Five Minutes

It all started from an explaination of the movie Run Lola Run. A clip from the film appeared on our all Greek 4 station TV in Santorini and I was relating to my friend how different the outcome of a situation, and on the greater scale life, can totally be altered by something as small as 5 minutes or less. Granted, I don't have a boyfriend who owes money to drug dealers at the expense of his life--but hey, five minutes are five minutes.

As a result of a bus that was five minutes late, Annie and I met a couple of girls from China who were awaiting the bus after returning the car the had rented for the day. They gave us all the info, the research they had done and it resulted in us following their plan and the next day we were able to explore Santorini literally tip to tip.

Before we had made it to Santorini however we spent two days in Athens. Although we had not yet had our 'five minute'discussion, in retrospect I will attribute our good luck to that as well. When we first arrived at our hostel we took the extra time to chat with the receptionist who informed us that the next day was Greek Earth Day and that all sites and museums would be free. That little piece of information saved us each about 40 euro! Earth day was beneficial to the earth...bringing rain. The Parthenon, the Acropolis, Greek Theatres, Olympic Stadium, National Garden, Hadrians Arch, all in the rain! But we had a great time none the less. We stumbled across quaint neighborhoods after making wrong turns, and found that the Athens meat market has LCD screens for TV viewers plastered along the ceilings. Athens is also donned with artistic grafitti, and a way of feeling you are in an old european town and a bustling city all at the same time. No matter where we went there were sleeping dogs...couldn't explain it but if i get any choice in where i am placed in my next life...


We took an early morning ferry from Athens to Santorini which allowed us to see a good deal of islands on our way over (it was an 8 hour ride). To bide our time we ate bannanas and peanut butter, read and played cards. When we got into Athens we met up with the representative of our hostel: Hotel Anna. They drove us up the VERY windy road of the Caldera cliff. Highlights of Santorini are: The red beach, Oia, and Perissia beach. Here are a few photos of Santorini (more on my flickr site)











From Santorini we took a ferry to Naxos arriving in the wee hours of the morning. Santorini, although beautiful is an island for the tourists. Almost all businesses on the island function only for tourist season. We were lucky that we travelled just before the season got busy. Naxos on the other hand, is an island that is much larger and functions primarily independently of the tourist season. It is known for its olive oil, grapes, and a special liqour made of citrons. You may be familiar with citrons because they are also known as Etrogs and used during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. They have been making the liqour for just over 200 years and is only available on Naxos. Let me tell you, its strong. Equal in strength is its beauty. We decided to rent another car and went exploring. We found great little villages and bays along the east side of the island, rolling hills and old ruins. One of the major attractions is the Temple of Apollo. The temple was in the earlier stages of construction before the builders (or ruling party) decided to give up on the project.
It was also on Naxos that I rode my first bicycle in 8 years. 8 years! My tush hurt. Because it had been a while and I was riding along with a triatholon goer and a person who rides their bike to work I decided that on our return trek I would start a bit earlier and then we would all meet up together. I got lost. I ended up in this farming community where no one spoke english and I stuck out like a sore thumb. With no mode of communication I navigated my way back to the shore and an hour late, made it back to the rendevouz point. I accepted gladly the beer that was waiting!

Again a few photos:












All in all it was a wonderful trip. I arrived back in Jerusalem tanned and relaxed. I also decided it was time to make a change and got my hair cut (for those of you who were there think Jacob's bar-mitzvah). There are a couple more weeks until Nesiya begins. We have begun doing a lot of prep work for the summer and have been broken into staff teams. I am very much looking forward to getting started on the trip itself! But I am also looking forward to really utilizing these next couple of weeks here in Jerusalem/Tel Aviv. I have a wedding (Mazal Tov Tamara and Aron!), a baseball game (yay Benji!), multiple friends arriving in town via Taglit birthright-israel, Pardes students, and a friend's concert to attend before I jump on the bus with 40 teens. Hopefully I will make it to the beach one day as well!!