A Spaniard, a Frenchman, and a Palestinian walk into a bar...

This past weekend my roommates and I wanted to experience the beaches of Athens.  So we put our suits on and headed to the tram--a ten minute walk to Syntagma Square.  After arriving on the beach, the first thing we noticed were the cigarette butts littering the sand.  Quite gross when you want to lay out your brand new towel (bought from one of the many men walking up and down the beach selling everything from sunglasses to jewelry to floaties).  However, it was a beautiful day and very sunny so we didn't mind too much.  This is the beach we were at:

What you don't see, that is quite clear once you enter the water, is all the trash floating in the lovely sea.  It is disgusting.  Everything is there:  plastic bags, cups and much more.  Once you get out past the waves it gets slightly better, but only slightly.  However, the temperature of the water is very pleasant.  Another thing you don't see is all the rocks on the bottom of the sea floor.  It is quite painful to be on, especially when you have a bum foot.

We did manage to meet some people at the beach.  Our neighbors were quite interesting.  They were from all over (Spain, France, and Palestine) and only just met when they came to the city.  The Spaniard played the guitar very well, and was taught by his dad who was in a mariachi band.  They also had a hookah in their little campsite.  We managed to talk a little bit to them, though they understood very little English.  Marti and Kathy even tried to teach one to swim.

At one point, we buried the Palestinian in the sand, and everyone stopped and stared at what we were doing.  Apparently, they don't do that here.












And now for something completely different:
I got my TB and Chest X-Ray today!  I need to go back to the hospital on Thursday so they can read my results.  The hospital we went to was not nearly as anal about sterilization as the US.  They didn't wear gloves for anything, which upset some of the other students from CYA.  There wasn't any soap in the bathroom and apparently cats were wondering around inside.  The last thing is very common here.  You see stray animals all the time, both cats and dogs.  People feed them so they don't ever starve, and if you are traveling in a bigger group, the dogs will follow you and try to protect you.  We found this out when we went out in a very large group and had dogs following us and barking at cars for us.