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Greece - Day 1
Sixteen years ago, my aunt Sarah fell in love, moved to Greece, and married my uncle Yanni. Sounds adventurous and terrifying all at once, but for Sarah, this was the realization of her childhood dream to marry a European and live her life in Europe. Ever since then, I’ve wondered what life was like for her and her famiy in Athens. Every summer when they would return to spend time in the US, I would hear stories about their home, the village where Yanni’s parents are olive farmers, and the Greek way of life. Finally, I’m having the chance to experience it.
I arrived in Athens on Friday afternoon and was immediately greeted with hugs and kisses from Sarah, Yiorgos, and Magdalena. I hadn’t seen them since Summer 2009, since this past summer I was in Central America when I visited. “Ok, so now you are going to become part of our life!” Sarah announced. Perfect – that was exactly why I came to Greece. To immerse myself in their Greek life and become part of their daily ritual – even down to things as simple as playing with Yiorgos while Magdalena finished her 3 hours of homework (lots of homework for just being in forth grade!). Right away, we rushed off to a Greek restaurant, Micro Magazi (translates to Little Store) for an early dinner before Yiorgos had his guitar lesson and Magdalena had modern dance. Gyros on pita and kabobs with Greek salad. Delicious. I didn’t order gyros because at most restaurants in Frances or the US, the meat is scraped off of what seems to be a clump of lots of meats mixed together. Turns out in Greece though, the gyros comes from fresh pieces of chicken stacked on top of each other. This was just the beginning of what would be a week filled with some of the freshest, most natural food I’d ever had. “You’ll see we eat in waves,” Sarah explained. “After this meal we will just have some small snacks, toast or yogurt, until we get to the village. Then, the food doesn’t seem to stop!” At dinner, everyone caught me up on what I’d missed this summer, and over the past year. Then I heard about the parade that both kids had walked in the day before – for a national Greek holiday. Yiorgos got the best grades out of all the sixth graders in his school, so he was chosen to carry the flag at the parade!
After dinner, we stopped at home (they live in Halandri, a northern suburb of Athens), just as Yanni was getting back from work. It was exciting to see him, especially now that I was in his home country! Soon after, I headed off to lessons with Yanni, Yiorgos, and Magdalena. Their lessons are in the basement of an incredible Greek Orthodox church. I was hoping to see the inside, but it was closed. Still, I admired the striking beauty of the golden yellow plaster walls and red rooftops on the outside. I couldn’t believe this was where the kids got to have their activities! While Yiorgos played guitar, I sat in on Magdalena’s modern dance lesson. Everything was in Greek, but by the end of the lesson I figured out that the “phrase” that the teacher seems to be repeating over and over again were the numbers 1-8. Just as in American dance classes, she was counting out the music for the students while they danced. So I left the lesson and showed Magdalena that I had figured out how to count. Turns out I was pronouncing everything terribly; Magdalena didn’t even realize I was trying to say the numbers. But she helped me with the pronunciation, just as earlier in the day the kids helped me learn a few phases. Yiorgos has been especially helpful with this – he wrote down a page for me of Greek phrases, with the pronunciation written out in both Greek and English.
The next several hours following their activities were filled with the kids showing me their favorite things. Really, everything, from sticker collections to games to homework to science projects. It seemed there was a never ending supply of things they’d been waiting to show me! Sarah asked if they thought there would be anything left to show by the time Tuesday rolled around. “Of course!” was the obvious answer. One of my favorite things was a magazine Yiorgos showed me – one he has been making with his peers on a monthly basis and selling at school. First, I was impressed to learn that they had sold 50 copies of the first edition! But even more impressive was the content of the magazine. Yiorgos showed me the articles he had written: some discussions of math and physics (his favorite subject), a review of a book Yanni’s friend had written, and a moving poem for his mother, written with such sophistication I would have never guessed it was the work of a sixth grader. He even included some allusions to Shakespeare!
Though I was already full from eating so much earlier, I couldn’t resist when Yanni offered some meet and potatoes, prepared in a traditional Greek style (with lots of olive oil!). I love Greek cuisine, and having the meat and potatoes brought back many memories of when Sarah would come back to the US and cook for us in Grandma’s house. Before I leave, I am hoping to learn a few of these recipes so I can cook Greek food back in France! While I ate, Yanni gestured to a bottle of olive oil from his parent’s farm. “This is the best olive oil in the world!” he told me, more as an objective fact rather than opinion. But I believed it! He is clearly the proud son of a hard-working and well-functioning olive farm. The next day I would get to go to the farm myself and see how it all worked. After tasting how delicious it made the food, I couldn’t wait to see the process from the beginning.
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