March 6, 2008
Happy almost Clean Monday! (Well, get to that later...) It's been a long week here and I've done quite a few things.It's amazing how time can feel like it's going by so quickly and so slowly all at the same time.
Last Thursday I took a trip up to Volos to visit the historical archives library and do some research for my project. It was a fairly productive trip, I'd say, but also a huge reminder of how very important it is that I actually learn Greek (which is going so-so). I basically read all the English resources they had in one sitting. Seeing the city was helpful though, getting a visual on it and exploring some. It's a port town and is right at the base of Mt. Pelion so if you look one way, you see harbor and sea, and the other way is this gorgeous view of the mountain. We arrived late Thursday night and all we could see of the mountain was the twinkling lights of the villages, but for a moment my friend Rania thought they were stars. She asked me which ones I thought they were, but then she figured out what they were and it was really funny.
That Thursday it was also a Carnival/pre-Lent-related holiday where everyone is supposed to grill meat and eat it. The thinking goes that what you have on that day (meaning meat which is a luxury--or once was anyway) determines what you will have for the rest of the year. So, back when you had to be well off to afford meat, neighbors would give uncooked meat to their less-fortunate neighbors to grill so that they had the possibility of "having" meat in the upcoming year. Everyone told my friends and I that it was very important that we had some meat that day so it was our mission once we got to Volos to find some. So we sat down at this crowded restaurant along the water thinking that everyone must be eating for the holiday, but as it turned out there were only 2 meat appetizers and EVERYTHING else was fish! We ended getting the appetizers which were very good, but it seemed a little ironic. I wonder, in a port town, does fish count? I don't know.
The rest of the weekend was a blur of Athens activity. I visited some museums during the day, and did homework at some cafe and then in the evening I went out with some friends to have dinner and get drinks. The nightlife district of Psirri was insanely packed though, my guess is because of Carnival because everyone was dressed like it was Halloween. It's a funny holiday here. I understand that dressing up is fun (I usually do it whenever I get the chance) but 2 weeks straight seems like a little much. This weekend is the big blow-out before Clean Monday (this upcoming Monday when everyone flies kites and begins observing Lent. I don't know what the kites symbolize, but it's apparently just as important as the eating meat) so we'll see if the costumers can really keep it up until then.
Yesterday I went with my class to visit Parliament. We had a little lecture about the history of the building (formerly the royal palace of King Otto--the "underage Bavarian prince" who was instated by the Great European powers after Greece's War of Independence...it's a long story), and how the government works. Way to long to go into here. And then we got the shortest tour ever and got to sit in on about 4 minutes of a deputies session as they wrapped up the Celebration of Women in Agriculture Day's events. I wish I could tell you what they said, but pretty much all I got was "women this" and "women that," not a whole lot in between.
Now I'm getting ready to go to the island of Syros this weekend. I have to be at the ferry at 6:30 tomorrow morning, so I have a few things to get done before I leave for a few days. My friends and I were supposed to go to the island of SKYROS where the largest Carnival celebration (or the most famous anyway) in Greece happens, but she booked the wrong island by accident. Tickets are already paid for though, so SYROS it is! I hear it's a really beautiful island with nice beaches, so pray for good weather for me. It's definitely not warm enough to swim, but getting some sun would be nice--especially if I'm not getting to see the men who dress in goat skin costumes on Skyros!
I hope you all are well. Thank you to everyone who has sent updates! I love hearing about what everyone is up to, even if it's just the same old, same old!
Until next time,
Yours truely,
Alex
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