Last night: went to the outdoor cinema in Kolonaki. It was really nice. They were showing Manhattan with Greek subtitles (there isn't much in the way of Greek language cinema, so most theatres play English movies with subtitles). I bought my ticket in Greek, so I felt proud of myself. The cinema itself was in a small outdoor garden with a lot of outdoor chairs set up in rows. They played half of the movie, then had an intermission where everyone got up and bought drinks or snacks from the stand in the back and talked. Then they showed the second half of the movie. I could read some of the Greek subtitles, and if I remembered things better, I would now know such words as psychoanalyst, neurotic, and synagogue in Greek.
Today: one: get groceries other than pasta, tomato sauce, and cereal. This involved walking across to the supermarket on the other side of Kolonaki Square. I love browsing in civilian supermarkets, so it was a real adventure to be browsing in a supermarket in a country where I don't speak or read the language very well. Then I got to walk with all of my groceries back to my apartment, which was a bit less fun, though not too bad because I went early in the day before the sun got too hot.
two: After I got everything put away, I decided to go take a walk (as though I haven't been walking enough already this week). So, I hiked up Lycabettus Hill. And it was a hike. Lycabettus Hill is the highest point in Athens (the top of it is something like 277 meters above sea level) and while I wasn't starting out from sea level, it's still quite an elevation change. I was also doing this around 11 o'clock in the morning, on the side of the hill with no shade, which was possibly not the brightest idea either. But it was a beautiful climb, even though I was right on the side of the hill and the look down made me feel kind of dizzy (I don't have the greatest head for heights). At the top of the hill, there's a little church. The inside of it is all painted with ikons in the Greek Orthodox style. It was beautiful. I tried to take pictures of some of them, but I'm not sure how well they turned out since I wasn't using a flash. I don't think I can properly convey the contrast between the dark inside of the church and the blinding sunlight outside of it. The view from the top of Lycabettus was amazing too. You can see the entire city from up there, all the way down to the Pireaus. It wasn't the most clear view that far (Athens is not the most air pollution free city in the world), but that's at least 9 km away.
three: on the way back, I stopped at a Germanicos store to buy a microphone headset for my computer. I tried to use Greek, but the lady working at the store heard my terrible Greek, concluded that Greek was not even close to my first language, and switched over to English. It was kind of annoying. How am I supposed to learn Greek if people talk English to me? (We will now pause for everyone to tell me that I am not allowed to berate myself for not being fluent in Greek after a week in the country).
four: hike with my laundry up to school to use the washing machines here (1.8 km up the Vassilissis Sofias in the midday heat with all my laundry in a duffel bag, plus my backpack with my school stuff and laptop). Figure out how to use Greek washing machines, put laundry in washing machines, wait 1.5 hours for wash cycle to finish, figure out how to use Greek dryers, put laundry in dryers.
No idea of what activities are planned for tomorrow. I would bet that they involve more walking, though.
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