Islands

hello anybody still here. well, my presentation is on wednesday, june 2nd at 11:15 if anyone wants to show up in the new seminar building. it's tittle is stray dogs: concepts of ownership. this year is coming to a close and i am just packing up and getting ready to go be a counsler at skylake yosemite camp i can't wait to be back at my second home. it's been a while but i still dream about being back there, so many memories, so many lessons i learned in my shildhood. right now i am still pulling everthing together and trying to look deeper into what i have learned. greece was such a greqt learning expierence and i need to trust myself and my intuition more. well, i should go to bed, i have a full day ahead tomorrow of learning of my fellow classmates's travels.

Posted by Ariella Spector at 08:19 PM | Permalink

hello to whomever is reading this,
well, i am about to leave for an overnight camping trip to some hotsprings for a mini vacation. presentations are coming up at the end of this month and i have been working frantically. last thursday i spent about 4 hours in the computer lab scanning about 100 pictures onto a disk so i can use it in a powerpoint presentation. i have also been mounting panaroma opictures glued together on posterboard. my theme is stray dogs: concepts of ownership. well, i am excited to go to the beautiful olympic pennunsulia today, all the green surrounding me as i bath in naturally hot mineral water. i hope i make it okay. have wonderful days and even more splendid nights.

Posted by Ariella Spector at 07:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

it's 2:40 am and i am getting up before eight to catch a flight to finally go home and be in my love's arms. i am back in a comfortable enviorment(olympia), but i am not quite home yet. well, i will be soon enough. i just watched "kill bill" for the first time a little while ago. it was really similiar to "pulp fiction" in the sense that it was done in the same style, just different content. i was a little dissappointed in it because when pulp fiction came out it was totally different from anything that was came out before. it was in it's own league. this one is so similiar to the style of pulp fiction that is not startingly new. i liked the way it was done, i.e. the camera shots, lighting, frames, and artistic cinemeatogrophy, but i think quintin tarintino has it in him to blow us away and create something completely new but didn't. it was enjoyable to watch, which is more than can be said for most recent movies. well, i am off to bed and back on a plane . i hope all is well for anyone who is reading this.

Posted by Ariella Spector at 10:51 PM | Permalink

well hello everyone. i am back and it is so weird. it feels like a dream. seeing american currency was a trip, it was seeing the dime that was handed back to me from the airport in georgia that did it for me, it's so small and silver and has a head on it. i also keep on throwing the toilet paper in the bin next to tthe toilet(in greece that's where it goes). my whole life of habbit was undone in 10 weeks and now i actually have to hold my hand over the toilet and open it and drop the paper in. it's a weird concept when you think about it. i miss the amayzing food the most, espically the oregano and paprika potato chips. well, i am a bit cracked out from more than 24 hours of traveling. see you all hopefully soon.

Posted by Ariella Spector at 06:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

hello everybody.
i am here in paros, just left ios, and going to syros tomorrow. ios wasnice, there was this nice resort for travelers called far out camping but it was camping at all. in the summer the place is jammed nad it is huge. it is so nice to see a place that caters to low budget travelers but have nice, clean, and hight class facilities. they even had a waterslide. well, this island is know for the nightlife. it was alright, i like to dance the night away but my issue with cluds is the same all over; i like to dance for myself, not the person standing across the room, and just being in a place with that atmosphere bring down my natural high. well, i met 2 minnasotaians who are studying in briatian anad they are on their spring break. they are really cool and tomorrow we will hopefully meet up with another one of them in syros. i can't believe my time here is almost up, it defiently doesn't feel like it has been more than 9 weeks. i just got here. this place is so different with the crowds of the summer, i wonder what expeiernces all passerbys will have in the months to come? well see you all soon(hopefully).

Posted by Ariella Spector at 04:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

happy christ's death everyone. well, i am back in naxos, this time in a much better place. i just left magical santorini where i spent the long easter celebration. it is so amayzing to see such a culture enticed by stories that have been passed down. people really believe(for others it is just culteral partipication) and let their true emotions follow. on friday, the day "christ was crucified", people were truely sad. they walked around with tears in their eyes all day. it is easy to fake feelkings for a celebration but it is much harder to fake tears of saddeness. they were sad until saturday night until their tears of sorrow turned iunto to tears of joy because "christ has been ressurected". they partied until sunday evening when a stuffed judas hung above the town square and then he was set to flames. it is so admirable to see a whole culure that really believes in something, something that is completely lacking inour society.
well, i parted from eric today and me and flip, a british girl took the ferry to santorini this opther aussie and we have just rented a car and our plan is to drive to one of the many deserted beaches and camp. then on thursday i have plans to mett some others in ios. well, i hope it works out. santorini was beautiful. we got to see magnificant sunsets with bright magenta and red explored a volcano. i aklso got to visit my first winery and go on a tour, an educational expierence that was previously deprived from me due to some contol freeks who like to make up random laws in america. it was nice to see the process of how the wine is mad, bottled and then to taste it. well, happy easter to all who believes, and happy april for the rest. oh ya, happy passover to those others. sadly i will be coming home soon.

Posted by Ariella Spector at 01:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

first off, happy birthday to my now 14 year old brother, micheal. second off, as much as i tried to leave this wonderful town, something keeps drawing me back. me and eric left reythemno yesterday to go to iracklion to to catch a boat to santorini. the boat was supposed to leave at 8 but the weather was rough so it got postponed and postponed. after spending the night on the boat(thinking we were going to sail at 3 am) we woke up still docked. at non today we decided to go back to reythemno and take to tuesday ferry to santoini. it wasn't bad though. there was a group of peopl from the hostel and then we met this group of student from a university in chigago who are traveling around with their teachers(i am learning so much more by myself, though, sally and gin, so don't get any ideas). it turns ou that two of the boys were from L.A. i know some mutueal poeple with one of them and the other one went to the same driving school as me. what a small world, cramped on a boat, docked on the side of a creatan harbor, only to meet people who share some of the same memories as me. random. well, i will be here for a few more days, accomplishing nothing except for relaxing and learnignof the politics fro other nations, what i find myself conversing about with other travelers. people travel for a reason, it takes work to leave your original country, so they are not a good representation of the country as a whole, but it is nice to meet different people with different views, then to hold a mutual hatred of buch together. well, i hope itis sunnier there(where whomever is reading this) then it is here. see you all shortly.

Posted by Ariella Spector at 02:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

well, i am back in reythemno in crete, and it is so nice to be home. it was the greatest feeling getting off the ship and actually knowing where i was going. well, the english girls were back at the hostel so it is like a reunion. i haven't seen eric yet, that partyier, i mean studier, but i hear he is excellent. he is learning a lot about how ancient greece effects the population's lifestyle, as am i about stray dogs and their freedoms. well, got to run but i am much happier now back amongst people i like. happy birthday mom and soon michael's.

Posted by Ariella Spector at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

well, i am here in naxos only to find that there is no more youth hostel. i am so sick of all this bullshit that i am going back to crete where i feel at home. i have gone so out of my way just to get to a youth hostel, and it is closed. well, crete will be nice. right now i look like i have the worst case of acne. i slept outside in armagos last night and flies ate me alive. well, it will take 2 days to get back to crete because i have to backtrack to athens but it will be worth it, and these two english girls are coming back from itlay as well so it will be a nice reunion. the only problem is is that i have spent so much money on ferry tickets trying to get aroung that i have fucked up my already fucked up euro excnahge rated budget. these are just the growing hardships of traveling then once overcome, you feel like a much stronger person. well, write you from crete.......

Posted by Ariella Spector at 04:28 AM | Permalink

well hello everyone,
the tittle of this says it all. i am still in kos, still a bit lonely, and on my way to armagos today if the wind allows to boat to sail, please wind let the boat sail and get me off this big city island. there was amovie filmed in armagos, i think it is called "the deep blue". i don't know but if anyone has any info on it then let me know. i am actually trying to ake it to naxos where there is supposodly a youth hostel open there and then i will be with fellow travelers and not be lonely anymore. here in kos, i was walling in my own self pity, when i went for a walk to check out the closed campground 3 km away to see if it was possible to sqaut there. after, i sat outside of it and started to write in my journal when i noticed a backpacker walk by. being my usual self, i started talking to hime. he was a french boy on his way to turkey. we walked back to town together and ended up hanging out until he left yesterday. i was so nice to have the company. so yesterday i walking back to my hotel, if you could call it that, and this greek boy who i passed ealier started talking to me. we went out with his friends last night and he showed me around the bar scene her. it was nice to be around youths for a change. the greeks don't start going out until 1 in the morning but here, they start at nine at night but go coffe house hopping. theye go to at least five different coffee houses and then they start their bar hopping. i don't understand how they can handle so much liquids in sucha short period of time. i was peeing every five minutes. it is also rude if you don't order anything. well, it was a nice expierence. we also went ot a greek club where there was a live band and a man playing the traditional greek bouzakki. it is like a very little guitar. i love being here in the off season when it is not so touristly and i actually get to see the greek lifestyle but i am missing a big part of the island hopping expierence of staying in hostels and meeting other travelers. it is weird, i normall love traveling by myself but this time i am finding myself lonely for the first time ever. weird. i will get over it. well, i hope the sun's rays are warming everyone's hearts. see you all sadly soon, not that i don't love you all, i don't want to leave this relaxed and rich culture.

p.s.- dom if you are reading this, please e-mail me because i lost your address and the blog comment thingy messed it up. but i am thinking of you.

Posted by Ariella Spector at 09:24 PM | Permalink

so, now i am in the island of kos, just coming from the serene isle of tilos. i ran into such hospitality in tilos it brings tears to my eyes. the island is pretty big but only around 300 people live there year round, so ecverybody knows eachother. i must have been one of the five foriegners there. anyways, i got there around eight at night and i was planning to camp on the beach but the i found a really nice room for 10 euros and decided to take it. it is a good thing because the beach i was going to camp at was full of rocks. the next day the owner's son took me a round the island in his car and took me to a beach aside a small village so i could camp there and still be safe by myself. he even found out when the bus would come the next day notified the bus driver to make sure to pick me up. there were these caves carved by wind on the beach that i slept in and it was wonderful. i was on the beach hanging out all day and three teenage boys walk by. we try and talk but htey don't speak english. an hour later they come back with a bag of hoecooked food for me. i show them i already have my own food but they insist i take it. such hospitality. i go back to the main port town and i was waiting for the ferry and the town people tell me to sit with them. i was talking with them and this man found out i haven't seen the monestary and he drove me the 14 km one way up a windy hill to get there. the people on this island were so sincere. i decided relectuntlty yo move on and now i am on kos. it is a bigger city and i rather be on the other island. oh well, let's see where the ferry takes me. on rhodos, i met an army officers on the ferry going there and he helped me find a room there. then the next day, on his only day off he shows me the whole island on his motorbike. it was so much fun with the wind blowing me in every direction. well, more on that later. happy almost birthday mom.

Posted by Ariella Spector at 09:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

well hello everyone,
i am in the beautiful midevil city of rhodos and i am taking the ferry to the island of tilos in umm..........40 minutes. there is no internet there so i cannot write but i plan to be there for 48 hours unti the next ferry and then to the island of kos. i have had the most wonderful expierence here and such hospitality but i will iss my ferry if i write about it now. sorry about the suspense but i wil tell all in a few days. yassas.

Posted by Ariella Spector at 02:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

hey everybody,
happy st. patrick's day and happy birthday to all the pices's days of birth. yesterday i visited the ancient minoan's culture headquarters; the Palace of Knososs. it was nice but so renovated by sir authur evans. i don't know how i feel about that. he repainted a lot of the reamining rubble and pieced together frescas to recreate the palace but it takes away from the antiguity of it. at least he found it first instead of grave robbers. every sign there says "sir evans placed this here, and that there". it is not like he created this culture, he and his men merely found it. he deserves some credit but not all because he did not create it in the first place, the advanced minoans did. it was cool to see the very site where so many greek myths took place. like thesus and the minotuar and that is where dadalous and icaraus escaped from and countless other myths. the coolest part for me was seeing these white rocks with jagged crevices that looked like pieces of coral but making the connection that they were caused by quartz growing out of it but have died to leave the remaining sharp white rocks. we also saw a few of the live quartz rocks glistening and shimmering in the sunlight. i wonder it those rocks lined the palace thousands of years ago. the plaster frescas were also beautiful. they used such vibrant colors with such imagination. they focused on mother godesses and the frescas are know for there blue monkeys which symbolize over seas trade because there are no monkeys on crete. the civilization was destroyed with the eurption of sanorini which some because was alantis. minoans also live on santorini. i went with eric and ther two americans who are studying in italy, julie and kat. kat was like my own personal tour guide. visiting greece is like visiting the motherland for her. well, i am off the eat the delicious and cheap university food. happy unbirthdays to all the rest of you.

Posted by Ariella Spector at 12:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

well, i went camping for three days and two night in the south of crete. we, eric, ema and becky(two really sweet british girls), and i found this nice beach on a cliffside by the town of agia galini. we would have stayed longer byt the molaka eric ran out of food. it was very relaxing and hopefully the picture will turn out. other than that nothing much exciting is going on with me, just exploring this town and myself. i am moving on from here in a few days but i am not sure where to yet, who knows where the wind will blow me? i know once i leave here i will miss it but life is not only just a party and i am becoming to stagnant. it is nice just to have a group of friends instead of being a lone traveler(which IS nice most of the time). well, lets see where i end up. oh ya, happy early birthday to serena the bunny, spenser, and dominique. yay for pisces.

Posted by Ariella Spector at 12:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

just a short entry, i am still in the wonderful town of rythemno on crete and i am exploring daily.yesterday i went to this beautiful beach surrounded on three sides by mountains and was hidden in a cove. aside from the beautiful turquiose water, there was a river leading into the water from a gorge that was a light green, for whatever reason, but was still clear up close. it flowed sideways into the sea because of a sandbar blockinging it. we had to walk down cliffs to get there and it was so peaceful. in the summer it is packed but we were the only ones there. it was so cold but i swan in the sea anyway, not for long becaus ebeing so cold it was a true workout. i went with these three canadian boys fromt he hostel who had rented a car. beauty. that was just a random day, each one varies from the next. i think i am going camping tomorrow and i will spand a few more days in this town before i move on. have beautiful days and fufilled nights everyone.

Posted by Ariella Spector at 01:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

hello again,
this is my rewritten version of my day in hydra because this site didn't publish my last one for some reason. i had a wonderful day and met so many kind people that i am so thankful for haing guided me. anyways, i set out last friday from aegina at 9 in the moring. i took the ferry and got there around eleven. not knowing what to do i just started walking up. all i really wanted to do there was go on a hike and see the town. there are no motor vehicles on this island and it is built up into the hillside with steps going up and up and up. i was walking up and so was this other man. he turned out o be a local artist and spoke perfect english and was a true gentleman and showed me where i should walk to. he led me up to the monestary and then we waled even further up the hillside until i was at the top of the hill looking down ta the whole town and the sea and the other green mountains behing me. i was so high up in such a short time. the man went home and i was happily left to read and write. all i could hear were dogs communicating with eachother through there barking, the sawing of electric saws(i walked past a lot of woodshops on the way up), and the collision of the wind against the rocks of the land after it has been traveling out at sea so long. i had such a sense of awe. the ground was so furtile and so different from the dryness of the summer. i could see the whole town, all the white houses with the random colored merchant's manions fro the 1800's that line the cliffs around town. it was such a beautiful sight with the sea enclosing the island holding it captive. i left around two after having lunch at a taverna in the harbor. this was hte last ferry out. i met a taverna owner on the boat on his way to gather supplies from athens and learned about the island from him. there are no addresses in hydra and there are more than 2,000 residents in the off season. the mail deliverer knows everybody by name!!!when i stepped of the boat back in aegina and was looking at the tavernas that lined the harbor and had this weird gratifing sense of homecoming. i hadn't even been there for two weeks yet it was so familier to me and good to be home after a long day's travel. i glowing from happines and all the kindness and luck from having met so many hospitable people that day. three people offered me their homes, what kindness and hospitality to strangers. what is it about traveling that such a feeling of accomplishment? i think it is the sense of setting out to do something, getting fro point A to point B, and making it back. the the sense of setting ou to do something, and succeeding. you feel so changed when done because very expierence adds knowledge to you head and you can never be the same again. i had a wonderful day and this was my birthday present to myself.
well, as you know i wasn't happy in aegina because i was wasting my time. i wasn't helping because this woman inevitably cannot be helped. she wants to do everything on her own and i just ended up sitting there all day twiddling my thumbs just to be going to be at nine at night. "by the time i have explained it to you, i could have done it already. i don't have any time to waste". this is why she couldn't be helped. she has too much on her plate and won't let anybody take so weight off it. i read 3 out of my five books in under two weeks. i would have like to worked more at the shelter but htis woman was had so busy and disorganized she could not drive me there everyday and pick me back up. she kept on flaking on me and telling me to meet her someplace and she would not show up because she cannot remember what she said or where she parked or anything because she is running around in circles all the time. when i reccomended a daily planner to her because she was always missing appointments with other people, she said "it is always the lazy one who suggest that to me. it is good to exercise my memory so it doesn't go to waste." there are so many other ways to exercise your memory without standing other people up and wasting their time. i couldn't handle the way she approached life anymore and wouldn't let me help her with anything so i needed to make myself uselful and move on. life is life and i was there to help but she didn't want my offer. her loss. i just feel bad for the dogs when she crashes, which in inevitable, because there will be no one left for them. i had to make something out of my time so i left. i am so happy now. see you all later and read what i have been doing in crete in my previous entry. i hope everyone else's days are as fullfilled as mine.

Posted by Ariella Spector at 02:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

hey everybody,
well first off, i am in crete!!! i am sitting here in the town's university with eric and we are using the computer lab and eating cheap filling meals. i am staying at a youth hostel and i am so happy here. it is so nice to be aroung people my age. eric has a nice apartment setup going on and many friends which are slowly becoming mine as well. i have been here since wednesday and i will be here at least a week. it is so beautiful but cold and rainy the past few days. i amin a town called rethymno which is like the equivelant to a college town so there is stuff to do every night. there is this really nice british chap named brendan and he is the hostel keeper. he and eric are good friends and hilarious toghether. being around those two makes me feel like a hoodlum.
yesterday i went around with these two germans who rented a car and explored the western side of the island. it was raining and windy yet still beautiful. we first drove to the northwest side and stopped at the ancient town of falasarma. we climbed over the old ruins and explored the beach. we gathered shells and trudded over the tidepools. the tidepools didn't have very mich apparent life in them when compared to the crab filled sea annennomee infested guppie swimming ones of the pacific northwest. the wind was coming from the land and would create this beautiful seabreeze mist going against the violent aqua blue water crashing againg the rocks with it's well earned whitewash. posieden must have been angry yesterday. the color of the water is so pretty; it is dark blue-green that is still transparent where there are corral reefs under it but when it stopps it is light aqua blue that is so clear with the whitewash spreading over it like a highlighted infection. beauty at is most powerful. we also climbed rocks up the mountain side with howling wind knocking us over and had to take a goat trail back down. we eventually left (we were the only people there) and i attempted to drive stick which i have been wanting to do for years. i stalled the first two times but got it on the third attempt. i still need more practice but i could manage in an emergency.
then we drove through the windign misted mountains to get to the southwest beach of elafanosi. it was a trek to dive through the mountains because greek driving is insane with absolutely no rules. the will drive two cars next to eachother in a single lane road all the time, even with oncoming traffic. anyways, the mountains were lush green. i heard in the long summers it is just red with rocks, soil, and dried shrubs. the mountains kind of reminded me of the andies even thiugh i have neverseen them. the beach was paradise. it was just like the carribean. everywhere else on the island it was raining but when we got there it was sunny behind the clouds and warm. the beach was covered in fine white sand with pink sand mixed in to form patterns. olive trees laced the rim and showed the looming mountains peering behind them. i even found some pumice on the trails down to the beach. the water was shallow and light aqua blue. there was a lagoon of crystal clear shallow water that was swaying with the tide and was warmed from the sun because of the shallow waters. shells decorated the sand and a few jagged rocks climbed out of the water and sandbars. paradise. it must be packed with people in the summer. we eventually left and drove back to our hostel and cooked soup and a giant greek salad while sipping the local white wine. a perfect way to end a perfect explored day. well, i won't bore you with anymore so if you are still interested i will now rewrite my adventure to hydra last friday that got erased. Yassas(bye).

Posted by Ariella Spector at 02:17 AM | Permalink

"what day is today? it's ariella's birthday, what a day for a birthday, let's all eat some cake." okay, i am a huge dork. that was from a futurama episode and that is the birthday song in the year 3000. well, today is my birthday, no different that yesterday. i don't feel special or anything, but i have felt so special on all my other birthdays thanx to the people reading this, espicially last year's. i started out the day scooping dog shit then helped unload 6 tons of cat food with 4 other people; at least i got my exercise. other than that, i spent most of the rest of my day reading kurt vonnegut in front of a fire with a dalmation on my lap. i also got to ride a scooter which i have been yearning to do for years. when i went to athens a few years ago with my father, within the first 24 hours then first things he said to me were: 1. don't pet the dogs, and 2. never ever get on one of the motor bikes. now i have broken both rules, but wait i am not a teenager anymore so i am not supposed to be rebellious. (i guess you all can't detect the sarcasm because this is writing). anyways, last night was lovely. i was eating dinner with gaby, pamela(another supporter who was visiting from england), and her friend janice. i tried ouzo, the greek drink, for the first time, it is like a cross between jagermeister and absinthe, made from anneseed i suppose. in the middle of dinner, pam left and then at the end, the waiter brought out peices of chocolate souflet. pam left in the middle of dinner to get me cake. they sany happy birthday and it was so sweet of her. it made my birthday even though it was the day before. i appreciated the gesture. well, i guess that is all for now because "time is money" when you are at an internet cafe. oh ya, i am taking a day trip to hydra tomorrow, an island a few hours away that has no motor vehicles. i just plan on sipping tea in a little taverna. oh, what a hard life i have. thanx for reading this and happy unbirthday to all, and all a calle neichta(good night).

Posted by Ariella Spector at 08:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

hey everybody,
nothing much with me, just spending the last of my days as a teenager. wow, that sounds so scary. today i have just been scrubbing dishes and bowls for the dogs, something tha the normal workers don't have time to do and it is so badly needed. there was the most beautiful sunset today. peachy pink and periwinkle filled the sky and ocean as the sun set behind the penolopese mountains in the distance. everything had to do with tose colors, variations of those shades. it was magnificant. the whole ocean was pink and the shadows from the waves were purple. it matched the sky perfectly. as i looked up, i saw a thumbnail of a moon siling down at me with a planet acting as it's beauty mark. it is so pretty here. other than that i am not sure how much longer i want to stay here. i feel like i am getting in the way more than i am helping. when i am up at the shelter i am a big help but i am not there all that often. i mainly follow a woman named gaby around all day and she doesn't tell me what to do and if i take initiative and jsut start doing things and mess up, then i will have set gaby back in her alread crammed life. she is the type of person that needs to do things her way so she knows they get done. so i follow her around like another dog and i feel that i am setting her back. and i am lonely here becaus ei am not with any other travelers. well, sorry about my bitching, it is not really bad at all. i am just too sensitive and i pick up on weird vibes. she is just so hospitable i don't want her to think i am ungrateful. if it was as easy as jsut working at the shelter i would but it is up in the remote mountains with no transportation other then gaby when she gooes and the other workers live in other parts of the island. really, life isn't bad, i am just a sensitive complainer. well, kalle spara (good night).

Posted by Ariella Spector at 08:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

hey everybody,
this is just my weekly check in. i don't really have much to say except that at the end of each day, i am thoroughly exausted. we are dealy with a parvo epidemic with six of our puppies. i hope they all survive but it is doubtful. i hope everyone who is reading this's life is well.

Posted by Ariella Spector at 08:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

hello everybody,
well, i am here in Aegina, settled and everything. pretty much i am this german woman's assistant. her name is gaby and she is lovely. i have a place to myself in the heart of Agina Town. it is her brother's vacation house. each night i have a different dog sleeping with me. the days are long and on my fett, as well as emotionally hard. right now i have four puppies(really toddlers) in my lap and jumping on me. htere are a mix of lab and some other long haired dog and are quite lovely. this morning, gaby and i went to this old lady's house who was looking after her brothers dog because he beat it. it gave birth two days ago to six puppies. the woman was 90 years old and could barely take care of herself. when we got there it was chained in the basement feeding it's offspring. we had to take it away from it's babies and it was so wonderful and calm. we took it to the shelter up in the mountains and went back for the puppies. i got to name the mother Daniella. we took the puppies to the vet and had to put them all to sleep. i held them and kissed them all before they went under. after their shot i held them in my arms until they fell asleep. i held them a little longer until their hearts stopped beating. their last breaths were in my arms. then when i put the back on the table, their body were limp and that's how you know they are gone. this posed so many ethical questions in me. first off it was really hard and a great learning expierence. it is just like a human abortion. the way i am justifiying this does not make it by any means right, just some things in this world has to be done and these are some of the thoughts in my thought process. it is preventing a life of misery before it starts. once you see the rampent overpopulation, this way seems the best. there are so many full grow dogs that deserve good homes and there are not enough people who want to adopt. well, after they were put to sleep, the vet needed help putting a cat with HIV to sleep. she was purring so sweely in gaby's arms as the lethal sleeping potion was put into her IV. at least it was peaceful. another thing with the puppies, if we didn't do that or take them to the filled up shelter, everybody around town puts piosen int he trash cans for the stray animals and that is a way more violent death. they also don't have a creamation process here, they just throw the animal bodies in the normal trash, sometimes not even in a plastic bag. the sanitation cannot even be though of or i think i will be sick. well, my day after that was pleasent. i was just playing with dogs and puppies. now, off to bed. i hope eveyone who is reading this is having a lovely day/night.

Continue reading "here in aegina" »

Posted by Ariella Spector at 08:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

just got done with class for the week. we just had a lecture about interviewing techniques. what i got out of it was the key is to listen and observe and when done, it is not about what you learned and reactions, it is about linking it to the person's culture and trying to fing his/her standpoint. i am finally done with my webpage. if you didn't just come from there and just stumbled here accidently, you can view it at: http://academic.evergreen.edu/s/speari26 . this past week i have been making things like crazy such as a handbag and a long skirt and binding a journal to take with me to my island. i also dewussified and finally got my hepatitus A and B shots which i have postponed for about seven years now. well, it has been a very productive week and a wekk of not accomplishing much at the same time. by the way, "hi" to all my family and friends who are reading this and thanx for visiting my webpage. have great days everyone.

Posted by Ariella Spector at 01:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

right now i (and the rest of the islands class) are in the mac computing lab learning web design and was just told what this is. i suppose it is like an online journal that anybody can read. i just finished HOCUS POSUS by kurt vonnegut this morning and i don't know what to think yet. the thoughts fom the book need to simmer in my mind. i read it in less than two weeks and that is fast for me so that may say what ver it does. i need to do more class work and follow the directions so by for now. it was nice meeting you.

Posted by Ariella Spector at 06:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

an archeological site on my island of AEGINA 20 miles south of athens.

Posted by Ariella Spector at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)