Spring Has Sprung!

It’s so beautiful! I think it’s finally spring; going to Skopelos has cemented, in my mind at least, the fact that it’s time for beautiful, sunny weather every day. Today was perfectly warm and sunny in Thess—even the Greeks were taking off their jackets! We study abroad students spent all free time between classes lying out on the steps outside and dreading the thought of returning inside.

I also learned today that the garbage strike isn’t actually a strike, but yet another manifestation of Greece’s debt crisis. The city doesn’t have enough money to pay garbage collectors, or buy new trucks, or fix them when they break. There just aren’t enough trucks to service the city and garbage continues to pile. Some places it isn’t so bad, and other you have to walk through the streets because the sidewalks are impassable. There is a mountain of garbage at the end of our street by the grocery store that looks like it will fill a whole truck whenever one finally comes by to get it. It’s disgusting, and worrisome as we move towards warmer weather. Apparently there is some type of solution that will be implements mid-April, but if it’s Greek, I don’t know how good it will be.

Since our pastitsiou last week was such a raging success and everyone in the building who asked for “just a taste” ravaged the pan anyway, Tanya, Abby, and I have decided to make yemista (stuffed peppers) for the whole building. We’re going to charge everyone who wants it (which is everyone) around 4 euro for two yemista, plus salad, a potato side-dish, bread, and homemade tzatziki. It’s going to be so intense tomorrow; we’re making 35 yemista to feed everyone, using all three of our tiny ovens and stoves. It will be quite the ordeal, but if we pull it off we will go down in the history of Papa K as the best cooking team the building has ever known…wish us luck!

Midterms and Mormons

I had my Greek midterm today. I don’t think I did very well—there were sections that were fine but others that were pretty difficult. There was one part where she gave us words to put into a sentence, and for the life of me I couldn’t remember the meaning of this one word. But, just so that I had something written, I pretended it was a descriptive food word and wrote, “Waiter, I would like _____ chicken, please”. Right before I was going to hand it in, I remembered in a sudden flash that the word was “sandals”, and changed my sentence accordingly.

Yesterday was also a historic day in that I finally was given something free from the bakery lady. There’s a bakery down the street where everyone in my building always goes to get bread, coffee, desserts, and “the bakery lady” will always throw in something free—a couple cookies, a frappe, something they have a lot of and aren’t going to sell in time. I have been cursed, and have never gotten anything free in all my time living in Papa K, though I go in there quite often. I never understood why the bakery lady would never give me a nice little treat, not even some koulouri  they couldn’t sell. I finally went in with one of my friends and a really nice lady I’d never seen before gave me free food with my bread! It was very exciting—apparently I was just never in there at the right time, and the long-haired lady I thought was the bakery lady actually is not. The real bakery lady has short hair and speaks worse English but is ten times sweeter. I got some weird round bread with pumpkin seeds and a cream cheese-like filling, but it was delicious. I’ve finally been baptized into the bakery!

Today, while walking down the Paralia, I was stopped by two Mormon boys in suits .They tried to talk to me in Greek and then switched to English. Usually I just blow off people like that but for some reason today I had time to kill and listened attentively to them. It was actually interesting; one was from Spain and the other France, and they are traveling around Greece for two years trying to inform people about their religion. It was funny to hear them talk about the States, especially with the high reverence they gave to Utah, as if it were the Promised Land. I spent a good ten minutes in my sweats talking to these boys and probably made their day; I got their card with a number to call and website and everything. They were very enthusiastic, and I just thought it was funny to see Mormons from Europe in Greece, considering it’s a religion founded in the US in the 1800s.

ΣΚΟΠΕΛΟΣ

Mamma Mia, what a great weekend! I’m back from Skopelos and just had an amazing time. We actually didn’t end up visiting any known Mamma Mia sites, but I had a great time anyway. It was very chill and relaxing—we spent the weekend biking, hiking, and laying out on several gorgeous beaches. The food was divine, the locals were friendly, and you couldn’t have asked for better weather.

We left on Friday, which was Greek Independence Day—even on Thursday you could see Greek flags popping up everywhere in Thess. We took the bus to Volos, which is a pretty port city, and its Paralia was packed with people fresh from church enjoying the nice weather. From there, we took a boat to Skopelos and arrived around 5 in the afternoon.

Based on the website, we thought the hotel we were staying at was further in the city, but we lucked out; for what amounted to 10 euros per person per night, we got to stay on the water literally  a second away from where the boat docks. Our room had a view of the water, and there was a patio directly above us where we could go and sit whenever we wanted. The owner of Pension Kyr Sotos, Alexandra, was really cool and very helpful with information regarding anything we wanted to know about the island.

That night we ate dinner on the water, and watched a small parade, made up of the Greek equivalent of boy scouts and girl scouts, go by, and went to sleep relatively early so that we could wake up equally early.

Saturday morning we tried to rent motorbikes, but because it was offseason no one would rent them to us—something to do with the insurance needed and it not being worth it to rent to four people for 2 days. We ended up renting regular bikes instead, which I actually loved. Not going to lie, Skopelos was pretty mountainous. We would push our bikes uphill, baking, for what seemed like forever, only to reach the top and go zipping down at frightening speeds around the curvy roads; but of course, we would have to push the bikes back up again. It was definitely worth it, though, because of the amount of time saved on the downhill/flatter portions.

That’s pretty much how we spent our two days. We biked to Glisteri beach the first day, which was the closest to Skopelos Town but also harder to get to because we had to cut through a much more up-and-down terrain than on day two. It was amazing, though, to come around a bend and see the road funnel down between two mountains to a beautiful secluded cove. All the beaches on Skopelos were like that—only one we went to was sandy, the rest were rocks or pebbles, but it was absolutely gorgeous. Cliffs would go right to the shoreline and you just wanted to fling yourself off one into the water. And there were coves and bays everywhere.Day two we biked farther, but for a large portion of the time we traveled through a valley where it was flat or only slightly uphill so the going was easier. We stopped first at Stafilos beach and explored there, and stumbled upon a path that led to a second, secret beach (which, upon looking at the map, I believe is actually the island’s nude beach during season). We then pedaled farther up the road (and up the hill) to Angostas, which was small and pretty with a dock but windy, and from there to Limnari, the best beach on Skopelos. It was a beautiful sandy beach sandwiched between two cliffs. We had made sandwiches and packed chips, cookies, and wine that day and had quite the picnic. It was an absolutely lovely time with friends I just adore and had such fun hanging around.

We also did quite a bit of hiking; if, while biking along, we saw a footpath that looked intriguing, we would stash the bikes and explore, ending up in beautiful olive groves or beside beautifully run-down little old churches. When we got back from Glisteri, we locked the bikes up by the Pension and went for a hike in the hills across the bay—after a couple hours we reached the top of a mountain and just turned around. Back on the ground, looking up to where we had been, it was impossible to believe we had climbed that high.

We were all alone the entire weekend. There were no other tourists but us, and every beach was deserted, save once when a family walked by with their dog. The islanders were great about it; they stared with with mild, friendly interest but always said hello, kalimera, and waved to us from their cars if they passed us biking along. We talked with the owner of Γοργόνες ουζερί, the restaurant near the Pension where we had dinner twice (not much was open out of season, and the food was fantastic—the best stuffed grape leaves I’ve ever had, squid, Greek chicken and rice) and he made it clear that the whole island knew four Americans were roaming around getting sunburned. It was also interesting to talk to him about the crisis; even during season business has fallen by 50-60 percent. He was really nice and gave us each a huge poster with the restaurant’s logo on it, which I hung on my bedroom wall.

All in all, it was a great weekend; I was actually in motion for a large part of it, hiking or biking. It was more exercise than I’ve gotten in the past year and a half total, and I felt it each night as I went to sleep worn out but happy. And like I said, the weather was amazing; 65-70 degrees every day, with a strong sun and weak breeze that was just enough to cool you off when lugging your bike up a hill but not enough to make you chilly when lying on the beach. To anyone planning a tour of Greece, I strongly recommend Skopelos for an amazing and traditionally “Greek” time.

Here comes the fun part: pictures! I had a hard time narrowing these down from over 500 taken, but I think they give a good idea of what the island is all about. There are more pictures on facebook for anyone interested.

This is a picture on the ferry; we stopped first at Glossa, on the opposite end of the island, and got a tour of the coastline on the way to Skopelos Town.

The view from the window, the room itself, and the patio above us at Pension Kyr Sotos.

Some shots of Skopelos Town when we went exploring.

I love olive trees—you can definitely tell nymphs have inhabited this grove. Me, mid-hike. The last is the picture as we head towards Glisteri, the little cup of beach between the two slopes.

These were taken on Stafilos beach, expect for the last, taken of Stafilos on the road to Limnari. You can see how far we’ve climbed already when this was taken, and there’s only more to come!

These were taken on the secret beach you can reach from Stafilos; the last picture (the little green mountain bit that looks like it needs a goatherd standing there) is the bit you have to hike to get to ‘secret beach’.

  

These were all taken in/on the way out of Limnari. The first is the path in. We were here for hours and only saw a family, briefly, walking their dog along the beach.

Finally, Skopelos Town this morning as the sun comes up and we head out to get our ferry back to Volos. It was a great trip!

Catch-Up

Sorry it’s been a few days, I’ll just play a quick catch-up on events before I head off to Skopelos for the weekend:

Wednesday I volunteered at ELEPAP again. I made the mistake of laughing when one cute little boy blew huge snot bubbles out of his nose, so every time he looked at me he’d smile adorably then blow as hard as he could. It was disgusting, and cute.

Wednesday night we had a Mamma Mia movie night to prepare ourselves for the island. All the scenery is so beautiful in the movie, I can’t wait to be there (I leave in about 15 minutes, sorry this is so rushed!). And of course, I was singing along….

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful outside. At one point, at the height of laziness, I opened the door to my balcony and just lay in the sun patch in the doorway listening to the new Adele CD. Last night, Tanya, Abby and I made Pastitsiou. It was so much fun hanging out with them, listening to music (Tanya has the exact same music tastes as me!), whipping up some delicious Greek food. I went into a very intense food coma when we were done eating. Everyone else in the building got to try a bite and they were extremely jealous of our amazing abilities. Next Thursday we are going to make yemista, the Greek stuffed peppers.

That’s pretty much all. Sorry it’s so rushed, but I have an island to get to. It’s supposed to be 65-70, sunny, low wind, but I’m bringing way to many clothes because I knew if I brought three outfits featuring shorts I would end up freezing. I’ll tell you what happened when I get back Monday!

Τσιμισκί είναι…δύο ή τρία….

I went for a run today. I got up early(er than usual) and went down to the παραλία (paralia, the boardwalk that stretches along the water). It was terrible; I hate running. I always want to be that person that jogs, head out, and then realize that it’s too close to death to do every day. I only ran from where I live to the ugly modern-art umbrella sculpture, and then walked/ran back. I sprinted up the stairs though, then collapsed on the floor for a good four minutes, and then felt pretty good for the rest of the day. Tired, though. Exhausted, actually. That will probably be my first and last run in Greece.

I have my first ever college midterm tomorrow, in Modern Greek Nation State. I also get to go back to ELEPAP tomorrow—I missed last week because I was so sick, and didn’t want to infect the kids.

In other news, was approached on the street by someone who asked, in Greek, where Tsimiski was, and I understood! Of course, my answer was, “Yes, Tsimiski is…2 or 3….” meaning blocks, with violent hand gesture towards the water. Hopefully they got it; they said thanks. On a separate but related note, I was also approached by someone on the verge of tears who said something in Greek, and when I said I didn’t understand she said, “Oh, sorry!” in a normal voice and kept going. Smells like a scam to me….

Smelly Strike

The trash collectors in Greece are on strike. It’s the only explanation, and given the way things work around here, the most plausible one. For days and days now, the trash hasn’t been collected—not from the dumpster outside our building, or the one down the street, or the one past that, or any dumpsters anywhere in the city. It’s disgusting—the trash can’t fit in the bins anymore and is just strewn on the sidewalks and in the road around the dumpsters. It smells nasty leaving/coming in the apartment. For once I’m glad it’s not hot out; the smell would literally be unbearable. I hope whatever issues they’re fighting over get resolved soon, but even if they are, apparently there are only 7 or so trucks for the whole city anyway, and it will take a while for them to get rid of all this crap.

Hallelujah, It’s Raining Men!

Eight ball on Friday was amazing! I think I had the most fun out since coming to Thessaloniki. When we first got there, we were pretty concerned. They had middle-aged, white Greek rappers on the stage, and while the crowd (composed of freaks as promised) seemed to like it, it was pretty terrible, and we wondered what Tanya had gotten us into. Luckily, the rapping ended pretty soon and it got amazing. First off, the Americans weren’t the only ones dancing. Usually the Greeks just stand there sipping their 8 euro drinks, but everyone was dancing. And we were dancing to Michael Jackson, the Village People. We Are Family. And singing, and jumping, and motioning the Y.M.C.A. It was so much fun! I literally couldn’t speak all day Saturday, my voice was so shot from singing and screaming the words to It’s Raining Men et al, all night. And the Greeks joined us! It was so funny to see all these Greek guys in their leather jackets jumping up and down singing truly terrible songs from the 70s. It was so much fun.

Saturday I got up pretty early and spent the morning/afternoon walking around downtown. When I got back with my take-home gyro around 1 everyone else was just waking up. They started making fun of me for having a gyro for breakfast, and I made fun of them for sleeping so late—I’d had breakfast five hours before!

Last night I went with a bunch of people from my building to see another Documentary, Cannibal Island. It was about a specific, tragic event that happened in 1933 as part of Stalin’s regime. I think everyone decided to go see it because of the title, to be honest, and didn’t really look at what it was about. It wasn’t that great; the material was interesting but the director did a bad job, I thought. It was very stylized and actually took you out of the horror of the situation, and I felt he emphasized all the wrong aspects of the story. Afterwards we grabbed a coffee and did it Greek style, so we got back around one in the morning.

I tried to go to church this morning, but it was a complete fail. I want to go to a Greek service, but I figure the first time I should go with someone who knows what they’re doing. My friend Boosa found out about a late service around 11 he wanted to go to, so I was going to meet him at 1045 downstairs. I ring the doorbell, and he comes to the door having obviously just gotten up. So we were running late, and then the bus was late, and there was some kind of commotion on the road so the bus had to let us off a 15 minute walk from where we needed to be. And even then, the bus stop was in the general area of the church, but when we asked it was much farther than we initially thought, and by the time we found it there was only 20 minutes of service left. Needless to say, we didn’t go in. Hopefully next week will turn out better; I really want to experience a Greek Orthodox service!

I walked to the White Tower with some of my friends who had never been there before, and we got coffee after going to the top. It was kind of rainy and cloudy, so the view wasn’t great. I spent the rest of the day cleaning my room, doing laundry. I made roasted eggplant and tomatoes for dinner, and I’ve been blasting ABBA the whole time. Friday, March 25, is Independence Day here in Greece, so we have school off. I’m going with three friends to an island in the Sporades, which is in the Northern Aegean not far from Thessaloniki. We discovered, after we decided to go to the island of Skopelos, that the majority of Mamma Mia was filmed there. Now I’m even more excited, not because the movie was filmed there, but because the scenery in the movie was absolutely gorgeous. And because it’s the off-season, we got ridiculously cheap hotel accommodations. It will be dead on the island, but that’s actually what we want; we’re just going to rent scooters, hike, check out the beaches and Skopelos Town—relax. I’m very excited!

Νάουσα και Πέλλα

(For some reason this one didn’t post, but I’m trying to upload it now. It was written Friday, just so you know).

Today my Life of Alexander class took a field trip to Naousa, where Aristotle taught Alexander the Great, and to Pella, the capital of ancient Macedonia and the place where Alexander was born. It was about an hour and a half bus ride to Naousa, and Pella was forty minutes away from there. It was interesting in that there’s now another place in Greece I can say that I’ve been, but the trip wasn’t as good as I expected it to be.

In the first place, we had a lecture at Naousa, and the teachers had made it sound beforehand like we were going to have class in the same place Aristotle taught Alexander, as if we would be sitting in the ruins, etc. In reality, we were about 100 meters away from the caves where Alexander and his peers slept, in a building built about 20 years ago, in the basement, in a small lecture room. I couldn’t understand why we drove an hour and a half, and missed other classes, in order to have class in a different room. We could have been back at ACT. Afterwards we checked out the caves, which were cool, but it was just disappointing the way we spent our time.

There were originally buildings in front of the caves where Aristotle taught Alexander, and the boys slept in the caves behind, but there’s no trace of the schoolrooms left. In the centuries after the buildings were gone, the location was apparently used as a place to worship nymphs etc, and I can believe it. It was so green and vibrant, with huge trees, a little babbling brook and flowers starting to bloom around the fields. It was really pretty. The caves were interesting too, especially when you thought about Alexander the Great sleeping there as a boy. They went back pretty far, but we didn’t have much time, or the proper shoes, to explore. The first picture shows the caves from a distance. The second, me embracing my inner nymph. Third, the amazing greenery, and lastly, the entrance to one of the caves. I went sort of far back in one, but I only had my cell phone as a flashlight and had to leave; I was scared a basilisk would pop out and eat me. Or look me in the eye.

Afterwards we went to Pella, the seat of ancient Macedonian power. It wasn’t that great of a visit; I thought we were going to be walking around the ruins; it’s actually an incredibly amazing city, very advanced for it’s time. However, we just went the the museum that houses some of the artifacts recovered. It was neat to see, but small, and quick.

The amount of day that the field trip took up wasn’t worth it compared with the amount of time spent that I actually felt was worthwhile, and I was a little disappointed with the whole trip. It’s at least something I can check off my bucket list…

Tonight we’re going out to a club called eight ball. Apparently some of the kids went before on a Saturday and it was terrible—screaming heavy metal—but Tanya says that it’s completely crazy Friday nights. And by completely crazy, I mean that supposedly people from all walks of life, from the hipster Greeks to the ponytail/mullet Greeks, go out and dance to songs of the 70s and 80s. And Greeks never dance. This should be good.

St. Patrick’s Day

After getting 13 hours solid sleep, I woke up feeling much better than I did yesterday. I went with my RA and a few people to see another documentary today, but this time we just picked on at random. It was really enjoyable—way better than divine pig and director douchebag. It was about ecoterrorism in the US, and really made me think.

Today was St.Patrick’s Day, and I was interested to see how the Greeks do this day. Apparently, not well. I wore my green hat, since it’s the only green I brought, and other Americans wore green, but no one else seemed to know or care. My building went out for dinner at Mangio’s, which was delightful, and then we hit up the only two Irish bars in the whole city, which were actually very close to each other. They looked like fun, but the second I walked into that smoky bar my throat started bothering me and I knew if I stayed I’d undo all my recovery, so I left early.

My humanities class is taking a field trip tomorrow, which should be fun; I’ll tell you all about it later.

Sick

Spent the day in a sick haze. I got to practice some Greek at the pharmacy and the grocery store today. The pharmacist gave me something for my throat, but I wasn’t sure exactly how to use it properly so I asked one of the Greek girls at school whether they were like cough drops. She read the bottle and said you’re supposed to take one every 4-6 hours. It’s a good thing I checked that out before taking any…it’s 8:30 and I’m going to bed so that I will hopefully be better by tomorrow. I don’t know how they do St. Patrick’s Day in Greece, but I really want to find out!

Greek Residency and Divine Pigs

Today I was finally made a Greek resident! After weeks of bank visits, insurance trips, hospital visits, and multiple fees, I made my way to the municipality and was given a residence permit. Well, technically a piece of paper that will stand in until my residence permit arrives, but whatever. The municipality is a few bus stops above the school—I’d never ridden it that far, but I have to say, if I had the means, I would live in Pylea. It’s the wealthiest part of Thessaloniki, and it was beautiful. The main road twists and turns up these hills that have gorgeous views of other hills, and when you peer down the side roads there are posh apartments or absolutely gorgeous mansions with gates, hedges, swimming pools, the works. Apparently, the street I live off was once the wealthy part of town; there are a few old-style houses that are now museums you can still see dotted about the road. The street used to be only mansions with spacious yards until the 1917 fire when it was replaced with nondescript city buildings. Oh well.

I also saw my first documentary today, and I have to say I was pretty disappointed. At first, upon walking in, I saw this picture:

With the cigarette circled and “Please no smoking” caption, and I figured it was pretty much guaranteed to be an amazing day from there. Sadly, I was mistaken. First off, it started on Greek time so we weren’t even let in the the viewing room until twenty minutes after we were set to begin. Then, they had technical difficulties 15 minutes in and we had to sit around for another 15 while they fixed it. Plus, I’m sick and was pretty much just infecting the entire room—the guy next to me definitely hated me.There were two documentaries shown in this viewing; the first one was called Divine Pig and was about a butcher with a pet pig, and alternated between interviews with people about pigs, scenes of the butcher walking and playing with the pig, and scenes of the butcher cutting up all sorts of piggy parts. The movie ended with a scene showing the slaughtering of the pet pig, watching it bleed out, and then watching the butcher both sell the pet pig and eat it with his family.

But I would even have watched that again than have sat through the second one, which was actually the one I wanted to see. The description was very misleading—it was supposedly about how people are dealing with the recession but was pretty much the artsy-fartsy hipster director being a complete douchebag with all his communist class warfare BS. It was basically the working class versus the rich privileged unaffected by everything (the rich being those that could afford 50 million dollar yachts before the recession but pretty much lumping anyone with a job [who’s not a prostitute] in there too) but whiny and annoying, mixing in Depression-era stories and footage that was either false, or recognizable from movies of the time, and using stories of people in California as representative of the USA today. I hated that this film was shown to foreigners, and I disagreed with pretty much everything this guy sneered. Plus, he kept trying to jam his stupid catch-phrase down our throats, and I wasn’t swallowing. I probably would have walked out if I hadn’t been sitting square in the middle. Hopefully the ones I’m seeing tomorrow with Tanya will be more enjoyable.Can you tell I’m sick and grumpy?

Tanya the RA

My RA, Tanya, is the coolest person I know. She’s from the UK but spent the last year living on an olive farm outside of Thessaloniki, and took the job as our RA in order to live in the city. She’s lived on her own since she was 16 and has been all over the place. She has a great accent and a great vocabulary of British words. She’s a sound engineer and makes the most amazing food that I always get to try. The other day she whipped out sun-blushed tomatoes (no, they’re not the same as sundried, they’re pretty much roasted over low heat for 6+ hours) that she made herself and let me have one, and it was an explosion of amazingness. She has been saying for weeks she was going to make cheesecake, and every time she brought it up it would be literally all I could think about.

The Thessaloniki documentary film festival is going on this week, and in her capacity as a sound engineer Tanya worked on one of the films. It screened last night, but it was sold out so we didn’t go. Because she worked on the film, she got a bag of goodies that included a book describing each documentary and another with the times/locations of each. I had no idea what a big deal this festival was—there are hundreds of films and apparently people come from all over to be a part of the festival. There are films made in Greece, the US, Canada, Mexico, Britain, Poland, Italy, Turkey, all sorts of eastern European countries, etc. Tonight, as I sat with Tanya and the building eating the most delicious cheesecake of my life, I went through and picked out some of the films I’m going to try and see in this upcoming week. There are a lot of films about autism, Asperger's, down syndrome, etc. There also seems to be a lot about the Middle East, abusive relationships, and past wars. In fact, most of the films look pretty depressing, which is why I’m being sure to hit up one called Love Etc near the end, otherwise I don’t know if I’ll make it through. They all look really interesting; there are some made in Greece about the economic crisis and the debt crisis specifically as it relates to Greece, which I think would be so fascinating to watch, not just for the content, but for the perspective. There are also some relating to Greek history that I’m currently learning about.

Speaking of, it is really so fascinating to be taking classes over here. The perspective is completely different. We just reached World War II in my history class, and it’s just so different to be learning about it from the perspective of an occupied country. Yes, we all know Greece was occupied, we’ve seen Guns of Navarone (thanks Mom), but it’s different. It’s personal. We watched archival footage of the Nazis invading Thessaloniki, and I discovered that the Nazis actually used Anatolia College (ACT) as their main base in the city during occupation. It’s just so intriguing to think about; it’s the same series of events in history, but the perspective is just so different. That aspect of study abroad is as much a part of education as any of the raw content.

The Sounds of Sunday

I had a slow day today, since everything’s closed on Sundays. I hung around the apartment, hung out with my building mates for a while. I always have fun when a group of us just sit down to talk.

I sat outside on my balcony again today and had a very Rear Window-ish experience in that I was creeping on all the neighbors. My balcony looks over this little courtyard that has buildings with their own little balconies all around it. There’s someone right below and across from me that always has baskets and baskets of fruit sitting on their balcony that I want to try and fish for. There was an old lady above and to the right watering plants, a younger mom below her hanging baby clothes up to dry, a father to the left working to fix something while his little daughter ‘helped’. I just liked listening—someone far to the right was blasting music, the dad was hammering, a dog barked, a door opened, people who knew each other would occasionally emerge at the same time and call out to each other. I don’t know what it was but there was something I really liked about it all—even when I was inside I kept my window open so I could listen.

Rotunda

Today the art teacher at ACT met anyone who wanted to go at Kamara to show us the Rotunda and the Byzantine Museum of Thessaloniki. Located right behind the arch, I walk by the Rotunda all the time but this was the first time I went inside. It was built in 306 AD as either a pagan temple or mausoleum, but throughout the ages and various occupations has done time as a church, a mosque, a church again…The teacher knew a lot about it and described the kinds of mosaics that would have taken up the large spaces where they have been destroyed. Apparently it’s always the same cool temperature inside—good to know for when it gets very hot!

Next we walked down to the Byzantine Museum, which I actually already visited when I first got to Thessaloniki. Once again, only three rooms were open to the public because the museum doesn’t have the funds to open all the rooms. Just another interesting manifestation of the debt crisis…

It was beautifully, gloriously sunny again today, so I made myself my grilled sandwich, poured myself a glass of the best orange juice ever, and dragged my chair out to my little balcony to bask like a cat in the sun. I’m on the best side of the building in that from about 12-4 I’m directly in the sun, although I did have to keep scooting my chair back. I read my first real book in ages—it was nice!

Cleaned the room again today, and got resourceful when it comes to heating up pasta; the drawers above and below my toaster oven get really warm when it’s on (I discovered this when I went to grab a fork out of said drawer one day), so I put my bowl of pasta in with my silverware while cooking a baked potato; while it wasn’t hot, it was fine and would have warmed more if I had left it in longer. Yay impromptu warming drawer!

Kiss the Sky

Today I had one class in the morning, my Modern Greek Nation-State class. Learning about another country’s political system and history in depth really puts things in perspective for me—we’re dissatisfied with politics in America and complain about how nothing never gets done, political gridlock etc, but we have at least some kind stability and aren’t plagued by a history of military coups, dictatorships, economically devastating wars that last only a few days…it’s just food for thought.

It was so sunny and beautiful out today; I just wanted to kiss the sky! I went out with five kids from my building and we walked along the water all the way from our building to Aristotelous Square. It’s a really far walk, but we had all afternoon, and it was gorgeous on the boardwalk as we headed towards the White Tower. We got coffee in the Square and headed back around sunset, which was beautiful as well. I never realized this, but you can see Mount Olympus from the harbor. During the day it’s hidden because of the glare of the sun on the water, but as the sun sets behind it you can see it very clearly, and it’s gorgeous. It’s funny to think about, because it it doesn’t look that big and seems like it’s right there across from you, but it’s actually several hours by car down the coast—it’s just the way the land curves. Still, it was really lovely and a fun walk.

Σαν ερωτεθμένοι πιγκουίνοι

Today in Greek class we were listening to some song from the eighties because the lyrics contained travel words and future tense, which we’re studying. I guess listening to songs is a universal language-teacher tool, not just Spanish. At any rate, in this song about summer, I learned not only travel words but the Greek words for naked, love experts, and “in love like penguins”, the title of the post. I thought it was pretty funny.

Also, last night I was making Greek flashcards with all the new words and the word for ‘tonight’ is απόψε, which, as I sounded it out and wrote it, sounded like apoopsie. Even now as I writing this I’m chuckling, but I laughed so hard, sitting alone in my room! Then, of course, today in class the teacher says it and I burst out laughing, I couldn’t contain it and just sort of put my head down and pinched my ear until I stopped. For the next ten minutes I would think about it, still find it hilarious, and shake with silent laugher, trying not to make it audible. I’ve gone away from home, but I’m obviously still a 4 year old child. But c’mon. It’s funny. Poopsie. Laugh with me.

E.L.E.P.A.P

Today was my first day volunteering at ELEPAP, a school for disabled children about a ten minute walk from the school. It was such an amazing experience; I’m so glad I went. They have kids of all ages but I’m working with the young kids, ages 2-7. There are twenty kids, split into two classes based on cognitive abilities. A lot of the students have cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, or Asperger’s. From now on I’ll stick with one class until spring break and then finish out the semester with the other, but since today was my first day I spent an hour with each class.

The kids were so sweet, I’m completely in love with them! I spent the first hour with the higher-functioning kids. At first I kind of just sat there awkwardly, but as the time went on I got more involved. The guy that runs that class speaks great English and was explaining how everything works to me. I actually learned a lot of Greek, because the hour I was there they were working on teaching the kids the names of colors, foods, kitchen items, etc using plastic toys. Plus, the Greek he spoke to the children was pretty simple and slow so I could understand a lot of it. There was one adorable blond girl who seemed to be operating at a higher level than the rest of them and acted sort of as their leader. Apparently when she arrived at the school a year ago, she didn’t speak a single word—it was so great to see her dancing, playing with a little fake guitar and singing Christmas carols to me! Then there were two boys, aged 5 and 2 1/2, who were brothers and were probably my favorites (even though I don’t think you’re supposed to have favorites…or is that mothers?). They couldn’t speak as well but neither could I, so I just made faces or played little games with them and it was so much fun!

The next hour I spent with the more seriously disabled kids, who can’t really speak and most of whom can’t walk/are in chairs. That was a little harder to see, but they were still such sweethearts. One little girl toddled over and gave me a hug, and then just sort of swung off my hands, giggling. I’m so excited to work with these kids—it seems like I’ll actually be doing something to help, unlike the soup kitchen where I get the feeling I’m definitely not needed, just politely and patronizingly tolerated. Depending on how it goes I think I might try to volunteer more than once a week.

Other than that, I just had a busy day of classes today. I got my first ever college paper back (A) and took two tests. Everything was closed by the time I got home but it’s OK—yesterday my friend and I took a bus to Carrefour, the big supermarket where everything is really cheap, and I stocked up on non-perishable type groceries (veggies and stuff I’ll still get daily from the local vegetable lady). An added bonus, I found the Carrefour-brand version of the delicious cereal I’ve spent many a day searching for, always an exciting find.

On the downside, I wore jeans today and rubbed my burn raw. I hate this stupid thing!

Oh Hey There, Sun!

It was so beautiful out today! It’s amazing that it was snowing and cold and gross out yesterday, and today, though not hot, it was warmer and the sun was shining and the sky was blue. It made me very happy!

I got my Greek test back today—90. Not too shabby! It means nothing though—I memorized a few grammar rules right before the test. I still can’t speak; I did better than the kids that are really Greek and live with Greek speakers, etc. I have two tests tomorrow but that’s pretty much all. Other than that, walked past a man peeing in an abandoned lot at four in the afternoon on the way back from school. Oh, Thessaloniki, what wonders will you greet me with tomorrow?

It was also my RA’s birthday today, so we all went out to dinner. I love that my building is small and cozy enough for that. And of course, Abby made a delicious cake for us to have when we got back.

Phallus Festival!

**WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS PICTURES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF A FESTIVAL ENTIRELY DEVOTED TO THE PENIS WHICH MAY BE INAPPROPRIATE FOR YOUNGER READERS***

Well hey there! Just got back from the penis festival in Tyrnavos. It actually wasn’t as mad crazy as I was expecting, but it was so much fun, I’m so glad I went! Now I can say that I’ve been to a Dionysian pagan fertility festival! What did you do with your Monday?

In the rest of Greece, Clean Monday is spent as a family day, with the traditional activity of flying kites. In Thessaloniki today, there were free kites in Aristoteles Square and all sorts of food and I think a family-friendly parade. In Tyrnavos, a tiny little Greek town two hours from Thessaloniki and about 10 km from Larissa, they celebrate “Dirty Monday” with their annual phallus festival.

It’s pretty much just as you imagine it. We get to Tyrnavos and they set us down about a five minute walk to the town center—we know which way to go by following the crowd just let off a coach bus. The festival itself is relatively small, in keeping with the size of the town. There are stalls set up in the center and within about a two-block radius, but no further. But in this concentrated area there are more penises of all shapes, sizes, and materials than you can possibly imagine. Our first experience, as we were still on the outskirts of the festival, was with an old man with a fishing pole. There was a wooden penis tied to the end of the string and he was waving it around, calling and laughing in Greek trying to hit us with it. We knew right then it was going to be an interesting day.

Penises were everywhere. Candy penises, candle penises, bread, cake, ceramic, puppet penises galore. At one stand there were wooden penises of all different sizes, but they looked like they might serve a humorous if practical purpose. I asked the stall owner in Greek, “What is this?” meaning, “What does this thing do?” He looks at me like I’m mental and says, deadpan, “πέος”—penis. There was music blasting over loudspeakers all over the place, and it sounded like traditional Greek folksy-type music—but when I listened to the words, I’m pretty sure all the lyrics were really dirty—I recognized penis, ass, and fuck you.

The whole festival was one large joke, and I loved it! You’re supposed to giggle and snicker at everything you pass, and the people of the town encourage it. It’s amazing that this place, which is normally just like any other quiet little town in Greece, goes absolutely crazy once a year and invites everyone to come watch.

I think the best way to walk you through my day is through pictures and accompanying descriptions, so here we go. Avert your eyes, ye faint of heart!

Here’s just some examples of the variety of penis. They had tables and tables of this red penis candy, in various shapes and sizes, some with giant candy balls and some you couldn’t possibly fit in your mouth (what do they do with the excess, save it for next year? Sell them super cheap at the end?). Next is a picture of a penis cake a pastry shop had out to entice you in. The bread penis outside a bakery was as big as me, but they had smaller loaves you could buy inside. Next to the giant bread penis was a penis rocking horse that one tiny child was riding very enthusiastically, it was hilarious.

Then of course there were giant paper-mache penises everywhere that you could pose with, like this guy below or that crazy girl in the next picture…

It should be noted that there were literally all kinds of people at this festival. I actually think my age group was in the minority. As mentioned before, there were little kids, and lots of them, begging their parents for penis candy, walking around and seeing the sites. This cute little boy was trying on a hat, giggling and swinging around the balls attached to the brim. The next picture is of the old guy with the penis on a fishing pole, looking to “catch” unsuspecting passerby. And lastly was just some random guy we saw at lunch. Note the penis nose and, well, the penis, that he used to smack some lady eating her meal.

  

Our lunch was amazing. We sat down outside at a table next to this Greek couple and were trying to decide what to order. We looked over to their table and they had some amazingly good-looking food, so I leaned over and used my most polite Greek to ask what it was. She told me and then was asking where I was from, what I’m doing here, all in Greek. They were so friendly and recommended things on the menu. When the waiter came he gave us a pad to write what we wanted and they offered (keep in mind this is all in Greek and I understood and communicated with them, I’m pretty proud of myself) to write down what we wanted for us. It probably would have actually been easier for us to do it ourselves, but they were so enthusiastic and excited to help us, though for a minute we thought they were going to order us way more food than we really wanted. It turned out all right, though. While we were waiting for our food to come out they whipped out a loaf of penis bread and offered it to us and wouldn’t take it back until they felt we took enough. I’m pretty sure they were locals, because they called the waiter by name, and, along with the table next to them, seemed to have brought some food from home that they also shared with us. They were so amazing—they gave us these delicious olives that they had prepared in some sauce, horta (a Greek vegetarian dish) they had obviously made themselves, and they gave us some of the delicious kalamari they had ordered. I felt bad taking all their food, and the food of the next table that they gave us, but it was so yummy and they were so nice—we ended up with a much bigger meal than we anticipated for three euro each! Here’s a picture of us with the wife, she was so sweet!

Everyone we met and talked to in Tyrnavos were really great. All throughout the streets, the “bourani people” have little fires going and are cooking bourani (μπουράνι), a spinach/nettle soup that’s the specialty of the festival and is supposed to be an aphrodisiac or good for your penis, something along those lines. Abby (in the purple above) and I made it our mission to get some of this soup. It was hard though—one pot was guarded by the penis-fishing old man, and another was in the main square and surrounded by a huge crowd. The bourani people, all middle-aged/old men, cook the soup in these cauldrons, wearing aprons with little phalluses painted on in the appropriate area. As they’re stirring the soup, they grab women from the crowd, lift them up over the soup and have them stir, and won’t let them down until they kiss this giant penis hand-puppet one guy has. It’s supposed to bless both the soup and the girl, fertility-wise. Supposedly. We kept edging closer and closer trying to figure out how to get a hold of a bowl, when Katie (middle above) and I were grabbed and hoisted into the air! It was so funny, I was laughing hysterically. Hopefully Abby got some good pictures that I can snag from her and post up later. The only bad part was my burn—they grab you from under the legs, and they sort of messed up the bandage a little, but I was fine. The second they put us down, I grabbed one of the guys and started asking for soup. I had a whole conversation with him in Greek; I’m so proud of how much I spoke today! Of course, I didn’t really know how to say it, so I just used a ton of polite words and said “I want a cup!” He told me what was in it and when I asked how much it cost he said five. I said OK and he came back with two bowls, but when I tried to give him the money he just put it back in my jacket pocket and went to get us some penis bread to dip in it—I think he was actually saying it would be ready in about five seconds, but I didn’t understand right. It was so nice of him to give us two bowls and bread for free. Plus, I asked at just the right time, because it was ready and everyone in the square descended on this little pot, but he got some for us. It was delicious, and surprisingly sweet. The two bowls were more than enough for four of us to split.

Below, a pot of bourani. The crowded square where they’re making the bourani; you can see the giant penis-puppet thing. And lastly, me doing was I did for most of the day, eating. The bourani was excellent!

I did eat a lot today. The nice people at the restaurant stuffed us to the brim like good Greek grandparents would; I ate bourani, and they had stalls of λουκουμάδες, one of my favorite Greek desserts that I’ve haven’t yet seen on my trip (when there are Greek fairs back home, I literally go to have a huge gyro and a bowl of λουκουμάδες all to myself). They were offering them with a chocolate sauce that I’ve never seen before and it looked good, but I stuck with the classic honey. I bought a penis-lolly, but I was too full to eat it and it’s sitting in my room.

I don’t know if you can tell from any of the pictures, but it was actually snowing when we were there! I couldn’t believe it; Tyrnavos is more up in the mountains, but apparently it snowed in Thessaloniki while we were gone too. I thought we’d escaped all that by coming to Greece! Apparently it’s never like this in March…At any rate, it made it a little uncomfortable to walk around—nothing was really open, everything was either stalls or outdoor tables, so we couldn’t go inside to get warm. If it had been nicer out we probably would have stayed a little longer, but we saw everything there was to see and went back early, which was fine by everyone.

I’m just so excited to take these little cheap trips to the areas immediately around Thessaloniki—it’s just a great way to get to know the country and its people. Halfway through the bus ride, we saw this huge, gorgeous white stone castle on a plateau overlooking a beach with crashing waves right below it to one side and beautiful mountains directly to the other side. It was amazing—we looked for road signs nearby and wrote down the names so we can hopefully find it and come back. I love finding things like that; it was so cool, and just popped out of nowhere!

Anyways, a very fun day, and an interesting way to kick of Lent! Hope your Monday was as bizarrely different as mine—shake it up!

Slow Saturday

This is actually the first weekend in a few where I’ve had nothing going on. I slept in this morning, and when I woke I initially decided to go for a jog (Anyone who knows me knows I NEVER run, so this shows you how terrified I am of getting fat over here). Then I sat up, and remembered my gimpy leg.

So instead I spent 2 and a half hours cleaning my room and bathroom. Intensely. I mopped and trapped myself in the bathroom, and cleaned that while I waited for the floor to dry. I literally had to leave the room afterwards or be asphyxiated by the chemical smell. At least it’s won out over the wet death smell that’s been pervading the hallway…

I haven’t left the apartment all day. I wanted to go read my Anthro book down by the water, but it’s cold out—one teacher yesterday said if we’re lucky we’ll see flurries. Lucky? I don’t think so. I really hope I can put on proper pants tonight, because if I’m stuck indoors all night I might go crazy.

I Choose…That One.

Today I had to get up early to go to the hospital again so they could check my chest x-rays and give me a piece of paper saying I don’t have TB. Working at Meadow Ridge, where all the old people are afraid they’re going to die of consumption, I’ve been TB tested at least four times already this year. But whatever. We were in the waiting room forever, watching kid after adorable kid came in and out. Literally, Greek babies are the cutest I’ve ever seen—I don’t believe there’s such a thing as an ugly baby, but there is definitely no such thing in Greece. There’s a surprising number of them with blond hair, and an even larger number with piercing blue or green eyes. It’s adorable. We spent the hours we were in the waiting room making faces at the babies and picking which one we were going to snatch and make our building’s mascot. We settled on one tiny little boy who was running around; he would just be so cute to have roaming around Papa K!

After that I had to take the bus all the way down to school just to turn in a paper, since I spent the class time at the hospital. Then I went home and took a nap; I think this leg injury is draining me of my life force. It’s taking so much of my energy to heal that it leaves me super tired, and I think gives me a weakened immune system as well.

Kelli and I spent a good three and a half hours tonight trying to book spring break. It’s so frustrating, because we had a pretty good plan that we managed to turn into an AMAZING plan, with all sorts of awesome stops throughout Italy and Spain for two and a half weeks, for what we thought was only going to be 240 euro for all the flights, trains, and buses. We were so wrong it wasn’t even funny. All those uber-cheap airlines that advertise flights for 7 euro hit you with so many service charges and fees it’s ridiculous; there were sometimes 12 euro fees for using a credit card to book the flight, even though there was no other way to do it. On a bunch of the flights, fees could add up to more that double of what the ticket itself cost. It’s just incredibly frustrating, especially when on a budget, to think you’re getting this amazing deal and then to find that it’s actually going to cost way more than you thought. We had to cut out one of the stops because the expected 10 euro flight cost turned into 100. In the grand scheme of things our flights are still pretty cheap, but just not as magically cheap as we expected. Although we should have known--if it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t.

“This is not a class, it’s pure adventure…like Indiana Jones!”

My leg is feeling a lot better. It still looks pretty nasty, but nasty over a smaller area, and it doesn’t hurt anymore. It will still take time to heal completely, hopefully so it won’t scar. Everyone keeps telling me if this was America, I could sue. I’m very annoyed, because I had planned to go out tonight but I still can only wear sweats—all my jeans and tights are too tight to try and pull up, I’m too nervous I’ll do damage—and my longest dress is still too short, since the bandage reaches down to my knee, and I just don’t want to expose anyone to that nastiness. I still had fun hanging out with everyone until they left, it’s just really frustrating not being able to leave with them!

I got a hair cut today. Considering I hadn’t had one for months when I was in the states, I felt I owed it to my poor split ends. I guess I just have to accept that my hair will never grow long enough fast, ever. At any rate, it was a very nerve-wracking experience; the hairdresser spoke some English (if she hadn’t, I wouldn’t have stayed), but it’s still hard to communicate exactly what it is that I wanted. I was pretty nervous in the chair, but it came out alright. Not spectacular, but not the worst hair-cut I’ve ever had.

The quote is from my adorable folklore teacher—she’s small and Greek and so much fun, and was telling us about a proposed field trip to have class where Aristotle taught Alexander the Great. Pure adventure, pretty much sums up my experience so far here in Greece!

Burn, Baby Burn

Not a fun day today. Last night I went out with my building for tea and coffee. I was sitting on a stool and the waiter came up behind me and spilled a huge, steaming, sizzling mug of fresh hot tea all over me. It went all over the back of my leg, and I was wearing thin tights that offered no protection and instead clung burning to my skin. This being Greece, of course, he didn’t even apologize or give us free stuff, and actually still tried to rip the group off at the end of the night.

I didn’t stay until the end, though; I knew it was bad and went right home. I was going to take the bus but as I limped through the street trying not to cry, I flagged down the first cab that came by and went home. The cabbie was trying to talk to me but I could hardly think straight because of the pain. I got home, peeled off my pants, and it was just as I feared; the entire back/side of my thigh was red and blistered. It’s really nasty and disgusting, I won’t go into any more detail than that. I ran it under cold water and found some Neosporin to put on it, took some Motrin, and went to sleep as best I could, holding an icepack to my leg.

It still hurts really badly today, and looks absolutely revolting, but it’s not as bad as yesterday. I actually was scheduled to go to the hospital for a TB shot and chest X-ray for my residency permit, so while I was there I had them take a look at it. They just made sympathetic “oooohhhh” sounds and didn’t actually do anything, so I called the school doctor and she took a look and got me all bandaged up so I could at least sit down.

I went to a pharmacy after school to pick up more gauze and burn cream, and the guy behind the counter made me feel really bad—not because he was mean, but because he was so nice. I just asked for what I needed and then he was asking where is the burn, how big, how bad, those type of hot liquid burns are the worst to deal with, if only I had come to him sooner it would probably be less painful now. He seemed really upset the doctor hadn’t prescribed any antibiotics or anything, and told me if I needed anything or if it got worse to come straight back. I really was just looking for someone to hand me what I needed and for some reason this made me almost cry.

So now I’m sitting here in my room with a huge bandage and no pants on, wallowing, eating nutella, and pretty much feeling sorry for myself. It sucks to get hurt away from home—I just want my mommy! Instead I still have to get myself dinner, get my work done and keep going tomorrow. It sucks to be a grown-up!

Soup Kitchen

Today was my first day volunteering at the soup kitchen at a church near the school. I got up at 6:50 to be there by 8:00, and met two other girls from ACT there. There were two ladies, Katerina and Hannah, who were very cute and sweet but spoke very little English. They were still fun to be around, and collectively we knew enough/could gesture/sing Frankie Valli. We couldn’t actually help cook, which was really disappointing, because if we did something wrong the ladies would get in trouble, but we peeled potatoes, mixed cheese, washed dishes, and mopped the floor while they made delicious-looking pastitsiou. They also defended us when someone upstairs wanted us to wash the toilets, for which I was grateful….

I almost wish I had been the only American, because I think I would have tried to speak more Greek—one of the girls who was there with me is Greek Orthodox and can speak Greek pretty well, so I was a little too intimidated to try, or there was no need for me to stammer something out when she could just spit it out. I understood more of what they were saying than I thought I would be able to; the only problem is I’m at the point where I know the words, but have to think about it; by the time I listen, recognize a word, and then think of its translation, they’re a whole sentence away and I lose the flow.

I also had my first ACT test today, in Greek 104. It was difficult—I knew all the vocab but the grammar stuff, which made up most of the test, was really tricky. I don’t think I’ll ever get the hang of it. When I handed it in, the teacher glanced over it and then gave me a half-shrug, that could either mean, “Eh, not bad” or “Eh, so you fail the first one. There’s always the next one!”. I’m not really sure.

Here’s some more street scenes of Paris. I still haven’t gotten over the city.