This is disturbing. A baby bouncing off walls, a light in the uterus, and a baby that giggles. Egh.

WordPress won't accept Javascript, their first flaw.

NEW BLOG ADDRESS

Ladies and gentlemen, we are switching blogs. Blogger has served its purpose, but Wordpress is a much more stylish and practical way to blog.

It's pretty easy to get to:

http://grecoroamin.wordpress.com

I hope this doesn't throw anyone's RSS feed into chaos.

Thanksgiving

A very happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We hope you enjoy the holiday and find meaning in the festivities.

We've rented a car from Swift Car Rental in Athens and will be driving with one of our friends first to Delphi then to Meteora and then to Papigo. Delphi is the center of the world, Meteora is not for those who are afraid of heights, and Papigo is a quaint stone town near the Vikos Gorge, the deepest gorge (disputed) in the world. We'll return on Sunday after more than 15 hours on the treacherous roads of Greece. Scratch that: the roads aren't dangerous; it's the drivers who are treacherous.

This is our planned route for Wednesday through Sunday. Should be fun!

View Larger Map

Last night, a security system was installed in our house. With a hot glue gun. I'm not joking.

3 months

Today marks 3 months that we've been in Greece. The time has been quite full, and it seems like we've been here much longer.

It's a warm and windy day outside, 72 degrees despite the dark cotton clouds that fill most of the sky. We went to our local grocery store this morning to get ingredients for a soiree we're having tonight. I no longer dread going to the grocery store; I've embraced the confusion and just grab things now. I was proud of myself for figuring out 'gouda' in Greek: ΓΚΟΥΝΤΑ. The gamma/kappa combination make a hard 'g' sound; the omicron/ipsilon combination make the long 'u' sound; and the ni/tau combination make a 'd.'

The light fixture in our kitchen is out for some reason, and we can't figure out what to do. As a fix, we've brought a floor lamp in, but the problem is that there are only two outlets in the kitchen, and one of them is the fridge. This wouldn't be that bad except for the teeny-tiny annoyance that for hot water in our kitchen, we have to plug in a hot water heater in the kitchen. It comes down to the option of hot water for dishes and no light, or light and cold water. What would you do?

name dispute

You would not believe how irate people get about the dispute between Greece and Macedonia and the right of the latter to use the name 'Macedonia.' Nearly any Greek will tell you it should by called FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) and will vociferously argue that they're stealing a Greek word and name and blah blah. My response to the students who have baited me into giving my opinion on it is, "I truly, honestly could not care less." Remember how I've mentioned that tendency to cling to glories of the past as if they are glories of the present? Yeah, same mentality here. Alexander died more than 2000 years ago, so let it go!

Help!

Okay, in case anyone still reads this, we need your help.

We're trying to decide whether to bring Maxx back with us. He's driving my family bonkers with his idiosyncrasies, and though they try to put on a brave face about the situation, their voices crack and tears of frustration can be heard across the miles. I'm fairly certain that my dear mother has acquired a new streak of white hair because of the little guy.

There are several things to consider before we decide to bring him over, but the one factor with which I need your help is finding a pet carrier. United Airlines, our flight from PA to DC to Berlin to Athens (a HORRIBLE schedule), are incredibly stupid about their dimensions for pets in the cabin: 17x10x10. Most other airlines have a 22x12x10, but apparently United only wants kittens on their flights.

I've found a few options, but most of them fudge the dimensions by 1/2 an inch to an inch. Help me find something! Maxx has those long dancer's legs, and the thought of squeezing him into a tissue box pains me.

Help us help my parents!

TAKE THE POLL ON THE RIGHT!

rainy days and Mondays

A dreary weekend of promised rain finally delivered in full this evening. It's dismal outside, and the rain that's falling isn't a gentle rain; it's a hard, cold rain that has turned the roads into rivers. It wouldn't be that bad to walk in if there were sidewalks in Athens, but the city has deemed sidewalks the perfect place to plant short trees at a shallow depth so their roots buckle the sidewalks and their branches make walking upright an impossibility. Truly a feat of civil engineering.

We were at a friend's apartment when it started, and I spent over an hour dialing different taxi companies to no avail. Their lines were so busy that it finally said the network was busy, not just the phone number. Finally, Miah and I decided to walk home. If she weren't in a long skirt, and if I weren't wearing black leather shoes, there might have been a cathartic joy in walking through the cleansing rain. Instead, we sludged along through the streetrivers which are cleansing the city of its filth. At one point I was so deep in water that it was brimming over into my shoes.

We got our tax IDs today! That is, we got the number. The paperwork itself still has 32 levels of bureaucracy and 6 shades of red stamps to pass through, but at least we have the number. I think the bureaucracy had actually begun to wear on the people at the school, quite ironic considering the tongue lashing we received last week about living by the laws of the land and being patient.

dinner

dinner
Originally uploaded by dwain

I cooked this up a couple of weeks ago. Salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper in bacon fat made the squid yummy delicious!

common

common
Originally uploaded by dwain

A scene from our daily walk to school.

Acropolis

Acropolis
Originally uploaded by dwain

While wandering through Athens last night, we came across this.

snippets

The Metro

As I have already mentioned, riding the metro in Athens is a cultural exploration in its own right. We get on at the Chalandri station and usually ride it to either Syntagma or Monastiraki. It's an odd rhythm that develops as we travel under the city: the inconstant speed of the train as it slows for curves and then speeds on to the next platform slowly develops into a syncopated pattern that seems to make sense if you could only ride the train long enough; the perfectly lilted voice of the woman announcing the stops, first in Greek then in English, begins to sound familiar and becomes part of the anticipation of arrival; the doors ritualistically slide open and disgorge people who look down at the platform as they try to avoid too much contact with the throng of people waiting to fill the empty spots; the careful selection and balance of which train cars are full and which need be filled is part of the rhythm as people shuffle along the platform and shift in place once on the train; the whistling of the brakes and the squeal of steel on steel echoes off the tunnel walls and quickly surrounds the ear so completely that all other noise is subliminal; and that's how thousands of people flow through the veins of the city, pulsing along on the most determinant timetable of the day and through the narrowest of geographies.

I sat next to what I firmly believe was an Albanian immigrant this afternoon. He smelled of cheap cologne and alcoholic sweat. Two weeks ago, I got onto the metro at the end of the line (beginning?) and sat across from a couple who were asleep and totally oblivious that they had arrived at the port. I rode with them all the way back to Monastiraki. Like the proverbial body, they could have ridden all day like that. They were either exhausted or on drugs, and from their scruffy clothes and dirty hands, I assumed, perhaps unustly, that their sleep wasn't the sleep of angels.

Every time I ride the metro, I see a new person whose life I desperately would love to explore. I want to stop the person and ask them if any of the split-second assumptions I make about them are even slightly accurate. We once saw a man get off the train carrying a live chicken with it's head poking out of a plastic bag.

Immigrants and Nationalism

Immigration has been on Athens' collective mind recently. It has an enormous immigrant population from Eastern European countries, North Africa, and Southeast Asia. Today, while sitting outside at the James Joyce Pub, we saw a group of African street vendors with their wares in plastic tarps over their shoulders dashing madly away from the Monastiraki flea market as police strolled down the streets. I cannot imagine living my life in such fear.

On that note, I have been taken aback by the prejudice toward immigrants, particularly Albanians, which I've seen this week. I had heard a few little jabs about them, but this week I've heard outright venom about their thieving ways and untrustworthiness. Of course each of these vitriolic outbursts has been preceded by "I'm not racist, but..." I heard the same thing last week from a Slovakian (Slovak?) student about Obama. Her boyfriend is a skinhead who hates gypsies because they purportedly killed his mentor/father figure. I don't comprehend how that segues into ethnic hatred, but apparently it does.

I understand a certain degree of pride in nation and history, but nationalism is alive and well in Greece to a dangerous degree. A nation so egocentric (to use a Greek word) is not going to do well in the 'new world.' Of course I say this while still being wholly supportive of the 'noble savage' tribes who retain--cling to--their ancient ways in the jungles of South America. There's an invisible and undefinable line between preservation of the worthy past and outright navel-gazing.

Pronunciation

Athin-A is, if I remember correctly, the name of the city.
Ath-I-na is, if that is the case, the name of the goddess.

Xmas

We'll be going home for Xmas! It came through on Thursday that the Greek government will open a window of visa-less travel to and from the USA from yesterday until the end of January. Well, it's more complext than that, but the gist is that we'll get to see family and.... Well, a couple friends, perhaps.

Debate

Last weekend I coached and judged a debate tournament held at Deree College, part of the American College of Athens. I had 3 teams competing against 61 other teams from various international schools in Athens. The debate was done in the British parliamentary style which has 2 unrelated teams of 2 competing against 2 others. A topic is given, and each team develops its own argument(s) in 15 minutes and then argues them for 6 minutes. There's a very specific structure and procedure, and it's a bit confusing at first, but I enjoyed the experiene. I only heard one good debate about a topic, unfortunately, so by the end I was ready to cut my eyeballs as a group of high school Greek students (very much ESL) argued the most superficial points of the legalization of gay marriage. One of our teams placed 19th overall, and one of our speakers placed 38th individually out of 130. Not bad for not having had a single practice!

On Tuesday, the co-coach and I split the group and had 2 short debates about gay marriage and firearms (not connected). I had to participate to even out the teams, and it was great fun to get up and argue with no preparation whatsoever. The students are much more familiar with it than me, and I suspect at least two of them are much more adept at it than me (said with a genuine amount of humility), but I still have a lot to offer them. Critical thinking skills are a lost art.

I forgot...

...what else I was going to blog about. Maybe when Miah wakes up she can remind me.

Seriously, check out the cost of living a couple of entries down! Meet is nearly twice as expensive here, and toiletries cost a fortune! I paid 4€ for a can of shaving cream! And it wasn't even sensitive skin gel!

full moon

If I had my camera, I would take a picture of the glaring white moon which is bathing Athens in its glow. Unfortunately, Miah left the camera at school after the elaborate and hugely successful United Nations Show (song and dance) which she and another teacher put on at school yesterday. Every single elementary student was involved in either a dance or song, and the parents loved it!

We went downtown and then to The Mall to buy some sweaters. It's become quite cold in the past two days, and there's a dampness that makes my bones grumble. We bought roasted chestnuts from a street vendor (I think they're sitting in my backpack, now that I think of it), and we decided that the Xmas song totally overrates them. The chestnuts, not the street vendor.

Here's a map of the Athens metro and suburban railway system. We live 10 minutes north of the Halandri station (in the east), and the school is 1 minute from the Ag. Paraskevi station which is still being constructed. The metros are packed, and the nauseating mixture of perfumes and sweat isn't always the most pleasant. Yet there's something intoxicatingly primal about being around that many people and smelling the reality of human existence under all the perfume. And the roasted chestnuts were smelly, too.

Cost of Living

Kat, an ever-helpful expat living in Athens, has created a general comparison of the costs of living in Athens and Manhattan. Take a look and remind us why we moved because until our next paycheck, my memory is feeling fuzzy.

almost rainy Monday

The sky has been hung in the most threatening swirling clouds, but the only hint of rain was a little bit on our way to school.

We had Greek class this afternoon. I think I'm doing relatively well considering how little time I dedicate to actually trying to learn.

Fall has arrived in Athens, and the cold wind blowing through the streets is odd to feel when the trees blowing in it are orange and lemon trees.

reaching out

reaching out, originally uploaded by dwain.

There was great excitement in Athens Wednesday morning. My students were all agitated, either in excitement or despair. It's fascinating to hear the opinions of parents through their children. I had one student today say he saw a red laser dot on Obama's forehead during his victory speech, like a marksman's scope. When do children become smart?

I don't know the political leanings of you, faithful reader, but let me say that I began yesterday with a sensation I haven't felt for many years: patriotism. Regardless of how you voted and where you stand on issues, it is impossible not to reflect with wonder at the ability of a community divided to unite despite its differences. I overhead a couple of expat teachers at the school celebrating Wednesday morning, and they all mentioned that they were proud, that morning, to be American. The notion that a country could "split" in an election yet remain united is foreign to many nations, and I believe John McCain's eloquent concession speech is a perfect example of the spirit which uniquely unites the States.

I went to bed early on Tuesday after an evening at a friend's house watching CNN. I couldn't stay up all night to watch it, and we had missed the tickets to the party at the Hilton. I woke up at 6 on Wednesday and decided to take a shower. Whatever the outcome was, I wanted to be awake and refreshed to absorb it. I think I'll always remember the moment like I remember the moment I heard about the Twin Towers. I saw the headline and the smile, and I just had to shout out in joy and wonder. I saw a link that said he would be speaking soon, and by sheer chance I was able to watch his acceptance speech live on the internet. It wasn't as eloquent as McCain's, in my opinion, but the spirit behind it and the fact of the moment were astounding.

I hope I offended no one with this.

go vote!

If you're reading this and you haven't voted, go vote! That's right; I, dwain the cynic, am encouraging you to utilize your fairly meaningless right to vote.

For those of you voting in Lexington, KY, here's an FYI from the Lexington Herald-Leader that I did not (could not) make up:

No booze: Alcohol sales, either by-the-drink or in a package, are not allowed while the polls are open. (In KY, we always refer to alcohol as 'booze' or 'firewater.')

Bed bug update: People voting at the Ballard-Griffith Towers Apartments in Lexington should not be concerned about the bedbugs that have infested more than 300 units at the complex, according to city officials. The voting room has been chemically treated, all furniture removed and the carpet steam cleaned to remove any possibility of infestation. Voters who do not live in the complex are asked to enter the precinct from the outside door that leads directly to the voting room instead of entering through the building lobby. (Wow.)

"prisoners of Greece"

In the last 2 days we've become aware of a little piece of information which would have been very nice to know before we made plans to move here, plans to travel in Europe, and plans to visit family in the States. Perhaps we could have found out this information on our own, but the complexities of international law are something which are compounded by the fluidity of the internet and information which is quickly outdated and revised.

Disclaimer: For every sentence in this paragraph, please insert either "I think" or "as far as I know" at the end.

United States' citizens do not need to apply for a visa to enter Greece for reasons of tourism. US citizens are given a 90-day visa upon entry into Greece. Greece is part of the Schengen Agreement along with 23 other countries in Europe. The tourist visa given when first entering any one of those nations is good in all of them for the 90-day period. All of the new hires at ACS were given a specific type of Schengen visa, 'Type D.' This type of visa is for people who will be staying in a country beyond the 90 days for work or study purposes. People with this type of visa are likely applying for a residence permit.

Okay, so that's what I think I know. Here's where I get fuzzy.

We sent our visa paperwork, contracts, residency applications, etc. in the middle of July, and they were received by July 24th. At the beginning of this week, we were told that we would not have our AFM (tax IDs) for a minimum of 25 days, and the AFM is dependent on receiving our residency/work permits. That's, by my count, 4 months. Now, I know the wheels of bureaucracy turn slowly--I think the Greek wheel is flat--but this is becoming problematic for everyone involved. Because...

There's more. We just found out from the school that we technically are only allowed to be in Greece (or any combination of Schengen countries) for a 90-day period in any 180-day period. Our visas expire November 18th (8 days before our first vacation!!), and the end of 180 days is some time in February. That means, from what I can tell, that we're stuck in Greece until February. This is bad news for several people:

• One teacher is going to Slovakia for Thanksgiving, consequenes be damned.
• A counselor was to attend a conference in France which begins the 18th. Tickets purchased.
• Nearly every teacher was going to travel at Xmas, either to the States or a neighboring nation.
• We bought the extremely expensive tickets to the States months ago.

What was the advice of the school's representative? "You must rearrange your plans."

The fear is what will happen when we try to reenter Greece. Apparently they're more "anal retentive" about allowing people in than other EU nations. One of my colleagues is stymied by the baseless "elitism" of Greece, and I agree completely. There's a Greek-Canadian teacher who's pregnant and told me that having a child in Greece doesn't automatically make the child Greek. In order to be Greek from birth, you have to already have a Greek relative. I know Greece isn't the only nation with this policy, but the policy seems a little incestuous to me. Or maybe that's just my "mongrel American" mentality.

I think I've come to the decision that Americans, despite how insular and egocentric we are, have a bit of a knack for change that few other nations have. I'm too angry to explore the thought right now, but I want to to see how wrong I am.

I'm nearly done with the school. Miah is done.

crowded world

The WWF- World Wildlife Fund for Nature just released a report on the ecological status of Earth. The "Living Planet Report" is a quite comprehensive look at the impact humans are having on the environment and at the balance which humans are striking--or not--with the output of resources and human consumption of them.

Not surprisingly, the USA comes in as the 2nd 'worst' nation for overconsumption. Each American person requires 9 hectares (22 acres) of ecosystem. Greece is the 11th (of 148) worst, and each person requires roughly 15 acres. We live in an environmentalists hell.

News items of the day:

• There was a surprise 24-hour strike today, so traffic has been even more abyssmal than usual. Catching a taxi this evening was a long affair, and the conversation with the Greek-only driver about where "Olympou ke Metamorfoseos" was in Athens was carried out to the tune of honking horns.

• We will not be receiving our tax ID numbers (ΑΦΜ or "ah fee mee") for at least 25 more days because Greek government employees are mindless cogs in a broken machine. We are angry. Very. We may not be able to go to Prague for Thanksgiving as planned because our Schengen visas expire November 18th, and we're unsure what that would mean for entry into the Czech Republic and reentry to Greece. Personally, I think we're at the point that if we were refused reentry to Greece, we would dance a jig just because we wouldn't have to deal with any more bureaucracy.

I am unforgivably behind in my grading. The school has adopted a new grading system this year which is entirely online, a system not vastly dissimilar to the program used in Kentucky public schools. There are a few differences in ease of use (the KY system is easier), but the program is an enormous pain because there was no training whatsoever. Also, the president of the school decided that he would go ahead and make the decision to allow parents to have constant access beginning at the start of the year before some teachers even knew how to login. Fortunately, that was changed, so now total access will begin in January. There are problems with this that someone who isn't in the classroom would never consider, but we're lackeys to the people who have decided that they're better fit to the run the school. We have a population of parents who are so focused on grades that they literally will check once a day. Not fun when I put in grades once every 2 weeks.

Anyway, the grading system is entirely online, something which is extremely convenient. When you have a decent internet connection. Which the school does not. So it's horrible.

I think I'm going to get a chicken gyro from Artemis, "our" souvlaki place up the street. Ioannis doesn't even need to take our order any more. I like that.

The hallway on the 2nd floor of the middle school. My room is peeking up from beside the lockers on the left.

A view of the tennis courts.
A view of the elementary school and 'center' area.

Spetses priest

Spetses, originally uploaded by dwain.

A Greek Orthodox priest on his way.

Looking back at Spetses.

The cover where spent the afternoon.

How we had to get to the cove.

We rented bikes and biked the 6-ish km to the cove before our legs gave out. It was a beautiful day.

Fresh fish.

A small cove we found while biking on the island.

The patio of the Villa Christina.

The business class deck of the Flying Cat 1, a catamaran that had all of us overdosing on Dramamine and searching for anything in which to throw up. None of us did, but it was dicey. The sea was so choppy the boat took 45 minutes longer than usual to reach the island.

Waiting to leave Piraeus.

brief

I've been far too lax in updating this, not for lack of material. In brief:

• Went to Spetses over the weekend and had a marvelous time.
• Had the day off from school today because it's "No Day," the day Greece said no to Mussolini. And were invaded by Germany anyway.
• Cooked squid for the first time. Yummy.
• Ate the best meal I've had in Greece at a Lebanese restaurant.
  

Pictures will speak louder than words, I think.

On my way to work...

It's a chilly night in Athens. A brisk breeze on the way to school this morning helped wake me up after a restless night, and the same breeze soothed me on the way home after a long day. I only had two classes today, but my students were rambunctious and took what little energy I'd begun the day with almost instantly. Middle schoolers are a very inquisitive age of children, searching for anything and everything: attention, meaning, laughs, touch, satisfaction, respect, adrenaline. Unfortunately for my students today, I had little more than impatience to give them, something I try to hold back because I don't like being ill-tempered with them. I don't mind being strict, but there's a vast difference between constructive and cruel, and despite my blustering, I try to avoid the latter.

I'm listening to Patty Griffin, a melancholy song for a moment of inner quiet. Of course, the moment I write that, Depeche Mode starts singing "Personal Jesus..." The moment is shattered.

The neighbors upstairs have slowly come to life over the past 3 weeks. We now hear chairs scraping, occasional footsteps, and every now and then a child's voice. There's a dog next door who barks infrequently, a sound we miss a lot.

On my way to work, I make 2 right turns and 2 left turns. And no, I don't live where I work, in case someone was going to suggest it.

On my way to work, there's a 3-meter stretch of road that smells like bleach. I think it's a tree.

On my way to work, I go by a Greek school whose walls are solidly graffiti.

On my way to work, I cross Δουκισσησ Πλακεντιας (Doukissis Plakentias) and breathe a silent prayer for the inventor of scooters to be given an extra day in hell. They're a nuisance and menace.

On my way to work, I walk by an empty lot with a grapevine growing along the bordering fence, and I wonder if I'll get the chance to pick another grape next fall. I also wonder if the dozen chickens wandering around are tame or feral.

On my way to work, I walk by a woman walking her poodle. It's ugly.

On my way to work, I constantly look behind me to make sure a motorcycle isn't using the bike path I'm on to go the wrong way down a one-way street.

On my way to work, I wonder how much longer it will be before my arm/leg/hip gets broken by the mirror of a passing car who's more worried about damaging a parked car than a pedestrian. We walk down a one-way street (alley, more like it) that connects to a major road, and it's horrible to walk in the morning traffic.

My way to work is an adventure.

I've developed a sense of urgency regarding our time in Europe. I want to see more, do more, but I know I never will. It may seem strange to some people, but Greece would have been one of my last places to visit on my mental-itinerary.

We're thinking of Prague for Thanksgiving. I want to see this ossuary.

There were some serious strikes in Athens today, most of them in the transportation sector. Read about the chaos in this CNN article. Banks were closed, schools were shut down, tear gas was used, hellfire and brimstone rained down on the city like Sodom and Go-mo-rah (because I don't know how to spell it).

And we still had school.

Imagine a room full of adult professionals singing the Greek alphabet to the tune of the "ABCs" (apparently it's universal; I wonder what the royalties are on it). That was my afternoon. I have it down for the most part, but what begins to throw me off are the diphthongs and a couple of the miniscule letters. The 'v' making the 'n' sound throws me off, and the 'μ' as an 'm' really throws me off whack.

It's an overcast day in Attica, and a cool wind is blowing through the city just gently enough to stir the smog but not strong enough to dispel it. We just got back from a morning at the school and an adventure of grocery shopping. ACS hosted a boys' volleyball and girls' soccer tournament today, and I was asked to take some photos by one of the assistant athletic directors. Watching young girls play soccer is only slightly funnier than watching gangly teenage boys run around a volleyball court chasing a ball. It's easy to find the ball in the girls' soccer game because they ALL run after it in a group; passing doesn't enter into the strategy.

Last night was a birthday celebration for one of the ladies in our Yank group of teachers. We went to a local restaurant that specializes in Greek food. Now, this may come as a bit of a surprise to some of you, but Greek cuisine isn't nearly as grand as people imagine. In fact, it's rather limited and fairly boring. I believe that you could walk into any restaurant on mainland Greece and be able to order without looking at a menu; the only difference would be how much you pay, and that wouldn't have any actual effect on the quality of the food or its presentation. For a Greek salad, it's hard to mess up cutting tomatoes, cucumbers, and green peppers. Last night we had rabbit stew (delicious broth; the rabbit was bland), brined sardines, hamburger patty with tomatoes on top, fried zucchini, and sausages. Give me a gyro any day!

After dinner, I went with four other people to the center of Chalandri to a bar called Blue. I was the 5th wheel, something I hadnt' been for a long time, but the awkwardness was salved by Stella Artois. They played neo-jazz and various other musical subgenres with incredibly specific criterion which are virtually indistinguishable to the hoi polloi, and the walls were lined with photos of blues and jazz musicians whose claims to legendary status went from great to wishful thinking. I stuck around for an hour or so and caught a taxi home at 2. The taxis here are a very cheap method of transportation; it's the relaying of directions that's taxing.

Each 'suburb' of Athens has a center, usually clustered around the church, with tavernas, restaurants, and stores. The Chalandri center is the '2nd best in Athens' for shopping. It has music stores, high-end fashion, and numerous clubs and pubs. I've only spent 2 evenings down there, both short, but I'm excited to live as near it as we do.

Athenians do their grocery shopping on Saturdays, and half of Chalandri and Agias Paraskevi were shopping at the same time as us this afternoon. It was a slalom of grocery carts and young women handing out samples while employees stocked shelves that would have been stocked the night before in the States, and it was amidst this chaos that we embarked on our greatest shopping expedition yet. Miah headed to the vegetables and stocked up while I was in charge of the seafood and the cheese. I ended up buying a whole rainbow trout and 2 whole squid. I know how to say 'one (ena)' 'half (miso),' 'fourth (tetarto),' 'kilo (guess),' 'please (parakalo),' and 'thank you (efcharisto),' the phrases that got me the above and a chunk of homemade feta fresh out of the barrel. You have to bag your own groceries here, so I load the belt while Miah loads the bags. It's a pain. We're very excited about cooking up our delicous meals, and I've found a delicious sounding recipe for 'spicy calimari with bacon and scallions.' Trust a Kentucky-dweller to cook his kalamari in bacon grease! The Greeks just fry theirs. I wasn't able to save the ink that filled the plastic bag, but I think there will be many more. I just have to figure out how to remove the quill, and trust me, there will be photo evidence.

Last night, one of our fellow Yanks was mocking the accent that a couple of other newbies have when they speak Greek. We had all noticed their difficulties, but he was ruthlessly honest, a role usually filled by myself but thankfully not this time. If you need help remembering how to say 'thank you,' just use the little trick--completely accidental--these two women use to say it: 'a fairy's toe.' And sadly, that's EXACTLY how it sounds when they say it!

I really miss the diversity of the States. I've seen nothing but pale and olive skin for a couple months now.

As we drove across the Corinth Canal, below us the moonlit sea looked like snow which the wind had piled into small drifts except for a few dark patches which had been lifted into the sky to serve as snowy clouds.

shaken

There was an earthquake in Greece this morning. I didn't feel it, and most of my students were probably lying when they said they did, but it's still a scary thought.

-, originally uploaded by dwain.

The main beach of Nafplio is guarded by the Palamidi bastion. Apparently it's not mighty enough to guard it from the hordes of American and German tourists who descend on it daily.

Tolo

-
Originally uploaded by dwain

Miah looking out at an island monastery not far from the beach of Tolo. The walnut cake and chocolate ice cream were wonderful, and the sweet Greek coffee warmed beautifully.

Nafplio from Boutzi

-
Originally uploaded by dwain

Sitting on the wall of Boutzi looking back into the harbor of Nafplio.

A funny story

Yesterday evening we went home with Kate and Lindsey, two new teachers from Atlanta, to have dinner. Another guy came over a bit later, and we spent a few minutes chatting on the balcony. At 9:30, their landlady and her English-speaking knocked on the door and loudly berated the girls for "being loud and waking us up all the time and my daughter is studying for test and maybe this is how you do it in America and we said no parties and I thought we understood each other and..." It was ridiculous because there were 5 people in the house being very quiet. Ludicrous. The most ridiculous thing of all, though, was that this was at 9:30 in the evening! The Greeks don't start waking up until 9, so to be chewed out at such an early hour is asinine!

Another fun interaction with angry people.

To get over it, I just look at photos like this.

We both were observed by our respective principals this week, and both observations went quite well. Miah was observed on Tuesday, and I was observed this morning. If she wants you to know about hers, she can blog. She's not blogging, so you'll hear about mine.

It went well.

Tomorrow is a half day of work for us, but we have to enter a lot of grades and comments in the afternoon. Each student has to receive 6 'prepackaged' comments as well as a brief description of what's gone on in class and a 'freeform' comment about their performance. All of this on a web-based program being accessed over the slowest network I've been on. Progress reports go out on Monday. The kids are antsy. They should be. Fear me.

On Saturday we go to Napflion for a night with a couple of friends, one of them a new Greek friend who works at school.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Also this weekend, we decided to skip out on a free REM concert because it was cold, late, and a Sunday. Something tells me that when I look back over my life, it won't be a regret. Quite unlike the Cranberries and Toad the Wet Sprocket concert an hour from our house I missed in the mid-90s. Total regret.

Moments in Greece

Walking home this evening, we passed a home whose expansive front yard was darkened by trees and unlit by the crescent moon. We were deep in conversation and paid no mind to the house at all.

From the front yard a sheep bleated.

We stopped, unsure if we'd heard correctly. We had.

Walking home this evening, moments later, we rounded the corner to see a woman cradling her bare-bottomed daughter suspended over the sidewalk peeing.

Greece is bizarre.

My great-uncle died yesterday (the day before, depending on the time zone) at his home in Pennsylvania. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to see him a few times before we came over. It was odd to come home from an evening out and call my dad at 3:30 in the morning Athens' time to hear he was gone. The surreality of the moment hasn't quite passed. My uncle will be missed.

It's been a difficult week at school. There was some conflict between some of the administration and Miah and me that hopefully is done. Without rehashing the entire affair, there was a question of professionalism that boiled down to cultural differences and which led to some heated exchanges. Saturday evening we had a parent and faculty 'cruise under the stars' around Piraeus on the boat of one of the board members, and it was a relief to sit and drink wine with the Mediterranean wind blowing away all the frustration of the week. Of course, at that moment my family in the States was gathering around the bed of my uncle, a divergence of experiences which speaks to me of the infinity of human individuality.

We spent a great part of the evening with Matt Barrett and his wife, Andrea, an American expat who has settled in Athens and has the most comprehensive website with information about Greece. Google it.

tobacco and film

We went to The Mall again--this time while the stores were opened--and went to a movie. As we walked into the ticketing area, we saw girls wearing white leggings and purple blouses offering people something from black cases. They were offering complimentary cigarettes. If you filled out a short survey, you also received a free USB drive.

Silk Cut: Not afraid to hand out cancer sticks in a theatre.

Touch not lest ye be touched

Originally uploaded by dwain

Green Design Festival 2008

Originally uploaded by dwain

This is an installation at the Green Design Festival happening at Syntagma Square. Miah and I stopped by on our way to the Acropolis on Saturday. There was a dress made out of used dryer sheets.

The Acropolis is as obscenely crowded as one would imagine, and it's as disappointing as one would expect, though that seems a paradox. If you expect disappointment, is it really disappointing?

Madonna was in town Saturday night. A group of girls on the metro were trying to figure out how to use binoculars. Hilarious.

Sunday we went to The Mall and watched a film with Greek subtitles. One of the highlights of the experience was watching the three--three!--cigarette commercials before the movie. One was for Silk Cut, another for Camel, and rounding them out an ad for Marlboro. The Marlboro ad was the funniest because it was the classic Marlboro Man ad with horses and cattle and canyons and wool-lined coats and essentially everything NOT Greek. It was stepping back in time 20 years to when cigarette ads were legal in the States.

Grocery shopping Saturday morning was an adventure. It's like cryptography trying to read the labels! I still think our olive oil might be baby oil.

As of last week, here are my roles at school:

• Academy ESL instructor/coordinator
• Middle school ESL instructor and curriculum co-developer
• Member of CST (child services team) which meets weekly
• Surprised member of the ESL committee which I didn't know existed
• Sophomore class advisor (I don't know any 10th graders who speak English)
• Debate club co-coach
• Film appreciation sponsor (which may or may not happen)
• Technology mentor to a couple of 'experienced' teachers
• Man about town

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed.

My middle school ESL class, which started as 10, has burgeoned into a rowdy class of 16. I'm frying my mind.

old man at the Acropolis

Originally uploaded by dwain

I don't know why he was there. It was packed with tourists, but there he sat.

Hydra-tion

What a wonderful weekend we had! It's impossible to cover every detail, but I'll try to recall the moments and feelings and sights that stood out. I feel I finally saw the magic of Greece.

Friday

ACS had a parent-teacher bbq after school on Friday, and it was recommended we stay for at least a while to meet parents. For the first part of the afternoon, the only people there were employees and children running madly about the grounds. Then they started grilling and playing music, and it wasn't long before we were rocking out to the sounds of AC/DC and other hairbands, and I was just waiting for the twangy strings of "Sweet Home Alabama" to come blasting out of the speakers. Fortunately they didn't go that far, but we still felt the need to make an exit. We left a little before 6 o'clock and headed to the Chalandri (or Xalandri or Halandri) metro station with our various backpacks and suitcases. It was a beautiful day with a sun that warmed but didn't bake, and there were a few clouds watching lazily as the Friday traffic scurried about beneath them.

To get to Piraeus requires taking a metro and the suburban railway from Monastiraki station in central Athens. It's not a pain to switch at all, and the suburban railway passes through--not by; through--some ruins before it passes through the seedier neighborhoods of Athens that surround the port. Quite a few people were on the railway, so I found myself standing with my daypack and camera bag near the door of the train. There was plenty of room in the aisle and neer the doorway, so I was a little surprised when 4 men got on the train and clustered quite closely around me. One of the men had his leg pressed a little uncomfortably against my own, and after a few seconds it crossed my mind that I was probably being targeted to be robbed. I surreptitiously let go of the handhold and moved my hand down between one of the men and my leg and found my wallet halfway out of my back pocket. Of course it was dumb of me to have it in my back pocket, and the only reason I did was because I had things of greater value in my front pockets. I kept my hand on my wallet until the next station when the 4 men got off and walked further back on the train and got onto another car. One of the other travelers, a colleague, saw the whole thing but didn't put it together until we started comparing observations. It wasn't a good beginning to the trip, but I feel fortunate to have stopped the theft.

Once at Piraeus we picked up our tickets and sat at a cafe and drank expensive coffee. The port wasn't too busy, fortunately; the tourist season has nearly ended, and soon ferries will change the frequency of their trips to the remote islands. Our boat was a bit late, so we used the time to sit around and fret about getting seasick. One of our group had chewing gum with Dramamine in it, a product that sounds wonderfully pragmatic until you start chewing it and your tongue goes numb.

At 8:45 our boat arrived. We were on a Hellenic Seaways catamaran whose interior was nicer than any plane I've been on. The seats were arranged facing the front as well as clustered around tables, so we sat and had snacks and chatted as we plowed through the dark sea. By regular ferry, it takes 3 hours to get to Hydra, but the catamaran got us there in around an hour and a half. It was a very smooth ride, and because there was little rocking to and fro and absolutely no up and down, none of us lost our bbq!

I don't have the talent to describe the moment we stepped from the boat to the dock; too many of my senses were struck simultaneously by the fairytale beauty of the small harbor town. A brisk wind blew from the west and carried the fresh smell of seawater and boats and gyros; the same wind brought the mewing of cats and braying of donkeys and loud laughter and the muffled grinding and creaking of boats rubbing together; it brought a chill to my arms and blew my hair into knots. The town is well-lit, and the harbor has a string of lights that runs along the quay and around the edges of the small harbor. It wasn't only the physical senses that were struck; I couldn't help but feel I had just left my time and place and stepped into a place both behind yet beyond. Hydra is how a place with a great sense of self-awareness should exist; awareness and appreciation for the past do not preclude accepting and integrating the present in a responsible and intentional manner. For example...

There are no cars on Hydra.

There are no cars on Hydra.

No cars. On Hydra.

Except for two small garbage trucks and a small construction truck.

No cars.

Why should there be cars on an island with a population of 2600 and with a great number of donkeys? The cobblestone streets led anywhere we needed to go, and the small grocers were centrally located. If you needed to go anywhere else on the island, you could take the water taxis that left frequently and traveled at wave-skimming speeds. It was a community so old that it knew exactly how to deal with any arguments for modernization. That's something lacking in the US and in many newly-modernized nations: the confidence to continue doing something the 'old' way because it's a perfectly fine way of doing something. The US hasn't had a moment of reflection in its short life, and all its ways and traditions seem thrown together haphazardly.

Four of us were staying at Botsis guesthouse, "70m from the harbor," and that was probably exaggerating how far it was. We were a 30-second walk up one of the many alleys which wound their way up the hill from the harbor. Another couple was staying about a 10-minute climb from the harbor, and they had to pay a man to port their luggage up the hill on his donkey. Their place was significantly cuter, but it was 20 Euros more a night and wasn't worth the walk.

After we dropped off our luggage, we went back out onto the harbor walk and strolled for a few minutes in search of something to eat. We finally found someone serving up one of the alleys away from the harbor, but Anastasia had only "3 porks, 2 chickens, and saganaki." I'm still not sure what saganaki is, but it's spicily delicious. My lips were on fire. Anastasia was very friendly and a little wild, and we chatted with her for a while after we ate. She was closing down her restaurant for two days to go to a wedding in Thessaloniki, so we didn't get the chance to go back for more food.

We finished dinner well after midnight and walked around the harbor for a while. The wind was picking up and brought a chill with it. There were a dozen yachts anchored in the harbor, each one larger than the last. The most opulent one was from Monaco, a two-level yacht with beautiful wood paneling inside, flowers, mirrors, enormous televisions, and better furniture than I'll ever own. By 'better' I mean more expensive. I love our 19 Euro chairs. As I walked by these palatial boats, I couldn't help but be envious of the ease with which the people could travel around and see whatever they wanted. Money equals freedom, at least in a capitalistic mentality, and for one moment I envied the 'freedom' of the yacht-owners to go anywhere the wind blows. Then I went back to my cozy hotel and slept as deep a sleep as they did.

Saturday

Sometime around 2 or 3 (not long after I went to bed), a rainstorm hit the island and didn't let up until the afternoon. It wasn't sprinkling like it did in Athens a couple of weeks ago; it poured. The cobblestones in front of our hotel were the bedrock of a river which ran from the top of Mt. Eros all the way down to the harbor. We ventured out at about 9 o'clock and had to tiptoe and jump our way down the street as cardboard boxes floated by us and wet dogs sloshed by unhappily. Oh, and the cats were enraged. I've never seen as many cats as I have on Hydra. They're a part of the community, and I fell in love with one named Sissy. She's the mascot at the Pirate Bar, and she walked onto my lap as I sat on a stool, and she curled up as pretty as you please and rubbed my hand until I scratched her head. But that was later.

Miah and I made ourselves comfortable at Tassos, a cafe/bar right on the harbor, and had breakfast. My ham and cheese omelet was good but not as memorable as the Greek coffee. I'm not sure what's in it, but it's delicious and packs a punch.

Three hours later, we finally left the cafe. During that time our travel friends joined us and helped us mark our spot in the cafe as it became a haven for locals escaping the rain. It was a fascinating group of people who gathered in the small room and watched others splash by on the sidewalk and weave through the tables that almost completely fill the quay. There were locals (Miah wondered how to tell the locals from the tourists; I suggested that the people wearing rubber boots were locals and those wearing sneakers weren't) who were obviously torn between being happy about a day off and being glum about not heading out on their boats to fish, and there were the well-dressed people looking at architectural plans for a mansion somewhere on the island. A lot of people told us on our return to Athens that they felt bad for us in the rain, but I honestly am so glad I got to see the island in a state which is quite rare. Seriously, it hadn't rained since February! I spent a rainy day on Hydra and saw the island cleansed of dirt, trash, and tourists. I'm happy.

When we left Tassos, we decided to brave the wind and light rain and head to Kimina by following the road west. It was cold, dreary, and difficult to walk because of the wind, but it was a fun walk through the dead town in search of a restaurant. When we finally found one with shelter (the patio had plastic walls), we planned to spend several hours there. Our waiter wasn't the happiest fellow, but we didn't care and had as jovial a time as the dozen members of a family near us had at their party. I ordered red mullet and was asked how much. I didn't know, so I said 250 grams which turned out to be 3 fish. The taste was fine, but what a pain to pick through the bones! I also found out later that red mullet are attracted to sewage and eat it. No more red mullet for me.

We got kicked out of the restaurant for their siesta time, so we followed suit and took a nap. Later that evening we went to a restaurant near our hotel (though everything was near the hotel, really) where we were fortunate to find a table for 7 before the place packed. There were people from England, New Zealand, and various continental European spots as well Greeks all enjoying the wonderful food. I got boiled octopus from Hydra, something else I'll never eat again. I prefer it grilled.

After dinner we went to the Pirate Bar and spent some time chatting amongst ourselves and with the Greek-English owner/tender. It was a fun time until the 80s and 90s dance party started up (on purpose) and the music got loud. Miah and I took a stroll around the harbor to another party that we'd heard earlier. The music drifting across the water was lively, and it turned out to be an organized party of some sort (wedding, birthday, who knows) with people dressed in white and wearing olive garlands dancing in one of the old buildings along the walk. They were dancing to traditional Greek music, and the circular dances were mesmerizing to watch through the leaded windows. I'm sure their party went on until 6 in the morning, but Miah and I went back to bed at around 2.

Sunday

We got up early Sunday morning hoping to hike up to a monastery and convent about a kilometer from town. We got breakfast at Tassos again and then ended up waiting for the others in our party for about 2 hours. I prefer traveling with a small group of like-minded individuals; night people and morning people don't mix.

The hike up through the town was the greatest part of the adventure as we walked under stone arches and down shoulder-width alleys in search of any stairs going up. I "asked" for directions from an old woman standing on her balcony, and by "asked" I mean I butchered "Where is Profitis Ilias." She understood well enough, though, and pointed up and right. We soon got lost again, though, and got directions from an intimidating German man who yelled in to his wife to bring us a bottle of water for which he would take no payment.

When we finally reached the religious sites, they were closed (no surprise on a Sunday morning on which I'd seen the priest having morning coffee on the wharf). We did get some wonderful views of the town and of the Peloponnesse (which can be spelled 10 different ways), and we spent some time standing at the base of a white windmill which had lost its "sails" years before.

We descended in a couple of groups, one of which got a nice lunch and decided to head home early. Miah, Kate, Jill and I decided to stick about to avoid returning to Athens. It had been a sunny day but was beginning to cloud over again, so Miah, Kate and I raced down to a nearby pebble beach for a swim.

I didn't have my shorts in my bag, so I got to show off my unmentionables in truly European fashion. No, I wasn't naked. It was an adventure for the girls to try and change while maintaining at least some privacy, and I can't say they were completely successful in retaining all dignity. The water made up for it all, though. It was warm, salty, and pastel blue. My swimming abilities are.... I have none. However, the water was so salty that I was able to float for quite a while before I remembered I was in the sea and panic made me splash back to shore. It was worth getting out into the cold wind that was blowing clouds in.

We rode back to Athens on a hydrofoil, a first for all of us. It was weird and not nearly as luxurious as the catamaran. Once in Athens we had to wait for ages at the Monastiraki metro station because they don't run as many metros on Sundays. It was crowded and hot, and I ended up whanging some poor guy in the head with my backpack, but he was gracious and petted my arm to show it was okay.

Being back in Athens isn't fun. I feel stressed. The noise and smells bring me back to the reality of life outside fairytale land rather harshly. At least I can go back again.

Hydra

Hydra
Originally uploaded by dwain

Hydra taxi

Hydra taxi
Originally uploaded by dwain

The only vehicles allowed on Hydra are municipal vehicles (a total of about 5), so most work is done by boat or by donkey.

Hydra

Hydra
Originally uploaded by dwain

View toward Peloponesse.

It's been a long but good week. We just got back from the Plaka/Monastiraki area where we had gone with my ESL colleague, Patty. We had 1500€ to spend on textbooks and materials, and we came quite close. It was great to look through the bookstore that had a bunch of English titles, but it was incredibly frustrating to try to find the most age and proficiency appropriate textbooks we could out of the selection. There was also the problem of having to search for texts for two separate Academy (high school) classes as well as for a middle school class, two extremely disparate levels.

We ate at a sushi restaurant, our first sushi in a while! It was remarkably expensive, but it was worth it! The 4€ piece of tuna was delectable.

After dinner we walked down Monastiraki and peeked in at the stores. There's all manner of junk to be purchased, and I'm sure that if we'll be seeing you at Xmas, you'll be seeing some of the junk!

Tomorrow we have a Parent Teacher Organization bbq after school after which we head to Hydra. The high on Saturday is supposed to be 68 with the chance of storms. Most people would see this as a bad thing, but I hate the hot weather and don't care about the beach, so I'm quite content. Now, the thought of an hour and a half on choppy seas isn't quite as appealing.

A weekend of updates are overdue. I cannot describe how oppressive the heat has been for the past few days nor how good it felt to have three raindrops fall on my arms this afternoon. The weather is supposed to break in the next couple of days and bring in a few days of 'cool' weather.

Friday night Miah and I went to the embassy with a couple of the other new teachers. It was a farewell party for one of the Marines who had received transfer orders, and although we had nothing to do with it, we were invited by one of the embassy wives who teaches at ACS.

What a feeling to walk up the busy Athenian sidewalks and see, next to the music hall, a giant complex of concrete with the American flag waving. The security getting into the building was slow, and we had to wait in a holding area until an escort came to pick us up. It was easy to tell we were at an American party as soon as we stepped onto the grounds because the smell of charcoal and sizzling meat wafted everywhere. Towheaded children ran around in shorts and Tevas while parents laughed loudly and talked about getting packages from Amazon through the APO. Fortunately we knew a couple of the wives who work at the school and so had someone to talk to. The ambassador introduced himself to us and chatted briefly in the banal way that diplomats and politicians do then slipped away. The gunnery sergeant, Steve, was the quintessential Marine: 6-foot-odd tall, a waist like a ballerina and shoulders like a footballer, a loud and confident voice which threw out military acronyms and accolades constantly, and a foul mouth that filled the complex.

I've never been particularly interested in the machine of war since I stopped playing with GI Joes in elementary school (okay, maybe high school). The mentality of those who join the forces isn't something which I can comprehend, and as such I felt a strain as I interacted with the Marines while playing foosball and chatting over Beam and Coke. They were polite, I was polite, yet I knew if they had any inkling of how mysterious their committment to this vast machine was to me, the conversation would be over. It's not something we can sit and talk about over dinner; the antithetical gulf is too great. I can't even say that I respect or admire what they do--and PLEASE don't stop reading there--because how can I honestly say I respect what I don't understand. It's too easy to say "Support the troops" without thinking, and I don't want to say something I don't mean. Of course I appreciate the freedom the US forces provide me, and I appreciate the sacrifices that have been made for myself and for millions around the world. At the same time, there are millions who appreciate the sacrifices made by people who fought/fight against the US. It's all games we've played and will continue to play because we don't know any other way. We need those men and women with that drive to action to protect us from other people who are exactly like them.

I know that sounds quite harsh and isn't the most cogent observation, but it was what was running through my mind as the sergeant gave a plaque to the departing Marine for performing the service of playing the role well. Regardless of how hard I tried, I couldn't understand what was behind it all.

Saturday was a slow day at home, sweating like mad and hoping for any breeze. Miah went out with some of the girls to a restaurant that night while I went with a couple of guys to play games at someone's house. It was a fun night that ended with me trying to figure out at which metro station I had been dropped. They all look the same at night, and the Acropolis isn't quite tall enough to be a landmark. Oh, and we went grocery shopping Saturday morning. We bought some shrimp and a whole frozen fish who is now staring at us each time we open the freezer. He looks like Dori. Grocery shopping here has shown me how stupid people are in their interactions with immigrants: talking to me more in Greek when I'm shaking my head isn't going to make me learn it any faster.

Sunday was even slower than Saturday, but it was good. I had planned on going into school to do work, but that never happened. I think that's going to happen often. Our house has become the place to come if you want to talk to family over Skype, so from 6:30 until 11:45 there were people in our living room and guest room talking to family.

School is settling down somewhat, but there are still a lot of things for me to iron out with the ESL programs. There are changes happening, and last week was a week of drama. I hate drama. There's new leadership with experienced teachers, two things which rarely mix well. All I know is that I'm in desperate need of a good text for intensive middle school ESL. Desperate. I have no idea what I'm doing tomorrow morning.

Okay, I've chronicled the Greece thing enough for now, so I'm going to indulge and mention some TV. Miah and I spent quite a bit of time this last year watching an HBO show called The Wire. The Baltimore-set show deals with the reality of ghetto life, inner-city schools, blue-collar workers, and politicians with an ingenious stroke of harshness and cynicism. We have one more episode to watch of the fifth and final season. The characters have touched us so much in their journeys through the stories, and I found myself incredibly moved in the episode we just watched in which a former drug addict celebrates his AA anniversary. Stories of redemption are common enough in all media, but to go back through 50 hours of television and remember the first moment when he was on screen with a needle and then see him standing timid but proud was perhaps the finest arc I've ever experienced. Of course the show, being as gritty as it is, had a smart but hopeless 16-year-old boy stepping up to fill the shoes of the drug addict as he walked into the darkened doorway of a drug den.

On that dark note--and before I become too emotional--I wish everyone a great week!

in common

in common
Originally uploaded by dwain

Originally uploaded by dwain

This was our "around the bend surprise" at the Monastiraki metro station.

The weekend is here! Tonight is the party at the embassy (passports required), tomorrow is a morning at work for me, tomorrow night is an evening with a group of guys playing games, and Sunday is wide open.

I took some photos of our excursion--though that's an overstated word--to Psirri earlier this week, and I'll put those up.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

We have a new family. This evening a group of us went to Wind, a Greek (European?) mobile phone company, and signed up for a family plan for the five of us. Fortunately there was someone who spoke English who could change our phone settings from Greek to English.

Tomorrow night Miah and I are going to an embassy party being thrown by some Marines for a comrade who's leaving. The theme is "ebony and ivory." Not sure what to expect.

Some time in October there's an evening cruise being offered by one of the school board members as an opportunity for the staff to mingle with the parents. I can't imagine the cost. Of course, I think the board member owns the shipping line, so that might cut down on the cost a bit.

One of my American students, a 7th grade boy, said this to me the other as he stood sweaty, penitent, and tardy before me: "Sir, I'm sorry I'm late, sir, but I was playing tag."

It has been hot as can be the past week, but I've gotten used to sodden shirts and paper sticking to my arms.

The same two girls who were here a few nights ago using the free wifi are spread throughout our house talking to family. It's so funny to hear these conversations in the background and to try and comprehend the distance being covered. Are we really having an adventure when we can call like this?

little things

It's the little things which loom large in a new city and setting:

• Walking down to the Central Market and then through the rather seedy Chinatown in search of a sushi restaurant called Godzilla.
• Met a woman and her grandson at a small estiatorio in Psirri. Her family was killed during World War II, and she told us the story of her brother's best friend being shot in the face while her brother stood by him. "I have a story," she said, and I just wanted to sit and listen to it all night.
  
• The cigar store that sells Cuban cigars at 20 Euros a pop.
  
• The old gypsy woman selling flowers from table to table.
  
• The vagrant who mumbled in English, "Have some spare change, man?" Everyone else at the table thought he said it in Greek and answered him in Greek.
  
• The truck which passed 6 inches from our backs as we sat at the curbside table.
  
• Walking back toward the metro from the restaurant and coming around a corner face to face with the Acropolis. The half moon hung over the Acropolis and dropped my jaw.
• The heat and sweaty smell of the metro as people went home at 11 o'clock last night.
  

And then I forget my keys this morning and am locked out of my room until someone with a key gets here. I'll be getting into my room around 9.

EDIT: I got home at 7 o'clock this evening after a couple of surprise meetings and a fruitless lesson planning session. All I want to do is eat.

Our landlady, two sons, and local handyman just spent 30 awkward minutes in our apartment making various repairs that I didn't know needed done. Fortunately one of the sons had passable English, but the mother just grinned impishly, held her hands to her chest, and said "Sighnomee" (again, no idea how to write it other than phonetically) over and over. She was adorable.

They're now involved in a rather loud argument with the handyman over the cost of his repairs. At least I think that's what's happening. From what I've heard of Greek conversations, they could be telling each other how much they love ice cream. The volume and heat of Greek conversations are surpassed only by Russian and Arabic.

Miah blogs again!

I spent most of the day lying in bed reading while enjoying the breeze and the view from my window. I love my new bedroom.

It's Sunday and I'm in a much better mood. There was no epiphany between yesterday and today, just the decision to enjoy the experience and gather stories.

There's a funny scene taking place in our house right now: in our bedroom is Kate--another new hire--talking with her mother on Skype; in the living room is Lindsey--another new hire and Kate's roommate--talking with her boyfriend on Skype; and in the kitchen I sit after having talked with my family in Pennsylvania on Skype. Earlier today we talked with several friends in Lexington as well. Technology is amazing. Why is everyone doing this at our house, you ask? Because we're all jacking wi-fi from some poor sod in the area who didn't secure his router.

The high today was 93, a pleasant temperature if there's a breeze going through the house. We have every door/window in the house open, but the lovely breeze from the afternoon has moved on to the islands and left us with a warm evening.

Our first full week, and I have no idea what I'm doing tomorrow morning. Endaxi! (It's okay!)

moment of peace

The oddest things push me from "I really should blog but don't feel like it" into "This is too weird not too blog." A parade of cars just went by our house honking their horns. In most countries this is a sign of a sports team victory; in Greece, someone is on their way to be buried.

I'm a little hesitant to write anything right now because of my general state of anger and annoyance. I've felt annoyed for the past 4 days, quite a long time to be gently seething while smiling. Again, I really shouldn't be writing right now, but I have to get some of this off my chest.

Moving to a different country is, obviously, a difficult affair regardless of how much experience you've had overseas. Visiting a place and living in a place are completely different experiences. I didn't expect that there would be much culture shock for Miah and I moving here, and I frankly haven't been shocked by anything I've experienced. The horrible amount of bureaucracy we went through this summer had already implanted in my mind the image of a third-world country, so arriving here and seeing the filth of Athens fit into the picture I had of a metropolis stuck in the mid-20th century fit my expectations. Granted, I wasn't quite prepared for the sheer volume of trash and dead animals that is in the abandoned lots around town.

But my annoyance hasn't come from anything I've encountered in Athens or in Greece in general. No, Greece isn't the beautiful place that it appears in photos (photos don't capture smells, sounds, or heat), but it does have some beautiful vistas and magical moments. No, Greece hasn't enchanted me with its people or its history, but I do quite like most of the people I've met who have been very friendly and helpful. Greece is perfectly fine as a vacation destination or as a place to study for a while.

What's annoying me is the school. Disappointing me, to be truthful. I had the highest expectations of the school--my first mistake--and have been let down time and time again. (Grain of salt: we've been in the country for 2 weeks.) Not everything about the school is a disappointment, of course, and I'm trying to maintain (obtain?) a positive attitude about it.

The school's motto says something to the effect of being the "premier international school" of Athens and of following the "American philosophy" of education. I'm going to make a bold statement which I will be more than glad to retract down the road: a large percentage of American public schools are more rigorous and successful than ACS. I know, I know, the oft-reviled American public school just got a compliment.

I think the easiest way for me to explain why I make such a bombastic judgment is to give a few examples of things which have stood out to me as being in opposition to the ACS motto:

• There are teachers there who have been teaching at the school for 25 years or more. Experience is a good thing in some professions, but teaching experience and growth peak and stagnate after much less than that. Also, complacency sets in long before 25 years.
  
• If a teacher has been teaching for more than 15 years (circa), Greek law requires that they teach only 4 classes instead of the regular 5. The 5th "hour" must be used to do some sort of project for the improvement of the school. Translation: nap time. This is a problem because there is a large group of teachers who should have retired years ago.
  
• Photocopies must be requested 2 days in advance. That's right. You can't make more than 3 copies on the Office Space copier in the school. This takes all spontaneity out of teaching. It's often the idea that pops into your mind the night before that is best, but you can't use it here.
• School begins at 9 and ends at 3:30. In the elementary school, there's a morning recess, a snack time, a 40-minute lunch, and an afternoon recess. In the middle and high school, there are 2 10-minute breaks plus a 40-minute lunch.
  
• In...

I've been told to stop blogging and be more positive, good advice. Maybe if we can find a beach tomorrow I'll have a fresh--if slightly sunburnt--perspective.

brain hurt

The first two days are over, and I'm exhausted. It's not the students who have exhausted me; it's the school.

We're going to get some food and help one of our team put together some furniture. She just got out of the hospital for blood clots. In Greece, you have to furnish your own toiletries and pajamas at the hospital.

I'm far too tired and have far too much energy to replenish for tomorrow to give much detail about today, but it was a fine day.

Words I never thought I would say: I liked the middle schoolers!

Middle schoolers are so tiny!

last night before school

Normally the last night before school is a stressful time for me because I'm thinking about all that I need to do for the next day and about the faces that will be staring at me. Tonight, though, I'm calmly indifferent. Everyone--and I do mean everyone--has been saying, "It will be fine, don't worry," so I've embraced the thought and have given up on getting any sort of structure. There's something to be said for having a laissez-faire (sp?) attitude toward things, but there's more to be said, in my opinion, for preparing for something.

Miah is visiting one of our new teacher colleagues who is in the hospital with blood clots. I selfishly came home.

nervous

As a cheap way to send many of our teaching materials over here, we went with the USPS M-bag option, a service which allows you to send printed materials at a relatively low cost. We shipped them in the middle of July.

They're not here.

Miah put many of her favorite children's books in it along with PowerPoint presentations and other important teaching materials. I put in many ESL books and literature books which I considered important. For some reason, we have detailed lists of the books stored at my parents' house, but we didn't make a list of the books we sent. Miah says we don't need to freak out yet, but I'm freaking out, and she's just trying to be the strong one.

Saint Anthony needs to come through on this one!

A fighting cow and pot from Crete

If the title of the blog post confuses you, join the club. Both of those are things which came up during the school director's speech to the faculty this morning. Neither thing was explained.

Miah's blog below is the first of many entries from her, but I have been tasked with filling in the blanks of Sunday and Monday. It's getting late, I just ate, and tomorrow is another day of meetings, so this will be unfortunately short.

On Sunday, Miah and I decided to go to Aegina with whoever showed up at the platform of the Panormou station at 7:30, a plan we discussed with a few people the day before. At 7:30, John and Kate--academy science and 3rd grader, respectively--showed up on the platform. None of us were all that excited, to be honest, because it had rained the day before, and the Sunday sky held the promise of more of the same. We agreed that we would at least go down to Piraeus and see the port before calling it quits and heading "home" to the hotel. When we go there, we couldn't resist the call of the island, so we paid 19 Euros for a roundtrip ticket to and from the port city of Aegina. The ferry, the Artemis, was a 3-story behemoth that was practically empty when we sailed at 9 o'clock, and it sped through the Saronic gulf at a speed which, combined with the stormy wind, had us staggering to maintain our footing on the top deck.

Half way to Aegina, the storm clouds began to clear over the island and spawned a double rainbow of intense color and beauty. It was so close that we could almost touch it.

Aegina is a town of about 10000 which lies on the western edge of the island. It has a small swimming beach lined with restaurants whose tables sit within splashing distance of the Mediterranean and whose walls are covered in drying octopus. We walked along the harbor for a bit and admired the beautiful and enormous yachts from all over Europe (most were bigger than our apartment) which then gave way to the fishing trawlers and dinghies. There were also two boats loaded with fresh produce which was spread out on the sidewalk of the harbor and was being eagerly perused by the locals. A kilometer or so from the restaurant where we ate was a column rising abover the rooftops, weatherbeaten and tired but still proud. It was part of the temple of Apollo, a structure older than the Christian faith (for some perspective). Another surreal moment. The entire population of the town could have been swept into the sea, but the column would remain. Or the population could push the column into the sea and its memory would die with the population. Either way, it remains.

After a delicious meal of grilled octopus, fried calimari, sfirida (some kind of white fish), and a Greek salad, we wandered around a little bit then boarded the ferry. We met another new teacher couple just arriving (tourists are everywhere!) who had also felt the call of island escapism. I won't detail the ferry ride back because I have pictures of the little boy, birds, and water on the Flickr page.

Monday, Labor Day, we put together our IKEA furniture which finally arrived on the backs of two sweaty Greeks. Putting together IKEA is a pain in the butt. Also, we got 2 wrong pieces: the cushion to the futon and a disgusting white coffee table. The things that happen when you don't speak Swedish or Greek. Beyond that, the day was uneventful.

Today began our meetings at school. I'm so riled up right now that I don't feel I should blog about it. One new teacher said, "It's like I'm stepping back in time 3 years." I know that doesn't explain anything to you, dearest reader, but it's perfect. We have a lot to bring to the school in order to catch them up to where many American public schools are.

We also went grocery shopping at ΑΤΛΑΝΤΗΚ in our neighborhood. It wasn't easy not being able to read any of the labels, and I'm still not convinced we didn't buy olive-scented baby oil instead of extra virgin olive oil. Oh, and somewhere in the process we acquired two glasses with spirally red hearts on them while checking out, and all the cashier said when I motioned they weren't ours was, "Doura." I don't know what that means.