Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once during the night, again at 5:15am, did my Kegel exercises, DIDN’T fall back asleep, finally getting up at 5:30am.

I think my cold is just about over.

Booking.com contacted me by email and my reservation with Athina Apartments has been cancelled without charge. I’m now considering a place titled Relaxing Beautiful Holiday Home for $136 for 2 nights, a 10-minute ride to the Lavrio port. It’s near beaches but not towns so I might consider renting a car.

I hear Teresa suddenly say, “How are you?”. She’s listening to something on her cellphone; it says she can learn English in 3 months. Yeah, go for it!

I booked the house in Lavrio, Greece for 2 nights for approximately $136 to be payable later, the exact amount depending on the currency exchange rate at the time.

At 8:30 I packed my formal shoes and my new beige linen pants into my gym bag and took a Didi to the mall. I recycled a few plastic bottles then got in a slow line at Auros. I printed my most recent booking confirmation, Relaxing Beautiful Holiday Home and some chess notes. The sasteria (tailor shop) still wasn’t open so I bought a blueberry muffin at Starbucks and ate it with a latte in Urbania. I left at 10:15, had my pants measured for alteration in La Sasteria for 13mil ($3.15) and they will be ready on Saturday. I bought 2 bags of milk, a jar of coffee, and 2 bananas...

This is what i noticed while waiting in line. Those notices should reduce the sales of these potato chips:

... and returned to the apt by taxi.

I forgot to pay the wifi and Direct TV bills so I’ll probably take care of that tomorrow afternoon.

I finished installing the corner guards on the bed and returned the screwdriver and leftover screws to the garage storage area.

I left the apt at 12:45 and took a Didi to Mayorca. The driver dropped me off on the old side but I made my way to the new side and up 2 floors and met Teresa already sitting in Mundo Verde. She had her usual salmon with side orders of broccoli and avocado and I had a Cesar salad. With each of our juices the total came to 116,798 ($28), including tip.

We did some shopping and Teresa found a couple t-shirts in Under Armour for 209,975 ($51). We did a little more shopping but didn’t find anything and we returned to the apt by taxi.

I love my new Capital One account which so far has worked for me flawlessly.

I downloaded the Google Translate app (GT) to Teresa’s cellphone and gave her a quick lesson on how to find it: 1. Press the Home button. 2. Swipe up. 3. Push the GT icon. I had to correct her not to swipe up from the Home button but above it. Then I demonstrated how it works and how if she pauses, GT thinks she’s done speaking. I also pointed out she has to make sure GT understands what she said correctly. She accidentally pressed the wrong button once and saw all of the dozens of languages that GT supports. I demonstrated what translating from Spanish to Greek would sound and look like and she was a little freaked out by the strange alphabet. We spent at least 30 minutes practicing and I heard the story again of how her husband died of prostate cancer after waiting until it metastasized and he only lived 5 more months. And how losing a spouse is hard but losing a child is worse, especially when her son Sebastian died so suddenly.

I watched another episode of The Americans.

 

America’s Decline into Idiocy