Surfing Glyfada

Nothing much happened today at work, counting out the fact that I was a dead beat for sleeping 5 hours at most, in the most uncomfortable bed on the planet, which apparently became a water bed during my time at work, as part of a not so pleasant surprise once I arrived from work.
The cloudy afternoon in Marina Flisvos was a sign of bad whether coming but who would have thought that Glyfada was under poring rain. Not the best day to leave my window above the bead open. End result, half of the mattress along with most of the floor under the bead and the air conditioning remote, soaked wet... Not to mention the tent on my terrace which after draining it produced a water slope of 30 liters of water turning in to a wave big enoug to surf over the balcony gutter, splashing from 5 stories on the concrete below. Luckily, there was nobody there at that very moment.

Guess I have to congratulate my self for reaching the 100 posts threshold today after 3 years from my first blog post. Great achievement, and will continue with the same passion and dedication as before, if not even more now. Looking forward to the next 100.

Le Basterds

To cut the long story short, since it is already Monday morning and son I have to be found rushing towards the Glyfada tram line to go to work, yesterday afternoon while riding my longboard to go to play some basketball I stumbled upon one of the most beautiful apartments I have ever seen. It was almost perfect, family house with one story, beautiful garden, very green, lots of balconies, nice and friendly landlords who happened to live on the ground floor, furnished and equipped, very form considering it is covered with a wooden floor and the most amazing thing of all, one of the most amazing and spacious modern kitchen I ever seen. I fell in love that very instant. The size and price of it burst my bubble and brought me crashing back into the abyss of reality. It is a 110 meter square dwelling with a reasonable price of 1000 Euro, the lady telling me she is willing to go to 900. This made me work my brain cells and try to figure out whether in case that my employer increases my budget up to 700 Euro and I negotiate for my parents to fill in the gap, I could easily be moving in by the end of next week. Unfortunately thinks did not go as planed and I guess that I have to continue searching, which now that my former colleague is on her vacation to Dubai, and she won't be back for the following two weeks, present itself as a substantial problem.
Discouraged from it, I decided for the best, to end the night singing the wild rover in the irish pub down Glyfada, which is exactly what I did. A few pints an I was as good as new...
Oh and the Inglorious Basterds, brilliant motion picture. I took the tram to Plaka to go to the Summer cinema and just as I hoped for, Tarantino's new masterpiece was on, leaving everybody in the cinema breathless. One of the most refreshing movies I seen in the last few months.

Molly Malone's

As it begun, so the day ended, pretty much in solitude and disappointment. But lets start from the beginning. After getting rejected for the alleged coffee I was supposed to have with my new so called friend, there was a moment of contempt, pride and astonishment after the fabulous and divine meal I made for lunch. The idea for recipe came after I went to the local supermarket to get some groceries. I was passing by the fish department and on one of the banquettes seen the most beautiful, fresh rosy fillets of salmon. Pure magnificence, and it cost me only 3 Euro and I am telling you, the dish I made would have cost me a small fortune in the restaurant, and if I had gotten this in any restaurant, I would have kissed the cook. It was a pasta dish, but not any kind of pasta, integral spaghetti with a fresh tomato sauce I had in store from last weekend which I finished by adding some unripe avocado. On my expensive Teflon pan, after heating it for quite some time, adding a little bit of olive oil, I gently laid the rosy salmon fillet which I pampered with nothing but mixed pepper. The sound and smell it made that very instant was beyond this world and the whole apartment was overtaken by its bewildering aroma. Due to its freshness all it needed was a minute on each side, leaving it slightly raw in the middle and at the very end adding some soy sauce for the finish. After taking it out and putting the fillet aside, the leftover greasy sauce in the pan served as the finishing touch for the tomato avocado sauce already done. |Simmering this for a few seconds and adding the al dente pasta, the dish was finished, all it needed was slices of the salmon fillet on top, and bon appetit.
I am starting to get really pissed of by not having my new I phone yet, which I was promised to receive before I went home for two weeks and for that reason given mine to my brother. I hate not being able to shoot pictures as I go along. I will have to give a note of it on Monday in office.

The rest of the day will be posted this afternoon for I am running out of wireless time and still have some things I need to check whilst online.

Starbucks

Here I am, another Saturday morning of solitude with a laptop on my lap and overflow of caffeine in my blood stream. The night was quite interesting considering I was out with two girls drinking in an Irish pub until the early hours of the next day. But I am not talking about both of my new friend from last weeks remedies, just Niki who brought along her former student, Aleka being out of town this weekend. Anna, my new acquaintance, is a very pretty girl who is a little bit younger than I am, who I believe Nikki wanted me to meet on purpose. She was very outgoing but you could feel the age difference, nonetheless I felt very attracted to her for she is very cute and I felt the bond immediately. I considered working on this and made effort soon after Nikki drove me to my house and we hugged and kissed good riddance for she is leaving to the island where she works. I sent Anna a text message once I went to bed and got nothing until today. I must have read the signals wrongly, but it is plausible considering the number of drinks I had, for I got a general rejection from her, saying she will call me for some drinks 'sometime'.
I am still thinking about inviting her for the Sunday Summer cinema in Plaka but am reluctant that the outcome is going to be positive.
Let's wait and see.

Disappointments and Redundancies

Not much luck yesterday morning in my search for a new apartment even though I had supstantial help from my college and friend Irene who was walking me trough all the places in Glyfada we circled in the realestate paper.
One of the apartments was actually situated in a quite nice and sunny area of Glyfada nut so far away from public transportation and my current residence. But some problems and inadequacies were bound to pop up, one of them being a really old and petite kitchen along with the former balcony which was transferred into an bedroom by closing it with huge windows. Very narrow, probably very hot during summer time and very cold during winter time. I imagined it furnished and it looked much nicer, and I was even willing to take it but my colleague assures me I can do better. The other place is not even worth mentioning, but in between the two places, Irene had an hairdresser appointment and asked me whether I wanted to keep her company, after which I ended up having the most expensive haircut in my entire life. At least I was not disappointed, which I feared I would be from the start, for the male hairdresser could not speak a word of English.
After the disappointing search we took a cab and went back to the office. Soon after having lunch, I found out that my friend wont be able to help me any more with looking for accommodation for she has been made redundant due to the current crisis and the company cutting on expenses stating that her spot is no longer necessary.

I was quite shocked and upset by this because I know that the things in office will not be the same without Irene. She was the one who was caring and helpful from day one when she greeted me in to the neighborhood.
As discomforting as this sounds I am starting to think of it, not as loosing a colleague, rather as gaining a friend, making my decision to find a permanent place in Glyfada even stronger.

Seeking a new dwelling

Yesterday was quite a similar da to the one before. I came back home very late, for something gent and 'unexpected' always seems to reveal itself in its entity at the last minute of working hours. After coming home, came the same routine as always, a nibble and some fruits, followed by gym exercise and almost immediate bed time.
At least I was given the morning of to search for new accommodation in the neighborhood and a colleague of mine is going to be helping me with it. I already have set up some meetings with landlord from adds we came across in the real-estate newspaper.
Although I am aiming at staying in Glyfada, I've been given the advice that Kolonaki is as interesting and vibrant and I should consider it as well. Kolonaki is a very modern part of Athens situated at the very center of it, just above Syntagma, which is practically the central station of Athens. The benefits of Kolonaki are that it is even closer to the office, my colleague lives in the same area, and contrary to Glyfada becoming a bit more quiet, some even say dead place during winter time, Kolonaki is as lively as ever with all sorts of happenings trough the season. The sad part is that it has no greenery and considering it is the center of town, no peace and quiet whatsoever.

I am confident that something will come up and I will have more to work with after today's round. I desperately need to find something in the next 10 days for I need to start studying soon for my broking exam.

The Morning Pleasures

The sweat pleasure of having breakfast on the terrace, probably the most enjoyable thirty minutes of the day, especially on a nice and clear day such as this. Over the dozens of building blocks in front of my bachelors penthouse sweet I can actually see the blue water line and a pattern of the Greek Island coast line, hundreds of ferry boats and pleasure yachts seizing the channel.

Last night, I was feeling weary for it has been 12 hours from the time I left my home, till I came back, something unxespected always occuring in the last minute so I had to stay a good hour later than expected. I guess this is the nature of the job. All in all the day was quite invigorating and exciting for beside my regular Greek activities, I am involved with my own Croatian company project and all the preparation work ti start an office. I fear this following month is going to be quite exhausting and stressful for besides all of this I have to prepare for my broking exam to become a licensed broker and by the time I start studying, which has to be soon, I would have already had to find a replacement for my current dwelling. This I am fortunately going to start searching for today and luckaly find something by the end of this week.

Terrace Blogging

Just got back from the Gym, had a nice shower, sat on the terrace to see the new developments on the internet and remembered that I started writing my blog again, the terrace being the only place where my little Sony Vaio is in range for free wireless. Come to think of it, there is really no need to buy Broadband if things continue to be the way they are. I should probably bare in mind the fact that I am moving as soon as something comes up and it should, for starting tomorrow, I am determined to find a new roof above my head and have my colleagues who promised to help with the foreign language and alphabet, none of which I seem to cope with yet.

Taking a look at the balance of my Piraeus bank savings account left me dumbfounded for I had no idea I had so little money and so much time more to spread it until the next paycheck. Murphy law coming in place at the best possible time, the fact being some unexpected expenditures must occur in the next few days. I will need to plan my budget very carefully not to be left broke. So much for the first savings for my new Burton snowboard this season. I will have to be more efficient next month.

Ending the weekend with Catch22

As I neglected my blog for such a vast period of time I feel obliged to post at lest one more blog as proof of determination to the decision to be more frequent.

The short but colorful weekend is just about to come to an end, and after watching the first 15 minutes of Vin Diesel's Babylon A.D. decided to stop and finish the night with a roller coaster ride of a book called Catch22. SO much for Vin's acting skills.

The day did not go as I intended it to go initially for I didn't have the patience to ride the tram for one hour to get to the center of Athens and find out that there is the same movie on the repertoire as last week. Instead, I decided to visit starbucks again, only this time with a good read rather than a laptop, after which I payed a visit to the basketball court to do some exercise which came in quite nice.

Tomorrow means back to work and I feel it is going to be quite an intensive and exhousting week. I have two projects I need to finish by the end of it, besides my day to day activities. One of them is preparing the three year budget for Croatia and the other is translating the company website into Croatian. Both of them are time consuming and I suppose that I will have to start coming to the office earlier and leaving a couple of hours later than usual, but I am sure the sacrifice is going to be worth the while.

I will give my best to get up earlier in the morning and go for a jog, then have a nice shower, good old fashioned breakfast and coffee on the balcony and off to work.

Did I mention that I received a call from my new friend Niki about her wanting to meet with me before going back to the island where she works...

Seldom Posts and Coffee Shops

My alleged reluctance in writing posts more frequently has come to an end. The initial period of accommodation to my new living environment is concluded and I now find myself as a fully established Athenian. The city is absolutely brilliant and the final gap in making my what is now going to be a two year stay in Greece, as comfortable as possible, friendship acquaintances ans socialization is coming to a close.

I am beginning interact with new people by the day. While, yesterday night I went out for a quick beer in my local Irish pub and ended up spending the night with two astonishing and charming Greek women, who I truly hope to stay in touch with. THe fact is they are a decade older then me but we seemed to click just like that. I am usually an introverted person when it comes to making new acquaintances, especially when there's none of that alcohol produced courage and sometimes plain stupidity. But, last night I managed to overcome my fears and shyness and just went for it, which turned out the best decision lately.

Hopefully we will end up going for a coffee sometime soon, which coincidentally, I am doing right now, alone that is. It became a routine, sort of, to come to Starbucks on weekend mornings. The alleged coffee that everybody drinks here in astonishing quantities is Freddo, which is a kind of coffee with ice. Really refreshing, so I quickly grew accustomed to it. Another reason for coming here so oftenly is the free wireless internet, for I still don't have one in my dwelling and will be moving to a bigger place soon where I will probably have a broadband connection.

A few more minutes and I will be off back to my app for lunch which was halfway prepared last night and believe is going to be delicious, for it is my famous Milanese sauce with spaghetti.
Another thing planned for today is the Sunday Summer cinema above Plaka near the Acropolis which is rolling old classics, and is very charming by itself. Just last week, they were playing Woody Allan's Sleeper and made the 7 Euro ticket worth the while. A wonderful and romantic experience. I only wish that in this time I'll be spending in Athens, there will be a chance not to go by myself and make the romantic environment worth its charm.