More tea, please.

You know that winter temptation to just to nothing but read and drink hot chocolate?

Well, at least now I have an excuse a good excuse. It has been snowing all morning, and well, you just have to keep drinking something warm! I go through a box of herbal tea in about 2 weeks. On most days, I think I have at least 3 glasses of tea a day.

Yesterday was productive, and I am done with Christmas baking. Today, however...

830 First glass of tea
Out the door at 9am (not the usual 730)
Back home at 10:00 from Curves and taking Yiannis to school
10:00-11:00 Breakfast and read magazine (the usual 2 eggs on an English muffin)
11:00-12:30 Rest on couch peacefully with classical music.
13:00 Shower and snack and make two "business" phone calls and wonder if I ever imagined I would have 9 months to do with what I wanted, and hope I use them wisely.
13:00-13:45 Greek (I must get something done today!) and sip 2nd cup of tea

The rest of the day (until 5pm) will probably be mostly in the kitchen as I am preparing dinner for an acquaitance, and want to make some vegan scones for our upcoming roadtrip.

I am glad to be done with the Christmas shopping, as it is supposed to remain barely above Zero degrees most of the week. However, I was hoping to hit a few thrift stores this week as am in need of a few warm, maternity skirts! Hooray, only one warm skirt left that fits the ever expanding tummy.

p.s. Sometimes we do manage to get a wireless signal from home. Thus, the post today.

We no longer have internet at home. We decided to try without it until the baby comes. Yiannis office is only 2 miles away, and we have access there, as well as the local library which I frequent once a week.

But, I'm afraid I'll be posting even less than usual.

Especially, as it is now -20 degrees outside (ok...that is with the wind chill factor), but really I don't want to be venturing out more than I have to these days. Last night Yiannis and I could barely drive 2 miles safely due to a wind storm of snow and the inside of our windshield freezing over, just by opening the passenger door for a few seconds! Meanwhile, I am having lots of time to prepare for Christmas, and also to try and make sure I've read every book on our book shelves :). Last week I read, "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" by Anne Bronte, and I must say I think every young lady should read this book to prevent them from making hasty marriage decisions.

We will be heading to a women's monastery in Wisconsin for a few days next week for some final Nativity preparations, later this week. I love the fact that my husband makes it a priority to visit a monastery every Advent and Lent.

Then back down to Kansas December 27th-January 2nd, and finally, we have a fun trip planned to Washington DC, January 2nd-9th. Yiannis has a math conference for a week there, and I am trying to find a willing cousin or niece/nephew to join in on our excursion. We will see...

Winter Wonderland

It was 10 degrees this morning. So, I wore my exercise clothes plus a sweatshirt, coat, hat, and mittens when I drove Yiannis to work and proceeded to Curves.

I left the hat and mittens in the car, so not to appear too bundled up.

Yet, I am met with the question, did you walk here? You sure are bundled up. I don't know how these people don't wear coats or only light jackets this time of year. Me, well I'll have to take a picture of my big, tomato looking coat :).

Highlights of Thanksgiving trip to Kansas:

1. Husband's first football game
2. Seeing pictures of my grandma's greatgrandparents from the 1850s and learning some about teh origins of our Jewish ancestors.
3. Visiting lots of family, and a nice quick stop in Omaha to visit an Uncle and cousin.
4. My 85 year old grandfather winning our croquet game.
5. And to be honest, the car-full of baby hand-me-downs from my SIL and other hand-me-downs from my family .

And for fun, here are two pictures of some of my favorite things in my parent's house. Their buck stove (though it gets too hot a lot of the time in this room), and the sun porch, where the great abundance of light would make any winter day enjoyable.

Will you be my friend?

I have a confession. We have been in Minnesota for almost 4 months and we still haven’t invited anyone besides old friends or family over to our apartment. Nor, have we visited anyone else’s home.

I do hope this changes, but I am not in a particular hurry.

Excuses -- Frequent traveling and morning sickness and fatigue of late have been pretty big deterrents. In addition, we are both very happy with a quiet lifestyle, and I are enjoying lots of husband and wife time right now. The goals of reading and studying Greek together are hard enough to achieve right now. Also, this week we have taken two weekday evening trips to Minneapolis (for the nutritionist and for the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos).

We do not know how long we are going to be in Minnesota, and that, in a good way, should affect all or our current relationships. Meaning, in truth, we cannot enter relationships without that understanding. Deep and good friendships take time and friendships can be harmful that try to plant deep roots quickly, only to be quickly torn up as well.

Now old friends are gold, and new ones are silver. We rejoice greatly when we are given new friends. But, how does one go about getting good, precious friends? I think usually such gifts usually come about rather unexpectedly, and not as the result of our "efforts."

However, here are two things I should be doing: (1) keeping my ways out to serve those who are hurting and (2) looking out for people in whom I see holiness that I would like to emulate.

Also, I want to strive to come closer to my husband. This requires effort and work. And honestly, thought it is frequently taught "You can't expect your husband to meet all of your emotional needs" I am not so sure that this means, I should be seeking other people to fill in these “emotional gaps.”

More on that later…

Nutrtition Update

We found a “Pregnancy and Nutrition” class given at a Natural Foods coop in Minneapolis by Jennette Turner, and decided to invest in this option first, before forking out the big bucks for more detailed consultation/s.

It was so very helpful!

I walked away with some good ideas of what I want to change based on research, not feeling stressed about the whole thing, and motivated to learn more about healthy eating and nutrition. I am less stressed about gaining too much weight, as before I couldn’t decide if the disadvantages of gaining too much weight would in the long run wipe out all the benefits of getting excellent nutrition for the baby (A mom with low self-image and lack of energy isn’t the best thing for the family!). After the class, I was convinced that if we get the proper nutrition, even if we get too much, having the right building blocks in our body will help more in the long run, and make the weight easier to lose, than not getting what the body needs.

Some basic things we decided to change:
1.) Avoid low-fat/non-fat dairy and other products during pregnancy and beyond. Yep, we are switching to whole milk. Hooray!

2.) Soak legumes for 12 hours before using.

3.) Avoid most soy products, including soy milk and soy protein powder. Tofu is still ok if not used in excess. Link here for article why.

4.) Eat liver once a week during pregnancy, or if I can’t stomach it, then codliver oil 1 Tbsp a day (since I am now on a prenatal Omega -3 supplement, I will reduce this to 1-2 tsp. a day).

5.) Use coconut oil or palm oil some in cooking, and stick with using olive oil only for everything else.

6.) Shop a bit more carefully for natural products. Only buy free-range eggs, nitrate-free meat, and free-range meat. I have no idea how expensive this will be, but nutritionally, I think a little meat can go a long way.

7) Avoid all refined carbohydrates as much as possible. Whole wheat EVERYTHING!

8) No more black tea during pregnancy.

Dinner with Jeannette also looks like a very good resource to help make healthful menu planning easier.

Hello winter

1.5 weeks ago we discovered a new beautiful lake in the area, with a cool marina restraunt as well. We enjoyed reading and walking next to the shore on a Sunday afternoon after our long car ride home from church. We thought perhaps, we could take my mother there for her birthday this past weekend as they were visiting.

Think again! Winter has come. We have had a few snowfalls since then, and the weather has been mostly in the mid 20s during the day.

I am not minding it as much as I thought. The cold air rejuvenates me, most of the time, though on Monday it did instantly send shooting pains through my head. The snow is beautiful, but the lack of sun isn't as welcome, and for now I am going to enjoy the temperatures above zero. Rumor has it, temperatures can drop to -20 to -40and with the wind chill this pretty much means staying inside as much as possible.

This month our weekends are mostly full. This past weekend my parents and brother Paul's family visited! It was wonderful meeting our new nephew and seeing our neice in her new stage of independence and toddlerhood. This next weedend, we are driving to Indiana for a logic conference for Yiannis at Nortre Dame. Nortre Dame is only an hour away from my grandparents and other family, and we will all be having a Thanksgiving meal together while Yiannis attends the conference. And finally, we will be driving to Kansas for Thanksgiving if the weather permits.

Yesterday I had my first experience of the year scraping a good layer of ice from the car. And I have to admit, it was kind of nice being made to work a bit, instead of simply walking outside, jumping in, and driving away.

Pregnancy and Nutrition #2

Here is a link for the link that sent my head spinning. The amazon.com comments are very interesting indeed!

They make me want to learn more, but to proceed slowly and cautiously.

Overwhelmed with trying to eat right!

I decided I wanted to meet with a nutritionist; figuring what to eat has been overwhelming me. However, I haven't found one around here that specializes in childbirth. The OB office was at a loss when I asked the question, as appartently no one had ever asked for this before. So, I gave it up.

And then my mother gave me a nutrition book by Adelle Davis, and I proceeded to check out "Let's Have Healthy Children" by the same author from the library. And now, I am thinking of finding a nutritionist in the Twin Cities (80 miles away)! I just don't know what nutrition advice to follow and there seems like there are so many darn things you are supposed to keep track of.

Ok...here is what this well-respecgted 1950s Adelle Davis recommends that you take in supplements. She basically says to throw away prenatals...they are only made by drug companies to make money :).

Breakfast:
1 capsule Vitamin A and D
B-complex vitamins high in cholin and inositol
vitamin B6 (10-25 mg): prenatals only have 2.5 mg
Vitamin C 250 mg (my prenatal has 120 mg)
Vitamin E 200 units or more
2-3 tablets with both calcium and magnesium
kelp or other sources of iodine

Dinner:
-tablets supplying manganesse, zinc, copper, cobalt, and other trace minerals
-same supplements as after breakfast except for vitamins A and D.

Of course, she does recommend eating a well-balanced diet on top of all this and has some good advice. I am convinced I need to cook with for non-instant powdered milk (35 grams protein/half cup), wheat germ, and soybean flour, and I'm tempted to try her "pep-up" drink that includes whole milk, food yeast, non-instant powdered milk, real vanilla, vegetable oil (believe me...since marrying a Greek, I have to sneak non-olive oil olive into the house :)), fresh fruit, and 1-2 RAW eggs.

My nausea has mostly passed, and was never too bad. I have already gained the 3.5-4 pounds recommended in the first trimester, and I'm only 9 weeks. My energy level is probably too low, and I need to eat more salads and meat.

Anyway, any advice out there on all these recommended supplements? Am I completely crazy for wanting to invest in meeting with a nutritionist? After all, my diet is a lot better than most women in the world!

Finally, the ultrasound last week went well. No twins. Heart beat 174, and when I asked if you could see any arm or leg buds he nicely complied and started moving all four. Good job, little one!

Pregancy Update

1. We chose an obstetrician, and I had my first prenatal appointment this week, and will get an ultrasound later today.

Before getting pregnant, I was surprised to learn that Yiannis was completely in favor of a home birth. However, though I have a supportive husband, there are no midwifes to be found in this area of Minnesota. I did find one “traditional midwife” (which means she has no formal certificate or license) an hour away, but I would prefer our midwife to have had formal didactic training. I am not in favor of traveling elsewhere for the birthing experience. Also, insurance usually only pays within the same state.

However, I do have a very good friend who just became a certified midwife. Unfortunately, most likely she will be in West Africa next summer. She would love to assist at home in the birth if her plans change. So, we will see.

2. The hospital is about a mile away. This is good! Maybe, we can even go on a slow walk, stopping for the contractions of course, and check in, next June :).

3. We interviewed the obstetrician, first, before deciding on him, and he ensured our trust (at least for now). He was supportive of us only wanting one ultrasound (if the pregnancy isn’t high-risk) and his c-section rates (20%) are lower than the national average (28%) and the average for the local hospital. 20% still seems pretty high to me, but the reasons he gave for having to perform them seemed very justified.

4. The clinic actually recommends doulas, which apparently, show up at some of the pre-labor classes to introduce themselves. We will see…

Being a nurse, helps me feel very prepared for this pregnancy thing. The OB course I had as an undergraduate was fascinating to me, and we did a 6-week OB rotation where we were able to "assist" in some vaginal and cesarean births, as well as do postpartum teaching. Then, I did another quarter rotation in with a Woman's NP just doing the prenatal exams on women.

I have seen a woman laboring, the baby go into distress, and helped rush her to the OR.

So, I know even if you have the best intentions of a nice "natural birth" complications can happen.

Those of you who have experiences labor or birth are probably in hysterics by now :). Yes, having never experienced personally, any of the above, I am sure I have a lot to learn.

I feel weird posting all these personal decisions and it feels too early to ask some of the questions I have about preparing for labor. But, I do have some questions, so later in the pregancy I will be asking for some advice....

October 28: OXI Day

October 28th is a national holiday in Greece called "Oxi" Day ("No" Day) to celebrate when the Greek Prime Minister rejected the ultimatum made by Mussilini on October 28th 1940 to surrender the country to Mussolini.

The Greeeks are, with rightful cause, very proud of their part in WWII and every year on this day, and though our history books probably don't mention them, they played a major part in changing the course of WW2.

Though they were a small country, and all the rest of Europe (minus neutral countries, Russia and Great Britain) had fallen swiftly to the Axies powers, Greece fought for its liberty. And to the surprise of dismay of Hitler they were able to hold off the Italians from October 1940 until April of 1941. Finally, Hitler had to send in reinforcements to help out the Italians. The Greek army was too small to defend its large northern border, and with the German reinforcements fell under the German occupation.

However, the Greco-Italian War did two major things for the world:
1. For the first time the Axies had been successfully resisted. This showed that they could indeed be defeated, and gave much needed courage to the Allies.

2. Hitler was mad. He was planning on attacking Russia in the spring of of 1941, and instead he had to first go take care of the Greeks. Having access to the Aegean Sea was crucial to him. This postponed the German invasion into Russia into the fall and winter months which most definately helped lead to their defeat on this front.

And in conclusion, this is what Churchhill said of the Greeks, ""Greeks don't fight like heroes, heroes fight like Greeks".

So, on this day every year, let us celebrate the bravery of men who risked their lives and who trusted themselved to the protection of Christ and the Theotokos.

Escaping from the Kitchen....help!

Right now I am blogging to escape from the kitchen where I had been studying.

My husband loves simple food. The simpler, the happier he is.

So, I scratched my slightly more complicated dinner plan for today, and decided to simply throw some split peas and purried vegetables in the crockpot for dinner tonight.

However, now I think the slow cooker might be going away for 9 months. Every time I go into the area of the kitchen I get dry heaves.

Remedy....carry the "Air Neutralizer" spray before me. It really does help at least temporarily remove the odors. I think I will leave all the windows open today as well when I leave the house. And, I think I will have something else for dinner :).

Home Alone

This was written a few months ago before I found out I was pregnant:
Home alone seems to becoming the normal way of life for me during Yianni’s working hours. It is a luxury I want to take in as much as possible, and at the same time it makes me confront the ugly parts of me that are more easily hidden when I am “doing more.”

So I have been told, traditionally in Greece, women stop working when they become pregnant, not just a few days or weeks before the expected little one is birthed. Like much else in the world, this too is changing in Greece, and women are working outside of the home more to help make ends meet.

When I was first told this, I couldn’t understand why. Yiannis tried to explain that somehow this time is necessary for the woman to prepare herself for the child’s birth. Hmmm…I had visions of women sitting at home in meditation for 9 months contemplating the coming of their child. And frankly, all that preparation sounded a bit too much. Nine months after all is a bit long to not have anything “to do”.

Now, for the first time in my life I have been home alone for a few weeks. All my adult life I have either been working, or on vacation somewhere but never have I been home alone in my own home for the majority of the day. It is a bigger change than I anticipated.

And now my reflections on being home along while pregnant:
Though I don’t know how to answer relatives and friends in a becoming way when they ask me, “Have you started working yet?” I am thankful for a husband who doesn’t care about some extra income and somehow sees things differently. I get nervous when asked the above question, and I feel guilty when I explain that I turned down and am not looking for another nursing job. People, even my elderly relatives, usually seem a bit perplexed. Though, my grandmother did say, “I am liking these Greeks more and more :).”

The past month has been a slow adjustment to the new fatigue and morning sickness of pregnancy. Frankly, though I used to study Greek every morning, now I am happy if I get it in before the end of every day. Now, my routine of going swimming twice a week at the university has become a major outing. It is a 15 minute walk in the cold from the parking lot to the pool, and so by the time I walk, swim, shower, walk and drive home (with my body adjusting to lots of cold temperatures in the pool and outside) I am pretty wiped.

Having dinner on the table when Yiannis comes home is also a major accomplishment (cooking is no fun anymore!).

So, though I am sure I could be getting up at 5:30 am and making it to the hospital by 7:00am and somehow manage to deal with the stresses of hospital nursing (though I am not sure I could deal with all the awful smells) right now it sure is nice to simply make sure baby gets enough rest, exercise, a bit of Greek language learning and nutrition for the day :).

And most definitely, I am thankful that this is one less transition I will have to deal with when I am a sleep deprived first time mommy. Glory be to God for all things.

p.s. I write this just to share some of my life right now. I know most of my friends and family will be working most of their pregnancies and often after the baby is born. God gives us all the strength to do what is set before us and I admire many of your hard work and the struggles of balancing family and work. I recognize even more now how difficult it is to work, and manage a household and “good strength” to all who do!

Another major strike in Athens.

Though Greece is an ancient civilization it is a "new country" and has faced its share of challenges since obtaining freedom from the Turks beginning in the 1820s.

It is amazing how often strikes occur in Athens and the entire city just shuts down. University exams have to be postponed, flights are cancelled and everything is in flux.

The current government is from the conservative right, but unfortunately, they have had a fair number of scandals during their time in power to not captivate the people's trust.

The unions seem pretty powerful to me, but I have been told one reason capitalism is not as well received in Greece is that the workers are exploited by the larger industries, and thus people tend to trust the government to rule them better than wealthy business men. I've been told the unions usually have a political bent which tends to mess things up.

Anyway, it you are interested here is a report on the latest strike in Athens.

The Baby by George MacDonald

In celebration of God's gift of life to us I thought I'd post a poem. Yes, thanks be to God we are 7 weeks pregnant. May God continue to shape and bring health to this very wee little one. We feel honored and humbled to be granted to be stewards of this precious new life.

The Baby

Where did you come from, baby dear?
Out of the everywhere into the here.

Where did you get your eyes so blue?
Out of the sky as I came through.

What makes the light in them sparkle and spin?
Some of the starry spikes left in.

Where did you get that little tear?
I found it waiting when I got here.

What makes your forehead so smooth and high?
A soft hand stroked it as I went by.

What makes your cheek like a warm white rose?
Something better than anyone knows.

Whence that three-corned smile of bliss?
Three angels gave me at once a kiss.

Where did you get that pearly ear?
God spoke, and it came out to hear.

Where did you get those arms and hands?
Love made itslef into hooks and bands.

Feet, whence did you come, you darling things?
From the same box as the cherubs' wings.

How did they all just come to be you?
God thought about me and so I grew.

But how did you come to us, you dear?
God thought of you, and so I am here.

Biking is the way to go!

Yiannis and I enjoyed an absolutely beautiful fall day this past weekend, and went on a bike ride. We have been trying to make it a weekly affair until it gets too cold.

It was a great way to spend the morning even though I couldn't make it up the last hill on the way home (that is me walking my bike).

Biden and his Achilles Heel

John Mark Reynolds provided some interesting commentary on the Palin debate. I wasn't feeling good last night, and so I listened to the debate from bed. I get more emotional (and my bias comes out more) when I see the two candidates next to each other, and I think it was quite helpful to just hear what was being said. I did get bored 2/3 through the debate though. I was tired of hearing "maverick, maverick, maverick" and sick of Biden attacking McCain through the Bush administration. Palin's voice sounded stressed and overly excited, next to the calm and more experienced Biden. I got annoying listening to it after a while. I also felt like one candidate would say something, and the next candidate would say, "That just isn't true" without dissecting the claims closely. Frustrating. It sounded like two kids pointing fingers at each other and the other saying, "No, it's really your fault." Needless to say, I stopped paying close attention, went and washed dishes, and didn't even bother hearing the closing arguments. Of course, that was not to my credit :).

John Mark Reynolds says, "Palin refuses to list an Achilles heel. Wise. Biden says he has “excessive passion.” That is embarrassing."

JMR did help me appreciate Palin more, but with this I have to disagree. I was embarrassed and annoyed with Palin that she refused to answer the question and went back to her success with the oil industries in Alaska again. I wanted to hear an honest answer to this, and I respect Biden more for acknowledging his weakness.

We all have weaknesses, and often I find myself wishing politicians would be more humble and human and just let us know what these weaknesses are. Biden said, you are right, lack of discipline can be a downfall for me, and it is even worse that you think. That scored big points for me. Perhaps, the media could make a big, ugly story out of this, but who cares! It shows humility and that is a characteristic it would be very nice to see more in politics.

One more thing...I think Biden often answered the questions, whereas Palin would give a sales pitch for McCain. The winner of a debate should be judged not just on how well the candidate was liked, but on how well they answered the questions. As my husband said, Palin does appeal to the emotions more, but after awhile it got tiring.

I have a better idea

I forgot to mention that rent here is 1/2 that of Los Angeles (and we were paying good student prices). So, forget the visiting. Who wants to come be our neighbor :)?

Perhaps we should name our new home. Any ideas?

I hope you enjoy the pictures of our living room, dining room, and view from the balcony. I am realizing how much less noise intake we have here. The relative silence is priceless and if I go exercise at 6:00am I inevitably startle a bunny rabbit whose home is outside the apartment. It is always quite the surprise to see it go hopping away. We also have a very nice view from the spare bedroom, which mostly serves as a desk for me. A room with a view is a rich blessing as well. I feel bad for Yiannis who is stuck in his office at school without a window. Granted, it is a nice office, but it would make me claustrophobic! So, who is coming to visit next?

Weather and daily life

This week we ushered in the first day of fall and we are enjoying Minnesota weather a lot thus far. Granted, it can be very unpredictable. For instance on Tuesday a wind and rainstorm blew through lasting about 10 minutes, and due to the rain I called Yiannis to change our exercise plans to an indoor venue. Thirty minutes later as I was driving to pick him up, it was sunny and beautiful so we headed to the park. By the end of our warm-up lap it was raining and we took shelter for a few minutes while the rain clouds passed. However, for the most part we have seen the sun a good deal and the changing leaves in addition to the pleasant morning and evening crispness feel refreshing.

I have heard several people talking about their upcoming trips to Arizona for the winter though, so I think our blood will start to thicken up before long.

The luxury of staying at home these past weeks has been very, very nice! I have been studying Greek in the mornings, and doing household things in the afternoons. I finished our main wedding album (40 pictures) and now am working on a memory album with the remaining 200 or so pictures. All the pictures were given to us for free thanks to our photographer (Yianni’s cousin) and they are a nice 5x8 size. However, I couldn’t find any photo albums to fit this size, and so the memory album is a bit more expensive and more work to create. I am trying to keep it simple, though yesterday I got the idea of adding parts of the service to the pages, to add meaning to the pictures.

We are without transportation right now as our car is in the shop and Yiannis discovered a flat tire on his bike. So, he has been walking to and from work (thankfully, it is only 2 miles) yesterday and today.

I did get a job offer this week from the Emergency Room at the hospital so I was thankful for that.

My hope to post every Friday is not going to materialize. I am tempted to delete this whole blog mostly due to the understanding that we are inundated with so much noise and writing and information in this day and age, and I am afraid my ramblings only contribute to this. However, I will at least leave the site up for now, because I have been known to change my mind and some very occasional posting may prove beneficial to someone.

Typical end of dinner conversation this week:

Background: I am home all day, and my husband has been over his head in teaching responsibilities as all of his classes had a midterm this week. No, I don’t get to help grade anything. I wouldn’t dare offer for a course like linear algebra where the students have to make proofs, but calculus and precalculus there is usually just a right answer, so I was excited about the prospect of being helpful. I have offered multiple times, but understandably my dear husband wants to keep track of how his students are doing. So, I am the news reporter of the household due to his lack of time, and as I report on what I’ve read that day the conversation usually progresses somewhat like this.

Elisa: Reports on the news.
My dear husband (D.H.): Asks lots of clarifying questions which I usually don’t know.
Elisa: Gets frustrated with herself for not being a more careful reader.
D.H: Usually progresses to brooding about the not so good state of world affairs. This can continue for quite sometime, as Greeks like to discuss politics. I think coming from the Balkans D.H. has a much more pessimistic understanding of politics and world affairs than me!
Elisa: Gets depressed.
D.H. Looks at me sympathetically and knows I don’t want to hear anymore.
Elisa: I confirm the politics conversation needs to end.

However, on a brighter note sometimes he brings in ancient Greek history to compare with contemporary events and I think that is pretty great. Like this week, he somehow compared America’s government taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to when the Athens went and invaded Syracuse. We couldn’t figure out the connection, but nonetheless it was a good history lesson. Have I ever said I like this cross-cultural marriage thing, A LOT?!

Cheers.

Minnesota: Almost one month already!

We arrived here on August, 14th on the eve of the Dormition of the Theotokos. We signed the lease on August 15th, had a look around and then trecked the 80 miles to Rochester, Minnesota to attend the Feast of the Dormition.

The first 2.5 weeks were slow. What can one do when they don’t even have a table to write on? Yiannis had only a week to prepare for classes and get oriented to the University. Sofia and I trecked the 2 miles to school most days where I tried to focus on reviewing Nurse Practitoner material and Sofia worked on looking for a job and an assortment of other things.

Our things have arrived and one week later we are mostly settled with of course the long list of to-do things to accomplish. There are always so many mundane things to accomplish and moving takes a lot of time. At least 1/6 of this year I could say will be taken up with moving (we also moved to UCLA housing in January). That is a big chunk. There are still files to organize, a few pictures to hang, clothes to get ironed and altered, but I am starting to feel comfortable in our new home.

This week I have been a homemaker. It is unusual, and I quickly learned a bit scary, to have full days at home to figure out what I want to do. However, I fully enjoy it. I understand a little better now why it is so helpful not to be busy and just have time to take care of the little things in life. It helps me feel more fulfilled not always to be rushing from one task to the next. The big homemaking accomplishment of the week was learning to use our pressure cooker. Yiannis being a vegetarian, we eat a lot of beans and in Los Angeles I was using the slow-cooker a lot. However, this week when I woke up and groaned that I had forgotten to soak the beans overnight, my cheerful husband suggested the pressure cooker. Wow! I was super impressed that the white beans only took 15 minutes to cook and tasted so yummy.

On that note, I also mourned the loss of almost all our cookbooks! Yes, dear friends, many of you gave me one of the many cookbooks in my precious collection and now they are all gone. We mailed 12 boxes from Los Angeles media mail, and the 32 pound box with all the cookbooks somehow vanished into thin air.

I still have “Joy of Cooking” and a huge “All-American Baking” cookbook. Ironically, both of these I hardly used. The Joy of Cooking was serving as a “vent” under our computer to keep it from overheating and the “All-American Baking” has some great recipes but most are pretty time consuming. Regardless, on a positive note I have taken the time to learn these 2 remainder cookbooks better this week to see what pearls I can pull out of them. “Joy of Cooking” is a great resource, but 95% of its recipes have meat so it really isn’t all that helpful.

I plan to invest in a few new cookbooks, but first I’ll give the USPS a few months to respond to our lost claim. In the meantime, the internet will work fine. We picked up some spaghetti squash from a vender alongside the road last weekend and the recipes I found on the web worked great. I think we’ll be eating a lot of squash this fall! It works as a healthy substitute to pasta or rice (or so the website said :).

Exercising is getting easier and the goal for next week is to make more of a weekly plan. So far, most days Yiannis and I have a conversation, “So what should we do today?” though Curves has become a 3x a week habit. Hooray!

We decided to attend St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church. Oh, for the day where there are no such cultural labels on Eastern Orthodox Churches in America. I am a bit surprised myself that we didn’t settle on a Greek Church, but it sure was fun hearing a bit about Lebanon and Syrian politics and culture last week during coffee hour. There is a bit of Arabic chanting during Matins, but the rest is in English. The OCA churches were ruled out by default as they don’t have Matins on Sunday mornings, and if we are going to treck 80 miles, we at least want a good, long service:).

And finally, a big congratulations to my sister-in-law and brother on the birth of Gideon Michael on 9-11-08! Glory be to God for all things! We are looking forward to their visit in November

Bloggin Plan

Blogging hasn’t been something I enjoy a whole lot, but I enjoy the idea of being able to share a bit of what is going on with friends. I started this blog when I first left California in order to keep in touch with friends. And as anyone who checks this blog knows, I have peaked and waned in how often I have posted over the past two years. Perhaps, I'll just have to recruit more friends to the blogosphere world.

Now, that we have moved once again, and as several people have asked that I post more frequently, I feel the need to blog more regularly. So, instead of worrying about how often I am posting, my new plan is to post once a week. For now (my schedule could very well change) I am going to try my best to post something every Friday. Don’t expect anything extraordinary or very sappy. I feel more comfortable being more factual than emotional over the web, and will try my best to contain most of my deeper feelings to other outlets.

Mission Accomplished

I achieched the previous stated goal of "exercising til you drop."

My motivation last week remained quite high, with some days producing double work-outs. Curves in the morning and running in the early evening with Yiannis. And so, yes, this weekend I was completely exhausted, and it is probably good that Curves is closed for the whole holiday weekend! I was more out-of-shape than I realized.

We are still awaiting for our things to arrive, and I am over enjoying the fun of camping out in our new home for the past 2 weeks. I am ready for a table or desk; and for somethings to beautify our home. Continued sleeping on the floor will get old by the end of this week as well!

A final bit of news is that Sofia left yesterday. We enjoyed having her with us these past 3 months, and we are sad her hopes for staying in the US weren't able to materialize. Here she is contemplating about what path she she take next as she ventured with us across the US:

Exercise til you drop!

I feel obsessed right now with exercise. Maybe that is because we have been out of a normal routine.

I want to:
-Get a membership to the University Recreational Activities (swimming pool and full exercise class schedule are what I'm mostly interested in). It is a great deal for faculty and faculty spouses.
-There is a Curves right around the corner that I am very tempted to go join. They have a special right now, and also our insurance would pay 2/3 of the monthly fee. Any opinions on Curves would be appreciated. The goal would be to work out here three times a week.
-The University is 2 miles away, and I try to walk there everyday, as I have been studying for the National Nurse Practitioner Exam in the library.
-Do daily evening exercises (10 minues max) to work on a few body areas that have always been problematic.
-Oh, and my husband wants to train for a marathon in Minneapolis next June. We enjoy running or swimming together (our favorite spot right now before it gets too cold is a local lake), and I think we will try to do some kind of exercise together everyday. However, I have not committed to the marathan race myself!

I have always been one to exercise at least a moderate amount, though I have always had certain trouble spots on my body (namely, hips, hips, hips). So, I would like to try to find some routine that would actually help this problem more.

Any ideas will be gladly received.

No tv videos though; I don't see us getting a tv in the next 5 years :).

Mankato Address

Our address changes so often I can hardly keep up with it, but here it is:

Yiannis and Elisabeth Souldatou
30 Hilltop Lane #102
Mankato, MN 56001
Home Phone: 507-388-2984 (We have a line but are waiting for our actual telephone to arrive via the moving van still).
Elisabeth Cell Phone: 206-359-5968

I was hoping to post some pics this morning of beautiful Minnesota, but due to techicial difficulties and Yiannis taking our laptop to school for his first day of teaching they will have to wait.

This weekend we enjoyed the mathematics beginning of the year picnic on Friday. It was a very family-friendly picnic and the games of volleyball at the end were quite enjoyable.

Saturday Yiannis and I enjoyed a nice date after going running. Hooray. We hadn't been running since the move, and it felt so nice to get the body moving in that way again.

Sunday, was our weekly 1.5 hour one-way drive to church. We haven't settled on a church yet. We went to Rochester yesterday, and afterwards we enjoyed some Greek music at their annual festival, though sadly no one was out dancing except the professional traditional Greek team they brought in from the Twin Cities.

The chanters at church again were mostly women; in Greece only males serve as chanters which gives a very different flavor to the Liturgy and I would agree I think it adds quite a bit of reverence to the chants. As Sofia said yesterday the women make you feel more like you are at the opera. When there is a balance between the men and women, I think it is ok, but I do agree when the women voices predominate it isn't as nice.

There are three churches about equal distance from us, and I think we will check out the last one next week (OCA).

Home, sweet, home

Day 6 in Mankato:

No phone.
No internet.
No furniture.
No friends (minus my dear husband and sister-in-law).
No Church within 1.5 hours.
No Modern Greek Classes.
No beach.
No job.

On a more positive note, it is somewhat nice to live with sleeping bags, a few clothes, 2 pans and 3 plates(thanks to the local thrift store), and a cooler that serves as our table. The slower pace of life here shows promise of being good for the soul and as Yiannis put it people seem "more human" here. We have already enjoyed 2 State parks and purchased two pair of boots in preparation for winter.

And yes, I remind myself, these six days in Mankato have been much nicer than our 10 days in Chicago. Slowly, and with a bit of patience this is going to be a nice home.

Graduation!

Congrats to Yiannis on a job well done! He graduated from UCLA with a PhD in mathematical logic a few weeks ago. He is pictured on the right. I like his smile in this picture, though I am not sure it reflects his feelings toward graduation. He rather liked being a student these past 25 years of his life :).

No update regarding where we are going next, though hopefully we know by next week or so. We do have to move from our UCLA graduate apartment by August 1st.

We have been busy this month with a trip back to Stafford Arizona, then up to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. Then, last week we returned from a family vacation in Idaho, but I haven't had time to upload any pics yet :).

Here is one more of graduation with Yianni's youngest sister Sofia. We are currently enjoying having her stay with us.


Ta ta.

Some more pics

A friend requested that I post more wedding pics.

To Irvine, Arizona, and then...back to work.

Life has once again fallen into a pleasant semi-regular routine:

Work: Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday
Greek Class: Tuesday and Thursday evenings
Lenten Services: Friday Presanctified and Akathists services

But as much as I enjoy routine, I enjoy trips even more :).

Three weekends ago Yiannis and I enjoyed a pleasant weekend getaway to…Irvine! Yes, it is 50 miles away and so I consider it a “getaway.” Yiannis had a Conference on Symbolic Logic to attend for the weekend and a paper to present, and it was a nice excuse to change the normal routine, and get to visit friends. Then we headed up to Santa Paula for St. Barbara’s monastery “monthly” friends meeting.

Two weekends ago, we ventured 450 miles away from home to Florence, Arizona home of St. Anthony's Monastery. We left Saturday night after work (I don’t get off until 7:30pm), and drove all night arriving in time for the Sunday morning Divine Liturgy at 3:00am. We had five people scrunched in our car, but it was well worth it!

I recommend this pilgrimage to all. The thing that surprised me most about this monastery was how beautiful it was; these monks have reflected in their gardens and architecture the plenitude of God’s creativity. The gardens are extensive and there are at least four lovely churches (I kept stumbling across more), and another one is being built. Now do the monks NEED four churches? Well,that is not exactly the point. Since Elder Ephraim, the founder of the monastery came from Mount Athens, I was expecting a much more humble and severe place. Instead, I was surrounded by beauty, beauty, and more beauty all weekend.

Besides the lovely aesthetics, I felt God’s grace could almost be tangibly felt here. Seriously, upon waking up on Sunday morning after Liturgy, my first thought was, “My, how nice the air smells.” Perhaps, it was simply “fresh” air, but it was the best fresh air I think my soul has ever experienced.

A final note about work: nurses in America experience burn-out at a much higher and faster rate than nurses in Australia. After 5 years, I would say there is a large percentages of nurses who seriously begin planning for another career, or if they don't their heart isn't in what they are doing. Why? Nursing is physically, mentally, and emotionally difficult.

I love the flexibility of my present nursing position, but each day I work on a different unit...from ER to ICU to Caner wards to general medical wards...and I am working at a hospital where the sickest of the sick go. It is exhausting, and after working 2 shifts last week (12-13 hours each), I came home collapsed, woke up for church the next day, but still needed a nice long Sunday afternoon nap to recover. I much prefered the health care system in Australia (socialized but you can purchase extra privatized insurance as well), think the nursing care far exceeds what I have seen here, and quite frankly, the patient and families have too much "power" here which leads to a lot of futile treatment being done. Bottom line: If you don't have an advanced health care directive you really should, and talk to your loved ones about end-of-life treatment options now. No, I am not a cruel nurse and I am 100% against euthenasia, but when a patient has Stage 1V Metastatic Cancer with multiple other medical conditions (who are usually nonresponsive), it really isn't a time to be doing aggressive treatment which you see often in ICUs. This "futile" treatment I think greatly adds to the burn-out of nurses. We are working hard trying to keep patients stable, etc. but we know what the patient really needs is some good hospice and palliative care; it can be discouraging.

New land line phone number

We have a land line phone set up.

The number is:
310-751-6694

Yes, this blog will continue to exist because it is a great way to keep updating new contact info! We will get kicked out of this lovely apartment towards the end of July (we can only stay for a month after Yiannis graduates), so don't get too attached to yet another contact number for us.


Besides new contact info, I don't expect to be posting any more regularly than I have been. Being back in the US, it is so much more fun interacting with friends in person, or even over the phone. So...come on over...or at least call and say hello :).

A first home in West Los Angeles

We have arrived safely back in Los Angeles, and we are very thankful to have received graduate housing. Once again....contact info...

Yiannis and Elisabeth Souldatos
3234 Sawtell Blvd. #209
Los Angeles, CA 90066
Cell: 206-359-5968
Home Phone: Pending

The wedding was lovely, and my 83-year old grandmother even danced!