How are you? How are the kids? Has the weather been nice on the Internet lately? Things are going well here although the heat is sometimes unbearable. If Greece has taught me anything it is that actually LIVING in a vacation destination is NOT the same as vacationing there. Rather than spending my days on the beach (which ok I do but not nearly as much as I COULD) I'm hiding inside working and avoiding the fry-an-egg-on-the-sidewalk sun.
Anyway... Last night Alex and I went to a birthday party at a club on the "other sea" for this Russian girl who is a friend of the family. To be honest I'm not particularly fond of her and wasn't looking forward to it for a variety of reasons, but I did have a cute new dress (the kind that is way too fancy to wear to any NH club) and was obliged to be Alex's plus one. The evening began at Jessica's filharmoniki concert which was adorable. I've never seen someone play a meaner tambourine! We had to leave early though to get dressed and walk (or for me I should say teeter on four inch heels.) like three miles to the birthday girl's house as fast as we could only to find out everyone else was incredibly late. When we gave her the present (that I will note I bought and wrapped) she said "Alex spaceba! Oh Alex!" and didn't even LOOK at me. I was pretty pissed to be perfectly honest and since she admittedly used to be in love with Alex, I'm always on my guard around her. So then we sat around for another half hour while I sweated in my beautiful new dress. (How is it that Greece is so hot at NIGHT?) I felt invisible for the next 30 minutes because everyone was speaking Russian but finally people with cars arrived and we headed off, smushed in the back of some teenytiny car. It was nice being there with Alex though, wind blowing in our hair, forced to be incredibly close and therefore nuzzling and kissing like new lovers. And discussing football, which has become a favorite subject of mine. (Russia at this point was beating Holland, yes HOLLAND, 3-1 in overtime but we didn't know until Lazerith called.) When we arrived at the club there was no one there despite the fact that it was after midnight and because the birthday girl had taken another car (and apparently gone to Russia and back since it took her a good hour) we had to wait for her and no one was drinking. Bor-ing. It did give me a new respect for Alex though who always manages to be the life of the party regardless the situation. Unfortunately he was being the life of the party mostly in Russian. (And okay I admit it, I don't understand screamed-over-the-music Greek at all.) Finally the birthday girl arrived and the waiter brought out tonsss of bottles of alcohol. Finally. Alex even managed to special-order some tonic for my vodka which was very sweet of him. Vodka tonics aren't a popular drink around here. So we started to drink, and because I am supposed to be on a grechka-only detox diet for the next week I only had two drinks the whole night. I'm so boring sometimes. The night ended up not being too terrible... I did some napkin-throwing Greek dancing and the birthday girl went absolutely wild which was good for her. At one point she decided to try to give Alex a lap dance while he sat next to me. I jabbed my fingernail into his back and he screamed and everyone caught on and thought it was pretty funny. The nerve, honestly. Finally it was time to go home and we piled into the car of this Albanian guy. On the way back he asked me where I was from, thinking I was Russian. "oxi, oxi, Amerikey..." AMERICA? Oh my GOD American is AMAZING. He couldn't start talking about how his cousin moved there and NO ONE was racist towards him (as Greeks are to Albanians). It made me think and I came to the conclusion that EVERY country has its prejudices. Some, clearly, are worse than others, but I'm sure if that guy's cousin was Mexican or Iraqi things would be different. I DO think that generally America is pretty good for foreigners though. I mean, maybe I'm just a little ignorant but MY reaction to foreigners living in America is "wow cool" not "get out of my freaking country". I realize though not everyone shares these feelings, but I've never experienced racism like I have living in Greece.
After that little night out Alex and I spent the day sleeping/lying around and (for me) working. Now we're drinking rum and coke and watching Spain-Italy. Have I mentioned I love soccer (football)?
Hope things are well.
Love, Elena
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