Lord of the Frappes
If the link doesn’t work, click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaHb8grTIUk
Urban Book Club Review: Facing Athens
Facing Athens, by George Sarrinikolaou
This is not a new book, just something I picked up with interest as someone who has lived in Athens for a few years as part of an Urban Odyssey. Publishing the book might have been a rush job trying to capture the market of the 2004 Athens Olympics when Modern Greece suddenly was on people’s minds (anticipated failure, complaints, etc, like most media here seems to be about Greece). Consider this book the anti-romantic portrait of modern Greece. If you loved Greece before you read it, you might hate it after you finish reading 142 easy-reading pages of this book. Written by a native Greek who left when he was 10 years old, who paid yearly visits there growing up and spent 3 months living there in part as a personal journey, in part to write this book… it basically puts a magnifying glass on all of the flaws of the modern Greek state, its people and, it seems (it can be that dark) their souls. Take all the bad, post it on pages like a collage, provide minimal analysis and you’ve got this book. This is not to say what the author speaks about is not true… indeed the most depressing aspect of this book, as a once-ago resident who lived in and with many of the groups the author describes, is that what he talks about is real. In falling in love, did I ignore the monster? I don’t think so but the book shakes you up, even though it is a tad bit unfair, it is so very superficial in some ways (but not in that it presents a glimpse into the “native” life that tourists might not ever see). It is harsh. Maybe it has to be. I know there is more to Greece than this, but then again… Sigh… if only life were as simple as Ode to Frappes and a sun-filled life…
How to make a Frappe
For those who haven’t been paying attention. The crack of all coffees.
Ideas for the Greek Markets
So Greece is in a state of unrest… What are some brilliant ways we can fix this problem?
- Start marketing frappes like you do Fage yogurt. This is an untapped market
that can rival the Dunkin Donuts brand. - Become lifestyle consultants on how the rest of us can: drink crazy amounts of instant coffee, smoke like chimneys, lather ourselves with olive oil (not sun screen) and soak up the sun, f*ck like porn stars, argue ’til the veins pop out of our heads and still have one of the highest life-expectancies in the world. Here are some no-brainers: siestas are good. Loving life is good. Sun and sea… eh we all can’t have it all but it helps.
- Become the next eco-gurus of Europe instead of one of its more infamous offenders.
- Reclaim your agricultural roots, feed yourself first and then export what you want.
- Keep working on your beautiful, neglected wines.
- Forget credit cards, the stock-market and all other non-tangible nonsense.
- Become a national consultant agency for how to strike, community organize and instill populations with a sense of advocacy.
Gazi, Athens, Greece 2007The Charm of Athens
Temple of Zeus, Athens Greece September 2005
I often hear of some Greeks advising potential tourists to the patrida to skip Athens in their itinerary. If the Greek islands are your destination with limited time, I can see that. BUT… here’s why Athens works, either to visit or to live in, despite some of the harshness found in any city, in its own form.
- The Acropolis. Could very well be personal taste, years of Euro-centric schooling- Nah! Shut up. The sight of the Acropolis at night, draped in moonlight with an eerie glow… is breathtaking and surreal. How many times have I shed a tear just catching sight of it, wherever I may be in the Athenian night? Visit during the hours of 12pm-3pm during the months of July and August and you’ll swear you’ve just hiked into the atmosphere of the sun.
- Coffee culture. Try a damn frappé, for goodness sake, and people watch behind black sunglasses. If you’re a man, have black hair with Adonis wavy locks– you’ll blend right in. If you’re uppity, go to Kolonaki for your cafe. But you will have a nice frappé atmosphere almost anywhere. If coffee is not your thing, try a frosty beer with some feta-cheese flavored Lay’s chips.
- The beach. It’s just a drive away. You don’t have to island hop or go broke. City dweller by week day, beach god or goddess during the weekend.
- Island excursions. Just a short plane ride away (or more true to the Greek experience) a ferry away. See above! The Charm of Athens – continue reading …
Ode to… Frappé
Perfect timing now that Red Bull has been outed as having traces of cocaine. Are you next, precious Frappé?
I’ve mentioned them enough, so for those of you wondering, too lazy to click on the wikipedia links I occasionally provide, or don’t care enough but are still reading now… What are frappés? And how are they relevant to one’s urban odyssey?
Frappés are the idler’s rice and beans. They are frothy ice-coffees drunk by the entire population of Greece, contributing to fast talking, hyper arm gestures, and tachycardia. Made from crystals from the Mines of Moira by minions of Nescafe, they provide hours of liquid sustenance for people watching at cafés.
I’ve never met a Frappé drinker who’s taken their shake straight (without milk). I honestly think one would die of a heart attack from the potency of not being diluted. Don’t believe me? Drink your frappé down to just the mucky bottom, and fill your frappé glass up with water. It’ll taste just as strong. Order a decaf and you’ll either get a laugh (doesn’t exist), or they’ll lie and bring you a regular.
Frappés are the cool man’s drink. It shows you don’t have to worry ’bout notin. You can lounge in your café chair for hours behind sunglasses. Watch. Sip. Watch.
Ode to Frappé! To not sleeping for two days! To stomach cramps! To hyperactivity! Ode to you, Frappé.
Rambopoulos
I assure you readers not familiar with Greece: more things happen there other than protests, mobs and activism. But I’ve logged two years living there and these are the first ones coming to mind as good to share.
While odysseying through Greece, let’s talk elections-civic participation in democracy. Obama was the closest phenomenon I’ve witnessed and participated in here in the US that approached participatory democracy, which occurs in lots of other places, Greece included. (Actually, Alexis Stamatis, author of American Fuge might disagree with that statement). Greeks discuss their choices with vigor, vote with passion, and will continue to give you an earful after the fact. (My theory is Frappés help stimulate this charge).
My first days in Athens as a full time student landed me smack dead in the middle of a national election. PASOK versus Nea Demokratia, versus KKE the community party, versus… I loose count. Three is a stretch for someone used to a two party system. My neighborhood was thick with mobs of people draped in green and white, cheering as they blessed the streets with confetti. PASOK had won, their crew was happy, and they took their evening parade from neighborhood to neighborhood. Much like walking with with the anti-NATO, anti-Kosovo crowd, I got caught up in it, but this time more so by choice and peer pressure, and joined the tail end of the little green and white fog creeping through the streets of Athens. Rambopoulos – continue reading …
A Loafer’s Manifesto
“I have a dream. It is called love, anarchy, freedom. It is called being idle.”
-Tom Hodgkinson
That’s how this gem of a book ends, and it is faithful to its departing words. Most Urbanites would benefit from skimming though “How to Be Idle”. It is a true idler’s manifesto. Before you judge, let’s put give some more thought to that name, idler, that might turn you off. This little book called for me with its perfect blend of creative font, artwork and cool peach color. I saw the man sitting at his table with his frappé, cigarette and crossed leg and had a visceral reaction of my ideal day (I don’t smoke, but I can pretend I do). Inside its relaxed cover is a rallying charge from the heart, complete with historical context on the degradation of the human spirit through wage labor and prudery. A Loafer’s Manifesto – continue reading …
Pass me a molotov
If any of you have ever lived in or visited Greece, or perhaps have watched television in the last year, you know that riots, protests and strikes are fairly common and normal. My paranoid self would travel no where on the planet where the US government issued a warning for its citizens not to visit, but I’ve made Greece an exception, and traveled there in the middle of the Kosovo war.
Love and its doppelgänger lust often make you the invincible warrior. I can’t really recall what brought me back there at such a time, but I do know I felt secure enough to go. I was on an errand and needed to collect some paper work from someone’s office so hopped on the bus and got off 2o minutes later at my stop. I stepped off, the doors closed. I felt a tad bit strange. I shrugged my shoulders, got on with my chore, and exited the office about 10 minutes later. I had just missed the bus- there it was chugging along one of the busiest streets in Athens, except there weren’t any other cars with it. Just as there weren’t any pedestrians in the street. Suddenly I realized that I was very, very alone in a place that should normally be packed with shoppers, trolley cars, mopeds, and Roma kids (gypsies) selling tissues and water. It was like walking out onto Times Square mid day and finding it’s empty. Pass me a molotov – continue reading …
