Wednesday, 6.16: Heat Wave

Remember in the last post where I noted that it was around 99°F every day? Yeah....well it is. And I become ridiculously shiny in the heat. Like a newly minted quarter. Usually, getting around the city is doable because I don't have to walk around in the heat too much and the stores and buildings are all air conditioned so they blow cool wind out their doors every once in awhile. The Athens Metro system is pretty good and the buses are usually air conditioned as well (at least, the new ones and the trolleys). It becomes a problem when THE METRO GOES ON STRIKE.

Yeah, you remember the strike two Thursdays ago where the whole transportation system shut down and the traffic was horrid and I had to walk to Syntagma (which wasn't a problem then because it wasn't nearly so hot). On Wednesday, the Metro system shut down, but the bus system was unaffected. My project for work that day was to go to the airport and get some footage of the MEDASSET exhibit that was in the airport. Apparently, Athens airport has a number of exhibits that feature art from the New Acropolis Museum and some contemporary artists, which is pretty cool and just speaks to the culture of sitting, relaxing, and browsing. You could never have such an exhibit in the departures section of LAX, what with people shoving their way into the plane like the airport's on fire.

Anyways, there are a couple ways to get to the airport, and the only really feasible way for me to do it was by bus. Because I had already taken the bus once before, it wasn't a problem and I was able to loiter a little around Syntagma Square while waiting. However, I did not anticipate the number of people that would be boarding this bus at 9:30 AM. It got to the point where it was standing room only and people's baggage only made it worse. Fortunately, I was able to squish my way onto a seat and the ride to the airport was pretty smooth after that.

I creeped around the exhibit for awhile, and walked around the airport, marveling at how expensive everything was. The Athens International Airport is pretty nice in terms of shopping and exhibits.

Even the McDonalds was cushy.

The issues came on the bus ride back to Athens. There were so many people on the bus that I didn't get a seat. Then, any room to stand became smaller and smaller until everyone was just pressed up against everyone else. Super awkwardness ensued. Any movement of the bus caused people to careen into their neighbors and personal space could no longer even be defined. To make matters worse, the bus drove super slowly in the heat and even if the bus was air conditioned (which I think it was), the sheer number of people in the bus made it hard to breathe. I got shinier and shinier and the journey was certainly up there on uncomfortable public transportation experience list.

Finally, after making it back to Syntagma, I lugged myself into work, treated myself to a milkshake, and spent the rest of the day showering and sitting under the air conditioner.

Hopefully, this heat wave will cease soon.


Bright and shiny,

Angela

Friday 6.4: Niretta the Caretta

MEDASSET has a mascot! Her name is Niretta the Caretta, and she is a loggerhead turtle (Caretta Caretta), one of the two species of turtles that breed in the Mediterranean. Part of the children's education program that MEDASSET does to promote environmental friendly practices amongst children, she looks like this [to the right] in her cartoon form, but she has another form in which she actually interacts with the kids. 

 There she is! She's absolutely adorable (and really tall) and kids love her. They play games with her and Niretta teaches them about how hard it is for little turtles to get to the ocean and survive and how conservation can help all the marine life in the ocean, not just the turtles. This day, she was at an event called Athens in Action, an environmentally conscious fair for schoolchildren, who took a field trip to Zappion to participate in games and educational activities about the environment. So as part of my job, I went to the fair and filmed the children and Niretta playing games like "Take the Tag," where the kids had to take the tag (a ball of paper or a hat or something) from the turtle and bring it back to the lab to be processed. However, every time the turtle turned around, everyone had to freeze and hide the tag so that the turtle couldn't see it. The turtle gets one guess as to who has the tag, and if the kids all cooperate, they can get the tag to the lab station and win the game! Woot!

After filming Athens in Action in the morning, I went to a district outside Athens to go to another environmental fair. It's the first time I've been outside Athens since coming to Greece and though I had to walk around 40 minutes to get to the Metro because I didn't have a map of the area and I just kept walking, it was nice to see that Greece is so environmentally friendly, esp. amongst children. It makes me wish that the US was as invested as Greece in green education. >.>

From the whole experience of the day, I learned two things:

1) Greek drivers are craaaaazy. They may drive with right hand on the phone, left hand holding a cigarette and shifting gears at the same time [most people drive stick here; hawt]. On a hill. Where are your hands, people!!?!? Anyways, it was an exciting ride, much more so than the taxi driver who took me to Athens on my first day in Greece.

2) It is impolite to show a Greek person your palm; in fact, it's akin to giving them the finger. That's why, instead of raising their hand with all five fingers in the air, little kids in Greece raise their hands with only their index finger in the air. I was very confused for awhile when the children were waiting to be called on by raising only one finger, but I suppose it makes more sense in this context. Incidentally, when trying to get a taxi to take you seriously, you stick out your hand but fold your fingers in a little as if you were cupping something so they don't just think you're stupid and pass you by.

After a day of walking, I chilled with the boys and girls of our group who had not gone on an archeological mission in Crete. Not to self: Ouzo is NOT tasty. Did not enjoy. That may also be because I don't like licorice, which explains my aversion to other licorice-flavored things. Epiphanies are happy. :)

Turtle Love,

Angela

Monday 5.31: Yiamas!

In case anyone forgot and thought that I in Greece for vacation, I will remind them that I'm here due to an internship with MEDASSET: the Mediterranean Association to Save the Sea Turtles. Their website is http://www.medasset.org in case anyone is wondering and wants to find out more about them. Basically, MEDASSET is an international NGO (non-governmental organization) that promotes biodiversity and conservation of Mediterranean sea turtles and their habitats through research, education, public awareness campaigns, and governmental lobbying for greener practices throughout the Mediterranean. Right now, their main office is in Greece, with another in England, and their main research station is in Albania. Oh that I could go to Albania to work with sea turtles, but alas they are a communist country that requires me to have a Visa that I have neither the time nor energy nor money to get. But it's alright because there's plenty of work to be done here.

Some FAQs that I've been getting: What exactly are you going to do for MEDASSET? Do you get to touch turtles? Can you bring one home?

Answers: I am currently in the stages of creating a promotional video that describes MEDASSET and the efforts is has undertaken in sea turtle conservation. I probably won't get to touch any turtles because I'm not doing research on them, but hopefully, I'll get to see a few! And it's probably against many regulations by many countries and international laws and all that to bring one home. So my turtle Tony, probably won't be getting a new European friend any time soon. And even if he did, salt water and fresh water turtles just do not get along. Must be something in the water.

Monday was my first day of work. I get up early (7:00 AM) reheat my left over souvlaki, and nommed my way to work, located in the Kolonaki district. It's actually nice and cool in the morning and not too sunny, so the walk over is nice, if a little humid. However, my shoes are not exactly made for walking, which eventually ends up with my getting a strained whatever the muscle is below your calf. BOO.

I get to work but the building seems hidden, so I walk down an alleyway and find a woman sweeping the steps. She's more than glad to help me find the office, which is actually an apartment converted into an office for about 10 people. It also includes a living space for in house volunteers who come from other countries. Currently, there is a Harvard undergrad working and living there, who is remarkably similar to me in interests and taste. I imagine she's what I would be like if I went to Harvard, maybe. It's an interesting thought, one that I've wondered many times during first semester freshman year. And now, I suppose I know.

When I get to the office, I am right on time at 9 AM sharp, as the packet sent to me indicated, but no one is there, so I sit outside on the stairwell for awhile until someone comes. As I step into the office, I am instantly greeted by turtles on every side, on the walls, the cabinets, on pamphlets, etc. To me, it's a beautiful site. I've always loved turtles; I suppose in a way, I identified with them: a little slow, a little misunderstood, carried my backpack like a shell, and never let people get that close to me.

Slowly, people begin to trickle in and as they do, I re-realize the laid back nature of the people of Greece. They are incredibly hard workers when they work, but incredibly laid back the rest of the time. As I await the arrival of my main director, Jenny, the Communications Officer, I begin reading materials and watching tapes dealing with sea turtles, which may be the cutest things ever. When she finally comes, we start talking about hours and vacation time. I suggest that the rest of my internship buddies are doing a lot of 9 AM - 3 PM days, which is what most of the Greek stores subscribe by, so she says that's fine; the last intern worked for less than 6 hours a day. "How many days a week do they work?" she asks, then suggests that I work 3 days a week, as the last intern did. I'm perfectly fine with this suggestion as it will give me time to explore Athens and complete the things on my list, which at this point is a sad 0/20 (unless you count all the half points in which case I have 2/20). And that's how I ended up with the 3 day/week, 6 hr work day. :)

Recall from the last paragraph that many Greek businesses close at 3 PM, at least on MWF (on TThS, they're open until 2:30, then reopen from 5-8 PM), and remember from a couple posts ago where my "unblocked" phone wasn't actually unlocked in Greece. Thus, I had to leave work early on a journey to get a cell phone that I could actually use, using the What's Up plan, which would allow me to call anyone from the What's Up plan for 1500 minutes and send 1500 texts for free (incoming calls are also free).  Still unfamiliar with the terrain, I went to this store in the hot hot heat only to find out that they were out of "What's Up" cheapo phones and the cheapest phone was 50 euros. NO, I said. I'll find another Germanos store nearby. I went to the next store that was on my map, only to find that it did not exist. Simply WAS NOT THERE. Where are you Germanos store? So I walk allllllll the way to the other one on the other side of Kolonaki and finally, finally, get my phone. Look here it is! It's extremely simple. Only makes phone calls and texts, which is really all I need in this crazy mixed up world that is Greece.

In the evening, I am invited to a get together with the people from the office for "beer and a bite," which I take to mean dinner and drinks. Unfortunately, the bite is just that...basically a shared platter of bite-sized bread/cucumber/tomatoes/cheese/meat. So most of the calories actually came from the beer, which is what the people of medieval Europe got most of their calories from, I suppose. So I ate like a medieval farmer with more vegetables than meat that night. Acceptable. After dinner, we went out for drinks at this place:

This was very Greek to me, because of the music, the atmosphere, and the fact that people were smoking everywhere, all the time. The saving grace for that was that mosquitoes, who love me, don't like the smoke so much so they didn't bother us. We had great conversations about life, love, and expectations, and with every clink of the glass, with every Yiamas! [Cheers], I found myself a little more happy to be here for the summer, and a little more excited to get to work with these awesome people for this awesome cause.

Medasset Link Again

Goodnight, Los Angeles

Tonight, I am super tired. SUPER TIRED, so this entry will be full of short and sweet updates.

First, it's my last night in LA for two months! I'm going to miss everyone here and everyone at Yale and my mommy. :( But adventuredometime!!

A number of exciting things have happened in the past couple of days, including the arrival of my new computer battery (w0000000t), the arrival of my internationally not-a-lot-of-fees credit card (you can tell how coherent I am after being so tired the whole day), and the arrival of my new phone. It was a long and harrowing ordeal in which my old phone broke after a short two weeks of using it, and Apple gave a me a new one for frees. Props for quick service. Booooo for my phone breaking the day before I leave for Greece. Boo, Apple, boo.

Also, my computer is becoming slightly cyborgish since I have switched out both the charger and the battery for stuff not made by Mac. But it's still pretty and I still love it and all it's processing glory. <3, darling.

Another exciting development is this haircut thing that happened, which needed to happen since my head was kinda sweating all over the place. Notice the difference?

Excuse the tiredness/awkward hand motion thing in the after picture. Also, despair not. My hair will go back to being poofy/wavy/straight once I wash it. right now, I'm just going to enjoy its sleekness.

So, fellow Americans, I will bid you adieu for a while as I travel the exotic West? East? I'm going east but I'm going to be in the West. In three hours, I will be up and awake again. In the meanwhile, Greeny and I say goodnight and happy travels to all that will be journeying this summer, and for those who are not, <3 for staying home and reading my blog.