Change of schedule

THE WHITE SNAIL will be at Pinakothiki on the 4th December (this saturday) instead of the 18th.
20 free copies for the young readers who will participate!

EIKE and the Corfiot schools

The Corfiot Artists association (EIKE) keeps on creating murals on the walls of the schools around the town.

This time they are at the 11th primary school. The school kids drew and painted on the walls along with the artists:

S.Fronimos (president of EIKE)
M.Vlachou
S.Kallimanis
K.Mikalef
and
A.Xomeritakis


Visit EIKE here

www.eike.gr

If you are an artist, come and join in!

The epitaph...

The epitaph of St.Antonios church started at around 7.30 last evening. There was a crowd of people in the town but the spectacle was wonderful-as always.

School kids take part in the epitaph of each church as well as a band or two. In the photo above you can see a part of the marine corpse too.

Easter holidays in Corfu

Today, Sunday the 12th April, the Greek Easter holidays have started. Schools closed last Friday, but all shops will remain open till next Saturday, when Corfiots celebrate Easter at the square of the island.

What will you buy this week?

First of all, FOGATSA, the special sweet bread that is the traditional treat for the whole family. Fogatsa can be eaten any time, at breakfast or as a snack during the day. In case you buy too many fogatses and they have become dry, you can slice them and grill them-eat them like a toast with honey or jam. Despite the fact that some bakeries sell fogatsa all the year round since it is very popular, now it is the time to get one, in a variety of shapes. Round ones are softer, small one-serving ones are best for the kids. Get fresh fogatses from bakeries (at a lower price) and from confectionery shops and supermarkets. Most of them are mastic flavored but the real corfiot fogatsa has orange flavor.

What else?

An Easter candle. They sell white and colorful candles for kids and adults all over the town. Kids usually get candles with small toys attached on them-this is the manufacturers' lure to attract more customers. Traditional candles are while with ribbons or wax colored natural candles. If you don't have time to buy candles now, pop into a supermarket and get some plain ones or wait till Saturday when you can get candles on the way to the square; there will be many stalls selling candles to those who like to get them the last minute!

What about Easter food supplies?

Tradition says you have lamb or goat meat in your fridge, to get it ready for Easter day.
If you don't have a spit to roast it, use your oven. Whatever you do, add a lot of lemon and oregano and let the flavor torture you till it gets ready! Olive oil is a must as well as ample salad.
Lettuce and cucumber along with fresh onions and tomatoes are ideal for a fresh salad to accompany the meat. Some people boil legumes or make vegetable pies-any will do. Some local -or bottled-red wine will complete the meal. Don't miss the olives and feta cheese on the Easter table! And the red eggs of course! Buy more than a dozen as eggs are tricky! They crack so easily during boiling that you may need a lot more!

What about home decoration?

Apart from baskets with red eggs-or colorful eggs- that you can put on many spots of your house, get flowers. Spring time is here and one or more vases with flowers will lighten up the atmosphere. Or you can get some flower pots from your balcony. The most enjoyable thing for me is to paint egg faces on hard boiled eggs! It's so easy to do, just take care to have a couple hard-boiled eggs(leave them to boil for at least 10 minutes).

Here is how to do it once the eggs are ready and cold.

Cut out rings from the kitchen paper hard card roller (the inside) to use as base.

Stick glossy paper on the rings or paint them with tempera or acrylic.


Place an egg on each ring and draw a face on it. You can use a pencil and fill in the design with
tempera or acrylic color.










You can either draw some hair or make a cap/hat or handkerchief to cover the top of the head.




Be creative! This is fun for the kids and all the family and a great gift for relatives and friends!

Happy Easter!

Carnival

Today, 1 st of March,
the carnival parade it taking place in Corfu town.

Some floats and a number of dance schools take part in this event which starts at 4.00 pm from San Rocco square heading for the lower square of the town.
In the photos above you can see the kids of a dance school that parade along Alexandras Avenue towards San Rocco square to meet the bands. A huge blue masc shows the name of their school and the little kids dressed in pink follow along with the teenagers who are dressed like police women. This is only one of the numerous dance schools that exist on the island. Gyms are also in favor these days. To watch a video go to www.Corfuland.gr where you can also listen to Life Radio, the local pop radio station.

The Music School of Corfu

The Music School of Corfu is located at Alexandras Avenue, a very beautiful area leading to Garitsa bay.

Who attends the Music School?

Almost everyone interested in music! School kids mainly, since there are 19 brass bands today on the island and they need constant members. Young kids can start music lessons from an early age, usually from the third grade of Primary School. They are the most enthusiastic members since they look forward to parading with their band on celebration days!

Bands have also many adults who are experts on one or more musical instruments. During St. Spyridon processions many bands take part and this is a wonderful sight.

Musical heritage in Corfu dates back to the Venetian occupation, hundreds of years ago, and it still remains as the main attraction of the Corfiot culture. “Philarmonikes”, the Greek name of the bands, add to the island a colourful character no other place in Greece possesses.

The Music School is the main spot for those who need to get educated in classical music. Passers-by can hear violin sounds quite often, or piano songs and opera parts if they are lucky enough! The whole block around this traditional building livens up to the daily sounds of music that are a familiar form of local culture.

The new Town Hall

The new Town Hall building is now in L.Alexandras street, near my home.

The same building used to be the orphanage of the island, an institution that accommodated a great number of orphans, many years ago. Then they moved the kids to another place ( I suppose there were just a few orphans left at that time) and turned the building into offices. It housed the technical services of the island for some time, but the interior was in a real bad condition. It cried for renovation but it had to wait for a long time before the city council took any action.

Last year I witnessed a major renovation, at least on the exterior of the building. Now it is freshly painted and has got a new tiled roof. I have not visited the interior yet, but as far as I can judge from the new wooden windows, it will look great inside too.

Here's a picture I took the other day. The Town Hall is the oblong red building on the left.

Rain, rain and rain!

Today, the second of January, it's been raining since the night before. At noon though we had a nice dry spell that encouraged people to get out and do some shopping; not much, as only some local bakeries and mini markets were open. The chain supermarkets and the rest of the shops were all closed, even the pharmacies.

So it seems to have another day at home, resting or working at home, like me. Holidays are great to do a lot of things you can't do on normal weekdays, when you have to rush to the shops or pay bills. Speaking of bills, the post office was open as I got my electricity bill before noon. It will have to wait till next week though, as Monday is a semi holiday-the next day, the 6th of January is Fota (the Baptism of Jesus) and it is again, a holiday. On the 5th kids sing carols-but very few visit us anyway. Maybe because they don't really care to learn these carols or they are just not interested, since schools start the next day! Two weeks holidays are more than enough but the kids won't come back to reality without nagging.

Shopkeepers are looking forward to the after-holiday period. Guess why?
Sales will start!

Till next time, keep well...

(picture above: Anemomylos area, on a sunny winter day)

Carnival in Corfu

Carnival in Corfu is celebrated on the two last Sundays before Lent. The festivities reach their peak on last Sunday when a joyous parade takes place along the main streets of the town leading to the square.

Several floats and bands take place in the parade along with colorful groups from local dancing schools and lots of dressed up school kids who dance and play in the streets. The day ends by burning an effigy of ‘king Carnavalos’ that represents the spirit of carnival.

During carnival time local people use to make 'galactoboureko', which is a special sweet made from milk and semolina, fillo and syrup and it is absolutely delicious! You can find it in local confectioneries, such as Kretikos at Saroco square, or Serano at Solari area.

You can see carnival dancing here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kvStzAltCY

or here

http://video.aol.com/video-detail/corfu-carnival-greek-dance----/721924625

http://www.terrakerkyra.gr/apokries/en/

Corfiot Writer creates kids' books

Dimitris Grammenos has studied Computer Science in Crete. He claims he is not a writer, His recent book for kids shows that he has got a great sense of humor and excellent writing skills! --------------------------------------------------- This is a story about a Greek family with two kids, a boy and a girl. The family attend a concert at the Music Auditorium in Athens. It is the first time the young kids have gone to a concert, and the people who meet them think that they will inderstand nothing. Dimitirs, who is actually the young kid who tells the story, describes this first music outing of theirs with humour and imagination. It is a story that will make the readers smile. Dimitris donated the rights of the book to the charity organization called The smile of the child. His book was published by the AGYRA www.agyra.gr publishing company in Greece, and it is in Greek. The illustration of the book is beautiful!