We're Still Here!

It's been a while since I've posted. I've been busy working on fufilling some invitation orders for my little business venture http://www.bythecard.com/, as well as exploring Athens art and craft supply stores to see what kinds of paper, cardstock and adhesive supplies I can get here. I basically had to take down all of the invitation offerings I had up when we were in the US and am gradually working on overhauling the offerings based on what I can work with here. Luckily, I've found some of the same papers, plus a new line of beautiful colored Italian papers that are readily available (by which I mean I can roll out of bed to the store literally across the street to purchase them). Good quality adhesives (κόλλες) and envelopes (φάκελοι) -- two Greek words I know very well by now -- are a little harder to find. It's been tough to have to almost start from scratch, especially just when By The Card was just starting to take off, but I'm hopeful that the new incarnation of the site will be back up and running very soon!

In the meantime, I've had some domestic successes: I finally figured out how to set up our wireless router despite my lack of knowledge of Greek (!) and ran a successful load of laundry. Which doesn't sound like much, but believe me, our little washing machine is nothing like the ones I am used to in the US. Her name is "Candy" (no really, I'm not making that up, that's really her name):

I was quite worried when we first arrived, and I opened her up to see a teensy weensy amount of space inside:

What could I possibly fit in there??!? Two pairs of socks and a t-shirt, I reckoned.

Luckily, our landlord's wife (have I mentioned how lovely and nice our landlord, Yannis, and his wife, Bessy are?) was kind enough to come over one afternoon and give me a tutorial on how to use the washing machine. She showed me how to actually open the steel jaws of death, where there is actually quite a lot of space for clothes.

After a trip to the local supermarket, where I spent ten minutes trying to figure out which laundry detergent might be the least likely to cause a sudsy disaster, a successful load was completed. In the end, the biggest problem turned out to be where to hang everything to dry. (The answer: all over our apartment, tying Bea's two leashes together to form an extra makeshift clothesline. I decided it was too embarrassing to have images of our wet underwear on the internet, so thankfully you are spared any pictures!)

As you can see, I have been quite busy.