Winter in the Cyclades

Winter is upon us here in Mykonos. And I know what you all are thinking…winter doesn’t exist in Greece! Well, it does, and fortunately for me it happens to feel like a nice, fresh, cool, sunny/overcast-at-the-drop-of-a-hat, Seattle summer! I understand that I have not been very up to date with updating everyone on the events this summer, so here I go..the past couple months in a nutshell…

July

The weather was warm and the Italians were even hotter! Mykonos is known for it’s vast majority of club scenes, vespa driving, beach parties and water sports. It is also known for having half of Italy practically immigrate to Mykonos for 1-2 months out of the summer. So if you “no capito Italiano”….you’re screwed, because they don’t even know there is another language outside of Italian!

August

There I was, wandering the disco getting ready for my night of taking orders, heavily persuading strangers to buy VIP bottles and tables, trying to communicate in Italian, sign language, Greek and spanish and be charming at the same time, when a bartender from downstairs needs to talk to me.
“What’s up?” I ask Kosta. He very quietly, and oddly professionally (since we don’t work in the most elegant of bars), says to me:
“Uhhh Lindsey, we have a special guest down stairs, he was in some American singing group called Vansing…”
I think for a moment. Vansing…what the…
“I don’t know, his name is like Jance or something…”
“Kosta..Vansing? Jance…I have never heard of…”
“Ok, ok, whatever, be cool though, just come down stairs and talk to him about getting a table..”
Cool, no problem, I think to myself. I meet a lot of famous producers from other countries and even America sometimes, I don’t even know who this guy is, but maybe when I see…my thoughts were cut off the moment I hit the bottom of the stairs. Kosta has a big animated smile on his face, trying to introduce me to this blonde man with striking blue/green eyes and a scarf like an Italian.
“Hi Lindsey, I’m Lance..” BASS. BASS. BASS. YOU’RE LANCE BASS. LANCE BASS FROM N’SYNC WHICH I USED TO GO TO YOUR CONCERTS AND HAD PICTURES ON MY WALLS WHEN I WAS 15. YOU WERE A SUPER STAR AND I KNOW YOU’RE SUPER GAY NOW, BUT THAT IS COMPLETELY COOL BECAUSE YOU ARE A TEEN IDOL. (I said this all in my head mind you, I was really chill when I talked to him).

So, he got a table with me and like ten of his friends. He was really cool and I became his best bud during the three hours he and his company were there. He wanted to know about me and Greece and I didn’t need to ask much about him because…well…I’ve read Teen Bop in the past. I was very proud of myself, however, because not once did I even give the impression that I knew he was from N’sync or was famous at all. It was a good night, but I still wish I had my camera for those times he had to many Coronas and ended up dancing shirtless with three guys on the pole. TMZ would be writing me a fat check!

September

The clouds have rolled in, the winds have started to blow harder, and the scarves and Ugg boots now serve a purpose. September has been full of the most horrible part of spending a summer in Mykonos; the goodbyes. Imagine if all the people you have bonded with from all over the world suddenly just left. Will I ever see them again? Most of them, no. But we will always have our memories of the summer of 2009 when we cried from exhaustion, laughed at stupid jokes, and drank wine with each other as the sun set on our little piece of paradise, our little rock where we all found each other in the middle of a large sea.

I have stopped work as of a few days ago. The island has become quiet, the bars are closing their windows, the streets are being washed clean from the sins, romance and bliss of Mykonos. Soon there will be nothing left but a small Greek community where the echoes of summer living will slowly fade away into simple winter sounds of the Backgammon dice.

But the sea still crashes on the beaches and the sun still calms my nerves and allows me to remember I am in Paradise. I fill my time now working on an upcoming movie starting Nick Giannopoulos and Kevin Sorbo, playing on the internet and whatever my heard feels to do. The summer may be over, and the friends I have made may be gone, but my happiness and joy still are forever captured by this island and the ones who inhabit it.