Good Friday

Church bells, Santorini

Starting at midnight last night, all the churches in the city, in each neighborhood, started ringing their bells. One gong, of varying notes, every 5 seconds. Continuously. It is a cool concept, but I am going slowly mad, and wondering if this will continue until Sunday?! :)

Tonight I guess there is a procession starting in five different points of the city, with priests carrying caskets, all coming together in the main square. Like most holidays and events, no one seems to know what time this is happening. So I probably won't see it. However, tomorrow night at midnight (Saturday night) is the traditional candle services that I WILL see.

Going to join a few friends around 9 tomorrow night for some more significant Eastery things, and then we'll head to the main church in the city. It will be packed out, with people filling the whole square outside, all holding special candles that they have purchased this week for this purpose. At midnight the priest will light his candle and those near him, and they will light those behind them...the light will spread through the church, and then out into the city, and then everyone walks home with their candles lit.

Then they start lighting fireworks at your feet, which means it's time to run for your life and get out of there as soon as possible.

One interesting thing...I am assuming in America right now they are having all kinds of specials on the history channel and the networks about the reliability and validity of the resurrection and truth of Jesus' claims because of the Easter season (or at least they did last week). Here, they show movies on the life of Christ and other religious programs. Such a marked difference. A homework assignment of one of Voula's daughters this week was to chart out the events of Passion week! Scholars research this and write articles on it...and her 10 year old had to somehow come up with what happened each day of the week! Ha. In true Greek mother fashion, Voula spent hours calling her connections at the Bible college and doing research online until she came up with the model outline for Naya to turn in. :)

Life is cheap...

if you work in the sex industry.

One-day sentence in prostitute killing upheld; mom distraught

Thu. Apr 16 - 4:47 AM

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. (CP) — The mother of a strangulation victim says she’s lost faith in the justice system after the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the killer’s one-day sentence.

"They failed my daughter big time," a devastated Alice Dort said Wednesday in a telephone interview from Nova Scotia.

"I just hope and pray no other family has to go through what we went through with all of this. If it does, my heart goes out to them."

Dort’s daughter, Stephine Beck, 29, was found face down in the snow on the side of a road in Vineland, Ont., on March 4, 2007.

Wayne Ryczak was arrested the next day after a neighbour told police she saw him load a woman’s body into his hatchback.

Ryczak pleaded guilty to manslaughter, and was sentenced last May to one day in jail, in addition to the 14 months and 10 days he had already served in custody.

Judge Stephen Glithero credited the pre-trial custody as slightly more than two-for-one, giving him a total sentence of 30 months.

It was followed by three years of probation.

The Crown had asked for a seven- to 10-year sentence, while Ryczak’s lawyer, Geoffrey Hadfield, had requested a conditional sentence of two years less a day.

The Crown’s appeal of Ryczak’s sentence was dismissed in a 10-page decision released Wednesday by Ontario’s top court.

The court said it did not agree with the Crown that the sentence imposed was unfit or that Glithero erred in law.

Dort said if her daughter, a sex-trade worker with a drug addiction, had been anyone else, the case would have gone differently.

Story from the Canada Chronicle Herald.

the in-between week

It is Easter week ~ I am between Easters right now, the western one last Sunday (that was not celebrated here) and the Greek (orthodox) one coming up this Sunday. Next week in Greece is Megali Evdomada, "Great Week," one of - if not THE - most important holidays of the year. I have been reading about some of the various traditions that take place here, from children's plays reenacting the crucifixion to burning rag dolls symbolizing the burning of Judas to the worship of various patron saints, fireworks, and soot crosses on doorposts to protect the household.

I missed Easter last year too because I was in Greece, and I can say I truly MISS it. The significance is easily missed here, to me, where services are in a foreign language and children sing carols for money (as they do preceding any major holiday here). The fast ends, the feasting begins, and two weeks of vacation ensues around the country.

I am studying the book of John right now, seeing the crucifixion and other events through John's eyes. Can you imagine watching the torture and violent, humiliating death of one you so dearly love, one you have given up career and family for, one who has been your friend, brother, leader, teacher, mentor? And afterward? The devastation, grief, loss. And relief, that he is finally out of his misery. Guilt. Defeat. And the questions. And Mary? A mother, watching this happen to her son?

I feel like the significance of what he actually went through is lost when we see pictures of scratched up Jesus with an owie on his forehead or a couple bloody cuts on his back carrying his cross down the street. I don't think even the Passion movie truly embodied what he really went through, looked like, how much he suffered. That movie was hard; I think it was so much worse. I think of those verses in Is. 52 saying that he was beaten beyond recognition, marred beyond any human likeness. I'll most likely never watch this happen to anyone, not to mention someone I am close to, so I'll never feel the shocking, agonizing, heart-wrenching personal impact of what took place.

I have no idea if the experience of the disciples, Mary, etc. would have been different if they understood the full significance of what was happening; to them, this was their Jesus, suffering indescribably. Today, we see the significance, but without the impact of seeing the horror and pain. I wish I could grasp the immensity of it all.

And indeed, the implications of his glory, love, and victory that those three days represented. My 2000-years-removed comprehension falls so, so short. Now added to that, I am in a foreign place where it's so easy to relegate this holiday to a "cultural experience." I am praying that the impact won't be lessened.

hey from the new house (& Santorini photos)

It's Monday night ... Janell leaves in the morning :( ... and I am sitting in my brand new living room listening to the hustle and bustle of cafes below me and stealing someone's wireless internet. We moved earlier this evening - a few friends helped load everything I own (on this continent, anyway) into this new place. How did I accumulate so much in only four months??

Tomorrow begins the hunt for furniture and appliances, not to mention a ton of work to catch up on - I haven't done much these last two weeks! Next week I am gone again, home for a week, and then to a trafficking conference in France. The day after I get back from that, I start teaching Hands That Heal here in Athens - so I have a lot of preparation for that before I go, since I need to condense it to 5 sessions. It doesn't stop!

Janell and I got back late last night from a weekend away. We returned from Turkey Thursday night and left Friday morning again. We managed to pack her time here pretty full! I did ok saving money the last couple months and so this weekend we went to Santorini. It was SO beautiful, and so relaxing (if only for a day and a half). I have posted a few of my favorite photos. We were supposed to arrive Friday at noon, but our ferry broke and we were stranded on a different Greek island for about six hours until they could send another boat. We didn't arrive in Santorini until after dark on Friday. I know there are worse things than being stranded on a Greek island, but it took a whole day away from this:

So, I was happy about this whole "living in Greece" thing this weekend! It's definitely good to see the beautiful parts in addition to the negative stuff I see for work. When you're just in the city all the time - Acropolis or not - it's easy to forget what you have around you. Now ... one of these days I will get pictures of this new place up! :)

Istanbul, Part 3: The Bosphorus and Beyond!

Wednesday afternoon we took a cruise up the Bosphorus. It was good to get out of our tiny little neighborhood, which has the historical sites but is obviously only a tiny slice of Istanbul. We went up the channel between the European side and the Asian side of the city. Fun, cheap, freezing, and all the apple tea you can drink!

One of my favorite foods that I can remember when I spent time in Turkey before was manti. It's like ravioli, but smaller, and the sauce is actually made of yogurt. So I dragged the girls around looking for a manti place, which we found, and consumed. (The manti, not the place.) I think Greek food is way better than Turkish food, so other than that we didn't really set out to purposefully sample the local cuisine. We did so, but it's all the same in this area of the world I think; it just goes by a different name.

Wednesday night Janell and I went to a Turkish bath ("hamam"). As I mentioned, I got to experience a true Turkish bath in the town of Bolu several years ago. The village ladies all came down once a week for their bath & the weekly gossip. The family I was staying with had three girls, and they thought I should have the full experience - so they hired someone to "bathe" me, exfoliate my skin (translation: rub 12 layers of skin off my body), and wash my hair (translation: nearly pull my scalp off my head), while they watched and laughed. :)

The one Janell and I went to (pictured here, from their free postcard) had a huge marble slab in the middle that was heated, with rooms around the edge with basins and faucets pouring cold and hot water into them. After you are foamed up & have a massage on the heated slab, you pour the water over yourself in one of the rooms to rinse off. In the back we floated in mineral pools. A few hours of this and we felt perfectly refreshed. :) This particular hamam was built in 1584 by a sultan for his wife.

Such was our trip; a little roaming through the Grand Bazaar and fending off aggressive shop owners and their propositions, listening to the call to prayer, dragging our suitcases down cobblestone streets, and then it was time to come home. Athens home. :)

Istanbul, Part 2: Sights and Wonders

I thought it would be good to get out of Greece for a few days. Turns out, leaving one non-English-speaking country and going to another non-English-speaking country isn't really much of a change. I remembered some words and phrases from my time there several years ago, and much of the city planning, architecture, and sights and sounds reminded me of, well, Turkey.

Wednesday morning we hit three of the major tourist sites: the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, and the Basilica Cistern. The Blue Mosque was built in the 1500s. Impressive from the outside,

a mosque on the inside. :)

The Hagia Sophia, not as impressive on the outside (except in this photo, which I did not take),

but pretty amazing on the inside.It was a church, built by Justinian in the 530s, and later converted to a mosque in the 1400s during Ottoman rule, and was destroyed and rebuilt several times in between. There are many mosaics from the early church period that were preserved when the Muslims plastered over them. And of course, no European historical site would be complete without scaffolding.

Last, I wanted to go into this cistern, built in 532. If you remember my obsession with caves and tunnels in Israel last year, you will know why I wanted to see this. :) There are 336 columns in here, canibalized from other buildings. It's huge...

Complete with a creepy Medusa head (two, actually), at the base of two of the columns:

Istanbul, Part 1: "Problem! Obama!"

Janell and I and another friend from here in Athens, Britt, went to Istanbul for a couple days. Britt and I needed the 90 day EU stamp in our passports and Janell needed another country to cross off her list. We had the standard list of things to see, and did a pretty good job of it. Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Basilica Cistern, and Janell and I went to a Turkish bath. I went to one out in a village several years ago when I was in Turkey, but I thought Janell needed the experience as well. :)

We arrived Tuesday afternoon and I gave the taxi driver directions to our hotel. "Problem!" he shouted immediately. "Where you from?" "We're American," we replied, to which he exclaimed, "Obama!"

I get this a lot, actually. Living overseas, when someone finds out you're American, sometimes that's the only thing they can think of to identify with. So they'll give a huge thumbs up and shout "Obama!" and then your conversation is over.

It took us about 20 minutes of blocked roads, police everywhere, and detours to figure out that the problem actually was Obama. We could get nowhere near the historic district of Sultanahmet, where our hotel was, because our president was there, shutting down the entire city for his tour of the Blue Mosque.

He finally had to drop us off near the huge bazaar and let us try to find our way to our hotel on foot. Ha. We gave ourselves quite a tour of the area, unfortunately only through the dingy backstreets, before we asked the 12th person for directions and found the place. By the time we left today, of course, we knew exactly where we were, but no such luck upon first landing in the city.

Here is a door.

(It's from the Blue Mosque. I am obsessed with doors.)

next stop...

Visa trip...see you in a couple days!

Photo from here.

handy girls, we are

Janell and I installed a toilet seat today. It was the first for both of us.

I actually had the golden opportunity to shop for my own toilet seat and install it myself. Who knew there were so many choices! When I was looking at the apartment last week and noticed there wasn't a toilet seat (which is the case for half the public restrooms in this country - but this isn't public!), I asked if they would be installing one. "No, you will," they replied.

Ah, yes. Silly me.

Also, I flush the toilet by pulling a chain hanging out of the ceiling.

the "navel of the earth"

Temple of Apollo, Delphi

only because I promised...

Shoot, it's 1:15am and we're getting up at 7 to go to Delphi and I am SO TIRED. But ok, here is my big news:

I got an apartment!!!

(Yay Jessica, good guess.) It is in the exact neighborhood I wanted, about a block behind all the cafes that overlook the acropolis. It's three rooms (small - including the bedroom & living room), very bright, good price, and I'm really excited to move in! I got the keys today, but since Janell and I have so many things planned next week I probably won't be able to fully move in until the following week. That's ok.

It's not furnished, so I am praying for a major miracle, especially as far as appliances go. I have to buy a refridgerator, oven, washing machine, and furniture. I hope to get connected with some expat for-sale lists, so this should help.

It's a two-year lease, but, as leases are to protect the renter and not the landlord, we were able to put a clause in the contract that I can leave after a year without penalty. So I know I'll be here at least through next March.

This neighborhood is really hard to get into, I have heard..."for rent" signs will go up in the morning and the place will be gone by the evening. I found this on my first day of looking! I have a friend about three blocks away, too. :) Blessings.

I don't have pics of the apartment yet, but here are some from the neighborhood:

My first Greek apartment, awww...

WOOHOOO! :)

I have some exciting news...I'll tell you tomorrow. ;)

Janell arrived safely, she slept until noon today while I had my Greek lesson, so hopefully the jetlag will not get the best of her. We're about to go have lunch down by the sea someplace and be lazy today. There is a strike today (schools, airport, transportation, etc.), so our mobility is a little limited, but it's a beautiful warm day and there is plenty to do.

Yia sas!

oh shoot, it's almost TIIIIIME!!!!!

Arriving in Athens from LAX via JFK bright and early tomorrow morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(I am a little excited.)

P.S. It's not the cows. Mules. Pygmy horses. Whatever they are.

Hydra (EE-dra)

Sorry for the pronunciation lesson, but you can't be saying High-dra around here or you'll look like a ... tourist. :) Yesterday started at 6am (NOT what we are used to around here) to catch the fast boat to the islands for a nice, relaxing day trip. I went with my friend Britt and her parents, who are visiting from the States. A few hours in Hydra Town with glorious weather and nice island views were just what the doctor ordered.

Hmm, well, I guess I have to say that actually it is exactly contrary to what the doctor ordered, since it involved about 29 million steps (stairs) to walk through town, and that is definitely against doctor's orders.

Anyway, Hydra is sort of a special island in the sense that there are no motor vehicles (except for a few service vehicles). The mode of transportation is by donkey. It looks just like we expected from a Greek island...everything was whitewashed with blue accents, narrow winding roads, lovely people, good seafood, and of course, plenty of donkeys!

I stand corrected!

As it turns out, while March 25 is indeed Annunciation Day, it is in fact a Greek Independence Day. It's like the 4th of July, actually. It's a big deal. With tanks and fighter jets and helicopters.

I say "a" Greek Independence Day because there are more than one. :) Greeks had to fight hard for their independence many times over the centuries. This day marks independence from Turkey. Which is, wouldn't you know it, why we had a turkey dinner. Clever Americans, we are. (Plus one Belgian and one Honduran-Spanish-Greek.) Because that would make no sense in any other language.

Wouldn't you know it...

Greece's rendition of Mary, at the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth

It's another holiday tomorrow. Wait, let me refer to my handy-dandy list of Greek holidays ... and ... Happy Annunciation!!!!

This would be the day that Gabriel appeared to Mary to announce that she would be pregnant with Jesus. In Greece, it's deserving of, yet again, shutting everything down, watching the parades, and feasting with friends and family.

I've learned to enjoy these days that the gym, shops, grocery store, etc. are closed and walk down by the sea, read, and catch up on non-work things. Tomorrow afternoon I'll be joining some new friends (including one long-termer - woohoo!!!) for a turkey dinner! Give me mashed potatoes, and I'll do anything for you.

Which brings me to another point I wanted to make (the long-termer, not the mashed potatoes). I am quickly learning an undesirable aspect of living overseas - short-term friendships. Most of the relationships I have made are with people who will be gone by summer. This is tough!

Upon meeting someone in the States, we ask "What do you do?" and the like. Here we ask this too, but one of the first questions is "How long are you here?" Admittedly, when I first arrived, a person's answer to this question determined how much I wanted to invest in them. However, I've made a conscious effort (plus taken to heart the advice of another missionary friend from home) to not let someone's short stay prevent me from allowing my life to be enriched by their friendship. Not only do I get the benefits now, but think of how many friends all over the world I will be collecting! ;)

I have watched my own answer to that "how long are you here?" question evolve a bit over the last three months. I can't give any definitive answers, and I have reasons to stay and to go, but I can say honestly that I hope it's "indefinitely." At least today. :)

thankfully, it's heated.

an outsider's view

I just started reading this book called Eurydice Street, A Place in Athens. It's written by a British woman who married a Greek (outside of Greece) and together they moved back to Athens with their kids. I'm only in the second chapter, and already I'm nodding and shaking my head all at the same time at her familiar descriptions of this culture.

Just a few that she illustrates that I have already noticed:

Parents' primary concern is their children's education. Because of their own lack, they work hard to support their kids all the way through higher education (lots of lawyers and doctors here). This is even shown in parents with young kids. In the book, the author writes about conversations she overheard in the schoolyard after dropping off her kids:

"'Have we got a test in history tomorrow?' the mothers would ask one another...

"'Yes, we've got to learn all the last three chapters. I don't know how we're going to do it.' It quickly became obvious that the mothers' main preoccupation was with schoolwork, and it was a serious subject. 'Yesterday, Angelos's teacher told them to learn the names of all fifty-one prefectures by today,' bemoaned one mother. 'We had to sit up until eleven o'clock doing it.'"

The young kids of my Greek friends are some of the busiest people I know: regular school, English school, karate, swimming lessons, piano lessons, tutor, then sometimes 5 hours of reading and studying when they get home! Listening to Voula keep track of her two daughters makes me feel like an underachiever. But, it's the culture here, moreso than in the States, and parents will struggle to provide the best opportunities for their kids. There is such a high value placed on education here, because that is how you get good jobs.

Another thing I've noticed is the expressiveness and forcefulness in their conversation. It's fun to listen to; they definitely do not speak flatly! If you don't know what they are saying, it's easy to think you're listening to a fight. Yet they could simply be discussing cooking or work or their history professor; any topic is game for a lively discussion. It is high-pitched and spirited and sprinkled with terms like "παιδί μου" ("my child," rather patronizing and only among close friends) and "τι λες;" ("what are you saying!?" in a tone that implies that the other person has just said something completely preposterous, even if they just said they like their octopus grilled, not fried). Everything is "barbarous" and "a scandal," and to say that the Greeks are dramatic is an understatement. :)

Anyway, just read in this book today: "...it did occur to me that most Greek people I know can hold their own in a debate with the vehemence and alacrity of a dueller. If there is one thing that characterizes Greek conversation, it is a lack of reticence in expressing opinions. In fact, such is the natural argumentativeness and critical nature of many Greeks that what is a perfectly normal conversation can appear on the outside like a frantic matter of life and death. When my mother first heard Vassilis [her husband] and me speaking together in Greek, she often thought we were in the middle of a terrible row."

When I can finally speak Greek, I fully intend to speak this way as well. :)

Super.

Here.

breathe

I nearly gave myself a panic attack in anticipation. Yesterday my long-awaited appointment with the cardiologist arrived. There were no openings for the dermatologist until May, which would give me plenty of time to recover from the impending trauma. I need forms signed by both of these doctors in order to swim in our local pool, and this meant only one thing: Return to the Public Hospital.

My anxiety started rising the night before. It was a difficult night anyway; a tough meeting and an overall discouragement about my work in Greece (see previous post). By the time Wednesday morning arrived and I was receiving instructions from Voula regarding which bus to take, and where to get on and where to get off (enough adventure for one day, in my current condition), it was full blown dread and doom.

It went so smoothly. It's a good thing; if anyone had so much as looked at me the wrong way there's no telling what kind of mess I would have become. Unlike last time there were no crowds. No lines. The physician's assistant (I'm assuming) took me immediately into the office. Apparently you can tell how someone's heart is performing by listening to it beat once. I got my form signed.

I took a chance and asked at the front desk about a dermatology appointment, since I only needed a form signed. She pointed upstairs and hurled some Greek garble in my direction, but I heard "second floor" and something about asking up there where the office was (or else I just gathered that from her pointing). Turned out to be the first floor (floor numbers start above the ground floor here), but who's counting. My basic Greek, "Χρειάζομαι ένα χαρτί για το κολυμβητήριο" ("I need a paper for the swimming pool"), got me quite far! When I finally found the right floor, the receptionist told me to go back downstairs and make an appointment, but I asked for the doctor and told her I just needed a paper. She waved in the direction of the office. I knocked on the door, they took me in after a few minutes, signed my paper, and off I went. The doc even spoke English.

Good for one year of swimming in Greece.

Small victories. Of course I couldn't enjoy it at the time, since I was still in prepare-to-hyperventilate-at-any-moment mode. But now, it's a relief to be cleared for disease-less swimming, so easily, without having to wait until May! I think it was a little bit of grace for me yesterday. :)

mopey midnight musings.

(Athens street art)

UGGGGGGHHHH. GH.

Next time I tell you I think I'm going to try to start a project or organization in another country please knock me upside the head with a baseball bat. Hard. Perhaps I will forget the idea ever occurred to me.

These days come more frequently of late. What was I thinking. What am I doing. This is impossible. Pointless. Impractical. Absurd.

Things are so ambiguous. There are differing visions and levels of commitment within, seemingly insurmountable obstacles outside (sometimes the biggest being those we want to work with).

I'm convinced it's so needed. And I'm not the only one. But why do I have to do it??? It's like birth pains, I guess, without the guarantee that anything is actually going to come of it.

I have been feeling a lot lately like I don't belong anywhere. There is nothing established here (yet). There is nothing that I left behind that I could pick back up. I really feel like I am not planted anywhere, and it is hard.

3 months

Well, three months and three days. In this place where old meets new and you can take pictures forever!

Yesterday afternoon I was walking to the grocery store as the sun set. The sky was clear, the sea (it's on the way) was brilliant blue-green, and the buildings of Athens, ancient and modern, gleamed white in the pink and orange light.

.

The weather is warming up...I'm told we go straight from winter to summer here. Too cold to too hot. I was hoping for spring, but I'm also dreaming of summer, and I'll take my skirts and flip flops over heavy jackets and scarves any day.

Halkida

From our visit to Pepie & Voula's hometown on Sunday for the conference.

Chab Dai & Greece

most common form of transportation in Phnom Penh

I realized I never talked here about my visit with Chab Dai in Phnom Penh, Cambodia last month. I think it was fruitful, and I got some good contacts and a few useful resources. Helen, the director, had some great ideas for building up our resource center here, and I was able to meet and establish connections with a lot of the staff there. The world is small in the anti-trafficking circles. :) Now back in Athens, it's been interesting to compare and contrast the situations in Greece and Cambodia (and Thailand).

.

To avoid the general suspicion (feelings of being threatened, territorialism, you name it) that is so common here in this country when a new group comes in, we've developed a "resource timeline" to more clearly outline what we want to do. (I'm learning a few lessons in humility here, as I wrote the timeline and people are now asking to use it in California, where Lydia Today used it at a conference. Hey! That's mine!! Anyway.) As we outline specific needs that victims/survivors of trafficking or other commercial sexual exploitation encounter at each phase (rescue phase, restoration/rehabilitation phase, long term aftercare, repatriation/reintegration into society, self sufficiency), we can begin to plug in local resources and/or trained individuals. Many of these organizations already exist; it's a matter of connecting them all.

Anyway, it's quite different from what Chab Dai does (I think it's different from what anyone has done, actually), but I think many of their ideas are great ones. They have forums specific to areas of care (shelters, child abuse, law enforcement) that run themselves and meet regularly, and they have two big meetings per year with everyone. They have a required commitment to continued learning and sharing information, they are heavy on community education, and they have a great resource center & library available to the community.

We're still trying to think of a name for this project, so we can register it as a Greek NGO. We're trying to hammer out things like mission statement and vision, and later will present it to several churches in the area to establish a core group to go through the Hands That Heal training, and then beyond the church.

There, I've given away all my secrets. I was inspired by what Chab Dai has been able to accomplish - a coalition of over 40 (only Christian) organizations in just a couple of years. I keep getting these ideas of things I'd like to try here in Greece, from the coalition, to business ventures for survivors, to a music project involving some of the girls on the streets. Ha ha. I need to keep my focus on what I'm doing at the moment!

welcome to my world

Just a few small examples of WHY I HATE GREEK RIGHT NOW. How in the hey do you even come up with these words?!

decide = αποφασίζω (apofaseezo)
businessman = επιχειρηματίας (epiheirimatias)
actor = ηθοποιός (eethopios)
rest = ξεκουράζομαι (xekoorazomay)

let's not forget the word with the comma in the middle. Yes, a comma. In the middle of a word.
ό,τι (means "whatever")

and my personal favorite, for just a teeny little English word, "use" ...
χρησιμοποιήσομαι (something like hreesimopee-eesomay)

Gah.

Happy International Women's Day

It really is. Free public transportation was awarded to all women in Athens and many other Greek cities today.

Spent the day in nearby Halkida at a seminar/forum thing on women's issues - trafficking, domestic violence, etc. At the restaurant we ate lunch at, it took a half hour to get a menu, another 45 minutes to get our food, which came out with at least a half hour separating the first dish and the last one, and then we had to ask three times for our bill. It was fine; we were seated right next to the sea and it was a beautiful day. But why the slow service?

The women had the day off! :)

He vs. She

Last night I went to the transvestites.

Thursday night is late-night outreach with Nea Zoi. Hitting the streets around midnight, there are usually (at least) two teams. One goes to the Nigerian girls, where sometimes over a hundred girls line the street in a neighborhood where seedy, decrepit hotels actually run the business and handle the money. The other visits the guys. Guys dressed as girls. In some cases, guys who have become girls.

I did this with a ministry in Hollywood; hanging out until 3 or 4am with people we encountered on the streets, be it homeless folk, gay clubbers, or the transvestites. In Athens though there is an area designated for transvestites. They sit in their cars with their hazards flashing, waiting for customers, then drive them into a back alley. A few times as we sat in our car waiting for teammates to talk to a particular "girl," we'd have these prospective customers pull up next to us expectantly...ignore, ignore, look away!

I have grown accustomed to calling these people "girls," "she," "her." That's what they want. They usually insist upon it, as they no longer identify with the male gender. Most of them are transsexual, meaning they have at the very least been taking hormones, and some have had the sex change surgery, then becoming transgender. ("Transvestite" technically refers to someone who just cross-dresses. This is all really over-simplified, too; it really depends on the person and how she identifies herself.) Many of them are quite beautiful, actually, with better bodies than most girls and great makeup (I've been tempted to ask for tips!).

Most of them here started around the age of 15 with cross-dressing and hormones. Prostitution is so common for this population because there is such a huge stigma here against transvestites. There are no "equal rights," either, so you can be fired from a job for it. Whatever their reasons for desiring to be female, they face so much hostility, abuse, ostracism, and public discrimination. Many are shunned by their families. Sarah*, one of the ones we talked to last night, said that she has a good relationship with her mom now; her mom accepts who she is, but doesn't ask questions about her job, even though she knows what she does.

One of the Nea Zoi girls I was with still calls them guys and "he." I asked her why, not because I don't think she should, or because I think they are really girls. I was just curious, especially because of what they prefer to be called themselves. She said, "To remind myself that they are still men. That they were created as men and that God still sees them as men."

How far from God's creation and plan for them are these souls. In our perversion of creation, even something as basic as genders are not untouched. In at least one of the public hospitals in L.A., there are 5 choices under "gender" on the admission forms. A far cry from God's pronouncement of male and female in Gen. 1:27. By acknowledging her as a her, as she wishes, are we respecting the person or buying into this perversion? To her face, I will always call her "she." And some of them have indeed biologically become "she." Yet in the original design, "he" was the plan. Because of sin and depravity (in general, not simply theirs), that has been so confused.

Must admit, I'm not sure what to call them anymore.

*Yeah, I'm not using their real names.

The photos are from a discreet shoot done at this location a few years ago by a photographer and Lydia Today.

ho and hum

Hello. My knee is out again, I'm sick for the third time in a month, and our gorgeous and warm weather of earlier this week has given way to gloomy skies and rain for the upcoming weekend.

I'm doing well, just nothing much to write about these days...

An article on msn.com this week made me research MSW schools, for some day in the future, even though in the back of my mind I have a feeling I could be here in Greece for longer than a year. Someday...

I accidentally said the Greek f-word to Voula on Monday, as I was trying to remember a different, completely harmless word. She laughed for five full minutes before she caught her breath, glanced down the hallway to make sure her girls weren't paying attention, and told me what I said...

I've been a bit antsy in my house here, with kids and piano lessons and baby music classes increasingly taking over the space. Coming I knew it would be short term, so I think the time has come to put a few lines out and check and see what else is out there. We'll see...

I am waiting for April 1, when, delivered straight to me by United & Olympic Airlines, Janell comes! Along with an extra suitcase full of things just for me. ;) I am trying to persuade her to come to Istanbul for a couple days with me for a visa run. We have many many plans, and I can't wait! (Even though it's still a month away.)

The past few days have been wonderful weather, wonderful running weather. Sigh. The pool membership requires letters from a cardiologist, a dermatologist, and a pathologist, to show that you won't a) drop dead and sink to the bottom of the pool from the exertion of twirly water aerobics, or b) infect someone else with your raging skin or bodily fluids disease. So I'm working on those hoops...

So that's all...things are moving slowly around here, as is customary. It's always an interesting adjustment to try and place less value on things like punctuality and efficiency, since those things don't go very far in many other countries (like here).

Clean Monday

The holidays never end around here. Today marks the beginning of Lent, extra long here (50 days), I guess because Easter is later. And unlike your Ash Wednesday, today is a public holiday here in Greece, another excuse for everyone to stay home from work. :)

Although I will undoubtedly be cleaning today, it is not called "Clean Monday" because it is a national spring cleaning day. Καθαρά Δευτέρα (literally "Green Monday") is the day we all leave behind our sinful attitudes and begin the fast. This means, for the few in the Orthodox Church who actually continue this fasting tradition, no meat or fish, and nothing coming from those animals - no eggs, milk, cheese, yogurt, etc. Bring on the shellfish and octopus! (Yes, it definitely takes some getting used to.)

Clean Monday has its own special menu, and is a day of picnicking and flying kites. Some of the islands and villages have traditional dances and festivals. I'll be cleaning my room and doing my Greek homework, and having a late lunch with Voula's family later. And I'm praying that the suckers will not still be on the octopus legs.