It is mid-July, with a bit of a bit of a breeze, mixed with intermittent cloud cover. I have gotten into the habit of walking Lada to the Sea for a mid-afternoon cool down. Watching her pant, I can’t imagine what it must feel like in this heat to have a coat of black fur. This Sofia stray was very scared of the water when she first encountered it, but ever so slowly, as with most things that Lada does, she has slowly ventured further and further out—until two days ago when she just went for it and swam out into the open ocean. I had to pull her back in with the leash.
The walk is three minutes along the dirt driveway, over the paved road, through the village, and down a stone path. There’s a sandy beach just as close, but I prefer the big granite rock that gently juts out into the Sea, plus, Lada doesn’t get so messy this way.
Today is the day that I am supposed to start working on all the bureaucratic details of moving to a new country: residency, lease, taxes, car registration— all the fun stuff. From my initial research, it seems like it should be somewhat easy since I have German citizenship. But after diving in a bit more deeply, I quickly became overwhelmed and instead Googled, “English speaking immigration lawyers Volos.” I’ve decided to first try an easier way, and only hope that Greek lawyers aren’t as expensive as their American counterparts. Now that the big task of the day is done, it is time for that afternoon dip.