My typical Greek breakfast of yogurt and honey started this morning around 8, which I finished quickly so that I was able to finish packing and catching up on my blog posts. (Yikes, I’m super behind!) We then dragged our luggage out to the bus, loaded it up (blocking traffic once more), and quickly fell asleep, not even bothering to slip in a movie this time. I actually finished my book “The truth about forever,” and surprisingly loved it, despite the slow start and flowery cover, which left me skeptical.
When we reached Hotel Nafplia, we were told to choose 2 roommates who we had yet to be with, so Holly, Maddie and I quickly grouped together. PARTAY. Haha but surriously. We took a bit of rest time and then went to the lobby for an hour to select 3 photos from the trip to be critiqued. I chose these:
Finally, around 1:30, we departed the hotel for lunch, stopping at a small, ocean-inspired, Greek restaurant where I ordered pastita, a delicious Greek version of lasagna. Though it took a while to come, it was definitely worth the wait! After eating, David asked those of us who had been in charge of videotaping Caroline’s birthday surprise the night before to return to the hotel to upload the videos and them meet them back at the restaurant. However, I was probably less than a block away when it hit me. In the literal sense. “It” being the ground. I ATE it… hard. Though my lens cap took most of the heat, my camera was fine. My knee on the other hand, had rocks and gravel lodged in it with blood oozing out. Gross. I was talking to Dena when all of a sudden, I tripped over a nail emerging from the concrete, split the sole of my shoe (good thing my dad told me to pack two pairs!), landed knee-first on the gravel construction area, and asked for someone to go get David and Carolyn. David came, helped me up, and walked me back to the hotel and then on it the hospital. It’s a miracle in itself that we actually found the clinic, considering all the confusing directions we were given by various townspeople. Once we entered the lobby, we knew this was going to be more of a challenge than we’d thought because only one woman knew English, and even she couldn’t understand all that we were saying. Carolyn and Carly arrived shortly after we did (apparently they had been having the same language barrier problems as us). We finally got in to see the doctor, who did speak English due to his dad being in the army and moving to the states when he was 7. That definitely helped! The doctor and nurse saw my knee and told me to go into the next room, following me in and closing the door in David, Carolyn, and Carly’s faces. I asked him if they could come in, and he just said “What are you afraid of?” Well, I’m in a foreign country, in a foreign hospital, it’s difficult enough for me to understand your accent, your nurse doesn’t speak any English at all and you just aid me down on an operating table and turned the surgery light on over my knee… hmmm do I have to spell it out for you?! I replied with “Nothing. I just might need a hand to squeeze.” And I did, at that. Right as I went to open the door and ask someone to join me, Carolyn was peeking through the door. Hallelujah! I went into the emergency room just thinking they’d be pulling the rocks out with tweezers (like the nurse’s office at Holy Redeemer did for me in 1st grade or so when a boy in my grade stepped on the back of my shoe, causing me to land on my right knee, getting gravel stuck in it). However, this time it was my left knee and a whole other story. The doctor, John as we later learned, asked me if I had been to the dentist. I found this to be a very strange question so I answered it by looking up at him. He was holding a shot of something. Oh boy, I hate needles. Then I realized he was asking me if I was allergic to anesthesia. Apparently, my “I don’t think I’m allergic” response was enough for him to shoot three doses of it into my knee. Ouch. Soon, though, my knee was numb and Carolyn was distracting me with her stories of high school, cross country, small towns, college, etc. This didn’t keep me from noticing that he was doing something with my skin (I kept picturing those House and CSI episodes where they have the dead or live body on a surgery table and cut a T shape with what looks like an exacto knife in their chest… too much TV for Claire!), but at least Carolyn has strong hands to squeeze and I couldn’t feel the pain (just the movements, which were making me nauseous). As soon as they finished, I told them I didn’t want to see it (for fear that I might faint… or throw up), so they went ahead and wrapped it up in gauze, telling me that it was necessary that I exchange gauze every two days for the next week. Oh, and I should go to a local hospital in a week to get my stitches removed. STITCHES?! Carolyn nodded. At one point when I was lying down, she had looked over at my knee, her eyes increasing in diameter, and then looked quickly back at me with a huge smile on her face. I pretended I didn’t see it, just because it was better for my mental state (which was FREAKING out), but I realized this was when he was giving me the stitches. There were only 2, but still. I’ve never gotten stitches before, so it was a big deal! Oh, and did I mention the surgery only cost 5 euro? I don’t know whether to be happy or suspicious…
(Steph kept saying "I know it's annoying now, Claire, but you'll thank me for these pictures later... I couldn't help but laugh, especially since I knew she was right. Thanks, Steph!)
(me being repulsed by the rocks in my own knee... after this was unsuccessful, we decided to head to the hospital)
(me being oh-so happy as Maddie and Holly point out my bandage)
Afterwards, we met back up with everyone, worked on pics for a bit, and then split into groups of 4 for dinner. Maddie, Holly, Erin and I wanted to eat by the water, but all the restaurants over there seemed to be cafés with only drinks and dessert, so we found a cute little restaurant across the street next to a small church. The church was surrounded by people in nice attire and a limo-ish car ornamented with a pink bouquet on the hood was awaiting its driver. When we asked the waiter what was happening he said, “marriage.” “A wedding?” we asked. “Yes, marriage,” he said again in his Greek accent. We were truly witnessing a “big fat Greek wedding.” Now I can cross that one off my bucket list!
After eating, we found an ice cream place and met up with the group, stopping to take some pics at the pier. I messed around with my focus a little bit, just for fun!
Then, we started power walking. With my newfound injury, I found this to be slightly difficult, but I was curious to see what all the fuss was about, so I tried to keep up. When we arrived at our destination, we entered a hot, sweaty gym, but instead of finding athletes, we found an Islamic confirmation-type ceremony occurring. It consisted of an elder man in a black robe, conducting the entire religious ceremony, four men in black robes playing various instruments, and four men in white outfits, spinning around for a good 10 minutes or so at a time and transforming (into whatever the black robe symbolizes) by the end. Watching these Whirling Dervishes made me dizzy! And, on top of that, they all wore these brown straw hats that seemed to most resemble thimbles. Talk about a fashion statement:
(Maddie loved it)
When we returned to the hotel, we sat in the lobby, exhausted, as David and Carolyn critiqued our top 3 photos, and then we went upstairs to get ready for bed. Usually, this is where I’d end my blog, saying, “and now I’m blogging,” but as I got ready for bed, I faced another challenge: showering. I wasn’t supposed to expose my bandage to water, so I used the hand-held showerhead to wash everything except for my left leg. However, every time I’d need to use shampoo, conditioner or body wash, I would have to set down the showerhead. This, obviously, was not the right move, considering I ended up drenching our bathroom… sorry, roomies! Haha okay so NOW it is time for sleep. Oh, and happy Father’s Day, Dad! I love you! Yasas y'all!
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