A shame

One of the truths of summer is fires. That can be said of many
countries, but in Greece there are an unfortunate number started on
purpose, and we're not talking controlled burns. Land that is
considered forest can't be built upon. So, people burn said forest so
building can take place later on. A fabulous system, don't you
think? I get so mad every time I see a fire here, some people just
have no respect for their surroundings or the environment.

The pictures above represent two different fires within 5 days. The
first pics are taken from my balcony. The fire which generated this
smoke was many miles away, but with the high winds the smoke carried
over towards us. I first thought a sandstorm had blown up from Africa
(it does happen), but realized we had North winds blowing so was
confused. I had called Vasilis, out on his bike ride, to alert him in
case he wanted to be picked up. Turns out he was relatively near the
fires whose smoke I was seeing. Fortunately it wasn't affecting him,
so didn't need rescuing.

The last two photos were near a friend's house, an area which had
experienced a much larger fire a couple months ago. The picture I
took was at the beginning of the fire - when we returned a couple hours
later it had swept over a decent-sized area, sadly burning up a local man's
beehives perched on the hill to the right of the photos. I didn't
take the "after" picture, as the firefighters were just leaving the
area and I was a little shy about snapping shots.

Little of this and that

Apologies to start - for the 7 of you that read this (and that's aiming a bit high, I'm sure). I know postings have been rare, and maybe even rarely interesting at that. With it being summertime, and the damnable heat keeping my activities limited, my observations about life here have diminished a bit. Also, I am nearing on 2 years in sunny Greece, so less and less jumps out at me as different. I have a couple different topics for your perusing pleasure today.

Different levels of Greekness

It's truly hard to determine what makes a person Greek, in the eyes of the Greeks. At one point in time, it merely took being educated in the Greek way to be considered a citizen. Although certainly harder than that to gain citizenship, I understand that many people still believe that's what makes you Greek.

For those of us with Greek ancestry, which I am simply defining as having ancestors who came from Greece, there seem to be different levels to which Greek society looks at us. For instance Greek-Americans (or Greek-Australians or any other country), who are 100% or even 50% Greek heritage and born/raised elsewhere, don't seem to be deemed fully Greek. Fairly conversant in Greek upon their arrival here (and I am speaking of those who have relocated to Greece) and definitely more able to assimilate than I was (being nearly Greekless in vocabulary), they aren't quite Greek. I envied them, already familiar with language and customs that I had yet to learn, but they may have not necessarily fit right into mainstream Greek society. I can't speak to outright social distancing or mistreatment, I just know they are viewed differently by home grown Greeks.

Then there's me. Technically a quarter Greek (my paternal Grandfather was 1st generation Greek-American), I can visually pass as Greek much of the time (assuming I am not wearing my Teva's) but am really quite American. I don't usually identify as Greek-American here, since that may come with assumptions of my knowledge of aforementioned language and customs. However, when I say that I am a bit Greek and explain further, the response is typically "then you are Greek!." As delighted I may be with this pronouncement, I feel a bit of a poser saying it myself. But I have been proclaimed "Greek" quicker than those who have a stronger claim to "greekness" than I do. I am sure they are just being nice to me, since I am making no claims myself and no one really thinks I am fully Greek, but you see the variation in treatment.

Having said all of that, I had a strange encounter with a fellow American (who is 0% Greek) during the Inauguration last Fall. I had volunteered to help out at a party for the Inauguration and while watching the ceremony, one of the other volunteers was telling me and another that we didn't understand what a long hard road it was (presumably for Democrats) to get to that big day. Since we were all Democrats there, I wasn't sure why she was considering herself part of some other group, why I personally wouldn't understand this long journey. I asked her what she meant and she responded, "well, you're Greek-American". I cleared her up on that point, but didn't seek clarity for myself. Why would a Greek-American (assumedly raised in the States) would understand any less than a non-Greek American. She was already on my nerves, and asking for an explanation wouldn't have helped. ;-) Evidently Greek-Americans just can't win, not falling completely in either camp.

Slug Bug vs. Slug the Priest

For whatever reason today, as we were driving down the road, I remembered playing the Slug Bug game as a kid. You know, where you are the first to spot a VW Bug on the road (usually on long road trips, but really can be played anytime) and you slug the person next to you, claiming "slug bug!".

I told Vasilis about this game, wondering if they had something similar. They did, but it was when you spot an Orthodox priest (not like there are any others here). And no, they didn't call it slug the priest. In this essentially one religion country, where priests are abundant and obvious in their long black frocks, I can see kids bruising each other playing this game!

What is it, exactly?

I walk by this market quite frequently and have finally found myself in front of it with a camera.

Is it Maxi, or Mini?  Is it a market with identity issues?  It's really quite confusing.

It is larger than most of the markets you find in the neighborhoods, but is it the maximum size a mini market can be before it must simply be called a market?  It's certainly nowhere near a "super" market.  

Perhaps the sign was a deal, so they opted for the cheap and easy route to market naming.  Regardless of how fluent I ever get in Greek, I probably won't be asking the owners for clarification.

Puffers paradise?

Originally, I was going to put together a long thought out piece on smoking in Greece, it's prevalence, and the new laws coming info effect on July 1st limiting the practice of it in public areas.  Not only did I find the information the laws a bit confusing (which doesn't bode well for those who are supposed to follow them) but I also am not finding myself in the mood for thoughts "long"ly held.  

Mostly, I love that cigarette packages have this message.  Although the picture itself is a bit fuzzy (taken from my unfocusable cell phone camera) the message itself couldn't be more clear.  I think it should be adopted worldwide.

This particular packet is probably from the UK, but those packaged in Greece have a similar message "Smoking Can Kill".  As I stopped to think about it, I felt it a little odd that the countries that are considered to have a higher incidence of smokers also have a much stronger message.  Is that because they feel something stronger is needed to curb the habits of all these smokers?  Or is that they don't have a strong Tobacco industry fighting for something a little less severe in the wording?

Regardless of packaging alerts, things are certainly a bit more loose here when it comes to smoking (little surprise there).  What topped it for me the other day though, was seeing a young girl of approximately 6-7 years old walking out of a mini-market holding a couple of packs of Marlboro's.  She was certainly buying them for an adult, and perhaps the person selling them to her knows said adult, but come on!

Although I am happy that Greece has taken the measure to establish laws around smoking in public places, whether it is actually enforced will be a whole different question.  There are plenty of laws in Greece that are ignored on a daily (hourly) basis, and I have a feeling this is one that will fall into that category.  I can only hope for people like myself, who can help urge those infringing upon the laws to change their ways.

  

Greek Orthodox Easter

In the spirit of continuing with the Greek holidays, Easter certainly shouldn't be left out (no matter how lazy I feel about blogging at the moment).

Easter is easily the biggest family holiday, surpassing even Christmas, here in Greece.  It's a time when the cities empty out, their inhabitants making an exodus to the country, either to the village of their family or that of a friends (which we did last year).

People really start gearing up for Easter during Holy Week, beginning the previous Sunday. The days of that week are even referenced (even when announcing movies that will be on TV during the week), as Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, etc.  There are special hours for shops to be open which are noted in the papers ahead of time.  The majority of people (those not working in the shops/service industry) have Holy Friday through the following Monday off of work.  Of course, schools are closed down for the week prior and after Easter, giving me the perfect time to entertain my visiting friends!

The spurt of religious activities begin on Friday.  We sat at the square outside the local church that Friday, for a coffee, and were serenaded by the priests singing/chanting for the morning services.  In the afternoon/evening, the Epitaph begins (you can see a video of it here).  It is a procession representing the dead Jesus.  The video does a better job of describing it, as I have yet to see it.

On Saturday is the resurrection mass, which ends at Midnight.  Many people will go to the church 15-30 minutes before midnight, to join others to light a candle at midnight (often in the courtyard outside the church as it does fill up!).  At Midnight, the priests exits the church and announces that Christ has risen (Χριστός Ανέστει - Christos Anesti).  Children and adults will light off fireworks, so you have to remain alert if you are in the crowd!  Then, everyone returns home to eat a large meal, which will often start off with Μαγεριτσα / Mageritsa (lamb soup).  Part of the reason for eating this soup is that the fasting is now broken and it helps ease your system back into eating meat after 40 days without it.  And trust me, lots of meat will be eaten soon.

After the midnight meal and some sleeping, you are back up to eat more.  Men of the household will probably have been up since 6am, starting the lamb (head and all!) and kokoretsi to roasting over the coals.  Of course, there will be many other dishes served with the grilled meat and one's stomach can be pushed to the limit!  You'll note the picture at the top, another Easter tradition.  Similar as in the States (and elsewhere I'm sure), they dye eggs here also, but mostly a deep red.  The eggs are then set to a cracking challenge, as two people take on each others eggs by hitting the ends of the other's to see who's doesn't crack.  No big winnings result from this, not even the proverbial wish granted as when one gets the largest break from the turkey wishbone.  But it is fun nonetheless.  Funny how competitive people can get with simple eggs...

This year, since we stayed in the city as I had friends here, we went to a taverna.  It is our favorite taverna for good meat and they did not disappoint (Μαγγείνας στο Μαρούσσι for you locals).  It's not quite the same as being out in a village, watching the lamb turn all morning and enjoying the weather.  However, from a culinary standpoint, and noting we didn't have to help prepare any of it, we were certainly pleased!

I did find one definite benefit to staying in town during this time, no one else was here!  The roads were virtually empty, as was the Metro, so made our touristy outings much easier.  My friends didn't quite get the experience of a "full" Athens, but that's probably ok.  They might then wonder what the heck I am doing here.

Dedication - and another ticket

I guess I'll start with the ticket, because without it today would have been different. (WARNING, this is a long one)

We went to The Mall last weekend to see a movie (loved Gran Torino!) and while walking to our car, Vasilis noticed that all the cars along the road (evidently a no parking zone) had been ticketed and the license plates pulled. This is the 2nd time we've been ticketed there (see previous related post). As before, we parked where dozens others did there, and thousands do every day in Athens - in an illegal spot. The Mall management is peeved that no one uses their parking structure, so they call the local police to get snappy in doling out tickets.

This business of taking the plates is a new move, however. With no plates you aren't supposed to drive. And to get your plates back, you must pay your ticket. Ok, bad move on our part. We'll never park at The Mall again.

So, as soon as I could, 3 days later when the post office was open again, I paid the ticket. The next day I went to the appropriate police station (driving illegally mind you, but I had no clue how to get there otherwise), to get our plates back. Fun news! They hold onto them for a MONTH. No way was I going to go without a car for a month. So I quick-like decided to play the helpless wife and plead that it is our only car (true) and how was my husband supposed to get to work? (he drives a motorcycle, but they don't need to know that). After joking a bit in Greek with a fellow officer in the room (assuming I didn't understand too well) the captain was kind enough to drop it down to 10 days.

The funny thing is that the ticket was issued on the 28th, but issuing officer's writing makes his 8's look like 6's so it looks like they've had our plates 2 longer than in actuality. Nothing like having incompetence work for you. Anyhow, we pick them up tomorrow. Thank god.

And why am I so anxious to get them? Truthfully, I don't mind walking to do most things here in town. But going to class can be another story. This is where the dedication comes into play.

Having missed two days already this week, one due to trying to sort out the ticket itself, and the 2nd essentially housebound due to the rain, I felt it was important to make it to class today. Usually, when I go to class w/o the car, it first involves walking about 25 minutes to the metro station. What with the hard rain keeping me in yesterday, I decided to more closely scope out the local bus lines so I can avoid that 25 min walk when necessary. (I usually walk because I enjoy it, not out of necessity.)

What with south winds blowing from Africa and bringing the Sahara with them, I figured today was a good day to try the locally running line. Great news, works like a charm and the stop is only a few blocks from our home.

However, to finally get to class today I took the one bus to the metro station, another express bus to the nearest open metro station, and then walked down the street hoping to catch what I hoped to be my final bus. Once at that next bus stop, I didn't see my bus listed, so hopped a different bus to get to the stop where I knew my bus was listed. So far, 3 buses.

I got to the last stop sufficiently early, and assumed my bus had not passed. After waiting 35 minutes (and not seeing it the other day either), I am starting to think that line isn't running any more. So I finally hail a cab to go the last few kilometers to class.

The return home isn't always easy either. I usually count on a classmate to drop me off at one of two metro stations where I can make my way back with metro and walking. No one was going my way today and I was not in the mood to take the only bus left to me (30 mins on that, then metro 5 stops down, then express bus, then walking). It being a Friday, with the Sahara continuing to blow over Athens, and me generally pooped, I hailed yet another cab to the metro. Took the metro one measly stop, jumped on the express bus to the metro station near our home, and Vasilis picked me up on the motorcycle.

To recap:
- getting to class: 3 buses and a cab
- getting home: cab, metro, bus, motorcycle

If I had taken part in the recent prison break via helicopter here in Athens, I would have nearly all modes of transportation covered!

Clean Monday

Clean Monday is the next day on the religious social calendar. Aside from giving everyone a 3 day weekend, what is it about? It is the beginning of Lent for the Greek Orthodox calendar - and the fasting begins. No food from animals that bleed, so no meat, poultry, fish, dairy products. What does that leave? The more expensive sea food like lobster and octopus, lots of vegetables and fruit, and bread. The ouzeri's (which traditionally serve sea food) make a killing in business on this day. While at the grocery stores, they are advertising sales on beef and feta. Ah, the deals a non-faster can get right now!

So what did we do to celebrate? Vasilis found out that our municipality was having a "do" at a theater up on the hill within walking distance of our house (if you don't mind hills). We hiked up there to find many people already gathered, eating the free food that had been supplied. You find that, aside from fruit/veggies, the allowed food is pretty colorless. They were serving a kind of bread that is really only made for Clean Monday (not sure why), halvas (it's made from semolina - there's a sweeter juicier version that is ok, but this I am not a fan of), pickled veggies and olive mix, and taramosalata (a sauce/dip made from fish roe - pretty fattening).

None of the food looked very enticing, which I suppose can be the point when you are fasting. We decided to go to our favorite ouzeri, handily placed on the other side of the hill. But first wee sat around a bit at the theater, waiting for the band to start playing. Unfortunately, they started with some modern music (I wanted to hear Greek folk music) and it didn't start well. So off to the ouzeri we go!

Thank goodness the band wasn't so hot, for the ouzeri was rapidly filling up when we got there. Thirty minutes later and we would have had a hefty wait period. One of our favorite dishes are small uncooked (marinated) filleted sardines, so we didn't quite make the fasting program. It's a bit odd to talk about fasting, knowing how full I was when we stepped away from the table!

After a delicious meal, sipping some ouzo in the sun, we went back down the hill and to possibly buy a kite. For the day or so before Clean Monday you see kites on sale all over the city. It is practically the only day you'll see kites flown here. Not being impressed with the quality, and a little full/tired, we took a pass. We'd like to buy a nice kite in the States next time around - something you can break down and use again.

After enjoying a cup of coffee at our local square, we called it an afternoon.

I know a number of people that escaped to their family village home for the 3 day weekend, but for those that stick around our agenda is what many do. Happily we avoided using the car that day, for those we saw stuck in traffic looked to have all holiday spirit sucked out of them already. We were lucky to have had things to do locally that we would enjoy!

The smell of burning meat - Τσικνοπεμπτη

Last Thursday the 19th was Tskinopempti (Τσικνοπεμπτη), a sort of kick off for the Lenten season before the real fasting begins. The word Tskinopempti comes from two words, "tsikno" the smell of burning meat, and "pempti" for Thursday. This day is always two Thursdays before Carnival and Clean Monday (the beginning of Lent) and is celebrated with the eating of lots of meat. Since tavernas and personal grills everywhere are cooking up a variety of meats, the smell of burning (or grilled) meat is everywhere. And hence the name of the day.

Being a meat lover, this is easily one of my favorite religiously connected days. This is the 2nd year in a row that we've called up friends to join us for a meat filled meal. Reservations are a must at tavernas for this particular evening, otherwise there's no way you are getting in.

The place we went to this year is a little basement hole in the wall. It's such a locally known place (in it's particular neighborhood, not greater Athens) that they don't even have a sign outside. You can easily stroll by and not even know there's a restaurant there. They had the place all decked out with Carnival items and decorations stretched from lamp to lamp up above. All tables were given packets of streamers that we were welcome to toss around. By the end of the evening we had practically created a tent of them over out table.

As for the food, mmmmm meat! Some of the offerings were: kokoretsi (the innards of a lamb or goat, wrapped up in the small intestine and then cooked on a spit for a number of hours), paidakia (small lamb ribs topped with wonderful spices/herbs - pictured below), and pork in a variety of presentations. Of course, all of that can be served with delicious salads and other side dishes and followed down the gullet with your choice of red or white house wine (red please!).


After 4 hours of eating and talking (fairly evenly distributed) we were a full bunch heading out the door at 1am. After a night like that, you WANT to start a fast.

New Year's Day

Not so timely a subject, I know, but I decided the other day to put down my experiences during the various holidays. I give no guarantee that this is how things are done in every household in Greece.

Between Christmas and New Year's, the latter seems to be a bigger deal to celebrate here. I haven't actually been here for Xmas to see what happens in the neighborhood, so can't say for sure. I do know that prior to the holidays, you often see advertisements for holiday getaways for Christmastime. Lots of people I know are actually out of the country on the 25th.

What do they do here for New Year's you ask? On NYE things really don't get started until after midnight. Most spend the actual Eve with their families, ring in the New Year at midnight, and THEN head out to parties, bouzoukia, or bars. If you can avoid it, you don't want to be on the streets between midnight and 1. The same can be said for 4am and after, when these parties start wrapping up and no mention of designated driver has been had earlier. ;-)

We personally were in bed by 11pm, partly due to my jet lag as well as disinterest in going out. As for the family piece of the celebration, we were going to cover that on the next day. January 1 is the name day for both Vasilis and his mother, Vasiliki. (Name days are a bigger deal than birthdays. Many open up their house to friends stopping by, food and drink flowing through the day.) Wanting to make sure we have quality time with his mom, we planned a small get-together at our house with her and Maria who lives with her.

Part of the New Year's Day tradition is the cutting and eating of the Vassilopita. Saint Vasilis is the local equivalent of St Nick, and it being his Saint's day, the cake (Vassilopita) is named after him. The cake is cut, by the eldest person present, into enough pieces for everyone there, and 2 additional. One for St Vasilis and the other for Christ (I have seen listings including pieces for others, but this is what I know). Somewhere in the cake has been placed a gold coin. Whoever gets the coin in their piece of cake is supposed to have good financial luck for the year. Last year Vasilis found the coin, but this year no one did - except perhaps Vasilis's co-workers who we had taken the remaining cake to.

You can buy these cakes at a local sweetshop, which we did this year. As shown in the picture, it says "Happy New Year 2009" on it and came with gold coin already hidden somewhere. Unfortunately, they sell these cakes by the kilo and soak them with a honey mixture of some sort making them quite heavy and therefore expensive (20 Euros). The excessive honey mixture makes it too sweet to really enjoy much of. Next year we'll be making our own.

For a more in depth write up of New Year's traditions and celebrations, see this blog entry by a fellow American who's been living in Athens for ~15 years (and is a much better writer than I). American in Athens - New Year's in Greece

Street sellers

We spent the day downtown yesterday, Vasilis joining me after a morning meeting.  A friend of his joined us and we had lunch in the Monastiraki area.  Our outdoor table was sitting right at the intersection of two pedestrians streets, which turned out to be a good place for these African men to set up their portable sales.

You can see such arrangements all over Athens, definitely in the touristy areas but also near metro stations and bus stops.  Not all of them are selling their wares legally, and this particular group of "salesmen" usually aren't.  With a devilish desire for excitement, I was hoping the police would come along while we were at our table, so we could see the sellers bolt.  In the meantime, however, they were striking some interesting poses that I wanted to catch with my camera.

Of the street sellers, I think I like these guys the most because they don't get in your face to make a sale.  As you can see in the top picture, they keep an eye for those who might show interest (click on the picture for a larger version and better detail), spend time on the phone or chat with their fellow sellers in the downtimes.  Others approach you as you walk buy, or come up to your table, hawking their wares.  Sometimes they are useful items such as sunglasses or umbrells, others its simple little crap which makes me wonder who would ever buy it.

As you can see in the bottom picture, they are selling handbags, simply displayed on a white cloth.  In times of trouble (read: policemen approaching) they grab the corners of the cloth, wrapping up their handbags in one big package and running away as quick as possible.  I've never seen anyone get in any real trouble when this happens, so it's mostly harmless entertainment for those who witness it.

Luckily for me I had taken these pictures when I did, because only a few minutes later, confusion started as some of the street sellers started running - colliding with locals and tourists on the sidewalk.  At the first hint of movement, my nameless photographees made a quick grab and fled up the steep street next to them.  We couldn't even see police until sometime later, ironically coming from the direction everyone tried to escape to.  It was quite a collection of men who had ran away, one even dropping his stacks of bootleg DVD's and CD's.

Although they seem to be operating illegally, they don't have qualms about claiming what is theirs.  A purse or two was dropped when they gathered everything and a woman had grabbed one hoping to make a cost free acquisition.  The African man noticed her at the bottom of the hill and went to get it back.  There was a discussion with she and one of the policemen (it was obviously not her purse, still with handle covers and she already carrying one).  The African man's papers were checked, evidently in good order, and the bag returned to the rightful owner.  After things calmed down and the police left, they returned to their previously fled-from sales post to spread the white cloths out again.