After a couple of days of (boring) apartment hunting, I returned to work. In other words, I didn’t go out of my way to find entertainment. But I made a plan to go out and see Alkinoos Ioannidis at Vox. His show starts at 9:30 pm (which probably means 11:30 pm), and I was hungry, so I looked for a dinner place at around 7 pm.
I don’t know what’s going on with me, but I find myself walking in endless circles on this trip. Thursday was no exception. I passed a thousand restaurants and didn’t find one — until I did. You could hear the musician through the glass panes. He used a synthesizer, but used it well. I walked in, found a table, asked the waiter what’s good (chicken, he said), and dived into the ambiance. Around me was a mix of mostly older Greeks who loved to dance, and a bunch of European-looking tourists in all age groups.
The musician knew how to read a room. His repertoire was Greek laika classics. I joined in and danced. But as more tourists joined in, he switched up the music. We twisted again with Chubby Checker and then went into a whole Boney M set. Eventually, he returned to playing Greek music.
During this time, I interacted with a threesome from Ghent, Belgium and a couple from Poland. The Poles and I exchanged phone numbers. Why is this relevant, you ask?
Well, they asked to meet with me the following day at the same place, 7 pm. I said sure. In Greece, most entertainment begins well after 11 pm, so I’m free at 7, right? We exchanged numbers, I went home, felt good, didn’t go right to sleep. Worked a little bit, in fact. Several hours passed and I get this killer headache that’s accompanied by borderline nausea. I felt so crappy, ladies and gentlemen, that I had to sleep it off. All day long until 6 pm Friday I slept. I felt weak and in pain.
At 6:15 pm I text the Poles and explain the situation, adding that I won’t meet them at 7, after all. And guess what–they were sick too. They blamed it on drinking too much. I told them no, I had just 1 glass of wine, so whatever they had is likely from the food or a sick person who danced in our midst.
The following day (Saturday) I was fine, my appetite returned, but I felt a little weak, I gotta say.