Our Last Day in Delphi

Today marks our last day in Delphi. It's been a welcome relaxing break for most of our students, but I think many are quite excited for the move tomorrow to Mykonos.

During our time in Delphi, we've had a chance to check out some great shops and restaurants, and several of our students have discovered some great gyro places...although, the correct pronunciation is still a challenge for many of us. I'm pretty sure we've got it down to "yee-ro", although the friendly Greek restaurant owners are more than happy to put some meat, tzatziki sauce, vegetables, and french fries on a pita if you ask for a "j-eye-ro".

Yes, that's right, they put fries on everything here. That being said, the Greeks make delicious fries. It must be the olive oil that they cook them in. This reminds me, olive oil is only to be used for two things: cooking fries, and dressing a salad. Mr.Lawlor found out the hard way that he was not to use olive oil as a dip for his bread. A very concerned, and formal server at our hotel restaurant in Athens abruptly interrupted a generous swipe of bread across Mr.Lawlor's plate with a kind, yet stern "Excuse me sir, but the olive oil is meant for the salad". You should have seen the look on the server's face when Mr.Lawlor began dipping his bread in the salad! I joke, of course. Mr.Lawlor has very strong opinions about salad being a waste of his eating time. He doesn't go near the stuff.

We have also mastered our bartering skills, with several students managing to negotiate some great deals on Greek souvenirs. The art of walking away works very well, as does the art of paying in cash.

Students are in class today, in a room above the restaurant where we eat dinner in Delphi. The classroom overlooks the Gulf of Corinth (the photo above is from my hotel room, but the view from the classroom is the same). Hopefully the beautiful scenerey is more inspiring than distracting! Tomorrow we are off on a relatively long travel day to Piraeus (the port in Athens) and then a highspeed ferry to the island of Mykonos. I'll post again once we are settled in Mykonos and I can find a computer. Yah! (That's "Hello" in Greek. I haven't learned "good-bye" yet, so we'll have to pretend). I use "yah" for everything though.

Greek People: "Hello, good morning!"
Ryan Harper: "Yah!" Translation: "Hello" (I do not know how to say good morning)

Greek restaurant server: "Would you like some fries?"
Ryan Harper: "Yah!" Translation: "Hello" (but I am really trying to say yes)

Greek shop keeper: "Would you like to buy this clay pot?"
Ryan Harper: "Yah!" Translation: "Hello" (but, I may have just purchased something I didn't want)