May 13, 2008
Hi Everybody--
One last note before I head out to the States late, late tomorrow night.
I'm finishing up my finals. One last one to go. Econ. Tomorrow. Wohoo.
Things here are wrapping up. My dear roommate Erica left early this weekend because she had to go graduate. Graduate-shmaduate. Now it's just me and the smelly boys in the apartment. Actually, I'm a bigger mess than they are right now. I've been packing and it looks like a bomb exploded in my room. Not surprising to many of you, I'm sure. It's extra bad right now though.
So, before Part 1 of this Greek Odyssey ends, I thought I'd leave you with one last anecdote.
This weekend I was supposed to go to a town in the Peloponesse for a work related task. I'm helping to organize a film screening this summer taking place in this town and need to check out the accommodations. This trip is rather important, but has been postponed at least 3 times, so I was very excited to finally be going. I was all set to go. I had coordinated with Phaedra--the Greek woman who did my job before--to go with me, the mayor of the town to show us around, and had reserved a car to be picked up early Sunday morning. But, late Saturday night, Phaedra called me and asked if I had listened to the news that day. I had not, so she informed me that the gas truck drivers union was on STRIKE and there was almost NO gas in Greece. People had been driving around for hours, only to find a gas station with not enough gas to fill up and charging whatever they wanted...Seriously?? There are no trains that go there and buses were out of the question because of the gas shortage, so the trip was once again canceled. Who'da thunk it? GAS. A problem. I'm reminded of SNOW being an issue when trying to SNOWboarding...Oh, Greece.Oh, brother.
Anyhow, as many charming thing as there are in this country, I'm really excited to go back to the land of worker compliance and regular trash pick up for a time. I'm sure by June I'll be all psyched up to rejoin the world of Greek chaos though.
Hope you all are well! Cheers to those who have actually been reading these! You're champs!
I'll see some of you SO soon!
Until June,
Your's truely,
A.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
The Odyssey 9: My not-so Big Fat Greek Easter
May 5, 2008
Dear everybody,
Xronia Pola! (Many years for/to you) Christ has risen and it's back to the grind. Last time I wrote I was off to Laryssa to meet family to celebrate the Greek Easter weekend. It was a very interesting time and nothing happened as I expected it to.
Easter is a huge event in Greece--most people celebrate it for the whole week leading up to do the day by going to church everyday, fasting if they hadn't already been for the last 33 days of Lent, dying eggs red, and taking at least half the week off to travel back to their hometowns and spend time with family. On Friday I went with (for simplicities sake) my aunt around Laryssa (the third largets city in Greece which is roughly the size of Stamford, CT, for reference. Not that big, but not too small either) to see the epitaph processions. This is when all the churches in town hold mass then carry their church's epithaph and giant crosses around town followed by people with candels commemorating Christ's walk with the cross. In a big place like Laryssa, all the churches congregate in the main square and all the priests hold one giant mass together at the end of the procession. In smaller villages, there's usually only one church, and they'll make a circle around town and go back to the church to finish. It was pretty cool, especially to see so many people out. In a way it reminded me of caroling on God's Acre in New Canaan for Chrsitmas. I took a lot of pictures which it think turned out pretty well.
Then Saturday, we went to my uncle's sister's house on the island of Evia for the rest of the Easter weekend. This is about the time when things started happening differently than how I had anticipated. First of all, although I was warned before it happened, I thought I'd be going to the village where my family is from which is about 30 minutes from Laryssa, but instead we drove/took the ferry for 4 1/2 hours to get to Evia. Evia is a really beautiful island and we stopped at a natural hotspring and some church for some healing saint and brushed holy oil on our foreheads. It's a giant island, but I got to see a fair amount of it driving around. I'd like to go camping there sometime if I get the chance.
When we got to the sister's house we ate lunch and they told me I could go take a nap. Instead though, I wanted to go for a walk and get some fresh air. The house is on a little farm, just on the edge of a little village, and they keep sheep and have pretty fields in the back. Really I wanted some alone time, I was a little overwhelmed by this point of being asked every 30 seconds if I was alright and if I needed anything else, but once I said I wanted to go for a walk the sister's 17 years old daughter jumped up and said she'd go with me. Now, first off, I don't want to be rude, she was very sweet and smiley, but the daughter is really shy and a rather awkward. I would try to speak to her and ask her questions, but she would only respond if she knew the word in English, and she didnt' know many words. I was a little disappointed to not be alone, but whatever, I thought maybe she would open up a little if she was out of the house. Once we left I asked her where we should go (thinking into this field or that field) but her response was, to the platia! (The square in town). I sighed, realizing Greeks probably think it's weird to go for a walk in...nature. So we went to town. She showed me around the whole 10 meters of it, then we walked back towards the house. (Mostly in silence). Once we were there I suggested we go into the fields a bit and she sort of shrugged and said, whatever you want, so we took a little stroll around. It was nice, but I could tell she wasn't very comfortable just standing around taking in the sceenery, so we headed back in.
That night, then, was the big midnight mass that marks Christ's rising and the end of Lent. I was all geared up to last through the whole 3 1/2 hour service which I had been told was sooo long and kind of boring. The first hour was really neat. There were men singing/chanting in deep voices and there was incense and people crossing themselves a lot. There were fireworks being set off all over the place too which was kind of weird, but a popular part of the tradition, apparently. Then at midnight all the lights went off and the priest came from behind the wall thing (i don't knwo what it's called, all I know is women aren't allowed behind it) with a lit candle and started singing "Xristos anesti" (Christ has risen). Everyone reached for the light with their own candles and then spread it to all the people around them. Within in a few minutes the whole church was lit up and people were singing and crossing themselves. It was really pretty, and seeing the place lit up like that gave me a new appreciation for all the gold paint in those churches. But then, after about 20 more minutes, everyone just got up and left! It was so funny! Everyone greated each other saying Xronia Pola and chatting people who they hadn't seen in a while, but for the most part everyone just booked it out of there. I thought maybe it was just because it was rainy that everyone left so early, but my anthropology teacher today confirmed that people don't really stick out the whole liturgy these days.
After we left, we went home to break the fast and eat, eat eat! Traditionally people eat a stew made of lamb-innards to break the fast, and even though everyone says it's gross I was excited to try it--it is tradition after all. But when we got home our hostess said that she didn't like it so she had made chicken soup instead. I was a little bummed about that. It also didn't help that I couldn't eat a whole lot more either because it all had cheese and cream and milk in it, so I had a sad feast of chicken soup and leftovers.
Lastly, my biggest surprise, was the next morning when I got up early to help with the lamb. They had told me I could sleep in, but I wanted to take my turn spinning the lamb over the fire and helping to prepare the meal (that's what we do in the states, after all!). But, when I walked outside, to my dismay the spit was electric! I'm not sure why the men were even bothering to hang out around it drinking their coffee and eating their breakfast, but they were. So I sat with them for a little bit, not sure what to do with myself, then I went inside and watched TV with everybody else until the lamb was ready. I asked my aunt if the village had a party (maybe we weren't going because it was still rainy out), but she said no, they used to, but now they do it house by house. I asked if people danced, but she aside, no, they used to but not any more. The most exciting thing that happened all day was that a few people stopped by to say Xronia Pola and have a little bit of lamb, but they didn't stay too long saying (i;m pretty sure) that they had to go eat more lamb somewhere else. Then, after we ate, we all took naps and drove back to Laryssa. It was so ant-climactic!! I'll just put it out there that I prefer the CT celebration and our diasporic-quaintness. Now I've experienced Greek Easter the "modern" way. But, these modern Greeks, man, I don't know. Modernization works in mysterious ways.
Since then, after my Easter adventure, I spent the rest of the week in Athens. I was supposed to go to the Peloponnese, but that got postponed to next weekend. So I hung out here. The city was SO quiet for a few days since everyone was gone on vacation--it was amazing. But by mid-week the traffic had come back and the tourists have FLOODED in. It happened so dramatically, it's crazy. One really great thing I did though was go to the beach--it finally is warm enough to justify donning bathing suits and laying out in the sun (and not have people stare at you like you're the crazy American that you are--don't you know it's still "winter"?!?). The beach was lovely, especially for a city beach, a 30 minute tram ride away. And I was so hot laying out that I actually went for a swim! It was cold, but refreshing. I hope I can make it back again before I head out. If not though, I'll be back soon enough.
Now, I'm finishing up finals. Yay for the program almost being over! It's been good for some things, but I'm really ready to do my own thing.
That's it for now.
Hope you all are doing well!
Happy spring!!
A.
Dear everybody,
Xronia Pola! (Many years for/to you) Christ has risen and it's back to the grind. Last time I wrote I was off to Laryssa to meet family to celebrate the Greek Easter weekend. It was a very interesting time and nothing happened as I expected it to.
Easter is a huge event in Greece--most people celebrate it for the whole week leading up to do the day by going to church everyday, fasting if they hadn't already been for the last 33 days of Lent, dying eggs red, and taking at least half the week off to travel back to their hometowns and spend time with family. On Friday I went with (for simplicities sake) my aunt around Laryssa (the third largets city in Greece which is roughly the size of Stamford, CT, for reference. Not that big, but not too small either) to see the epitaph processions. This is when all the churches in town hold mass then carry their church's epithaph and giant crosses around town followed by people with candels commemorating Christ's walk with the cross. In a big place like Laryssa, all the churches congregate in the main square and all the priests hold one giant mass together at the end of the procession. In smaller villages, there's usually only one church, and they'll make a circle around town and go back to the church to finish. It was pretty cool, especially to see so many people out. In a way it reminded me of caroling on God's Acre in New Canaan for Chrsitmas. I took a lot of pictures which it think turned out pretty well.
Then Saturday, we went to my uncle's sister's house on the island of Evia for the rest of the Easter weekend. This is about the time when things started happening differently than how I had anticipated. First of all, although I was warned before it happened, I thought I'd be going to the village where my family is from which is about 30 minutes from Laryssa, but instead we drove/took the ferry for 4 1/2 hours to get to Evia. Evia is a really beautiful island and we stopped at a natural hotspring and some church for some healing saint and brushed holy oil on our foreheads. It's a giant island, but I got to see a fair amount of it driving around. I'd like to go camping there sometime if I get the chance.
When we got to the sister's house we ate lunch and they told me I could go take a nap. Instead though, I wanted to go for a walk and get some fresh air. The house is on a little farm, just on the edge of a little village, and they keep sheep and have pretty fields in the back. Really I wanted some alone time, I was a little overwhelmed by this point of being asked every 30 seconds if I was alright and if I needed anything else, but once I said I wanted to go for a walk the sister's 17 years old daughter jumped up and said she'd go with me. Now, first off, I don't want to be rude, she was very sweet and smiley, but the daughter is really shy and a rather awkward. I would try to speak to her and ask her questions, but she would only respond if she knew the word in English, and she didnt' know many words. I was a little disappointed to not be alone, but whatever, I thought maybe she would open up a little if she was out of the house. Once we left I asked her where we should go (thinking into this field or that field) but her response was, to the platia! (The square in town). I sighed, realizing Greeks probably think it's weird to go for a walk in...nature. So we went to town. She showed me around the whole 10 meters of it, then we walked back towards the house. (Mostly in silence). Once we were there I suggested we go into the fields a bit and she sort of shrugged and said, whatever you want, so we took a little stroll around. It was nice, but I could tell she wasn't very comfortable just standing around taking in the sceenery, so we headed back in.
That night, then, was the big midnight mass that marks Christ's rising and the end of Lent. I was all geared up to last through the whole 3 1/2 hour service which I had been told was sooo long and kind of boring. The first hour was really neat. There were men singing/chanting in deep voices and there was incense and people crossing themselves a lot. There were fireworks being set off all over the place too which was kind of weird, but a popular part of the tradition, apparently. Then at midnight all the lights went off and the priest came from behind the wall thing (i don't knwo what it's called, all I know is women aren't allowed behind it) with a lit candle and started singing "Xristos anesti" (Christ has risen). Everyone reached for the light with their own candles and then spread it to all the people around them. Within in a few minutes the whole church was lit up and people were singing and crossing themselves. It was really pretty, and seeing the place lit up like that gave me a new appreciation for all the gold paint in those churches. But then, after about 20 more minutes, everyone just got up and left! It was so funny! Everyone greated each other saying Xronia Pola and chatting people who they hadn't seen in a while, but for the most part everyone just booked it out of there. I thought maybe it was just because it was rainy that everyone left so early, but my anthropology teacher today confirmed that people don't really stick out the whole liturgy these days.
After we left, we went home to break the fast and eat, eat eat! Traditionally people eat a stew made of lamb-innards to break the fast, and even though everyone says it's gross I was excited to try it--it is tradition after all. But when we got home our hostess said that she didn't like it so she had made chicken soup instead. I was a little bummed about that. It also didn't help that I couldn't eat a whole lot more either because it all had cheese and cream and milk in it, so I had a sad feast of chicken soup and leftovers.
Lastly, my biggest surprise, was the next morning when I got up early to help with the lamb. They had told me I could sleep in, but I wanted to take my turn spinning the lamb over the fire and helping to prepare the meal (that's what we do in the states, after all!). But, when I walked outside, to my dismay the spit was electric! I'm not sure why the men were even bothering to hang out around it drinking their coffee and eating their breakfast, but they were. So I sat with them for a little bit, not sure what to do with myself, then I went inside and watched TV with everybody else until the lamb was ready. I asked my aunt if the village had a party (maybe we weren't going because it was still rainy out), but she said no, they used to, but now they do it house by house. I asked if people danced, but she aside, no, they used to but not any more. The most exciting thing that happened all day was that a few people stopped by to say Xronia Pola and have a little bit of lamb, but they didn't stay too long saying (i;m pretty sure) that they had to go eat more lamb somewhere else. Then, after we ate, we all took naps and drove back to Laryssa. It was so ant-climactic!! I'll just put it out there that I prefer the CT celebration and our diasporic-quaintness. Now I've experienced Greek Easter the "modern" way. But, these modern Greeks, man, I don't know. Modernization works in mysterious ways.
Since then, after my Easter adventure, I spent the rest of the week in Athens. I was supposed to go to the Peloponnese, but that got postponed to next weekend. So I hung out here. The city was SO quiet for a few days since everyone was gone on vacation--it was amazing. But by mid-week the traffic had come back and the tourists have FLOODED in. It happened so dramatically, it's crazy. One really great thing I did though was go to the beach--it finally is warm enough to justify donning bathing suits and laying out in the sun (and not have people stare at you like you're the crazy American that you are--don't you know it's still "winter"?!?). The beach was lovely, especially for a city beach, a 30 minute tram ride away. And I was so hot laying out that I actually went for a swim! It was cold, but refreshing. I hope I can make it back again before I head out. If not though, I'll be back soon enough.
Now, I'm finishing up finals. Yay for the program almost being over! It's been good for some things, but I'm really ready to do my own thing.
That's it for now.
Hope you all are doing well!
Happy spring!!
A.
The Odyssey 8: "To the Greeks it's all: Easter is coming! Easter is coming!"-David Sedaris
April 23, 2008
I just finished my last class before my Greek Easter/Spring Break! I still have 2 papers to write, but we won't talk about that now. Instead, I'll drop you all a line and tell you what I've been up to. Posted by Rita Wilson on April 8, 2007 12:57 PM
I just finished my last class before my Greek Easter/Spring Break! I still have 2 papers to write, but we won't talk about that now. Instead, I'll drop you all a line and tell you what I've been up to.
Other than work, ehm, ehm...
My dad came to visit two weekends ago! It was so good to see him and spend time with someone I know! Highlights of the weekend besides seeing him: 1) getting to see the inside of the Hilton. Fancy-shmansy, I'll say. Really good salmon in their breakfast buffet--yummm...haven't had it in so long! 2) Taking a trip to Sounio, a temple to Poseidon. It's one of the most well preserved temples with 16 columns still standing. I think the one that Lord Byron graffitied on is still standing, although it's roped off so I couldn't see it from where I was. The temple was actually not as exciting as I had heard it was, it's cool, but, well, huh, I've seen cooler...The drive there, however was fabulous. There is such beautiful coast line just outside of Athens that I hadn't know anything about! If I have time when I get back from break I plan to spend everyday at the beach. This plan is somewhat doubtful though considering I only have a week and half when I get back and it will be filled with finals and packing up to leave. It was beautiful though, I love the beach. 3) Showing Dad the insanity of Psirri, the main nightlife district in Athens. I'm so glad someone else got to experience the chaos of those streets. I don't think I can fully convey just HOW MANY people are out there every weekend night. I'd say its just about everyone in Athens on about 3 different streets, crammed into cafes, bars, clubs and trying to walk down the street. Oh, yes, and cars who for God knows what reason have the DUMBEST idea to drive down them. They literally inch along for what must be hours down 3 blocks. And there is no age limit to who goes out either. You have everyone from 15 year olds to 50 years olds and no one blinks an eye. It's SO funny. Definitely a cultural experience.
Then this past weekend I went on a trip to Aegina for a day, the island closest to Athens. It's an hour by ferry and although many Greeks poo-poo it because it's so close, it is so pretty! I went because I was in a puzzle group that won a free trip(there was a contest at the beginning of the semester to see who could get their section done the fastest). So I went with those people (none of which I'm really friends with by the way--they're embarrassingly loud, but I sucked it up and actually had a good time). We rented ATV 4-wheelers and drove all over the island. Not really all over, because it's a pretty big place, but we went up into the hills and along the coast. It was a lot of fun and such a cool way to see so much more than if we had just stayed in the port town. There is really something to be said about having your own mode of transportation--it's so nice to have control over where you go and what you do. Not to mention their really fun vehicles.
Then this week I went to Glyfada to the Archelon Sea Turtle Rescue Center with my Nature Conservation class. My teacher is one of the founders of the organization and so we've been learning about it for a while now. It was very neat to see. There is little to no environmental protection in Greece, the sea turtle efforts and bird protection initiative are really the most impressive things going on, so it was interesting to see how that worked. It's this little compound-like space on the beach made up of old train wagons renovated into offices and living quarters because technically you can't build anything permanent there. Then there are big tanks where the turtles are kept and are recuperating. There are some seriously injured turtles, people do really horrific things to them sometimes (like beat them with clubs as "revenge" for "eating their fish" or poke eyes out...ehck.) Anyway, some of them have been held there for 5 years or longer, but they are resilient creatures and surprising number of them eventually pull though. Others have much more minor injuries, like they got tangled in fishing nets and have injured flippers, and they aren't usually held for too long. They're also flown in from all over. There are nesting area all over the Mediterranean, the vast majority being in Greece on the islands, but people find injured one all over and they are flown or shipped to this rescue center. It's a really sweet place. It is almost fully run by volunteers. Many of whom are there on European Commission Volunteer-year subsidies (so cool, why can't the states do something like that?) or others, mainly Americans, who are paying their own way. The minimum stay is a month, most people stay longer, so they seem to really create a community. Our tour was given by a friendly, although very tired, British girl. She had been up since 5am feeding the turtles and working and we arrived at 7pm. Understandable, I suppose. Anyhow, it was a cool place. Another activity I wish I had time to fit into my life, but alas, I guess I have to leave some stuff for the next one!
Now, like I said, I'm finishing up to leave for break! YAY! it couldn't be more needed. I'm heading up north tomorrow to meet some relatives for the Easter weekend. It should be very interesting. For one, I've never done the whole thing properly--going to mid-night mass staying up all night at the liturgy, red eggs, doing the big party afterwards in a totally Greek setting...And for another thing, the weekend will be all in Greek-yikes! Wish me luck! Believe it or not, this will be longest I will have gone with out English to help me out--sad, I know, seeing as how I've been here for 3 months now. Sheesh.
Anyhoo, I hope you all are well!
Kalo Pasxa!!!
Talk to you again soon,
-A
PS. I'm pasting a thing my cousin sent to me that Rita Wilson wrote bellow about Greek Easter, just in case you're interested in reading about it. I know some of you have gotten a Tsocanos family taste of it, and some of you have really lived it, but it's neat if you want a little summary about it.
PPS. Thank you to everyone who sent me notes last time I wrote, I really appreciated them.
Why Easter is Greek to Me: Xristos Anesti!
Once every few years, Greek Easter falls the same week as "American Easter," as it was called when I was growing up.
In order for "Greek Easter" to be celebrated the same week as "American Easter," Passover has to have been celebrated already. We Greeks don't do Easter until after Passover, because how can you have Easter BEFORE Passover. Jesus went to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, after all. Unless it is one of the years when the two holidays align. Like this year.
Here are some of the things that non-Greeks may not know about Greek Easter: We don't do bunnies. We don't do chocolate. We don't do pastels.
We do lamb, sweet cookies, and deep red. The lamb is roasted and not chocolate, the sweet cookies are called Koulorakia and are twisted like a braid, and our Easter eggs are dyed one color only: blood red. There is no Easter Egg hunt. There is a game in which you crack your red egg against someone else's red egg hoping to have the strongest egg, which would indicate you getting a lot of good luck.
Holy Week, for a Greek Orthodox, means you clear your calendar, you don't make plans for that week at all because you will be in church every day, and you fast. Last year, in addition to not eating red meat and dairy before communion, my family also gave up sodas for the 40-day Lenten period.
During one particularly stressful moment, there were many phone calls amongst our kids as to whether or not a canned drink called TING, made with grapefruit juice and carbonated water was, in fact, a soda and not a juice, which our then 10-year-old decided it was, so we had a Ting-less Lent.
No matter where I find my self in the world I never miss Easter, or as we call it, Pascha. I have celebrated in Paris, London, New York City, Los Angeles, and in Salinas, California at a small humble church that was pure and simple.
When we were kids, our parents would take us, and now as parents ourselves we take our children to many of the Holy Week services including the Good Friday service where you mourn the death of Jesus by walking up to the Epitaphio, which reperesents the dead body of Christ, make your cross, kiss the Epitaphio, and marvel at how it was decorated with a thousand glorious flowers, rose petals and smells like incense.
Some very pious people will crawl under the Epitaphio. I have always been so moved to see this. There is no self- consciousness in this utter act of faith. There is no embarrassment to show symbolic sorrow at the death of our Saviour.
At a certain point in the Good Friday service, the Epitaphio is carried outside by the deacons of the church, as if they are pall bearers, followed by worshippers carrying lit candles protected from dripping on your clothes and on others by having a red plastic cup that sits below the flame to catch the wax drippings. Every Greek person knows all too well the smell of burning hair.
One time, in London, I smelled something and turned to look at where the smell might be coming from, only to be horrified that it was coming form me and my head was on fire. But I digress.
It is somber and quiet as we follow the Epitaphio, in candlelight, from the altar to the outdoors, in order for it to circle the church before it returns back to the altar. We sing beautiful lamentations that make your heart break with their pure expression of sadness and hope.
One of my favorite services during Easter is Holy Unction. This happens on the Wednesday of Holy Week. Holy Unction is a sacrament. It is for healing of our ills, physical and spiritual. It is preparing us for confession and communion. This sacrament has always been so humbling to me.
When you approach the priest for Holy Unction, you bow your head and as he says a prayer and asks you your Christian name, he takes a swab of blessed oil and makes the sign of the cross on your forehead, cheeks, chin, backs of your hands and palms. It is a powerful reminder of how, with faith, we can be healed in many ways.
The holy oil is then carefully dabbed with cotton balls provided by the church so you don't leave there looking as if you're ready to fry chicken with your face, and before you exit the church, you leave your cotton balls in a basket being held by altar boys, so as not to dispose of the holy oil in a less than holy place. The church burns the used cotton balls.
There have been times when I have left church with my cotton ball and have panicked when I am driving away. At home I take care of it. Imagine a grown woman burning cotton balls in her sink. But that is what I do.
Midnight Mass on Saturday night, going into Sunday morning is the Anastasi service. We will arrive at church at around 11 p.m., when it starts, and listen to the chanter as he chants in preparation for the service. My kids, dressed in their suits and having been awakened from a deep sleep to come to church, groggily sit and wait holding their candles with red cup wax catchers.
As the service progresses, the moment we have all been waiting for approaches. All the lights in the church are turned off. It is pitch black It is dead quiet. The priest takes one candle and lights his one candle from the one remaining lit altar candle, which represents the light of Christ's love ( I believe).
From this one candle, the priest approaches the congregation and using his one candle he shares his light with a few people in the front pews. They in turn share their light with the people next to them and behind them. In quiet solemnity, we wait until the entire church is lit with only the light of candles, the light that has been created by one small flame has now created a room of shared light.
And at a moment that can only be described as glorious, the priest cries out, "Xristos Anesti!" "Christ is Risen!" We respond with "Alithos Anesti!" "Truly, He is Risen!" We sing our glorious Xristos Anesti song with the choir. That moment, which happens about an hour, to an hour and half into the service and seems as if the service is over, actually marks the beginning of the service. The service then continues for another hour and a half.
When I was a kid, after the service was over, we would go to the Anastasi Dinner that the church would throw in the church hall, where we would break our fast, drink Cokes at 2:30 in the morning, dance to a raucous Greek band and not go home until our stomachs were full of lamb, eggs, Koulouraki, and we saw the sun rise. Or was it the Son rise?
But usually now, after Midnight Mass, we drive home with our still-lit candles. I always love seeing the looks on peoples faces as they pull up to our car seeing a family with lit candles calmly moving at 65 m.p.h. down the highway. When we get home, we crack eggs, eat cookies, drink hot chocolate (so not Greek) and I burn a cross into our doorways with the carbon from the candle smoke to bless our house for the year.
There have been many times when painters touching up the house have wondered why there was this strange black cross burned into our doorways. The next day is usually followed by a late sleep in, then getting up and doing the same thing you just did but in the daytime at the Easter Picnic, usually held at a local park.
I have to say, the Greeks know how to do Easter. Make no mistake. This is the most important holiday in our church. It is a beautiful week. I haven't even begun to touch on what the week is really like. This is a sampling of a sampling of what it is like. It is so much more deep, so much richer than I have written here.
But one thing is clear. It is a powerful, beautiful, mysterious, humbling, healing and moving week. It is filled with tradition and ritual. It is about renewal and faith. And even though it is still too early to say, Xristos Anesti! Alithos Anesti!
Actress Rita Wilson, whose mother and father both were born in Greece, is widely credited with landing Nia Vardalos a movie deal for "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." Wilson and her actor husband Tom Hanks had their own "Big Fat Greek Wedding" in 1988. They have two children.
The Odyssey 7: Arcadia does Arkadia, plus David Sedaris comes to town
April 10, 2008
Yasas-
I hope this finds you all splendidly well. It's another dreary day in Athens. It's been rainy and grey for the last week and although weather reports say it's supposed to be sunny, it doesn't look like the clouds agree. It's actually getting hot though, so now we can be muggy instead of really cold and rainy. I finally found some sunscreen at the supermarket today though (I've looked for it before, but I guess it wasn't the season yet) so I have hope that the weather will improve.
Yasas-
I hope this finds you all splendidly well. It's another dreary day in Athens. It's been rainy and grey for the last week and although weather reports say it's supposed to be sunny, it doesn't look like the clouds agree. It's actually getting hot though, so now we can be muggy instead of really cold and rainy. I finally found some sunscreen at the supermarket today though (I've looked for it before, but I guess it wasn't the season yet) so I have hope that the weather will improve.
First off, let me say this email is a little disjointed. I've had to start and stop a few times, so feel free to skip around to what ever interests you (I've highlighted some things in bold to make it easier).
BTW. If anyone wants to be taken off this list (I know mass emails can get tiring) just let me know! No offense will be taken. For serious.
This past weekend was a whirlwind of touring the Peloponnese with Arcadia. I both like and loath group trips. On the one hand, we get to see some very cool sights and do some really interesting things and it's all paid for already. On the other hand, it means being with the group which to say is a trying experience is putting it lightly.
Let's just focus on the positive things for now.
Cool things we did:
Day 1. Saw some caves with stalactites and stalagmites. Very cool formations. Very cheesy music playing and the whole cave was set up with a strange light show that sort of worked as the tour guide. You were supposed to follow it around as it highlighted different parts of the cave.
The Wonky Church. It was extremely wonky. An interesting experiment in architecture. If I ever get my photos uploaded (I'm experiencing some technical difficulties) you will be able to see for yourself.
Tour of a winery. Everything is grown organically and their philosophy is that it's not just about profit, but about the people and the environment and the important cultural role wine plays in the world. And it was tasty too.
This past weekend was a whirlwind of touring the Peloponnese with Arcadia. I both like and loath group trips. On the one hand, we get to see some very cool sights and do some really interesting things and it's all paid for already. On the other hand, it means being with the group which to say is a trying experience is putting it lightly.
Let's just focus on the positive things for now.
Cool things we did:
Day 1. Saw some caves with stalactites and stalagmites. Very cool formations. Very cheesy music playing and the whole cave was set up with a strange light show that sort of worked as the tour guide. You were supposed to follow it around as it highlighted different parts of the cave.
The Wonky Church. It was extremely wonky. An interesting experiment in architecture. If I ever get my photos uploaded (I'm experiencing some technical difficulties) you will be able to see for yourself.
Tour of a winery. Everything is grown organically and their philosophy is that it's not just about profit, but about the people and the environment and the important cultural role wine plays in the world. And it was tasty too.
Day 2. Cheese factory tour. Stinky, but interesting to see their process.
Played with goats and sheep. I guess Arcadia is friends with a shepherd so he let us all into the pen and we got to hold them and chase them around and stuff.
Visit to Kalavryta. Both the site for the start of the War of Independence from the Ottomans and then site of a horrible WWII massacre. It was a really interesting history lesson and an eerie, but pride-inspiring place. Greeks don't take you-know-what from anyone and you could really feel it there.
That evening some of us went to the archaeological site of the Sanctuary of Hera. Really really beautiful. One of the coolest sites I've ever been to. And no one was there so we could climb on everything and watch the sunset over the Mediterranean.
Played with goats and sheep. I guess Arcadia is friends with a shepherd so he let us all into the pen and we got to hold them and chase them around and stuff.
Visit to Kalavryta. Both the site for the start of the War of Independence from the Ottomans and then site of a horrible WWII massacre. It was a really interesting history lesson and an eerie, but pride-inspiring place. Greeks don't take you-know-what from anyone and you could really feel it there.
That evening some of us went to the archaeological site of the Sanctuary of Hera. Really really beautiful. One of the coolest sites I've ever been to. And no one was there so we could climb on everything and watch the sunset over the Mediterranean.
Day 3. Rain, rain, rain. We visited the site of Epidavros (the demi-god of medicine and healing). It's a huge archaeological site where people used to come for medical attention all the way up through the Roman period. There is also an incredible theatre there that has hardly had to be restored and is built perfectly based on (forgive me music people) some important music scale. Supposedly you can hear people whisper from the stage in the top row because of this physics phenomenon (but I wouldn't know because the people in my group are so loud).
Day 4. Ancient Corinth and AcroCorinth. We had a great tour at Ancient Corinth from a young woman who works on the site and who did the Arcadia program herself. The Ancient Corinth site is run by our director's husband, so we got some nice insider attention. The season started the next day at 5am though, so we didn't get to meet him personally. We did however get a tour of Acro Corinth (this HUGE fortress on top of a giant mountain above Ancient Corinth) with Tim-something, the leading Byzantine scholar (in the world?). He's apparently written all of the books on this stuff and was an incredibly informative guy. Great story telling as he took us through and made the whole place seem to come alive. Another cool thing was that from the top of the sight we had an amazing view of almost the entire Peloponnese. You could barley make it out because of the clouds, but on a good day you can see all the way to Delphi. PS. All of this archaeology stuff this weekend re-sparked my interest in all of the whole excavation/dig thing...I'm trying to figure out now how I might work that into the schizophrenic career path I'm developing...hmmm.
Then it was back to Athens the next day.
Then it was back to Athens the next day.
Monday night I happened to read in the paper that David Sedaris (author of Me Talk Pretty One Day, Naked, etc.) was speaking at the Hellenic American Association, so I rallied a few people and we went to hear him. It was HILARIOUS. He is such a good speaker and naturally just a really funny guy. He read a few stories that connected in ways to Greek Easter and his Greek-American heritage and made really funny remarks about his encounters with Greek Greeks and Greek Americans. I could identify with a lot of it and it was really good to be able to laugh at it all.
Since then, however, the last few days have been kind of sad. A young man who was studying abroad in Athens was in a really bad pedestrian-car accident last week was in critical condition since last Thursday. We found about about it when we got back from the trip because the hospital was asking anyone who could to donate blood. I went on Tuesday to give and it was really impressive the amount of people who had already gone. I guess the 3 major study abroad programs had sent out emails and there was a really good response. Despite all of the help though, the young man passed away yesterday. My heart and thoughts have been really going out to him and his family. It could have happened anywhere and to anyone, and for me is just a huge reminder of how precious and unpredictable life is. I don't want to end this on a down note, but I just want to take a moment and acknowledge this. It's been on my mind a lot the last few days and it doesn't really feel right to gloss over it. Times like these I wish I had a quiet Meeting to go to, but no such thing exists here, so I did the next best thing today and found a (mostly) quiet corner in the Acropolis and sketched for a while. (Despite all the tourists, it's one of the quietest spots in Athens--above all the traffic and noise pollution).
Anyhow, if you've made it this far, I'm impressed! I wish I could give you all a cookie, or better yet a baklava! Mmmm..
Ta leme,
A.
A.
The Odyssey, by way of Berlin
March 29, 2008
Hello! Sorry I haven't written in a while, I've had a pretty busy few weeks and my internet has stopped working in my apartment so I have to come to school to use the computer. Now the only place you can get the internet in my apartment is on the balcony that overlooks an apartment building that may or may not have some sort of mafia thing going on inside, so I'm avoiding that area. Not to worry, I live in a very safe neighborhood, I just don't want to hang out on the balcony with my computer much anymore, you know, just in case!
Annnyway, busy weeks! I think last I wrote I was off to a documentary film festival in Thessaloniki. It was a fun weekend. I saw a ton of movies and it was really interesting to see how they organized the festival (I wrote a paper on it afterwards, so I was paying close attention). They've converted a bunch of warehouses on the pier into cinemas and other cultural art centers like a photography museum and a contemporary art museum. The contemporary art scene in Greece is small but definitely growing. It's an interesting thing to be witnessing, even if only for a short amount of time. The movies I saw were rather hit or miss, but I did see one INCREDIBLE one called Heavy Metal in Baghdad. If you ever get the chance to see it, you should. It doesn't matter if you have any interest in heavy metal (although the musicians are very very talented), it will give you the most real perspective on the war in Iraq that I have ever seen. It's made by two American guys who traveled to Baghdad to check on the state of this Iraqi heavy metal band they love after the civil war broke out. I was really really moved by it. It's making it's rounds on the international film festival circuit and I think it's having its premier in the US in Austin, TX in the upcoming weeks.
After the festival I had mid-terms. I DID NOT think about that little fact when I signed up for this program. They were fine, but lets just say grad school is not in my near future. I can't handle test taking anymore.
Then....the most exciting thing I've done in the last to weeks was go to Berlin!
How was Berlin? Well. First off, I couldn't have gone to a more DIFFERENT city from Athens. The streets are so big and wide, and everyone parks where they are supposed to. It snowed and hailed everyday we were there. The city is underpopulated and nothing is very centralized so there are hardly any people on the streets which makes it very quiet. They have awesome soy yogurt, very expensive water, and very expensive public transportation. You can smile at people and they wont take it as a come-on. Techno/electronica music is very popular. There's a very cool art scene. The is so much well preserved history. Annnnnd, drum roll please!....you can throw toilet paper in the toilet!! I know it's a bit strange, but I definitely went through mild culture shock from it.
Definitely my favorite thing about the trip was all the cultural art things we did. I met up with Mary and her friend Mike from college for the trip. They are big theatre people, so I followed them along to a different performance every night. It was great! Seeing shows is something that I would never really think to do on my own, but really enjoy it when I do. Some of the shows I enjoyed more than others, but it's the act of going that counts. Things we saw included: a very long Brecht play--3 hours, all in German. A really great Sasha Waltz dance piece. A 5 hour long opera in the East Berlin opera house. And my personal favorite, The Kitchen, a pseudo remake of Andy Warhol's film The Kitchen by an English-German theatre company. It was brilliant, and I'm not going to lie, the fact that it was partly in English helped a lot.
We also went to a bunch of galleries and museums which I loved. There is some really interesting stuff going on the contemporary art world, and so much of it is there. Besides the museums, there are also a lot of other really cool venues like the partially demolished, artist-occupied former warehouse/department store, Tacheles. The artists took it over 10 years ago when it was set for demolition and occupied it until the building got listed as a historical building and now the artists who work there are partially subsidized by the government. The whole place is covered in graffiti and you can walk into all the studios to see the work, and they hold events like concerts and exhibitions all the time. Very neat.
A large part of why I went to Berlin was to explore that scene because I've been hearing so much about how it's THE hot spot for art these days. There is so much going on, it's very cool. I have to say though, I was entertaining the idea of moving to Berlin in the future, but after having spent time there I think it's a place I'd rather work/visit for short amounts of time, but not live permanently. I realized on this trip that I actually like crowds. Maybe not as much crowds as Athens, but I need something a little more than what's in Berlin. Of course, the weather didn't help much. But, I bet it's beautiful in the summer. Berlin gets big points for how much green space it has. And apparently all the cafes open up onto the sidewalks during the summer, so it does get slightly more crowded.
Another reason why I think I'll hold off on the moving to Berlin thing though is that the thought of starting another language right now is a little overwhelming, to say the least. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE learning new languages, but I need to focus right now on the ones I sort-of-kind-of know before I add another one to the list. I'll say though, coming back to Greece after 5 days of being surrounded by German (of which I know a grand total of 4 words) was amazingly validating for my Greek skills. I would've never thought I'd have said it, but when I got into the Athens airport all I could think was, Finally! I language I understand! (Sort of.) Compared to German, I am a pro at Greek these days. I can finally give clear directions to cab drivers in Greek and not have them look at me funny. I also had a whole conversation with a Swedish guy (of all people) in Greek the other night! Maybe I understood so much because we were both speaking slowly, but I was REALLY proud of how well I did.
Getting out of Greece was really good for me all around though. I needed to get some perspective on things here in order to be able to start appreciating them. Greece is a really strange place and for better or for worse I'm connected to it, so I want to get as much out of this experience as I can. I don't know exactly what that entails, but I'm going to find out. And with that being said, getting more exercise is one of those things so I'm going to go try to find the elusive track everyone keeps talking about and go for a run. And if anyone wants to donate to my yoga/really expensive gyms fund, you're more than welcome to. It's better for my knee than running. If you feel so inclined, you know how to find me.
I hope everyone is well!
Until next time,
A.
A.
Odyssey 5: How many Greeks does is take to fly a kite?
The rough estimate would be 12. Plus 6 fairly incompetent Americans.
March 13, 2008
It's been a packed week. Between having Monday off, fitting classes into an abbreviated week, mid-term preparation and leaving for Thessaloniki tonight for 3 days I haven't found much time to write. But here goes!
So, as I mentioned in my last email, I went to the island of Syros this passed weekend for the Clean Monday holiday. However, before we could get clean we had to get a little dirty with the Carnival celebration.
We arrived last Friday by ferry. I slept through the whole ride--the rocking of the ship just lulls be to sleep--but I'm sure it was very beautiful.
When we got there we got ourselves situated in our hotel "Paradise." Paradise is a about as close to Paradise as the Happiness Hotel from the Muppets gets to happiness. We made do though, and it did score major points for having a roof with a beautiful view of the town and harbour.
Next we set out to explore the town and get lunch. We totally by accident stumbled upon the restaurant I had read about in my guide book that had boasted "Veal with thyme, honey, plumb sauce." I don't usually eat veal, but how could I resist that description and such a high recommendation! It was D-lish. One of the best meals I've had in Greece.
After we digested for a bit (I love how you can just sit at your table for hours here and no one will get huffy with you and ask you to clear out...that is until I need the check, which can take another 45 minutes) we hiked up the hill/mountain to the highest church we could see. I took lots of pictures along the way. The architecture is very influenced by the past Venetian inhabitants of the island which makes it look a lot like Italy, and there are a lot of abandoned/dilapidated buildings which make for a really interesting aesthetic. When we reached the top we had a little moment of silence. Not officially (no one is particularly spiritual around here which I'm finding surprisingly annoying), but it was really nice. Between the trip to Volos and this one, I'm finally starting to feel like I'm really in Greece (the one I know anyway). I love Athens for Athens, but it's not really Greece Greece.
The next day we had a funny adventure trying to get a bus to a beach on the other side of the island. It's a pretty big island, so you need a bus, however, the schedule posted on the side of a wall couldn't be more confusing. We finally just hoped on a bus after one one the drivers said "nai" (yes) when I asked if it was going to Galissas, but after about 15 minutes it was pretty evident that that was NOT where it was going. It was just and inner-city bus that took up to the top of the city and then back down. Once we figured it out we just laughed and hung our heads from yet another miscommunication mistake, but on the ride down the hill it became totally worth it. Because the streets are so narrow and people use EVERY inch of space on the street/sidewalk to park it can become a bit difficult for a bus to drive. We were trying to go around a corner, but a parked car was completely blocking the way. After a few moments of the driver not totally knowing what to do, an older man on the bus said something to him and they both got out of the bus, went over the the car (which was unlocked) and pushed the car farther up the hill! then they got back on the bus and we drove off! it was pretty hardcore. i don't know if that option would have ever occurred to me before.
Eventually we did get on the right bus and made our way to the beach. It was very beautiful and we were the ONLY ones there. It's definitely off season, for sure. It was chilly, but the sun was out, so if you laid still enough it was quite pleasant. A few of my friends were inspired enough to go swimming. I dipped my feet in, but opted out of taking the full plunge.
Then that night was CARNIVAL! It was so much fun! The main street was lined with little table of free food and drinks that the shop owners had put out. There were street performers and there was music on huge speakers playing all over. Everyone was dressed up and dancing and having such a good time. The two funniest things though (as in odd things) were that all the costumes were bought (mine was possible only 1 of 4 homemade ones--I was a pirate) and totally synthetic, and all the music was Engish/American and Latin pop music. I don't think I heard one Greek song all night! Not sure what's up with that. Even in the clubs/bars they usually play SOME Greek pop music, if not more traditional stuff. Anyhow, it was a lot of fun! The whole island seemed to be out and everyone was just really enjoying themselves.
The next day, Sunday, was a fairly quiet one. I think everyone was recovering from the big night before. We wandered around, ate another meal at the Fabulous restaurant. This time I had some round grilled meat thing with a delicious honey-mustard sauce.That night we made homemade effigies of Dionysus and did our own version of the traditional midnight burning of them before Lent begins. Mine was cool, but it took forever to catch on fire. I think I used too much tape.
The next morning was then Clean Monday! I had bought a (very cheap) kite the day before so we would have one to fly, so we took it down to the peer to partake in the traditional kite flying festivities. Only, there was only one other kite (I guess it's bigger in some cities than others) and ours had a bit of a disastrous start. First, let me say our kite was a bright yellow, octagonal, plastic, Pocahontas kite. Excellent start. I tried launching it a few times (apparently I was one of the more expert kite fliers--what did these west coast kids do when they were little??) but, it kept spiraling down and crashing. So we took it farther out on to the pier. But, that just meant it either crashed into rocks or the water. Everyone took turns for probably a good 20-30 minutes when we were about ready to quite, but at that moment a group of middle aged Greek men and women walked by us and one of the men said something to me. I said (in Greek!) I don't understand, sorry, my Greek isn't very good. To which he said, Why can't you fly your kite? We said, we didnt' know, we couldn't make it work. So he and one of the other men took it from us to have a look. At that point, the string was all tangled up and he said, This is a mess! (Oh, I forgot to mention I had forgotten the string at the hotel, so we had to swipe our from the construction site near by, so we didn't have that much.) It was. So, they worked on it for a few minutes, remeasuring the string to make the lines even and then took their turn trying to launch it. Their wives thought the whole things was very funny/sad. I'm glad to say, they didn't have the easiest time of it (we were THAT big of dummies afterall), but eventually they got it off the ground and flying! So they handed it over to one of us and said goodbye and left. But as soon as they started to walk away it crashed. We were newly inspired though so kept trying. Eventually another family walked by. The husband asked why it wasn't working. W said we didn't know. So he said we needed a weight to balance it. He took our water bottle and tied it to the end of the tail. That didn't really work at first, but once we poured all the water out we got it off the ground again! And as soon as they walked away it crashed. After a few more tries though, I'm PROUD to say, I launched it all on my own! I had it off the ground for a bit, but because we couldn't let it out very far, we lost wind and it eventually went down. At that point some guy on a moped stopped and asked to see it. I don't know what he did, but it didn't really help. He tried though. I was satisfied with my work so Amanda took over and she did the best job of any of us. She had it up for, like 10 minutes! So, in the end, we flew our sins away on a Pocahontas kite and are now clean for Lent. Wheph!
Now I'm on my way out the door to go to Thessaloniki for a documentary film festival this weekend. It's going to be a little nutty because I'm supposed to write an anthropology paper on the festival on top of trying to go see everything. I'm VERY excited for it though. I need to be around some creativity. I've been lacking that, trying to get grounded and settled here, so this will be really good for me.
I hope you're all well!
Sorry this turned into a novel!
PS. This is my second attempt sending this because the power went out on me the first time. The electric company, along with the trash company, metro company, many banks, and lawyers are on strike this week protesting the new Social Security reform. The city is GROSS, the power goes out periodically and unexpectedly and we can't get around very easily either. It's been fun. Maybe I'll go into that more later, but for now, that's the gist.
Much love!
March 13, 2008
It's been a packed week. Between having Monday off, fitting classes into an abbreviated week, mid-term preparation and leaving for Thessaloniki tonight for 3 days I haven't found much time to write. But here goes!
So, as I mentioned in my last email, I went to the island of Syros this passed weekend for the Clean Monday holiday. However, before we could get clean we had to get a little dirty with the Carnival celebration.
We arrived last Friday by ferry. I slept through the whole ride--the rocking of the ship just lulls be to sleep--but I'm sure it was very beautiful.
When we got there we got ourselves situated in our hotel "Paradise." Paradise is a about as close to Paradise as the Happiness Hotel from the Muppets gets to happiness. We made do though, and it did score major points for having a roof with a beautiful view of the town and harbour.
Next we set out to explore the town and get lunch. We totally by accident stumbled upon the restaurant I had read about in my guide book that had boasted "Veal with thyme, honey, plumb sauce." I don't usually eat veal, but how could I resist that description and such a high recommendation! It was D-lish. One of the best meals I've had in Greece.
After we digested for a bit (I love how you can just sit at your table for hours here and no one will get huffy with you and ask you to clear out...that is until I need the check, which can take another 45 minutes) we hiked up the hill/mountain to the highest church we could see. I took lots of pictures along the way. The architecture is very influenced by the past Venetian inhabitants of the island which makes it look a lot like Italy, and there are a lot of abandoned/dilapidated buildings which make for a really interesting aesthetic. When we reached the top we had a little moment of silence. Not officially (no one is particularly spiritual around here which I'm finding surprisingly annoying), but it was really nice. Between the trip to Volos and this one, I'm finally starting to feel like I'm really in Greece (the one I know anyway). I love Athens for Athens, but it's not really Greece Greece.
The next day we had a funny adventure trying to get a bus to a beach on the other side of the island. It's a pretty big island, so you need a bus, however, the schedule posted on the side of a wall couldn't be more confusing. We finally just hoped on a bus after one one the drivers said "nai" (yes) when I asked if it was going to Galissas, but after about 15 minutes it was pretty evident that that was NOT where it was going. It was just and inner-city bus that took up to the top of the city and then back down. Once we figured it out we just laughed and hung our heads from yet another miscommunication mistake, but on the ride down the hill it became totally worth it. Because the streets are so narrow and people use EVERY inch of space on the street/sidewalk to park it can become a bit difficult for a bus to drive. We were trying to go around a corner, but a parked car was completely blocking the way. After a few moments of the driver not totally knowing what to do, an older man on the bus said something to him and they both got out of the bus, went over the the car (which was unlocked) and pushed the car farther up the hill! then they got back on the bus and we drove off! it was pretty hardcore. i don't know if that option would have ever occurred to me before.
Eventually we did get on the right bus and made our way to the beach. It was very beautiful and we were the ONLY ones there. It's definitely off season, for sure. It was chilly, but the sun was out, so if you laid still enough it was quite pleasant. A few of my friends were inspired enough to go swimming. I dipped my feet in, but opted out of taking the full plunge.
Then that night was CARNIVAL! It was so much fun! The main street was lined with little table of free food and drinks that the shop owners had put out. There were street performers and there was music on huge speakers playing all over. Everyone was dressed up and dancing and having such a good time. The two funniest things though (as in odd things) were that all the costumes were bought (mine was possible only 1 of 4 homemade ones--I was a pirate) and totally synthetic, and all the music was Engish/American and Latin pop music. I don't think I heard one Greek song all night! Not sure what's up with that. Even in the clubs/bars they usually play SOME Greek pop music, if not more traditional stuff. Anyhow, it was a lot of fun! The whole island seemed to be out and everyone was just really enjoying themselves.
The next day, Sunday, was a fairly quiet one. I think everyone was recovering from the big night before. We wandered around, ate another meal at the Fabulous restaurant. This time I had some round grilled meat thing with a delicious honey-mustard sauce.That night we made homemade effigies of Dionysus and did our own version of the traditional midnight burning of them before Lent begins. Mine was cool, but it took forever to catch on fire. I think I used too much tape.
The next morning was then Clean Monday! I had bought a (very cheap) kite the day before so we would have one to fly, so we took it down to the peer to partake in the traditional kite flying festivities. Only, there was only one other kite (I guess it's bigger in some cities than others) and ours had a bit of a disastrous start. First, let me say our kite was a bright yellow, octagonal, plastic, Pocahontas kite. Excellent start. I tried launching it a few times (apparently I was one of the more expert kite fliers--what did these west coast kids do when they were little??) but, it kept spiraling down and crashing. So we took it farther out on to the pier. But, that just meant it either crashed into rocks or the water. Everyone took turns for probably a good 20-30 minutes when we were about ready to quite, but at that moment a group of middle aged Greek men and women walked by us and one of the men said something to me. I said (in Greek!) I don't understand, sorry, my Greek isn't very good. To which he said, Why can't you fly your kite? We said, we didnt' know, we couldn't make it work. So he and one of the other men took it from us to have a look. At that point, the string was all tangled up and he said, This is a mess! (Oh, I forgot to mention I had forgotten the string at the hotel, so we had to swipe our from the construction site near by, so we didn't have that much.) It was. So, they worked on it for a few minutes, remeasuring the string to make the lines even and then took their turn trying to launch it. Their wives thought the whole things was very funny/sad. I'm glad to say, they didn't have the easiest time of it (we were THAT big of dummies afterall), but eventually they got it off the ground and flying! So they handed it over to one of us and said goodbye and left. But as soon as they started to walk away it crashed. We were newly inspired though so kept trying. Eventually another family walked by. The husband asked why it wasn't working. W said we didn't know. So he said we needed a weight to balance it. He took our water bottle and tied it to the end of the tail. That didn't really work at first, but once we poured all the water out we got it off the ground again! And as soon as they walked away it crashed. After a few more tries though, I'm PROUD to say, I launched it all on my own! I had it off the ground for a bit, but because we couldn't let it out very far, we lost wind and it eventually went down. At that point some guy on a moped stopped and asked to see it. I don't know what he did, but it didn't really help. He tried though. I was satisfied with my work so Amanda took over and she did the best job of any of us. She had it up for, like 10 minutes! So, in the end, we flew our sins away on a Pocahontas kite and are now clean for Lent. Wheph!
Now I'm on my way out the door to go to Thessaloniki for a documentary film festival this weekend. It's going to be a little nutty because I'm supposed to write an anthropology paper on the festival on top of trying to go see everything. I'm VERY excited for it though. I need to be around some creativity. I've been lacking that, trying to get grounded and settled here, so this will be really good for me.
I hope you're all well!
Sorry this turned into a novel!
PS. This is my second attempt sending this because the power went out on me the first time. The electric company, along with the trash company, metro company, many banks, and lawyers are on strike this week protesting the new Social Security reform. The city is GROSS, the power goes out periodically and unexpectedly and we can't get around very easily either. It's been fun. Maybe I'll go into that more later, but for now, that's the gist.
Much love!
Odyssey #4: meat, kites, law, islands
March 6, 2008
Happy almost Clean Monday! (Well, get to that later...) It's been a long week here and I've done quite a few things.It's amazing how time can feel like it's going by so quickly and so slowly all at the same time.
Last Thursday I took a trip up to Volos to visit the historical archives library and do some research for my project. It was a fairly productive trip, I'd say, but also a huge reminder of how very important it is that I actually learn Greek (which is going so-so). I basically read all the English resources they had in one sitting. Seeing the city was helpful though, getting a visual on it and exploring some. It's a port town and is right at the base of Mt. Pelion so if you look one way, you see harbor and sea, and the other way is this gorgeous view of the mountain. We arrived late Thursday night and all we could see of the mountain was the twinkling lights of the villages, but for a moment my friend Rania thought they were stars. She asked me which ones I thought they were, but then she figured out what they were and it was really funny.
That Thursday it was also a Carnival/pre-Lent-related holiday where everyone is supposed to grill meat and eat it. The thinking goes that what you have on that day (meaning meat which is a luxury--or once was anyway) determines what you will have for the rest of the year. So, back when you had to be well off to afford meat, neighbors would give uncooked meat to their less-fortunate neighbors to grill so that they had the possibility of "having" meat in the upcoming year. Everyone told my friends and I that it was very important that we had some meat that day so it was our mission once we got to Volos to find some. So we sat down at this crowded restaurant along the water thinking that everyone must be eating for the holiday, but as it turned out there were only 2 meat appetizers and EVERYTHING else was fish! We ended getting the appetizers which were very good, but it seemed a little ironic. I wonder, in a port town, does fish count? I don't know.
The rest of the weekend was a blur of Athens activity. I visited some museums during the day, and did homework at some cafe and then in the evening I went out with some friends to have dinner and get drinks. The nightlife district of Psirri was insanely packed though, my guess is because of Carnival because everyone was dressed like it was Halloween. It's a funny holiday here. I understand that dressing up is fun (I usually do it whenever I get the chance) but 2 weeks straight seems like a little much. This weekend is the big blow-out before Clean Monday (this upcoming Monday when everyone flies kites and begins observing Lent. I don't know what the kites symbolize, but it's apparently just as important as the eating meat) so we'll see if the costumers can really keep it up until then.
Yesterday I went with my class to visit Parliament. We had a little lecture about the history of the building (formerly the royal palace of King Otto--the "underage Bavarian prince" who was instated by the Great European powers after Greece's War of Independence...it's a long story), and how the government works. Way to long to go into here. And then we got the shortest tour ever and got to sit in on about 4 minutes of a deputies session as they wrapped up the Celebration of Women in Agriculture Day's events. I wish I could tell you what they said, but pretty much all I got was "women this" and "women that," not a whole lot in between.
Now I'm getting ready to go to the island of Syros this weekend. I have to be at the ferry at 6:30 tomorrow morning, so I have a few things to get done before I leave for a few days. My friends and I were supposed to go to the island of SKYROS where the largest Carnival celebration (or the most famous anyway) in Greece happens, but she booked the wrong island by accident. Tickets are already paid for though, so SYROS it is! I hear it's a really beautiful island with nice beaches, so pray for good weather for me. It's definitely not warm enough to swim, but getting some sun would be nice--especially if I'm not getting to see the men who dress in goat skin costumes on Skyros!
I hope you all are well. Thank you to everyone who has sent updates! I love hearing about what everyone is up to, even if it's just the same old, same old!
Until next time,
Yours truely,
Alex
Every Odyseey needs some snow, no?
Feb. 18, 2008
Dear Everybody,
Dear Everybody,
Guess what? I have a snow day today! After all that talk about alleged snow last week it really did show up...and no, I still haven't been snowboarding. Although we are going to try again this weekend (and we'll check ahead at the weather this time).
It doesn't snow often in Athens, but starting Saturday evening a blizzard began to roll through. And I mean BLIZZARD. The Greeks did not know what to do with themselves. Athens has, like, maybe 2 snowplows, so no roads were being cleared, or salted, or shoveled. So in the absence of really being able to go anywhere everyone in the city went outside and had a giant snowball fight. I have never had to dodge so many snowballs being thrown by both strangers and my friends in my life! And EVERYONE has been throwing them--little kids, big kids, teenagers, adults. The snow has been perfect too--powdery and perfect for packing. If only we had our snowboards, they would be perfect for these hills! The flakes have seemed to stop now, and seeing as how the weather report says it will be 60 on Wednesday, I think it will begin to melt soon, but for now it's still pretty treacherous. We're walking very carefully.
In other adventures, I traveled to Sweden last week! Well, not Sweden exactly, but I went to Ikea which is essentially the same thing. It was so much fun. I love Ikea. I just want to furnish everything when I go there. But I was good and limited myself to towels, a pillow and sheets. Oh, and Swedish meatballs, of course! I can't tell you how funny it was to sit in the Ikea Cafe eating Swedish meatballs surrounded by Greeks. It was like my entire heritage had come together in one room. Minus the little Native American, German, and French parts that is...It was a bit a trek (30 minutes outside the city) but well worth the trip.
You could also say I traveled to another foreign land last week when I found a yoga studio downtown. I say it was a foreign land because it was definitely a different world for the rest of downtown Athens. Everyone was all yoga'dout--really nice and talking in quiet voices. And they all spoke English which sort of threw me off. I think my teacher was American, though she had a slight accent. It's possible she was just from California or something. It ended up being a beginners class, so it was pretty slow, but it felt nice to move and stretch, in other ways than walking up hills. I'll probably go back again this week. I was also thinking that being a yoga instructor would be such a handy skill. You could take it pretty much anywhere, and even if there were no studios, you could always teach privately, especially to the ex-pat community. Too bad I still can't do a handstand...I might need to come up with something else.
But, I suppose while I come up with another handy skill I'll stick with this photo track. I'm currently doing research on historical organizations/documentarians/literature, etc. in the area up north where I'll eventually be this summer (essentially between Volos and Katerini). I have some tentative leads, but if anyone happens to have suggestions or connections, please don't hesitate to send them this way. Even just advice on how to go about doing any of this stuff--I'm REALLY open to help!
Hope everyone is well and is having decent weather wherever you are!
Until next time....Much love all around,
-A.
More from the Odyssey: Oxi. Why? It's snowing.
Feb. 11, 2008
Yasas everybody--
Yasas everybody--
First of all, a big shout out to my lil' bro for his birthday today! Not so lil' anymore!
And now for an update on the Greek odyssey that is currently my life:
This past week we started classes. There have been some changes to my schedule for anyone who's interested. First off, they caught on that I am not QUITE as "Advanced" as they had previously thought, so they have created a Beginner's 2 type of class for me and my friend Andrea who has taken a year of Ancient Greek. The class is about 75% in Greek (about 30% of which I understand) and the pace is nice and quick so I am feeling rather good about it, but not nearly as lost as the first day of "Advanced."
I'm also taking a Nature Conservation class instead of the (apparently) painfully boring Revolution and Catastrophe history class I was originally in. I have to say, you have to work pretty hard to make a revolution boring, but that teacher was superbly skilled at it. In Nature Conservation we're going to be looking at sustainable architecture and working a bit with logger head sea turtles rescue efforts. Some parts will be slightly more relevant than others, but I'm pretty excited for it none-the-less.
This weekend the group took a trip to Delphi and I had the most ridiculous adventure there. On Saturday my friends Andrea and Gabe and I decided to go snowboarding at the near by Mt. Parnassus. We got up really early and caught the first bus to Arahova (the next town over from Delphi). We went around to a bunch of shops purchasing expensive, but necessary items like gloves, goggles and snow shells. Once we had finally found everything we needed we headed over to a taxi to take us to the ski center. When we told him where we wanted to go he said, "Oxi." (No). We asked why and he said, "Ski Center closed." We were confused. I started to get a little indignant because I thought he might just be saying that so that he didn't have to drive there. After a little more back and forth of broken communication he pointed us to the information center. We walked in and I asked what was going on with the ski center. The lady behind the desk answered nonchalantly, "It's closed." I said, Why? She said, "Because it's snowing." (Pause) Me: "Isn't that a good thing??" She sort of shrugged. I asked, "Do you know when it will be open?" She said, "Maybe tomorrow, maybe."
Now, here's the thing. If it had been snowing outside, like, even a little, or, at the very least, if she had been a little more dramatic about it "snowing," I may have thought this could be a good reason to close an entire ski center. On top of that, everyone on the street was in snow gear! And a number of people were carrying skis and snowboards around!! So, when we went out side I ran up to a group of boys with skis and asked where they were skiing. The boys didn't really speak English at all, except on 11 year old looking boy. He said, "Ski center closed." I asked if there was anywhere else to ski. He said, "No...maybe tomorrow." I couldn't believe it! I actually sat down in the middle of the street and pouted after that. My friends and I couldn't stop laughing at the absurdity off it. We had just spent so much money on gear, and not one the the shop owners we talked to, not the hotel or the Delphi information center that we had asked for for directions to the ski center had even mentioned that SNOW might be a issue.
So, we sat in the street for a while and Gabe decided to tell us all about the sick snowboarding adventure we would tell everyone we had. The gist of it was that it was a real religious experience, doing 360s off of ruins and really connecting with the gods. We took a video of it. I can't quite do it justice myself. After that we decided we were just meant to snowboard the Greek way...and get coffee. I wore my goggles all day though in protest. (PS. Cole, they totally rival yours. We might have to have a goggle-off when I get back).
On Sunday we saw the site at Delphi and the new museum. The site was spectacular as usual (I seen it before) but the weather actually did turn pretty bad (my goggles did come in handy after all!) and the museum is really really well done. I completely recommend seeing it if you ever go there.
And today we're back to the grind. I did have a mini adventure going downtown though where I found a health food store and almost died of happiness. I found dairy free nutella, rice milk AND tofu!! After meat and bread for 2 weeks straight (is that it?? it feels like I've been here a year) I can't even tell you how excited I am! It's pretty much all from France, so all I can say is way to go globalization!
I hope you all are well! Much love to everyone, and please, please keep in touch!
Yours truly, A.
The Odyssey begins... orientation and the archbishop
Jan. 31 2008
Dear Everybody,
Dear Everybody,
I'm in Greece! Believe it or not, I really am. (And thank you to people who attended the multiple "going away" parties throughout the last few months. I'm so happy I got to spend some time with you!)
So, I arrived last Sunday to Athens with Arcadia University's study abroad program. I'll be here until May taking Greek, History, Economic and Anthropology classes. This week has been orientation so there have been a lot of "safety" meetings, ice breakers and some tours of the city. It's a pretty big program, 50 or 60 kids in total. I have found a couple who I really enjoy. My roommates are great. One girl, Erica, from Tuscon, AZ, one boy, Jake, from Ithaca, NY and another boy, Matt, from Hawaii. We live in a really spacious apartment. We each have our own room and there is a living room and nicely sized kitchen. The only bad things are that the heat in my room isn't working--I need to drain the radiator, or something--and there is no internet. Other than those things though I kind of wish I could take the apartment with me wherever I go next. Oh, it's also on this insanely steep hill (I suppose San Franciscans wouldn't be very intimidated, but it's extreme for me) so my thighs are going to be like rocks when I'm done with this. In the mean time, my lungs are still adjusting. I hadn't ever realized it before but Athens is mostly built on hills. Only down by the sea and the touristy areas are on flat land.
The weather has been really mixed the last few days. It goes from really pleasant (60s and sunny) to freezing cold and rainy/snowy. It's a little difficult to know how to dress considering it changes at the drop of a hat, but today it's quite beautiful. Hopefully I'll get a chance to warm up in the sun later on.
This morning my roommate Erica and I got up to go see the funeral procession of the Archbishop who died on Monday. It was quite a spectacle and most of Athens came out for it. All the priests were totally decked out in their robes and scepters and fancy emblems. There were lots of different sections of military personnel and the prime minister and president were there. I got some pretty good pictures, especially of the Archbishop who was being carried by a truck/tank in an open casket. Let me tell you, being dead for 4 days is not a very good look. Interesting to see though even though I"m a little queasy just thinking about it again.
Thanks to the funeral Athens is pretty much shut down today so Arcadia had to push back our end-of-orientation trip a day to Nafpoli. Athens being closed only matters because we students have to go get our TB tests read and chest x-rays back from the hospital so that we can apply for visa extensions, which we can't do now until tomorrow. It's actually pretty nice for us though because we finally have a free day and can just hang out and explore the city on our own. I think I"m hiking up Lykabettos Hill(sp?) tonight which is supposed to have an incredible view of Athens.
I'm really looking forward to classes starting next week. I'm taking Revolution, Catastrophe and Civil War: The Rise and Fall of the Modern Greek State, The Greek Economy, Contemporary Greek Culture, Greek Language (PS. There is only one other Greek American--well, there are two others who technically are but know very little about Greek culture or language--and she and I are apparently the most "advanced" in language and our going to be in a separate "intermediate" class together. I think it's SO funny. In case you don't know, I took Beginner Greek at NYU last semester and was in a class with pretty much all Greek American kids who were fluent, but who just couldn't write the language, so this is a MAJOR flip of the coin.) and a Greek Key class that has us volunteer with different organizations in Athens and get out and meet Greek people. I think it will all be really good preparation for my project and I'm excited to get started. I'm also excited to get into some sort of routine and make time to branch out of the program. I like the friends I've made, but I want to meet some locals too. If anyone has friends here, please send their numbers my way!
Endaksi (That means: alright. See I know SO MUCH Greek!), please keep in touch! I will try to update as frequently as I can and will be sure to let you know when I've established some sort of web domain.
Much love to all,
Be well,
A.
"The Odyssey Years" by David Brooks
The Odyssey Years
By DAVID BROOKS
Published: October 9, 2007
There used to be four common life phases: childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. Now, there are at least six: childhood, adolescence, odyssey, adulthood, active retirement and old age. Of the new ones, the least understood is odyssey, the decade of wandering that frequently occurs between adolescence and adulthood.
Skip to next paragraph 
David Brooks
The Way We Live Now
During this decade, 20-somethings go to school and take breaks from school. They live with friends and they live at home. They fall in and out of love. They try one career and then try another.
Their parents grow increasingly anxious. These parents understand that there's bound to be a transition phase between student life and adult life. But when they look at their own grown children, they see the transition stretching five years, seven and beyond. The parents don't even detect a clear sense of direction in their children's lives. They look at them and see the things that are being delayed.
They see that people in this age bracket are delaying marriage. They're delaying having children. They're delaying permanent employment. People who were born before 1964 tend to define adulthood by certain accomplishments — moving away from home, becoming financially independent, getting married and starting a family.
In 1960, roughly 70 percent of 30-year-olds had achieved these things. By 2000, fewer than 40 percent of 30-year-olds had done the same.
Yet with a little imagination it's possible even for baby boomers to understand what it's like to be in the middle of the odyssey years. It's possible to see that this period of improvisation is a sensible response to modern conditions.
Two of the country's best social scientists have been trying to understand this new life phase. William Galston of the Brookings Institution has recently completed a research project for the Hewlett Foundation. Robert Wuthnow of Princeton has just published a tremendously valuable book, "After the Baby Boomers" that looks at young adulthood through the prism of religious practice.
Through their work, you can see the spirit of fluidity that now characterizes this stage. Young people grow up in tightly structured childhoods, Wuthnow observes, but then graduate into a world characterized by uncertainty, diversity, searching and tinkering. Old success recipes don't apply, new norms have not been established and everything seems to give way to a less permanent version of itself.
Dating gives way to Facebook and hooking up. Marriage gives way to cohabitation. Church attendance gives way to spiritual longing. Newspaper reading gives way to blogging. (In 1970, 49 percent of adults in their 20s read a daily paper; now it's at 21 percent.)
The job market is fluid. Graduating seniors don't find corporations offering them jobs that will guide them all the way to retirement. Instead they find a vast menu of information economy options, few of which they have heard of or prepared for.
Social life is fluid. There's been a shift in the balance of power between the genders. Thirty-six percent of female workers in their 20s now have a college degree, compared with 23 percent of male workers. Male wages have stagnated over the past decades, while female wages have risen.
This has fundamentally scrambled the courtship rituals and decreased the pressure to get married. Educated women can get many of the things they want (income, status, identity) without marriage, while they find it harder (or, if they're working-class, next to impossible) to find a suitably accomplished mate.
The odyssey years are not about slacking off. There are intense competitive pressures as a result of the vast numbers of people chasing relatively few opportunities. Moreover, surveys show that people living through these years have highly traditional aspirations (they rate parenthood more highly than their own parents did) even as they lead improvising lives.
Rather, what we're seeing is the creation of a new life phase, just as adolescence came into being a century ago. It's a phase in which some social institutions flourish — knitting circles, Teach for America — while others — churches, political parties — have trouble establishing ties.
But there is every reason to think this phase will grow more pronounced in the coming years. European nations are traveling this route ahead of us, Galston notes. Europeans delay marriage even longer than we do and spend even more years shifting between the job market and higher education.
And as the new generational structure solidifies, social and economic entrepreneurs will create new rites and institutions. Someday people will look back and wonder at the vast social changes wrought by the emerging social group that saw their situations first captured by "Friends" and later by "Knocked Up."
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