Week 1 in Greece

We've been here in Porto Rafti for about a week now along with 32 Harding students. The boys have adjusted great to being here, and Becky and I are getting better adjusted as well. We're starting to get to know the that have traveled over with us, and I have to say I am quite impressed with them. They have been very friendly with our boys and have helped us keep an eye on them. Mike and Beth James (Mike is the director) have also been very welcoming.

If you are friends with Becky on Facebook, you can see a ton of photos we have taken. I'll just include a few here. Below is a photo from the coast of Porto Rafti. As you can tell, the water is gorgeous, and it's consistently sunny and dry during the summer.


The photo below was taken from the balcony of our apartment. This is the view I have when prepping for class (we're really roughing it ).


Becky and I have taught a few days each, and our classes are starting off well. The students seem to be taking their studies seriously even though there are so many distractions here. It's a little strange teaching non-CS courses for the first time (Speech and Bible), but I'm enjoying it. When we are not teaching, we're spending time with the boys and interacting with the college students. We've been to the beach twice and gone swimming in the hotel pool a few times.

On the Thursday after arriving, we toured Athens and of course hit the Acropolis. (No, Ethan was not feeling sad, just being uncooperative.) We also sat on Mars Hill and read aloud from Acts 17 where Paul introduced the Athenians to the "Unknown God" they had been worshiping.


On Saturday, Braden turned two. The directors and students threw Braden a little birthday party, complete with chocolate cake and a few gifts.


We're leaving in the morning for a three-day tour of the Peloponnese. I'll write about it next week.

Off to Greece

Tomorrow morning my family and I ship out for Athens, Greece. It's been a really busy end of the semester trying to wrap up all my courses and plan for a 2.5 month excursion overseas. Without Becky's organizational skills, there's no way we would have made it. We've got all the bags packed up and are ready for our early morning flight out of Little Rock. Some friends will be staying in our place over the summer.

On Tuesday morning we'll be flying into Athens along with 32 Harding students, and we'll make our new home in Porto Rafti which is about an hour outside of Athens. Harding owns a hotel there called the Artemis. It has a pool which the boys will love, and we'll have all our courses in the hotel as well as all our meals. I'll be teaching Speech Communication and the Life of Paul. Becky will be teaching English Composition II. The boys will be teaching Patience 101.

There are three major excursions we'll be taking in addition to travel around Greece: Egypt, a Mediterranean cruise, and Israel. I'll post more about these trips later.

Your prayers will be appreciated as we head out tomorrow. We'll see how the boys do being woken up at 3 am.