It's all Greek to me!

Phew. Day one of Greece was a success, and I’m absolutely wiped!

First, I went on an SAS trip to the Acropolis (where the Parthenon is) with a few friends. After climbing about 2.5 million super slippery steps, we finally made it to the top. It was so cool to see the real Parthenon! I mean, our Nashville replica is great and all, but it’s got nothing on this one. The view from the top was amazing!

After about an hour of snapping pictures and standing out in the hot sun, we made our way back down the slippery steps, which was substantially scarier than it had been walking up. We headed over to La Plaka, an area with a bunch of cute streets lined with shops and cafes. We stopped at a restaurant for some drinks and baklava, which was absolutely delicious!

After our midday snack, we did a little more shopping. When we got to the last store, we looked around for awhile and bought a couple things. As we were walking out, one of the clerks who had been helping us asked me my name. I told him, and then he politely continued to ask everyone else’s names. After we’d all given him our names, he looked back at me, pointed, and said, ‘I like you the best.’ I was a little taken aback, but hey, who wouldn’t be flattered? I looked disgusting and sweaty, and this guy still liked me. Score! I smiled and started backing away when, out of nowhere, he grabbed my arm and proceeded to ask, ‘do you have husband?’ IS HE SERIOUS!? I gave him a wide-eyed, deer-in-headlights look as I so cleverly responded with, ‘er…umm…well…uhh.’ Apparently any wit I may possess flies out the door when a Greek man questions my marital status. Good to know for the future.

As I continued to stammer unintelligibly, he kept shaking my arm and saying, ‘if you no have husband, I will be husband.’ Clever response number two: ‘I…umm…don’t want…umm…don’t need…a husband…’ Clerk: ‘Okay…I will be boyfriend!’ Boy, this guy doesn’t take a hint. Maybe I’d have considered him if he was ten years younger and not already balding, but what can I say? A girl’s gotta have standards. I continued to awkwardly back away, this time having to tug my arm out of his grip.  To his chagrin, I finally managed to wriggle loose. He continued to excitedly say ‘Husband! Husband! I am good husband!’ as I walked away. Once we rounded the corner, my friends and I all started laughing hysterically. A few hours into Greece, and I’d already gotten a proposal!? If this is any indication of how Greece is going to be for the next five days, then I’m excited.

After my proposal, we found a restaurant that promised to give us an authentic Greek experience. We went in and saw that all the waiters were wearing togas! And the waitresses had on pink ones! As I read through the menu, I realized that there were very few entrees on it that I was willing to eat. I wasn’t really in the mood for rabbit, duck, or pig’s liver…so I went with one of the few entrees that I thought sounded safe: a good ‘ol steak. How can you go wrong with steak, right?

When my meal arrived, the steak looked delicious! One problem, though. All they gave me was a spoon and knife. I summoned one of my toga-ed waitresses over and asked for a fork. For some reason, she looked at me like I’d just told her to slaughter her first-born and replied with, ‘We do not use forks here. They are a sign of war. We, Greeks, do not like fighting.’ Is this chick seriously telling me that I’m supposed to use a SPOON to eat my steak? She’s gotta be fricken kidding me. I continued to look up at her waiting for her to crack a smile, and say ‘Gotcha!’…but that never happened. Well, here goes. I wanted an authentic Greek meal…and apparently, I’ve got one. So, I dug into my steak, spoon first. It was an interesting experience. Cutting a bite of steak took more effort than I’ve ever had to spend on eating. On the bright side, by the time I managed to saw off a piece, I’d probably already burned off the calories from my previous bite. After I managed to cut my whole steak, I was absolutely exhausted. Which is where I’m at now. Completely exhausted. Sadly, we didn’t get to go see Eclipse tonight…but I just found out that my roommate bought a boot-leg version of it today…so, I know what I’ll be doing when we leave Greece.

I head to Mykonos bright and early tomorrow morning! I’ll do my best not to get proposed to again, but I can’t make any promises. :]