Poodle Gauntlets

Trip Start Sep 07, 2008
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Trip End Dec 09, 2008


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Flag of Greece  , Attica,
Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Monday was laundry time for Scout and Papia, so they came over and made a smashing Chinese dinner of fried rice, a dish I had never tried before called Grade A Lettuce, cauliflower, and garlic chicken. Papia chopped and sliced, and Scout stirred and mixed. Papia had to drop the rice into the spitting skillet oil, so she attached potholders to her wrists with rubber bands to protect her arms. I thought they looked like the armored gauntlets of a knight, but she decided her arms looked like poodles wearing coats.

Over dinner, Scout, who will be graduating from her home university soon, talked about the pressure she is feeling to find a job while she is here in Europe. Nearly every weekend, she leaves to go on an interview with a European company. On other weekends, she travels for pleasure to places like Egypt and the Cinque Terre region of Italy. "I feel like I have to see all of Europe now," she said, "because if I don't get this job, I won't be able to ever come back."

Papia also departed from her usual infectious joviality to describe the stressful relationship situation she left back home Papia's poodle gauntlets
Papia's poodle gauntlets
 . Things got so bad that she realized she had to leave, "So I walked into the study abroad office and said 'Send me somewhere on the other side of the world.'" Greece makes her so happy because she's getting exactly what she hoped for - a new perspective on her life and the opportunity to meet new people.

As we drank our last glass of honeydew melon juice, we talked together about an incident from earlier that day at the Tower of the Winds. An aggressive older American woman had accosted us on the street. Without even an "Excuse me, do you speak English, I was wondering if you could please take a moment to help me," this woman barged up and said, "Who's the leader of this group?" I motioned to Indy. She turned to him and barked, "How do I get to [such-and-such] Street?" Indy patiently gave her directions, which sounded long and complicated, as she was rather far from her destination. "Well I don't have time for this, I'm only in Athens for one day," she snapped. As we marveled at the rudeness and nerve of the tourist, Papia commented, "She obviously didn't know who she was dealing with. She couldn't see Indy's jet boots, but he was hovering."
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