Katie's Birthday

Celebrating Katie, we went out with Maura and a couple of friends from CYA. Katie chose a birthday restaurant: Applebee's. ... It was her birthday and she could chose whatever she wanted! I ordered the chicken fingers, which were very different from the ones in the States. Oh, and they don't have ranch dressing over here (Sorry Robert). Restaurants in Greece have service charges so you don't have to tip the waiter. Our waiter seemed very interested in Maura and looked a little dejected when she told him she'd married a Greek.

Katie opened her presents from Maura and I and couldn't contain her giddiness. There is an olive wood store in Monastiraki that sells cooking utensils. The wood is non-pourous and doesn't retain the taste and color of the food it handles. It's virtually indestructible, but must never go in the dishwasher. Katie now has a serving spoon, spatula, and small cutting board from that store. Next to the knives Matt Lafave gave her, I've never seen her so thrilled with presents.

Next, we walked over to Mike's Irish Pub for a pint. Katie had her first pint of Guiness! But before she could drink, we had to toast. I had printed out some Irish toasts and we all took turns toasting Katie.

May your glass be ever full.
May the roof over your head be always strong.
And may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead.

May those who love us love us.
And those that don’t love us, may God turn their hearts.
And if He doesn’t turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles,
So we’ll know them by their limping.

St. Patrick was a gentleman
Who through strategy and stealth
Drove all the snakes from Ireland.
Here’s toasting to his health.
But not too many toastings
Lest you lose yourself and then
Forget the good St. Patrick
And see all those snakes again.

Who is a friend but someone to toast,
Someone to gibe, someone to roast.
My friends are the best friends
Loyal, willing and able.
Now let’s get to drinking!
Glasses off the table!

Finally, I toasted with the Irishman's Philosophy:

There are only two things to worry about:
Either you are well or you are sick.
If you are well, then there is nothing to worry about.
But if you are sick, there are two things to worry about:
Either you will get well or you will die.
If you get well, then there is nothing to worry about.
But if you die, there are two things to worry about:
Either you will go to heaven or you will go to hell.
If you go to heaven, then you have nothing to worry about.
But if you go to hell, you'll be so damn busy shaking hands with all your friends, then you won't have time to worry!

Katie thoroughly enjoyed her "roasting" and called for a shot of Bailey's. I had a Woodpecker which is an awesome, sweet cider/beer, but refrained from ordering another because it was 7 Euro a bottle. I went into the bar hoping for a live Irish band, but it wasn't to be. Instead, a Greek cover band sang U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Nancy Sinatra songs. The lead singer sounded a whole lot like Cher, but was indeed not a robot. Imitation is never as good as the original, we learned, because the bar actually RAN OUT of Guiness. Shocking! There were quite a few Americans there, but we did happen to see some Brits and couple of Irishmen. The rest of the place was full of Greeks with mullets and stiletto space boots.

Last, we took a cab to the Psiri area of the city and went to a place called Club Spirit. The club had no cover charge, but we had to order something in order to stay-Heineckens all around! There was a dance floor that was deserted to begin with but very quickly was filled up with a variety of people. It was fascinating to watch those people dance. You could tell who were Greeks and who weren't. You could also tell that it is SO much more acceptable for people to dance however the hell they want to here. What I mean is that no one was self-conscious about their lack of rhythm or eccentric moves. There was a man (about 30) dancing the robot during 50cent and what looked like a banker playing air guitar during Prince. One man in particular was so in the moment that at times looked like that famous internet video kid who swung around a stick like Darth Maul. To top the night off, Cake's version of "I Will Survive" blasted through the speakers. THAT was pretty awesome.

When our celebration had been fulfilled, Katie and I walked home and promptly went to bed.

I leave you now with an Irish joke:
An Irishman, Englishman and Scottsman go into a pub and each order a pint of Guinness. Just as the bartender hands them over, three flies buzz down and one lands in eachof the pints. The Englishman looks disgusted, pushes his pint away and demands another pint. The Scottsman picks out the fly, shrugs, and takes a long swallow. The Irishman reaches in to the glass, pinches the fly between his fingers and shakes him while yelling, "Spit it out, ya bastard! Spit it out!"