I absolutely love this country. Everyone here has been so nice to us. We'll be in the streets somewhere - cameras strapped around our necks, maps held up and turned at all different angles, faces contorted into confused looks - and someone will walk up to us and ask us if we need help with directions. Now I know I gloated about and praised France in my early blogs, but please. If a blatantly obvious tourist seemed to be struggling with directions, she is more likely to be shoved out of the way than offered help. We Americans aren't much different. Here in Athens, I'm sure the locals encounter more tourists than fellow citizens. But on so many occasions, random Greek strangers have gone out of their way to try to lend a helping hand and show us the way.
Then there is this adorable restaurant host. This place is located about three doors down from our hostel, and we were walking by and he, like any good business man looking for money, stopped us and asked if we wanted to eat. We had literally just eaten and we told him this. He said, "Oh that's fine! Come, sit down, have a glass of wine. It's on the house!" We were very hesitant and didn't want to take his offer at first, but he was so sweet and kept insisting so we finally sat down. Oh, and the fact that he took me by the hand and dragged me in probably had a lot to do with it. He ordered us each a glass of wine, the waiter introduced himself and we enjoyed the hospitality. The next day he remembered us, and when we went to eat there for dinner tonight, he thanked us each personally.
Ok ok, so people who want something from us are nice. That doesn't mean anything. I have one sentence for you: The girls here are nice. If you go somewhere and the girls are kind to other girls, then you know you're in a extraordinary place. There is a genuineness to the people here; it's not a surface-value kind of generosity. It's the kind of generosity that leads a person to walk up to a lost stranger and offer his time and help. It is so encouraging to see them respond to people this way during this hard time for their country. They're either really good at hiding a mess or they have life figured out more than we do.
There was a security guard at Acropolis today and he made me delete all of my pictures I had taken of a stuffed animal in front of the attractions. He spoke little English and I had a lot of pictures of the little guy so the process took longer than he had hoped, but at the end of it he told us he felt so bad doing it and he wished he didn't have to. He said we were very kind and that he would keep our smiles. I don't quite know what that meant but it made me forgive him completely for making me delete my pictures.
There are two islands here that I would LOVE to visit - Patmos and Santorini - but they are seven hours away. Looks like I'll just have to come back!
And here I will take some more of this blog space to gab about guys. I can see why the ancient Greeks were so quick to confuse men for gods. Tan skin, dark hair, European style: they've got a lot going for them. This is something I learned the first time I went to the Greek food festival back home, where all of the beautiful Greek guys would come out from wherever they seemed to be hiding and feed me delicious pastries. But now I'm in the motherland and they're everywhere. One smiled at me just as he got done doing chin ups in the park. They had to clean my heart off the street.
I never thought I'd say this, but I don't want to go back to France.
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