First full day in Greece; last day in the Euro?

We had a pretty great day in Thessaoloniki today: touring the White Tour; visiting the Museum of Byzantine Culture; walking all over Ano Toumpa looking for my dad's old house; eating the largest squid I've ever seen (on a plate or otherwise) on the waterfront for dinner; taking in an outdoor concert by Thansis Papaconstantinou at the Forest Theater atop the city.  And watching people NOT freak out about the banks being closed today and potentially Greece running out of money tomorrow (Tuesday, June 30th).

I don't know if it's resignation or stoicism or determination or fatalism - or a combination of all four - but no one we talked to seemed that worried about the banks or what may happen if Greece defaults.  As some of you know, I hate speculating. Well, I guess that's a Greek thing since no one in Thessaoloniki wanted to speculate.  Everyone we spoke with - the waitress at breakfast, the front desk, a cab driver, a waitress at dinner, the woman who exchanged my dollars at Western Union, the folks who tried to help find my dad's house, the street vendor who sold me a giant cookie - all said, 'we'll see what happens' or 'I don't know.'  No one cried or cursed or showed any emotion. The singer Papconstantinou opened his show by saying 'we should have never joined the Euro, and now we're going to leave the Euro' to a mixed response from the crowd of  1,500 people.

One thing that does seem clear is that folks want to stay in the Eurozone and judging by news we heard on the radio and the protest in Athens most Greek voters will vote 'NO' in Sunday's referendum on the bailout package proposed by the European Union.

So today appeared pretty normal, at least for a tourist with American dollars in reserve, a way to exchange them, and credit cards. But it seemed normal for Thessalonians, too.  We'll see tomorrow, or Wednesday if Greece defaults.

Here are a few other MacedoNotes:

• The employees at Thomas Cook at the airport and the Western Union on Aristotle Square both said foreigners exchanging dollars for euros will not have any problems getting money. We haven't had any problems using a credit card or debit card, but I have to try  t use an ATM (with the banks closed they were not working today). They are supposed to distributor  money from foreign accounts so that's something to test tomorrow.
• As I tweeted earlier, I must smell like garlic, olive oil nd cigarettes because no one here thinks we're tourists. Everyone speaks to us in Greek and we are two for two in being offered only Greek-language menus at restaurants. One guy even walked over to me to start complaining about the EU as we both were investigating if we had found a working ATM hidden near the Museum of Byzantine Culture.
• That museum is fantastic by the way as is the White Tower, which offers great views and has a nice museum of Thessaloniki tucked into the rooms off the spiral staircase to the top.
• We haven't seen that many homeless people, but we had an accordion player come up to us at dinner and have seen at least 30 people wearing teeshirts featuring the word Brooklyn.
• As we wandered up and down the street looking for my dad's house in Ano Toumpa (which mean above Toumpa, and Ariadne can testify that is it above; we had a steep walk) four of the nicest and most down to earth and generous residents came out to help us (I'll post their photos, and others, on Facebook soon). Those folks deserve better from Greece's political class and the EU. Europe seems more interested in punishing average people than in making their lives better. I hope that tomorrow our anti-austerity President will call Angela Merkel and urge her to be as generous and humble to Greece as those residents of Ano Toumpa were to us.

Witnessing History

As Ariadne and I prepare for our trip to Greece, this weekend provides an interesting hinge moment for both my two nations.  The short and accurate take on things is America continues to get better, towards a more perfect union, while things in Greece are somehow actually getting worse.

And that phrase from the Constitution is a succinct reminder why America is America and Greece is Greece.

The legalization of gay rights in all 50 states, a lightening bolt of civil rights from the Supreme Court, is another example of what makes America America: citizens organizing and striving for their rights in a democracy, and believing they can win because of our democratic institutions.  They did, and they won at the highest court in the land.

Greeks, on the other hand, have neither the belief that their democracy works nor that their institutions are just or that they can win.  There was hope that PM Alexis Tsipras would be a little different but he seems to lack political skills and has completely overplayed his 'hand.' As soon as he took office he started to negotiate via blustery press releases and press conferences. Instead of saying, 'look, I know we messed up but the big question is what does Europe do with Greece now'  Tsipras has done the opposite for 4 months. That attitude seems to have played into the hands of Eurozone hardliners in Germany who obviously have no sympathy for the Syriza government.

But Europe should have sympathy for the Greek people.  But they don't.

I imagine the only solution is for President Obama or Treasury Secretary Lew to call German PM Angela Merkel and say "Cut Greece some slack. Your banks have been reimbursed and there is no reason to be putative. After all, Germany should remember what happens when you rob a nation of it's dignity and ruin it's politics. Bottom line: the US does not want a NATO ally being driven out of the Eurozone and into the arms of rogue like Putin or China."

Hopefully that will happen. And in turn Greek voters will demand institutions that serve the public good and the Greek political class will show some patriotism, pay their taxes and stop stashing their money in Switzerland (like Nazis, climate change-loving sheiks and other ne'er do wells).

And Ari and I will have a front row seat. We will be in Thessaoloniki on June 30, the day Greece may default, and in my mom's hometown village on July 5, the day Tsipras wants a referendum on the Eurozone deal.

I'll try to blog as often as possible, looking back at a country that continues to strive to be more perfect while typing from hotels in a nation just trying to survive.

A few more notes:

• I'll never understand the opposition to gay rights or gay anything.  Until it's mandatory gay marriage, what is there to get fired up about? The small-minded opponents of gay rights often say that that community is outside the mainstream, but that's exactly the opposite.  In my lifetime gays have only asked for mainstream American rights: join the Boy Scouts; openly serve in the Armed Forces; get married.  Who are these weirdos?
• As I blogged before, Greece needs to be more like America. Instead of looking towards Russia or China what Tsipras should really do, if Greece is forced to leave the Eurozone and into a Grexit with drachmas, is ask for a TPP-style trade pact with the US.  It could be a play at regional stability in the shaky, ISIS-haunted eastern Mediterranean that links the economies of Greece, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and other countries that are democracies. Greek olive oil could completely dominate the US market! I'm not an economist but seems like a good idea, right?