My Dinner

Trip Start Sep 07, 2008

148

Trip End Dec 09, 2008

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Flag of Greece Chania, Crete, Greece
Tuesday, September 30, 2008

We reached Chania and checked into the hotel. The program provided me with an "entertainment fund," money meant to be used to connect with the students and make them feel taken care of and welcomed. I decided to use some of my entertainment fund to host a group dinner at a taverna in Chania. Basil worked for four days negotiating with the taverna owner on her cell phone to fix the menu and settle on a price. The students were very happy they weren't left on their own to find dinner for themselves, and even happier that I paid for it.

The food was amazing and nine courses' worth of plentiful. I fear this is unintentionally becoming a blog about food. Gourmets and dieters on the internet call this "food porn." But when you're in a foreign country, you get busted a few rungs down Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs -- where and when you'll get your next meal and what new and unusual thing it might be become of primary importance

Halva for dessert

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We had bread, horiatiki salad, the Greek equivalent of cole slaw (with guacamole on top!), dolmades (rice wrapped in grape leaves and then marinated), zucchini pie, meat pie, the Greek equivalent of barbecue, and halva for dessert (a sort of grain like cous cous that is molded together with honey and then baked). Yet again the flutes of wine and the shot glasses full of raki were well represented. I think the dinner was a smashing success, as several students asked me later if we would be having similar entertainment fund dinners on our future excursions to the Peloponnese and Delphi.

Many of the students left dinner and proceeded to the clubs, where the Chanians were more than happy to dance well before 3AM. I, on the other hand, walked along the stunning Chania harbor with Basil looking at the shops and the water.

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