Celebrating Hanukkah

We had a Hanukkah celebration here in Loring Hall tonight, as three of our lovely members are Jewish. It was my first time trying latkes, the traditional potato pancakes, made by Nitzan. And they were delicious! In many ways, they reminded me of one of my favorite Greek dishes, kolokithokeftes - say that three times fast! - which are fried spinach balls, only latkes are made from potatoes.

In any case, great fun was had by all, about 25 of us, including Director Jack Davis and his wife, Shari! One striking absence tonight, however, was my camera: I had thought it would be a small celebration, and I would just drop by. Yet it turned out to be a great dinner, with good friends, songs, and the lighting of the menorah. It never fails, whenever I forget/fail to bring my camera along, I miss all kinds of picture opportunities.

But I digress. In lieu of photos, I leave you with this Hanukkah Song for Classicists, marvelously written and performed by some of last year's ASCSA members:

tempis fugit

The very fact that I hadn't even realized that I have not updated in 12 days is testament to the fact that the time is moving all too quickly. The weather's turning, gray skies predominate today in Athens, and we depart for Trip III on Monday. My presentation is "in the works" but not quite there yet, and there are plans for an epic party tonight. In the meantime, more later...just hopefully not 12 days later!

Lykavittos Walk

Part of the tradition of the American School is to take a walk up Lykavittos, the hill that looms above the School, at the start of the program. I did it for the Summer Session back in 2007, and again last night as a newly inaugurated Regular Member. It was a fairly hazy evening, though cool, and I brought along my nifty 55-200 lens to give it a test run. Here's a picture of the Acropolis, run through the wonders of PSE:


Mount Lykavittos sits far outside the ancient city limits, but you'd hardly notice today as Athens radiates out from it, its white-washed buildings spilling up into the surrounding hillsides. The name Lykavittos may perhaps be etymologically linked to that of a place of wolves - λύκοι - though this is not certain. And, it's a great climb to look at the topography of both the ancient and modern city, as well as watch a lovely sunset, even if on a cloudy day.



I am, of course, wearing the t-shirt of my friend Lael's funny and cute comic, The Book of Lael. Check it out!