Don't try this at home

So we're driving home from a party at my brother-in-law's house. It's ~1am and we've exited off the freeway, about 1 mile from our house. I see a car just pulled over by the police. This, in and of itself, is becoming a more frequent occurrence I am happy to say. Police presence on the streets has greatly increased lately. I don't necessarily feel safer, but feel that people might just be held more accountable for their driving infractions. [I don't feel safer because I didn't feel unsafe to start.] Of course, there are drawbacks to an increased police presence, resulting in yet another parking ticket for me the other day. 40 Euros later...

Anyway, back to this evening. The car has just been pulled over and the driver gets out, heading towards the police car. He's gesturing and obviously not happy about being pulled over (who knows what the reason was for him being stopped). I mentioned to Vasilis that in the States he'd probably get shot if he did something like that. But the police were gesturing/arguing back. This is what happens in traffic conflicts here. One can obviously be in the wrong, whether in an accident or near accident, but the rule is to take the offensive. Never give an inch and certainly don't admit wrongdoing. At least not at first. I hadn't thought about them taking this stance with the police though!

Having said that, there are always exceptions to the rule. Thankfully for us. Not too long ago, Vasilis was rear-ended just a few blocks from home. The woman who hit him was driving a loaner, as she had messed up her own car which was then in the shop. She arranged for her fix-it guy (the technical term, I believe) to fix our car and bill it to her. Although it sounded a bit dicey at first, it did work out that way. I took the car in, got a loaner myself (the same car that hit us, of course) and our car was fixed up quite nicely.

Regardless of the local custom, if I ever get pulled over, I am still American enough to stay in my car until told otherwise. Of course, I have yet to get a Greek drivers license, so subservience will probably serve me best in that situation (and a little bit of feigned innocence as well...)

Close, but yet so far away

Today was a strange day.

I knew that many people would be on strike (requiring me to drive to work as public transportation was shut down), and that many would be gathered in the Center, at the parliament building, to protest. Generally, strikes are no big deal in my world. I may have to plan around them, whether it means public transportation is shut down, or certain offices are closed. As stated by Kat Christopher, of guardian.co.uk, "strikes are as common as traffic at rush hour and regarded by residents as annoyances around which lives continue unimpeded." I completely agree.

Typically, I don't find myself near the Center. But today, going to meet a couple friends for coffee, I was driving down the street and noticed smoke up ahead. The view at that moment was directly towards the Center. I figured it wasn't a good sign for what might be happening related to the protests. After parking, and losing that view down the street, I didn't think about it again.

One of the great things about Greece is the culture of joining friends at a cafe, particularly in nice weather, to enjoy a coffee and stimulating conversation. It was one of those afternoons; great company and weather together. We were there for 2 hours, but I could have continued on for two more. Of course, the topic of the state of things here came up - all of us sharing mostly similar views. But we didn't really discuss the protesting itself, happening only 1 mile away from us (as the crow flies). It could have been 20 miles away for as much as I gave it thought.

As I was driving home afterwards, I was on the phone with my hubby who is currently out to sea. Rather than hear on the news, or in a buzz at the cafe, I heard from him that 3 were killed today as a result of the rioting that took place while we were enjoying our coffee 1 mile away. (Perhaps it happened before we sat down, I don't know the timing - but you get my drift). I am fairly certain that the smoke I saw while driving there was the same smoke that killed the 3 bank workers, stuck in the upper floor of their building. It is very surreal to know how close, yet how clueless, we were to what was taking place.

Greeks consider protesting as somewhat akin to an "inalienable right". As our Prime Minister said, "Everyone has a right to protest, but no one has a right to violence". It's not those who are truly protesting for what they believe in, but those who always tag along to protests simply to make trouble, who cause the damage and injury - and now death. I am so tired of Molotov cocktails and burning cars andgarbage bins on the TV. I am ready for this country to move on with fixing things.

And I am so sorry for the families of those bank employees.

Birthplace of democracy...

and the funeral plot for billions of euros.

Thoughts have been itching the back of my head for a couple weeks now, all surrounding our economic meltdown here in Greece. I have been getting myself all worked up reading readers' comments, in the likes of NY Times, about what they think about Greece and the Greeks.

I will be the first to admit that there are serious issues in how things operate here. Bribery, fraud, tax evasion, many public servants barely showing up for work and probably not doing much when they get there - all of these are clear issues and have been for some time. However, somehow many people have gotten the impression that we are rich in social programs, have high salaries and barely work. Not necessarily true. We'll get to social programs and salaries in a minute, but I know lots of people that work very long hours, many in positions that in the US would have paid overtime but nothing extra is received.

Yes there are some social programs that American's would drool over if they were offered them, such as 1 year of maternity leave for public employees, and earlier retirement ages. Then, there are other more antiquated programs and the embarrassing fact that they even exist. Unmarried daughters of military pensioners get their fathers pension when he passes away - regardless of her age and without limit to the number of years she receives the benefit. In a country where some form of "women's lib" took hold so strong that you have to petition to take your husband's name when you get married, you'd think they would have done away with such a benefit.

Well, it's gone now! Along with a lot of other things for all of us, not just those who reaped the benefits of years of standard practice.

Yes, I understand that we all need to play a part in repairing this country and I expect to pay a price - but the numbers are truly shocking to me as they start being expressed in ways that truly affect my bottom line.

Let me lay out some things for comparison. (All numbers have been converted from Euro's to $)

Between the 2 of us (him with 20+ years of service in the military and myself with a part time job), we make ~ $36150/year. Plus the regular bonuses that each working Greek is entitled to receive, we get ~$42400/year. No, not a lot for a couple with 3 degrees and 40+ working years of experience between them. So, can we safely agree that salaries aren't terribly high here? I should hope so.

With the recent "austerity measures" they've decreased salaries and bonuses so now we'll only bring home $37200 - a roughly $5000 loss. Let's look at some of the things we spend this paltry sum on:

Gas - $7.25/gallon, it has gone up nearly 50% in the past few months. --> I have started to take the bus to work...

Milk - $7.70/gallon. --> This I can not cut back on, I must have my morning cereal.

Rent - $920/month. This might seem reasonable to those of you in the Bay Area, or perhaps New York city, but when it's 30% of your take home, it's not so pretty.

Movie theater - $12.50/ticket (on the plus side, we can get a large popcorn and a soda for $6.50!)

I imagine there are some things we pay less for (such as .65 for a small bottle of water), but that just doesn't balance things out. Our VAT has jumped from 19% (not so low to start with) to 23% as of yesterday. "Sin" taxes have gone up 10% (alcohol, tobacco) and taxes on luxury items are being implemented, and goodness knows what else that hasn't hit my radar yet.

I know I am all over the place with this, but I am getting pissed off. Due to cronyism, favoritism, government mismanagement, and all the previously mentioned problems, we are in this current terrible state. Many, like myself, feel that the "common people" are paying the price and we don't see much to take a bite into those who've avoided paying into the system for years. The general culture of personal responsibility and accountability needs a serious re-haul, but I think it's going to take a long time and I'm not sure we'll be here to see it.

Strikes and failing economy

People have been asking how things are here in Greece, what with us being the red headed step child of the EU right now. Yes, we know that our economy is in trouble - and things need to change to fix it, not to mention ensure that we don't get to this place again. I personally feel that everyone is going to have to make some kind of sacrifice, whether that be in the form of paying higher taxes (we are going from 19% to 21% VAT - like it wasn't high already) or cuts in pay (depending upon where you work). Greece's public sector is waaay overstaffed (and still generally useless), bribes are the best way to get some things done, both at the hospitals as well when trying to get licensing to build or open a business.

At the beginning of this year, the tax rules were changed to now require that we get a certain level of receipts (as compared to annual income) for the goods/services we pay for. Not to prove we're spending, but to make sure those receiving the money will have to show it as taxable income. That's great, but when you go to the doctor and the payment options are in cash w/o a receipt (which means less money out of your own pocket), requesting a receipt is just not something that you are going to do. I am guilty of that on a couple of occasions. There are doctors in high rent areas who are claiming to make less than 15K a year. They couldn't pay the rent for their offices on that, much less live the life they are. There are millions of Euro's in uncollected taxes for this, as well as other hidden incomes/property values, that could help our coffers.

Not being anything near an economist, I don't have the answers - aside from making sure that every financial move is transparent and not paid in cash under the table. Of course, everyone blames the government as the leaders of the corruption, and the big money makers for not doing their share. Yet we, the commoners, are having to foot a large share of the bill to fix it all.

In a way, I am glad we're at this point right now - hopefully forcing the country to take some steps to right this. Will we become a country w/o corruption any time soon? Probably not, but we need to do something to head that direction. Perhaps our grandchildren will live in a different Greece.

Today is our 2nd big general strike in the past few weeks. Being away from the center of the city, I don't see the accompanying demonstrations first hand, so feel out of touch from the emotion that goes behind the decision to strike. I don't know all the details of what the government proposes that people are protesting, but I can't see the strikes as making a difference in what Greece must do to survive.

It's a little surreal, actually. We are all over the news internationally, and larger strikes are happening fairly frequently (with more to come) yet I don't feel in the midst of a crisis - at least not financially. No one I talk to does. The most noticeable effect so far is a jump in gas prices, up 20 cents in the matter of a week (and that's per liter, equal to over $1 increase per gallon). The strikes themselves affect me personally very little. I don't care that the tax office closes for two days, or that the museums are closed. Public transportation being on strike (busses and metro) can be a bother, but I drive to work most of the time. I do feel for foreign travelers when the airport gets closed down - it's not their fault but it becomes their problem. Oh, and the landfill closures are making for piles of garbage in some neighborhoods. Fortunately we're not seeing it on our street. There's a small blessing when the media strikes, as I don't have to deal with the news that afternoon (don't start me on the news...). I'm sure there are others who feel the strikes much more than I, especially those dependent upon public transportation.

Right now, I am just waiting for some changes to be implemented so we can buckle down, pinch some pennies, and start moving forward towards recovery for this mess. I am tired of Greece being in the news.

Sign of spring

So for the last few years I have watched in fascination as I come across lines of caterpillars such as these. Today, while out for a walk, I saw such a parade at the park by my house. I quick-like went home to get my camera. I've been wanting to take a picture of them for some time.

In doing so, I finally prompted myself to find out what they are exactly. It seems they are the Pine Processionary Caterpillar. I have learned that they can be quite destructive, although I haven't seen evidence of that. Happily, I also learned in my readings not to touch them - evidently contact with their little hairs can cause rashes and eye irritation.

More often than not, you see what's left of these hairy conga lines after they have been trampled. It's a bit gross really, their little bodies squished on the sidewalk or streets.

Here's a great video someone took of them, showing you how long they can string out. The group I saw today was a measly 33 critters.

Only in Greece

Firstly, a caveat. I am sure, given some time, I could come up with many posts that fall under this category. Lots of things happen here that you wouldn't find in the States. Perhaps I'll save up a list, but until then I have to share the story of our car getting rear-ended the other day.

The accident itself was fairly run of the mill. Vasilis was at a stop sign close to our house and the car behind him didn't stop in time (for whatever reason this is a terrible intersection, I have seen the remains of at least 5 accidents there). The woman who hit him (most probably on the phone at the time, thank you very little) was driving a borrowed car. Her's was in the shop getting fixed, presumably from a previous accident of hers. Essentially, it was a loaner from that shop.

Either she doesn't have insurance, or didn't want to bother with it, so it was arranged for the same shop to fix our car and bill it to her. There is some damage to the bumper and the back hatchback. It's drivable and the back door closes, but the indicator light remains on and has already drained the battery once because the back light was on and we didn't realize it. Anyway, we of course wanted to get it fixed.

The next day, I went to the shop to show him the damage, ensure he would take care of it and bill her, and arrange a day to drop it off to be fixed. We settled on a day, and he told me he'd have a car I could use for the duration of the repair.

So I go there yesterday (with a fever mind you, which didn't help things). I give him the keys, he says thanks and was about to walk away. I asked if he had a car for me. Him -"No" Me- "But you said..." Him - "Well, I have this one...". It was the damned car that hit us in the first place. I nearly declined, not wanted to take the chance of being accused of adding to the damage (although he seems pretty straight up, so my worry wasn't huge- but you never know). He insisted it was drivable, just has some damage to the front. Not wanting to walk home, and also not wanting to turn down the only option for transportation for the next few days, I took it.

This car is old and sad. I can deal with that, but it has no rear-view mirror, the driver side mirror is cracked and useless, and has no power steering. I am not a complete wimp and can manage without power steering, but this car seems a bit unpredictable and it's just one more thing to think about. My commute to work isn't far, but bumper to bumper at least 1/2 the way. In short, I feel much less than safe driving it.

At this point, I think it will remain parked in front of our home.

I guess there was one good outcome, I now have had the incentive to figure out the bus schedules to get myself to work. So now I am prepared if I ever find myself carless again, or simply want to give it to Vasilis for the day. And honestly, I do enjoy taking the bus. It's just that first test run to make sure I've got the timing right. Made it to work early today, so I've got that going for me.

To tell you the truth, I am a little embarrassed at the thought of pulling through the gate at the campus driving that thing. There's duct tape and string holding what's left of the front bumper together, and one of the headlights is shattered. I've got a rep to uphold, right? =)

2/11 update: On my way home today, another accident at that same intersection. Glad I was on foot. And, YEAH, I got my car back. The back end looks like new, so I should probably thank the woman who hit Vasilis. The guy at the shop even touched up a dent in the bumper that was there when we bought it (even though I told him it wasn't part of the accident).

Pharmaceutical Time Suck

From time to time there is a prescription I need filled that my regular pharmacy (at the Naval Hospital) can't fill. They send me next door to the Army Hospital. Unfortunately, this is not a good thing. For whatever reason, the Army hospital pharmacy is always busy and there is always a wait. Prior to last week, I had been only once. At that time I learned about the long wait, so last Wednesday I went prepared with my iPod, a book, and a banana. I had counted on waiting 2 hours or so. How I wish that it had been such a blink in time.

Let me explain the process a bit here. The place is only open from 8-1:30. You go in, grab a number and then find a place to hang out. (My preference is to avoid waiting inside, as the room is filled with people who are 70+, smell like moth balls at best and bad breath and B.O. at worst. Seriously, moth balls.) You wait until your number comes up, take your book (used for all prescriptions) to the pharmacist and then pay the cashier. Seems easy.

I got there at 9:15 last Wednesday knowing that at some point, depending upon the flow of the day, they stop giving out the numbers (today they stopped at 9:30). They were on 73 and I had 146. Yikes. Having sat for an hour and realizing how infernally slow the numbers were passing, I decided to hop back on the Metro and go further downtown to do some other errands. Returning an hour later (2 hours total having elapsed since my arrival), they were only at 103. Better dig in and relax. After nearly 5 hours of waiting, my number was up, only for me to find out that 1 of the 2 prescriptions I was there to fill (the one that I specifically go to that pharmacy for) could not actually be filled because it was more than 5 days old. Are you kidding me? 5 hours and I have to come back?!

Two days later, I got the prescription re-written and headed back down this morning. This time, I pulled my number at 8:05am. The room was already full and my number was 40 away from that currently being served. There's no winning. From listening in on some conversations, I get the gist that people start gathering around the door as early as 7:30 to get in. There must be 30 people waiting when the doors open, and if you've read my post about queing you'll know that it can't be a pretty scene. This time, instead of waiting around, I immediately headed for a cafe across the street for a cheese pie and coffee to enjoy while I read my book. (For this visit, I should have brought a second book, since I wasn't called up till 11:15 or so.) All of this only to find out that of the 3 drugs listed in this prescription, one is not in stock. Good lord. So I have to go back, hopefully on Friday, to pick it up. The only good news here is that I don't have to take a number but will be able to go straight to the cashier.

As with most interactions one has with the general public, patience is the key. Being prepared for the interminable wait is the key in avoiding homicide charges - or at least yelling at your fellow man. I have found that being an observer in this room of elderly and generally disgruntled population can be amusing once the attitudes start to simmer. I am surprised betting pools haven't started, with all the statistics I hear in conversations: "20 minutes for one number?", "6 people in one hour? We'll be here until 3 o'clock!" The poor pharmacists, it's not their fault that there are only two of them working. They plug away, staying relatively cheerful, ensuring that prescriptions are not messed up due to hurrying. Do those waiting recognize that? God no. Each of the 3 times I've been there, there is always someone heckling them to work faster. Then, invariably there is someone who's showed up after the numbers have been stopped, begging for special treatment because they are sick. Everyone in the rooms looks to be at death's door and there is no sympathy to be had from the "chorus" of waiting customers. You are likely to get harassed for just hanging out and hoping for the best. And god forbid you bring in more than one prescription book! A man today was getting prescriptions filled for himself, his wife, and granddaughter. What seems to me good time management and family support is just considered downright greedy and inconsiderate by everyone else. They were still haranguing him after he apologized to the room (more than I would have done!). Really, if both Vasilis and I need a prescription filled they expect us both to come down? Evidently.

Insanity.

Major props to one particular soldier/pharmacy employee who handles all the complaints in a fully professional manner. And he does this every day. Two days in one week of that atmosphere is plenty for me. Maybe I'll make Vasilis pick my stuff up on Friday!

Were it not for this particular drug, I wouldn't even go there - but I really feel for the people that have to. You can get prescriptions filled at the neighborhood pharmacies, but you'll end up paying much more. For those in the military branches, it is much easier to go to the respective hospital pharmacy as you are charged such a low amount. What worries me is that, after I have started my job, I'll soon be entered into the rolls of the public healthcare system and then have to learn the steps required for them. At least I know what I am dealing with now, even though a 1/2 day is usually called for to complete the task!

Side note: There is no "dropping off" of a prescription and then coming back at a later time once it is filled. Actually, you don't really get personalized prescription bottles as in the U.S. You simply get prepackaged boxes of the drug, sometimes requiring you to purchase a few more than you were actually prescribed.