Dough or Doughnut, there is no try

This is about doughnuts. Greek doughnuts vs. American doughnuts in a competition about quality, quantity and fluffiness. There's a little bakery on my way to my class at Deree, not the super awesome bakery with a huge selection like the one farther down our street where I had that great tart. No, this is just a little bakery in a circular building that sells different pitas (pies)and in the morning a few doughnuts. Now I've stopped there on my way to my morning class a few times and I get a doughnut for a euro. Not a little doughnut that fits in the palm of your hand like back home, granted they do have them but they seem smaller than the ones back home. This doughnut is relatively the size of my face, covered in powder sugar, and the last quarter of it is stuffed with chocolate. And this thing is all dough with very few air bubbles to fluff it out, but it's super fluffy at the same time. I'm used to doughnuts like the ones back home you can get at Dunkin, that come in a variety of flavors, they're small, covered or filled with cream, completely full or air and no dough, and they can be stale. The worse of this is that you have to eat almost 6 doughnuts just to feel full and that you ate something. So which of these has more calories? The Greek doughnut that's all bread with a little bit of sugar and chocolate, or the American doughnut that's all air, a little bit of dough and stuffed full of frosting either on or on top. Neither of them are probably really the healthiest things to eat in the morning or anytime. But when I'm eating a Greek doughnut, I'm walking up hill to campus, and either climbing more uphill or lots of stairs to get to class. When I'm getting American doughnuts I'm either at home doing nothing was driving to school and barely walking anywhere on a tiny high school campus. When I eat one of these Greek doughnuts for breakfast, I feel full, I also down it with a bunch of milk but I feel fine until lunch. When I eat American doughnuts for breakfast, it messes with my blood sugar levels and I'm starving an hour or two before lunch rolls around. And who cares about their food more? The Greek bakery owner, who every morning is making these doughnuts to serve to customers he knows by name and face that come in every morning to buy something, or the chain store who has shops in every part of the country, who's majority of stores have their doughnuts trucked in from a manufacturer for people they don't know, they're just trying to feed and make money off as many as they can. I haven't really missed the doughnuts back home but I'll definitely be sad to see these Greek ones go. I might have to get one this morning, seeing as I won't have time tomorrow and it's basically my last day here.

To-mae-to, To-mah-to

I don't think I've talked about the farmers' market yet, or laika agora, so that's what I'll do in this post. On our street on Mondays and June, and just a little farther down the road on Mondays in July there's a laika agora, or farmer's market. A bunch of people set up stalls, vegetables and fruits mostly, but there's also a clothing stall, a fish stall, and one time there was this guy that was selling spices, teas, honey and nuts. It's very nice and extremely cheap for the amount of produce you can get, not to mention it's all extremely fresh with a pretty big selection for local produce. When you walk up and down the one long aisle they've set up in the middle of the street with stalls on either side of you, vendors will shout back and forth in Greek, saying things like that they have the best produce or the freshest stuff, or the lowest prices. There's mountains of the produce at each stand, towers of lemons and tomatoes, castles made of almonds or walnuts. Not actual castles but you know what I mean. Some people give us samples, like one guy asked us to try some of his almonds and asked us if they weren't delicious, which of course they were but I also just really like free samples. I've gotten lots of potatoes there and garlic to make mashed potatoes. I've also gotten some local fish with I roasted off in the oven one night. Most of the dinners I've made here, I've made with stuff that I bought at the farmers' market. It's one of the best things and I've enjoyed it with the time I've been in Greece. It'll be one of the things I miss most when I leave, because we don't have things like this back home. Back home we don't like in such a tight nit community with the ability to walk down the street to the store without fear of getting attacked. If I wanted to walk to the store back home that'd be crazy, it's a 10 minute drive into town and I live off a major highway so walking would be a bad choice. We don't really have farmers' markets back home. WE have flea markets and you used to be able to buy produce from farmers at these but now it's a people with tables full of junk from their garages trying to rip people off on trash. I'm from a small town so there's something we have close to the laika agora, but I think it might only be maybe one Saturday a month, it could be every Saturday though, I'm not sure. In our downtown area, where the courthouse is, sill a 10 minute drive from my house, they'll close off one or two streets and people will sell produce and stuff. I've seen stalls for local honey when I've driven by. I've never been though so I'm not really sure what they have but I think it's mostly arts and crafts. Also back home, we have a lot of houses and a few farms, that have pick your own stuff, mostly strawberries and blueberries. You can also see tables and trucks set up on the side of the road with produce, sometimes a lot cheaper and better than the stuff at the store. That might actually be the closest thing to a laika agora back home, just a truck or someone outside their house with a few baskets of produce, mostly tomatoes, set up waiting to see if someone will stop and buy.

The Greek Economy

I think I'm now starting to see the effects of the debt crisis on the Greek economy during my time here. I think what really opened my eyes that there was actually a problem here is Nicki and I attempted to go out to eat for dinner. When we eat out at some of the restaurants just around the plateia (spelling?) there weren't many other diners, maybe one or two couples at certain restaurants at various times. I didn't really think much of it because it had been earlier when we were eating compared to when most Greeks would eat, and most Greeks would be out way later than I normally would. When you look at the menus over here, you notice price changes on different items, just numbers scratched out and taped over on just a few items. I go out to eat with my friends and there'll be a couple of items on the menu they don't have. No biggie, menus change, they run out of something, whatever. When Nicki and I went out that night though, we checked out a restaurant we've never really been before, little German place by the college. There was no one there, not unusual because we went out to eat right after the end of siesta time, Greeks don't really eat dinner till 8 or so where I would normally eat round 6. The guy gave us a menu, a huge menu with tons of drinks and food items, and Nicki and I looking over decided to split a dish that had five different types of sausage as well as several other traditional German foods. Well, when the guy came to take our order they only had three out of the five sausages, a little weird, so I tried to order something else. They didn't have that either. So I asked the guy what they did have, and he pointed out a total of five dishes top out of a menu that originally had at least 15 different dishes. I was weird-ed out by this, why would it be on the menu if you don't have it? It was completely befuddling to me and I didn't know what to do since all of my options just dwindled completely. We just got the dish with three sausages and asked the man if the price would be cheaper since it wasn't the original advertised dish. He didn't answer, but it was on the receipt. Well this was also a German ale house and they had more beer than food on their menu so I tried to order a drink. That wasn't happening though, their vast number of beers was now reduced to about four or so. This was a major eye opener for me because this was the first I actually experience an effect of the debt in such a big way. One or two items I barely noticed, but half the menu gone and it had my attention. You can't really keep up with such a vast menu when you have so few costumers because less and less people really have the money to go out and eat anymore. The price of doing business becomes that much more expensive and cuts have to be made somewhere, and food is the easiest thing to downsize at a restaurant. Next I think might be the staff. Another thing that caught my attention, again food related, was the closing down of a restaurant near our dorms. It was a restaurant that I had wanted to try for a while to go and try out my Greek lessons on. Anytime we got the chance to go though, it was closed. I think I only really saw it open once. Then the other day when I was out shopping all the windows and door were blocked out with this green cloth. They could be doing renovation, but that might be too expensive an endeavor when there's so little money, so I think it's more likely they shut down. The weird thing about it, is that I have this idea in my head that if I had gone when I first had the chance they might still be open. It's weird to hear about it, "oh the Greeks have no money," but really mind boggling to see it happen, to see a restaurant shut down when just a few days ago it was open. Part of me hopes that it really is just redecorating, but a big chunk of me says no.

Blogggggg

So yesterday I came into my first encounter with being trapped in a Greek conversation. I didn't know how to escape, or politely get away in order to go work on the other things I needed to accomplish. So the story goes, I went to the library with the intent of getting a few hours of research done for a term paper I need to write. I went to the reference desk hoping to get some help finding my topic in the library since I couldn't do it on my own with just the computer catalog. I had to wait for the man working the reference desk to finish up helping Briana, no big deal I could start searching through my own text book and notes to help me understand my topic better. It took longer than it might have back home, but hey we run on Greek time here and again I had my book to start with. So eventually the guy gets to me, and I ask him my question, we go through this back and forth survey while he tries and figure out what I'm asking or searching for, and then the entire point of my paper. Time elapsed I'm guesstimating five-ten minutes? Then he tells me he's going to start a search on his computer because he doesn't understand my paper topic, he pulls up a chair next to his computer, little did I know I'd be trapped there for a good hour. We wikipedia the topic, click on numerous resources, he goes through my textbook, gets up to help someone else, comes back goes through my text book more, clicks on more sources,and basically goes through every option possible. The result of this is that he tells me he doesn't really know how the help me and that's he's scattered brain because he's so tired. So I'm thinking that's the end of it and I want to go start my research because I have an idea of what I need to do even if he doesn't. Nope, he then shows me how to pull up different ways to look up books, articles, and how to use Jstor, which I knew. That takes another half an hour or so all the while I'm trying to tell him 'hey I got this, let me go do my thing.' Long story short I get away eventually and this guy is completely upset he couldn't help me, or at least that's what he told me. Then I only get maybe half an hour of actual research, not even research but mapping out my essay. So I was confused as to why this guy would do this. From what I read Greeks won't go out of their way to help you if they don't know you, but it was this guy's job to help me. Honestly, I thought he was hitting on me in a weird way because he wouldn't let me leave and then he kept laughing at everything. It was weird, and made me uncomfortable, and frustrated me because I wasn't being allowed to just get up and do my own thing. So why was this guy going so far out of his way to help? He said he was Greek-American so maybe it's a mixture of his heritage. The Greek helpfulness to go far out of your way for certain people, the American perspective to do a job and do it to the best of your ability. That would be my guess but I'm really not sure. I'm not even sure why it annoyed me the way it did. Here was some guy I don't know, going on and on about stuff I already knew how to do, and there was that infliction of being explained something while being talked down to, like I couldn't possibly know. Then there's the feeling of being trapped because you're trying to be polite, you want to say 'hey, thanks for the help now leave me alone' but you can't because that would be rude. It was frustrating because I just had a simple question, 'where can I find this subject', simple answer 'we don't have this in our library,' or 'I've never heard of that, try it under a different topic.' I just wanted something simple and I feel like I got burdened with something overly drawn out. I wonder if this is where cultures come into play, the American with their quick question and then leave me to do it on my own, show me once and I can do it myself. Then there's the Greek, here let me help you with this and everything that goes with, send you off knowing I've done absolutely everything I can for you.

What I don't like about Greece

And this is going to sound stupid and shallow right now, but I feel as if I'm suffering. They don't have candy here. I mean they have candy like gummy bears and chocolate bars, but they don't have movie theater candy. In fact the movie theater did not sell any kind of chocolate. They had chocolate ice cream. They even had alcohol. What kind of theater has alcohol and no chocolate? I miss me some raisinettes, big time. The first thing I'm doing when I get home is going to town on a box or raisinettes and some milk duds. I'm so confused as to why they wouldn't have box candy here. Is the only way I can get chocolate really in the form of a packaged croissant? They can build a Parthenon but they can't package candy. Harsh, but I'm seriously upset over this. What does it really take to make a single box of candy though? It's not homemade, no one's going to be standing in front of their stove single handily covering individual raisins in chocolate, not to mention the packaging and shipping that would then be needed. In that kind of a process I could expect to maybe have a box by next year? That's an estimate. The other option could be to ship it into the country, since they don't really have the land to build a manufacturing plant anywhere. Any available land would be used for farming or construction, I think. Shipping would be expensive, just to bring candy into the country, they already ship everything else so it wouldn't be a big deal I don't think. What if it's not a selling item though, there's no demand for it so why pay the tariffs for a box of chocolate only one American is going to buy the one time she visits. I'm seriously wondering about the lack of pre-packaged food here. Is there so little because they don't have the space to have their own factories? Is it because they ship it in and it's too expensive to have a wide variety? Or is there really no demand to it? I mean you can walk to the market everyday and buy things you need daily, you can go to the bakery to buy a freshly baked snack, you can buy fruit. When you're making all your own stuff, or fresh things are readily available there's really no need for the processed. Or are there more fresh things because there is a lack of processed? If you could buy everything pre-made, pre-cooked, pre-packaged, what is there left for you to do? You can buy it and stalk up on the stuff, then make a meal in an instant. You wouldn't need to go to the store everyday to buy groceries for things if everything came already prepared and stored in your freezer. That wouldn't be smart though, to store weeks worth of food in your fridge. At least not with all the power outages, you can't keep a lot of food in your fridge at the risk that it would all go bad. Then your left with having to go to the store everyday, to restock, and cook, and prepare yourself. It's healthier that way, you get exercise everyday, and food just seems to taste better when it's made by hand and not at the speed of light by a robot. There's really no need for packaged stuff, when it's not in demand, and it would just be too expensive to ship in if no one's really going to buy it. But still, I want some candy.

Move birch, get out the way

That's a tree joke, mom. I'm not saying anything crass and it's totally related to this post. And no I will not take down my reference to you, just keep reading. Anyway, something that's starting to bug me to no end is the tiny sidewalks here, not only are they super small you can't walk next to your friends, there's trees. There are trees in the middle of the sidewalk. So you have trees in the middle, metal cone/poles on the left, and then overgrown shrubbery fences on the right. There is no winning. And where am I supposed to walk? Can't walk on the side of the road next to the sidewalk, you get honked at and almost ran over, because the streets are all one way and tiny and people also park off on the side of the road, sometimes on the sidewalk (again no place to walk) so cars are trying to avoid hitting parked cars and me who can't walk on the freaking sidewalk. So instead of just cursing this backwards society who does not care for the pedestrian in need, let's think about why in the world anyone would PLANT TREES IN THE MIDDLE OF A FREAKING SIDEWALK?!?!?1 1. There's not a lot of nature or greenery in this small town/village (not sure what you call it) so maybe it's an attempt in order to bring some atmosphere and color into this marble apartment world. 2. The apartments are built so densely compact, tight nit on top of each other basically. There's really no yard, no front yard or backyard. And a lot of people have dogs around here that I've noticed. So maybe it's for the animals, give them something to do their business on so they're not going on the middle of the sidewalk for people to step in, or in the house cause they don't have anywhere else. Maybe the trees are for the dogs, which would make me feel better about them (except they still end up doing business in the road or just the sidewalk, so mission fail?) 3. In an attempt to keep cars from parking ON THE FREAKING SIDEWALK (seriously, why would you do that?) I'm going to plant a tree in the middle of it, now you can't park here. Now the pedestrians have to walk around it, but it is a much simpler task shuffling around a tree than walking around a car into the middle of the road where there are other cars driving, who could hit me. I might have a better idea of why the Greeks would plant trees in the middle of the sidewalk, or at least I think I do. Doesn't mean I'll be happy about it, it's still frustrating, and I'm going to steal the fruit off them. You know why? Because you planted them in the middle of the sidewalk.

Agora in Athens

We visited the Agora in downtown Athens today. That is where the most preserved temple in Greece is located, a temple built to Athena and Hephaestus, the god of smiths and metal working. There were some doric columns but they weren't completely doric because they were built in pieces. You could also see how the pollution was affecting the temple. Today I learned that Athena literally means goddess or immortal, and that Athens was named for Athena not the other way around. Just in case you didn't know. We saw a pit dedicated to offerings for the dead where Katie tried to throw Mary into. We saw the Bouleuterion which was the meeting place for all 500 senators. We got to see the outlining stones of what used to be the Tholos where 17 people at a time used to sleep to always be on duty for the people. On a food related note: this morning I made more pancakes and some strawberry jam from scratch and with that we made stuffed pancake burritos for breakfast. What I've noticed in Greece so far, is when you think you have enough food to last a couple of days you are wrong. There's no food in our apartment on the weekend and stores are closed on Sunday. Nobody has really eaten the cornflakes though, and that's why I made pancakes for breakfast. Even if we don't have food, we have ingredients and I can improvise. Haven't starved yet, but we'll see.