Katie Jackson
Blog 3/26
Thoughts
on a Mountain
Today
I woke up early for class to finish my readings. When I received an email from
Rich stating that class was postponed until 11, I took advantage of the great weather
and went for a walk. I strolled to the bakery called “Repeat”, ordered a
spinach pie and coffee, and went to the park behind my apartment. I walked
through the park and up to the rocky top. The walkway to the top is a set of
steep stairs and then turns into dirt for the last 20 or so steps. Once at the
top, I had a perfect view of the Acropolis and all of Athens. While I was
eating my spinach pie, I took a couple minutes to reflect on the parade for
Greece’s Independence Day that we had attended the day before.
When
we arrived at the street that the parade marched down, it seemed like the whole
police squad was lining the street. They were dressed up in a nice police suits
and the women police were wearing skirts. Rich told us that today was either
the best or worst day to commit a crime, depending on how you look at it. If
you commit a crime near the parade, there’s no chance of getting away with
it. On the other hand, if a crime is
committed somewhere far away from the parade, it will take a while before the
police show up because they are all preoccupied at the parade.
We waited until 11
for the parade to start. People gathered on the side of the street watching as
the first set guards walked down. The first group was the Red Cross Association.
The flag bearer marched with the well-known red flag and a group of people
followed behind her in red jumpsuits. We had to wait a couple more minutes for
the military branches to start walking down. When they started marching down,
we could hear some of the groups chanting something in Greek. I thought it was
an anthem or something similar, but Chrissy assured us it wasn’t. They also all
had a specific march. Their right foot would be a normal step, but their left
would extend up 90 degrees and then out straight before stomping on the ground.
Although there are only four branches of the military, I saw dozens of
different uniforms. Among them, there was a group marching down in their full
camouflage with face paint, a group of pilots wearing their helmets, and divers
in all black suits carrying flippers and oxygen tanks.
Each
group marched down wearing different uniforms and carrying different types of
weapons. While watching each set, I noticed that the women soldiers were always
in the back of the group. That made me wonder what type of role they play in
the Greek society and military culture. I wondered if women were not allowed in
combat or if rape was a big problem like it is in the U.S. I also wondered if
the reason they were in the back was because of their rank, and were lower
ranked in the military than the others in front of them.
The
parade ended with a marching band playing an upbeat song and then the police
allowed people to walk in the street.
The whole time we were waiting to see tanks and other military vehicles
but they never showed. Rich asked a police officer why that was and he told
Rich that the tanks alternate each year between Thessaloniki and Athens. After
the parade, all the girls went to eat and prepared for our upcoming class.
Sitting
on top of the hill thinking about the parade, it finally hit me that my time
left in Athens is limited and I needed to cherish it. I was glad I had the
opportunity to see the parade and be a witness to one of Greece’s most
important holidays. I sat up on the hill for a couple more minutes, admiring my
view of the acropolis and taking in the good weather. I walked back to the
apartment just in time for class to begin. It was a short class today as we
talked about the ending of our book Twice
a Stranger, and the short stories.
After
class, Lauren and I went out to go shopping at a store called Attica. It is a
big department store that has areas on each floor for individual stores to
display their merchandise. We headed down to the lowest floor to look at the
shoes. Lauren bought two pairs of shoes while I just looked; I was trying to
save my money for later in the trip when I would want to treat myself. We also
walked to other stores because it was such a nice day out.
Upon
returning home, all the girls decided to walk to the main street about ten minutes
away and go to a bigger market. We were hoping to find a larger variety of
foods, and we did! We even found taco seasoning so that we could make tacos for
one of our next meals. We all got a couple snacks for our upcoming trip, and
Haley and Chrissy bought supplies for their meal that night. They made a mix
with coconut chicken, rice and vegetables. After dinner and for the rest of the
night, we all did our own thing. I finished up my readings and caught up on a
couple of T.V. sho
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