Month: May 2008

Greek Isles

We are on our way back to Athens after our two day stay on the beautiful Greek Isle of Aegina! We had a fantastic stay! We discovered that the house wine is not only the cheapest option, it is also quite tasty! We spent yesterday morning at the beach followed by the afternoon on a scooter exploring the island. Unfortunately our hotel had gave us inaccurate bus times this morning, so after a bit of a panic, we called in and changed to a later flight. Today is a day of travel via all means available! Bus, ferry, train then plane – but when its all over, we will be in Cyprus where Maria and her family await. We catch up to my parents tomorrow. Looking forward to relaxing a bit on Cyprus, and very much looking forward to Maria’s wedding!

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Athens, Greece

Katty and I just finished our whirlwind tour of Athens and loved every moment of it! From the excitement of seeing th Parthenon for the first time, to the bustling cafes of the Plaka district, it is an amazing place! History surrounds you wherever you go, its impossible not to run into an ancient historical relic! Our hotel even had the wall that they had excavated while building it on display! Now we are island hopping in the Sardonic Sea. Time to relax a bit and eat some fantastic seafood!

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Room with a view

After feeling great about figuring out the metro sysem in Athens, it turned out that we were on the opposite side of the city from our hotel! Google Maps had pointed us wrong before we even left! The weather is gorgeous, mid 70s and just a few clouds. By the time we found our hotel we were sweaty and exhausted! Then they told us they were overbooked! (thanks Orbitz!) Thankfully they had arranged another room at a better hotel! Now we have a balcony with a view of the Acropolis! Time to explore!

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Arrival in Greece

Just got off the plane and onto the Metro in Athens! The 10 hour flight was exhausting, as its currently 1:20am Chicago time. Neither Katty nor I got much sleep, but Im stoked about the day that lies ahead! The train doesn’t leave for another 10 minutes – sorry I don’t have a better picture! But I will, no worries!!

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YTC International Computer Competition

I have plenty of excuses for not posting – realistically, I could have made time to do so, but I just had way too much going on! The last two weeks have been non-stop! Youth Technology Corps‘ Mexican counterparts were visiting the first week of May. We had a computer competition, where the kids had to build computers from spare parts – ala Iron Chef. We had a few professors from Devry as well as Chicago’s alderman of the 12th ward, George Cardenas, on hand to oversee and judge the competition. Our video crew filmed and had a live feed for the rest of the audience. I played many roles as head judge, MC, translator, lead techie, A/V… etc… it was quite exhausting! But overall a total success!! Each team consisted of four Chicago Public school kids and two Mexican students. They were given 3 cases that they had to build into computers and 3 computers that had been sabotaged. 30% of their score was for the computers they built, 30% for those they troubleshooted, and 40% for teamwork. I was amazed at how into the competition the kids were! The “audience” was also quite enthusiastic! Overall a great event!