How I would fix the economy

So we are headed to Morocco in less than two weeks. The 21 of June is our flight at 5 am...probably shouldn't go to bed that night, we sleep in too easily. We will have a huge apartment there; you can see it at http://www.zoufi.com/
More by necessity than choice, it was the only one we could find with all our requirements. It costs less than our apartment here at least. So that just means you guys will have to visit us!!! (Anyone who is reading this)

And fyi, sometimes we are told we are brave for traveling to different countries the way we do. My answer to that is--childbirth sounds a heck of a lot scarier than relaxing on a beach in Europe. I am in awe of mothers for how tough they are. My friends who are also mothers--I am amazed by you!

We've just been doing what we do. Working. Jacob goes to the gym while I explore the city and take photos...

I'm going to post some political opinions now, in honor of the 4th of July, which we didn't really celebrate, sadly. I've been thinking a lot about this stuff lately because I try to keep up with the news on the other side of the pond. I tend to have strong opinions but am influenceable if your argument makes sense. So feel free to disagree with me. If you aren't interested in my spoutings, then skip to the pretty pictures below :)

To begin, I love America. The more I travel, the more I am proud of my nationality. But I naturally don't always (or usually) agree with our government.

There is a reason why I'm not a Democrat or a Republican. No party seems to match my views exactly. Neither can see the other's point of view, or recognize that the other must have some valid points to have half the population. I voted for Obama because I liked the guy better than McCain, almost as much as I liked Palin. Here is how I think he is handling things.

The economy: Well, things have gone from bad to worse from what I hear. Obama's excuse is that "we didn't realize how bad the economy was when we arrived in office." Sure. If only he had owned a business before, he might know a little more about economics. Now that Jacob and I fit into that group called "small business owners" I understand better than ever why raising taxes on people who are successful is very demotivating. I'm with the Republicans on this one. Keeping taxes low on businesses is a fundamentable principle of successful capitalism. George Bush, although Republican, didn't always spend money like one.

Now I wouldn't mind if my taxes were raised if I got to choose where my money went. If, for example, I got to check the box that said, "Improve public transportation" I would be very pleased. But unfortunately, I don't get to choose, and I tend to feel that the government squanders my hard-earned money.

Welfare: I think we give too much money to other countries. It's money that we don't have, and unfortunately, it's money that often isn't well spent. For example, we've given tons of money to the African country of Cameroon. The people there complain they haven't seen a cent, and the money has been squandered by the corrupt government officials.

I believe Americans are the most charitable people in the world. We are generous. I base this on the fact that I know so many friends who have gone abroad to help orphans in Ghana and Romania, Guatemala and Mexico, Zambia and within the States themselves. We have the Peace Corps; we have missionaries; we have celebrities who have donated millions to charities. Given the chance, Americans would donate their own time, money, and effort to people around the globe more than any other people I know. Therefore, in most situations I believe the US government should not transfer money to another government, but individuals should serve other individuals with their own free will and choice to their own individual causes. This can be supported through tax breaks (not raises).

Health care: Obama is right that we have a system that needs to be fixed. Ironic that we spend more than any other nation and yet have such a horrible record in terms of people insured. I'm willing to pay more in taxes for this benefit BUT I don't think it's right that the richer people should pay for other people's poor health choices. I think that the overweight, the smoker, the drink-and-driver should be paying the higher taxes, not the hard working businessman. Am I biased? Maybe, and that would be a hard system to enforce, but it's the most fair way. I don't know why Republicans are so against a national health care system along with privatized. Their solution is always "give a tax credit." It's true, tax credits are the answer sometimes, but really, do you think that will solve our broken healthcare system?
[Note to readers: Do. Not. Use. Humana.]

Abortion: Obama signed into law the ability to fund overseas abortions. So we're using taxpayers' money to fund something that probably half of the US population feels is morally wrong? Why can't we use that money to provide free birth control instead? Or to cover adoption costs? We're trillions of dollars in debt and we're funding women around the world to get abortions. Brilliant. To learn why I am against abortions, visit this site to learn the disturbing manner in which abortions are performed: http://prochoice.com/abort_how.html
It's hard to read but important to know. I think my view on abortion was fundamentally changed after I read an essay by an abortion nurse on how abortions are performed. It's fairly gruesome. I believe if women were educated on what they were about to do to their bodies they would be less likely to go through with it.
PS I believe birth control should not be prescription. It's not in Turkey and I think a woman can decide as good as a gynecologist can which birth control works the best for her personally. Actually, better. And abortion rate would be greatly reduced if women didn't have to go to a doctor to obtain birth control.

Environment: Sometimes it astonishes me at how little the Republicans seem to care about the environment. It would only take a little bit more effort on America's part to become more green, but the very idea seems to shake some people to the core. To give up your SUV is like giving up your life(style).

Climate change: I don't believe it's a real problem, but I know Obama does--he and his wife donated $25,000 to the cause each. I'm more worried about pollution and cancer-causing agents.

War: I'm with Ron Paul on this one. Send the troops home. We use taxpayers money to keep people based in Germany, Korea, etc and I just think it would make more sense to build up our defense at home. I think we'd stop encouraging our reputation as the world's bully, too. I'm not sure why Republicans are always so army-hungry. They seem to be a little bit more paranoid than Democrats. Maybe that's why they're so concerned about national defense. I know since we're the most powerful nation in the world, we've got to be able to protect ourselves, but if we just lowered our budget as little as 5% on this issue, think of how much money we could use in its stead towards, for example, health care. I'm not saying that war is never justified, I'm just saying that it seems our government tends to be far too willing to jump right in. And then in hindsight, "Well, that five year war probably wasn't a good use of resources... oh well" duh, how many times must history repeat itself.

Gay marriage: Although Obama said when he was running for president that he believed marriage should be between a man and a woman, apparently he told a gay rally that their struggle for rights was similar to the civil rights movement... thus implying that he actually supported gay marriage. Oh well, I'm going to be honest. I don't think there's any stopping it now. 25 years from now it will be the total norm. I wrote a pro-gay marriage paper at BYU, which was probably the only one written there in all of history, (I got an A) but I don't think I would actually vote for it, for reasons in the previous post. But it's so fashionable these days to be pro-gay marriage, really, it's practically très chic.

Guatanamo Bay: Congratulations, Obama. You did the right thing to close this up. Torturing our enemies will put us right along side the Nazis and Communist regimes. The saddest thing is, anyone would confess anything under those conditions. Think of better ways to get people to tell you what you want to know.

And...that's enough for now. Here's some more of what we've been up to. Berlin is a wonderful city- I love it!!

Marchenbrunnen in Volksgarten (an adorable fountain with fairy tale character statues (the Brothers Grimm are buried here in Berlin)

Jacob and a communist car
Alexanderplatz

Gorgeous...Berlin is so beautiful...

We went to the zoo... biggest zoo in Europe.
Rhinos
My favorite birds...

Nice shot, eh? In Prenzlauer Burg neighborhood

I think this is the River Spree.

Former Communist Prison. That's the wire tapping on the walls. These were paranoid times.

Beautiful Potsdam. Where the Prussian kings went in the summer.
Vomiting fountain

Jacob, not given to superlatives, gave a compliment of this area, saying it was among the most beautiful places he's ever seen...

Graves of Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn. It doesn't bode likely for a person, if he or she happens to be fantastically talented, to get a lot of whistles on their tombstone. You're much more likely to have a fancy grave if you are rich. Here is Bertolt Brecht's grave. He was a popular playwright.

About as plain as you can get.

Medieval choir stalls.
Alter piece. It's official. Italy has the most beautiful religious art. (This museum had a ton of stuff from Italy.) Free museum night is Thursday, so I walk around til my feet get tired.

Berlin, baby!

Berlin is growing on me more and more. It's hip, it's historical, it's easy to get around, and it's pretty. There's a surprising amount of wide open spaces and green parks right in the middle of the city.


We went on a free tour and learned the tragic and tough history the city's been through. From Prussian wars to Hitler's headquarters, communism's Wall (the Wall is below to the left)
to finally Reunification, Berlin's been absolutely rocked, and the fact that it's overcome its history is inspiring to me.
You can still take a spin in a Communist car. They're tiny, made of plastic or aluminum or something, and you had to wait five years to get one back in the day.

Berlin cathedral

Walking through the famed memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe.


Where the pacifist, Jewish-authored, etc book burning took place. Heinrich Heine, a German poet whose works were set to lieder, famously said that when books are burned, people will shortly follow... it turned out to be a prophecy. This was the most moving point for me of the tour, because now only books can be sold on this street, and on the day of the historical book burning, they give out free books. The right to have access to read whatever you want is an important right. I believe book banning is a sin, and literacy a key to compassion...

A mural showing how people would love communism...

A photograph of a stampede of people protesting the actual effects of communism

We went to a parade called Christopher's Street Parade, and it's held every year on the same weekend that the riots in New York took place that I guess Obama referenced when he spoke to gays, transgender etc at a speech recently. I'd post pictures of the event but they'd all be pornographic. Jacob and I walked away with a slightly stronger opinion on how we feel about the gay issue. This is where the absolutely massive, throbbing crowd was headed, the Siegsaule:

The issue is that of granting gay people rights to marry and other legal advantages. Had this parade been families, loving couples holding hands, or peaceful protesters, I would have felt inclined to be supportive. Perhaps this is how some pro-gay rallies are. But this parade was the most flamboyant, ridiculous, perversion-promoting event I've ever seen. I was slightly disappointed, because I have attended a gay wedding before, and felt it was quite tasteful, if...unusual.

I guess my point is, I believe everyone has the right to do what they wish so long as their decisions don't infringe on others. Freedom is in fact a marvelous thing, and I'm not the kind of person to say, "Look at how the times are. The old days used to be so much better, the world is getting progressively worse." People have been saying that since the beginning of time. In actuality, I believe that we are improving in many ways. To see something like this in Berlin of all places, when only decades ago, homosexuals were being persecuted and even killed, is a marvelous improvement. There's still too much hush hush I think in some very conservative circles, so people have to suffer in shame silently.

But I do worry about the state of the family. I worry about children growing up in homes with two fathers and no mother or vice versa. Obviously the ideal, a mother and a father, is difficult to reach in many cases, but this doesn't mean that legally we should support the destruction of the environment in which it is best to raise a child. I know someone who has SSA who is happily married to the opposite gender, and while that can't be the solution for everyone, I think that that ultimately is something to work towards.

If you had gone to this parade, you probably would have felt the same--these people want to do what they want, when they want, sexually and to be respected for it. That's really what it was all about--sex, not love. I guess I just have to hope that's not actually the underlying current of the majority of the gay rights movement. I left this parade thinking that most of these people were very confused with their identity, and that dressed as they were, not one of them could proudly look me in the eyes.
We're eating all kinds of exotic foods here. There's every kind of restaurant you can imagine. But always, Thai is our fave :)

Kaimug Thai Restaurant and Red Curry

We visited Sachsenhausen, the first concentration camp of Prussia. It's an hour train ride from central Berlin. I'd been to Matthausen in Austria before, but this was Jacob's first experience. What is there to say about the Holocaust, the blackest years in modern-day history? I never tire of learning of this subject, for one reason: to see how heroic people acted in the worst possible circumstances and to hope that I would do the same.Resistance fighters.

"Work will make you free" the false hope given to the concentration camp members on the sign entering the camp.

Community toilets. People were drowned sometimes by the SS police in them.

Propoganda: Jews are subhuman.The man who wrote this famous poem and claimed his Church should issue a public apology for not taking more steps to halt the Holocaust was a prisoner in Sachsenhausen.

The kitchen stove remains

We went to see the Tales of Hoffman, Offenbach's opera. The singing was incredible--but a great disappointment was there were no subtitles or even a summary, so we had no idea what was going on! Also, the choreography for the Barcarolle, the beautiful song found in Life is Beautiful, was very bizarre...

The big guy's first time to the real opera...

A moat outside a fortress

The famous bust of Queen Nefetiri

Berlin has the most variety of graffiti of any city I've seen.

Still waiting for visitors to our little apartment. Here's the eclectic kitchen.

Larissa, Leeds, and a little London

In the last month or so we've gotten to spend a lot of time with friends. That's really a nice privilege when living abroad. In Larissa, we stayed at Perry's house. It's a beautiful house in Greece, and his aunt lives upstairs and Perry lives downstairs.

Larissa

I liked Larissa much better than Athens. I thought it was very beautiful and family friendly. We spent most of our time at Starbucks working. I'm trying to think of observations to make about this central city...

It's full of shops and it was rather amusing that at any time of day or night all the cafes would be absolutely overflowing with people. I had to agree with Mary... "Do these people have jobs?" Heck, I liked the idea though. Spending day and night with friends can't be a bad lifestyle...right?

Perry came to pick us up super late from our long train ride from Athens and we toted our suitcases through the streets, a 20 minute walk, to make it to the apartment.

We saw the Meteora, 45 minutes away by train, while we were there. It was dramatically gorgeous. I wondered, though, how the monasteries could possibly still be operating because for every monk I saw, I saw 150 tourists.

Aunt Mary made the best rice stuffed vegetables while we were there. She is a single lady who works for the government processing court cases (transcribing them). Basically she gets to spend all day listening to gossip! She had a pleasantly deprecatory way about her, and we were pleased once again to come in contact with a "real Greek." Characteristically, she was very opinionated and spoke loudly. I think Greeks are even louder than Americans. She was an excellent cook and very interesting to talk to and I hope we will see her again.Here we are on the cool bridge in Larissa which lights up as you walk along it:

Perry and Luke got some male bachelor bonding time by going out in the evenings while Jacob and I chilled back at home. I'm perusing a tax book right now because Jacob and I are planning to incorporate The Jump Manual. It's a dreaded errand, that's for sure, but the guy's book is really handy. It explains ways to cut taxes mostly for small businesses. It's here if you want to see it.

We took a train to Thessaloniki. I kinda wish we'd had more time to explore this city--it's where the letter to the Thessalonians was addressed--but we got a little flavor of the religiousity of the city by viewing the church located within the train station and witnessing several people go up and kiss Mary in her frame right on the lips.

Flying to London

And then we hopped on a plane with British Airways (yes, the company who wants their employees to work for free for one month) to London. I'll put in a plug for their food, too.

London was my first taste of Europe and it was nice to be back. It was not nice, however, to ride back and forth between terminals for two hours to find the best and cheapest way to get to Leeds :( We finally got a bus and arrived at around midnight.

The Ballas

Ben Balla was Jacob's companion on his mission for one month. They had a marvelous time together speaking French, and at least Sally didn't understand it either so we had something in common.

Ben and Sally were so hospitable as to literally give up their bed for us to stay. It was a perfect newlyweds apartment--which means it was tiny! :)

You'll probably think I'm crazy but my favorite part about all of England was spending a Saturday with Sally going shopping and eating at a cute sushi place. I made a video of its unique concept: when something comes along that you like, you just take it. The bowls are different colors according to price.



It's the simple pleasures of life I guess, but it's been so long since I've done such a girly thing :) These are the shoes I bought, from the most popular store in Leeds. They were only five pounds! (money, not weight)

I also enjoyed going to a "hen" party with Sally. It's a bachelorette party and it was much more fun than a typical bridal shower! Bridal showers focus around gifts and they're much more formal. Hen parties have no gifts, you dress in pajamas, and do absolutely ridiculous things like race the bride to the store, make up songs for the bride-to-be, put on makeup quickly in order to eat chocolate with a knife etc. British people have a pleasantly reserved yet friendly way about them, but they know how to let loose and have fun when in the right situation! :)

And I love love the British accent. We Americans have a twang that the British like to mimic like we mimic theirs. Only it's not near so pretty when they do ours. Bloody Yankees.

We went hiking in a cove (with real live cows and swarming with gnats) with them, and Jacob left his glasses at the top. Despite Jacob's protests, Ben ran all the way back up to the top to get them! Thank you!

Temple

We went to the Preston, England temple. Boy, that was a trip. The rail system in England isn't exactly user friendly. Every official we asked had a different answer for the best way to get there. So we only did a session, because the actual travel time was about 8 hours, but the grounds of the temple were, of course, absolutely gorgeous. But it was worth the sacrifice because temples are few and far between in Europe!

Most of England in general is richly green, rural, and peaceful. I couldn't believe that I still needed a winter coat in June, but I'm not surprised now that I need one in Berlin too. Note to self: do not visit in winter.

Food
*Fish (fried and breaded) + chips (French fries) = best fast food in England.
*I had a red onion tart with cole slaw and new potatoes in an inn; that was tasty.
*Curry houses everywhere!! This addition needs to make its way to the US!
*Dinner at Sally's parents house and at Ben's parents house=too full to move. Wow. We had Yorkshire pudding and a roast and chocolate creme and we were basically spoiled, like Sally and Ben get spoiled every Sunday dinner. Ben's brother is really literal and Jacob and Ben took advantage of that by pretending there was a deep meaning behind the phrase "If you say jump, I say 'how high'" which was mentioned by Ben's grandpa. Who then fueled it by saying "If Hi Low is from China, how high is is brother?" Which really got Josh going. And Ben and Jacob laughed about that for about two hours as Josh struggled to understand what the joke was. Here's some of the clips, you can see what a great time Jacob was having, at the end of the post. You probably had to be there.

And we took a 25 hour bus ride (mistake. These buses aren't comfortable like Turkish ones!) to Berlin. Weil wir moechten unsere Deutsch verbessern. And we took the train underneath the English Channel, and we never even saw the water. How in the world did they build a train under the water, and why don't they build one from California to Japan?

PS Happy Father's Day Dad and Dude! (had to do that after saying Mom and Mum last time) :)

Photos from Luke

Because apparently you don't get comments on your blog unless you have photos... :)

Jacob likes to sleep on public transportation, and I get to be his pillow

The Meteora, where monks isolate themselves high upon cliffs only to be hoarded by tourists. Gorgeous.

Strolling Athens with Blagoj.

Playing with sand on the free beach in Athens.

Working away, big surprise.

Santorini and Athens

Well, I guess it's time for another update. We're currently in Larissa, staying at the Kariotis's residence, and it's very roomy. Thank you Perry (Jacob's childhood friend) and family for your hospitality!

We spent nearly two weeks in Santorini. It's probably the most famous Greek island, because it was formed by the eruption of a volcano 3500 years ago. The "caldera views" are referred to when looking at the sunset, you can see across the Aegean the volcano, which is apparently still active.

It was the most beautiful sunset we'd ever seen--I don't think the beauty of Santorini is overstated. However, I did find something sort of amusing and wanted to pose the question to you readers out there: What do you think consitutes a 4,000 euro/night stay in a hotel? I heard that this kind of accomodation was available on Santorini, and I tried to imagine just how nice one night's stay could be. I mean, I enjoyed where we stayed in Santorini very well, both places were quite cute--and they included breakfast and a swimming pool for 28 euros a night. What could be 100 times nicer?

Letting my mind wander, I suppose it would include your own private swimming pool and jacuzzi. It would be huge. It would have the best views on the island. Maybe you'd have your own gourmet chef? A horseback ride in the morning? Getting treated like royalty is a given. And probably laundry service. Maybe a comfy robe and socks? But I guess my imagination is kind of limited. I can't imagine what would cost the equivalent of 5,000 dollars/night. I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to accomodation though. Anyways...

One funny story that Jacob has already told enough people that I can't be embarrassed anymore is the ATV day. I'd never ridden on one, so we gave it a shot. The island of Santorini is really quite small. We saw all of it in one day. But Jacob wanted me to try driving at one point, and so slightly unwillingly, I did. I asked which was the go and which was the brake, started down the straightaway, and immediately got mixed up, forgot how to stop, revved the engine instead, and veered directly right into a sign. I didn't drive it again after that. Fortunately, there was no real damage done, just a scratch on the headlight that Jacob shaved off with his knife. It would have been hard to do damage since I managed to crash it immediately after getting going...well, that was funny.

I went snorkeling for the first time on Santorini. Like Jacob, I've become hooked. The waters were very clear, and there were plenty of fish--especially on the dramatic, unusual red sand beaches, my favorite beach on Santorini. We stayed on the black sand beach called Kamari, which isn't actually sand but rocks. Even though I've gone several times now, each time it's a surprise that I can actually breathe underwater and see the ocean floor.

Our stay in Atalos Villas was quite enjoyable. We made some friends with a married couple from Australia. We haven't met very many married people traveling around like we are so it was fun. Neil and Kate were taking a 7 month round-the-world trip. It consisted mosly of Europe, plus Egypt and Singapore. They were very funny, and the joke Jacob, Perry, and I liked to share with them involved Giannis, pronouced Yanni, the owner of the hostel.

The hot tub when we first arrived to Atalos Villas was very hot. However, on subsequent days it was never turned on. Yiannis's English was a strange direct translation from Greek to English, which meant he was near impossible to understand. In fact he was so hard to understand on the phone, Jacob and I just drove out there to reserve our spot. He and his wife made an adorable old couple, however, and so we weren't put off by his English. When we asked him to turn on the heat for the hot tub, his explanation was very confusing. While many aspects seemed to prevent him from turning the water temperature up, ranging from "insurance" "skin" and the naked Austrian child who was always playing in it, the number one problem had to do with the "chlor." The "chlor" in the hot tub could cause a lot of problems, so he simply could not turn the heat up. Forget that the pool had "chlor" as well, the "chlor" in the hot tub could apparently damage your skin, and then you'd need a lawyer, and he had no insurance. We knew this was nonsense.

One day Perry took matters into his own hands. He called his aunt up and asked her to speak to Giannis in Greek. By the end of the day, Giannis had promised to turn up the heat.

This was about the only place on the beach that had internet, but it was an inconvenient kind of system. We had to print out receipts with username and password every two hours to get any work done. Giannis got to the point where he printed out receipts every time he saw us.

The night before we left for Athens, Giannis had told us that he would drive us to the port at 1:30. Around 11 am that day, he asked to push it back to 2 pm. I agreed reluctantly "at the very latest", because we hadn't picked up our tickets yet and I wanted to allow plenty of time to catch the ferry, which began boarding at 2:30. At 2, I came down with the last of our luggage to discover that he had told Perry 2:30, Jacob 2:45. I said that would be too late. Jacob asked him to call a taxi.

I started getting mad when Giannis, all worked up, told us he couldn't drive us there because we hadn't checked out on time. There was no posted check-out time anyway, but he said he had paying customers who were staying 12 days, when we had stayed only 9, who had had to wait for their room. Things escalated into raised voices, the taxi arrived, only for us to realize Perry was nowhere to be found. We called him on Skype, he didn't answer his phone, it was 2:10, and we didn't know if we should wait for him. Meanwhile, Giannis was scolding Jacob, regretting the fact that he had ever given us the Internet receipts. That was funny. Then we saw Perry come strolling down the street (he was thinking we were leaving at 2:30).

Jacob told Giannis that if we missed our ferry we would write a bad review on the ratings site. Giannis changed his ways. He gave us 20 euro to pay for the taxi, and a CD of Santorini photos. He asked us not to write a bad review. We shook hands, whisked into the taxi, and left on a better note. The ferry was actually late, so we had plenty of time. We still really liked Atalos Villas, we just think that it was Giannis's lack of English that caused a miscommunication.

The ferry rides between Greek islands are very comfortable. There's restaurants, internet, and a beautiful view. I read "A Thousand Acres" which is a modern-day version of King Lear and won the Pulitzer Prize, and although no Gone With the Wind (another recipient of the prize) I found it well-written.

As we neared Athens, I felt a little thrill. This city is just so famous for us in the States, it's right up there with Rome with the sense of ancientness and beauty. My perceptions soon changed, however. The smog greeted us from the ferry, as did the smell. Yes, Athens is dirty and consequently your nose is constantly hit with unpleasant smells. It was, of course, modern. It was full of shops and apartments and the metro and people, 5 million of them. What did I expect, people to be walking around in togas?

Athens was one of the most diverse places we've been, that's for sure. The Senegalese were there selling the same items they sold in Istanbul--ironically enough, one of them recognized Jacob and I and knew us from our friend Landing--Bangladeshi people were selling toys like musical bikes and bubbles and tomatoes full of water that went splat and then resumed their original shape--Chinese men walked around selling their wares from restaurant to restaurant--and there was a family from Iran and a man from Afghanistan at church.

It was nice to go to an LDS church again. Very nice...there's a branch right on the street leading to the Acropolis. In fact, it's called the Acropolis branch. The talks were in Greek, but there was a translator.

The hostel we stayed in, Athens International Hostel on Victor Hugo St, was expensive yet still the cheapest option at 26 euros for two bunk beds. It was in an iffy location, and very cramped. But we survived there for a week, and even had Perry, Luke, and Blogve from Macedonia (er, Skopje) to keep us company.

We had the pleasure of meeting Perry's second cousins, who entertained us at a restaurant one evening and invited us to dinner at their home the next. Maria Lyn and Christina were avid fans of "doom" music, which they really built up to tell us we wouldn't be ready for it. I thought it would sound like heavy metal myself, but when we watched Candlemass the next evening--well, it was just amusing. It was an overweight man dressed all in black like a priest who made funny faces and sang about being "bewitched" and everybody turned into zombies. It was made in the 70s. Not nearly so hard-core after all.

Dinner at their house was good--I feel bad though, most people love meat and so it is considered a treat to be given a lot of meat and I just can't eat all of it and that's what happened with the moussaka. It is like the Greek form of lasagna. Actually it's kind of like shepard's pie with no vegetables. There were spinach and cheese pies which were exceptionally flaky, the ever-present feta cheese, tomatoes, and olives Greek salad, and dessert was syrupy nuts (were they dates?) and jellied grapes. It was quite a treat to see a side of "the real Greece." Then after being completely stuffed we went out together to get drinks, but Jacob and I were too full to order anything, and stayed out very late until 2 am, which is what Greeks do, but it's normally not what Kalli does. And so I fell asleep, and Jacob took notes about the business on his pad of paper. We aren't partiers anymore, Jacob and I, we're just old married people :). By the way, "Kalli" means good or beautiful in Greek, and "Kai" means "and." So I see both of our names in some version on signs everywhere.

The Acropolis was worth seeing even though it was going through extensive renovation and the museums weren't open. And the Athens Archeological Museum was also interesting, but we went through it quicker than most museums because statues all start to look alike after awhile. The best part was the frescos from Akrotiri in Santorini, theater masks from the ancient Greek theater, and just overall getting a sense for how the Greeks truly believed in the gods they made statues of--from Hercules to Hermes to Zeus to the Muses and nymphs.

Overall, Athens was terribly crowded, quite dirty, rather expensive, sweaty-hot, full of smoke and pollution, and probably even dangerous even in some touristy areas (there's a lot of immigrants and so a lot of poor people) but still worth seeing, I think, to pay homage to the great thinkers of the past--Socrates, Aristotle, Plato and more, who founded the ideals of democracy.

For pictures, look on Facebook.