The Mall

 

The Mall Athens is a shopping mall in Athens, Greece. It was the first of the kind to be constructed in Greece and one of the largest shopping and leisure centers in Southeastern Europe. It opened in 2005 and has 5 floors. The top floor is IKEA with a food court and Swedish meatballs of course. 

It was very crowded and there were after Christmas sales going on everywhere.  Kim found a sweater for a good price that was not on sale but cheaper than the ones he found on sale so we counted this trip as a winner.  The drive to the mall was very congested and we took a wrong turn once.  It takes a while to get back to where you need to be because of all the one way streets.  I was quite happy when we arrived back to our quiet street alive and tired. 

Three weeks before Lent, Greeks attend carnival festivities such as parties, feasts and parades (everyone, kids, in particular, get the chance to get dressed up in costumes). We saw several stores with many costumes in their windows. 

We have looked for licorice like the kind you buy at the dollar store in Utah in many stores in Athens.  We hit the jackpot today and found these in IKEA.  They weren't a dollar but they are worth every penny!

Funny to me:  I saw a woman carrying her dog in a dress shop in the Mall.  Another dog being held by a leash on the floor, saw the dog and started yipping.  Pretty soon, we heard 4 dogs in different areas of this posh shop all yipping at each other.  It made me laugh. 

 

Zone Conference in Athens, Greece

 We were called to the Adriatic South Mission.  It consists of 5 countries and the headquarters are in Albania.  We were called to be Country Directors of Greece/Cyprus for Latter Day Saint Charities.  Albanian, Greek and English are the main languages.  We have missionaries from Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, England, France, Germany, and probably more countries that I am not remembering.  We have a great representation of missionaries from Utah and from all over the states, including Alaska and Hawaii but our Alaskan sister just went home.  Our mission leaders are from England.  They have lovely accents. We just had a zone conference for the Greece missionaries minus Cyprus that had their own Conference.  It gets pretty crazy when transfers come and Cyprus missionaries stop in Athens on their way to Albania, Kosovo or Macedonia.  I forgot about the other countries in our mission.  Our mission leaders are in the air a lot going from one country to the next.  

Singing in Greek or English...sounds great either way!

Being taught by our Sister Missionary Leaders

Our Zone Missionary Guy leaders

Games ...drawing blindfolded

Making animal sounds and guessing who it was with eyes closed

Discussions

Mexican Restaurant ...President Burdon already knows he is going to get Mexi-Fries. 

Senior missionaries, Mission Leaders and Area Doctor enjoying "Mexican" food. It is so funny to go anywhere and see what Mexican food is.  I got a tostada.  It was delicious and looked and tasted a lot like a Greek salad on a fried tortilla.  

Mexi-Fries...a repeated order for the President!

It is a very wonderful and stretching opportunity to serve with these people.  We have been so blessed by the young missionaries.  They are fearless and try to figure things out in their own way.  I feel very connected to them and have a hard time when they go home or are transferred.  They are such a bright spot here in Athens.  

 

66 Degree Weather

 We are so happy to be out and about in this wonderful weather and not shoveling snow in Utah.  Bonus that we are getting the moisture we so desperately need in Utah and we are in warm sunny Athens!

When we first arrived in Athens, we fried our water pix and our clocks.  Today after a meeting in downtown, we went searching for a store that Kim found on the internet.  The first store we went in was a different department on each level.  You would ride the escalator to hair and make up.  The next floor was purses. The next floor was men's clothing.  The next floor....

No water pix.  We crossed the crazy busy center of town and began looking for a store that sold only water pixs.  You will have to reverse the order of pictures to arrive at the broken escalator that took us down to this dark basement where there was a small office that sold water pix. We bought one for three times the cost of one in the states.  Teeth are important.  

None of these pictures are where the traffic was.  I was busy dodging cars.  If you read the graffiti on one of the walls, you might get an idea of the district we were in.  

In this little dark retail area where we found the water pix, I met a woman that was sitting outside her studio.  She had her hair pulled up in a loose twist on top of her head and was quite lovely.  She spoke beautiful English, is an artist and Greek.  She said you can't make money as an artist in Greece.  She showed us her paintings and invited us to her art and fashion show.  Then she told me about the walls that I was taking a picture of.  They sold paint across from her studio and many graffiti artists try out the colors of the paint on the walls of the retail stores in the basement. 

She told me she loves the walls.  

Then we decided to take a different metro to see some of downtown Athens. 

They have statues.  More statues than I have ever seen. 

There were more but you get the idea.  This was all in a half hour walk. 

This is such a fun picture because it is an old building in front of a new building. 

Orange Juice Machine

It was fun to watch the girl put oranges in this juice machine.  We ordered juice at a bakery once.  I think they squeezed it by hand because it took a half an hour for it to be served.  The Greeks are not ones to be in a hurry.  

We asked the sisters to help us learn Greek and had a lesson this week.  Today I looked for Theta on all the signs, etc.  I saw the letter once.  Θ or ϴ

Bryce Day in Greece

 

Ancient City of Corinth and Apollos temple

We always go to the temple on the day our son passed away from a car accident.  We have had many tender experiences and this day was no exception.  We went to the Apollos temple.  It was a beautiful day and we were in no hurry as we followed the pathways in the ruins.  We walked up a platform and read that this was where Paul would preach.  I noticed a stone that had writing on it and casually looked at the Greek and noticed that it was also written in English.  As I read the scripture in 2 Cor. 4: 17, tears began to form as I realized this was the scripture Bryce said was his favorite.  For our light affliction, which is but a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. 

The Greek translation etched in stone:  For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.  

From the temple, we drove to Acrocorinth.  It is high on a hill and is one of the largest and oldest fortresses in Greece.  It was built mainly in the medieval period.  On the large plateau the ruins of the temple of Aphrodite and other pre-Christian buildings are preserved in addition to the remains of Christian churches and Turkish buildings. It was amazing and quite the hike.  We loved it.  So much history. 

The best part of being in Athens during the winter, is the weather and available parking spaces.  We were glad that we took the day off from office work and enjoyed the amazing country of Greece.  We will be back to work on Monday!