Arguably, Sunday peaked with me banging a shoe on the floor like Nikita Kruschev, snuffing the life out of my opponent – a giant wasp who mistakenly entered our house while Ailyn cheered, "Go, Daddy! Go, Daddy!" from the floor above. For about half an hour, it was a cat and mouse – or man and wasp – game that at first involved attempts to gently shoo the wasp toward the same open door he or she entered. With the curtains drawn except for the door, it seemed likely the wasp would follow the light and fresh air back outside. But that was not how this wasp rolled.
The situation unfortunately escalated and with Matheus playing "D" on the upstairs balcony and me fighting with a long-handled push-broom and eventually an aerosol can of lavender bathroom spray, I was forced to corner my opponent on the high windows in the living room, slamming him repeatedly with the broom (which could maim, but not kill him) and spraying him to what should have been oblivion. Blind and wiggling his stinger everywhere in order to fend off his attacker – which I believe he took to be the broom – he fell down to the floor and soldiered on by foot. Unfortunately for him, that was where the shoes were all parked and grabbing a pair of New Balance runners like Aria Stark with Needle, I went Nikita Kruschev on his waspy ass and swept him out the door and onto the overhang below.
To be clear, it was a matter of life and death since Emily is extremely allergic to stings. She was out of the house at the time and it was imperative that she not return to a wasp in the house. So it had to go – one way, or another.
Unfortunately, the wasp was not the only bug impairing our day. Emily is currently a bug-bitten, itchy mess due to what we presume to be sandflies. These biting flies, not uncommon in the Mediterranean seem to be thriving in Patmos and are especially fond of Emily. Neither of us remembers them from our previous Patmos visits, so they are either more common earlier in the summer – as we have always arrived in late August – or they have grown in numbers. It's also possible there are a few mosquito bites in the mix too.
Either way, Emily had two bites while at the beach yesterday that created golf-ball size welts on her arms and the situation had to be addressed. Last night, Emily practically covered herself with topical Benadryl gel and then popped a Benadryl capsule. That brought the golf balls down and reduced the itching – but it didn't eliminate it. Before going anywhere this morning, we stopped by the one of two pharmacies on the island that was open on Sunday (from 11 to 1). The old pharmacist and his wife were at the counter. Emily presented her bites to them, asking if they could identify the kind of bites she had.
"Maybe mosquito…? Maybe a bug…?" the pharmacist offered.
"Maybe just an allergy," offered his wife/unlicensed colleague.
So, with their expertise definitely up for question, Emily asked what he would recommend. He provided an antihistamine he claimed would be non-drowsy (which was later also deemed to be up for question). With further prompting about something topical, he pulled out what was essentially Caladryl. While their diagnostic skills were unimpressive, the outcome seemed promising and in the end helped.
The rest of our Sunday was bug-free. Ailyn and I dropped Emily and Sennen up at Hora – the town at the top of the hill surrounding the monastery – and they explored the narrow, windy streets and tunnels that make up the small, unique town. Down below in Skala, Ailyn and I went to the playground, bought her a baby doll at the toy store (a reward for recent great behavior), battled a wasp and then went to lunch at our favorite Gelateria where Ailyn enjoyed their pizza-bread slices and I got a fresh turkey and cheese crepe. Ailyn is a delightful date and we chatted and enjoyed ourselves while she raved about the pizza.
The entire morning and into the afternoon, there was a large gathering of people at the elementary school a few doors down the hill from our house. People looked like that had just come from church, then brought food, they stood outside greeting one-another, kissing, chatting, playing with babies and I assumed it was some reception or community function that might be an extension of church activities. A nice Patmosian lady who lived in Australia and now teaches English here on Patmos explained that today is the national election and people are coming to vote. Only on Patmos, that sort of turns into a party and people hug, kiss and visit in the street for far longer than they poll.
After lunch, Emily and Sennen – who had gotten lost in Hora and ended up getting a ride from a kind, elderly Dutchman down to Grikos, a southern beach – texted that they were ready for pickup. On the way to our car, Ailyn and I ran into the couple from whom we rent our car. It turns out their house is next to the public parking lot by the playground that we have recently begun using. Christina gave Ailyn fresh-cut flowers from her garden and Dimitris showed me two spots on their property where I can park the car if things are too crowded.
"This is so close to your house, it will make things easier for you and be much safer for the car. What you have happen here is people who bump into your car when parked. If it is here, your car will be safe and you will not pay any repair fees."
So kind. So unexpected. So generous. And totally spontaneous.
After picking up Emily and Sennen, we decided to all go for gelato – a family vacation favorite. Then, Ailyn and I went to the supermarket where she helped me do the Sunday shopping, just like at home. Only this market involved more kinds of yogurts (which are hard to sort through when you don't read Greek), more flies, an elevator between fresh and dry-goods floors, a very confusing milk section and home delivery when you're done shopping. Valentis, the delivery-man knows our family and house now and warmly greeted Ailyn and me when he saw us checking out.
Ailyn and I walked home slowly across town, sometimes stopping for her to enjoyed sips of cold water from the bottle we picked up at Alpha Beta. We didn't hurry and she sang and chatted as he held my hand. Ailyn also attracts attention as she crosses town, with people stopping to say hi, tell her how cute she is, fawn over her hair, give her flowers and wave hi as she passes. She may be the most popular girl on Patmos. For Ailyn's part, she's used to getting noticed in most places, but especially overseas. In Thailand and Bali, she was a star with her curls which practically don't exist in their populations – making Ailyn an extreme novelty. We expected Greece would be different. Yet surprisingly, while Patmos has numerous cute Greek kids, Ailyn's long locks and happy attitude still stand out from the crowd and earn her admiration. Walking across Skala with Ailyn is like having a celebrity on my arm.
In the late afternoon, Ailyn enjoyed her new baby doll, they kids played, I put away groceries and made dinner, and Emily played card games with the kids. Matheus roamed town and explored other beaches on foot. We relaxed, chilled out, had dinner on the roof and then went to the beach to watch the bright, red sunset unique to Chochlaka Beach.Along the way, the kids sang "Whole New World" at the top of their lungs, laughing all the way, then ate melon at the beach watching the sun go down before breaking into music and performance – much of which saluted the sun and all it does for us. It was a fantastic Sunday sunset at the beach!
On the way back to the house, I picked up the car and drove the car to the car rental office so they can wash and detail it in the morning – free of charge. Because that's how things roll on Patmos.
And aside from battles with bugs, it was just a calm day of Patmos life. Hugging in the streets, giving flowers to little girls, eating gelato, being friends with the grocery delivery-man, getting lost in thousand-year-old towns, bring offered private parking, being apathetically diagnosed by pharmacists, spending time as a family, singing in the streets, thanking Apollo for the sun and watching the sunset. What could be more Patmos?
