questa si che e vita!: And Scene

Ok, so I took a nap, a shower and had some food and am feeling better. My hostel is a little on the chilly side, but I am still 1000 times happier here than Strava. I'm sure you are all probably wondering what on earth made the experience so horrible, so I'll try to explain.

First off, let me say that I had REALLY high hopes for this place. As you all know, I was really pumped about the whole thing and thought it was going to be so great. And, the thing that is most frustrating, is that it really had potential to be super fun. The house was beautiful, the kid was manageable, and Greece, in general, is fabulous. But the family just made me feel soooo uncomfortable! It is hard to explain, really. I'll try. It's long.

First off, they never had a conversation with me about what exactly I was supposed to do and what they expected of me. I got a schedule, but that was it. And then we left for the beach and I was on my own, so I never got to have the conversation. Which I think is kind of strange because usually at jobs, you get some sort of training or at least an outline of what is expected of you. Also, they knew I had never been an Au Pair before, so you think they would help me out some and tell me what worked with previous Au Pairs, what didn't, etc. Nope, nothing.

At first, it was just me, the kid (kid) and the housekeeper and the dad (asshole) would come at night. Things were good during the day, but when asshole would come, it was awkward because I didn't know who was in charge. Also, asshole was kind of a jerk. He was always telling kid to speak in English, yet he would continue to have conversations with him in Greek. He also took every opportunity possible to make me feel stupid. He was always asking me these ridiculous questions that I didn't know the answer to, or just didn't understand because he had different words for stuff or was pronouncing it wrong. He was wrong a lot, but would insist that he wasn't, so we had a lot of pointless arguments. I just quit talking to him because it wasn't worth it. He also made me feel fat when he told me I looked "a lot slimmer in the pictures I sent." So that was nice of him. Later down the line, he apparently thought I wasn't talking enough and told me that I needed to be speaking English with kid "every minute of the day," which I thought was a little on the extreme side. And, like I said, he was constantly speaking to him in Greek, so of course I didn't know what they were talking about and couldn't really add anything to the conversation! This was a problem a lot, actually. The family would NEVER speak in English at meals or anything, even though they could all speak it. No one would ever translate for me or tell me at least what was so funny. So I just sat there and occasionally made comments about the scenery and got blank stares back. It was quite frustrating. And just super rude, I thought. But the whole family was like that. The grandmother didn't even acknowledge my existence and the older brother and his friends that came never even introduced themselves. They also ate meals with their shirts off and asshole dad smoked at the table, which is gross, especially because he had man boobs.

So that was asshole. Kid, was generally not a problem. When it was just me and him, we got along fine. We would have conversations, read, play, whatever. However, when his friends were around, he was sooo rude to me! I would ask him questions and he would either straight up ignore me or make some rude comment and make fun of me in Greek with his friends. His friends were these three other Greek kids that had a German Au Pair (Christin). They were ok, except for the youngest, who was seriously the devil. At first I felt bad for him because he has diabetes and the other kids are mean to him sometimes but then I figured out that he deserved it and I didn't feel bad anymore. In fact, I was constantly wishing bodily harm upon him. One night he fell while running and I laughed for ten minutes. He was sooo bad. And he's bad because his parent didn't discipline him AT ALL. He took my water bottle while we were on the beach and dumped out all of it, right in front of them and they did not say a word. He didn't have to apologize, get me new water, nothing. I hated this child. ANYWAYS, kid was rude to me with his friends and when his parents were around. And again, with the no discipline thing, he was just allowed to be rude and nothing would be said. And he was rude to me and treated me like dirt because that is pretty much how the parents treated me. Like I was the "help" and therefore didn't really matter. I was told to "fetch" water, had to set and clear the table, etc.

And then there was the mom (bitchface).Bitchface was seriously one of the absolute bitchiest people I have ever encountered in my life. I don't know what her deal was, but she took every opportunity to say something rude and/or she would just ignore me completely. Which I was confused about because she was nice at first. That all changed about two weeks in. She would never tell me what was going on or if I had to be around or what the deal was. And there were times kid was playing with his friends (and the devil) and she would get mad because I wasn't playing with them. Which was stupid because 1. the friends couldn't speak English 2. They didn't want me to play with them. I asked. and 3. if they are playing and happy, why do I need to get involved?? Ugh, there were just soo many things. One day she got mad because I called a wasp a bee by accident and she's like, "Don't you know the difference? Don't they have wasps where you come from?" I mean damn. Oh, and she asked me to not sit on her bed. Like I'm going to get it dirty or something. I was sitting, watching TV and talking with the kid and she comes in and tells me to get off her bed. Ouch. Sucks for her though, because before bitchface got there, kid and I would lay in the bed and read together. HAHA! Oh, and she got super drunk one day at this beach bar we went to and had to be carried home because she was incoherent. Meanwhile, I have to take care of kid and his two friends while she throws up all over the bathroom. And this was after I got yelled at for not putting the bathmat down in the shower. "I don't want to have to spend my entire vacation cleaning up after you," is what I was told. Hm.

Ugh, there was seriously so much more. I was rarely given time off. I got four days total, I think and three of them were because they just left me there while they went back to Athens for one thing or another (including the wedding I was uninvited to). I had to watch the kid every waking hour and I had "curfew." The house had two gates, one you needed a controller to get in and the other just had a lock. I asked if I could go out one night, after kid went to bed and they wouldn't let me! They said they gate was locked when they went to bed and that was that. Which was such bullshit because I could have easily locked it behind me OR they could have given me one of the three controllers to the front. But no, I wasn't allowed.

And then there was the whole food nonsense. I was never asked if I liked the food, if I had enough, anything. And it wasn't that I didn't like any of the food, I just wanted smaller portions. Those people at SO much food, it was crazy! One day bitchface was like, "I'm beginning to think all you like is hamburgers." At first I thought she was joking but then I realized she was mad because I asked for one stuffed tomato instead of two like she was giving everyone else. I mean, I'm 24, which is plenty old to decide how much food I want to eat. I think she was trying to insuate that I was fat as well, I guess to establish comradarie with asshole. But it pissed me off because I NEVER complained about the food, nor did I ever mention anything about hamburgers. They thought I was weird because I don't like watermelon and wouldn't buy me apples or bananas because they weren't in season. Oh, and that whole relationship (between bitchface and asshole) was awkward too because they were constantly yelling at each other and/or kid and I was just sitting there, uncomfortable. I even told her I was uncomfortable and wanted to leave two weeks ago and she told me I had to stay until the 17th. No conversation about why I was uncomfortable or if it could be fixed, nothing.

To sum up, here's how my last day went. I stepped wrong on the stairs and have a feeling something is not right with my foot. Bitchface tells me to just sit awhile. Asshole finally comes and gives me some ice and wraps up my foot. Kid sees me with the ice and goes on about his business.. Bitchface gives me my money, all awkward and it's much less than what I deserve. The family leaves to go to dinner and leave me there on my own. I hobble around, make myself dinner and crawl up the stairs to go to bed, without saying goodbye to kid because we were leaving at 6 the next morning. Six comes around. Asshole sees me carry 3/4 of my luggage down the stairs before he offers to help. We ride to Athens in silence. We go to the hospital, where I get an X-Ray and a cast and asshole is annoyed everything is taking so long (we were there maybe 45 minutes). He insists I don't need crutches, even though the doctor said I did and my cast is not a walking cast. We get medicine at the pharmacy, but they don't have enough of it, so I'm told to just get more in Germany because asshole has things to do. We go to the house to get the rest of my stuff, I sit for an hour, he takes me downtown to my hostel. And this is what really set me off (and it's my mom's favorite part), I get out of the car and he just sits there on his phone. He doesn't offer to help even get my stuff out of the car. I struggle to get it out, cast on and everything and start to go inside. Then he yells out the window at me that I owe him 20 euro for the medicine. I mean really. Couldn't even help me with my luggage. Greek men are not known for the chivalry, but seriously people. I had a cast.

Whatever. I am SOOO happy to be gone from there, I don't even care. I honestly think the whole cast situation is kind of funny. I mean, really. Of course this would happen the day I get to leave. Stupid foot. But after that last car incident, I lost it. So I'm sitting in the hostel looking like an idiot because I'm crying and I have this gross cast and all this stupid luggage and life sucks. But the reception lady was really nice to me, someone carried my bags and things are better now and I am really excited about Germany.

The weird thing, to me, is that everyone else I've met so far has been SO incredibly nice. Like, beyond nice. I even questioned it sometimes. Why are they being so nice to me? I didn't do anything? But I guess that is the good in all of this. I have so many nice people to think about and remind myself that it's not me...it's that family. I didn't do anything wrong...people generally like me and I have new friends to prove it. My Italian families were so far beyond fabulous and accommodating. Christin, the other Au Pair, has been so helpful and wonderful in helping me get my flight and is picking me up in Berlin and offered to get me crutches and everything. And I met this Dutch family at the beach and they invited me to spend the entire day with them when I got left there by myself, even though it was their last day of vacation, and took me to the grocery store so I could buy some fruit. They also invited me to come visit and were just all around so fun and nice. Christin and I are going to try and visit them in Amsterdam. So, I have things and people to look forward too. Fuck those Greek people. There's more, but I'm moving on bitches.

Also, here are some photos. Facebook won't let me upload them all right now, but here are some to tide you over. It was at least pretty there. And I got a glorious tan, even though I'm worried the cast is going to ruin it. Sorry for the rant. Had to get it off my chest.