Today we visited two very nice schools located in the same building; the 3rd primary school and the 8th primary school in Chios. At about ten o'clock in the morning we entered the schoolyard and were welcomed into the auditorium of the school by a huge round of applause from the kids and the two very nice school directors.

We gave a small presentation, including a viewing of the World Harmony Run video, showing scenes from the 80+ countries that the Harmony Run visits. Afterwards we had the children ask questions. One girl very brightly asked: "Do you wear the same clothes every day?"

At the end of the presentation the torch was passed around and the children all became official members of our team. It is great to see the children waiting full of expectation for their turn to hold the torch.

Finally we ran around the school yard with the children. We made many, many, many loops of the yard - and the kids just continued running!

When everything was over, the schools presented us with some nice refreshments and snacks. We sat together with the teachers and chatted for a (long) while.

We had a really nice time this morning and it seemed that the kids and teachers also liked it a lot!

The afternoon we had to arrange our boat-ride to Turkey for tomorrow. It will be the first time that there will be a World Harmony Run in Turkey as part of the European Run. We are really looking forward to the 900 kilometers of Turkish roads lying ahead of us!

Did you know you can send messages to the runners via our (Good jokes are also welcomed :) ) Just today we received a really nice message from the Highgate School in Nicosia, Cyprus. They have been so greatly inspired by our visit to the school that they have decided to create a harmony day. We hope to be part of it again next year!

One funny anecdote still to tell from yesterday - much has been talked about the so-called "runner's high" and the enlightening experiences that one can have while running. Well, yesterday we didn't eat anything since breakfast and it was already almost four o'clock in the afternoon. I was running with Runar from Iceland and suffice to say we were getting rather hungry.

At some point Runar turned around and said to me: "You know, I have this feeling of running effortlessly, that I am not running, that some higher force is running in and through me."

Then he added: "And do you know what I am doing whilst the higher force is doing the run for me?"

I said that I had no idea.

He said: "I am eating a chocolate doughnut in the next village!"

See you tomorrow....

Martin (Graz)

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