The Climate Challenged, Caves, and Doggies

Aye aye aye, I've been very busy taking naps and eating food, so I haven't updated as much. We have arrived in Ioannina and are settling in nicely. Have I said this already? Anyways, we arrived at 4 in the morning on Sunday, and at the time it was something like 32 degrees outside. While this is, of course, quite chilly, during the days it's been around 60 or so...and most of you know that 60 is kind of the key temperature for Seattleites. Reach 60, and you've reached t-shirt weather. So all of us Amerikis are walking around in jeans and t-shirts, while the Greeks are wearing boots, down coats with fur hoods,and scarves. Needless to say, we are getting looks. I don't know if we are in the right, or they are. I get hot easily though.




Today we went to the Cave of Perama, which is just outside of town, and which you can see above. It was discovered during WWII when husband and wife shepherds were looking for shelter from the bombings of the city. The cave was then fully exploredby spelologists during the 50s. It's 2 million years old and has all sorts of stalactites and stalagmites. I was very pleased to be inside it because I felt like Bilbo wandering around, or maybe Gimli, Son of Gloin. It was really magical.

Another thing that is very magical is the number of doggies on campus around here. While some of them are pretty mangey looking strays, a lot of them are very cute strays, that manage to make everyone forget about their probable diseases with their cuteness. Tonight I met the cutest of all, this lil guy:



He was outside and would bound over to us with his floppy lil paws and whine because he has no parents or food. I love him very much, and hope to see him again. I also hope I don't get diseases from hugging him, but I simply couldn't resist. I'm like that priest who was great friends with all the lepers in Hawaii, guys.