Saturday, 6.12: Day in Delos; Picspam

Day 2 in Mykonos meant a day in Delos, one of the islands adjacent to the Mykonos. At one point, Delos was an important Greek religious site, later developing into one of the biggest trading ports in Greece. For some reason or another, the economy eventually shut down there, and the rich merchants who lived on the island moved away, leaving their houses, statues, and religious icons behind. Because the island went to ruin due to mass evacuation and not conquer and seizure, the ruins are "remarkably well preserved," whatever that means for ruins.

We headed out early in the morning on the ferry that leaves from the port in Mykonos, and soon enough, we're on the island. It's gorgeous if you like the ruins look, and I have to say that some of the houses were actually very pretty and the mosaics in them were pretty much intact. This post will mainly be a picspam of the ruins we saw. It was pretty epic.

The first leg: Entrance --> Lions

We walked around some pretty ruined ruins, but there was some cool stuff like some in tact walls and marketplace-type structures.

This last picture is of me in front of the famed Naxian Lions of Delos, eternal guardian lions of the Sanctuary of Apollo, or...what's left of them. And all that's left is their roar.

Second leg: Lions --> Museum

We ate lunch at a little cafe next to the museum on the island and Liz had fun feeding this one stray cat that attached itself to her and skedaddled as soon as it saw that Liz was out of food. The museum itself was quite small, with mostly unlabeled statues and stuff recovered from the island. Below is an example of a large, headless and apparently shinless statue.

Leg 3: Museum --> Port

From the museum, we climbed up to the top of a hill to find the Temple to Isis, also known as the Temple of Aphrodite (shown below, pic #2). When the Greeks started combining the gods of different peoples that they conquered, Aphrodite became associated with the Egyptian goddess Isis, which greatly improved Aphrodite's reputation for licentiousness by associating her with the story of Isis and Osiris. What romantics. Next to it, the Temple of Hera. Apparently, this shows the time period at which these buildings were constructed, as the Greeks would have never put Hera and Aphrodite together in more ancient times. Also, we visited the House of the Trident and the House of the Dolphins, both so named for the mosaics found on the floors of these houses (see below).

The day on Delos comes to an end in the early afternoon and we spend the rest of the day napping on the beach, eat a nice fresh pasta dinner at a restaurant, and browse the shops. It was a more peaceful end to the weekend, because our flight back to Athens was at 6:55 AM Sunday morning. Those who slept on the beach that night got eaten alive by bugs, and thus, I'm glad I stayed in the cabin which had some screening from the insects.

Again, it is lateish night as I am uploading this, and as I am planning on completing more of the List tomorrow, when there is a Metro strike, I should go to sleep! But here's a parting pic from Delos, reminding everyone to have a bit of fun even if you're in a place with SUPREME HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE.

Peekaboo to you,

Angela

Friday, 6.11: Gay people are people too!

So comes the third weekend we've been in Athens. Another weekend that felt long but passed by far too quickly. The adventure this weekend was actually a trip outside the city to the island of Mykonos, known for its intense night life, its celebrity and gay culture, and its beautiful beaches, basically a must if you're a tourist in Athens. It was a terribly long day, so long, in fact, that one day almost felt like a week. So I'm doing a day in review, by parts. Enjoy. :)

Part 1: The Flight
The day actually started on Thursday night. Thanks to our friends at Aegean Airlines, we were able to get free flights to Mykonos, big win. Unfortunately for us, those flights were at 5:45 AM, a small concession to make for a free flight, but one that left us drained nevertheless. Luckily, if you're traveling in Athens, there are three fairly convenient ways to get to the airport: the x95 bus from Syntagma Square which runs 24 hours a day and costs 3.20 Euros, the Metro blue line which runs from 5 AM to 12 AM (or 2:30 AM on Fridays and Saturdays) and costs 6 Euros, and a taxi, which costs 35 Euros during the day and goodness knows how much during the night (it's a complicated system). Being the penniless college students that we were, we opted to take the bus, so, as we set out at 3:30 AM, we managed to catch one that dropped us off at Athens International Airport just as the deep blue of the sky began to lighten.

Given that it was early morning, it was not surprising that the plane was not crowded, but really, there were only around 12 people on a plane built for 150. So, as soon as the plane took off, we each scattered to find our own row, intending to lie down and catch some alpha waves before we landed. That didn't happen because almost as soon as we took off, everyone became captivated by the sunrise, as well as the islands we were flying over, some of which seemed so small that it was surprising that the were inhabited at all.

First sunrise in Greece: check

Part 2: The Beach 
Just as we got settled with our complementary drinks, we arrived on the island. The time: 6:30 AM. The whole flight took around 15 minutes. We dragged our slightly adrenaline-hyped selves to the Paradise Beach Hostel with the idea that because it was right by the beach, people could just roll out of bed onto the sand. Now, I'm neither a beach person nor a super clubber, but if on Mykonos, live like the Greeks, right? From my experience this past weekend, I can pretty confidently say this much: if you're a beach person, you may want to spend your day at the beach in Mykonos, but the nights should be nights spent in the town, where all the nightlife is. It's much safer stumbling into your room in town at 4 AM then it is stumbling your way to an overpriced cab, then stubbing your feet on rocks and fighting the bugs trying to get to your cabin. Just saying.

Still, Paradise Beach was one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. The heat of the sun mitigated by the ocean breeze, the crystal clear water, the little fishies nibbling at your toes, the trees placed strategically to shade the easily-burned, made for a wonderful beach experience, probably the most enjoyable I've ever had. Some pictures to commemorate the experience, noting that even with two our naps, it was still only 9:30 in the morning, and people weren't exactly beaching yet:

I will say that the sand was not as fine as California beach sand, which incidentally is imported to the beach from the desert because otherwise, all the beaches would be rock beaches. The Mykonos sand is legitimately little pebbles that have been worn down to grains of sand. This makes for a more painful situation when sitting down sometimes, but it also means that you can get rid of all the sand before making your way back to your room. No more finding sand for weeks afterwords in crevices you didn't even realize touched sand. :)

Also, I got burned on my back. Not a pretty sight. Note to self: suncreen everywhere. EVERYWHERE.


Part 3: The Town

Soccer fans (and non-soccer fans alike) will realize that the first game of the World Cup started at Friday 5:00 PM EEST, so a couple of the girls and I decided to take the bus into town at around 4:00 to scope out the town, get some information, and find a bar to watch the game [my first game, by the way]. We made it into town, which was a delight during the day. Mykonos is famous for its adorable blue and white houses, its windmills (as above), and its port. Let me say, it's a good thing that there were/are windmills to capitalize on the wind because it was certainly super windy, as evidenced by our awesome hair to the right -->

We walked around, wandered, shopped, all the while looking for a cafe at which we could watch the game. It seemed like most of the bars were void of people and in the prevening, it seemed that there were no clubs open. Where were all the people? It was quite baffling. Finally, tired and hungry, we settled into the only cafe that seemed to have a television, Cafe Sussie, and I thus completed item #20 on the List, with no yelling, no screaming, and no cheering. Just a cappuccino and a salami, cheese, and tomato crepe with green peppers and a cozy seat in front of the TV watching Mexico tie South Africa. [Incidentally, I realized in the following days, that that was just how the Greeks operated. There were no bar fights or punching people when a team scored or anything. They are a very chill people, basically just sitting outside, watching the game while sipping a coffee or a beer. Who knew?]

20. Watch a World Cup game


Part 4: Gay people are people too!!
 
~~
Before I begin, a definition from dictionary.com:

gay/geɪ/ Show Spelled

–adjective

1. having or showing a merry, lively mood: gay spirits; gay music.
2. bright or showy: gay colors; gay ornaments.
3. given to or abounding in social or other pleasures: a gay social season.
4. licentious; dissipated; wanton: The baron is a gay old rogue with an eye for the ladies.
5. homosexual
6. of, indicating, or supporting homosexual interests or issues: a gay organization.

~~

Soon enough, the rest of the group joined us and after getting some refreshments, we headed off to find a place we could enjoy these refreshments. Let it be known that there are no benches on the streets of Mykonos. Not that I blame them; the streets are plenty narrow as it is and everyone just sits on their porch or at a cafe. Finally, we find a place, near the sea where it was really freaking windy and coooollllddd (because I wasn't wearing many clothes from the daytime). We were sitting and chatting, as the night got darker and darker and we saw a quite a few people pass by us. There were the couples, making their ways to a restaurant or bar, the gaggles of gigglers who were more than tipsy already, and finally, a fabulous gentleman came up to us, just as we were discussing the trade-off of Asian glow versus the need to shave less, why some guys don't have hair on their thighs, and the merit of shaving, or at least trimming, Sam's beard. Apparently all our friend heard was "shaving" because he started to talk to us about shaving...other parts and whether or not we preferred said parts to be shaven.

The conversation went as such:

Fabulous Friend: So, what do you think about shaving, you know, down there? Guys? Girls? What do you think?

~Awkward silence~

Marj: Well...if he expects me to shave mine, he should shave his.
FF: See, that's a valid point.

~Awkward murmurs of assent because no one else really wants to address the issue~

FF: Now, then *points between guys and girls* do you all play the bagpipes?*

~Super awkward long silence because we all just met each other two weeks ago~

FF: See, that's the problem with straight people. You're all talk and no bagpiping. *Anger begins and he YELLS A BUNCH OF SOMETHINGS*

Some of the guys start getting defensive here, especially the ones that weren't privy to the conversation in the first place.

Sam: Wait..wait..wait..not with each other!
Walt: Well, I've played a couple bagpipes before!**
FF: You're all in a gay cruising area and you don't even play anyone's bagpipe!

Someone asks him why he's assuming everyone's straight and our friend rebukes with "Why does everyone have to put a label on everything?" FF, who was actually nice and funny before, storms off in a fit because apparently, we're labeling things and not bagpiping enough. It just reminded me that people will be people, judgmental, snippy and have mood swings. We spend a great deal of time trying to be politically correct and accommodate everyone and trying not to offend when we don't mean to, but in the end, it's just a spectrum of people, some of whom are mean for no reason. He may have been slightly miffed that we were encroaching on his cruising area, but he was still surprisingly surly. And definitely not gay (def. 1).


Part 5: The Rest of the Night

The rest of the night consisted of club hopping and free-shotting. Basically, we jumped from club to club as our music and dance tastes changed throughout the night, hitting such classics as Down Under, Jacuzzi, and Argos. In Jacuzzi, there was actually a Jacuzzi, and a male dancer willing to show his bagpipes in the jacuzzi. Yeah....we didn't accept because Marj pulled us out before any more adventuring could go on, but it might have been a worthwhile experience. ;D


The night ended with Liz and I returning to the campgrounds early (2:30 AM) in anticipation of an excursion to Delos the next day. 


I will end with one of the few photos of our group as a group. We are missing one, who was in a polo tournament in London, but other than that, don't we look happy?

 

Peace from Greece,

Angela


P.S. Great Walt quote of the night: Just because I don't wear a scarf, doesn't mean I'm not gay.


*Of course he didn't say bagpipes, but we're keeping it relatively PG here.

Tuesday 6.8: A Library Full of Books

I spent much of my childhood in libraries. I started at around age 2, listening to books on tape, and soon graduated to chapter books, spending most of my free time reading. [What a nerdlet!!] Those were the days when I could consume four or five books at once, when I could still work at something for more than five minutes at a time, when my attention span exceeded that of a cactus. Gradually, I grew up and things like homework and social activities started to take priority; with the spread of the internet, I came to find interests in flash games and AIM, and spent less time reading at home. I still spent my afternoons in libraries though, as my mom would often work late and not be able to pick me up. And I would still read until there really weren't any more books for me to read. I breezed through the Brentwood Public Library, took a little longer at the Studio City Public Library, and finally ended up at the North Hollywood Public Library. But by this time, I was in high school and I spent a lot more time hitting the school books and a lot less time reading for pleasure. And my tastes were changing. No longer could I justify reading teenybopper fluff novels because they usually ended up too mushy for me, but I didn't have enough brainpower to spend on the must-reads for the impending college student. I didn't want to spend all my time reading textbooks, yet...

When I started Science Bowl and Science Olympiad in earnest, I stopped going to the library after school, if only because meetings ran so late and so often. And I missed it. I missed losing myself in books for a little while. And most of all, I missed reading good books. I had either lost all of my attention span, or my tastes had become that much more discerning because my short list of favorite books wasn't getting any longer.

So, when Dionysis invited us all to an art exhibition at the Gennadius Library, it was right up my alley. I was excited to see a Greek library. But it wasn't anything like what I expected.

The library was huge, with columns, and looked like a museum, or a mansion. It had gardens, a patio, and was apparently, one of those special libraries that people go on special occasions to see things like art exhibitions.

The title of this exhibition was "Johannes Gennadius and His World." The inspiration was apparently books, because most of the pieces were multimedium creations that centered around the book or the written word. Some of my favorite pieces are shown below. (Sorry about the lights; they were all encased in glass.)

Afterwards, there was refreshments and we got to meet John Hale, the professor fielding the archaeology internships. He seemed to know everything about everything ancient/modern/future Greece and the way he talked about his passions was an interesting and inspiring thing to see. I also got to meet former-Dean Cabolis of JE. I have to say: he is SO COOL. High-fiving, JE SUXing cool. Basically, a cool guy all around. :)

It was a good night to end a lazy day. Next week, I'm planning out what I'm doing on Tuesday and Thursday and I'm going to do them! Yes. That is the plan.

BookLove,

Angela

Sat/Sun 6.5-6.6: Rainy Days, Beaches, and a Week in Review

It has been a little over a week since I've been in Athens; sometimes, it feels like I've lived here for much longer and sometimes, I cannot believe it's already been a week since I landed. The weekend was a little rainy, but nice and cool and though that put a damper on some people's very insistent plans to go to the beach, everything turned out nice and relaxing. It was a weekend for me to reflect on how far we had all come. I know the streets here now [some of them, the main ones], I've taken the bus to work twice, and I've made six dinners. I've dealt with unsavory people and met some awesome ones, and I've held my own in social situations. I can clothe myself, feed myself, and make sure I go to sleep at a decent hour. What I've found is that I'm capable of making it myself, even in a foreign country, which is a scary thought. Although I can, I'm not sure I'm ready to strike it out on my own yet. Still scared, I suppose.

I have also [re]discovered several things about myself in the few short days I've been here.

1. I am not a tanner. I don't like to sit in the sun and roast and people who lather themselves in oil and plop themselves under the sun annoy me. If I wanted to see a roast chicken, I'd make one myself and have the satisfaction of eating it. It's just unsavory to watch a person broil themselves on the sand and getting skin cancer. DO NOT WANT. 
2. I am not a swimmer. I don't like getting water in my mouth and up my nose and, having swallowed sea water before, swimming in the ocean doesn't appeal to me. I have no endurance, can't really tread water, and I'm really short so where the water reaches some people's chests, I'm already swimming. DO NOT WANT.
3. Items 1& 2 lead me to believe that I am not really a beach person. Sand gets everywhere. Salt gets everywhere. People dump disgusting things into the ocean, esp. if it's next to a big city. You step in holes people make, and trip over bottles people leave, and at the end of the day, even though you've done nothing, you're incredibly tired and hungry ALL THE TIME. If I'm going to darken to the color of a burnt cookie, I'd rather do it doing something, like climbing a mountain or riding a mule. Can't just lie there and bake. However, I do enjoy relaxing under an umbrella with a good book (or a beach book, w/e). The waves on the ocean can be very soothing, and I'll admit that some of the best sunsets and bonfires I've ever been to were on the beach. And beach naps are second to none. But still.

I liken going to the beach to my eating a melon. Usually, I'm not a melon person. I'm not sure what it is about them, but I'm just not fond of them. I'll eat them if they're presented to me and I have no other choice (like on an airplane or at a Chinese person's house), but I will never go seek out a melon by myself. There are times, when I really want to eat a melon, but it goes away soon after I take the first couple of bites, and I remember that I really don't want to get sand in my shorts all that much.

So what are you going to do in Greece if you don't go to the beach??
Greece has plenty of history that doesn't involve getting sand in your sangria. And that's what I'm going to aim to do for most of my trip here, I think. Plus, since coming here, I'm rather leery about revealing any more of myself to Greek men.

The most important thing to take from this, of course, is that it's not really where you go or what you do; it's the people you do it with. I've had awesome times everywhere with my friends, especially in places I wouldn't normally go alone. Whether it be chowing on melons or getting sandy, I'm up for an adventure with people I know will make it awesome. :)

Still finding sand everywhere,

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

Thursday 6.3: Minoan Sandals

Sometimes, people get disgruntled with their jobs, their lives, their situations. They wish to enact change, but they don't have the influence, or political connections, or enough power to really make something happen by themselves. So they enmass together, rise up, and stick it to the man. At least, that's what the transportation workers of Athens do every 1-2 weeks. The bus workers, metro workers, and ferrymen all simple take a day off and strike, subsequently sending the city into a no-public-transportation zone. This is great for the taxi drivers but not so good for people like me who don't want to take the taxis, and basically rely on the subway system to get around in the heat of summer.

Second day off found me sleeping in for most of the day and deciding to go on a quest to find the elusive sandal-maker that I just hadn't been able to locate the last Sunday. It turns out I was looking in the wrong place. Though getting to Monastiraki took longer than usual by foot, walking down Ermou St. was actually quite a nice stroll, as the stores on the street provided shade and the occasional breeze provided a welcome interlude to the stagnant heat. Seeing some familiar US shops (Sephora, H&M, etc.) was a little bit of a woah-international-reach flutter, but what really got me was the rapid change from sorta fancy shoe places to ghetto in one fell swoop. It was like one of those scenes in the movie where the protagonist is riding in a cab surrounded by greenery and sunshine and happiness, then gets out of the cab; you see the cab drive away and the dude is left facing a haunted house or something. It kinda felt like that, when I crossed the street and found myself amongst garbage and overflowing cats.

BUT finally, I reached:

From Matt Barrett's Athens Survival Guide, "Stavros Melissinos was born in 1929 and is well known in Athens and around the world as the poet-sandelmaker of Greece. His books of poetry, plays and essays have been translated into English, French, German and Italian and his best known work The Rubaiyat is on the curriculum of a number of American universities. He has been the subject of documentaries on the BBC and three American networks and his works are in the Harvard and Oxford libraries. He has also translated the works of many literary greats into Greek. His play Chastitity Belt was banned in Greece for political reasons, which makes him quite proud."

The shop is lined from floor to ceiling with sandals and art, and each customer is fitted with a pair of sandals of his or her choice. Because the sandals are fitted to your foot and made with good leather they are incredibly comfortable. After debating for a loooong time, I decided to get these sandals, made by Pandelis Melissinos, Stavros Melissinos's son and a gifted artist and playwright of his own...right. Although I am known for being quite small in stature, the fact of the matter is that my feet are pretty wide for their size, and thus, finding shoes that fit me well can be an ordeal. I find strappy sandals in particular, hard to navigate, and so, although these seem to be glorified flip flops (which they may be), I like them. :)

So, although I did not get to meet the famed Poet-Sandal Maker, I did visit his shop and thus got to cross off #10 on the list.

10. Visit the shop of Stavros Melissinos, the Poet-Sandal Maker

All in all, the day consisted of a nice walk, a McDonald's milkshake, and a pair of awesome sandals.

Wednesday 6.2: The Summer of 20 begins

The day: June 2, 1990.
The time: 12:00 noon.
The place: St. Francis Hospital, Trenton, NJ

Out I came, wailing, putting my mother through an incredible amount of pain. To this day, I'm grateful that she stuck through it, for without her, there's no way I would be where I am today. 20 years, a couple of scrapes and bruises, and a few awesome adventures later, here I am, in Athens, Greece, celebrating 20 years of being Angela. It seems so strange that I'm already at this stage in my life, where I can be mostly independent yet still miss my mommy. During the past couple of days I have cooked for myself, done my own laundry by hand, bought a cell phone, mastered the Metro in a city where I don't speak the language, and gotten lost and found again. It's certainly been an interesting experience and I was very much feeling the love on my 20th birthday. One of the highlights was the bus ride in the morning to work. I had walked to work on Monday, but was told I could take a bus to the metro station not far away from the workplace, so after breakfast, I booked it out of the apartment and caught a bus just at the church down the street, which brought me to the Panepistimos metro station, right next to what seemed to look like some kind of academy. It featured Socrates and...I want to say Plato in marble statue form in front, and had huge columns as shown below.

Because it only took me about 10 minutes to get there by bus, I was super early and wandered around the area. It was a nice walk, cool in the morning breeze, and no one really took notice of me, a pleasant change from the day before. Objective to live in a city: ride the bus and not get lost; check.

After work, I had a nice walk back to the apartment and relaxed for a bit, then started making dinner. The menu for the evening: rice w/ basil, some kind of fish with egg wash, and green beans sauteed in soy sauce. YOM. Foray into cooking fish: success.

The meal was consumed with this gigantic bottle of white wine, and after dinner, we wandered about trying to find an open bakery. The cake turned out to be some kind of mousse cake and was waaaaay sweet, but perfect for me after the walk and the wine.

In general, my past birthdays have been pretty low-key, usually just family eating noodles and cake, which has been perfectly alright with me. Though at certain times during my childhood, I have wanted to have big, elaborate celebrations with lots of friends, it's never really been possible, and as I get older, I don't really have the need to celebrate that way anymore. I will say that I have felt so much more loved that I expected I would, (esp. since my Pretty in Pink post), and that I am incredibly grateful to have such wonderful friends and family. <3<3

Hearts and Snuggles,

Angela

Tuesday 6.1: Don't go to Omonia

Dear Friends,

If you ever get the chance to go to Athens, especially if you're features are even slightly feminine, try to stay away from the Athens Central Market at Omonia. As I discovered on my first day off, while the vegetable and fruit selection there contained some pretty fresh (and inexpensive) specimens, the meat market held some serious boneheads that I would not associate with again, given the chance. Here's the story:

Marj and I decide that we are running seriously low of vegetables and greens, spices, grains, and other things since we have...none. The districts each have their own farmer's market type things, but as of now, we have no idea when or where the one in Pagrati is. So, we decide to go hit up Omonia, only 2 Metro stations away. We've heard the warnings to generally stay away from Omonia, but we figure that must mostly be a night thing because so many people go there during the day anyways and we're pretty desperate for some vitamins.

By this time, it's been four days since we got to Athens, and we're getting pretty familiar with the terrain. Also, Marj has been on a bus tour so she has some landmarks to work with, but when we get there, we can tell that the air is somehow...dingier? It may have just been that the weather was a little cooler and the skies were a little grayer, but the whole thing had just a hint of an ominous undertone to it. The first thing we come across is a guy in a little shop on the corner of the street selling herbs. No...not that kind of herb. Dried spices and things. So we got overcharged a little for humungor bags of basil and oregano, but we were pretty happy that there was something that could make our food a little tastier. Next, we come across the infamous meat market.

This pictures is only of the entrance because the moment we step in, we get quite overwhelmed by the fact that there is a lot of meat on either side of us and that we don't really know what we're looking for or where to start looking. This may perhaps be compared to a young man's foray into Victoria's Secret, except with less fantasies and more...raw-meaty odors. And apparently, the young and middle-aged meat vendors near the down the aisle, thought Marj and I were rather fantastic, as well. They called out to us; we ignored them. They tried to stroke us (arms, hair); we flinched and brushed them off. Of course, we walked very quickly and tried not to make eye contact. Fortunately, they did not follow us. Unfortunately, Marj saw some kabobs that she thought might be chicken so she was keen to check them out. I was not, but we walked around the outside and back into the market, only to find that they weren't chicken and we had to walk down the line again, and this time, the men weren't so chivalrous.This one ruddy blonde guy decided to do what I will call the "Ni-Hao". He says "Ni hao" I turn to look at him because I am slightly intrigued, and then he makes a further move. [Incidentally, I have been "Ni-hao"ed quite a few times. I'm not sure whether to be flattered or racistly angered.] This time, the further move consisted of reaching out and stroking (?) right below my left shoulder, as if he were trying to get me to stop, but ended up caressing (???) me instead. For those of you unfamiliar in anatomy, that is NOT an ok area to be touching women you don't know (and most women you do know). Traumatized, I headed out as fast as I could, turned to the right, right into a.....

FISH MARKET!!!

I am happy that I got to visit a fish market, but traumatized at the gropage that just happened. NOT OK. So, I can officially cross the first item off the List!!!!

2. Visit a fish market.

I did not stay at this fish market for very long because I was so traumatized by the meat market incident, and because I'm not very well versed in cleaning whole fish. However, I can say that I have visited what may be the largest fish market in central Athens. :)

The remainder of the day was pretty uneventful compared to the morning, but I can say that we got some vegetables and fruit and that the food we had that night was pretty alright. There was a slight mishap with white wine vs. white wine vinegar, but everything was resolved in the end by just putting things in the pot (tuna, garlic, scallions, red chili flakes, salt, pepper, and more), stirring, and mixing with penne. Mmmmm...my first cooked meal in Greece!

It doesn't look that great in the pot but boy was it great in our stomachs!

Moral of the day: Don't go to Omonia, unless you have an entourage of tall, buff men going with you.


Yiamas,

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

Pretty in Pink

It's surprisingly hard to think about celebrating when the people you love are essentially halfway across the world. I know I'm incredibly lucky to have gotten to where I am today, with people who love me supporting me from halfway across the world, but the truth is, at this moment, I wish I were with them, at home, in my own bed, using my own incredibly slow wireless, feeling the mountain breeze from Los Angeles, and being able to hear my mother's voice in the morning undistorted by space and silicon. It's an incredibly selfish notion because not many people have the opportunities to have the opportunities that I have, to make a difference in the world, to have an adventure in a country where the history is the history in the history books, where the language is a mysterious blend of the familiar and foreign, where the people are incredibly kind and fun-loving, and where the work is flexible and worthwhile to help an important cause. I'm only a coherent writer sometimes, so it's incredibly hard for me to express the particular feelings I have in words, but I do know this. It's the first time, in twenty years, that I've been away from home on this day, that I've been without my dearest friends and my family near me in some way.

I wrote a couple of blog posts ago that I was simultaneously thankful for new technology and afraid it was going to consume me. I realize now that it will never do so. I am thankful that I have a chance to instantaneously connect with those who are far away, yet at this moment, I know it's never going to be enough. An electronic high five is no where near as satisfying as the smack of palm on palm, the prickle of the nerve endings that convey the knowledge of a mutual mental sync. A *hug* can never replace the warm enveloping embrace and its accompanied feeling of safety and unconscious sigh of relief. And so though spending this day in Greece will probably be one of the great adventures of my life (there's a bottle of Ouzo on the kitchen counter), it means just a little bit less to know that the people I am experiencing it with, however wonderful they may be, are not the same people I would have chosen to join me on this awesome adventure. This is why I write these entries, not to brag about what I've done, where I've been, but to reminisce about who I've become so I don't forget, and share with those I care about dearly, so that you may live these adventures with me (without the sunburn and sweaty shirts).

I may not be able to transform myself like Andie Walsh did because I have neither pink dress nor sewing kit, but the one thing I can take comfort in knowing is that I'm no Sam Baker. And I thank you all for that.


xoxo

Sunday 5.30: Bet you forgot I had work in the morning!

Or: Explorations and Half-Successes

This is a super long entry, so in case you want to skim, the day consisted of INTENSE ADVENTURING, 1 awesome hat, 4 half-successes, and a penchant for lamb rolled into sausage form. And one sleepy, sleepy, sleepy Angela.

Sunday was my first full day in Athens. (ZOMG) We (my flatmates and I) got up around 9:00ish and decided to leave the apartment to try to achieve a couple of the items on the List (which is still not complete; I am trying to complete it by the end of the week). Namely, visit the Monastiraki Flea Market and at the same time, Melissinos, the Poet-Sandal Maker. I was also planning on figuring out where I was working and taking a walk there just so I had an idea of the neighborhood. I had it all planed out with the awesomeness of Google Maps: what street to cross, how far to walk, etc, etc. So we start the day off with orange juice and cereal (because we had no milk) and set off for the flea market.

The first thing we do after leaving the apartment is to start walking the wrong direction and we get lost. Not lost, because we knew where we were, but lost in that we were going the opposite direction. Blame it on the fact that we had walked this way on Saturday to get everywhere, but we had to go back to the apartment to get a map. After that, everything went much more smoothly in that we knew where we were most of the time.

The first thing we come across, after getting onto the big street, is this:

 

What is that, you ask? Why, that's the Panathinaiko Stadium, which hosted the revival of the Olympic Games in 1870 and the Panathenaic Games in ancient times. So basically, we live next to an Olympic Stadium. Note the rings in the background. It's absolutely huge and there's a little cafe next to it where people are just sitting and drinking coffee and enjoying the morning breeze, though even at 10 AM, it was starting to get hot...like...upper 70s hot. 

We cross the street into this garden, which seems to be on my map and seems to be the right direction to get to Monastiraki (spoiler alert: it's not) and come across...a palace!! With a garden next to it. This, as I later found out were the Zappeion Gardens and Zappeion Palace, where lots of events take place (incidentally, I'm filming a children's event for work on Friday here). It's quite large and impressive and although technically not a palace, per say, it's still very pretty and though we couldn't get inside, from what we saw, it was very velvety and regal on the inside as well.

As we continued on from the palace, we stumbled upon a book fair just getting started. Some of the stalls were still covered, but this one already had all it's books set up. Some of the stalls also had children's books, which were very cute [one of them featured a mole!!]; there was a plan for about half a minute buy a children's book and translate it into English, but that thought dissipated as soon as we saw how long the books were. There were also really cute postcards and posters of advertisements from the 1960s onward in Greek and English; I almost regret not buying one that was really cute (it was a chocolate ad, go figure; *short digression dealing with chocolate ads and burly men in them...*), but I figured I couldn't just buy every cute thing I laid my eyes on, so I resisted and decided that if we stopped by the fair on our way back, I would buy that postcard. The fair was supposed to last until 11 PM, and theoretically, we would pass by it coming back, but as it turned out, we never did.

After passing the book fair, we entered what I know now to be Plaka, a sort of touristy marketplace. There were many touristy items (I <3 Greece tshirts, jewelry, things that looked like they belong in Hercules...) and a cool Art Gallery sign made of X's.

By this time, I was sweating bullets because the sun had come out from behind the clouds and the hats that I possessed all fit very closely to my head and I couldn't put my hair up while wearing these hats so my neck got incredibly sweaty. (I solved this problem later by doing pigtails, but it was the first day and I was still overwhelmed by all the Greekness of the place.) Looking around, there were lots of places selling hats. Big brimmed hats. I had wanted to get one before coming to Greece, but I couldn't find one that I liked and was cheap enough to buy, so I came with my adorable, but kinda sweat-inducing hats. These touristy hats were all priced around 10 - 20 euros and I didn't really want to spend ~$15 on a hat, so I resisted until I came across a gorgeous big-brimmed blue striped cloth hat, that I could fold up to put in my bag if I wasn't wearing it. And it was 7 euros. The vendor didn't budge when I tried to bargain, though I really care too much because it was much cheaper than any of the other hats I had seen up to that point (and beyond that point, in fact). Pictures of this awesome hat will be below.

We then passed by what looked like a random ruin in the middle of the street. Turns out it was next to a church and there looked like there was a party going on. Would I get to complete objective 16 (go to a Greek wedding)? Unfortunately not, but the party turned out to be a baptism with plenty of little kids playing with rattles and noisemakers and people dressed in brightly colored church clothes. We stayed and watched them for a while. There was lots of hugging and kissing and quintessential Greek-ness near a church. So I count this as HALF-SUCCESS #1.

Continuing on, we walked towards a row of restaurants with many hecklers asking people to eat at their restaurant. There was one heckler with whom we felt very comfortable because he didn't so much heckle as make conversation with us. He knew about 10 languages and could great people and carry on a short conversation in those languages. He won me over when he started talking to me in pretty good Mandarin and invited to treat the three of us for an iced tea sometime. His name? Konstantine. Nickname? Kosta. HALF-SUCESSS #2

We decided to eat at the restaurant later in the day because Konstantine had been so nice to us. We all got a Greek salad, which was cool and refreshing and to drink I had a green glass bottle of sprite. I had never seen one before (only glass coke bottles), so I was very intrigued. Main course consisted of a lamb souvlaki which was delicious and contributed to my breakfast the next morning and desert was this grainy cake with honey and...almond powder, I want to say? Perhaps. Not that delicious, but an experience. Lunch ended up being over 2 hours long, as we sat, sipped, nibbled, and had all around a great, relaxing, refreshing time as we watched the tourists and Grecians around us languidly roaming the streets of the Plaka.

One of the stops we made as we were touring the Plaka was to the Children's Museum, a museum especially for children to go and play and learn, free of charge. All you need is a name tag. One of the groups of children were baking what smelled like heavenly cookies and another group was doing art projects. We went into the room that taught children about their bodies and what foods were good for what parts of the body. There were exercise items, like hoola-hoops and muscle diagrams, which seemed disproportionately complicated for the 5 year old kids that were baking and coloring, but maybe that's just me. There was also a room that taught children how to make cornmeal, or popcorn or something like that, and one room full of art utensils like ribbon and connector things and rubber stops and corks and metal bendy things. Marj made a ribbon flower and tacked it to a cork, which was adorable and currently sits in our kitchen waiting to cork something.

After leaving the Plaka, we meandered our way to another ruin, which turned out to be the Library of Hadrian. Because we had to pay to go in and it was now around 3:00 PM, we simply stayed around the outskirts and took pictures there.

And then we made our way to the Athenian Flea Market, next to Monastiraki Metro Station. Could this be the Monastiraki Flea Market? Actually, it wasn't and by that time in the afternoon, the flea market would have been gone anyways. The Athenian Flea Market that we went to consisted of a bunch of really brightly colorful shops selling everything from beads to sneakers to really big safety pins. One of them even had a dinosaur coming out of the ceiling!! Because this wasn't really a flea market, but because it was called the Athenian Flea Market, I count this as HALF-SUCCESS #3.

We were at Monastiraki Metro Station so we figured we might as well take the Metro home. After figuring out exactly how much to pay and how to get a monthly pass, which no one did because we didn't have the little photo that you needed, we bought some fruit in a stand outside the Metro station and took the Metro home. The train was very clean and nice and the ride was incredibly smooth. What's great was that there were not that many people on the train at that time (which I now know to be unusual for Monastiraki) and it was not too crowded. We enjoyed a leisurely 3 minute train ride back to the station near our apartment and met two girls from the program walking down our hill: Liz and Emma. As we were all having dinner together later that night, we decided to meet up before hand so we could all walk over together. We all thought dinner was going to be this relaxed shindig where we would get advice on what to do in Athens and we'd be back in a couple hours at the most. Little did we know, after dinner (kabobs, apparently, with french fries and white wine), we stayed out further for drinks with a great view of the Acropolis.*

At this point, it's around 10:30 and it was a good forty-five minute walk to where we had gotten. We had found out that many of the group did not have to work on Monday, but I did and my plans to go check out where I worked had totally fallen through due to all the adventuring that happened. "No, we'll only be out for another 15 minutes" was what I heard, but by the time everyone was ready to leave, it was around 11:30, and I was getting a bit antsy, especially because I had work at 9:00 AM and had neither an idea of how to get to work nor a phone if I got lost. As most of the group ran off to enjoy the city some more, four of us headed back, where we ran into some palace guards walking towards the palace to change shifts. Though I didn't get to see the changing of the guard at the palace, I figure seeing guys with leggings and poof-balls on their feet kick-stepping their way towards the palace could count as HALF-SUCCESS #4

Finally, finally I got back to my room with my slightly humidified bed and awesome shower and after talking to my mom for a bit, fell asleep as soon as my head hit my pillow, getting ready for a day of work that apparently, everyone forgot I had. Tucked into my pillow that night, I fell into a deep sleep, so it's fitting that this entry end in...


Zzzzz,

Angela






*Note: There is no minimum drinking age in Greece, and children may buy alcohol from kiosks for their elders without discrimination.