rainy day ramblings

Ok, it was just hot and sticky and sunny when I walked home from the market with heavy bags 20 minutes ago (sweating all the way), but the skies just opened up with this downpour that we have going on right now. I love it - cleaning the sticky, heavy air that has been building up. I opened my windows for a blast of cool rainy breeze and got hot wet dirty air instead. Yesss.

Anyway. Outreach last night. I wrote a little bit here about the police sweeps we've been having in Athens. We've been finding the girls out a lot later now, and late last week when we hit the streets expecting them to be empty we found multitudes of them and were overwhelmed. Last night we were a bit more prepared. They work around 11pm to 5am every day. I talked with a girl from Nigeria who has been here for a month only. I introduced myself, poured her some iced tea, and she said, "So, what's up?!" We chatted for about 20 minutes - it was great. Usually they are closed off and when they do feel like talking, you are still competing with the men walking and driving by checking them out, and all their other friends that are there with them. The police had just come by, so the girls were just starting to trickle out from doorways and back alleys again and we had some time to chat before the carloads of men started coming by again. Happy for the contact, sad for her dead-end circumstances and unhappiness with what she has found herself doing in Greece.

I realized last night as I watched a guy shoot up near Omonia that not only can I tell you where to get the best souvlaki in town, but I can point out the best places for drugs and sex in Athens as well. Hopefully the first balances out the latter...!

I also have realized that this has not negatively affected my view of men (thankfully), except for those we actually see interacting with the girls. Those ones I look down on severely, and don't mind letting them know it when they try and talk to me. That I need to work on.

One other strange thing - I have lived in my apartment for over two months now and I still wake up several times a week in the middle of the night with no idea where I am or how I got there (and no - not a result of drinking). The best was when I thought I was in London with a conference or tour group, forgot to adjust my clock for the time change, and had no idea what time or where our group was meeting in the morning. The other night I woke up and thought I was someplace else, with other friends sleeping in the same room. What in the world is wrong with me?! If this says anything about the quality of sleep I am getting, it would go a long way in explaining why I am so tired all the time (as would my lack of regular sleep schedule). :)

The rain is over now and it is sunny again. You'd never know we just had a torrential downpour except for the now-trecherously slippery uneven marble sidewalks that will be claiming a number of tourists (and locals) in the next hour or so.