Greece and Matera

We are on a farm in Greece now, which is beautiful, but we don't have internet access until we come to town to use an internet cafe. Sorry I have not been near a computer much for the past week and a half. Brief update: 

Matera, Italy. We didn't take these photos, but took similar ones. 

We are in Greece now on a farm. Its beautiful an we live in a really cute strawbale cottage. There are goats, chickens, turkeys, dogs, and cats and they always wait outside our door for us in the morning. There are tons of fruit trees and olive trees and we mostly eat what is grown here (although nothing is growing now cause its winter). The food is delicious and the hosts are really nice and we are getting to know them and their family. The only hard parts are that there is no hot water or heat in the cottage at all. It was really cold the first few nights, down to 50 degrees in our room, but we are learning how to stay warm (drinking lots of tea and boiling water for showers) and it was nice yesterday. It is up to 57 degrees in our room now, so that is nice. It will be a good experience, since I am not very good at being cold. I have been picking wild dandelion to eat and its been great eating really healthy.

Before we got to Greece, we spent a few days in Matera, Italy and that place is beautiful. We spent a lot of time hiking on the other side of the gorge from the city. The city was carved into the cliff side, and up till the 1950's, peasants were still living in "sassis" which were homes carved into the rock. They also carved churches in and out of the city into the rock. It was our favorite place for the whole trip up to that point. 


Ryan was able to send this message to his parents when we were still in Italy and so I thought I would share that too.

Hey mom and dad, couple updates I forgot about. I got hit in the glasses with with some skis by a lady getting of a train in Innsbrook. My glasses were fine but my nose hurt. We got on the train and had a whole room to ourselves with seats that folded down into one giant bed for our 5 hour trip. I took off my glasses and laid down. After 20 minutes the train broke down and we (and everyone on the train) had to jam into a commuter train. We waited for it to leave for ten minutes and then as it pulled away from our old train I realized I'd left my glasses. I didn't realize how great it was to see clearly and now I find myself squinting all the time. I mostly find myself doing it because Melissa is making fun of the stupid face I make when I squint.

When we got to Venice Melissa said she was sick of growing her hair out so we put it in a ponytail and I cut it off with my pocket knife. It actually looks really great.

I noticed the dollar has been gaining really quickly on the Euro. Its good for us since we suddenly have 1,000 more euros but makes me a little worried about Europe since I haven't been reading the news.

Finally, I had a dream last night that Mitt Romney came over to your house kind of as a hometeacher. He was stressed during a little speach he was giving and started smoking. I was like, "What?, you can't smoke in here" and I took it and put it out. He then threw up and passed out on the couch. I'm guessing from stress from the campaign which seems like maybe isnt going so well in real life.

Anyway, glad you're home mom. If either of you are bored I highly recommend "a short history of nearly everything" I'm 10% in and its so interesting. But if thinking about infinity stresses you out then dont read it.

love,

ryan