Highlights
Christos Anesti!
Typical Day in Athens
Since you enjoyed my last story so much I thought I would spin you another yarn. I thought culture shock wouldn't be that big of deal because I'd lived in London, but I'm feeling rocked right now. I would rather sit at home then go outside the house, and I know that doesn't sound like me. It's not as bad as it sounds, but I have to be a little more patient.
Last night I went to a Good Friday service in Athens because there was a young adults get together afterwards. I had a great time and it was great to get out of the house. But, my ride home was interesting. First of all I jumped on a train going the wrong way. That normally not a big deal because you just hop off at the next stop and change. This was a different story though. I quickly realized my entire train car was not speaking Greek. That would be great, but they were speaking Arabic. It was totally filled with Iraqis and with the state of the world I really wanted to be at the next stop because I was pretty much spotted as "the American". Not a lot of Greeks are 220 and have blond hair.
Well, I got off at the next stop and switched tracks back to Kifissia. I took my seat next to a middle aged lady and an elderly guy. The first stop brought us a 6 year old handing out slips of paper that explained that he needed money. This actually happens a lot. They pass them out and then pick them up. It was in Greek and I'm not quite at the level where I could read it, but I could figure out what the message was. This is going to sound cold-hearted (I'm generally desensitized to people asking for change because it happens on a daily basis), but if you need money how the heck did you get a word processor and printer in order to make these sheets of paper? I think I'm going to go into business just making these slips in different languages.
He jumped off at the next stop and we were brought our next visitor. He ripped the doors open and almost didn't get on, but thank goodness he did. He stood at the pole leaning on the elderly man and started to mumble in Greek. It must have been pathetic because the lady said something to me and chuckled. She quickly realized by my face that I had no idea what she said. Well, the man stood at the pole and I use that term loosely. His eyes were completely closed and I couldn't tell if he was going to passout or was trying to crap his pants. He really looked like he was in a bad way. But, the best part of this was watching the old guy become really uncomfortable. I don't know if the guy said he had a disease or not, but the old guy was freaked out.
Needless to say there was a huge sigh of relief from our foursome when that guy left at the next stop. That didn't last long because the guy across from me left and we got a new addition. A seemingly normal man sat down in the seat in front of me with three bottles of Coke. With one 20 ounce bottle under each arm and sipping out of a 1.5 liter. As he sipped his Coke he took time to just stare at each one of us. Not in a curious way, but more of a weird I just had a lobatomy kind of way. At the next stop the old man had enough and stood up for the rest of the trip.
Our last set of visitors were two young kids with a guitar and accordian playing for money. That's right, for the third time on a twenty minute train ride I was hit up for change. Don't think I've become a jerk, but what do you do?
There is a typical night in Greece. This is an interesting place and I'm learning that more and more. To top off my night I decided to pee outside on my walk home. Later
A Close Encounter
I hope you are amused by this story. Okay, I went into
Athens on Wednesday by myself. Traveling by yourself
is not always easy and can provide some interesting
interactions. Anyway, I went to visit the Acropolis
and had a lovely lunch with a couple from Bath,
England. I knew I wanted to go to Syntagma square and
they pointed me in that direction because they had
just come from there. Finding your way around Athens
is not easy, and I would tell you my first impressions
but I would love for you to come visit if I live
there. I didn't have a great map and as you can
imagine every sign was in Greek, so I started walking
towards what I thought was Syntagma. I got very near
to the square, but I just couldn't find it. The crappy
part is that I found three American universities, but
no one seemed to speak English outside of them. I was
standing on the street corner when a man came to ask
me the time. I showed him my watch and he realized I
spoke English because I never uttered a word. After a
brief discussion I asked him for directions to the
square. Come to find out he had a cafe on the square.
I was very excited to hear this news and he was
excited for a possible new customer(we will get to
that in a bit). Following him was not a great idea in
retrospect, but I was excited for the assistance.
As I walked into his "cafe", I realized it was just a
tiny bar with curtains. I mention the curtains because
I couldn't see out and others couldn't see in. That
did not put me at ease. There were 3 guys, 2 girls,
and myself. The man told me to take a seat. As I sat
down the bartender instantly threw a Heineken in front
of me. Normally I would have been concerned about
being rude, but I was little concerned about that. The
bartender asked me what I wanted and I said I would
take a coffee, but instead he just poured me a Coke.
After our quick discussion I realized the man who
brought me in had vacated the seat next to me and a
pretty young Greek girl was now occupying it. She sat
very close to me and instantly started asking
questions. I don't get a lot of girls hitting on me
and this girl was no holds barred. She started
complimenting me and didn't let up until I left. Next
thing I know she is being poured a drink on my behalf.
She says, "To my good health". Yeah right lady I'm
about to get a Big, Fat, Greek beat down!!! As I said
the girl was complimenting me, and wouldn't you know
it she offered her "services". I quickly informed her
that I work for a church. Well, she didn't really
seem to mind.
At this point I know it's time to go. I knock out my
Coke in two drinks(just hoping the Roofies or whatever
is in it doesn't take effect until I'm outside), and
then I stand up. Quickly the bartender pounced with
the menu. My Coke is 3.50 euro, and I'm all right with
that because I always keep a five in my front pocket.
Then he flips over the page and tells me that since I
ordered two cocktails for the ladies in the place. I
now owe 20 euro for each drink. My total is about 50
euro! The worst part is that I'm pretty sure the
drinks were worth about 1 euro. As he showed me this
everyone in the bar laughed heartily. I appealed to
them on my church profession, but more importantly I
just pulled out the five and said it was all I had. I
had been scanning the place and I knew my only hurdle
was the one guy near the door. I threw the bill on the
bar and headed for the door. Luckily the guy didn't
stand up because I was prepared to send him threw the
front door. And that is how my day in Athens ended. As
you can imagine, I didn't want to see much else in the
town after that. Other than the confusing roads, stray
wild dogs, and encounters with Greek pimps I would say
I had a pretty good day. But, I won't be frequenting
the New York Cafe anytime soon.
