Winter Swimmers

Its cold here. Really cold. Now before all you in Iowa freak out and tell me to suck it up let me just explain. So it doesn’t snow here really and the temperature is probably more than 30 degree Fahrenheit. BUT, it isn’t the same when you don’t have warm buildings to go between.

Concrete buildings don’t hold the heat very well. That means that my apartment, despite the central heat on and my air conditioner heater on, is still often times too cold for me. I like the heat jacked up! And the gym, it gets cold. No heat, its freezing outside, and it too is made of concrete and plastic windows. Not exactly insulated. I’m just waiting to bust out the full sweatsuit, gloves, hat, long spandex, for practice. I don’t care if I look like a tool.

Last year we played against one of the worst teams in the league when it was freezing out. The thought of taking off my warm-ups was about too much to bear. My dad was here and I could see him stomping his feet and buying coffee just to stay warm despite his winter coat. I eventually had to strip down to my uniform and play. Not cool! I couldn’t feel my hands so my strategy was to just get fouled and go to the free throw line where I could warm my hands up. It was unbelievable. I couldn’t believe we were playing a game, a game that counted! Can you imagine ISU playing a Big 12 game in Hilton with no heat?

Our club has an outdoor pool. Its is nice and when I first got here I was there all the time. That’s when it was sunny and warm. Now its freezing and people are still in the water for lessons or practice. Little kids swim around and I’m wondering what the hell their parents are thinking letting them swim outside in this weather. Yeah the water is pretty warm but you gotta get out at some point. And whether the showers are warm is up for question. They turn off their water heaters here and sometimes they forget to turn them back on.

But that’s nothing compared to what I saw yesterday when I was down at the sea. It was beautiful out but colder than shit. In my down coat I was still cold. Lo and Behold people are swimming in the Aegean! I look out and see a guy with flippers on swimming around and right next to me are two women changing out of their swimsuits on the beach with the cold wind blowing on them. Are they crazy? No, they are called winter swimmers and swim all year round. I suppose it reminds you that you are alive. Right before you can’t breathe from the cold.

All in all though, it is still pretty here. It may be cold but many days the sun is still shining. It does rain here and supposedly there will be snow, at which time everyone will freak out, stop working and cram into cafés all over the city. Much like Seattle, Athens isn’t prepared for snow. But I can’t complain too much about the cold because I can still bundle up and head down to the sea where the wind is blowing, the sun is shining, and crazy Greek people are swimming.