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bktheirregularI can never quite understand what the rules are with regards to my situation here in Athens. I read through various sites and compilations of rules, and found one indication that I had only five days after arrival to complete a battery of medical tests in order to get my residence permit.
Well, what with the death in the family, things got pushed back a little. So this morning, I went to a hospital to arrange for the tests.
I had to make an appointment (naturally); however, the time during which you can make that appointment is only between 12 and 1 in the afternoon. That's not when you go to have the tests; that's when you have to go to the office to make the appointment.
(Guess I know what I'm doing on my lunch hour.)
Point two was that the testing departments or what have you are closed through the end of April and to the middle of May. So if I make an appointment this afternoon, if I'm lucky, I might get my tests done May 14.
Which is ... slightly more than five days into my stay.
It gives a bit of insight into the culture, I suppose. If the rules are set up so you can't possibly follow them, then you develop a tendency to ignore them and roll the dice. It's like the pedestrian crossing lights. They don't give you enough time to cross on the green (I've mentioned this before, I know), so if you ever want to get across the street, you learn that you have to cross on the red and hope.
(Bumped into a co-worker the other day, across the street from the office, and when we crossed back across Panepistimiou to get back to the office, I got chided for running across the street when the green light hit. My old habits of "cross on the red and you're probably dead" had led me into a habit of sprinting across so I could get to the other side before the don't-walk light started burning red.)
The attitude of "the rules are screwing us, so screw the rules" tends to metastasize, though. Motorcycles on the sidewalk; cars driving like it was freakin' Grand Theft Auto out on the roads; defiance of the law, bribery of officials, the rot of corruption because playing by the rules just doesn't work.
I was taught to play by the rules.
Maybe that's why, even though my career has led me here, this place can never quite be home.
Well, what with the death in the family, things got pushed back a little. So this morning, I went to a hospital to arrange for the tests.
I had to make an appointment (naturally); however, the time during which you can make that appointment is only between 12 and 1 in the afternoon. That's not when you go to have the tests; that's when you have to go to the office to make the appointment.
(Guess I know what I'm doing on my lunch hour.)
Point two was that the testing departments or what have you are closed through the end of April and to the middle of May. So if I make an appointment this afternoon, if I'm lucky, I might get my tests done May 14.
Which is ... slightly more than five days into my stay.
It gives a bit of insight into the culture, I suppose. If the rules are set up so you can't possibly follow them, then you develop a tendency to ignore them and roll the dice. It's like the pedestrian crossing lights. They don't give you enough time to cross on the green (I've mentioned this before, I know), so if you ever want to get across the street, you learn that you have to cross on the red and hope.
(Bumped into a co-worker the other day, across the street from the office, and when we crossed back across Panepistimiou to get back to the office, I got chided for running across the street when the green light hit. My old habits of "cross on the red and you're probably dead" had led me into a habit of sprinting across so I could get to the other side before the don't-walk light started burning red.)
The attitude of "the rules are screwing us, so screw the rules" tends to metastasize, though. Motorcycles on the sidewalk; cars driving like it was freakin' Grand Theft Auto out on the roads; defiance of the law, bribery of officials, the rot of corruption because playing by the rules just doesn't work.
I was taught to play by the rules.
Maybe that's why, even though my career has led me here, this place can never quite be home.
