a trip to Greece

[apple]

reece

i had decided to teach for a year at a school in Barrow, Alaska.. 80,000 in exchange for a year's imprisonment in the far, far north. I was just about to mail in my acceptance letter, when i got a job offer from an old professor.. to assist him in his research on original biblical manuscripts AND babysit his two sons in the afternoons.

Did I want to live in Thessaloniki, Greece or Barrow, Alaska?

hmmm..


My travel plans were set. I moved my belongings home to Kansas City, caught a flight to New York and it was on to Europe. I left the states on a Wednesday and expected to arrive in Thessaloniki on Tuesday, 6 days later. I would take a ferry from Dover to Calais across the English channel and then take a train or three to Thessaloniki.

I met some British schoolboys on the ferry and agreed that drinking some Black and Tan scotch was the thing to do. They had been drinking for a day or two it seemed and one of them cornered me near a railing and proceeded to force himself upon me.

part two

things were getting hairy with the British boy. I had a choice.. jump into the English channel or be dragged into a closet thing. the weather was grey and foggy and no one was on deck so I jumped. Fortunately, my aggressor instantly got help. the boat stopped, a lifeboat was launched and i was rescued about 30 minutes later. I don't remember too much but know I spent the nite in Calais and missed my train.

No matter, someone hooked me up with the American embassy or the equivalent and i was able to travel the next day. I had lost my traveller's checks tho and had no cash. I decided to go on a starvation diet.. i was kind of fat at the time.

I had a 1/2 a sandwich someone left behind and some man gave me some Italian money. I bought a loaf of bread in Milan and walked the streets for just the perfect amount of time. I had to run like the dickens to make my train.

While traveling through Yugoslavia I awoke in the middle of the nite to some military or police men coming onto to the train to get an old man off. They beat him with a baton and I jumped up to stop them. They took me off the train and questioned me. They didn't speak English tho and the nite I spent in the police station was a total waste of time. They let me reboard. I noticed that all the guys boarded the train wearing 2 to 5 pairs of jeans. Apparently they sold them to somebody wherever they were going. I was still cashless and quite hungry. I had been on the train or in custody for 3 days now. In Skopje i purchased a cheese thing with some money that a woman gave me.... flour and cheese baked into huge bars. the cheese was very artisan .. a farmer's pungent cheese and the purchase weighed a pound i bet. It took me about 2 hours to eat in spite of my intense hunger.

i was almost at Thessaloniki and worn out.. ready to call my contact.

to be continued

part three:

I arrived in Thessaloniki at 2.45 AM... 2 days and 2 hours late. I had just enough cash to call the guy I was working for and take a cab. I found out that all phone service was out. Apparently there had been an earthquake the day before. There was a huge earthquake on June 20, 1978.. this was about a year later and it was not so huge but pretty devastating. I decided to see if a cab could get me to my address. The cab had to take a detour because an arterial road was closed. The driver knew just a tiny bit of English and he told me he had to inspect the car. We drove into a field and he opened the back door and grabbed me and started kissing. I went off! I had absolutely had it with problems. I kicked and yelled, grabbed his keys and ran about 30 yards away.. he was 50 and fat. I grabbed some stones for ammunition and every time he came close I hurled one at him. I drug my huge trunk out of his trunk which I unlocked with his keys and told him to scram (he knew that word). He apologized.. (he really was so sorry) but I yelled at him for quite some time....i gave him about 2 dollars after much negotiation (why, i don't know except to get him to leave).

So here I am about 4 AM in a field above the city with my trunk, very little cash (about enough for the cab fair) and i was starving. I hung out with my trunk till dawn and headed down toward civilization... about a mile or so. I found kumquat trees lining the city streets and ate about 100 of the tiny, perfectly ripe fruits. they were great. I found some older woman to ask directions but apparently my Greek was totally insufficient to communicate ANYTHING inspite of the fact that i had studied tapes for months and months and thought I had a 5000 word vocabulary. I stopped into a church to check it out.. sat in a pew and fell asleep for a few hours. I awoke around 11.00 and set out again in search of my address or a bank. My trunk was still in the field.

since I couldn't find my address on foot (I knew I was close) and since i was pointed in wrong directions by people who didn't recognize the address and i was tired of walking, i decided to find the American Embassy if there was one. I headed on foot down town.. i figured i had about 3 or 4 miles to go. I passed by one street that was severely damaged by the quake.... everything was a mess. I passed by one little grocer with everything spilled all around and boards and upended tables strewn about. I peeked in and a little little old lady was sitting in the back drinking tea or something. I asked her if i could buy a green pepper but she didn't understand me and my coins were not right. She gave me a piece of some cheese thing so I started cleaning up for her. I worked for a few hours, distracted from my journey. Toward evening her grandson came in (he was around 30)... We worked for a bit and then he took the both of us to his house for dinner. His son spoke a bit of English and said he'd help me find the address in the morning.


I finally arrived at Bob's. His wife Susan and they two son's Thomas and Richie were happy to see me. It took me a couple days to find my trunk. One of the repercussions of my essentially foodless journey was significant constipation. I went to the pharmacey the next day and tried to tell them i needed a laxative. they didn't understand. I went back the next day and drew a picture of a butt with a plunger next to it.. The pharmacist and his wife laughed so hard.

Bob, the researcher was working on manuscripts from monasteries on Mount Athos. I was a woman and couldn't visit the monasteries or even get close.. so he had to bring the books to me. I worked in a library - so dank and hot with insufficient light. i pored over the manuscripts looking for similarities and anomolies in word choices.. i was totally unsuited to the meticulous work and really disliked the older of the two boys i cared for. he was a precocious brat who was always acting out.

I really enjoyed travelling solo around the region but never made any friends really, and i got extremely weary of the men and who would follow me every where and constantly ask me out. apparently an American woman was a real cool thing to date or marry. i cooked most nites for this little family.. had my own room and balcony with a lovely view. I was mostly lonely the whole time i was there.. about 9 months.

I made the mistake of going with this one guy to his house to meet his mother.. she gave me some grapes and then left the house.. the guy got so excited he started kind of jerking and then ejaculated in mid air.

my god!

Returning to the states was not noneventful.

I found a bus that was going to Paris from Thessaloniki on a tour. They let me ride along for a ridiculously low price.. something like 100 dollars for the 3 day ride. Everyone on the bus was Greek and going to London for a holiday. My language skills had improved considerably and i had a great time visiting with some fairly learned people.. and acted as interpreter for the bus driver. I always sat in the very first seat.. it was if i was driving. the scenery was fantastic...


We arrived in Paris close to sunset. the bus driver stopped on bluff of sorts ro rest and let the passengers take pictures of the sun setting over Paris. I was sketching a drawing of the sun between the legs of the Eiffel tower. I had gone off from the group a bit to find the perfect perspective. I was slightly bent over a wall. Suddenly i found the bus driver hugging me from behind.. rubbing against me and pleading for a kiss. I told him his behavior was totally non professional and kneed him in the groin accidentally to get rid of his erection.

sigh..

i arrived in London and had enough money to buy a plane ticket but not quite enough to ship all my clothes back. I asked for a couple trash bags and put everything i needed into those bags.. discarded my old clothes and the heavy trunk.. Actually i gave them to a homeless woman.. she was DELIGHTED, so that was excellent. I got back in line and returned to Chicago.

)0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I stayed with a great girlfriend for a couple days and found an apartment very close to where I used to live. I asked my old boss, the restaurant owner Hans, if i could work for him. I was a manager at his restaurant before had i left. He was delighted to see me, delighted to rehire and me and asked me if I'd do him a favor.. i said sure.

Imagine his deep German accent..

"Mary - i just harvested my dope crop from the farm and would you keep the bags in your apartment for a few days" - till i can find a place to dispose of it?" it is not worth smoking and i just can't dump it in the trash.

I said "Sure". He brought over two big trash bags of dope and i put them in the closet of my bedroom.

to be continued.

(I"m really hoping I can find the next installment (and will write it out if I can't find it).

[Cate]

Apparently there had been an earthquake the day before

- Mary, as horrible as everything had been getting there perhaps fate had done you a favour.

[apple]

A trip to Greece

Part One:

I had decided to teach for a year at a school in Barrow, Alaska..$80,000 in exchange for a year's imprisonment in the far, far north. I was just about to mail in my acceptance letter, when i got a job offer from an old professor to assist him in his research on original biblical manuscripts AND babysit his two sons in the afternoons.

Did I want to live in Thessaloniki, Greece or Barrow, Alaska?

hmmm.. I don’t like the cold at all.


My travel plans were set. I moved my belongings home to Kansas City, caught a flight to New York and it was on to Europe. I left the states on a Wednesday and expected to arrive in Thessaloniki on Tuesday, 6 days later. I would take a ferry from Dover to Calais across the English Channel and then take a train or three to Thessaloniki.

I met some British schoolboys on the ferry and agreed that drinking some Black and Tan scotch was the thing to do. They had been drinking for a day or two it seemed and one of them cornered me near a railing and proceeded to force himself upon me.

Part two:

things were getting hairy with the British boy. I had a choice.. jump into the English Channel or be dragged into a closet thing. The weather was grey and foggy and no one was on deck so I jumped. Fortunately, my aggressor instantly got help. The boat stopped, a lifeboat was launched and I was rescued about 30 minutes later. I don't remember too much but know I spent the night in Calais and missed my train.

No matter, someone hooked me up with the American embassy or the equivalent and I was able to travel the next day. I had lost my traveler’s checks though and had no cash. I decided to go on a starvation diet.. I had to, I had no money. I was kind of fat at the time.

I had a 1/2 a sandwich someone left behind and some man gave me some Italian money. I bought a loaf of bread in Milan and walked the streets for just the perfect amount of time. I had to run like the dickens to make my train.

While traveling through Yugoslavia I awoke in the middle of the night to some military or police men coming onto to the train to get an old man off. They beat him with a baton and I jumped up to stop them. They took me off the train and questioned me. They didn't speak English though and the night I spent in the police station was a total waste of time. They let me reboard. I noticed that all the guys boarded the train wearing 2 to 5 pairs of jeans. Apparently they sold them to somebody wherever they were going. I was still cashless and quite hungry. I had been on the train or in custody for 3 days now. In Skopje I purchased a cheese thing with some money that a woman gave me.... flour and cheese baked into huge bars. The cheese was very artisan... a farmer's pungent cheese and the purchase weighed a pound i bet. It took me about 2 hours to eat in spite of my intense hunger.

I was almost at Thessaloniki and worn out... ready to call my contact.


Part three:

I arrived in Thessaloniki at 2.45 AM... 2 days and 2 hours late. I had just enough cash to call the guy I was working for and take a cab. I found out that all phone service was out. Apparently there had been a huge earthquake the day before on June 20, 1978. I decided to see if a cab could get me to my address. The cab had to take a detour because an arterial road was closed. The driver knew just a tiny bit of English and he told me he had to inspect the car. We drove into a field and he opened the back door and grabbed me and started kissing me. I went off! I had absolutely had it with problems. I kicked and yelled, grabbed his keys and ran about 30 yards away.. he was 50 and fat. I grabbed some stones for ammunition and every time he came close I hurled one at him. I drug my huge trunk out of his trunk which I unlocked with his keys and told him to scram (he knew that word). He apologized.. (he really was so sorry) but I yelled at him for quite some time....i gave him about 2 dollars after much negotiation (why, i don't know except to get him to leave).

So here I am about 4 AM in a field above the city with my trunk, very little cash (about enough for the cab fair) and i was starving. I hung out with my trunk till dawn and headed down toward civilization... about a mile or so. I found kumquat trees lining the city streets and ate about 40 of the tiny, perfectly ripe fruits. they were great. I found some older woman to ask directions but apparently my Greek was totally insufficient to communicate ANYTHING inspite of the fact that i had studied tapes for months and months and thought I had a 5000 word vocabulary. I stopped into a church to check it out.. sat in a pew and fell asleep for a few hours. I awoke around 11.00 and set out again in search of my address or a bank. My trunk was still in the field.

since I couldn't find my address on foot (I knew I was close) and since i was pointed in wrong directions by people who didn't recognize the address and i was tired of walking, i decided to find the American Embassy if there was one. I headed on foot down town.. i figured i had about 3 or 4 miles to go. I passed by one street that was severely damaged by the quake.... everything was a mess. I passed by one little grocer with everything spilled all around and boards and upended tables strewn about. I peeked in and a little, little old lady was sitting in the back drinking tea or something. I asked her if i could buy a green pepper but she didn't understand me and my coins were not right. She gave me a piece of some cheese so I started cleaning up for her. I worked for a few hours, distracted from my journey. Toward evening her grandson came in (he was around 30)... We worked for a bit and then he took the both of us to his house for dinner. His son spoke a bit of English and said he'd help me find the address in the morning.


I finally arrived at Bob's. His wife Susan and they two son's Thomas and Richie were happy to see me. It took me a couple days to find my trunk. One of the repercussions of my essentially foodless journey was significant constipation. I went to the pharmacy the next day and tried to tell them i needed a laxative. they didn't understand. I went back the next day and drew a picture of a butt with a plunger next to it.. The pharmacist and his wife laughed so hard.

Bob, the researcher was working on manuscripts from monasteries on Mount Athos. I was a woman and couldn't visit the monasteries or even get close.. so he had to bring the books to me. I worked in a library - so dank and hot with insufficient light. I pored over the manuscripts looking for similarities and anomalies in word choices... i was totally unsuited to the meticulous work and really disliked the older of the two boys i cared for. He was a precocious brat who was always acting out.

I really enjoyed travelling solo around the region but never made any friends really, and I got extremely weary of the men and who would follow me everywhere and constantly ask me out. Apparently an American woman was a real cool thing to date or marry. I cooked most nits for this little family... I cooked horse meat, which I didn't know was horse meat. Yuk,

I had my own room and balcony with a lovely view. I was mostly lonely the whole time i was there.. about 9 months.

I made the mistake of going with this one guy to his house to meet his mother.. she gave me some grapes and then left the house.. the guy got so excited he started kind of jerking and then ejaculated in mid air.

my god!

Part four:

Returning to the states was not non-eventful.

I found a bus that was going to Paris from Thessaloniki on a tour. They let me ride along for a ridiculously low price.. something like 100 dollars for the 3 day ride. Everyone on the bus was Greek and going to London for a holiday. My language skills had improved considerably and i had a great time visiting with some fairly learned people.. and acted as interpreter for the bus driver. I always sat in the very first seat.. it was if i was driving. the scenery was fantastic...


We arrived in Paris close to sunset. the bus driver stopped on bluff of sorts to rest and let the passengers take pictures of the sun setting over Paris and the Eiffel tower. I was sketching a drawing of the sun between the legs of the tower. I had gone off from the group a bit to find the perfect perspective. I was slightly bent over a wall. Suddenly i found the bus driver hugging me from behind.. rubbing against me and pleading for a kiss. I told him his behavior was totally non professional and kneed him in the groin accidentally to get rid of his erection.

sigh..

i arrived in London and had enough money to buy a plane ticket but not quite enough to ship all my clothes back. I asked for a couple trash bags and put everything i needed into those bags.. discarded my old clothes and the heavy trunk.. Actually i gave them to a homeless woman.. she was DELIGHTED, so that was excellent. I got back in line and returned to Chicago.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I stayed with a great girlfriend for a couple days and found an apartment very close to where I used to live. I asked my old boss, the restaurant owner Hans, if I could work for him. I was an assistant manager at his restaurant before I left. He was delighted to see me, delighted to rehire and me and asked me if I'd do him a favor... i said sure.

Imagine his deep German accent...

"Mary - I just harvested my dope crop from the farm and would you keep the bags in your apartment for a few days" - until I can find a place to dispose of it?" it is not worth smoking and I just can't dump it in the trash.

I said "Sure". He brought over two big trash bags of dope and I put them in the closet of my bedroom.

To be continued. (I I can’t believe I have to write this story out, that I haven’t done it yet.)

The apartment was a small studio directly above Harold’s Fried Chicken at 53rd Street and Kimbark. a Hyde Park tradition.53rd Street was the ghetto’s edge… pretty scary. I had lived directly across from it, happily, with 3 friends for a couple years. There was a front door with access to the street and a back door abutting a trash alley in my studio apartment. I was already going to work on my 2nd day back in the states. I was wearing a black skirt, a white shirt, my Dansko Clogs and putting on makeup when the doorbell rang. It was about 3.45 in the afternoon. I went down to the front door to let my visitor in, but no one was there. I did see a small male student on the stairs – I had seen him before. Apparently the asshole snuck in the back door after ringing the front door bell.

I went into my apartment and into the bathroom. A strong, wiry man jumped me from behind and got me into some impossible choke hold. I couldn’t move or breathe. He pulled me into the closet with the two bags of dope (trash bags), and I guess assumed he’d rape me. I kicked his shins as hard as I could and was able to get my mouth free so I could scream. The college student heard me and came running and started yelling and doing jumping jacks. The attacker had about 40 pounds on him. Fortunately the attacker ran away and the student helped me call the police.

I was telling the police what happened – there were couple of them. I opened the door to the closet and one could smell the great outdoors.., The dope smelled wonderful, and the police just looked at each other, shut the door and kept taking my statements. They asked about the trashbags. I told them that I had just come back from Europe and didn’t have the money to pay for my trunk so I had put my clothes in the trash bags. They were ok with that… especially since a couple bags of actual clothes sat there with the dope.


On my way home from work, I always gave my sandwich, which I got for free to a little old lady name Chrystal, who made jewelry and sold it on the sidewalk. She was quite thin, about 70 years old, and was very grateful for the sandwich I gave her almost daily. She gave me a beautiful pair of silver earrings. …. 3 consecutive, growing silvered circles that hung from my ears, that hung like a snow man from my ears. I wore them every day for years. Everyone loved the earrings and bought many things from her. She was a real tiny sweetheart, with the most beautiful southern, black accent.. “Li’l chile – what would I do without you and your food?”

I lost one of the earrings the day of the attack.

Margot lived across the street from me. I had a girl crush on Margot. She was sooo cute with a deep husky voice from smoking constant cigarettes while she studied. Her hair was quite blond, cut into short blunt cut that grazed her chin barely. We were already friends before I had travelled to Greece. A couple days later, I saw her parents outside of her studio and we started talking. Apparently Margot was brutally and repeatedly raped over the course of a couple days. The asshole had raped her every which way, kept her in a bath tub of cold water and did some coke bottle type of thing. She was pretty torn up and beaten. Her parents were devastated. I didn’t get to see Margot for about a week. It was so sad to see this poor thing so beaten down. She was in psychiatric care for quite some time and move to an institution for a few months and then she moved to Madison to live with her parents for the rest of what would have been the school year.

I got a call from the police and they wanted me to come down to the station to try and identify some things, namely an earring that a sharp office had remembered me wearing on the other ear.

I was able to prove (with Chrystal) that the earring they had in the evidence pile had been made by Chrystal for me. They guy had recently moved into a YMCA ½ way house just down the street for released prisoners. He had spent about 10 years in jail for a rape charge. He was reconvicted. I lost track of Margot. I hope she is ok.

That is enough for now. This is a bit of a rough draft. Thanks for putting up with it.

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a trip to Greece
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a trip to Greece
by apple » Fri Nov 23, 2012 2:33 pm

reece

i had decided to teach for a year at a school in Barrow, Alaska.. 80,000 in exchange for a year's imprisonment in the far, far north. I was just about to mail in my acceptance letter, when i got a job offer from an old professor.. to assist him in his research on original biblical manuscripts AND babysit his two sons in the afternoons.

Did I want to live in Thessaloniki, Greece or Barrow, Alaska?

hmmm..


My travel plans were set. I moved my belongings home to Kansas City, caught a flight to New York and it was on to Europe. I left the states on a Wednesday and expected to arrive in Thessaloniki on Tuesday, 6 days later. I would take a ferry from Dover to Calais across the English channel and then take a train or three to Thessaloniki.

I met some British schoolboys on the ferry and agreed that drinking some Black and Tan scotch was the thing to do. They had been drinking for a day or two it seemed and one of them cornered me near a railing and proceeded to force himself upon me.

part two

things were getting hairy with the British boy. I had a choice.. jump into the English channel or be dragged into a closet thing. the weather was grey and foggy and no one was on deck so I jumped. Fortunately, my aggressor instantly got help. the boat stopped, a lifeboat was launched and i was rescued about 30 minutes later. I don't remember too much but know I spent the nite in Calais and missed my train.

No matter, someone hooked me up with the American embassy or the equivalent and i was able to travel the next day. I had lost my traveller's checks tho and had no cash. I decided to go on a starvation diet.. i was kind of fat at the time.

I had a 1/2 a sandwich someone left behind and some man gave me some Italian money. I bought a loaf of bread in Milan and walked the streets for just the perfect amount of time. I had to run like the dickens to make my train.

While traveling through Yugoslavia I awoke in the middle of the nite to some military or police men coming onto to the train to get an old man off. They beat him with a baton and I jumped up to stop them. They took me off the train and questioned me. They didn't speak English tho and the nite I spent in the police station was a total waste of time. They let me reboard. I noticed that all the guys boarded the train wearing 2 to 5 pairs of jeans. Apparently they sold them to somebody wherever they were going. I was still cashless and quite hungry. I had been on the train or in custody for 3 days now. In Skopje i purchased a cheese thing with some money that a woman gave me.... flour and cheese baked into huge bars. the cheese was very artisan .. a farmer's pungent cheese and the purchase weighed a pound i bet. It took me about 2 hours to eat in spite of my intense hunger.

i was almost at Thessaloniki and worn out.. ready to call my contact.

to be continued

part three:

I arrived in Thessaloniki at 2.45 AM... 2 days and 2 hours late. I had just enough cash to call the guy I was working for and take a cab. I found out that all phone service was out. Apparently there had been an earthquake the day before. There was a huge earthquake on June 20, 1978.. this was about a year later and it was not so huge but pretty devastating. I decided to see if a cab could get me to my address. The cab had to take a detour because an arterial road was closed. The driver knew just a tiny bit of English and he told me he had to inspect the car. We drove into a field and he opened the back door and grabbed me and started kissing. I went off! I had absolutely had it with problems. I kicked and yelled, grabbed his keys and ran about 30 yards away.. he was 50 and fat. I grabbed some stones for ammunition and every time he came close I hurled one at him. I drug my huge trunk out of his trunk which I unlocked with his keys and told him to scram (he knew that word). He apologized.. (he really was so sorry) but I yelled at him for quite some time....i gave him about 2 dollars after much negotiation (why, i don't know except to get him to leave).

So here I am about 4 AM in a field above the city with my trunk, very little cash (about enough for the cab fair) and i was starving. I hung out with my trunk till dawn and headed down toward civilization... about a mile or so. I found kumquat trees lining the city streets and ate about 100 of the tiny, perfectly ripe fruits. they were great. I found some older woman to ask directions but apparently my Greek was totally insufficient to communicate ANYTHING inspite of the fact that i had studied tapes for months and months and thought I had a 5000 word vocabulary. I stopped into a church to check it out.. sat in a pew and fell asleep for a few hours. I awoke around 11.00 and set out again in search of my address or a bank. My trunk was still in the field.

since I couldn't find my address on foot (I knew I was close) and since i was pointed in wrong directions by people who didn't recognize the address and i was tired of walking, i decided to find the American Embassy if there was one. I headed on foot down town.. i figured i had about 3 or 4 miles to go. I passed by one street that was severely damaged by the quake.... everything was a mess. I passed by one little grocer with everything spilled all around and boards and upended tables strewn about. I peeked in and a little little old lady was sitting in the back drinking tea or something. I asked her if i could buy a green pepper but she didn't understand me and my coins were not right. She gave me a piece of some cheese thing so I started cleaning up for her. I worked for a few hours, distracted from my journey. Toward evening her grandson came in (he was around 30)... We worked for a bit and then he took the both of us to his house for dinner. His son spoke a bit of English and said he'd help me find the address in the morning.


I finally arrived at Bob's. His wife Susan and they two son's Thomas and Richie were happy to see me. It took me a couple days to find my trunk. One of the repercussions of my essentially foodless journey was significant constipation. I went to the pharmacey the next day and tried to tell them i needed a laxative. they didn't understand. I went back the next day and drew a picture of a butt with a plunger next to it.. The pharmacist and his wife laughed so hard.

Bob, the researcher was working on manuscripts from monasteries on Mount Athos. I was a woman and couldn't visit the monasteries or even get close.. so he had to bring the books to me. I worked in a library - so dank and hot with insufficient light. i pored over the manuscripts looking for similarities and anomolies in word choices.. i was totally unsuited to the meticulous work and really disliked the older of the two boys i cared for. he was a precocious brat who was always acting out.

I really enjoyed travelling solo around the region but never made any friends really, and i got extremely weary of the men and who would follow me every where and constantly ask me out. apparently an American woman was a real cool thing to date or marry. i cooked most nites for this little family.. had my own room and balcony with a lovely view. I was mostly lonely the whole time i was there.. about 9 months.

I made the mistake of going with this one guy to his house to meet his mother.. she gave me some grapes and then left the house.. the guy got so excited he started kind of jerking and then ejaculated in mid air.

my god!

Returning to the states was not noneventful.

I found a bus that was going to Paris from Thessaloniki on a tour. They let me ride along for a ridiculously low price.. something like 100 dollars for the 3 day ride. Everyone on the bus was Greek and going to London for a holiday. My language skills had improved considerably and i had a great time visiting with some fairly learned people.. and acted as interpreter for the bus driver. I always sat in the very first seat.. it was if i was driving. the scenery was fantastic...


We arrived in Paris close to sunset. the bus driver stopped on bluff of sorts ro rest and let the passengers take pictures of the sun setting over Paris. I was sketching a drawing of the sun between the legs of the Eiffel tower. I had gone off from the group a bit to find the perfect perspective. I was slightly bent over a wall. Suddenly i found the bus driver hugging me from behind.. rubbing against me and pleading for a kiss. I told him his behavior was totally non professional and kneed him in the groin accidentally to get rid of his erection.

sigh..

i arrived in London and had enough money to buy a plane ticket but not quite enough to ship all my clothes back. I asked for a couple trash bags and put everything i needed into those bags.. discarded my old clothes and the heavy trunk.. Actually i gave them to a homeless woman.. she was DELIGHTED, so that was excellent. I got back in line and returned to Chicago.

)0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I stayed with a great girlfriend for a couple days and found an apartment very close to where I used to live. I asked my old boss, the restaurant owner Hans, if i could work for him. I was a manager at his restaurant before had i left. He was delighted to see me, delighted to rehire and me and asked me if I'd do him a favor.. i said sure.

Imagine his deep German accent..

"Mary - i just harvested my dope crop from the farm and would you keep the bags in your apartment for a few days" - till i can find a place to dispose of it?" it is not worth smoking and i just can't dump it in the trash.

I said "Sure". He brought over two big trash bags of dope and i put them in the closet of my bedroom.

to be continued.

(I"m really hoping I can find the next installment (and will write it out if I can't find it).

apple

Posts: 56
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2012 9:53 am
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Re: a trip to Greece
by Cate » Sat Nov 24, 2012 1:14 am

Apparently there had been an earthquake the day before
- Mary, as horrible as everything had been getting there perhaps fate had done you a favour.
~ 'attend, don't intend'
Stuart Ross
Cate

Posts: 2794
Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2007 4:27 am
Location: Toronto
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Re: a trip to Greece
by apple » Sat Nov 24, 2012 4:40 pm

A trip to Greece

Part One:

I had decided to teach for a year at a school in Barrow, Alaska..$80,000 in exchange for a year's imprisonment in the far, far north. I was just about to mail in my acceptance letter, when i got a job offer from an old professor to assist him in his research on original biblical manuscripts AND babysit his two sons in the afternoons.

Did I want to live in Thessaloniki, Greece or Barrow, Alaska?

hmmm.. I don’t like the cold at all.


My travel plans were set. I moved my belongings home to Kansas City, caught a flight to New York and it was on to Europe. I left the states on a Wednesday and expected to arrive in Thessaloniki on Tuesday, 6 days later. I would take a ferry from Dover to Calais across the English Channel and then take a train or three to Thessaloniki.

I met some British schoolboys on the ferry and agreed that drinking some Black and Tan scotch was the thing to do. They had been drinking for a day or two it seemed and one of them cornered me near a railing and proceeded to force himself upon me.

Part two:

things were getting hairy with the British boy. I had a choice.. jump into the English Channel or be dragged into a closet thing. The weather was grey and foggy and no one was on deck so I jumped. Fortunately, my aggressor instantly got help. The boat stopped, a lifeboat was launched and I was rescued about 30 minutes later. I don't remember too much but know I spent the night in Calais and missed my train.

No matter, someone hooked me up with the American embassy or the equivalent and I was able to travel the next day. I had lost my traveler’s checks though and had no cash. I decided to go on a starvation diet.. I had to, I had no money. I was kind of fat at the time.

I had a 1/2 a sandwich someone left behind and some man gave me some Italian money. I bought a loaf of bread in Milan and walked the streets for just the perfect amount of time. I had to run like the dickens to make my train.

While traveling through Yugoslavia I awoke in the middle of the night to some military or police men coming onto to the train to get an old man off. They beat him with a baton and I jumped up to stop them. They took me off the train and questioned me. They didn't speak English though and the night I spent in the police station was a total waste of time. They let me reboard. I noticed that all the guys boarded the train wearing 2 to 5 pairs of jeans. Apparently they sold them to somebody wherever they were going. I was still cashless and quite hungry. I had been on the train or in custody for 3 days now. In Skopje I purchased a cheese thing with some money that a woman gave me.... flour and cheese baked into huge bars. The cheese was very artisan... a farmer's pungent cheese and the purchase weighed a pound i bet. It took me about 2 hours to eat in spite of my intense hunger.

I was almost at Thessaloniki and worn out... ready to call my contact.


Part three:

I arrived in Thessaloniki at 2.45 AM... 2 days and 2 hours late. I had just enough cash to call the guy I was working for and take a cab. I found out that all phone service was out. Apparently there had been a huge earthquake the day before on June 20, 1978. I decided to see if a cab could get me to my address. The cab had to take a detour because an arterial road was closed. The driver knew just a tiny bit of English and he told me he had to inspect the car. We drove into a field and he opened the back door and grabbed me and started kissing me. I went off! I had absolutely had it with problems. I kicked and yelled, grabbed his keys and ran about 30 yards away.. he was 50 and fat. I grabbed some stones for ammunition and every time he came close I hurled one at him. I drug my huge trunk out of his trunk which I unlocked with his keys and told him to scram (he knew that word). He apologized.. (he really was so sorry) but I yelled at him for quite some time....i gave him about 2 dollars after much negotiation (why, i don't know except to get him to leave).

So here I am about 4 AM in a field above the city with my trunk, very little cash (about enough for the cab fair) and i was starving. I hung out with my trunk till dawn and headed down toward civilization... about a mile or so. I found kumquat trees lining the city streets and ate about 40 of the tiny, perfectly ripe fruits. they were great. I found some older woman to ask directions but apparently my Greek was totally insufficient to communicate ANYTHING inspite of the fact that i had studied tapes for months and months and thought I had a 5000 word vocabulary. I stopped into a church to check it out.. sat in a pew and fell asleep for a few hours. I awoke around 11.00 and set out again in search of my address or a bank. My trunk was still in the field.

since I couldn't find my address on foot (I knew I was close) and since i was pointed in wrong directions by people who didn't recognize the address and i was tired of walking, i decided to find the American Embassy if there was one. I headed on foot down town.. i figured i had about 3 or 4 miles to go. I passed by one street that was severely damaged by the quake.... everything was a mess. I passed by one little grocer with everything spilled all around and boards and upended tables strewn about. I peeked in and a little, little old lady was sitting in the back drinking tea or something. I asked her if i could buy a green pepper but she didn't understand me and my coins were not right. She gave me a piece of some cheese so I started cleaning up for her. I worked for a few hours, distracted from my journey. Toward evening her grandson came in (he was around 30)... We worked for a bit and then he took the both of us to his house for dinner. His son spoke a bit of English and said he'd help me find the address in the morning.


I finally arrived at Bob's. His wife Susan and they two son's Thomas and Richie were happy to see me. It took me a couple days to find my trunk. One of the repercussions of my essentially foodless journey was significant constipation. I went to the pharmacy the next day and tried to tell them i needed a laxative. they didn't understand. I went back the next day and drew a picture of a butt with a plunger next to it.. The pharmacist and his wife laughed so hard.

Bob, the researcher was working on manuscripts from monasteries on Mount Athos. I was a woman and couldn't visit the monasteries or even get close.. so he had to bring the books to me. I worked in a library - so dank and hot with insufficient light. I pored over the manuscripts looking for similarities and anomalies in word choices... i was totally unsuited to the meticulous work and really disliked the older of the two boys i cared for. He was a precocious brat who was always acting out.

I really enjoyed travelling solo around the region but never made any friends really, and I got extremely weary of the men and who would follow me everywhere and constantly ask me out. Apparently an American woman was a real cool thing to date or marry. I cooked most nits for this little family... I cooked horse meat, which I didn't know was horse meat. Yuk,

I had my own room and balcony with a lovely view. I was mostly lonely the whole time i was there.. about 9 months.

I made the mistake of going with this one guy to his house to meet his mother.. she gave me some grapes and then left the house.. the guy got so excited he started kind of jerking and then ejaculated in mid air.

my god!

Part four:

Returning to the states was not non-eventful.

I found a bus that was going to Paris from Thessaloniki on a tour. They let me ride along for a ridiculously low price.. something like 100 dollars for the 3 day ride. Everyone on the bus was Greek and going to London for a holiday. My language skills had improved considerably and i had a great time visiting with some fairly learned people.. and acted as interpreter for the bus driver. I always sat in the very first seat.. it was if i was driving. the scenery was fantastic...


We arrived in Paris close to sunset. the bus driver stopped on bluff of sorts to rest and let the passengers take pictures of the sun setting over Paris and the Eiffel tower. I was sketching a drawing of the sun between the legs of the tower. I had gone off from the group a bit to find the perfect perspective. I was slightly bent over a wall. Suddenly i found the bus driver hugging me from behind.. rubbing against me and pleading for a kiss. I told him his behavior was totally non professional and kneed him in the groin accidentally to get rid of his erection.

sigh..

i arrived in London and had enough money to buy a plane ticket but not quite enough to ship all my clothes back. I asked for a couple trash bags and put everything i needed into those bags.. discarded my old clothes and the heavy trunk.. Actually i gave them to a homeless woman.. she was DELIGHTED, so that was excellent. I got back in line and returned to Chicago.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I stayed with a great girlfriend for a couple days and found an apartment very close to where I used to live. I asked my old boss, the restaurant owner Hans, if I could work for him. I was an assistant manager at his restaurant before I left. He was delighted to see me, delighted to rehire and me and asked me if I'd do him a favor... i said sure.

Imagine his deep German accent...

"Mary - I just harvested my dope crop from the farm and would you keep the bags in your apartment for a few days" - until I can find a place to dispose of it?" it is not worth smoking and I just can't dump it in the trash.

I said "Sure". He brought over two big trash bags of dope and I put them in the closet of my bedroom.

To be continued. (I I can’t believe I have to write this story out, that I haven’t done it yet.)

The apartment was a small studio directly above Harold’s Fried Chicken at 53rd Street and Kimbark. a Hyde Park tradition.53rd Street was the ghetto’s edge… pretty scary. I had lived directly across from it, happily, with 3 friends for a couple years. There was a front door with access to the street and a back door abutting a trash alley in my studio apartment. I was already going to work on my 2nd day back in the states. I was wearing a black skirt, a white shirt, my Dansko Clogs and putting on makeup when the doorbell rang. It was about 3.45 in the afternoon. I went down to the front door to let my visitor in, but no one was there. I did see a small male student on the stairs – I had seen him before. Apparently the asshole snuck in the back door after ringing the front door bell.

I went into my apartment and into the bathroom. A strong, wiry man jumped me from behind and got me into some impossible choke hold. I couldn’t move or breathe. He pulled me into the closet with the two bags of dope (trash bags), and I guess assumed he’d rape me. I kicked his shins as hard as I could and was able to get my mouth free so I could scream. The college student heard me and came running and started yelling and doing jumping jacks. The attacker had about 40 pounds on him. Fortunately the attacker ran away and the student helped me call the police.

I was telling the police what happened – there were couple of them. I opened the door to the closet and one could smell the great outdoors.., The dope smelled wonderful, and the police just looked at each other, shut the door and kept taking my statements. They asked about the trashbags. I told them that I had just come back from Europe and didn’t have the money to pay for my trunk so I had put my clothes in the trash bags. They were ok with that… especially since a couple bags of actual clothes sat there with the dope.


On my way home from work, I always gave my sandwich, which I got for free to a little old lady name Chrystal, who made jewelry and sold it on the sidewalk. She was quite thin, about 70 years old, and was very grateful for the sandwich I gave her almost daily. She gave me a beautiful pair of silver earrings. …. 3 consecutive, growing silvered circles that hung from my ears, that hung like a snow man from my ears. I wore them every day for years. Everyone loved the earrings and bought many things from her. She was a real tiny sweetheart, with the most beautiful southern, black accent.. “Li’l chile – what would I do without you and your food?”

I lost one of the earrings the day of the attack.

Margot lived across the street from me. I had a girl crush on Margot. She was sooo cute with a deep husky voice from smoking constant cigarettes while she studied. Her hair was quite blond, cut into short blunt cut that grazed her chin barely. We were already friends before I had travelled to Greece. A couple days later, I saw her parents outside of her studio and we started talking. Apparently Margot was brutally and repeatedly raped over the course of a couple days. The asshole had raped her every which way, kept her in a bath tub of cold water and did some coke bottle type of thing. She was pretty torn up and beaten. Her parents were devastated. I didn’t get to see Margot for about a week. It was so sad to see this poor thing so beaten down. She was in psychiatric care for quite some time and move to an institution for a few months and then she moved to Madison to live with her parents for the rest of what would have been the school year.

I got a call from the police and they wanted me to come down to the station to try and identify some things, namely an earring that a sharp office had remembered me wearing on the other ear.

I was able to prove (with Chrystal) that the earring they had in the evidence pile had been made by Chrystal for me. They guy had recently moved into a YMCA ½ way house just down the street for released prisoners. He had spent about 10 years in jail for a rape charge. He was reconvicted. I lost track of Margot. I hope she is ok.

That is enough for now. This is a bit of a rough draft. Thanks for putting up with it.

apple

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a trip to Greece
Moderators: MarieM, tomsakic, Wybe, Maarten, pekka, Henning, Andrew (Darby), dick, jarkko

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3 posts • Page 1 of 1
a trip to Greece
by apple » Fri Nov 23, 2012 2:33 pm

reece

i had decided to teach for a year at a school in Barrow, Alaska.. 80,000 in exchange for a year's imprisonment in the far, far north. I was just about to mail in my acceptance letter, when i got a job offer from an old professor.. to assist him in his research on original biblical manuscripts AND babysit his two sons in the afternoons.

Did I want to live in Thessaloniki, Greece or Barrow, Alaska?

hmmm..


My travel plans were set. I moved my belongings home to Kansas City, caught a flight to New York and it was on to Europe. I left the states on a Wednesday and expected to arrive in Thessaloniki on Tuesday, 6 days later. I would take a ferry from Dover to Calais across the English channel and then take a train or three to Thessaloniki.

I met some British schoolboys on the ferry and agreed that drinking some Black and Tan scotch was the thing to do. They had been drinking for a day or two it seemed and one of them cornered me near a railing and proceeded to force himself upon me.

part two

things were getting hairy with the British boy. I had a choice.. jump into the English channel or be dragged into a closet thing. the weather was grey and foggy and no one was on deck so I jumped. Fortunately, my aggressor instantly got help. the boat stopped, a lifeboat was launched and i was rescued about 30 minutes later. I don't remember too much but know I spent the nite in Calais and missed my train.

No matter, someone hooked me up with the American embassy or the equivalent and i was able to travel the next day. I had lost my traveller's checks tho and had no cash. I decided to go on a starvation diet.. i was kind of fat at the time.

I had a 1/2 a sandwich someone left behind and some man gave me some Italian money. I bought a loaf of bread in Milan and walked the streets for just the perfect amount of time. I had to run like the dickens to make my train.

While traveling through Yugoslavia I awoke in the middle of the nite to some military or police men coming onto to the train to get an old man off. They beat him with a baton and I jumped up to stop them. They took me off the train and questioned me. They didn't speak English tho and the nite I spent in the police station was a total waste of time. They let me reboard. I noticed that all the guys boarded the train wearing 2 to 5 pairs of jeans. Apparently they sold them to somebody wherever they were going. I was still cashless and quite hungry. I had been on the train or in custody for 3 days now. In Skopje i purchased a cheese thing with some money that a woman gave me.... flour and cheese baked into huge bars. the cheese was very artisan .. a farmer's pungent cheese and the purchase weighed a pound i bet. It took me about 2 hours to eat in spite of my intense hunger.

i was almost at Thessaloniki and worn out.. ready to call my contact.

to be continued

part three:

I arrived in Thessaloniki at 2.45 AM... 2 days and 2 hours late. I had just enough cash to call the guy I was working for and take a cab. I found out that all phone service was out. Apparently there had been an earthquake the day before. There was a huge earthquake on June 20, 1978.. this was about a year later and it was not so huge but pretty devastating. I decided to see if a cab could get me to my address. The cab had to take a detour because an arterial road was closed. The driver knew just a tiny bit of English and he told me he had to inspect the car. We drove into a field and he opened the back door and grabbed me and started kissing. I went off! I had absolutely had it with problems. I kicked and yelled, grabbed his keys and ran about 30 yards away.. he was 50 and fat. I grabbed some stones for ammunition and every time he came close I hurled one at him. I drug my huge trunk out of his trunk which I unlocked with his keys and told him to scram (he knew that word). He apologized.. (he really was so sorry) but I yelled at him for quite some time....i gave him about 2 dollars after much negotiation (why, i don't know except to get him to leave).

So here I am about 4 AM in a field above the city with my trunk, very little cash (about enough for the cab fair) and i was starving. I hung out with my trunk till dawn and headed down toward civilization... about a mile or so. I found kumquat trees lining the city streets and ate about 100 of the tiny, perfectly ripe fruits. they were great. I found some older woman to ask directions but apparently my Greek was totally insufficient to communicate ANYTHING inspite of the fact that i had studied tapes for months and months and thought I had a 5000 word vocabulary. I stopped into a church to check it out.. sat in a pew and fell asleep for a few hours. I awoke around 11.00 and set out again in search of my address or a bank. My trunk was still in the field.

since I couldn't find my address on foot (I knew I was close) and since i was pointed in wrong directions by people who didn't recognize the address and i was tired of walking, i decided to find the American Embassy if there was one. I headed on foot down town.. i figured i had about 3 or 4 miles to go. I passed by one street that was severely damaged by the quake.... everything was a mess. I passed by one little grocer with everything spilled all around and boards and upended tables strewn about. I peeked in and a little little old lady was sitting in the back drinking tea or something. I asked her if i could buy a green pepper but she didn't understand me and my coins were not right. She gave me a piece of some cheese thing so I started cleaning up for her. I worked for a few hours, distracted from my journey. Toward evening her grandson came in (he was around 30)... We worked for a bit and then he took the both of us to his house for dinner. His son spoke a bit of English and said he'd help me find the address in the morning.


I finally arrived at Bob's. His wife Susan and they two son's Thomas and Richie were happy to see me. It took me a couple days to find my trunk. One of the repercussions of my essentially foodless journey was significant constipation. I went to the pharmacey the next day and tried to tell them i needed a laxative. they didn't understand. I went back the next day and drew a picture of a butt with a plunger next to it.. The pharmacist and his wife laughed so hard.

Bob, the researcher was working on manuscripts from monasteries on Mount Athos. I was a woman and couldn't visit the monasteries or even get close.. so he had to bring the books to me. I worked in a library - so dank and hot with insufficient light. i pored over the manuscripts looking for similarities and anomolies in word choices.. i was totally unsuited to the meticulous work and really disliked the older of the two boys i cared for. he was a precocious brat who was always acting out.

I really enjoyed travelling solo around the region but never made any friends really, and i got extremely weary of the men and who would follow me every where and constantly ask me out. apparently an American woman was a real cool thing to date or marry. i cooked most nites for this little family.. had my own room and balcony with a lovely view. I was mostly lonely the whole time i was there.. about 9 months.

I made the mistake of going with this one guy to his house to meet his mother.. she gave me some grapes and then left the house.. the guy got so excited he started kind of jerking and then ejaculated in mid air.

my god!

Returning to the states was not noneventful.

I found a bus that was going to Paris from Thessaloniki on a tour. They let me ride along for a ridiculously low price.. something like 100 dollars for the 3 day ride. Everyone on the bus was Greek and going to London for a holiday. My language skills had improved considerably and i had a great time visiting with some fairly learned people.. and acted as interpreter for the bus driver. I always sat in the very first seat.. it was if i was driving. the scenery was fantastic...


We arrived in Paris close to sunset. the bus driver stopped on bluff of sorts ro rest and let the passengers take pictures of the sun setting over Paris. I was sketching a drawing of the sun between the legs of the Eiffel tower. I had gone off from the group a bit to find the perfect perspective. I was slightly bent over a wall. Suddenly i found the bus driver hugging me from behind.. rubbing against me and pleading for a kiss. I told him his behavior was totally non professional and kneed him in the groin accidentally to get rid of his erection.

sigh..

i arrived in London and had enough money to buy a plane ticket but not quite enough to ship all my clothes back. I asked for a couple trash bags and put everything i needed into those bags.. discarded my old clothes and the heavy trunk.. Actually i gave them to a homeless woman.. she was DELIGHTED, so that was excellent. I got back in line and returned to Chicago.

)0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I stayed with a great girlfriend for a couple days and found an apartment very close to where I used to live. I asked my old boss, the restaurant owner Hans, if i could work for him. I was a manager at his restaurant before had i left. He was delighted to see me, delighted to rehire and me and asked me if I'd do him a favor.. i said sure.

Imagine his deep German accent..

"Mary - i just harvested my dope crop from the farm and would you keep the bags in your apartment for a few days" - till i can find a place to dispose of it?" it is not worth smoking and i just can't dump it in the trash.

I said "Sure". He brought over two big trash bags of dope and i put them in the closet of my bedroom.

to be continued.

(I"m really hoping I can find the next installment (and will write it out if I can't find it).

apple

Posts: 56
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2012 9:53 am
Top
Re: a trip to Greece
by Cate » Sat Nov 24, 2012 1:14 am

Apparently there had been an earthquake the day before
- Mary, as horrible as everything had been getting there perhaps fate had done you a favour.
~ 'attend, don't intend'
Stuart Ross
Cate

Posts: 2794
Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2007 4:27 am
Location: Toronto
Top
Re: a trip to Greece
by apple » Sat Nov 24, 2012 4:40 pm

A trip to Greece

Part One:

I had decided to teach for a year at a school in Barrow, Alaska..$80,000 in exchange for a year's imprisonment in the far, far north. I was just about to mail in my acceptance letter, when i got a job offer from an old professor to assist him in his research on original biblical manuscripts AND babysit his two sons in the afternoons.

Did I want to live in Thessaloniki, Greece or Barrow, Alaska?

hmmm.. I don’t like the cold at all.


My travel plans were set. I moved my belongings home to Kansas City, caught a flight to New York and it was on to Europe. I left the states on a Wednesday and expected to arrive in Thessaloniki on Tuesday, 6 days later. I would take a ferry from Dover to Calais across the English Channel and then take a train or three to Thessaloniki.

I met some British schoolboys on the ferry and agreed that drinking some Black and Tan scotch was the thing to do. They had been drinking for a day or two it seemed and one of them cornered me near a railing and proceeded to force himself upon me.

Part two:

things were getting hairy with the British boy. I had a choice.. jump into the English Channel or be dragged into a closet thing. The weather was grey and foggy and no one was on deck so I jumped. Fortunately, my aggressor instantly got help. The boat stopped, a lifeboat was launched and I was rescued about 30 minutes later. I don't remember too much but know I spent the night in Calais and missed my train.

No matter, someone hooked me up with the American embassy or the equivalent and I was able to travel the next day. I had lost my traveler’s checks though and had no cash. I decided to go on a starvation diet.. I had to, I had no money. I was kind of fat at the time.

I had a 1/2 a sandwich someone left behind and some man gave me some Italian money. I bought a loaf of bread in Milan and walked the streets for just the perfect amount of time. I had to run like the dickens to make my train.

While traveling through Yugoslavia I awoke in the middle of the night to some military or police men coming onto to the train to get an old man off. They beat him with a baton and I jumped up to stop them. They took me off the train and questioned me. They didn't speak English though and the night I spent in the police station was a total waste of time. They let me reboard. I noticed that all the guys boarded the train wearing 2 to 5 pairs of jeans. Apparently they sold them to somebody wherever they were going. I was still cashless and quite hungry. I had been on the train or in custody for 3 days now. In Skopje I purchased a cheese thing with some money that a woman gave me.... flour and cheese baked into huge bars. The cheese was very artisan... a farmer's pungent cheese and the purchase weighed a pound i bet. It took me about 2 hours to eat in spite of my intense hunger.

I was almost at Thessaloniki and worn out... ready to call my contact.


Part three:

I arrived in Thessaloniki at 2.45 AM... 2 days and 2 hours late. I had just enough cash to call the guy I was working for and take a cab. I found out that all phone service was out. Apparently there had been a huge earthquake the day before on June 20, 1978. I decided to see if a cab could get me to my address. The cab had to take a detour because an arterial road was closed. The driver knew just a tiny bit of English and he told me he had to inspect the car. We drove into a field and he opened the back door and grabbed me and started kissing me. I went off! I had absolutely had it with problems. I kicked and yelled, grabbed his keys and ran about 30 yards away.. he was 50 and fat. I grabbed some stones for ammunition and every time he came close I hurled one at him. I drug my huge trunk out of his trunk which I unlocked with his keys and told him to scram (he knew that word). He apologized.. (he really was so sorry) but I yelled at him for quite some time....i gave him about 2 dollars after much negotiation (why, i don't know except to get him to leave).

So here I am about 4 AM in a field above the city with my trunk, very little cash (about enough for the cab fair) and i was starving. I hung out with my trunk till dawn and headed down toward civilization... about a mile or so. I found kumquat trees lining the city streets and ate about 40 of the tiny, perfectly ripe fruits. they were great. I found some older woman to ask directions but apparently my Greek was totally insufficient to communicate ANYTHING inspite of the fact that i had studied tapes for months and months and thought I had a 5000 word vocabulary. I stopped into a church to check it out.. sat in a pew and fell asleep for a few hours. I awoke around 11.00 and set out again in search of my address or a bank. My trunk was still in the field.

since I couldn't find my address on foot (I knew I was close) and since i was pointed in wrong directions by people who didn't recognize the address and i was tired of walking, i decided to find the American Embassy if there was one. I headed on foot down town.. i figured i had about 3 or 4 miles to go. I passed by one street that was severely damaged by the quake.... everything was a mess. I passed by one little grocer with everything spilled all around and boards and upended tables strewn about. I peeked in and a little, little old lady was sitting in the back drinking tea or something. I asked her if i could buy a green pepper but she didn't understand me and my coins were not right. She gave me a piece of some cheese so I started cleaning up for her. I worked for a few hours, distracted from my journey. Toward evening her grandson came in (he was around 30)... We worked for a bit and then he took the both of us to his house for dinner. His son spoke a bit of English and said he'd help me find the address in the morning.


I finally arrived at Bob's. His wife Susan and they two son's Thomas and Richie were happy to see me. It took me a couple days to find my trunk. One of the repercussions of my essentially foodless journey was significant constipation. I went to the pharmacy the next day and tried to tell them i needed a laxative. they didn't understand. I went back the next day and drew a picture of a butt with a plunger next to it.. The pharmacist and his wife laughed so hard.

Bob, the researcher was working on manuscripts from monasteries on Mount Athos. I was a woman and couldn't visit the monasteries or even get close.. so he had to bring the books to me. I worked in a library - so dank and hot with insufficient light. I pored over the manuscripts looking for similarities and anomalies in word choices... i was totally unsuited to the meticulous work and really disliked the older of the two boys i cared for. He was a precocious brat who was always acting out.

I really enjoyed travelling solo around the region but never made any friends really, and I got extremely weary of the men and who would follow me everywhere and constantly ask me out. Apparently an American woman was a real cool thing to date or marry. I cooked most nits for this little family... I cooked horse meat, which I didn't know was horse meat. Yuk,

I had my own room and balcony with a lovely view. I was mostly lonely the whole time i was there.. about 9 months.

I made the mistake of going with this one guy to his house to meet his mother.. she gave me some grapes and then left the house.. the guy got so excited he started kind of jerking and then ejaculated in mid air.

my god!

Part four:

Returning to the states was not non-eventful.

I found a bus that was going to Paris from Thessaloniki on a tour. They let me ride along for a ridiculously low price.. something like 100 dollars for the 3 day ride. Everyone on the bus was Greek and going to London for a holiday. My language skills had improved considerably and i had a great time visiting with some fairly learned people.. and acted as interpreter for the bus driver. I always sat in the very first seat.. it was if i was driving. the scenery was fantastic...


We arrived in Paris close to sunset. the bus driver stopped on bluff of sorts to rest and let the passengers take pictures of the sun setting over Paris and the Eiffel tower. I was sketching a drawing of the sun between the legs of the tower. I had gone off from the group a bit to find the perfect perspective. I was slightly bent over a wall. Suddenly i found the bus driver hugging me from behind.. rubbing against me and pleading for a kiss. I told him his behavior was totally non professional and kneed him in the groin accidentally to get rid of his erection.

sigh..

i arrived in London and had enough money to buy a plane ticket but not quite enough to ship all my clothes back. I asked for a couple trash bags and put everything i needed into those bags.. discarded my old clothes and the heavy trunk.. Actually i gave them to a homeless woman.. she was DELIGHTED, so that was excellent. I got back in line and returned to Chicago.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I stayed with a great girlfriend for a couple days and found an apartment very close to where I used to live. I asked my old boss, the restaurant owner Hans, if I could work for him. I was an assistant manager at his restaurant before I left. He was delighted to see me, delighted to rehire and me and asked me if I'd do him a favor... i said sure.

Imagine his deep German accent...

"Mary - I just harvested my dope crop from the farm and would you keep the bags in your apartment for a few days" - until I can find a place to dispose of it?" it is not worth smoking and I just can't dump it in the trash.

I said "Sure". He brought over two big trash bags of dope and I put them in the closet of my bedroom.

To be continued. (I I can’t believe I have to write this story out, that I haven’t done it yet.)

The apartment was a small studio directly above Harold’s Fried Chicken at 53rd Street and Kimbark. a Hyde Park tradition.53rd Street was the ghetto’s edge… pretty scary. I had lived directly across from it, happily, with 3 friends for a couple years. There was a front door with access to the street and a back door abutting a trash alley in my studio apartment. I was already going to work on my 2nd day back in the states. I was wearing a black skirt, a white shirt, my Dansko Clogs and putting on makeup when the doorbell rang. It was about 3.45 in the afternoon. I went down to the front door to let my visitor in, but no one was there. I did see a small male student on the stairs – I had seen him before. Apparently the asshole snuck in the back door after ringing the front door bell.

I went into my apartment and into the bathroom. A strong, wiry man jumped me from behind and got me into some impossible choke hold. I couldn’t move or breathe. He pulled me into the closet with the two bags of dope (trash bags), and I guess assumed he’d rape me. I kicked his shins as hard as I could and was able to get my mouth free so I could scream. The college student heard me and came running and started yelling and doing jumping jacks. The attacker had about 40 pounds on him. Fortunately the attacker ran away and the student helped me call the police.

I was telling the police what happened – there were couple of them. I opened the door to the closet and one could smell the great outdoors.., The dope smelled wonderful, and the police just looked at each other, shut the door and kept taking my statements. They asked about the trashbags. I told them that I had just come back from Europe and didn’t have the money to pay for my trunk so I had put my clothes in the trash bags. They were ok with that… especially since a couple bags of actual clothes sat there with the dope.


On my way home from work, I always gave my sandwich, which I got for free to a little old lady name Chrystal, who made jewelry and sold it on the sidewalk. She was quite thin, about 70 years old, and was very grateful for the sandwich I gave her almost daily. She gave me a beautiful pair of silver earrings. …. 3 consecutive, growing silvered circles that hung from my ears, that hung like a snow man from my ears. I wore them every day for years. Everyone loved the earrings and bought many things from her. She was a real tiny sweetheart, with the most beautiful southern, black accent.. “Li’l chile – what would I do without you and your food?”

I lost one of the earrings the day of the attack.

Margot lived across the street from me. I had a girl crush on Margot. She was sooo cute with a deep husky voice from smoking constant cigarettes while she studied. Her hair was quite blond, cut into short blunt cut that grazed her chin barely. We were already friends before I had travelled to Greece. A couple days later, I saw her parents outside of her studio and we started talking. Apparently Margot was brutally and repeatedly raped over the course of a couple days. The asshole had raped her every which way, kept her in a bath tub of cold water and did some coke bottle type of thing. She was pretty torn up and beaten. Her parents were devastated. I didn’t get to see Margot for about a week. It was so sad to see this poor thing so beaten down. She was in psychiatric care for quite some time and move to an institution for a few months and then she moved to Madison to live with her parents for the rest of what would have been the school year.

I got a call from the police and they wanted me to come down to the station to try and identify some things, namely an earring that a sharp office had remembered me wearing on the other ear.

I was able to prove (with Chrystal) that the earring they had in the evidence pile had been made by Chrystal for me. They guy had recently moved into a YMCA ½ way house just down the street for released prisoners. He had spent about 10 years in jail for a rape charge. He was reconvicted. I lost track of Margot. I hope she is ok.

That is enough for now. This is a bit of a rough draft. Thanks for putting up with it.

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