Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The Library is On Strike Today...

Well, after packing up all of the books, heading off to the library for full day of studying, I was (only slightly) surprised to find the front gate to the library chained with a large declaration pasted on the front proclaiming the harsh injustices that are being imposed upon the poor library workers. Hithertofore, the library would be closed until further notice. Please keep in mind that this Library services a university of well over 60,000 students. Ah well, such is life in Greece. It’s good to know that the system (in general and in Greece) is not infallible.

Anyway, this must not overshadow the wonderful events of the previous weekend as a small excursion was made to Grigoriou Monastery on the Mountain. On the bus from Thessaloniki there were 3 American boys doing an exchange program in Athens. One of them is Russian and baptized Orthodox and others are Lutheran and Catholic. They merely heard about Mt. Athos from different sources in Greece and wanted to check it out. They came to Grigoriou and met some of the monks. It seems as though they enjoyed their stay (constantly saying how they wanted to return), and were all very serious and humble young men. On the ferry ride back into the “world” there was an Orthodox young man coming back from the mountain from the States and we discovered some unexpected mutual friends. Surely, these providential encounters shouldnt come as too much of a surprise, given the international interest in Athos, but it was quite a nice experience.

Not too much else to say. I’ll be heading home for Christmas at the end of December, which I am very excited about.

2 comments:

Charles said...

michael, how late at the end of december?

michael said...

CHUUUCK! I'll be arriving in Boston December 22 and leaving January 8. Will it be in time to see you?!?! THat would be awesome. Let me know! (email would be better: michael.tishel@gmail.com)...thanks for reading my blog :).