I went downtown with Voula today. Bus -> Subway. It was fine. I'm used to a pretty convenient life in Boston, I think. Athens is just terrible. It's like a Middle-East city trying to Europeanize itself. So, on the one hand, Athenians seem better dressed, there are more of them, they look much more 'European' than before, albeit with far more dark hair (and the light haired ones showing roots). On the other hand, it's still totally polluted, there aren't really the city squares that make so much of Italy just awesome. Overall, in the last 13 years, it's much nicer. Much nicer. But, still, just not as nice as almost any other major city in Europe that I've been to.
So much for Greek blood loving the paterland!
I bought the girls and Chelsea presents downtown, that was fun. It's deep-discount sale time; things are remarkably cheap here. It's kind of funny to see all these clubbing outfits and hipster-type sweaters on sell in shop after shop for like 20 to 40 Euros. Suits for 75 Euros. No wonder Greeks can wear suits all the time – they cost less than a shirt in Boston!
The salesperson was nice, very flirty with me, dressed in this weird combination of like club clothes and salesclothes; pointy toed boots, white and black overlaid tops. She was super friendly until I guessed her age at 28. After that, I got pouts and the cold shoulder. Hah! We all age, baby. I thought the whole thing was hilarious.
This trip has meant some serious quality time with Voula. I mean a lot of time with Voula. Wow. We're spending like eight hours a day, it feels like. Papou can't really go out, certainly not to go shopping, so we had quite a bit of time together. She's really incredibly sweet, in every way, and she's totally devoted to Papou. It's quite remarkable how hard she works for him, and she's not bitter at all – she just completely loves him. I mean, they fight, loudly, but every possible danger to him she points out, and worries about.
I got some amazing footage today of Papou and Voula, unfortunately Voula was off camera, talking about Papou's surgery. I didn't want to move because the story was so intense. I hope it came out well on camera, we'll have to see.
It's midnight in Greece, I'm just getting going. I'm going to get to work editing my book.
2 comments:
hey Peter,
I'm jealous ... sounds like lots of fun over there ... I didn't know you were writing a book!!
Kari
Hey Kariuki, yes, I'm having a great time. The book is my summary of expectations and hopefully wise thoughts for my managers. It's not too-too long, maybe 40 8.5x11 pages, but it's been a huge amount of work, so it feels like a book to me!
Post a Comment