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.