Greece- quick note

I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Neo Kornithos - don't even want to know how hot it is, has been getting above 40 C (which is a bit intense). The dig is grand times thus far, been great meeting all these liberal arts types, learning about ancient times, having a community that is pretty welcoming and cohesive in just a short time.

I got to Athens on 9 June, stayed with the lovely Traci, Mike, Kate, and Laura. Explored some of the major sites but spent more time just hanging out. Then headed to the dig site and have been chilling with Andrew and Susan. The dig really got underway about a week ago, I've been the odd one out with my non-classics background (it's a heck of a story explaining how I got here) but think it's good to have someone who speaks living languages around to just mix things up if nothing else. Good mix of people, students are from all over and I've made some excellent friends already. And there's time to read! Huzzah!

Celebrated my birthday last week in high style - little Andrew and I went into town for a frappe, coloring in the morning. I went to the beach with Barbara in the afternoon, then threw a cocktail hour where people surprised me with sparklers, candles, singing and fun presents. Good times. Went out afterwards, Nikos, one of the restaurant owners in Old Corinth, is friends with the entire world it seems (I've met a Serbian guy (yay practicing), the police chief, and some others through him). Had excellent baklava. Saturday we had a big dinner at his place with roast lamb and all the trimmings, then a dance party on the terrace overlooking the ruins of Ancient Corinth. (I hate the fact that spelling for place names is all madness here changing). It was a great few days of birthday joy.

I think Andrew and I are basically entertainment for the whole dig. It's nice to be loved.

And I even have tan lines. yessir.

Cafe musings

It's funny, we spend a lot of time in cafes here (by we I mean seemingly everyone in town). And there's always the search for the perfect one - they have widely different personalities. Some are great for afternoon lounging, others for a quick(er) cuppa, yet others for nighttime but never day. I've been discovering some tucked away ones, great big terrace kinda places. Practically every place now has outdoor seating set up, great to watch the world go by. But regardless of where you go, you need at least 10 minutes to get the waiter's attention for your bill so you can leave. I went and downloaded photos from Oplenac the other day at one with free wifi. Which was great except that the waiter spilled coffee all over my computer (he broke the first rule of serving - always use a tray)! Now it's caffeinated although I've been told decaf is better for electronics.

And then yesterday our server asked me and a friend if we were from Beograd. She thought I was English and he from North Africa or Asia or something. Bizarre. But funny. I had a student the other day think I was Serbian for the entire lesson (he'd not been in the class when I'd visited before). Acclimation? Or just that we see what we expect to see? Or is it the new haircut?

Topola - countryside, churches, kings

Two Sundays ago saw me leaving the metropolis for pastoral calm. My new friend Eric succeeded in borrowing a car, so we'd decided to go do some outside of Belgrade sight-seeing. I'd heard of this cool church from some people a few weeks ago about 50 km or so south of Beograd so we met at noon to head to Topola along with my friend Dušan (local expert since his mother's family is from the area).

I'll preference this by saying that my friend Tijana had a birthday party the night before (A super fun time with a black and white theme, salsa music. I got to wear my new dress.) and that'd I'd walked a friend home in the wee smalls of the morning since he was not able to himself. What makes it even better was that when I was walking back homewards I passed these people sitting outside a cafe drinking coffee as if there was nothing else more normal to do at 5:30 a.m. One said something to me in Serbian, I asked him to repeat and then finally had to pull out "Izvini, učim srpski." "Odakle si?" "Ja sam iz amerike." "Stvarno?" "Da." "You must come and have coffee with us." My half-hearted protest went unheard, and I sat where I was told to, drank my espresso with milk and listened to Serbian with some English mixed in. Cool crowd - a singer, the cafe owner, various friends. I got home and to bed around 7 a.m.... just fantastic.

So there I was, mostly awake and bouncy at noon. We figured out the way there, took a bit of a scenic detour when Dušan missed a turn and finally got to Topola. After stopping for coffee and chatting about educational systems (I'm telling you, learning all the time) headed to the church. It's completely done in mosaics inside, incredibly beautiful. This is the seat of the Serbian royal family, the uprising against the Turks happened around here as well (although don't ask me for dates- I was never good with them). In the church's crypt are the tombs of various royals, saw the first king of Serbia's grave and subsequent family. I just loved the walls, the mosaics are quite finely done with this vivid lapis blue and other colors.

We poked around the rest of the grounds, stopping by a little museum with artifacts about King Aleksander and Queen Marija (a total fox in that 1920-30s way), tramping through the woods a bit to find a gorgeous view over fields and hills - looked a bit like Indiana when all is said and done. Was wonderful just to be out in green again, I'd not realized how much I missed it. There was a funny moment when we went and found the wine house - it was full of contemporary art. No drinks for us. Then down the huge hill to a little church (not decorated so much), another small museum with Serbian history - Turkish uprising, peasant life (looked a lot like stuff from Conner Prairie or another pioneer town), moving Karađorđević's body. I worked on practicing my cyrillic, wished that Nemenja was there to make the history seem real (he's my official Serbian history teacher). After circling the town looking for food got some grill, the men had tea and continuing our rambling conversation before walking up the hill again, driving back to the city.

Driving through the Serbian countryside we could see the effects of a changing society - people are moving more and more to urban areas since there's not so much work to be had in the villages. The highway reminded me a bit of Highway 40 through Indiana; little towns that saw their prime years ago, now are worn down and faded. I won't wax sociologist here, but I still contend the country is pretty much the same worldwide (and not just in the way that it's almost impossible to enter as an outsider). It's comforting in an odd kinda way.

Emotions and government

It's been an emotional week. Last Monday I was surrounded by people deeply worried by their current political situation spouting gloom and doom, making plans of escape, saying the country would regress to the 90s, etc. Then colleagues at another school said I shouldn't worry at all, everything would be fine, I'd see. No need to be down. I find out that my grandfather died somewhat unexpectedly Friday morning and that getting home for the funeral is completely out of the question. Meanwhile Serbia wins Eurovision Saturday night (the birthday party I was at frankly was a bit lame until the final results since most people were just sitting and watching it), Marija Šerifović does have a fantastic voice so that's a great thing. Sunday sees Nikolić stepping down as the Parliament speaker, a new government being formed that's much more to the liking of the people I spend my time with. My students say this Monday that they really weren't worried, they were just worried for my sake. And, of course, the only reason I was worried was because everyone else seemed to be.

Now, anyone who says that the government waited until the last minute to form is exaggerating. They had a whole half hour left before the deadline. I mean, come on, they could have put it off a bit longer. Although 11:30 p.m. on a Tuesday isn't a bad time to make a government if you like that kind of thing. Interestingly enough, during the live broadcast when it's recess time they totally cut the sound. This, perhaps unfortunately, lets silly people like me do running commentary about these political figures that I know actually very little about. Think Mystery Science Theater. Ivan thought it was funny at least. But anything is possible in Serbia. Which is why I'm still here. I love absurdism and it most definitely thrives here in a very rich and developed way.