potato rosti thing which I know Klaus calls something different but for the life of me I cannot remember what.  The fish dish was made with pangasius fillets and included tomato and gherkins and bacon and cheese and Klaus's expertise and magic.

My lesson started at 3.00pm and was held at the Akamas Spa which is rather a posh venue for school!  'Miss' is Samantha Day (www.linguacyprus.com) who is a native English speaker so I am hopeful that she will empathise with the difficulties I and others will encounter when it comes to the vagaries of the Greek language!  I am hopeful that studying Latin forty years ago will stand me in good stead - that and my desire to be able to say more than just "Hello, how are you?" "Γεια σου τι κάνεις?".

We were a small group of four students, two of whom are members of staff from the hotel and Romanian, the other lady, Irene, I had met previously at Jeanette's.  We started off gently today getting to grips with the alphabet and recognising the letters in both upper and lower case format.  The time flew by and I went home clutching my flash cards as I intend to impart what I have learned to John.

Not sure that he will be overly interested in a Greek lesson tonight though as he is knackered.  Whilst I was 'off enjoying myself' he had his delivery of wood and started on building the decking which is to go at the end of the kitchen.

When completed we plan to put the gazebo back on top and when that dies a death will replace it with a tiled wooden pergola.  It will be all hands to the deck(ing) tomorrow so that we can get it finished or as finished as we can before we go down to Koloni to celebrate having been over here for a whole year.

It looks like we could have more friends coming over this year - we have had emails from Deb Watkinson and the Wilsons (Steven, Catherine, Lauren and Natalie) to say they may over in the summer.  Aunty V arrives next week and then there is a steady flow - before we know it we will be on countdown to Christmas!