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
I've noticed the thing about showing people your palms with other international students at Yale as well. There was this Korean girl in my Chinese class, who grew up in England, and she did the finger thing instead of raising her palm. Also, some of the other international kids in my intro ChemE class (I think they were from Caribbean places) did the same thing.
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