Some thoughts I had last night at TGI Fridays in Athens, Greece. (Yes, I am slightly ashamed of myself.) I’ll update on my awesome day today once I have pictures uploaded!
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Sitting in a TGI Friday’s in Athens, Greece. This is not as strange as McDonalds in Mumbai (Bombay), but I am still finding it fairly surreal. And annoying. That people think this stuff is great. That they … That they I take it all back. I think I’m jealous. That other countries and cultures can take the worst of US consumerism and treat it properly like what it is, not warp it out of proportion. Here, it remains as an interesting bit of AmeriKana - a treat. I suppose there was a day when it wa like this in the US, but it is long gone. Now we have to have the biggest and the most before we’re (n)ever satisfied. Quantity over quality. An ass-backwards approach. Two major differences (TGI Greekies): 1. Everyone smoking everywhere (theme?) 2. Soccerballs where there would be baseballs.
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Like other places I love in the Mediterranean, people here seem to enjoy being out and about, talking in a loud, smokey bar, making merry without being on a schedule - letting the night take them where it may. Or is is it that I cannot see more subtle signals between parties?
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Dad would be pleased to see Newcastle Brown and Sam Adams in the bar fridge.
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The women here feel happier, more sure of themselves, stronger emotionally than women I’ve seen elsewhere. They feel warm but balanced. Not insecure enough to need gaudy baubles like the French or Italians, but not cold and unfriendly like the Northerners nor fake like the Americans.
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Female volleyball players have the best asses ever. Or is it the shorts? Doesn’t matter, I like volleyball. And why don’t they show women’s volleyball more often, anyway?
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Strange to think of Greek Orthodoxy, traditional religious life, old women in black nylon. Then remember that this is the country that had had gay rights BC.
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I keep remembering two things: 1. The stories my violinist friend told me about “Her Greek”, most of which revolved around his small penis being convenient for buttsex. 2. My Big Fat Greek Wedding… “What do you mean, you don’t eat no MEAT!? … … It’s okay, I make you lamb”.
