Update to Civil Unrest

So, courtesy of the International Herald Tribune, here's what I ran into yesterday:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/03/26/europe/EU-Greece-Firefighters-Protest.php

I'd thought those protesters were all kind of oddly dressed....turns out they were firemen!

So, not too bad. All is quiet this morning. Looks like we're headed for a gorgeous spring weekend!

χαρούμενα γενέθλια Bea!

On a very different note:

χαρούμενα γενέθλια to Bea!
or
Happy Birthday to Bea!

(It's pronounced ha-ROU-men-a gen-ETH-li-a)

Today is her second birthday. How time flies!

We put her some feta cheese on her dog food for an extra special Athenian birthday dinner:


YUM!

You can also say χρόνια πολλά (pronounced HRO-nia pol-LA) which means may you live for many years, or something to that effect.

Unrest

I just went out to the post office at Syntagma Square, only two blocks from our apartment, to mail a few things. Where, to my great surprise, I encountered a riot, or a protest, or some kind of civil unrest involving lots of policemen in riot gear, loud chanting, and what looked like tear gas in the air.


As you may know, in December 2008 Greece was in the headlines for a week of severe rioting and civil unrest, triggered by the fatal shooting of a teenage boy by police. Things calmed down before Christmas, and since we've been here we've seen some signs of the violence that was recently here, but it still seemed like a distant occurrence. Every once in a while I might encounter the cracked and smashed large glass display windows of a store, usually foreign (Zara, the clothing store, seems to be a frequent target), done overnight by gangs of youth equipped with sledgehammers. And then there was the day it finally dawned on me that the reason a group of police was always hanging out in one of the main buildings surrounding Syntagma was not because there was a police station, but because they were guarding over the reconstruction of a burned out goverment office there.

In any case, the post office seemed to be safe territory, right on the cusp of the action. I could easily see inside and business seemed to be going on as usual, and people were going in and out with ease, as it was still quite a distance from any rioters or police. So, I bought my stamps, mailed my letters and retreated back to have a look from the safety of Nikis Street. (Don't worry mom and dad, I promise I did not at any time put myself in danger. There were people with kids going inside the post office. Anyways, I am a scaredy-cat and would never have gone if it looked dangerous!)

Here's a little map I made to give you an idea of the layout:




As you can see from the area designated "weirdly normal safe zone", only a few blocks people kept on going about their regular business. I had to pop into the store and buy a few things for dinner on my way back, and on our cross street, Apollonos, things were basically operating as usual, I bumped into a young man buying produce at the market and he smiled and apologized as if everything was normal, and his peers weren't chanting and staring down police just a few blocks away.


Sure, people were definitely standing in the street, watching and whispering to each other, but for the most part everything seemed very oddly calm.


I haven't seen anything in the news yet to determine exactly what is going on, but I think Tim and I will most certainly stay in tonight; we've been feeling a little under the weather anyway...

One Month, or: Don't Let An Onion Get You Down

This past Tuesday (St. Patrick's Day!) marked one month since our arrival in Athens. It's really flown by. I haven't been updating the blog as much as I'd like lately--I think partly because we've become so entrenched in the day-to-day here that the idea of sitting down and writing about "life" has become more difficult. It is much easier, when you are on vacation, to write a postcard home with "Hey! I'm having a great time! Saw the acropolis today! Wish you were here!" It's a lot harder to document a month's worth of interactions and experiences.

I also fault myself for not being as open and exposed to Athens as much as I should be. I stay in the safety of our apartment too much, watch too much American TV, read too many online gossip columns, and have developed a rather unhealthy obsession with this seasons' American Idol. I tell Tim that it is because I am just trying to "stay connected to American culture". But the simple truth of the matter is, it is hard living in a new city, with a new language, and a new culture, with only a couple of familiar faces around, thousands and thousands of miles from everything and everyone you know, and it's much easier to hole up and gravitate towards the familiar. Not that I didn't expect this to happen to some degree, and, don't get me wrong--I am really enjoying being here and wouldn't change it for the world--but all of the little difficulties sometimes add up.

This evening I decided to go out to the supermarket. There are little markets in our neighborhood, but they tend to be Broadway Market-style priced (for all of you non-Cantabrigians, that means expen$ive). To get to our Shaw's/Star Market equivalent is a 15 minute walk through the very heart of Athens, Syntagma Square, past the fanciest hotels and down embassy row, through a throng of real people. It was dusk and as I walked I thought how silly I have been every time I get frustrated with our Athenian adventure. It is amazing here! Everything looks beautiful with the moon coming out! The city is pulsing with life and I am a part of that! I feel more confident as I navigate the city streets; I mean, I even know the timing of the crosswalks by now. (The true measure of knowledge of a city, as far as I am concerned.)

And then the comfort of a grocery store. Everything is organized neatly in sections: produce, dairy, frozen, home goods. I know my way around here; I can do this! The store is busy and I pick a checkout line, unloading the contents of my basket on the running belt. The checkout woman picks up my onion. "βάρος?!" she demands. But I don't understand. "Weight! Weight!" she yells. Weight? You mean, I am supposed to weigh my own produce before I get to the checkout line?? And then remember the weight of everything and tell it to you on the spot in line??? I'm sorry--I didn't know. The long line of people waiting behind me starts to glare as I hold everyone up while she gets someone to weigh my onion for me. I am feeling very, very un-Greek right about now. I clumsily bag up my own groceries, bright red, pay up, and head back into the Athenian evening. The walk back is far less enjoyable. I am disappointed in my level of acclimatization, wondering, almost ready to cry, "why is everything so hard?"

I arrive home and Tim helps me put away the groceries. I tell him my onion story, and he pulls it out of the bag: "Nine cents? They should have just given it to you!"

And I laugh like hell.

About Our Σκυλάκι

Σκυλί (pronounced 'skee-LEE') is the Greek word for dog. But I don't think our dachshund Beatrice has been called that once since we've been here. The moniker she usually gets on the streets of Athens (as well as inside our apartment) is σκυλάκι (pronounced 'skee-LA-key'), which is actually the diminutive form of the word dog, i.e. "little dog". (The Greeks do this a lot, apparently, your 'souvlaki' is actually a diminutive of 'souvlos', the lamb served at Easter.) Our first few days here, Tim passed by an old woman on the street who called her a ψυχούλα (pronounced 'psi-HOO-la') or 'little soul'.

We weren't quite sure how Bea would be received in Athens...we had heard that dog ownership was becoming more popular, but this is a city known for its population of stray dogs.

Stray dog in a square in central Athens.

There are quite a few stray dogs in the city, however not nearly as many--and not nearly as scary--as I had imagined. For the most part, they seem pretty content. All look well-fed, and many have collars. They can often be seen lying lazily in the sun on a patch of cool marble in the middle of rush hour. (I am not condoning stray-dogness by any means: you should spay and neuter your animals!! I just mean that they are not the vicious roving packs of feral animals I had pictured.) When we initially took to walking Bea in the National Gardens near our apartment, we were wary of the several strays that seemed quite territorial there; we were even "barked away" out of one area of the park. We've now however figured out the parts of the National Gardens, that are basically stray-free and where almost all of the dogs you see are on leashes.

Bea comes face to face with a goat in the National Gardens' little mini-zoo.

Bea has met quite a few fellow furry friends--including Hermes, the shyest little terrier you've ever seen, and fluffy and furry friends of all shapes and colors. (There's even a large chow chow we've seen a few times in our neighborhood.) Bea is also not the only dog in our six-story building (which is actually composed of half apartments/half offices, making it nice and quiet on the weekends). While we haven't met the dog yet, we've met the owner of a labrador on the first floor, who was very excited to meet Bea, and complimented her "beautiful nose". I told him that Bea had a labrador "cousin" back in the US--can a play date be far behind?

But what about dachshunds? When we first arrived, Tim and I decided that Bea must be the only dachshund in all of Athens! But our first suspicions that this might not be the case were aroused when I went to the pet store near the American School--near the cash register was a wall of pet pictures, presumably from local dog owners, and, yes, one dachshund! Could it be? At the pet store, I purchased a box of treats called "Markies" (which incidentally, Bea has decided are the most delicious things she has ever eaten. Seriously, she goes absolutely nuts for these things.)

The coveted Markies box.

When I got home, Tim noticed that the recommendations for daily feeding on the side of the box list a ντάχσχουντ as an example of a small size dog. 'ντάχσχουντ' is the Greek transliteration of dachshund: it is literally pronounced 'DACHS-hund'! Hmm...we were getting really suspicious. Were there other dachshunds in Athens after all?

A few days later, we were walking Bea on a Sunday through the Plaka area, when we ran into a family exiting the Children's Museum. 'Σκυλάκι λουκάνικο!' ('skee-LA-key lou-KA-ni-kou') a little girl screeched. Tim began to laugh.

"What's so funny? What did she say?" I asked.

"She said: 'sausage dog'!"

And then, it happened. Tim arrived at the apartment breathless. He had seen a dachshund! On our very street! Yes, it's true--I've since seen it myself, although Bea has yet to come face to face with her own kind here. There is a little dachshund puppy living in our very own neighborhood. They are actually bred in Greece (see here and here), although judging by the reactions of delight Bea continues to elicit in Athenians on the street, they are still not very common!

So far, my favorite term for Bea is λουκανικάκι ('lou-ka-nee-KA-ki') or the diminutive form of sausage: 'little sausage'.

All in all, it has been quite an easy transition for our little one, and she seems quite the happy little sausage!

Fast asleep in a patch of sun in our apartment.

Clean Monday

Last Monday (yes, I know, I am a week behind in posting...) was the first day of Lent. In the Western Christian tradition I know the first day of Lent as 'Ash Wendesday' but here in Athens it is 'Clean Monday' or 'Kathara Deftera', as in the 'cleaning' of ones sins away. It brings to an end what had been a week of Carnivale, which is not much celebrated in the US outside of New Orleans, but is definitely a weeklong event here in Athens, which involves lots of dressing up in costumes, staying out late, and in the morning finding confetti covering the streets. (I was also hit on the bum with a large squeaky plastic bat by quite a cheeky little 10 year old one night, which was met with great laughter from his parents.)

Clean Monday is quite a festival in Athens. It is a public holiday, and we ventured out along the stone walkway that shadows the Acropolis towards Filopappou Hill where we came across lots of people, and street vendors selling food, balloons, cotton candy, popcorn, and of course, kites. Because for some reason I have yet to discover, the traditional activity of Clean Monday is kite-flying. It is supposedly the only day of the year that Athenians fly kites.

And it is wonderful!! What a gorgeous view from the top of Filopappou, with all of the kites dotting the sky over the city.



The great mess of people.

Looking up at all of the little people on top of the Acropolis.



At the top of Filopappou Hill.

Kite fliers!

The beautiful view of the sea from the top of Filopappou.

Our lunch; not your usual street fair fare!

A little video of the kites:

And an almost 360 degree tour from the top of Filopappou narrated by Tim Barnes:

(sorry about the poor quality of the videos; I promise to take my HD camera next time!)

A Note on the Weather

A lot of people have asked us what the weather here in Athens is like. Several have assumed we are whiling away the days sunning ourselves at outdoor cafes. Well, the truth is....yes and no. It was quite cold when we arrived in mid-February, actually. Luckily I had checked the forecast and brought several sweaters and a coat. Tim brought several sweaters but no coat (he ended up buying one here on a great sale, luckily). Some days last month the thermometer did not get out of the 40s (that's farenheit, in case you were wondering), and the lows dipped into the high 30s. Still, compared to Boston, we've been pretty happy. But Athens just seems like a city built for heat. All of the empty outdoor chairs and tables in the squares, at the tavernas seemed rather lonely.

But it is now March, and they say Spring comes soon. Last weekend was our first taste of what it might be like when the weather really starts to warm up. There were a couple of gloriously sunny days in the 60s, and we enjoyed a long Sunday lunch sitting outside in the sun at a taverna (while the East Coast was being pummeled with snow, I hear).

It's cooled off again, and this morning I woke up and had to do a double-take at my little Yahoo! weather widget, which I've set to Athens. The little image for the current weather was something I had never seen before:


I ask you, does that not look like a little fingerprint?? How could the image for the weather be a a black smudge???

I clicked further to receive more detail on the current conditions, and was greeted with a picture of the sun being enveloped by a very unpleasant looking cloud of brown smoke: "DUST" the detailed report said. I have been outside a few times today, and indeed the air is very "dusty". It looks hazy, but more than that the air seems to be filled with granular particles. (I tried my best to breathe as little as possible of it in.) Athens is not a very clean city, and it is quite traffic-congested (I will expand on the topic of traffic later, for sure). Although I do hear it is much better now than it was 10 years ago, due to the great Olympics clean-up effort.

Luckily, the forecast calls for this to pass tomorrow, and for sun and warmth ahead.

I don't think Tim will get too much wear out of his new coat!

Thing #2 I Like About Greece

Is Mezedopolion Filistron, a restaurant we went to this past Saturday night.


It is located in the Thisio area of Athens, and was a lovely 15 - 20 minute stroll from our apartment. The restaurant is listed in both our Athens guidebooks and the New York Times travel section. It was moderately priced (50 Euros for a meal for two, including tip, tax and wine), with great food, lovely atmosphere and a fantastic view. When the weather is warmer the rooftop garden opens up and is supposed to be quite a lively spot--our guidebook suggests arriving around sunset, and sitting with a drink (or two or three) and noshing on various mezedes (appetizers) all evening long.



Our new obsession is the 'Gigantes Tiganti' (this blogger has a nice picture & recipe): extremely tasty deep-fried beans, served at Filistron with a slightly spicy tomato paste sauce. The Gigantes are definitely something I am liking about Greece.

If you come to visit us, we can go here.

The Porter Square post office could learn a thing or two from ELTA

Last Friday, I had to send out my first invitation order from Athens. I was nervous. Would it cost a fortune? Would it get there on time? Would the people at the post office understand how I wanted to send it? Would the post office be a mad scene and would I be there for hours?

Well, I have to say, the Greek postal system is actually quite good! Perhaps given a bad name by it's famously unreliable neighbor the Italian post, I would say it might even best the efficiency and organization of the US postal service (ok, so it's not that hard to do).

The nice, blue and yellow modern post offices are all over the city.


In great contrast to the dreaded Porter Square post office back in Cambridge I was used to, with often one person working, and lines snaking out the door, their system is very organized. When you walk in, you take a number--there are 'A' numbers and 'B' numbers depending on whether you are sending a parcel or just letters--and then just take a seat in one of their very comfy chairs while you wait for your number to be called. How civilized!

Once I got up to the window, the woman was very friendly, and I had no problem sending my parcel at all, even though her English was basically nonexistent. It cost about the same price as it would have coming from the US to Greece; the biggest perk, however is the very reliable and detailed tracking! Not only can I enter the tracking number on the ELTA website, and see it's progress within Greece, but it carries over to the USPS website where I can see that it cleared customs at JFK on Monday and should be in Atlanta in only a day or two! Amazing.

Just one of the ways in which Athens constantly surprises me with its modernity.

We're Still Here!

It's been a while since I've posted. I've been busy working on fufilling some invitation orders for my little business venture http://www.bythecard.com/, as well as exploring Athens art and craft supply stores to see what kinds of paper, cardstock and adhesive supplies I can get here. I basically had to take down all of the invitation offerings I had up when we were in the US and am gradually working on overhauling the offerings based on what I can work with here. Luckily, I've found some of the same papers, plus a new line of beautiful colored Italian papers that are readily available (by which I mean I can roll out of bed to the store literally across the street to purchase them). Good quality adhesives (κόλλες) and envelopes (φάκελοι) -- two Greek words I know very well by now -- are a little harder to find. It's been tough to have to almost start from scratch, especially just when By The Card was just starting to take off, but I'm hopeful that the new incarnation of the site will be back up and running very soon!

In the meantime, I've had some domestic successes: I finally figured out how to set up our wireless router despite my lack of knowledge of Greek (!) and ran a successful load of laundry. Which doesn't sound like much, but believe me, our little washing machine is nothing like the ones I am used to in the US. Her name is "Candy" (no really, I'm not making that up, that's really her name):

I was quite worried when we first arrived, and I opened her up to see a teensy weensy amount of space inside:

What could I possibly fit in there??!? Two pairs of socks and a t-shirt, I reckoned.

Luckily, our landlord's wife (have I mentioned how lovely and nice our landlord, Yannis, and his wife, Bessy are?) was kind enough to come over one afternoon and give me a tutorial on how to use the washing machine. She showed me how to actually open the steel jaws of death, where there is actually quite a lot of space for clothes.

After a trip to the local supermarket, where I spent ten minutes trying to figure out which laundry detergent might be the least likely to cause a sudsy disaster, a successful load was completed. In the end, the biggest problem turned out to be where to hang everything to dry. (The answer: all over our apartment, tying Bea's two leashes together to form an extra makeshift clothesline. I decided it was too embarrassing to have images of our wet underwear on the internet, so thankfully you are spared any pictures!)

As you can see, I have been quite busy.