Over the Mountains and Sleepless Nights

We're so happy to have Oresti back home with us! For those of you who didn't know, Oresti was gone in Albania for a few days to get some documents stamped (for the visa process). He had quite the adventure. He arrived in his hometown at 2:30 in the morning, where it was freezing cold. So he walked up and down the main street to try to keep warm. Unfortunately he had not slept at all on the bus ride from Greece to Albania. Then he got stuck in a down pour of rain later in the day and got soaking wet in the cold. Then he caught a van to go to the capital, Tirana. The driver drove like a maniac (Oresti was wondering if he'd actually make it to Tirana in one piece). The van was really cold and uncomfortable, so still no sleep. Then, evenings of staying up late visiting with relatives (ok, that was worth it) but then he managed to get on a already packed bus to leave the capital to go back to his hometown. It was the only bus leaving, so he had to get on and stand! Thank God he was able to sit on the steps of the bus, because it was a 7 hour ride in the middle of the night (again no sleep). Again reaching his freezing town at 4 in the morning. Then leaving Albania on a bus to come back to Greece, but first getting stuck in the mountains in a snow storm for 2 hours. Finally he made it back to us, needless to say, looking like a zombie. Poor guy, but he had 2 days to rest up, so he's feeling much better and we're very thankful to have him home.
I guess Luli had kind of forgotten about him, because she was busy having her evening snack and all of the sudden Oresti comes in the room and says something and she just jumped a foot! But as soon as she looked at his face she got a big smile on hers. Babi's home!!



view of Tepelene, Oresti's hometown