Walk Like an Athenian... part δύο

Spent the weekend touring more historical sights (surprise!). Not much to report from Korinth, Sparta, and Mystra except that the landscape was out of this world.

In my adoptive hometown of Athens, these are things my senses encounter on a daily basis.

I...

Taste
coffee. Greece has a "cafe culture" like no other. When the citizens of Athens are not napping (from about 2-5 every day), they are drinking coffee. On any given morning, early afternoon, or evening, cafes are full of cappucino and frappe drinkers. I am puzzled as to when (or if) Greeks work. I have adopted this ritual, going to coffee at least twice a week with a group of 6 at Ελλας, our neighborhood cafe.

WARNING: NEVER DRINK "GREEK COFFEE". It tastes like dirt.

Hear
a loudspeaker. A truck full of trees and flowers in buckets is driven by an Athens salesman. His marketing tactic? Driving down my street at dawn and yelling through some kind of megaphone. Others refer to it as the early morning call to Jihad. Not exactly pc, but exactly what it sounds like.

Sidenote: as I sit in an internet cafe writing this, Mr. Tree himself is happily disturbing the peace outside.

Smell
the bus. The dominant group traveling by bus is old men. I assume they are usually en route to a kafenio to meet friends for coffee. They appear dressed for business, but gray hair sprouting from their ears and sporadic places on balding heads gives away that they're past working age. I usually end up crammed against the door of a trolley, and bad breath from a throat that needs to be cleared circulates around me.

The urban bus smells like a Greek kitchen. The aroma of oven-baked potatoes that γιαγιά cooked yesterday has permeated men's suit jackets, and now the air around me. The bus is kind of like a tupperware container that's been emptied of its leftovers. I don't get to enjoy the food, but am forced to smell the pungent odor still trapped inside.

Please, open a window.

Feel
worry beads. These are a true part of Greek culture. Strands of beads in all sizes and colors are carried by nearly every Greek man, and there are several techniques to play with them. Even though it is an exclusively male practice, I bought some anyway. They come in handy when I get fidgety.

Ask a Greek man why women don't use worry beads, and he'll likely tell you that we don't need them because "women have no worries".

See
or rather, how I am seen. It's nearly May, and the weather keeps getting warmer. I wear sleeveless shirts and sandals. Greeks are still wearing coats and closed-toe shoes on 70 degree days. Let me tell you, my feet get a lot of attention. Just today I went out for lunch and people stared at me like I was an alien.

Biggest clothing no-no: color. In a sea of black-clad Greeks, you might as well wear a flashing strobe light if you plan to go outside wearing spring colors.