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.

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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).

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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.

I guess I should write something... (a general update for you)

Hurray for a social life, because I have one. :)

Went out with some American girls last night, and some Greek ones tonight. Soon I may actually know the cool places to hang out in Athens, besides my house! There are some fun areas I have known about, so it's great to have people to go hang out there with.

My knee is doing much better, thank you for asking! When I got home from Thailand, I was in so much pain I couldn't walk. I hopped around my apartment for a couple days (until the best day of my life at the hospital). I don't know what exactly happened to it, although I that pain has come and gone ever since I arrived in Greece (though not for that long). But after ten days of anti-inflammatories, I haven't felt it. I can still feel my knee; sometimes it kind of locks, or feels like it pops out of place but then back again, but none of that really bad pain. So I'm happy about that. I'm faithfully doing my exercises at the gym to strengthen the muscles. :) But I am really missing running.

What else would you like to know? (I can't remember all the things you've been asking.) Ask away, if you like...

too much time on the internet...

Two things going around on Facebook have for some reason moved me to try them. First, this "imaginary band" thing - so many people have done them and I think they're so cool!

My Imaginary Band

1. Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random”

or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random

The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2. Go to "Random quotations"

or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3

The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.

3. Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”

or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days

Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4. Use photoshop, picassa, or similar to put it all together.

5. Post it with this text in the "caption" and TAG the friends you want to join in. (Whatever. Mine is above. And yes, it said "woman's" with an A.)

...

And second, this one makes me laugh, I got some really great ones:

.

Kelsey needs...

Rules: Type in your first name and the word needs in quotes ("Your name needs”) into your favorite search engine and see what comes up. List the first 10 sentences that make sense and then tag some of your friends!

1. Kelsey needs to stop being a mat for everyone to walk on.

2. Kelsey needs to quit throwing kids into the stands--this isn't WWF

3. Kelsey needs to find a way to trust her heart to the handsome psychiatrist.

4. Kelsey needs to find a home that will treat her like the little princess she is. (Amen!)

5. Kelsey needs more CAMERA TIME!

6. Kelsey needs some sleep.

7. Kelsey NEEDS anger management...NOW!

8. My Kelsey needs a lot of prayer!

9. Kelsey needs work in the area of social skills. (haha)

and, saving the best for last:

10. Kelsey needs to be in a mental institution...she was trying to kill the ducks at the park....while making extremely annoying duck noises.

Runner up: Kelsey needs a new pair of Pampers - [hers] stink - and maybe a pacifier.

Now, I must go. I have A LOT of important things to do.

Language fun for everyone!

So, contemplating last night's subway interaction ... I know that I responded (in Greek) to the "what do you do" question by saying that I work with women in prostitution. Upon further reflection, it is quite possible that I somehow told him I am a prostitute. I couldn't quite figure out how to say "in prostitution," and then again I'm not even sure if the word I used means prostitution or prostitute. So I possibly said something like, "I work with women. Prostitute." Excellent! His reaction was rather odd...

The other thing I keep confusing is the word that means both "spit" and "cheap" ... only differentiated by an accent on either syllable. Language is fun!

Not as good as my friend Katie in Thailand who told me her story with the Thai language (a tonal language) when I was there. The word for "excuse me" is the same as the word for "fart," just a different tone. So squeezing in on the subway or some other crowded place she frequently says "fart!" at the people by mistake! Of course they have no concept that the two are similar, because to them they are completely different words. Fun times for all!