Like clockwork and without prompting, every fourth day the kids want a break from the beach. These are "Skala days" or "in-town days". It's understandable there are only so many days one can be at the beach before feeling saturated – it's a lot of sun, if nothing else. Beach days also involve an at least vague sense of needing to get up and out before sunbeds are filled or good spots on the beach are taken. Many days it also involves packing lunch, morning errands beforehand to get meat and produce for dinner that night while the selection is at its best and before the shops close for afternoon siesta. We're on a schedule, albeit a weak, invisible Patmos kind of schedule. There's structure.
Skala days involve no real structure beyond buying dinner ingredients. The kids sleep in later. We run errands later. It's a good day for Ailyn to do art and Sennen to read a book. They spend more time with the cats. Sometimes Ailyn shops with her birthday money. They usually watch a movie while enjoying some air-conditioning. SOMETIMES one or both decide to go for a dip at the beach in front of town in the late afternoon – just to cool off. We can reach it on foot and the locals use it like the town swimming pool. Skala days are the vacation from their vacation.
Yesterday was our first Skala day of the summer and it went pretty much like this – no front-of-town beach dip. Though we added one thing – a session with Coach Thanassis in the late afternoon. We're planning to see him twice a week. Thanassis owns the one and only gym on Patmos located just down the road from our house. He's been working with Sennen and Ailyn since they were six and four respectively. Thanassis' parents are both Patmian, but his mom was also American – born and raised in Ohio, moving "back" to Patmos after high school – when and where she met Thanassis' dad. The gym is adjacent to their family home and the first time Emily and I peaked our heads in to see what a gym on Patmos looked like, to our extreme surprise we were greeted by a woman who sounded like she could be our next-door neighbor in Los Angeles – Thanassis' mom.
As a dual Greek-American citizen, Thanassis speaks very good English. He and the kids have a really beautiful relationship – there's true adoration in both directions. It's wonderful to text him for some times, send the kids down the road with money in hand and have them spend an hour enjoying exercise and their trainer. They go happily and I get the sense they enjoy having something all theirs – no dad involved.
The combination of doing errands with Sennen, the kids recharging, the Coach Thanassis session and our first use of the barbecue for the summer made me feel the day was well used.
The year Emily and I traveled the world, sometimes one or both of us would get saturated. Life outside the door to our lodgings – whatever they were at the time – was usually amazing, but always an adventure, something different – not home. Which was the whole point of it. Only a year is a long time and sometimes, you want to teleport home if even for a few hours. One Saturday night in Istanbul, Emily felt conflicted because she really didn't want to be out and about in the city and also felt guilty at the idea of letting an Istanbul Saturday night go to waste. Besides the fact we had 17 days in Istanbul making it not our only shot at a Saturday night, I offered another perspective – it was also a year of our lives and if we were at home, we wouldn't go out every night, or even every Saturday night. Sometimes, you want to stay in, order take-out and watch a movie. That's exactly what we did.
If the kids and I were here a week or two taking a classic vacation – then it might seem a waste to have a Skala day. But they're here for 4.5 weeks, me closer to ten. We have a house and community here – and enjoying that community is part of the joy. So my morning walk with Sennen to the butcher, produce market, produce truck, bakery and ATM was part of the joy. The morning greetings, quick chit-chat, pointing out who we saw as we passed – all part of the experience. Even sending the kids to the bins with garbage and recycling bags in-hand is an important piece of our Patmos life.
We may not be Patmian or residents in any true sense – but we're not just passing through. Skala days help cement that aspect of our time here.
Today, we're back to swimming, only because of our Patmos life, we're taking a slight twist. Ailyn is reporting for her first day of work at Nectar – Eirini and Alessandro's shop at the corner. Sennen has worked there the past two summers and plans to again – only he wants to wait until next week. This year, Eirini wants to put both kids to work and Ailyn doesn't want to wait. Eirini usually arrives at the shop around 11, Alessandro managing the early morning activities. So Ailyn will likely work 11 to 1 – probably stamping bags as Sennen has always done. Eirini looked relived Ailyn was wiling to work this week, I think she is behind on getting her logo onto her paper bags and really values the kids' work.
Given Ailyn won't finish until early afternoon, going to the beach becomes dicier – simply because at this time of year, sometimes the seats all fill. We could of course, use our beach chairs and go to the "disorganized" section of a beach – or even to a beach like Livadi Geranou that is completely disorganized. But we decided on one of our occasional trips to Pleiades – a restaurant tucked in the (ironically) Eirini Hotel where patrons can enjoy the swimming pool overlooking Sapsilla Bay for as long as they like. Given Pleiades doesn't serve lunch until 1 pm, the timing is perfect. And while not the beach, the Pleiades pool has two distinct advantages – a breathtaking panoramic view and a chlorine-free pool that uses some kind of advanced filtration system. The water is always fresh and cool. My water babies can spend just as much time in the pool as in the sea if not more – so it won't change their plans much.
And the lunch is pretty great.
We're considering taking our new beach chairs with umbrella out for maiden usage tomorrow at Livadi Geranou. I'm fussy in that I don't like sitting on the sand or in the sun. I realized this was limiting our options, so I used Amazon to get a product I couldn't find locally. It has two connected chairs and even a little table top for placing drinks and a pouch for storing things like towels or lunch. Now, we can be at any beach and my needs will be met. Livadi Geranou has the most gorgeous tourmaline water and of course the little island I swam to with Ziv this summer and Michelle the summer before. Not sure the kids are ready for that – but they love swimming in that gorgeous water and sunning themselves on the pebble portions of the beach.
This three-day beach/swim "sprint" will be a little different – which is great on an island we know so well.
Sennen is also getting serious about his barbecuing. With the new chimney starter, we got our coals much hotter than last year and had an easy time grilling the chicken souvlaki Sennen personally seasoned. With fresh local veggies and Greek-style potatoes and an incredible watermelon from the produce shop, it made a fantastic summer dinner. Sennen's appetite to try different meats and seasonings on the grill was whetted and I expect we'll be firing up a lot of charcoal for the next few weeks. We have this big, beautiful Greek-style built-in grill in our yard – we might as well use it.
The kids are showing more autonomy and taking on more responsibility – which to me is one of the best parts of our Patmos life. They take it on so willingly, in part because the responsibility and freedom are so clearly linked. I can safely give them room and from it they grow. We all do.
