One Lovely Greek Evening (or: "Date Night" for those who had dates, which I did not)

In order for us to have the conference we had in Greece, it was necessary to have people to watch the kids while all the parents attended the meetings.  This particular group of volunteers offered to watch the kids one evening so that all couples could go out on a childless date adults could enjoy a nice evening out.  Wasn't that nice of them?  (One of the other singles jokingly suggested that we throw bread crumbs at all the couples and say, "You're kids aren't here...but WE ARE!"  Hehe.)

So we all dressed up and then boarded buses to head to what we thought would be a nice restaurant.  (Again, several of us singletons conspired about every single one of us singles sitting alone on the buses to force the couples to sit apart.  We're so cruel.)  The buses headed up up up hill and through some seriously tiny villages.

Major tourism buses going through tiny little Greek village streets...  It was clear on the village people's faces that this was not normal.  That was the beginning of many times that night that I wished I could have captured the moment in a photo...

Once our buses arrived, the manager of our resort explained that he was good friends with the Greek family that owns this land.  They wanted us to a have a true Greek experience, and that meant having a real family meal.  So this family had us--all gazillion (and when I say "gazillion" I mean that I don't have an exact number, but well over 100, maybe even 150 or 200?) of us over for dinner at their house.  On their front lawn.  Looking out at this:

Seriously?!

Seriously.

As we walked towards the tables they had set up for us, we passed a table with these champagne glasses.  There was an awkward moment and then someone said quietly, "It's lemonade."  The whisper kept being passed back so that others wouldn't have to have the awkward moment of "Do I say yes and just dump it out?  Do I say no thank you?  What do I do?!"  And let me say--it was some delicious lemonade!  It truly set the tone for everything else they served us.

While we were waiting for all the buses to arrive, one of the family members came up to me and my group of friends and asked if we would like to see the lamb on the spit.  We all looked at each other and said in unison to him, "YES!"  He took us back around to the side of the house where there were not one or two lambs on a spit, but at least six.  Well, they were going to feed a gazillion of us, after all!

He led us into the kitchen where some vegetables were being fried up.  I must admit, I saw this and hoped for a split moment that it would be fried okra.  Oh man.  My mouth waters just thinking about it. I honestly can't even remember now what vegetable it was that was fried up.  If I didn't take many pictures that night, I sure didn't take notes either...haha.

Back out at the tables, Munchkin's camera became the celebrity of the evening.  It was passed around and I don't even know how many people took photos with it.  And I don't know who took all the photos that are on it.  I just know that I stole photos from it.  :)  So, either the Bodybuilder, the Crazy Cajun, or Munchkin took all the really high quality nice photos on the rest of this blog post.  Here's one where they told me to smile:

And then a "smile to show all the fun you're having!"

There was a pretty little bridge, and so groups started going there to have their photo taken.  We went too.  Front row (left to right): Me, the camelridingcowgirl, Classy Spice, Giggles, Flower, Barney.  Back row: the Artist, Munchkin, the Bodybuilder, the Crazy Cajun, Woody.  We were just missing the bossman and his wife.  

A group of us went to walk around a bit more and found the olive tree grove and vineyards all along one side of the house.  It was just so pretty and peaceful.  I was beginning to melt into this happy, blissful, deep sighs of contented joy state, and we hadn't even had dinner yet!

More playing around with the celebrity camera took place.  The Artist captured a shot of the guys looking all nice.

The Crazy Cajun took some photos of Giggles pretending she was roughin' up the Bodybuilder.  When you see all 47 of the photos in sequence, they're pretty funny.  But I thought I'd spare you and just show you one:

Even more priceless?  The Artist's reactions behind the scenes to the fake very real-life punches.

The Bodybuilder got the Crazy Cajun back though by photobombing his selfie.  Hahahaha.  Now THAT is priceless.

So it was time for dinner to start.  Confession: I didn't take one single photo of the food.  Sorry.  Nor did I write down notes of what we were served.  I just remember this: there was a pork dish that was so good that I almost cried.  After all the deliciousness was finished, these two ladies came up to every single table--every.single.table.--and said, "We wish you a lovely Greek evening."

"We wish you a lovely Greek evening.  We wish you a lovely Greek evening.  We wish a lovely Greek evening."  With each time they said it, at each table, it was as though the loveliness of the evening increased exponentially.  Once they'd wished a lovely Greek evening to all the tables, they went out to the dance floor to put on a show for us.

THEN...

They invited us to come dance with them!  Oh man!  Words cannot express how much fun I had out there dancing.  It was just one of those moments that I will remember forever.  And luckily, the Crazy Cajun captured it in a photo.  How do I know he took it?  Well, because the Bodybuilder and Munchkin are both in the photo.  I LOVE THIS PHOTO.  I will probably print and frame it.  Take a first look before I tell you more.  (Click on the photo to enlarge it.)

I love seeing all my friends arm in arm in a circle dancing and having a grand ole time.  I love that it captured the moment.  I love that it caught the Greek woman with her arms up in the exact pose you would imagine for Greek dancing (and with the Bodybuilder smiling and dancing behind her, and Munchkin right beside him!)

But if you look over to the far right of the photo, you'll see me...with pure joy and delight all over my face.  That look is exactly how I felt at that moment, and the rest of the evening.  

Once I sat back down and was catching my breath, I looked over my shoulder and saw the camera pointed at me again, and whoever was clicking away caught another one of me just.so.happy.  

The moon came out and it was oh so ever spectacular.  I can't believe that Munchkin got this photo of it!

We sat under that tree, a whole bunch of us, and just talked and laughed and enjoyed one another's company.  My heart was so full as I was surrounded by people I love on such a lovely Greek evening.  As we left, we could see the lights down below us on the island and across the way towards Athens.

It was, hands down, the best food I ate while in Greece.  It was such an honor for that Greek family to welcome us, serve us, entertain us, and bless us.  They really truly represented their people and their culture so well, and it was just so touching to me for that.  It was the most delightful experience I had in Greece, one that I will treasure always.  I went home aglow.

And looking forward to the excursion to Corinth the next day.  Stay tuned...