A Cut and Paste City

Athens was so different from Istanbul-not at all what I expected. The city reminds me more of a cut-and-paste collage that doesn’t blend so much as come together in jigsaw pieces.

History obviously dominates a lot of the space. It seamlessly integrates itself into the setting, rather than hide behind hoity-toity velvet ropes and long lines. Walking down the street, you will pass by cafes, weird sex shops, and then to your left is the temple of Zeus. The centerpiece of the city though, is the Acropolis, and it’s literally in the center of everything. You can easily see the iconic columns from many points of the city. Seeing the Acropolis was an extremely humbling experience for me. There is an unspoken but tangible awe that really just made me speechless while I was there.  From there you also get a breathtaking view of the entire city. The Acropolis is like a masterpiece lost in time, frozen and preserved into our present day; it was my favorite part of Athens for sure.

But within the streets, you will come across so many different sectors. There are really posh, western brands and high scale gallerias (that contain more police for better protection). Then you will walk into grungier districts that look like they came out of a Hot Topic catalogue. There is X’lahia (I am destroying the spelling) Square, which is basically the founding father of Berkeley. Filled with graffiti and tags, the square is the center of youth culture. There are really hip bars and edgy looking teens smoking on all the steps. You’ll see a flourishing community garden that originally was going to be made into a parking lot structure before the residents occupied it. The culture of political activism is screaming from every building and every poster you see. It is also where the 15-year-old boy was shot point-blank by a police officer. Some parts of Athens are quaint and colorful, while others have an abandoned vibe about it. The cut and paste effect I think comes from the disconnecting overlap between the conventional, “European” aspect of Athens, and the effects of the economic crises. Put this all together and you get a very interesting mixture that makes Athens. 

Greek Life

Super delicious Greek dessert!!!

Picnic by the sea~

Too. much. yum. 

Orange cake from our favorite cafe!

General life in Athens takes its own slow tempo. Eleni told us how “Greeks enjoy their free time,” and at the end of our trip I can definitely say that Julie and I get it. Meals, for instance, easily last 2-3 hours. It isn’t about being slow eaters, but about taking the time to enjoy the meal and more importantly, the company. As a terrifyingly fast eater (imagine a raptor preying on baby dinosaurs and you pretty much have me at the dinner table) coming from a family of fast eaters, I’ve come to appreciate my meals in Athens. No one is rushing to get from point A to point B, rather everyone is enjoying the block of time that they have in between, when they aren’t working two jobs to make ends meet. I love it. I love that waiters do not rush you or passive aggressively clear your table to get you to leave. I love how dessert is offered for free. I love how kind owners will give you free desserts or free shots just because they are friendly (and during such an economically hard time). Oh, and on a side note, being vegetarian in Greece has been the best.

The same principles apply to café shops. After a few hours of walking around, Julie and I will pop into the nearest and cutest looking café to rest our legs and enjoy some tea. We’ll end up spending a couple hours in the same spot. Logistically, this life style may be more expensive if you add up how many cups of drinks you buy. And maybe on paper, it sounds like a humdrum way to live. But Julie and I both agreed that our time spent in Athens has been, albeit slower than Istanbul, pleasant in its own Athens-esque way. We made friends with the café workers at a place called Kimolia (chalk) Art Café (perhaps we are touristic “regulars”), ate traditional foods, met so many new friends by being super extroverted and friendly, and got to really learn how to enjoy our free time. It will be weird adjusting when we return to Berkeley, the land of Rush To the Library and Waste None Of The Time. I definitely do not miss that culture, where I feel like minutes of time spent with people are measured by how much time that could be spent “being productive.” I wish we had a culture that put more value in interactions, in setting side the time to thoroughly enjoy people’s presence and making simple gatherings very personal. But we will cross that bridge when we fly back to the States. 

The Demonstration

Maybe it is something about being in a different country that made the demonstration seem “soooo dangerous” to my friends/family. But honestly, the demonstration we attended hit pretty close to home with how Berkeley is. There were signs, speakers, lots of young adults, and people handing out fliers and pamphlets. There weren’t even any police officers. From my experience, here are some of the key differences I could gather:

• This demonstration had a more unified and coherent cause: antifascism. Berkeley protests get a little too messy, in my opinion. If you ask a random student there why they are protesting or what the protest is for, most won’t be able to give you a clear answer.
• The picket signs are better made.
• It doesn’t smell like a cornucopia of weed.
• Maybe it is just me, but I felt like there was a stronger urgency that pulsed through the demonstration. Maybe this goes along with the fact that there was a stronger, unifying cause. But sometimes protests at Berkeley seem too diluted, or idealistic.  You get the fire alarm-pulling and class-ditching behavior. We are still passionate and the issues are important, but we’re protesting from behind protective walls. Here, things are more serious.
• This demonstration ended in a concert! I’ve found that I really enjoy male Greek singing, there is some real talent going on over here.  

Athens Demonstration

Tomorrow, Julie and I are attending a demonstration protesting the fascist party. 

Two nights ago, a Pakistani baker was murdered by a fascist member at 3 am outside his shop for "being an immigrant." He was stabbed and died instantly. 

A year ago, a policeman shot a boy in the head after he jeered at him. It was 9 pm in a public square and the boy was 15 years old. Riots soon followed. 

Greece has a website called "indy media Greece." It is essentially a forum dedicated to organizing protests and reporting events in more detail than the mass media. Anyone can post on the website; it reminds me of reddit but dedicated solely to occupying and protesting. 

Universities are regarded as "asylums of free thought." Policemen are not allowed to enter universities and arrest students for protesting or occupying classrooms. The same principle applies for any public building except for churches. But private buildings can immediately call policemen to intervene against protesters. 

I love the idea of universities as asylums of free thought. It sounds like a remanent of the FSM movement in Berkeley. 

Inner Insights on Greece [nerd alert]

• There is a new Facist party rising in Greece-it's essentially a Nazi-party. Comprised of a small group of thug men in their 20s, they buzz their heads and proudly wear nazi symbols on their hands. To me they sound like goony villain characters from a cartoon show, which is why hearing Eleni explain their rise to power is so unbelievably terrifying. They operate like gangs and go around the city beating up immigrants, or individuals they do not deem "greek" (they are known to beat up darker skinned individuals even if they are greek). Terrorizing the immigrants has become a "scapegoat" for the economic crises in Greece, and despite their very negative image (it is not unknown to the population of Greece), this party has seats in Parliament and had a 7% voting bloc in the last election.  The police do not arrest these individuals because they threaten to attack their homes. Scary times... (here is a nyt article about it)
• Greece has huge tax corruption. Essentially, the wealthiest class will illegally move their fortunes to places like Switzerland so that their income cannot be taxed. In a recent scandal, someone discovered that there is a list of all the wealthiest individuals who committed such acts. The list was hidden in the office of high-up government officials. With the public eye now wide open, investigations are being conducted on the government officials who are alleged to have kept the list in secret. The amount of tax evasion in total from the list alone amounts to approximately 1 billion dollars. It is gasoline being dumped into an economic crises already in flames. 
• For the first time, Greece is on the brink of having its government fail. Basically, the ruling majority in Parliament is about to lose its majority as more individuals revoke their support for the party. If the over-all majority is lost (only 2 individuals are left from keeping the majority intact), then the government fails. There is no precedent for this situation and no one knows what will happen. 
• I liked how Julie described the general sentiment of the people of Athens-the crises has made them sad (based on people we have met and asked). And it is true, there is a general hopelessness, like people have given up on the situation. But at the same time, as my host Eleni explained to us, it is an oscillating reaction. There is anger...and then sadness. As protests are met with no changes time and time again, it is easy to see where that hopelessness stems from. Yet as the news continues to report the negative trajectory Greece is continuing to take, can you not feel frustration? 
• The unemployment rate here is approximately 26%. I remember how ballistic the media scene was when the US had a 12% unemployment rate. This seems almost unreal to me. When my parents were laid off for the first time, I was in middle school. Even then, the stress was a tangible sore that remained in my family until the day my dad finally got a job. I can never fully relate or understand the hardships that so many families here must be facing. 
• Eleni tells us that there is a rising population of homeless people. Coming from Berkeley, homeless people are inherently part of the scenery. But there is a difference between the stupid, hipster, "oh my god me against the man" hobos you there and the people on the streets here who represent the image of what it means to have no more options left. 
• So much of Greece's political and economic situation reminds me of the US. From the corruption of the wealthiest (1%), to the government refusing to hold them accountable. Greece also had a housing crash, almost perfectly mirroring that in the US. Constructers built way too many new buildings that are now unsellable, and drive the value of all preexisting property. And the protest culture here hits so close to home back in Berkeley.
• Greece has a healthcare system that sort of mirrors that of Chile. There are different "associations" of health insurance plans based on what job you have. For instance, the blue-collar workers all have their own insurance plans that their employers pay into. Lawyers will have a specific insurance plan...etc. etc. Insurance plans have specific providers that people can go to for care when needed, and people originally will pay a small sum to the employer for their health plan. Even though there are private (For the richer / government sector people) and public hospitals, and public hospitals are known for long wait times and inefficiency, there is a general sentiment of trust amongst the population for public hospitals. Thought that was REALLY interesting. Once you have your health insurance plan, the care you receive will be "free." There has been recent controversy over public hospitals now implementing new fees for screening services in the emergency room that used to be free regardless of whether you had insurance or not. Now they are charging 3 - 5 euros. The Greek health system fascinates me because I can easily identify characteristics that are/were within our system. As I travel, I think I'll find that every country has different systems that kind of collage into one another with unique bits and pieces. While Greece has healthcare issues, and Eleni said that the public health status has been deteriorating along with the general crises, that it is not the concurrent issue that it is in the States. It isn't being prioritized at all, and it'll be interesting to see if that will manifest in an even more negative way later on. But given all the problems Greece is facing, it is easy to see why other problems like the health care system inevitably take a backseat. 
• Didn't know that Greek was mandatorily orthodox until 1982 (to put that into context...my mom was born in 1960. That is how recent that is). Children all had to be baptized in order to be officially registered with the government. Before 1982 women didn't have equal salaries either. So...safe to say gay marriage isn't quite a thing yet in Athens. 

This may be a really chunky and nerdy post, but after conversing with Eleni tonight, I feel that there are some things she taught us that I never want to forget. I figured if I saved what I could here, I can always come back and do more elaborate research later. Everything we talked about really fascinated and struck me. There are just some things you can never learn from anywhere else, and when you get the chance to absorb that kind of knowledge you dont' want to take it for granted. 

Kindred Spirits -Our Athens Host

Our Athens host is the epitome of a Berkeley student living inside a motorcycle riding, fisherman braid-wearing Greek woman. "Cool" doesn't begin to describe how cool she is. Her apartment looks and feels exactly like a Berkeley apartment. She has a room mate, doesn't like washing dishes until the morning, has brightly colored walls and fills them with exotic African decorations and cool posters of protests and photographs. Of course, she is also so extremely intelligent and interesting. Listening to her talk with us on her couch/bed feels like listening to bedtime stories only we're listening to her describe the economic crises, all the political unrest that is happening, the health care system, all the flaws and corruption within the rich and government groups...it is a dreamy Berkeley heaven. Even as I feel my eyelids droop with sleep, I know I could sit in that living room and listen to her talk forever. Something about that insight  and genuine interest in current events feels like a flicker of light that is drawing me and Julie in. As if she can't get more "Berkeley" enough, she has these adorable two black cats that she is kind of obsessed with, and has spent 2 weeks travelling in Iran. Honestly, Julie and I just want to bring Eleni back with us to Berkeley to either be a professor or a fellow classmate. She kind of falls into both categories.