I am going through this misanthropic phase at the moment, which inevitably occurs when I am in contact with a lot of people for a lot of the time and for lots of reasons. Because people become not simply obnoxious but disgusting too. Human nature can be wonderful and disgusting in equal portions.
You know what it feels like when you are in love and everything is splendid and wrapped in a warm and sweet haze? Well, it’s the opposite now. I’ve fallen out of love with people. They look terrifying to me, and instead of a warm and sweet haze, they look sharp and pixelized.
Whatever I have to say won’t make much sense in the long run, because the truth is –as the British ambassador said once while presenting this wonderful book- that it is only through people that we become people. I don’t intend to live apart from people, it is just that right this moment they smell bad. I imagine that this goes both ways.
As for how this feeling came about, I can say with certainty that it happens by approaching too much, as I usually do, and that’s when I notice a side that is not so much dark as it is beige and slimy. One is disgracefully stingy, so much so that they are funny in their attempt to save their pennies. The next is navel gazing so miserably and so continuously that they lose touch with reality. And another one has a problem taming the control freak inside of them and unleashes it against the innocent. Do you remember how Peter Sellers lapses into an involuntary nazi salute in Dr. Strangelove? Something similar.
May 14th, 2008
House in Makrinitsa
The cafe
May got off to a bumpy start. The countryside is nice (I went to Makrinitsa, a beautiful village on Mt Pilio to celebrate the coming of May) but not so nice when you have a toothache that could kill ten fat horses and there is not a pharmacist’s in sight. I had never experienced this kind of pain before. It was a whole new level. I actually wondered if death is underestimated as a cure of pain. At one point I told my son to call his father if he sees me pass out.
Anyway, it was a crappy trip. I am glad to be back and in the dentist’s chair again. Dentists are good. Countryside is bad.
I have nice pictures to show you but not nice feelings to share. Actually, it would be good to stay in bed all day, moaning and pretending the outside world has disappeared in a haze of painkillers and antibiotics. If you have sent me an email, I am going to write soon, because I need some friendship and a shoulder to drool on.
May 5th, 2008
We celebrated Greek Easter on the 27th of April. We mainly eat lots of food somewhere in the country and crack eggs which are mostly red. They symbolize Christ’s blood (I think). Read more about Greek Easter food and the food I found in Nafpaktos here. For new readers there are other Easter posts (from previous years) here.
We stopped at Delphi first. Did you know it’s the centre of the earth? And the Universe? That’s what the ancient world believed. This is the theatre. It’s an amazing place. Truly sacred.
This is the Treasury of the Athenians in Delphi. It was built after 490 B.C. with spoils form the Battle of Marathon.
We spent Easter in Nafpaktos, a beautiful seaside town about 3 hours away from Athens. However, door knobs are scary in Nafpaktos. Maybe they don’t like visitors?
Monastiraki, a small fishing village near Nafpaktos
Nafpaktos, the harbour
The statue of Miguel de Cervantes at the harbour. Cervantes was wounded in the naval Battle of Nafpaktos, serving in the Spanish infantry, on Oct 7 , 1571.
The castle
Castle gate, one of many
Good Friday -a usually solemn affair- in Nafpaktos is even bigger than Easter day. They celebrate with fireworks, they light the sea wall and they hang a cross above the sea which is later set alight..
Easter Mass in Nafpaktos. On Saturday night, the service begins in darkness until midnight. Then, the priest lights a candle from the eternal flame, the light that never goes out, as I call it, which is spread to everyone. Then we all kiss each other. If you even find yourself in Greece during Easter, limit the kiss to people you actually know, although in some parts of the country, people simply kiss those who happen to be standing next to them.
More Delphi, Nafpaktos and Easter photos on my Flickr stream.
April 29th, 2008
I remember my mum breast-feeding my sister in a dark room. I was standing at the door. I was three.
I remember jumping in rain puddles with my friend Aki and his sister Fotini. I was three.
I remember my dad giving me lunch in the forest, at the fox’s den. There was no fox but I used to wait for her every day. I was two or three.
I remember my dad bringing me a chocolate dessert in the shape of a little mouse. I was three.
I remember choosing storybooks at the bookshop with my dad. I was four.
I remember asking my dad why he was bald. He used to say the wind took all his hair away.
I remember my uncle driving his big lorry and parking it outside our house. In my eyes it was huge. I was three.
I remember my mum hanging the clothes out to dry and wearing flip-flops.
I remember my fruit cream bowl. It was shaped like a boat.
I remember my yellow mini dress and my white knitted shawl.
I remember my hair being pulled behind into a ponytail. It hurt sometimes.
I remember going swimming with my mum. She used to wear a floral swimming cap. I was three or four.
P.S What is your earliest memory?
April 21st, 2008
I went to the open market in my neighbourhood (it is held every Wednesday) and I bought these plates for 1 euro each. They were so beautiful I felt sorry for them waiting there to get picked up. I don’t intend to eat in them. However, I did make some nice campanelle with aubergine and zucchini here.
I also bought this silly apron for 2.50 euros. I want to wear it all the time. The school bus driver saw me wearing it while I was waiting for my son to get off the bus (I was out on the balcony, not in the street) and he made the gesture with his right hand that means " What’s the deal?" Or maybe if he wasn’t so kind, it would mean WTF?
You don’t say
My son sharing a dirty joke with his friends at the local Pizza place. His teeth are okay now. The doctor said it was a strange reaction to the antibiotics probably made worse by all the ribena.
My son has devised this character, who brings bad luck to everyone. He is something like an anti super hero. My son makes his own comic strips starring the jinx that all end in tears (for the other characters).
New highlights. Well a week old, but I hadn’t had the chance to post anything apart from scary medical scenarios. So you see some very light streaks along with some chocolate ones. Or don’t you? Actually you shouldn’t. My theory is that highlights should not be seen but felt.
April 17th, 2008
Thank you for all the nice messages about my son. He is okay now, except a problem with his teeth that is due to the antibiotics. We may have to do some teeth whitening unless he likes his medieval smile as it is right now. I have many things to say but for today here are some ditties for you to dance to (if you can’t see it you don’t have flash installed). Skitzo Dancer is my favourite. April requires some dancing.
Also, if you have the time, check a funny blog I found: Office of doom If you have ever worked in an office, you’ll know.
April 15th, 2008
My son has been sick on and off for almost two months now. At first we thought it was the flu but two weeks later it came back, after a basketball session and there were no other symptoms, just high fever and tiredness. He’d wake up in the morning and tell me "I am so tired". It passed and after we had returned from Ioannina, it returned too. The tiredness and the fever and I started googling his symptoms and found out he must have some kind of bacterial infection for it to be so persistent. Once more, the doctor said it was nothing serious, just another virus, afterall it is spring and he is such a strong kid etc etc. But we had blood tests and a few days back, we got a dreaded call from the lab, asking us to repeat the tests because the blood platelet count was too low. So low, they feared they had made a mistake. (Note: In controlled panic, I called back to the lab to ask about his white blood cells and if they had found them to be too high and the answer was: We can’t tell you before you have paid for these exams. This happened at 9:30 in the evening. I went berserk and I don’t even remember what names I called the receptionist).
I don’t think I’ve ever had a more stressful 12 hours in my life. I googled "low platelet count" and the things I read didn’t let me sleep at night. Several cancers, autoimmune syndroms that result in repeated infections, and so on. It was not a mistake his platelet levels were low, but they also found a widespread streptococcus infection that had depleted his iron levels so much it is a miracle he was still functioning. But even that sounded good to me, compared to what I had been worrying about. The tests have to be repeated later and he is on antibiotics and vitamins and a special iron rich diet.
There is a question and there is a thought I made. I am still shaken but I thought how lucky we are for being allowed to continue life as we knew it. Because for a couple of days, the internet, IKEA ads in bus stops, new films, spring cleaning, work, seemed irrelevant. A million what ifs.
My question though is this: Why do people have to rely on the internet to find out about their health? Why are not doctors more careful and yes, less relaxed? (the paediatrician must have answered the phone more than 15 times while he was examining my son). And why is this general phobia towards antibiotics becoming so dangerous that doctors are reluctant to prescribe them, even a month after they suspect (or don’t they?) that there is a bacterial infection and not the common cold virus? Why did I suspect my son had a bacterium and the doctor did not , or did not bother to tell me?
This is my conclusion: If you suspect there is something wrong, trust your instinct, search the internet, ask lots and lots of questions and don’t put your trust on just one doctor. And never fear you might sound foolish or like a know-all. That would be bad of course, but it’s better than being left in the dark and told "pay before we tell you if your child is okay".
April 7th, 2008
