Donkeys, sick bags and shopping...

Ready for the off

One thing that we’ve been absolutely amazed by since we’ve been here is the interest that there has been in our blog. In the time that we’ve left Saudi, we’ve received nearly 1000 views from all over the world. We can vouch for that by the message left by Elizabeth’s Granny in Australia, who is following our exploits here in Greece. Elizabeth herself was surprised by Granny’s contribution: “I didn’t know she was that clever.” Granny, if you’ve any reprimand that you’d like us to implement on your behalf to your Granddaughter, please let us know and we’ll happily comply! It is good because in this hotel we do have computers connected to the internet that the children can check messages left for them on the blog, so it’s helping them keep in touch with home. We’re amazed by parents who claim that they didn’t realise just how noisy their children are – now come on, mums and dads, how could you miss that?!

Ms. Naidoo feeling the strain

We had an early start this morning, so Mr. Suter’s singing had to be particularly loud. For Mr. Whitaker’s benefit also as he inadvertently switched his alarm off instead of to snooze when it went off this morning. A tentative weather check first thing promised blue skies, but there was a hint of a breeze that had staff reaching for the sick bags in preparation for a rough journey. As we were up so early some of the children were a little confused by the fact that it was still dark – there were at least three queries of whether we were having dinner for breakfast. A sign, we suppose, of how most of them rarely travel outside the Middle East and experience dark early mornings.

Aboudi, Khaled and Salik enjoy the breeze

Today was our day for island hopping. Last year we cruised on the Greek national day, which meant that the boat was jammed to the rafters but this year there were a mere 210 passengers onboard, so we had plenty of room to spread out. Of course most immediately opted for the top outside deck, but the staff up there were fairly wary of us and seemed to remember something about an incident last year involving a heavily twisted ankle… Despite this, the children still had plenty of interaction with the staff and chatting to one of them Mr. Whitaker was surprised to learn that we had a Filipino child with us that this particular staff member said he’d had a long chat with. Enquiring of his name, he was told “Mohammed.” We were all as much surprised by Mohammed’s multi-lingual skills as this member of staff obviously was. For those who don’t know Mohammed, he’s one of our two Saudi nationals on this trip, so we’d all love to know how that conversation went!

Refreshments, Daniel style

The first leg of the journey was our longest – two hours to reach the island of Hydra. We had a resident organist on board, a case of ‘Zorba plays elevator music,’ and one or two of our party had a tentative step out on the dance floor. A few more sunk into their chairs, as the quite heavy roll we experienced on the boat caused a few colour changes among children and staff. We’ve all heard the phrase ‘being green around the gills,’ but never would have thought that someone could actually have a green tinge. In Ms. Naidoo’s defence, she does suffer terrible with sea sickness and did well to keep a smile on her face for most of the day.

Hydra: everybody say, "Big Red Case!"

Sickbags intact and unused, we landed on Hydra and with no Mrs. Williams on board actually had a chance to visit some of the fortified ‘modern’ defences on the island rather than heading straight for the shops. Lojain in particular would take a cursory glance around wherever we were and then her next question would be, “Can we go to the shops now?” Hydra itself is quite unique as there is little motorised traffic and instead a pace of donkeys were tied up harbourside, being loaded up with a variety of materials from cement bags, planks of wood and even a double bed base. One local went past riding one while using his mobile, which prompted a few queries as to whether he should be using a mobile while in charge of a vehicle!

The monkey tree...

Shops depleted, next stop was the island of Poros, where Mr. Gikas and Mr. Suter were determined to see a little more of the island itself than they were allowed last year. Thus upon disembarkation, we avoided the shops and went for a convoluted stroll through the hills to the clock tower overlooking the harbour. Some of the children were a little surprised to see oranges and lemons growing above their heads as we walked up the narrow laneways, but Mohammed and Faisal plucked one to eat fresh as we strolled along – Faisal later refused to buy another in the shop to eat as he felt it wouldn’t be fresh enough. And then, of course, we did visit a shop or two…

Children?  What children?

Lunch was eaten on the way to Aegina – fortunately the crew delayed pulling away from the harbourside as we didn’t really fancy trying to hold on to our plates as we were eating! The highlight of the day for many was the ice cream that we had straight away after coming off the boat, but then we had a pleasant walk along the sea front which culminated in the request from most to return to the boat rather than continue shopping!

Fast-paced island life

Having managed to avoid the sick bags all day, despite some close calls, there was a miraculous recovery for the final leg home as we were entertained by the Greek Elvis Presley and his cabaret act – and when his act finished, our children took over the entertainment for the rest of the passengers as, encouraged by Mr. “Twinkle Feet” Whitaker, they danced all the way back to port.

Aegina

A return to the hotel, another three course dinner, and now bags are packed ready for our transfer down to the coast tomorrow. As we type this, the children are all asleep upstairs – despite the loud cheering from another group of students from the UK in the hotel. Of course, our staff wouldn’t allow our children to behave like that, but then that’s a whole other story….

Lunch - again!

Elvis Presleyopoulos entertains the crowd