Our trip is officially half over. Today is Day 61 of 120. I guess that means it's all downhill from here.

Here you can see (sort of) the note posted on the door of the office I share. I've NEVER had office hours 4-6 p.m. before, but since that bumps up against two of my classes, and the office is vacant at that time., it works out that way. This also serves to reinforce the fact that a lot of things are written in both Greek and English.

This is the interior of the office. Somewhat spartan, but has what I need: a computer with high speed connection - much better than the 3G wireless I use at the apartment. It also has a printer, which I lack at home.

With the strike yesterday, I had a couple of options to get downtown: I could take a cab. My guess it would have cost 5-10 Euros. I came to the revelation that it isn't the expense but the fear that I will be cheated that keeps me from doing some things. For example, I don't buy in shops that don't post their prices. I figure as soon as they hear me speak, the price will go up.

I didn't try taking the bus either. It was a nice enough day that I walked an hour to reach the nearest Metro stop, then took that downtown. When I arrived, I discovered what striking workers do with their day off.

There were hundreds (thousands?) of people marching downtown. It wasn't just transportation workers involved in the strike. Interestingly, journalists were also on strike yesterday. There was no radio or TV news yesterday and there are no newspapers today. It was extremely well oirganized, with flags, matching T-shirts, chants, etc.

I didn't have classes yesterday. I normally don't have a Thursday class, but no one did due to the strike. My whole reason for heading downtown was to meet up with Professor Tsevas Athanasios, a law professor. He teaches in Communication and Media, but also teaches in the Law School. We were meeting up for lunch and a long conversation about Greek media law, and what I may be able to do if I guest lectured in the law college class. We met at the department offices and he asked me if I had been to the faculty club. I told him I hadn't and I said it would be fine. He told me they door would be locked but we would call to be admitted. With the potential for the protests to get out of control (I never saw any trouble), they were keepin g the building locked to prevent assylum-seekers from taking refuge in the faculty club - and smashing up the place.

I told Professor A. that many US universities have faculty clubs but that mine does not. In the current climate we would never get one unless it came from a private donor. He said that is preceisely the case with this one. It was an old mansion that was donated by a shipping tycoon. It spite of its small size, Greece has the world's 3rd largest shipping industry. As you might expect of such a place, it was quite elegant. When we arrived we were the only ones in the dining room: both because of the strike and our early arrival (1:30) for lunch. There were a few others by the time we left.

As I write this I am stepping out onto the balcony every few minutes to scare off pigeons. Several like to sit on our air conditioner. It's a mess, and if they do it early in the morning we hear them (right outside our bedroom). Kim spent a considerable amount of time cleaning the balcony yesterday and we would very much like to keep these flying rats away. I've seen the spiked strips that you can buy to keep birds from landing places, but I can't imagine trying to get that home on the tram. I have been humming Tom Lehr's "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" all morning.