You don't come to Mykonos to sleep.....

I'm in love (and not with a boy, we've already decided they are not worth our time remember? Although, I do have a good story about boys that I will tell you in just a minute). So, I am in love with Greece, more specifically the Greek Islands. We went to Athens for a day and the sites were as cool and rich as the history behind them, however my true love came when we arrived in the Greek islands. We took a ferry here to Mykonos and stopped at 2 other equally adorable small islands on the way here. The love began as we pulled up to the port and from the deck of the boat I could see all the beautiful white washed buildings with the bright blue or red roofs and painted shutters. From every spot in the city you can see at least 10 Greek-orthodox churches, each of which could only accommodate 7-8 people standing at any one time. I haven't yet figured out if each of these churches is in use, or if each church belong to 2-3 families or why exactly there are so many and why they are so small, but I love it. The town is small and the streets are so narrow that cars are not allowed within the city center, so everyone is on foot. The total population of the island is about 15 thousand and about 7-8 thousand of them live in the city Mykonos (where we are staying), so they all know each other. The sunsets are amazing, the food is wonderful, there are hundreds of little boutique shops, pelicans wander the streets like they own the place, and the people are friendly. The most common words I have heard here are "you don't come to Mykonos to sleep" and that is another reason why I love this town. In the days I have been here I have never seen the streets as busy as they were at 10pm last night. Every store was still open, restaurants were just starting to seat people and music was playing. Bars and night clubs are popular here and are open from 10pm to 6am. This is the only hotel in all the places we are staying this month that doesn't provide breakfast, and that is because no one would ever be awake to eat it!

Today we spent the day at the beach (I wore sunscreen dad, don't worry). The water was still a little chilly, but I have never seen a clearer ocean. The owner of the beach/resort came up to me and offered me a job. He says he offers a free room at his hotel, 2 free meals, 2-3 days off a week and you make about 80-100 euro a day. He is looking for people from June to September. I am seriously considering it.....

I can't believe I have been missing out on this great place the whole first 25 years of my life! We ran into an American woman on the ferry coming out here, she's in her 60s and retired. She said she first came out to Mykonos 39 years ago and has been coming back ever since. She now lives out here for 6 months of the year (may-october) and everyone in town knows her. I'm envious of her life. Tomorrow we head to Santorini, another beautiful Greek Island to spend some more time on the beach and to take some more pictures of white washed churches with blue roofs and doors. (The windmills are the signature of Mykonos)

As for the story about the boys. Last night some Greek boys convinced us to let them buy us a drink. When we arrived (don't worry mom, we didn't drive in the car with these guys, remember there are no cars allowed in the town?) at the very trendy bar that overlooked the ocean and Apollo's birthplace the sun was just setting into the ocean. The guys laughed when Maren and I both ordered a coke to drink, but they laughed even more when they found out I had been a missionary in Italy for a year and a half. I think mostly because they realized that we weren't the kind of girls that were going to go out party with them all night, or maybe I just don't seem like the kind of girl that would actually serve a mission, I don't really know, but in any event they thought it was rather humorous. Being the good missionary I was however, I turned our encounter into a first discussion (minus the prayer part). It felt just like I was back on Sardinia with Rebekah again teaching guys discussions over pear juice. Although the night probably didn't turn out exactly how the guys were hopping it would turn out, for me and Maren I think it went much better than expected.