Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Now that nearly a whole month has gone by, I've started to get a little homesick. To honor this little twinge of nostalgia, today's blog post will include a small taste of what it is that I miss about home.

1. Dogs on leashes. Stray dogs run around Athens everywhere. They jaywalk streets expertly, as if they were native New Yorkers. Also, they will follow you for blocks if you just stop to pet them for a few seconds, or even if you don't. I had a running buddy all of last week!

2. Speaking of running: running outside. Greeks don't seem to run outside, and no matter how many Yeia sas' (hello) I say to each person I pass, I still get funny looks.

3. Clubs that actually have dancing! It would appear that there is a direct correlation that the fancier a dance club is, the fewer people there are dancing. Rather, the norm is to stand around and hold drinks.

4. Skim milk. Milk here is sold at 1.5% and 3.5%. (I never once considered that this would be different abroad than at home. I just assumed that at some point in time milk fat percentages were standardized.

But of course, there's the new things that I've done that I wouldn't trade for any of the above.

1. I have now dipped my pinky toe into the exclusive glistening, sun-bathed, Infinity pool that is Greek island-hopping. We went to Mykonos for the weekend, and Crete for a little under a week. Ferries are surprisingly pleasant, and have four person cabins that are quite accommodating.

2. Waking up to the smell of goat. It doesn't sound appealing even now while I'm writing this, but we lived next to goats in Mykonos, and even fed them bread and apples.

3. Climbing the caves at Matala Beach. Artificial caves were carved out by the Romans to use as tombs; one is even named after Brutus, because he was a supposed frequenter. In the 60s, hippies used them for permanent residences, but were made to leave by an infuriated archaeologist. Now as a tourist you can climb into the caves and swim at the beach that Zeus brought Europa to when he seduced her.

4. Meeting new European friends. A few weeks ago, we met rowdy Croatians here in Athens for a "football" match. They were excited about the game, to say the least, and eventually riot police had to be called. Fire was involved.

5. Seeing demonstrations in person. While in Crete we were able to see a protest of the new economic measures enacted by Papandreou.

More to come!

Καλώς Ήρθατε!

Welcome to my blog! For the next four months this is where I'll be keeping my thoughts on my new life in Athens.

We arrived in Athens on Monday morning to a beautiful three bedroom apartment in Kolonaki, which is supposed to be one of the more upscale areas in Athens. We live near a multitude of restaurants and shops, and there's even a fresh market every Friday just a street above us. I say above, because we live on a hill! The climb up is quite a feat, and now I see why there are so many Athenians with Herculean calves running about.

So getting to the interesting part, here are things (some subtle, others not so much) that are different from life in the United States:

1) Gestures with open palms are rude. Showing your palm with your fingers spread out is the equivalent of the middle finger. As someone who waves to indicate hello, goodbye, thanks, you welcome, and any other sentiment you can think of, I think I've become the rudest, most vulgar person in this city since my arrival.

2) Toilet paper does not belong in the toilet. This may be true for other countries as well, but it's the first time I've experienced the idea of toilet paper as a misnomer. I haven't been very good at adapting to this (sorry Aegean?) but hopefully I'll get better as time goes on.

3) Bedtimes don't exist. Dinner is at 10pm, and the night begins around 1 or 2am. Leaving clubs around sunrise is the norm, and this isn't only just for the weekend.

4) Americans run on Dunkin' Donuts, and Greeks run on frappe. Frappe is a Nescafe instant coffee drink that has affectionately been dubbed Nescrack. A mix of instant coffee, milk, sugar (lots!), frappe is drunken by nearly every Greek you see on the street, always with a brightly colored straw.

4) Racism is conspicuous. At a club, I was told by a Greek that his acquaintance, an Albanian, is from the worst race of people, and that all Albanians are assholes. As someone living in a college bubble in arguably one of the most accepting nations, this open prejudice shocked me. I'm now more in tune with the tension between Greeks and Albanians.

5) Greeks love American pop culture! Michael Jackson posters are everywhere, and Lady Gaga plays in the clubs nearly on repeat. As my new Greek friend on the beach noted today, "Duffy is my favorite. Absolute favorite. 'Mercy' is the best song."

And now, the obligatory photos of a travel blog.

View from the top of the hill, where we live.

Athenian beach. Pretty crowded actually.

Made friends with a guitar-playing Spaniard,

hookah-on-the-beach-smoking Palestinian

and Duffy-loving Frenchman though!

Dracoulunia Cheetos. Supposed to be amazing.

When they say sprawl, they mean it.

Ακρόπολη! (Acropolis)

That's all I've got for now! Hopefully this inaugural post was satisfactory.