Today in Athens
Aug. 3rd, 2006 08:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zonewombatKind of a gross walk into work today. Someone left a dead cat on top of the trash can across the street from us. I guess it had been hit by a car. There aren't street cleaner trucks, just a lady with a can and a broom who comes by mid-day, so I guess someone wanted to get the cat out of the street before the laiki market.
A lot of the Americans are very critical of how the Greeks care for public areas, saying that inside a Greek's home, it's spotless, but once you cross out of that zone of ownership, no one takes care of anything. I don't really see that. Greeks don't litter, and the streets and parks are clean. Yes, there's graffiti, but that's a different thing. The reason that trash strikes are so noticeable is because otherwise trash doesn't pile up to the sky, unlike other places I've lived. Greeks do expect the state to take care of public areas somewhat, but not to the degree that former Soviet cultures do, and there's still a village mentality of "this is our area, we take pride in it."
So anyway, dead cat in the middle of the road, woo-oop!
Then a big cicada hit me in the face and got caught in my hair. I had the willies for a whole 'nother mile after that. I hate cicadas.
And finally, the metro train I got didn't have air conditioning, and the smell was a little much. This caused me and my cow-orker to compare "bad smells around the world." Greece, even in the metro during the summer, doesn't even come close to topping the list. For me, durian (in any form) is the winner. The Carrefour here is in the top 5, because the sewage pipes are always broken and dripping into the carpark. The paper mill in Antioch, CA and the meat packing plant in Roswell are also in the top 5.
Anyway, work was work. We all had to leave the embassy "early" (at 6:00...but these freaks schedule meetings at 5:00 pm) due to yet another demonstration. The Greeks have been demonstrating at the American Embassy since mid-June, showing solidarity with the Palestinians and Lebanese against Israel. I'm not sure why they are demonstrating against us, but there you are. A week or so ago, demonstrators pulled down the statue of Truman (erected downtown in honor of the Truman Doctrine, which most Greeks I talk to now have never heard of, just as they've never heard of the Marshall Plan) and then went on to assault a couple police officers, taking one's gun and putting two in the hospital. Turns out Greek policemen aren't allowed to use deadly force when someone tries to take their weapon.
The Greeks' position on the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict is really annoying me. If Macedonians came into Greece and kidnapped a couple Greek soliders, you can bet your bottom drachma that Greece would respond much as Israel has done, and tell anyone who said they shouldn't to get bent.
But maybe it's just summer and the kids are bored, and at a demonstration you get to listen to music and hang with your friends.
A lot of the Americans are very critical of how the Greeks care for public areas, saying that inside a Greek's home, it's spotless, but once you cross out of that zone of ownership, no one takes care of anything. I don't really see that. Greeks don't litter, and the streets and parks are clean. Yes, there's graffiti, but that's a different thing. The reason that trash strikes are so noticeable is because otherwise trash doesn't pile up to the sky, unlike other places I've lived. Greeks do expect the state to take care of public areas somewhat, but not to the degree that former Soviet cultures do, and there's still a village mentality of "this is our area, we take pride in it."
So anyway, dead cat in the middle of the road, woo-oop!
Then a big cicada hit me in the face and got caught in my hair. I had the willies for a whole 'nother mile after that. I hate cicadas.
And finally, the metro train I got didn't have air conditioning, and the smell was a little much. This caused me and my cow-orker to compare "bad smells around the world." Greece, even in the metro during the summer, doesn't even come close to topping the list. For me, durian (in any form) is the winner. The Carrefour here is in the top 5, because the sewage pipes are always broken and dripping into the carpark. The paper mill in Antioch, CA and the meat packing plant in Roswell are also in the top 5.
Anyway, work was work. We all had to leave the embassy "early" (at 6:00...but these freaks schedule meetings at 5:00 pm) due to yet another demonstration. The Greeks have been demonstrating at the American Embassy since mid-June, showing solidarity with the Palestinians and Lebanese against Israel. I'm not sure why they are demonstrating against us, but there you are. A week or so ago, demonstrators pulled down the statue of Truman (erected downtown in honor of the Truman Doctrine, which most Greeks I talk to now have never heard of, just as they've never heard of the Marshall Plan) and then went on to assault a couple police officers, taking one's gun and putting two in the hospital. Turns out Greek policemen aren't allowed to use deadly force when someone tries to take their weapon.
The Greeks' position on the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict is really annoying me. If Macedonians came into Greece and kidnapped a couple Greek soliders, you can bet your bottom drachma that Greece would respond much as Israel has done, and tell anyone who said they shouldn't to get bent.
But maybe it's just summer and the kids are bored, and at a demonstration you get to listen to music and hang with your friends.
