Putting up lights

It's finally got cold here. Not very cold, but cold enough to feel a bit wintery. It's been raining all day today and I suddenly got the urge to make our house a bit christmassy. Unfortunately we don't have much by way of decorations. I scrounged up all the lights we've been gifted over the years and some left over ribbons and twigs. And now our house is much brighter, but my sister is not amused. She thinks it looks like a circus.
Whatever. I like lights!

my room





living room

6th of December 2009

It's a year later. We may have a different government (finally!), but we still have the same police force and no one has forgotten.

I went to the midday march in memory and (eternal) protest. I must say that I was pleasantly amazed by the amount of people that showed up despite the atmosphere of intimidation the police have been trying to enforce. I managed to conclude the march and return home unscathed, after inhaling only the requisite amount of teargas. I must say that this new teargas (bought from Israel I heard) is much better than the last. It doesn't sting nearly as much and it clears from the air in only a fraction of the time the old stuff used to. God job to the Israelis!

After I left, all hell broke loose.

My very first cake!

Remember the cake I was talking about yesterday? I finished it. It turned out rather messy, but it tasted fine! I'm very happy. I foresee a cake filled future for me. Just as soon as I get 1. some round cake tins 2. a cake tray 3. a spatula.

ps. Notice my crazy 70s kitchen tiles! I have similar style (but blue of course) in the bathroom. Hooray for old-fashioned tiles!

I'm still alive, barely

It's been ages since I've felt up to posting. I spent most of the summer depressed, annoyed and tired. Even my holidays turned out to be a tiring and at times frustrating hike through the greek islands. I had never been to so many islands over a three-week period! I had never taken so many consecutive boats and buses during such a short period. I had never had so many things go wrong!

So when september came I was anything but rested. September and October I passed the time being largely blue.

So that's what I've been up to. Not very interesting and not much fun.

And today is my sister's birthday and I'm baking my first cake! There is so much room for thing going terribly wrong! I have so far baked the cake that looks ok, even though it's rectangular. I didn't have a round cake tin. I just realised I don't have a large dish to put my weird square cake in! I should pop to the supermarket to see if I can find anything. And then I have to glaze it! The glaze is setting in the fridge.

Cracked Amphoree in Loutraki

The week-end that past I went to Loutraki. Loutraki is a small sea-side town very near Athens famous for it's spring water (which the rest of Greece buys in bottles), it's therapeutic spas (actually I found most of them closed, what a waste!) and recently, it's casino.

I was rather disappointed. For some reason I had imagined Loutraki to be the Greek equivalent of Bath in the UK. It turned out to be more similar to Blackpool. And even then far uglier. Not a fancy hotel or old stately building in sight! Everything was tall utilitarian modern blocks...

However I had a good time. It's the company, not the location, that's most important. And I was in good company. I swam, I ate, I took photos and caught up with friends. All in all a worthwhile trip.

However, on the way to a nearby monastery I came across this little gem:



Ironic Post-Modernism in the greek countryside? It brought to mind this iconic building:

Seaside AlleyCat race

In February I mentioned taking part in a Carnival AlleyCat Race held by the team 'local'. It was so much fun that when I heard about the Seaside AlleyCat Race the Sunday that past, I had to take part in that one too!

I must say that it was exhausting! But also exhilarating. It was much harder than the Frebuary one, this time we did 36 kilometres! And took a boat to an island. If I didn't take two big breaks in the middle, I wouldn't have made it. But I did, and I have been feeling very smug and proud of myself ever since.

For those who know Athens and would like to know this times itinerary:
Start point Athens 1st Cemetary - Mets
1st checkpoint Tom's Corner - Plaka
2nd checkpoint Nea Smyrni Park - Nea Smyrni
3rd checkpoint "Freed" Beach in Elliniko (here I took a half an hour break)
4th checkpoint Faliro Square - Paleo Faliro
5th checkpoint Ticket Office for boats to Aigina - Piraeus (here we all took a one hour break
while on the boat)
Finish point Perdika Beach - Aigina

Second Athens Biennale

Sunday evening I went to a couple of free concerts held within the bounds of the second Athens Biennale. They where held along the Athens coastline of Palaio Faliro. It's an interesting part of Athens. You have the sea - and even a couple of sandy beaches where people swim -, you have pedestrian paths and cafeterias and playgrounds and marinas and you also have the tramway separating you from the littoral main road. I didn't take my bulky camera so I ended up taking photos and videos with my mobile. The turned out suitably crappy, but I'll show you them anyway.

First we saw Larry Gus, who set himself up in a children's playground in Batis and played weird electronic noise to a setting of barking dogs and young children climbing over him or stealing his toys.




Afterwards we went a little further, where St Peter gave us wings so we could go into the enclosure and see The Tree of Wisdom and The Holy Ghost (a dove) - otherwise known as My Wet Calvin. At the end of the live the enclosure was torn down and we made our way with our wings to Floisvos.
                       




At Floisvos we saw the Lumiere Brother play hunched over his keyboard, under the sparse light of a single streetlight.




The finale were The Flakes, a classic indie group with two guitars and a girl singer.

Athens Gay Pride

So on Saturday I went to the Athens Gay Pride. I have so many gay friends that it only made sense to go. When I was in Paris for two years I went to both Prides and I remember how much fun they were. A crazy multicoloured street-party. Unfortunately in Greece everything is more sedate. Comparatively it was rather boring. Very few people came - most greek gays are deep in the closet and live in fear of their parents finding out. Things however are changing. The teenagers of today are nothing like we were. In some things they are much more courageous - it certainly helps that their parents are also nothing like ours...

A lot of straight friends and aquaintances showed up that I thought wouldn't. I even saw a guy from university I alway thought was cute kissing his boyfriend. I never knew he was gay. It stands to reason that all the cute ones are.

Monday was a bank holiday

Monday was a bank holiday and the weather is hot. So I did what all reasonable Athenians do under the circumstances. I escaped – briefly – from the sweltering hell-hole that is our metropolis.

I went camping! Under the pine trees in Agkistri. It’s a sweet island, very convenient for short getaways. Only two hours from Piraeus by boat and the pine forest that is used as a free camping site is an easy walk from the port.

Unfortunately everybody always has the same idea. The place was crawling with people and campers. The seas were full of sailing boats and speed-boats.

It had been three years since I last visited the island. As usual development is an unstoppable evil. The place was amazingly more built up that I remember it. Even all the old tavernas has renovated into new chic places. It’s not that they weren’t nicely done, it’s that everyplace has ended up the same. Restaurants and cafeterias are the same whether you’re in Athens or an island. Greece or another country.

And I mustn’t forget the scourge of our islands: the permanent installation of deckchairs and umbrellas. While quite a few people like umbrellas and deck chairs on the beaches, and don’t mind paying for them, the truth remains that it’s illegal and that a large number of us do not appreciate the blatant hijacking of our public spaces. (By law in Greece all beaches are public property.) All too often we are pushed of the sandy beaches by the deck chairs of the littoral cafeterias and forced to take refuge on the rocks to lay our towels. Actually it’s better to avoid beaches with easy car access all together. If the only way to get to a beach is by a long walk and a steep climb down a cliff, chances are that it’ll be free of deck chairs and annoying dance music.

I shouldn’t complain. I needed the escape. Walking through pine forests instead of taking crowded rush hour buses. Swimming in blue seas and burning myself on hot beaches instead of counting down hours in the office.

As usual I arrived back in Athens exhausted – it’s near impossible sleeping in a camping site, one of your neighbours will invariably hold an all-night party and by nine in the morning the tent has always become a furnace, forcing you out. I also got back full of giant splotches all over my legs. Why oh why do insects insist on biting me? One of the beaches we went to was infested with horse flies and they decided to make a meal of me.

Back in Athens it’s hot hot hot. And I’m bored bored bored at my job. On the upside I have a dance class this afternoon (one of the few things I truly enjoy during my week). And the weekend is approaching again!

Last week end part 2

Now that the hot weather has arrived, things are happening. If you keep your eyes and ears open, you can find plenty of (free) ways to amuse yourself in this city.

Last week the alternative political newspaper Babylonia had it's festival. Unfortunately I wasn't up too it, so all I did was go to Friday's concert - which was very good.

On Sunday the group What Street Party organised a - yes, that's right - Street Party. It was a movable one. Starting from four in the evening it moved all around Athens, going to fixed check points at fixed times so you could find them. We met them up at nine o'clock at night when they were in the paved street beside the Law School. After walking, and riding our bikes, through the streets dancing and following the dj's on their home-made float, we ended up high up on Lycabyttos Hill. It was quite an experience. Dancing under the street lights, high up above Athens with all the lights of the city below us! I had to leave early (about one o'clock) because I was working next day. I hopped on my bike and whizzed down the hill, In less than twenty minutes I was home!

What Street Party #5 - 1st video

(obviously the video isn't mine)

Last week end

It's friday already, and I never got round to taking about last week-end! I've been too busy sleeping and watching Dr Who (I'm on season 3 and there are some brilliant episodes on it!)

This weekend I'm hoping to go camping. But that's to come...

Last weekend I did all manner of stuff.

I went shopping by bike. And got loads of stuff. A new hat, spices, soap flakes, essential oils, organic fertiliser and that's all I remember.

I played around with my plants. I re-potted my long suffering basil that's has turned into a freak because I don't know how to prune. I planted some potatoes that just grew shoots yesterday. I planted some basil cuttings too, I'm growing my own army of basil plants!

I made myself some all-purpose green soap base from olive oil soap flakes, olive oil and water. I plan on using the base to make shampoo, cleaning liquid, dish-washing detergent. Also I made myself some homemade hair-conditioner. Lets see how it all works!

Also I cooked. Well, I always cook, but this time I took photos:


Want the recipe?

Papoutsakia (Stuffed Aubergines)

1 kgr round aubergines (that should be about 3 or 4 aubergines)
½ kgr mincemeat (preferably beef or lamb)
½ kgr tomatoes skinned and chopped (or a can if you’re lazy)
2 onions finely chopped
fresh parsley finely chopped
1 cup of breadcrumbs
1 egg lightly beaten
parmesan or greek graviera grated
sugar
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp of butter
lots of olive oil


1. Wash the aubergines and cut in half. Sprinkle cut side with salt and leave to sit for 30 minutes.
2. Afterwards wash the aubergines and place, cut side down, in an oven dish with 1 cup of warm water. Cook in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until soft.
3. Leave to cool down a bit and then using a spoon push down the flesh to hollow out. (It’s best to throw out water and keep them in your oven dish.)
4. The mincemeat filling is similar to a Bolognese sauce: Saute onions in oil until softened and then add mincemeat. When mincemeat has browned add tomatoes, sugar, salt and pepper. (If you want you can add red wine and cinnamon too.) Cook for 30 minutes.
5. When mincemeat mixture is ready, remove from the heat and add parsley, ½ cup of breadcrumbs and the egg.
6. Fill hollowed out aubergines with mincemeat mixture.
7. Mix ½ breadcrumbs with the butter and the cheese and sprinkle liberally over aubergines.
8. Poor a nice amount of oil in your dish full of aubergines and place in the oven. Cook in a medium oven for 40 to 60 minutes.
9. Remove from oven and leave to cool for 30 to 60 minutes before eating.

This dish tastes even better the next day, so don’t be afraid to cook plenty!

Note: many people prefer their papoutsakia with a light béchamel topping. In that case don’t add the egg or the breadcrumbs to the mincemeat, but make a light béchamel with lots of cheese to pour over the top of the aubergines before baking in the oven.

Just another weekend

It's so hot! And all the flowers are out, and haven't died yet. So I'm suffering twice as much. I'm in a state because of my hay-fever and I'm forced to work in this weather, which will just get worse and worse and worse. August is so far away!

The weather and my hay-fever have done such a number on me that I'm skipping half my dance classes. And when I do go, I get dizzy half the way through.

But I've got plans! Big plans! (If the heat lets me go through with them and I don't end up spending all my time flat on my back trying to catch the breeze.) I've bought ingredients - and I've others yet to buy - to make my own cosmetics and cleaning liquids. I'll keep you posted!

Also I've got plans for my little balcony-cum-garden.
I'm taking cuttings from my giant mishapen basil (I'm new at this and don't know how to properly prune plants yet.) and plan on filling the place with baby basils. On the down side, my spearmint is full of bugs and has infected everything in sight - which is making me very angry - but I plan on prevailing. I have a number of little aloe style plants I've saved from the rubbish in pots and am waiting to see how many will survive. I also plan on planting some old potatoes that sprouted to see what will happen. So all that keeps me rather busy.


In keeping with the whole domestic image I've got going on I cooked a traditional greek dish earlier today.




Do you want the recipe?

IMAM BAILDI
Serves 4
2 long aubergines, cut lengthwise
4-5 red onions, cut in half and thinly sliced
2-3 tomatoes(preferably soft and mature), diced
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
fresh parsley, chopped
olive oil (good quality and lots of it, don't scrimp)
salt and pepper
dry bread crumbs
grated hard cheese like parmesan or greek graviera

Cover bottom of large frying pan with olive oil. When heated (medium heat) add aubergines (score the fleshy part with a knife) fleshy part down. Turn the aubergines over a couple of times and remove from pan when they are soft and fully saturated in oil. (Don't be afraid to add oil to the pan when needed.)

Put the aubergines in a shallow square oven dish and let them cool down a bit.

In the meantime add the onions and garlic to the frying pan (with more oil if needed). Add salt and pepper. When the onions are soft add the parsley and tomatoes. Lightly fry for a couple of more minutes and remove from heat.

Using a spoon, push down the soft fleshy insides of the aubergines creating space inside them. Pour the onion mixture into them. Sprinkle breadcrumbs and cheese on the top to create a nice crispy topping. Liberally sprinkle more olive oil over the lot and put in the oven. Cook for about 40 minutes - until soft and mushy - under a medium heat.

Once ready, take them out and let them sit for 30-60 minutes before eating. (All greek "ladera" - oily dishes - taste better when cool.)

This dish is much heavier than it looks, so one half aubergine is plenty for one person. Accompany with a salad (lettuce or boiled leafy greens go nicely), greek feta cheese and oven potatoes.

By the way did you know that there's a greek music group called Imam Baildi? (http://www.myspace.com/imambaildi)

Filling the centre of Athens with Bicycles

Unfortunately I forgot to put a hat on and it was hot and sunny. I think I got heatstroke or sunstroke. I'm still feeling it a bit.

Cycling for treasure

Want to know what I did the Sunday that past? I went on a cycling treasure hunt! It was a lot of fun!

We were divided into groups and each given a list of 17 riddles. The answer to each riddle was a location in the center of Athens that we then had to find and photograph. The starting point of the treasure hunt was the park at the corner of Patission str and Kuprou str in Kupseli and the finish point was the park at the corner of Zoodohou Pigis str and Nauarinou str in Exarcheia. Both are parks that are being planted and sustained by the inhabitants of the neighbourhoods despite the mayor wanting to turn them into parking lots.

I spent about three and a half hours cycling backwards and forwards all over Athens, learning about places I'd never been and constantly bumping into the other groups that were also searching for the locations. It made Athens feel so small and so interesting.

Of course afterwards I felt accomplished and very very tired!

For those of you who know greek here are the riddles. How many can you answer? With a little cheating we got 16 out of 17. We didn't go too bad. Here are the results. We were the Fantastic Four.

Money well spent

Another thing I did over Easter was use my easter present money from work to buy myself a d-slr camera. Now I am no longer camera-less! I splashed out and got the Olympus E-410 with two zoom lenses (it was on offer). It's a super-cute super-small d-slr! unfortunately it's also rather complicated (I haven't finished reading the manual yet), and I am having a bit of trouble with the manual focus too.

But anyway, I'm happy about it!

I checked it out over the holidays and took a bunch of mediocre test photos. Want to see a couple?

The Resurrection


The only time a year Monastiraki Flea market is closed


The Ancient Agora


The Acropolis' "good side"


An old house in my neighbourhood

Easter came and went

So Easter came and went. Far too fast for my liking. Five days aren't nearly enough! Especially when Easter day is spent unconstructively with the family eating.

Besides eating lamb and red eggs, I did a couple of other eastery things, like going to church. I've been in Koukaki since the summer and I had never got round to checking out our neighbourhood church (Saint Nicholas). We went for the Epitafios (the Good Friday Epitaph) and the Anastasi (the Resurrection) - the only days most people bother going to church. And for good reason, they are the two single most theatrical and convivial services of the year! My impressions of my neighbourhood church? The priest is nervy and irritable, and on Friday he gave us a heartfelt advertisment of the Saturday morning service. He almost persuaded me to go - until I remembered it was at eight in the morning! The crowd was big and varied and multi-national. Besides greeks of all ages , there were also plenty of eastern european orthodox christians and a couple of pakistanis who were videoing the whole thing (!). Unfortunately the psaltes (choristes) were rather off-key. You can't have everything!


One other thing I did remember over my five days of freedom, was how much I am missing by wasting 10 hours a day at work (I count the two hours of transit as work hours).

Over Easter, I woke up nice and late and took advantage of the beautiful sunny days to go walking, cycling, shopping etc. How I had missed the sun and being outside midday with no hurry to get everything done on time!

I have often thought that a forty hour week is overdoing it. Who needs/wants to work forty hours? Except workaholics and doctors? I could very well my work done in twenty or less hours a week. I spend at least half my working day killing time. It makes you feel like a factory worker - clocking and clocking out. There's nothing that spells enforced labour more that being expected to arrive at nine on the dot and leave at five the earliest. I would like nothing more than to be a freelancer. To be payed by the project and to be able to make my own schedule. I always worked better with deadlines better than this enforced nine-to-five business that makes me feel like a damn secretary (being expected to answer the phone and occasionally make coffee doesn't help either). I didn't spend more years than I care to share studying architecture and then getting a post-graduate in urbanism to end up as a glorified designer/secretary!

So now I'm back to the old grind-mill, busy counting time till this annoying crisis/recession finally ends so I can find a better job. Sometimes I feel like I'm mentally marking down days on my figurative cell wall till it's time for my parole.

Riding the wind in disguise

I finally got round to doing something interesting today! I took part in the Athens Masked AlleyCat Race. I had heard of the AlleyCat Races and had always wanted to gear my self up to taking part in one.

Let me explain. These races are fun competitions/actions organised by a group of activist cyclists called λοκαλ (local), with the premise that its a fun way to reclaim our public space, by actually using it rather than just passing through in hermetically sealed cars. If you read greek, you can check out their site.
So what exactly is an alleycat race? It's a cycle race through Athens without a set itinerary. Starting off from the starting point you are given the location of the first check-point. Once there, you are told the location of the second check-point, and so forth. So you end up going in circles and zig-zags through the city never knowing where you'll end up, every one choosing their own route from one check-point to the next.
Only this alleycat race (my maiden one, but hopefully not my last!) had a twist. It's the second Sunday of the Apokries (Mardigras), so it was a masked race! Being my usual procrastinating self, I left it till last minute to decide what to dress up as. I ended up making myself a pair of wings late last night and this morning before the race. I almost missed the race because of the damn wings! They ended up a bodged job because I was in such a hurry.
Word of advice - when cycling in fancy dress avoid wings! They catch the wind and slow you down, they make it difficult to look over your shoulder at the cars behind you, they don't let you easily fit through narrow spaces. I originally made the wings to fall outwards like real ones. They looked great, but were hardly practical, so I had to stitch them up to sit behind my back. On the final leg of the race the stitching came undone and I found myself flapping down the street, wings stretched wide!

For those who want to know exactly how much of Athens I cycled through today, here are the check-points:

Start point: Zappeio Megaro
--> Omonoia Square
--> Syntagma Square
--> Hilton Hotel
--> Katechaki Metro Station (on top of the Calatrava Footbridge!)
--> Kolumbitirio (the swimming pool opposite the Kallimarmaro Stadium)
--> Syggroy-Fix
--> the workers housing on the Filoppapou ring road
Finish point: Gazi on the pedestrian street opposite Technopolis.

I didn't properly count but I think it took me about an hour and a half.

World Press Photo of the Year 2008

I was looking at the World Press Photo of the Year Winners last night. Truly amazing photos! If anyone is as interrested in photography as I am, they should really check them out!

The more things change, the more they stay the same

It's been awhile. What have I been up to?
First I was depressed,
then I got robbed,
then I was traveling,
then I got sick.

Now I'm back and kind of better.

It's easy to see that the only fun thing I did was traveling. First I went to Paris for a week and then to Thessaloniki for 4 days.
Things Paris and Thessaloniki have in common:
a. I studied in both cities,
b. I have a close friend living in each city,
c. They are damp, cold and dreary places in the winter, hot and humid in the summer, but wonderful all other times,
d. They are both far more beautiful than Athens.

In Paris I stayed at my good friend Amin's place. We had two years of catching up to do! I met his cute new boyfriend and said hi to his nice ex's - that boy sure has good taste! Apart from catching up with people, I meandered around the city. Actually I did a fairly good impersonation of an emo (or is that a goth?); I visited graveyards (I had never bothered to visit Pere Lachaise before) and a walked by myself in the hail and rain without an umbrella (not my fault the weather was foul and my umbrella was stolen!). Paris is lovely, yet depressing if you're single. I tried to cheer myself up with shopping (which only half-worked since I didn't have enough money) and taking photos (which was hard, because I was using a borrowed camera.)

As soon as I returned to Greece, I was off again to Thessaloniki, with my sister and my friend Voula this time. Thessaloniki was almost just as I left it. The only difference is that they're finally begun work on the long promised metro line, and the center city looks like one big construction site. (In other words what Athens looked like the years before the Olympics.) In Thessaloniki I took my friends for walks in the cold and we did a lot of eating. Thessaloniki is famed for it's food! I realised, yet again, that I know Thessaloniki like the back of my hand - far far better than I know my hometown of Athens.

And upon returning home, I realise that like most Athenians, I share a strange love-hate relationship with my city. It's easy to love her when I'm away, and very very easy to hate her when I'm home.