Melodrama

In Greece, when you ask someone how they are, they'll usually reply "kala" (good), or  "poli kala" (very good), or "etsi kai etsi" (so and so). If they aren't doing so good, they'll tell you "Eimai halia," which roughly translates to "I'm f*cking terrible." People have been describing the weather as "halia" too, because lately there's been some rain and the sky is grey. (The temperature is still in the high sixties.)

Greeks like to exaggerate.

A few days ago, in the little grocery store near my apartment, I witnessed what would've resembled a stickup if the word for "umbrella" in Greek didn't sound exactly as it does in English.

While I was standing at the checkout counter, a tall Greek man dressed in black walked into the store and began yelling in Greek. My cashier immediately put down the cherry tomatoes I was purchasing, walked around to the front of the store, and began speaking with the tall man in a calm voice, as if trying to settle him down. Soon I recognized, "Brella," and realized what was going on, but as the look on the cashier's face began to match the tall man's look of grave concern, I wondered if I was missing something. The cashier's voice escalated. Both mens' gesticulating hands moved like orchestra conductors', and I wondered if someone would throw a punch. The short, fat woman who weighed the fruits and vegetables rushed over to the two men and began yelling as well, as if to break up the fight. The tall man pointed in my direction. "Seriously?" I thought, "How am I involved in this?" The three of them walked towards me, and I got ready to run. Screw the cherry tomatoes. But they ignored me - the man wanted to look behind the checkout counter to see if his umbrella was there. A line began to form behind me. Another employee, a Greek man in his sixties, rushed up from the back of the store, flailing his arms and yelling "Brella." I began taking deep breaths, wanting to just pay and get the hell out.

I'm not sure if that man ever found his umbrella. But I doubt it mattered to him half as much as the operatic display in the store would have any observer believe - that's just the Greek way of expressing things. Like Italian, the Greek language transforms even the most mundane subject matter into what sounds to a foreigner like the recent birth of triplets or someone getting hit by a bus. It's all very escalated.

Speaking of drama, part of my job is to help out with "forensics." No, I'm not lifting any fingerprints or fishing for blood samples. "Forensics" is what the Greeks call the very popular, very competitive debate and public speaking club in high schools. The word forensics comes from "forens," which means belonging to the public/forum - so it actually makes sense why the word has taken on two so very separate meanings. Soon I will begin coaching a few students in oral interpretation (where they sit on a stool and read a piece of literature aloud) and duet acting. I'm looking forward to it. :)  Also speaking of drama, teaching is all about acting and stage presence. I like teaching a lot more than I thought I would. Being in front of a class was scary at first, but now I just find it fun. Hooray!

I didn't have school yesterday or today, and won't have it tomorrow either. Yest

erday was the "name day" for "Dimitris" - name days are sort of like Birthdays, here. According to Greek Orthodox tradition, every day of the year is dedicated to a Christian saint or martyr. Because Dimitris is considered the protector of the area where the school is, we got the day off. Usually for name days, kids bring sweets to school for their friends and their friends tell them "hronia polla," meaning many years - a wish for good health and prosperity. 

I'm not sure why we get a day off today. We seem to get a whole bunch of random days off between now and Christmas. Tomorrow (October 28th) is "Oxi Day," a national holiday. It is remembered for General Ioannis Metaxas' strong reply of "OXI" (no) to Mussolini's request to allow Italian troops into Greece at the beginning of WWII.

House in Halandri I like

Park where I ran today

So, three days off. I'm trying to maximize my travelling, and had originally planned to go to Thessaloniki (second largest city in Greece, in the North) with some of the other teaching fellows. But for a number of reasons I decided to stay put.

Lizzie is in Paris until Sunday, so I've had the apartment to myself now for two days. As a teacher, you're talking to people and at people all day, and alone time is rare. Right now I'm feeling a bit like Emily Dickinson and I'm actually really enjoying it. I haven't spoken to anyone (face to face) today except my landlord, for all of five seconds, when he knocked on my door to give me some mail. (Allie, I got your package!)  I finished a book today, cleaned my room, spent no euros, went for a run, began some paintings, wrote a song, and have had time to write this blog. Although I wish I could've gone somewhere and used the break, I think this was a necessary "break" for myself. Not that my job is stressing me out, but it feels so good to finish off all the "to-dos" on my list. I know its autumn, but being alone is like spring cleaning for the soul. And we all need that every season.

Pythia Says:

Last weekend, feeling lost at sea, I took a trip to Delphi to consult the oracle. Delphi is both a town and an archeological site, set in the mountains and bordered by the ocean. It's a three hour bus ride northwest of Athens.

The word "Delphi" derives from the same roots as the word "delphys," meaning womb. In ancient Greece, this site was considered the center of the earth, where the earth's "navel" (omphalos) was situated. The greek words for brother, sister, and cousin also include "delphi" - (Adelphos, Adelphi, and Xadelphos/phi).

If you've heard of Delphi, it's probably been in relation to the oracle. (That's all I'd heard about it, at least). But everything at the site, oracle included, stems from the God Apollo.

Apollo was God of light and sun and a whole slew of other things, too - I'm a little baffled as to how one God got to reign over both "medicine," for example, and "the sun." Couldn't they have divvied up responsibilities a little better?

Anyways. Originally, the site was named "Pytho," because this horrible dragon (Python) lived there and protected the Earth's precious belly button. Apollo arrived by sea in the shape of a dolphin, carrying Cretan priests on his back, and slayed the Python. The site was then dedicated to the worship of Apollo, and the oracle delivered prophecies she received from the sun god.



Mythology/etymology overload. Sorry.

Why would I need to consult the oracle?
I guess I've been feeling pretty up and down.
Ups:
At my core (navel), I'm really happy to be here. I'm very proud of myself for having come. It was a big risk to take, and because things have turned out remarkably well, I feel encouraged to take more big risks in life (not like trying heroin for kicks, I mean intelligent, worthwhile risks, like perhaps living in a foreign country again). Coming here has given me a huge confidence boost - I carry a feeling or pride in my decision with me throughout the day. So rah rah!

I've begun taking voice lessons and private Greek lessons, which has been pretty cool, yet also a huge drain on my already low income.

I don't miss Brown nearly as much as I thought I would. Being busy certainly helps. I quite like not having school work hanging over my head at all times. This is a pleasant surprise, because I thought I'd be wishing I was back at Brown all the time. I think this job is just about the best "transition" job anyone could ask for.

The "slow pace of life" in Greece has led me to feel pretty relaxed, overall.  I'm sleeping very well.

Downs:
I won't get into it in too much detail right now, because it merits its own post, but there are some maddening aspects of Greek life. Things are just so freakin inefficient. The "slow pace of life" is definitely a double edged sword. Sometimes at school I feel like I'm going to scream. A lot of time gets wasted.
To give you an example of how the "relaxed lifestyle" permeates every aspect of Greek culture, consider  this: one of the very first verbs they teach you (after to be and to want) is the verb "perimenos" - to wait.

Hanging out with the same nine other Americans is getting frustrating, too. I like them, but the purpose of my being here is to experience Greek culture, and that can be difficult when I hang out with the same English speakers 24/7. Making Greek friends has proven rather difficult - sure, there are some older Greek men who seem pretty keen to hang out, but I'd love to meet someone sub-30. Someone who actually just wants to hang out. Period.

So I went to ask the oracle for advice. Unfortunately, she's no longer in business. Actually, I went to Delphi with four other female teaching fellows to get out of the Athenian smog and away from the boys in the group, who have been real assholes of late.

In some strange "grasping for similarities" way, Delphi reminded me a bit of Mount Desert Island, in Maine. I suppose it's just because both have mountains and sea. Odd things in Greece remind me of home - the smallest similarities are amplified, because overall the spaces are so different.

If I had come here in 393 AD, when the last recorded prophecy was given, here's what would have happened. A young girl (probably in her early teens) who had assumed the title "Pythia"(High Priestess of the Temple of Apollo) would sit inside the temple and place her hands on the "navel," a chasm in the rock from which trance inducing vapours emerged. These got her pretty high, and she began to speak gibberish. Priests would then take her words and reshape them into incredibly enigmatic prophecies, which invariably came true because they were so vague. The young girl usually wouldn't live for very long, because the gasses she inhaled were rather poisonous.

I learned all of this from an English speaking tour guide who was touring a group of elderly Californians around the site. They were happy to let us join in the group. One woman kept asking us about the Greek men.

Still making lots of feline friends.

Language, Part 1

During my first month in Greece, lack of understanding (of Greek) led me to zone out all the time. My brain just started ignoring everything, assuming it wouldn't know what it meant. I'd find myself in outerspace even when speaking with English speakers, like my roommate, Lizzie. Greek class has finally begun, and I'm feeling a little more in tune. I latch onto key words here and there and pat myself for understanding them.

Greek class: Seven of us meet twice a week for an hour and a half with Angeliki, a spunky, beautiful Greek woman in her thirties. I adore her. She brings a very relaxed and fun vibe to the class, while pushing us enough so that we're progressing.

Before class began, I was feeling a little apathetic about learning Greek. Why? Because after this year, I will probably never hear, let alone need to speak Greek again. So it's easy to feel like putting effort into learning Greek is a waste of time. However, the language class has re-sparked my interest. Now that I have a teeny tiny grasp of the language, I want to learn more and more.

On day 1 (we've had four classes thus far) Angeliki zoomed through the alphabet and began writing in Greek immediately.  "Woah lady, slow down" was my initial reaction, and I felt quite frustrated. But this has forced me to learn the alphabet, and now I feel like I've almost got it down. I don't know exactly what goes on in the brain when humans learn new alphabets, but I'd love to find out. It's gotta be good for you. It's exciting to walk around and look at signs and decipher what the words on them sound like. What they mean, well, that's a whole other story.

What they mean is fascinating. Roots of English words are everywhere you look, so it's exciting to study the language from an etymological perspective, even if I won't converse in it much post 2011. There's something extremely satisfying about making connections between English words and their Greek roots: For example, the word for children in Greek is pedi. Like pediatrician!

Other fun connecty words:

Catharsis -to purge

Schizo - to split

Anthras - man 

Xenothoxio-  hotel- place where foreigners (xeno) stay

I could keep going, but English derives around 50,000 words in its lexicon from Greek, and I don't want to get carried away..

I've been listening to "Language Addicts: Greek" (from itunes) while I walk to work (when I'm not crossing at busy intersections and worrying about how not to get killed). I've learned a lot of basic adjectives and nouns this way, although they're kinda random. (Oseedaxeeooho. The pensioner, male.)

Greek has 34 centuries of written records. It may not be popular, but it has some serious staying power. It came much before our Latin alphabet, which came from IT. I must remember, when I get frustrated that the Greek letter for the r sound (ro) looks like what we call P, that this is how it was first. This fact also makes the Greek alphabet quite interesting - it's about a third the same letters we use for the same sounds, a third letters we use for totally different sounds, and a third totally different letters, (and for some totally different sounds, such as "gh" sound or "x" sound - h.) And they dont have a letter for b sound. Or j. James is pronounced Tzames.

Not knowing the language is a pretty serious handicap, even when almost everyone can speak English. I can't begin to imagine how frustrating it must be to only speak a language that isn't commonly known. Not knowing depletes your confidence and you just can't do the things you normally would. Shopping becomes this strange tango of hoping people will not approach you and speak and psyching yourself up to go ask for what you need. I've begun to rely on "Ummmmm," which Greeks don't use as a staller. Instead they say, "eennnhhh" or "ahhh" to fill the space between words.

I've been in touch with a private tutor and am going to try and set up a lesson for this coming week.
Should be fluent soon.

Views

The weather has begun to cool here in Athens. The sky is grey. Today I wore pants to work for the first time, and I'm no longer arriving to school drenched in my own sweat. But the temperature drop also means I need to take advantage of the Great Greek Outdoors while the weather allows it.

This past weekend, half of the teaching fellows went to Vienna. The five of us who remained in Greece didn't go out either night, and therefore didn't spend all of SaturDAY and SunDAY sleeping off hangovers. I had two full days of outdoor adventure, and probably the best weekend I've had here yet. 

We planned to meet up in Syntagma (the city center) at 10:30 am on Saturday morning. 

Lizzie (my roomie) and I had recently discovered a bus that we believed somehow led to the metro station. At 9:45 am we hopped on the bus. At around 10:20, we were way up in the mountains.

When we finally admitted to ourselves that this bus was not headed towards the metro stop and got off, we were met with air much fresher than the air in Halandri. The view from up there was pretty spectacular (hence title of post) - we could see all the way past Athens to the ocean. It was refreshing to be among so many more trees and so much less traffic. No grass, though - "Green Space" around Athens is really "Brown Space"- the ground is all dry soil, and nature has a more desert-like feel. I think this area we stumbled upon is called Nea Pentelis, and I'm really looking forward to exploring it further. Next time I'll bring a camera.

After walking around for a bit, Lizzie and I got back on the bus in the opposite direction, and asked the driver if it would bring us to the metro. "Vivaeos," he told us. (Of course.)

Greeks have a unique way of monitoring payment for public transport. When you get on a bus, you don't drop any change in any glass container, or give the driver your ticket. You don't line up to put your Charlie card through a machine and have it spat back out at you. No doors open to let you through and then close, violently, to stop the next person from squeezing in behind you. You just get on.

Very very occasionally, a ticket officer will come onto your bus and ask to see your ticket or pass.

Up until this weekend, I was thinking Greece could solve all its economic problems if they would just adopt a regular method of charging people each time they boarded a bus or train. It seemed like the government must be losing so much money due to all those people who slip through the cracks. People like Lizzie and me, who on October 2nd were still carrying our September month passes.

But then the ticket officer, with his snazzy little fanny pack, boarded our bus. This was literally the first time I've seen a ticket officer in all of my time here. And he charged us sixty Euros a pop.

Lesson learned.

FML.

When we finally made it into Syntagma around 1:30 pm, (we've gone Greek and stopped bothering with punctuality), we set out to climb Mont Lycabettus, the highest point in Athens (about 900 ft tall). Lycabettus means "the one that is walked by wolves" - folklore suggests that at one point wolves inhabited the hill. (Check it, Shakira!) There's also a story about how Athena dropped the mountain when she was flying over the landscape to add it to the Acropolis, but that's for another time.

The climb is quite steep, so you get to the top pretty quickly. Giant, prickly, aloe-like plants line the path up the hill, and make you feel like you're in Jurassic Park. After less than twenty minutes, we had reached the summit and could see the white of Athens spread out below us in every direction. I like how Athens is surrounded on three sides by mountains and on one side by sea. It makes me believe I can easily orient myself, because there are clear limits. I'm still having some issues with which way is North, but from this height, it all seems to make sense. Up there you can see the Acropolis, the ocean, Parliament, etc. People say Athens is a small city. The view from above makes me beg to differ. Shame on me, I didn't bring my camera.

The next day we arose bright and early (again!) to go to Aegina, an island just a forty minute ferry-ride away. I'll tell you I swam and ate a lot of pistachio ice cream, and that I'm still amazed by the colour of the water here. Otherwise, I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

Oh, and I saw a boat from Weekapaug:

It's a small world, after all. 

Poseidon

One of the things that made Greece an attractive destination for a year away from home is that it's a maritime country. Who doesn't love the sea, and the feeling of knowing that one is close to water?

Poseidon

Who doesn't have mad respect for Poseidon, Greek God of the Sea?


The ancient Greeks sure did. Because the Gods were considered quite fickle, religion was propitiatory in nature - based on the idea that to avoid misfortune, one must constantly seek the favour of the relevant gods with prayers, gifts and sacrifices. Due to Greece's maritime location, the sea occupied a high position in the divine hierarchy - Poseidon was considered second only to Zeus.


When he was feeling nice, Poseidon created new islands (there are over a thousand Greek islands, though only 227 of them are inhabited) and offered calm seas. If offended, he would strike the ground with his trident and stir things up on the open ocean. His implacable wrath caused earthquakes and storms, which led to countless shipwrecks and drownings. 


To avoid such calamities, sailors prayed to Poseidon for safe voyages, sometimes drowning horses as a sacrifice. Before the Battle of Issus, Alexander the Great paused at the Syrian seashore, prayed to Poseidon, and ordered a four horse chariot into the waves.

I'm not just spewing Greek mythology because I've got nothing better to talk about - I'm telling you about Poseidon because two days ago, I went to his temple at Cape Sounion, the southernmost point of Attica, (70 km East of Athens). Two other teaching fellows and I took a pleasant two-hour bus ride along the coast from Athens. We could see the sea the entire way.


The Temple was built in the 5th Century BC, and sits atop a cliff that towers 60 m above the sea. In antiquity and today, sailors knew they were nearing Athens when they could see the Temple's columns.

The Temple

So here's the temple. Beautiful, right? I hate to admit it, but like many tourist destinations, the Temple itself (roped off and surrounded by tourists like me), was actually kindof underwhelming. I sometimes find it difficult to appreciate the things I should appreciate most. 


By the way, you're not supposed to call them ruins. It's rude.


What impressed me, however, was the view of the water below, which stretched out into open ocean.


The ocean in Greece is a blue like I haven't seen anywhere else before - it's somewhere between the dark hue of the Atlantic and the warm, turquoise of the Caribbean. Because it was so hot up on the cliffs, all I could think about the whole time was how I wanted to throw myself into the ocean...



Which brings me to the legend of King Aegeus, who did throw himself into the ocean, off this very cliff! 


Upon the cliff, King Aegeus anxiously awaited his son Theseus's return from Crete, where he had travelled to slay the Minotaur. Every year, the Athenians were forced to send 7 boys and 7 girls to Minos, where they would be devoured by the Minotaur. Theseus had volunteered to attempt to put a stop to this madness and slay the beast.

If only Theseu's ship had looked like this

Aegeus told his son to have his ship return with white sails if he survived the encounter, and with black sails if he met death in the labyrinth. In the joyous excitement of his victory, Theseus forgot to change the sails, and returned home with black sails, instead of white. When Aegeus saw the black sails on the horizon, he threw himself, devastated, into the sea - forever after known as the Aegean. 


I opted not to jump, and waited until we got down to lower ground to get in the water. The beach was extremely windy - One of the things I've loved about being in Greece is that there's always a breeze, even when it's crazy hot out. A couple of people were windsurfing, zipping by at an unbelievable speed. 


Mandee and I immediately put our towels down and fell (half) asleep for about an hour, while Lizzie got right in the water. When the wind calmed down a bit, I went in too. The water was just warm enough, and incredibly shallow. We could walk out about 100 m before the sand started to drop off. 

By the way, in the short time I have been in Greece, I have seen some fabulous swimwear, especially on the men.


It's a shame I didn't research all of this mythology stuff until after I got back and decided to blog about the Temple. However, even if I didn't know what I now know about the Temple two days ago, being close to and in the water put me in touch with Poseidon in a way that wikipedia never can. 

                                All hail Poseidon, God of the Sea.

Tolerance

No, I'm not writing about how my massive intake of ouzo over the past three weeks is making it difficult for me to get tipsy. I have yet to try ouzo, actually. I'm referring to an essay we're discussing in my tenth grade (Alpha) English classes: "Tolerance," by E.M. Forster.

Tolerance is the ability to accept the existence of something while still disapproving of it. After WW2, Forster felt frustrated with the notion that the problems of the world would be solved if we could all just suck it up and love each other. All you need is not love, he argued, because love has no place in the public sphere. Love, in Forster's view, is a private emotion, experienced only between people who know each other well. How could you love a complete stranger? So Forster posed a simple alternative: tolerate each other. Even if you don't like people, put up with them.

The Alpha students were asked to write page-long journal responses to this text. I really like the Alpha kids: since they're new to the high school, they haven't developed much of that Beta (eleventh grade) sass. Although they're the youngest kids I work with, they're also the most enthusiastic, and in some cases the brightest. I quite like reading their journals - they often make sweeping claims, but often make really insightful comments, too.

I'm writing this to tell you a little bit about what we're covering in school, but also to introduce the concept of tolerance in Greece. Perhaps one of the easiest ways to define a "culture" is to examine what a group of people will and won't tolerate.

Things Greece tolerates (kala - okay, all right) :

1. PDA.
I heard recently that Athens is the second most PDA city on the planet, after Paris. The kids at school give each other quick kisses in the hall. Things get serious at recess.

2. Dog Shit.
No one picks up after their pooches here. It's all over the sidewalks.
Apparently, this weekend dog shit won't be the only thing covering the sidewalks: on Sunday morning, there is to be a shit in. That's right, protestors are going to gather together, drop trou, and further foul the Athenian streets.

3. Strikes.
Soon in our discussion of tolerance we will try and get the kids thinking about when it's okay not to tolerate. When must we stand up against what we know is wrong?

4. Strays.
They're everywhere. I love them, but they certainly don't help with tolerable thing #2, no pun intended.

5. Smoking in public places. 
It is estimated that over 40% of Greek adults smoke, well over the EU average of 29%. Earlier this month, a law was implemented banning smoking in enclosed public spaces such as restaurants, bars, hospitals, and motor vehicles.

In restaurants, bars, hospitals, and motor vehicles all over Athens, Greeks continue to light up as they please.

Things Greece does not tolerate (oxi- no):

1. Homosexuality.

I told the students a fun fact about E.M. Forster: he was gay!

This quite excited them. It was clear from their reactions that homosexuality wasn't something they considered commonplace. 

Homosexuality is becoming less and less taboo in Greece - Apparently, Athens has a thriving gay bar scene (and none of the bars have been burned down, to date). However, Greece is still not nearly as accepting of gays as other developed countries of Western Europe and North America. It's a little funny, considering how much same sex lovin went down in Ancient Greece.

2. Pedestrians.
In Athens, drivers have the right of way, and if you're not very careful, they will squash you.


3. Dinner before 9 pm.

4. Flushing TP down the toilet.

This makes taking the trash out doubly gross.

I realize the subjects I've touched upon here may paint Athens in an unflattering light, but p

lease don't get the wrong impression - I'm loving life in Greece so far. 

(not so) CULTURE SHOCK(ed)

Yasas! As of today, I have been in Greece for a full three weeks. I am here as a Teaching Fellow for the Hellenic American Educational Foundation, teaching English Literature to high school students at Athens College.

When deciding whether or not to accept the fellowship, I nearly declined the offer for fear that I wouldn't be able to handle living in another culture for a whole year. I believed I would be absolutely miserable for at least the first month, and that it would take me roughly a year to feel settled in Greece. However, I applied to the fellowship in the first place so that I could challenge myself and immerse myself in another culture. (And of course, to try out teaching.) So I sucked it up and said yes.

Culture Shock is meant to work in distinct stages, beginning with the honeymoon phase, wherein the traveller is fascinated with the new culture and views it in a romantic light.  Personally, I find that my initial reaction to a new culture is usually one of extreme discomfort, rather than awe. This was certainly true of Athens.

I did myself the incredible disservice of coming to Athens directly from Paris, (arguably the most beautiful city on the planet), which made Athens look like a slum. When I arrived in Athens, (Sunday, August 29th), it was hot as Hades. I hated the heat and how it mixed with gasoline fumes, the aggressive drivers and heavy traffic, the beige, run down boxes that comprised modern Greek architecture, that Athens was not Paris, the strange alphabet everywhere, and of course, not being able to understand what people were saying. My immediate reaction: "WTF have I gotten myself into?"  


This feeling lasted for roughly three days. Then 2 things happened which put me at ease:

1) I moved into my apartment, in Halandri (a suburb of Athens)). The apartment is very spacious, clean, airy and has a wraparound balcony. (see photo on the side..)

2) I met the nine other teaching fellows.

Having comfortable living conditions and friends who speak English makes living in a foreign country easy as pie. I felt so relieved when I met my nine new insta-friends (isn't it funny how rapidly you become friends with people in situations where you know you need to be friends with them?). I knew I had people I could talk to and laugh with, people with whom I could explore this new country.


I quickly began to see the positive aspects of Greek culture: The food is delicious. Modern Greek is (in my opinion) a beautiful language to listen to (the rhythm of it reminds me a lot of Spanish). The people (although seemingly quite willing to run you over, if you're walking and they're driving) are very, very friendly. Greek hospitality is no myth. There are hundreds of beautiful islands just a ferry ride away. There are ancient ruins everywhere. There are adorable stray kittens everywhere. 

There's definitely a danger in having nine rad American friends and a kickass apartment, though. I came here to experience another culture, but if I wanted to, I could spend the entire year sitting on my balcony, speaking English, and watching Greece from a distance.


When I studied in Italy for six weeks two summers ago, I had a very minimal cultural experience.  I lived on a beautiful Tuscan estate with sixteen other American girls. Don't get me wrong - I had a wonderful time, and my painting improved tremendously (that was the point of the program.) But I still don't speak a word of Italian.

I vow to do my damnedest to not let this be the case in Greece. I think the most important thing I can do to fully experience Greek culture is to learn the language, so that I can make connections with people other than my American friends. It's going to be tough, but I've got to try.


I also think it's important to remember that "foreign" works on a scale. Greece is the foundation of Western culture, so although there were some immediate shocks when I first arrived, and although there is a massive language barrier to overcome, things are not actually all that different. I am not living in a hut in Kenya. I have clean drinking water and a shower and a bed. Most people speak English anyways. Starbucks and HandM are just around the corner.

In conclusion, the biggest shock for me so far has been the lack of culture shock. I feel quite at home here. Perhaps that is only because of my American friends and my living quarters. We'll just have to see. Perhaps in three months time I will feel quite frustrated and maybe even cry myself to sleep wishing I were back in North America. Hopefully not. But for now, things are good. 


More to come on actual Greece soon.