The Daily Feta- Greece Blog

Best of The Daily Feta

2012-02-04T23:50:00.002+02:00

Lift the veil on what Greek men are actually thinking. Listen to my interactions with Greek taxi drivers.

Only in Greece: A trip to the male-only mountain, Mt. Athos, the holiest site in Greece.

Reviews of books about Greece: Zorba, The Magus, Mediterranean Winter, The Colossus of Maroussi

Photos: Evia, the Mastic Villages of Chios, Santorini, Ioannina, and Vikos

Visting Greece? Check out my guide to Athens or my top five romantic spots

Do your research on popular destinations Meteora and Delphi

Adventures in the Balkans: Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Sarajevo

Learning Greek? Here are some thoughts about the linguistic structure of Greek and learning languages.

Just want mouth-watering pictures and descriptions of Greek food? Click here, here, or here.

What I'll Miss

2010-07-26T03:58:00.000+03:00

Well, it's all over now. I'm back stateside and already working to adjust to life outside Greece. This is the end of any sort of regular posting here at The Daily Feta, although I might post once in a while if I get inspired.

As a final post, let me share with you the Top Five Things I'll Miss About Greece.

1) The food - This is kind of a given, right? I'm already pining for the laiki and the freshest, in-season produce I'd seen in my life. It's killing me knowing that pomegranate and fig season is right around the corner and I'm not going to be there for it. If you're in Greece, please eat double portions for me. I'd also accept shipments of Greek salad and gyros.

2) How no one is a stranger - Even at the end, I was still always struck by how all Greeks seemed to know each other. That's not true of course, but people definitely don't have the same idea of "stranger" as we do in America. Once I went to the beach with my friend Giorgos and we wanted to play backgammon. We hadn't brought a board and he just turned and asked the people next to him. They didn't have one either but they asked the next group over and five seconds later we had our board. I was amazed.

3) All the hand and facial gestures - There were so many days in Greece when I just sat back and watched all the incredible faces people were making and how much they were using their hands to talk. Approximately 95% was obscene, of course, but that didn't make it any less impressive.

4) The light and the water- I don't think either light or water ever gets any purer than they are in Greece. The light back home definitely feels domestic compared to the wild, feral, bright white light of Greece.

5) The people- Of course, what I'll miss the most are the people I'm leaving behind. I have some great friends and colleagues in Greece. I'm sure I'll be back to visit them many times in the future. But there's also all the random acts of hospitality, kindness and humor that I experienced everyday from Greeks. I'll miss that too.

More Photos from the Mastikahoria

2010-07-26T03:44:00.000+03:00

More photos from the mastic villages

Mastiha

2010-07-26T03:39:00.000+03:00

Here's two mastiha or mastic trees.

As Lawrence Durrell said in the earlier post, the big deal on Chios are these trees (more like bushes, really). Collecting the sap which is then turned into the chewing gum is a painstaking process. It involves repeatedly scoring the bark with a thin blade so that it "cries tears of mastic" which are then harvested.

The flavor of mastiha is so totally unique that it's very difficult to describe. For me the words that come to mind are "refreshing," "almost minty," or "spicy pine." You really just have to try it for yourself.

Speaking of which, there are plenty of different ways for you to try mastiha on Chios. I made it my goal to taste as many as possible. I had ice cream, liquor, sugared gum, straight sap and even a mastiha cream sauce on top of chicken and rice. I loved them all.

Photos of Chios

2010-07-20T08:48:00.000+03:00

Walking around Homer's birthplace, Kardamila.

Cherry tomatoes drying in a mastic village

A beach that we slept on one night

Another mastic village that's basically one enormous castle

Lawrence Durrell on Chios

2010-07-20T08:18:00.000+03:00

I just got back from Chios, spent yesterday saying my goodbyes and today I'm hopping on a plane home. I can't believe it.

But before I close up shop on The Daily Feta, I'm going to finish posting about Chios and a few other things I've had bouncing around in my mind. While I'm gathering my own thoughts about Chios, here's some excerpts from what Lawrence Durrell had to say about the island.

"A feeling of past luxuriance remains - smothered in dusty gardens full of oranges, lemons, pomegranates, flowering judases and cypruses; but the town has the kind of seediness that comes from business dealings. Yet it is a rich little island, which exports fruit, cheese and jams to Athens, and has made a specialty of the juice of the mastic plant which, according to the pious historians of hard liquor, was a gift from St. Isidore - though what a self-respecting saint like Isidore was doing so far from his home territory in Salonika (his church is a treasure) I cannot tell."

"The story of modern Chios is the story of the mastic plant. It is a plant that grows all over the Mediterranean, but only the Chiots have specialized in its cultivation and developed it on a large scale. In addition to the drink, there is a pleasant white chewing-gum with a delicious flavor made from the plant. This has always been in great demand in the Turkish harems, since it combines the qualities of breath-sweetener and ordinary chewing-gum with helpful digestive and tranquillizing qualities."

"The prevailing odor of dust and lemons and rock-honey is what you will most probably bring with you out of Chios... And even before the smell, the far creaking of cicadas will come across the water to you, like rusty keys."

Chios is no joke

2010-07-19T14:45:00.000+03:00

How to: Make Friends in Greece

2010-07-17T18:34:00.001+03:00

One of the biggest challenges of spending time abroad (particularly in a place where you don't have family or speak the language) is figuring out how to meet people and make friends. I wouldn't say I'm an expert on this since I'm still figuring it out myself, but here are some tips that have helped me:

1) Learn the language! It’s always easier to make friends if you understand what they’re saying.

2) Get involved with clubs and activities. Don’t expect Greek people to just approach you on the street or bus and ask you to hang out. Find people with similar interests and do things together! Take an art class, join a hiking club, go biking, play soccer, go to literary events… whatever you genuinely care about.

3) Become a regular. If you find a café or restaurant that you like and keep going back to, introduce yourself to the staff. People I know here have met some great friends working at places as random as a Mexican restaurant or a café in Halandri.

4) Use the connections you have. If your uncle’s brother’s cousin’s friend’s sister is living in Greece, get her contact info and give her a call. Greeks are famously hospitable and it’s always more comfortable to meet someone who you’re connected to, however tenuously. Middle-aged colleagues also tend to be excited to introduce you to their college-age kids.

5) Don’t give up! This seems obvious but sometimes it can be easy to forget. Even when it seems impossible, don’t just sit at home and mope. Get out there, it’s the only way you’ll ever meet people.

How to: Book Ferry Tickets

2010-07-16T18:06:00.000+03:00

One of the most baffling processes in Greece (and also the most common) is buying ferry tickets. Here are some tips that I've found helpful:

The prices of Greek ferry tickets are largely standardized so don’t worry about shopping around too much for good deals. You can occasionally get a discount as a student (technically only for Greek public university students but sometimes they’ll give it to you anyway, particularly when buying tickets on smaller islands). Some companies also offer a discount if you buy your tickets in advance.

Some of the main ferry companies in Greece are Blue Star, Superfast, Hellenic Seaways, ANEK Lines, Minoan Lines, etc.

Your options for buying ferry tickets online are pretty disappointing and not very user-friendly (often requiring several days’ advance purchase) but you can try to book either through a website like greekferries.gr or directly through the ferry company websites.

If you don’t want to book online, you can go through a travel agent or simply go directly to the port (although in high season ferries do sell out) and buy tickets on the docks.

Since the information online is somewhat limited, if you’re trying to plan a last-minute getaway you can find out what ferries are leaving each day by taking a printout from a tourist information office (downtown or at the airport) or by calling the tourism office Tel : +30 210 8707000.

Piraeus is the main port and the easiest to get to, but the ports of Rafina or Lavrio can often offer much shorter ferry rides (and they serve some islands that Piraeus doesn’t). You can take public KTEL buses to Lavrio or Rafina.

Also, keep in mind that you'll probably have a choice between a high speed ferry or a regular ferry. While high speed ferries are faster, they're also more expensive and if there's rough seas the ride can be bumpier. I once took a fast ferry from Santorini where the boat was bouncing so hard that the ceiling panels started to fall out. After that, I decided I'd think carefully about whether speed was really of the essence...

Stamps

2010-07-15T15:04:00.000+03:00

When I was 8, I got a rubber stamp and an ink pad and spent a full day just stamping blank pieces of paper. I thought about that yesterday as I was collecting my final paycheck.

In order to get my money, I had to get a form signed by my boss then carry it to the accounting office. There, a man had me sign three forms, which he then signed and stamped with a big seal from the school. We carried those forms to another desk where they were signed and stamped again by his boss. Then they gave me a check which I took to a third desk to have signed, stamped and cashed.

It's not just getting paid that requires stamps though. My ticket to a play? Stamped. Entrance ticket to an amusement park? Stamped. Monthly metro pass? Stamped. And they all look different too. My favorite stamp so far has been from the monasteries on Mt. Athos. They stamp these paper icons they give out as gifts. I informally named that stamp, "the holy stamp."

In case you can't tell, I'm really going to miss the stamps.

Last Hurrahs

2010-07-15T08:27:00.001+03:00

I've spent my last week in Athens trying to see as many friends as possible. This past weekend, I went to a pool party at an incredible house north of Athens. I think the parents are architects and they obviously have a sense of humor. One of the bathrooms was cow-themed, complete with black and white spots on the walls and ceramic cows everywhere. The living room was set up like a movie set and lit with a spotlight instead of a lamp. We spent the afternoon grilling and doing cannonballs into the pool.

After the pool party, we all crammed into a car and went to a midnight beach party where a huge crowd of twenty-year-olds in swimsuits were dancing to electronic and rap music on the beach. Honestly, the whole day was outrageous. It what I imagined my life would be like when I was twelve watching "MTV Spring Break."

Another day, I met up with my Greek tutor, Litsa, to see a play she'd been helping out with. The play was a zany, hilarious take on fairy tales and despite the fact that it was all in Greek, I actually understood most of it and got the jokes. I think a distinctly European side of this play was that there was a sex scene in every single fairy tale.

Other than that, I've been going out for dinner and drinks with friends and just generally thanking everyone for helping me out this year.

The long goodbye

2010-07-13T21:49:00.001+03:00

Summer camp finished today, which means I'm officially done with work. One year working in Greece? Check.

Well, okay, it was more like 11 months. But still.

My plans now involve packing up my entire life, saying my goodbyes and then heading off to Chios (an island right next to Turkey) for some rest and relaxation.

It's now officially summer for me. There's a reason the Greeks call this kalokairi, "the good season."

Live at the Odeon

2010-07-13T07:34:00.003+03:00

Last night, a bunch of us went to see a concert live at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, otherwise known as "That theater in the Acropolis." I had low expectations for the show, basically I just thought it would be cool to see something in the same spot people watched performances in thousands of years ago. And it was. It was really, really cool to sit in an ancient amphitheater, under the stars, with the Parthenon directly behind us.

But the music was also great. Caetano Veloso, a sort of graying Brazilian version of Beck, got people on their feet and even dancing.

According to his wikipedia page, Veloso is "a pop musician / poet /filmmaker /political activist whose stature in the pantheon of international pop musicians is on a par with that of Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, and Lennon/McCartney." According to my eyes, he's surprisingly hip for a sixty-eight-year-old. I mean, he even plays a crazy body-less electric guitar. Check out this video (sorry for the low-quality, it's what I could find on Youtube). When he sang the first lines of this song, "everybody knows that our cities were built to be destroyed," it felt very appropriate to be sitting in a literal ruin.

36 Hours in Athens

2010-07-11T19:19:00.004+03:00

This week, Mollie's younger sister Laura and two friends visited Athens and stayed with me. I always love having guests. Getting to show someone around the city makes it sink in that I really live here, and seeing the city through fresh eyes reminds me of what's so exciting about Athens.

Now that I've had my fair share of guests, I've developed somewhat of a routine for taking people around the city. Since I'm a big fan of The New York Times'"36 hours in..." feature, I figured why not give their format a shot? (Note to NYT Editors: I will write for peanuts. Call me.)

Friday

5 p.m.

1) HISTORY FOR FREE

It's an easy straight-shot on the metro from the airport to Monastiraki Station. If you've got bags, there are big coin-operated lockers where you can leave your stuff while you explore downtown. Walking out of Monastiraki station (which means "little monastery") you catch your first glimpse of the Acropolis. Head towards it, taking note of Hadrian's Library on your left. No need to pay the entrance fee, you can see everything from outside. Keep walking straight and you'll hit the Roman Agora, a great spot for pictures and another site where you can see it all from the outside. Take a left and head towards the Tower of the Winds, one of the most beautiful ancient sites and evidence of how advanced Athenian science was (the tower included a primitive barometer and could be used to predict the weather).

6 p.m.
2) BEAUTIFUL BOTTLES

Walk along bustling Adrianou street, but don't buy any of the tacky tourist t-shirts or fake ancient pottery. Instead, take a left at Kydatheneon street and head into Bretto's, a bar that's been serving up homemade liqueurs and ouzo for over a hundred years. Bretto's, with its striking backlit wall of colorful glass bottles is in every tourist guidebook but it's still a great spot to get a drink. Try the rakomelo, a Greek moonshine that's boiled with honey, or masticha liqueur for two flavors you're not going to get anywhere else.

8 p.m.
3) ATHENIAN WOLVES

It's still far too early for dinner in late-night Athens, so build up your appetite by taking a walk up Lykavittos Hill. Lykavittos literally means "Hill of the Wolves" because in ancient times, the city was much smaller and this was wilderness, complete with ferocious beasts. Now, instead of feral wolves you'll spot residents of the ritzy Kolonaki neighborhood. To get to the top, skip the tram ride, it's an over-priced tourist trap with no view, and instead walk up the many free trails. Stop along the way to admire the view over the city, but the real prize is at the top where you can see across Athens in all directions. Looking down on the Acropolis, you can see the lights of boats on the Aegean Sea in the background.

10 p.m.
4) DINNER AT LAST

Now that it's finally time for dinner (although an early one by Athenian standards) head to any one of Athens' many neighborhood tavernas. Don't bother looking at the menu, just ask what they have tonight. Don't forget to order house wine to wash it down. My favorite taverna is Klimataria, on a shady square in the Neo Psychiko neighborhood.

Saturday
10:30 a.m.
5) FRESH FRUIT WITH A SONG
There's no better way to start off a day then by mingling with local residents at a laiki (farmer's market). The vendors shout, sing and generally try to attract as much attention as possible to themselves and their wares. "Beautiful tomatoes, ladies, beautiful tomatoes!" "Sweet, delicious cherries! Get 'em before they're gone!" Feel free to pick and choose among the well-priced produce. If you ask nicely you'll almost certainly be given free samples as well. Stock up on some of those fresh cherries, peaches and apricots or if you're looking for something more substantial, fix yourself the freshest salad around to accompany some grilled pork souvlaki.

1:30 p.m.
6) LIMNI VOULIAGMENIS

No matter what time of year you visit Athens, you'll find old timers enjoying the supposedly therapeutic waters of this thermal lake. There are lounge chairs and a cafe for your use, but if you really want to fit in, bring a bathrobe. The waters aren't hot, per se, but they're warm enough to swim in year round.

8 p.m.
7) TRY TO SAY THAT THREE TIMES FAST

You can't leave Athens without visiting an ouzomezedopoleio, both for its tongue-twister name and for the incredible selection of dishes. These smaller, informal restaurants offer a selection of small plates to go along with ouzo, or your drink of choice. Think tapas Greek style. Go with friends, don't be afraid to experiment and taste all the best that Greek cuisine has to offer.

Midnight
8) THE GREEK BLUES

Rembetiki Istoria, with its low prices and high quality music is one of the best spots to sample traditional Greek rembetika music. With its healthy focus on heartbreak, wine and women, you can be sure to get an insight into the Greek psyche. If you stick around until 2 a.m. there's a good chance you'll get to try your hand at Greek dancing (or at least watch others' boozy attempts).

Sunday
9:30 a.m.
9) THE ACROPOLIS

You didn't think you could leave Athens without visiting the main attraction, did you? Walk off your headache from last night's dancing on the most well-known site in Greece. Take the requisite tourist shots of the Parthenon and admire the view over the city. If you're visiting in the low-season, Sundays at the Acropolis are free.

11:00 a.m.

10) RELAXING IN THE GARDENS
Cool down from the sun-exposed Acropolis in the shady National Gardens. Grab a koulouri (a hoop of bread that's the Greek answer to a sesame bagel) and then a cold cappuccino freddo at the outdoor cafe. Bring a book or a friend.

Catching Up

2010-07-09T20:39:00.001+03:00

I've been slacking a little bit with the blog because it's my last week of work. Running around chasing kids in the sun really takes it out of you. I can't believe that on Tuesday I'll be done with a full year of teaching, summer camp and all. It's crazy to think about how soon I'm leaving.

But before I dwell on all that mushy stuff, let me catch you up on what I've been doing.

First of all, I've been eating dinner outside at a table we set up behind our house. Here's how beautiful it is out there.

At work, my job has gotten pretty ridiculous. Every day more and more kids leave with their families to go on vacation. Yesterday, I helped two other adults supervise four children. Amazingly, we still ended up losing a kid for about 20 minutes. When I asked "Where's Nicholas?" my Greek counterpart just shrugged and said "I'm sure he'll come back."

More from summer camp: Some of the coaches rigged up a sound system to play music outside while the kids run around the track or play soccer. It definitely helps the atmosphere. Especially since one of the coaches used to be a DJ on Mykonos (the equivalent in America would be saying you used to dance in Las Vegas). Today, the kids started playing soccer to Michael Jackson before the music switched to Tom Jones' "Sex Bomb" and a electronic song with the chorus "Erotic, Erotic, put your hands all over my body."

I guess the upside is that the kids really are learning a lot of English while they play sports...

Camping on Evia

2010-07-07T20:52:00.000+03:00

The sun set over a makeshift village of tents. Bouzouki guitar and the smoke from meat cooked over campfires filled the air. It was like the world had suddenly ended. Except that only a beach in Greece was left and no one really seemed to mind.

That's what camping on this beach in Central Evia felt like.

We got the heads-up on this perfect spot from Giorgos' friend Chrissa, who he studied architecture with. She lives on Evia now and told us this was the best camping beach around. The water was deep and clear. If you wanted to, you could jump off the cliffs into the sea. The other campers were friendly. And best of all, a canteen truck filled with souvlaki (meat skewers), sandwiches and salads was parked nearby so we could buy fresh food. All of which was really surprising considering this beach was in the middle of nowhere, an hour down a dirt/gravel road.

Giorgos and I set up our tents and then did nothing but swim and eat for two days. Actually, that's not entirely true. On Sunday I had my most Greek day ever.

Here's the schedule. Wake up and go for a swim in the sea. Play tavli (backgammon) on the beach with Giorgos for several hours (now that I've learned some strategy I'm totally addicted). Then go for a long lunch and a frappe (the ubiquitous Greek iced coffee). Finally, visit some friends in town and sit on their terrace eating fresh fruit. Drive home and go to sleep.

Lunch in Evia. Wild boar, Greek salad and an Evia speciality, fried bread stuffed with cheese.

Giorgos, ever the photographer, taking a shot on Mt. Dirfys

Photos of Evia

2010-07-06T19:27:00.000+03:00

Here are some photos from my weekend trip to Evia, a huge island about an hour away from Athens. Evia is unique because of its large size but also because it's much more wooded and green than most islands. My friend Giorgos and I camped on the beach, explored Mt. Dirfys and generally had a blast.

Independence and Statistics

2010-07-05T17:48:00.000+03:00

Happy belated Fourth of July! I celebrated by spending the weekend camping on the beach in Evia. No fireworks or American flags but I did get grilled meat and sunshine, so I consider that a victory.

Also, happy 300th post! It's kind of mind-boggling to me that I've actually maintained this blog for so long, but it's been a very fun and satisfying part of my time here. Since it's the 300th post, I thought I'd share some stats about The Daily Feta with you (courtesy of Google Analytics).

300 posts in 10 months (so far)
An average of 30 posts/month means that it's averaged pretty close to a daily feta.

1 min 50 seconds -average time spent reading each post

1038 visits to the blog from the U.S., Greece, U.K., Canada, Australia, Egypt, South Korea and Hungary and Tanzania (in declining order of frequency)

The vast majority of visitors found the site by googling "the daily feta blog" or "the daily feta" which I'm assuming means I haven't gotten too many strangers (unless they were just hoping for a cheese related blog).

The three most popular posts (in terms of page views) have been my post of the Stereo Love song that plays non-stop in Greece, Limni Vouliagmenis, and photos of Belgrade. And my most visitors in one day came when I posted Stephen Colbert making fun of Greece.

Greek Gods and Goddesses

2010-07-03T09:39:00.000+03:00

My failed attempt at climbing Mt. Olympus has me thinking about the Ancient Greek gods.

When I was a little kid, I had this book, D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths, with incredible large pages full of illustrations and simplified versions of the ancient tales.

It still ranks as one of my favorite books of all time. I re-read the book so many times that the spine wore out and the pages starting coming loose. Thanks to D'Aulaires, whoever he/she is, those are the images that pop into my head when I imagine Greek gods.

Semi-related notes: My housemate Allyson says that Olympus being closed for fire risk just means that Zeus is angry and holding a handful of lightning bolts.

As part of the Athens Festival, ancient plays are being performed in open-air theatres. My friend Evangelia went to a play where one of the first lines was "I am Poseidon!" As soon as the actor shouted his line, it immediately started pouring rain so hard that they had to cancel the show. Obviously the greatest performance of this guy's life.

Making Plans

2010-07-03T09:25:00.001+03:00

Following up on the culture shock post, let me tell you about making plans in Greece. I'm naturally a kind of last minute, spontaneous person, but living in Athens has taken that to the extreme. It actually seems almost impossible to plan things in advance.

Most Greeks I know, even middle-aged ones, don't think twice about showing up to an island without a hotel reservation and just finding something once they get there. Of course, that doesn't mean that hotels don't fill up, they definitely do. But most of the time a friend of a friend of somebody's brother can get you a room when you really need one. There's a word in Greek for that kind of special inside connection who hooks you up (with a room, a table at a restaurant or a job), you have mezon.

Recently, the plans I've made in advance have almost all fallen through. A Foivos Delivorias concert? Cancelled because of rain (even though the rain had stopped several hours earlier). Hiking Mt. Olympus? Closed for the entire summer due to the risk of forest fires. Going downtown for a Greek lesson? All public transportation is on strike.

But, like I was saying in the culture shock post, how frustrating that is all depends on your perspective. I have days when that kind of uncertainty drives me crazy, but other days it's actually really nice. Why? Well, since everyone's used to living in a place where things don't always go as planned, everyone is more laid-back about it and ready to suggest a fun back-up plan. Case in point: instead of hiking Olympus, my friend Giorgos and I are going to explore the island of Evia. Hard to complain too much about that.

Culture Shock in Greece

2010-07-01T22:30:00.002+03:00

One of the most bizarre things about living abroad is how unavoidable culture shock is. Whether you're away from home for three months or for three years, you're going to have to deal with it. Even the most seasoned travelers experience its effects. What seems to make the most difference is knowing ahead of time that culture shock is normal and that it comes in cycles.

The generally agreed upon stages are:

1) The honey-moon stage- This is where every little thing seems exciting and new. You get on a crowded bus and think "It's so fascinating that there seems to be no limit on how many people are able to cram inside. And Mediterranean body odor is so exotic and pungent!"

2) Frustration- Everything seems difficult and unnecessarily so. The world is rigged against you. You can't understand what people are saying. You don't speak the language and you don't understand what you're supposed to do to make friends or fit in. Even the good things start to annoy you. "Another perfect tomato? Great. Thanks for nothing! Why can't your country get some freaking regular tomatoes?" A teacher I work with here said she started crying one day her first summer here and said "Will it just rain already? I hate the sun!"

3) Adaptation/Biculturalism- When the frustration falls away, you realize that you've actually made quite a bit of progress in adjusting to your host country. You know how to get around. You can understand what people are asking you and can even communicate your own questions and statements (to a certain extent) back. You've become bicultural.

4) Reverse Culture Shock- The weirdest part of culture shock is that when you get back home you expect it to be easy and feel normal right away but most of the time it doesn't. You miss the little things from your host country and notice strange details about home that you hadn't remarked before. I remember being shocked when I came back to New York from Senegal. In Dakar, everyone shakes hands to start any interaction. When I got back to NYC, one of the first things I had to do was renew my driver's license. I tried to shake the woman's hand behind the counter and the DMV and she just gave me this bug-eyed look and shouted "Get your damn hand out of here!" I couldn't believe it.

Those are the general stages of culture shock. It obviously varies from person to person but I think most people go through these four in this order. What helps me the most is staying on top of what I can control, the most basic being exercise and healthy food, trying my hardest to learn the language and avoiding spending time with only Americans and ex-pats.

I've also found it really useful to keep perspective on the difficulties of living abroad and remember that one of the reasons I enjoy it is the challenge.

"I start my day by saying I hope that today is even more uncertain than yesterday. I love uncertainty. In uncertainty we live and breathe and move."

-Deepak Chopra

"The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers."

- M. Scott Peck, psychiatrist

Greek Beaches

2010-06-30T07:50:00.001+03:00

I've been spending most of my free time these past few weekends relaxing on the beach. There are far worse ways to recover from a week of chasing small children around.

Everyone knows that Greek beaches are beautiful and the water is clean and clear. But what's really fun is that since Greeks spend so much time on the beach, they do all sorts of activities on the beach. God forbid that you just sunbathe and swim!

The first and most important beach activity is playing paddle ball. You can't go to a beach in Greece without seeing tons of people swatting away, bouncing the ball back and forth between them. A lot of people take it so seriously that it looks like an intense ping-pong match without the table. The bop-bop-bop sound of the game is definitely stuck in my head as the soundtrack of a Greek beach and has led to some weird dreams (like being stuck inside a pinball machine) when I doze off on the sand.

Another fun activity is snorkeling, which is especially good in waters as clear as the Mediterranean. A few weeks ago I went to the beach with Stratos and Connie (a family that I've written about before) and Stratos packed his flippers and mask. As we were walking along the beach, he picked up a large flat rock. I floated on my back while he swam around examining the ocean floor.

After about ten minutes, Stratos dove to the bottom and came up with a sea urchin, plucked off a rock and already cracked open in his bare hands. "You should try the fresh eggs, they're delicious," he told me. And they were, surprisingly.

But just to backtrack for a second, sea urchins are not exactly easy to pick up. They are literally a ball of spikes. And this guy, a fifty-year-old accountant, just swam down and did it like it was no big deal. After all, he's from Crete. That sort of behavior actually does seem normal here although I cannot imagine anything similar happening back home. I guess the equivalent would be taking a hike through the woods and a middle-aged friend disappearing for a few seconds, then coming back with a hunk of deer meat and saying "You really should try venison steaks, they're lean and flavorful."

Here's a picture of a sea urchin I got off the internet. The orange stuff are the eggs that you eat. You can see that this wimp is using two knifes to handle his urchin and open it.

This is Athens

2010-06-28T21:23:00.001+03:00

I've thought for a long time that there's a real lack of good information and cool sites about Greece online. Considering what a well-known destination it is, it's kind of shocking. But every once in a while I find something unique.

This is Athens is a fun idea. Anyone can upload their photos of the city to the site. So what you get is a mishmash of all kinds of images. Some are the standard images of the Parthenon, others are more creative and some are surreal. But they're all Athens. Check it out.

Happy Birthday in Greek

2010-06-27T22:50:00.000+03:00

How do you celebrate a birthday in Greece? The same way you celebrate anything in Greece. With lots and lots of food.

Today I went out to Stamata, in the Athens suburbs, to the home of one of the teachers I worked with this year for her son's 18th birthday. We absolutely stuffed ourselves on fresh salad, home-cooked lamb, cheese pies and mango ice cream from Dodoni (if you go to Athens, definitely try their ice cream. Their speciality is little bars covered in chocolate. Mango is the best.)

But even better than the Dodoni ice cream was singing the Greek birthday song. I love that they don't just sing "Happy Birthday" translated into Greek. Their version is so much more interesting. It might even rival the Korean birthday song (which has lyrics like "We love you from outer space") as my favorite birthday song.

Greek Birthday lyrics

Long live (name) and have many years

May you grow old with white hair

May you spread out everywhere the light of knowledge

And may everybody say

There, he is a wise man.

na zisis ...... (name) kai hronia polla
megalos na ginis me aspra mallia
pantou na skorpizis tis gnosis to fos
kai oli na lene na enas/mia sofos!

Summer Camp (Or Yet Another Way That I Am Still a 7-Year-Old)

2010-06-25T22:08:00.003+03:00

I realize that I haven't written anything about what I actually do at summer camp.

Once regular school finished, I put together a guide for next year's Teaching Fellows (I'll probably be posting some info from there on this blog soon) and then started working at the summer day camp. The kids at camp are much younger than my middle schoolers. I think the oldest is in seventh grade, but most are around second or third. If you're looking for a point of reference about how old that is, they're still into thumb wars and making fart noises with their hands. If you're looking for a point of reference about how mature I am, I still think that's kind of funny.

So what does my day look like? I start out with Stivos, which is Greek for "Track and Field." It's more accurately translated as "Chris builds self-confidence by running faster than small children." We run some laps, stretch, have a snack, and then work on high jump, long jump or shot put. Next up is swimming in the pool and then lunch.

We're supposedly at the camp in order to introduce some English informally, but most of the kids are young and the coaches don't speak much so I'm actually practicing a lot of Greek. One of the big challenges in my morning is remembering the right words for all the activities. I particularly struggle with telling the kids that we're going to the high jump (ip-sos) and often tell the kids that we're instead going to sleep (ip-nos).

But I have to say, I love camp. I've realized how easily entertained I am by the same things the kids are. Snack? Nice. Free lunch? Awesome. Playing ping-pong and then eating ice-cream? You've got to be kidding me!

Summer Camp Overnight

2010-06-24T23:13:00.002+03:00

Last night, I had to chaperone an overnight at the summer camp. I am completely exhausted today. We ate dinner at 9:30 and went to sleep at 12:30 a.m.

This morning the kids woke up at 5:45 a.m. as soon as the sun rose. Last night's sleep deprivation confirmed for me that Greeks (or actually just small children) have some sort of superpower where they don't need to sleep.

The Athens Zoo

2010-06-23T18:03:00.000+03:00

Today I went to the zoo with the kids from summer camp. I was a little worried that it was going to be depressing since most zoos I've seen in other countries have had pretty terrible facilities for the animals. Actually, the Athens Zoo wasn't too bad. I'm not sure animals at zoos are ever happy but these didn't seem outright depressed and insane at least.

The kids loved the lion.

The pygmy hippos were also a big hit.

The animals in the "Greek Animals" section were not so popular with the kids.

A big fat pig

A goat with long horns.

and a Skyrian horse.

The weirdest part of the zoo? It was the most capitalist place I've visited in Greece. They literally had sold sponsorships to all the animals. The puma was sponsored by Puma. The bunnies were sponsored by Nesquik.

Any animal that looked like a cheetah was sponsored by Cheetos

And for some bizarre reason this English school decided to brand themselves with a white lion.

The World Cup in Greece

2010-06-22T20:02:00.000+03:00

I love the World Cup. I didn't think I was going to. I don't even really like sports. But this is just awesome.

America is doing well. Greece had a miraculous win against Nigeria. Most countries that were supposed to be shoe-ins are struggling. How could it get more exciting than that?

I'm headed downtown to watch Greece play Argentina tonight. I'm crossing my fingers that they pull off something amazing. Most people I talk to (normally not prone to humility) aren't setting their expectations too high. When my roommate Sarah asked one of the eight-year-old boys at camp whether he was excited for Greece to win tonight, he said "That's impossible. I'm hoping for a draw."

But we'll see. At the end of the Nigeria game the announcer shouted in Greek, "This is unbelievable! We beat Nigeria! For the first time in our history!" He'll probably just have a heart attack on air if Greece beats Argentina.

Is this Athens?

2010-06-22T19:57:00.000+03:00

To get to the Fringe Festival this weekend, I had to take the 049 bus from Omonia Square. The main events were held at Ellinikos Kosmos, a venue on the outskirts of town.

Let me tell you that this bus passes through a part of town that is not recommended by any guidebook. I've always thought it was funny that one of the few bad neighborhoods in Athens sounds like it's named after a toxic chemical (Omonia=Ammonia).

From the bus windows, I saw streets filled with garbage. Walls completely covered in graffiti. A side street completely packed full of immigrants milling around outside to escape the heat of their tiny concrete rooms.

We passed an alleyway where in plain view (and in sunlight) about a dozen people were shooting up heroin.

We passed buildings with lit bare light bulbs above the door, signaling that the brothel was open.

I honestly looked around at the other people on the bus to see whether this was just the set for a Greek remake of Taxi Driver but everyone else seemed to just take it in stride.

It's incredibly hard for me to reconcile this image with the other Athens, of the Acropolis and long taverna meals. I also feel compelled to say that Athens is incredibly safe to live in, probably much safer than nearly any American city of any comparable size. It's also true that it's much easier to notice these things that I ignore or overlook at home living in a foreign country.

But these two sides of Athens are definitely real and also acknowledged by most Athenians. People here seem to have a sort of respect, almost, for the rougher side of their city.

Take, for example, the Exarcheia neighborhood. It probably wins the award for neighborhood that the most guidebooks in the world used the words "gritty" or "bohemian" to describe. But it's also largely regarded as one of the cultural hearts of the city. When I walked around the graffitied streets, universities and cheap bars with my friend Jake, he declared that "Athens is a badass city."

I hadn't thought about it like that before, but I do think that's part of Athens' appeal. It can be classy and luxury if you want it to be, it can be homey and familiar, but it's definitely also got some Balkan badassness. And that's part of its appeal. Like the New York of Taxi Driver, you've proved something by living in this city and it earns you some respect.

At the same time, it's hard not to wish for some of the more nefarious elements like hard drugs and human trafficking to disappear.

Hire a Greek Publicist...?

2010-06-20T23:35:00.001+03:00

If you need a publicist, hire a Greek.

I don't know how they do it, but the Greek PR people have created an incredibly strong narrative about Greece for foreigners. I'm not saying there's not a lot to love about Greece (there is) but somehow everyone thinks it's all warm weather and dancing with Zorba.

I was honestly surprised when January rolled around and I needed a coat.

Nowadays, that whole narrative is seeming a lot more plausible. After all, I spent today lounging on the beach, swimming in crystal clear water and eating delicious Greek food with an incredibly hospitable Greek and American family I've gotten close with.

So the idea's not 100% false, but it's not 100% accurate either. I'm guessing that most of it comes from the books and movies about Greece. Most Americans I know think of Greece as a place where people's magical pants travel and they sort out paternity issues with Abba songs.

And it's hard to read anything by a member of the Durrell family or a book like The Magus without wanting to catch the next flight to Greece.

It must come from that kind of stuff because after all, most of the actual marketing for Greece strikes me as pretty tone deaf. Check this ad out:

Whenever I see these billboards or ads, I think, is this really the message you want to send during the financial crisis? Didn't everyone get really upset when the Germans suggested you sell some islands to cover your debt? And now you have a picture of the Acropolis with the tagline "A masterpiece you can afford." I mean, that literally makes it sound like it's for sale.

I know these ads came out a while ago, but they're still all over the place. Might be time to take them down...

So actually, maybe if you need good publicity, the best idea is to just get a British guy to write a book about you.

Athens Fringe Festival

2010-06-20T23:12:00.000+03:00

This weekend I've been volunteering at the Athens Fringe Festival. For those who've never heard of a Fringe Festival before, here's a quick overview. There are fringe festivals all over the world (the most famous is in Edinburgh, Scotland) and I think the best way to explain them is that it's a place for all kinds of art and creative expression that might not find a venue otherwise.

That doesn't necessarily mean that more conventional forms aren't represented (there's plenty of theatre, music and paintings, for example) but that it's a place for people to play around and experiment. In the case of the Athens Fringe Festival, pretty much anyone can perform or display their art as long as they pay a small fee to help cover costs.

In practice, that means that the Athens Fringe Festival is a mixed-bag. Some stuff is great. Other stuff is on the fringe for a reason. But it's exciting to go and not know what you're going to see.

My favorites were a performance by a deaf group dancing and singing to music and Mihalis Moulakis' show where between songs he narrated a story about choosing a memory to live in for all eternity. An honorable mention goes to a video art installation with sketches and animation called "Athens belongs to Fragile Humans." That list probably gives you a good taste of what the festival was like.

My least favorite act? This weird slow dance where two people mirrored each other exactly and then ended with loud screaming. Not sure what you were going for there, buddy.

Covers by Foivos Delivorias (Φοίβος Δεληβοριάς)

2010-06-18T19:58:00.001+03:00

Here are two awesome covers in Greek of American songs. I recently got introduced to Delivorias' music, and I think he's fast becoming one of my favorite Greek singers. I've spent the last two days listening to everything I could find online. Check out these two covers to get a taste and see if you can figure out where the music comes from (hint: both are American musicians).

You're the best

2010-06-17T20:17:00.001+03:00

Hey, you. Yeah, you there, at the computer screen.

I just want to say thank you for reading this blog.

This blog has been a great way to process my year and share stories and photos. It's so cool to me that people are actually interested in it. I knew I could count on my parents and aunt to read (and basically Mollie's whole extended family) but I've actually gotten to interact with quite a few people I didn't even know beforehand because of The Daily Feta.

Lindsay and Meredith stopped by Athens on their way to the islands and we went for a walk up Lykavittos. I've gotten emails about the finer points of learning Modern Greek from Alan in Brighton, England. And last night I got drinks with my friend Meg (my unofficial publicist) and Mihalis Moulakis, who is, among other things, a great singer and a loyal reader of the blog. I really felt like a celebrity or something that someone wanted to meet me just because of the blog.

So thanks for reading. Thanks for emailing me (there's a link on my profile) and thanks for being so awesome.

I know this is a pretty cheesy post to write, but what the heck. Don't think it means I'm done though! I'll be blogging until I leave Greece, and maybe even for a while after.

If you're in Athens, check out Mihalis playing at the Athens' Fringe Festival tonight. 11 p.m. at Κτήριο 56, Πειραιώς 254 ("Ktirio 56" 254, Peiraios Street). He's a great guy and it's going to be a fantastic show. Sneak preview here.

Funny Bulgarian Signs

2010-06-16T22:05:00.002+03:00

Since I'm not a fluent Cyrillic reader (and I'm guessing you're not either) here are my interpretations of what some signs we saw in Bulgaria were really saying.

How can these signs on Mt. Vitosha not mean that Bulgaria is developing crazy futuristic weapons to destroy mankind?

Here's a closeup. That guy is clearly getting viciously shot by a robot-tank. Also note the creative spelling.

Here's another spot on the mountain where you're just walking along and then a spike-wheeled machine with a hammer comes along to murder you.

I think this is supposed to be a "Baby on Board" sign but it really looks like someone is robbing this baby.

Finally, here's the hostel we stayed out. You can imagine how great we felt about paying in advance when we showed up and these two signs were next to each other...

Hiking Mt. Vitosha

2010-06-16T21:27:00.000+03:00

Just outside of Sofia, Mt. Vitosha is one of the easiest natural escapes in Bulgaria. But for a mountain so close to the capital, Vitosha is still largely unspoiled, green and beautiful.

Bulgaria is famous for its hiking and skiing and I could definitely see why. I'd love to come back one day and do a multi-day hike on some of the well-maintained trails (they even have huts where you can sleep so a tent's not necessary). For skiers, Bulgaria is supposed to be one of the best value ski getaways in Europe. A three day unlimited lift pass was the equivalent of about 50 euros.

In equal proportion to Bulgaria's good value and beauty are its quirks. For example, while we hiked along the mountain we noticed that Bulgarians wear significantly less clothes when they hike than I've seen in other countries. I probably saw three guys with their shirts on all day and we saw a woman hiking in a bikini, but the real highlight was a sixty-year-old man wearing only hiking boots and a very tight Speedo. Wow. I wish I'd taken a photo but I was really not sure how to even go about doing that.

Another funny part about the mountain is that since it's a ski resort in the winter, they have chair lifts up to the top which they run year round. So we hiked up to the top and then rode the chair lift to the bottom (maybe the opposite of what most people would do but I like going up and always think descents are boring).

This was definitely not the newest chair lift in the world. With all the squeaks and creaks (and the broken cable we saw on the rocks below), we were pretty excited when we made it to the bottom in one piece.

Except getting off the chair lift was the really hard part. They don't slow the chairs down at all, and without skis and snow to simply glide on, you have to jump off the seat and out of the way very, very quickly. In order to help you, a shirtless Bulgarian man grabs your arm and literally yanks you out of the seat and to the side. Here he is in action:

The mixture of shock and pain on that man's face as he's getting grabbed really says it all.

Here's a photo of all of us at the top. It's pretty cool that Vitosha is high enough to have patches of snow year round (you can see some behind us).

Walking on Fire and Water in Bulgaria

2010-06-15T17:38:00.000+03:00

The thrills of Sofia weren't standard tourist attractions. Instead they were all these funky little things we stumbled across.

Case in point: My favorite thing we did was climb into these giant plastic balls and walk on this pond. It was like being in a human-sized hamster ball, but on water. Totally hilarious and awesome.

Here I am inside the ball as they're starting to inflate it.

Walking on water!

And now we battle each other!

Another highlight was a restaurant that we ate at where they had a traditional Bulgarian folk show. That included:

Music and dancing

For the grand finale, a man spread out burning hot coals in a pit and he and a woman walked on them with their bare feet while holding a religious icon. I have no idea how that works but it was crazy!

In conclusion, come to Bulgaria if you want to walk on things you never thought you could walk on before.

Hot Hot Heat

2010-06-15T17:26:00.000+03:00

It's 99 degrees in Athens today.

I am boiling. Even just walking across the campus seems to take an immense effort. I guess this is the deal for summer from here on out. I understand why Greeks spend so much of it at the beach. You know it's bad when you're on a bus and start really empathizing with rotisserie chicken (or here in Greece, with a lamb on the spit). I think I've come to a more complete understanding of how they feel.

Tomorrow, I start summer camp which means lots of running around chasing little kids outside. I hope I survive. I'll keep you updated.

New Article in Glimpse Magazine

2010-06-14T20:50:00.000+03:00

Check out my latest article for Glimpse magazine. It's a funny creative non-fiction piece about my American family having dinner with a Greek family on Crete.

It's a little bit further on the creative side, so I changed my friend's name to not misrepresent him. Unfortunately, my family doesn't get the same treatment but they've lived with me long enough to know I'm allowed to nudge the facts around a little bit to get a better story. Anyway, check the story out here and tell me what you think!

And, in case you weren't already convinced that I'm giving you the most up-to-date travel tips around, check out the latest articles in the NY Times travel section. Seems like somebody's been reading this blog...

Belgrade? Brussels? Got it covered.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/travel/13hours.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/travel/13next.html?src=me&ref=travel

Photos from Sofia

2010-06-14T20:43:00.000+03:00

It's been a slow week for updates here at The Daily Feta, a problem I'm going to resolve right away now that I'm back in Greece. Sofia was an interesting place, not very much to see as far as tourist sites but some great nature and funky cultural events that I'll tell you more about in a bit.

For now, here's what the city looks like:

This is what my Bulgarian friend calls "Sofia's Yellow Brick Road." I think the similarities end at both roads being made of brick.

Religious icons for sale

Sofia has more statues than anywhere I've ever been. This was my favorite, which we nicknamed "Giant Head"

The only thing Sofia has more of than statues is McDonald's. I swear there was a McDonald's on every corner. Sofia has to be a strong contender for highest McDonald's-to-people ratio in the world.

Welcome to Sofia

2010-06-12T17:04:00.002+03:00

I probably won't be blogging this weekend because I took a last minute trip to Sofia, Bulgaria. I'm trying to make the most of my last few weeks in this region and see everything.

Stories and photos to come...

TOMS Shoes

2010-06-12T06:06:00.001+03:00

I went to an interesting lecture about blending for-profit entrepreneurship with good work last night. It was at the Benaki Museum Annex (they seem to host the most interesting lectures) and the speaker was Blake Mycoskie, the founder of TOMS Shoes.

For those of you who don't know, TOMS Shoes donates a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair you purchase. But they're also a for-profit business and doing very well. It's pretty interesting stuff, and Blake was a great speaker, very funny and self-deprecating.

If you're in the market for a new pair of kicks, you should definitely check TOMS out (the name is short for Tomorrows, by the way, but that didn't fit on the shoes)

Greece by the Numbers

2010-06-11T00:18:00.002+03:00

I always tell you stories about Greece but I don't report too many hard facts. Unfortunately, I've always been more qualitative than quantitative. Here's a look though, at some important numbers in Modern Greece.

1829 – achieved independence from Ottoman Empire

1974- Greece holds democratic elections, becomes a parliamentary republic

10,749,943 – population of Greece

98% of the population are Greek Orthodox Christians

100% of Greek Orthodox priests have large beards

3,686,371- population of Athens metropolitan area

79.8- life expectancy at birth

81- airports in Greece

324- Athenians who declared on their property tax forms that they had pools

16,974- Pools that showed up in Athens when they used Google Earth to verify tax forms

2 euros- cost of a gyro

9570 feet- height of Mt. Olympus

12- main Greek gods

227- inhabited Greek islands

2756- average hours of sunlight per year

The Daily Feta Map

2010-06-09T17:39:00.001+03:00

Here's a little bit of technology for you all out there. I've been working on a guide for next year's Teaching Fellows (all the information and tips I wish I'd known when I'd gotten to Greece) and I think I'll be sharing some of that here.

This project I'm working on is an interactive google map of Athens with my favorite restaurants, sites and activities. In the meantime, I put together a map which links to all the Greek locations from this blog. It's not 100% complete yet, but you can still get a glimpse of where all these adventures have been happening. Zoom in, drag the map around and click on the icons to read brief blurbs. I'm still working out some kinks but I think it's pretty cool.

View The Daily Feta-Greece Blog in a larger map

My Greece Bucket List

2010-06-07T23:04:00.000+03:00

Well, the countdown to the end has begun. I finally took the plunge and bought my ticket back to the U.S. from Greece. I'd been putting it off for a while, unsure about dates and not ready to really admit that I was leaving, but today was the day.

In large part, I bought my ticket because of some great news: I found a job teaching in Boston for next year. I'm really excited about the new school and building on what I've learned from my year here. But I'm sad about leaving Greece. There are so many things I'm going to miss. I was considering making a list of things that I'll miss but decided that's better left for the very end. So instead, here's my "bucket list" of things that I have to do before I leave Greece.

1) Visit the island of Xios and hike through the rural mastikahoria, villages where they harvest unique-tasting mastic gum (where we get the word "masticate" from)

2) Master the passive voice in Greek. I am very challenged by it.

3) Learn how to cook fakes, Greek lentils. Everyone says it's easy. A taxi driver even gave me a recipe once. But mine never taste like the soup in the tavernas...

4) See a concert at the Acropolis and a play at Epidavros, two ancient venues used for summer events.

5) Visit the home village of my Greek tutor, Litsa, in the Peloponnesos and practice my Greek with her parents.

6) Eat something in a mavrodafni sauce, which I keep reading about in books but never seeing on menus.

7) Take a trip to the island of Ithaka and wander around shouting lines from the Odyssey.

8) Visit the Maniot villages of the Peloponnese with my friend Marina and hopefully not get killed (the Maniots are famous for blood feuds and lovely stone architecture)

I'm sure there's much more that I want to do but that's what comes to mind right now. Now we just have to see if I can fit all that in to just 6 weeks...

Greek Amusement Parks

2010-06-06T11:34:00.000+03:00

After an exciting and hilarious visit to "Allou! Fun Park" on the outskirts of Athens, I'm ready to report back on a few of the significant differences between Greek and American amusement parks.

1) At Allou Fun Park all of the people controlling the rides were attractive young people. In America, the people controlling the rides are weird-looking Carnies with small hands and large tattoos.

2) At Allou Fun Park they serve hot dogs with shredded cabbage and carrot. In America, sometimes they will dip a hot dog in batter and then deep fry it, creating a corn dog.

3) At Allou Fun Park rides have simple names like "4D," "5D" and even "6D." I'm pretty sure that the fourth dimension is time, so I'm not sure about what the connection is between that and a giant metal arm that swings you in full circles. In America, rides have names like "Superman," "Batman," and "Lazy River."

One similarity between the theme parks? At both, I definitely thought I was going to throw up or die. Possibly both.

Summer is here!

2010-06-06T11:19:00.001+03:00

Despite the fact that it's a bit gray and rainy this weekend (very unusual for Athens), summer is officially here. The city is alive with all sorts of events and special activities which makes Athens a very exciting place to live.

Last night, I climbed up to a rock outcropping on top of Lykavittos Hill with some friends. We were sitting directly above the Lykavittos Theatre and had a great (re: free) view of the Rufus Wainwright concert that was going on below. Our seats gave new meaning to the "nosebleed section." I'm really glad we didn't pay since the concert wasn't all that great. Rufus really needs to: a) cheer up and b) learn how to enunciate. Every single song was just depressed mumbling. But it was still really cool to be perched up on top of the city, drinking a beer and listening to live music.

On Friday night, I saw a fellow American ex-pat, Andi, perform an incredible viola concert of classical pieces along with some original works by Greek composers and her own stuff. It was interesting to see the way she took the classical influences and blended them with some traditional Greek styles (including reciting ancient poetry while she played). I'm normally not much of a classical music person, but when someone's clearly talented, it shows. Andi was also performing in an old restored mansion which added to the atmosphere.

Some other summer performances that I'm looking forward to:

-The Athens Fringe Festival (my friend Litsa is helping to organize the festival and some other friends will be performing)
-Seeing a classical Greek drama at the ancient amphitheatre of Epidavros
-Outdoor concerts at the Acropolis

Innovative Driving Techniques

2010-06-03T23:42:00.002+03:00

Another strike today in Athens, which meant that I had to take a taxi to get downtown for Greek class. It's always a pain when the public transportation is striking because there's a ton of traffic and my only options are an hour-and-a-half walk or a taxi. With today's temperature in the 80s (26 celsius), the walk was out.

But while I thought having to take a taxi would be a bummer, I was sorely mistaken. My cabdriver saw the backed up traffic, swore loudly, then swerved the taxi ONTO the tram tracks and sped along them. "There's a strike today. Don't worry, there's no tram," he explained when I asked him what he was doing. We were downtown in no time.

I think I'm going to miss that spirit of problem-solving when I get back to the U.S.

Books About Greece: Zorba the Greek

2010-06-02T23:41:00.006+03:00

There's a reason Zorba the Greek is the most famous Modern Greek book around.

Nikos Kazantzakis is a genius. The characters are so vivid, so fully alive and more than anything else, so Greek.

I guess I've been in a philosophical mood lately. The last two books I've read (both of which I couldn't put down) were Zorba the Greek and Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses. Although you probably wouldn't think of reading the two as a pair, I think they both grapple with similar issues.

Zorba is narrated by an educated, well-traveled, scholarly young man from Crete. He's studied philosophy and religion but he realizes that he hasn't ever actually done the gritty, dirty work of actually living. He's only just studied how to live. Luckily, he meets Zorba, a grizzled old Greek who seems to be life incarnate. The two head to Crete to open up a lignite mine, becoming fast friends and sharing life philosophies. Eventually our narrator begins to question his Buddhist intellectual detachment when faced with Zorba's full-throated love of physical, tangible life.

Rushdie's The Satanic Verses is about two Indian men, who've led completely different lives. One has tried his hardest to assimilate into a "white" British identity while the other is a Bollywood film star. After an explosion on a plane, the two men are both transformed, one seemingly into an angel and the other into a devil. At first, their roles seem obvious, but it soon becomes harder to tell exactly who is the hero and who is the villain.

The Satanic Verses is about a whole host of issues but the main theme I took away was the difficulty in defining precisely what is "good" and what is "evil." Like Zorba, it's entirely absorbing as a story (I think it might be one of my new favorite books) but it also forces the reader to think about some very weighty spiritual and philosophical issues. Ultimately, both books are asking "What is the right way to lead a life?" and "What is a life worth living?"

I could say much more, but I think I'll let you read the books for yourself and form your own opinions. In the meantime, here are some of my favorite quotes from Zorba:

"The sea, autumn mildness, islands bathed in light, fine rain spreading a diaphanous veil over the immortal nakedness of Greece. Happy is the man, I thought, who, before dying, has the good fortune to sail the Aegean Sea.

Many are the joys of this world- women, fruit, ideas. But to cleave that sea in the gentle autumnal season, murmuring the name of each islet, is to my mind the joy most apt to transport the heart of man into paradise. Nowhere else can one pass so easily and serenely from reality to dream. The frontiers dwindle, and from the masts of the most ancient ships spring branches and fruits. It is as if here in Greece necessity is the mother of miracles."

* * *

"'You don't want any trouble!' Zorba exclaimed in stupefaction. 'And pray, what do you want, then?'

I did not answer.

'Life is trouble,' Zorba continued. 'Death, no. To live- do you know what that means? To undo your belt and look for trouble!'

I still said nothing. I knew Zorba was right, I knew it, but I did not dare. My life had got on the wrong track, and my contact with men became now a mere soliloquy. I had fallen so low that, if I had to choose between falling in love with a woman and reading a book about love, I should have chosen the book."

* * *

"I could hear the sea murmuring, I closed my eyes again and I was deeply happy. My body was light and contented, like an animal after the hunt, when it has caught and eaten its prey and is lying in the sun, licking its lips. My mind, a body too in its way, was resting, contented. It seemed to have found a marvellously simple answer to the vital, complicated problems which tormented it.

All of the joy of the previous night flowed back from the innermost depths of my being, spread out into fresh courses and abundantly watered the earth of which I was made. As I lay, with my eyes closed, I seemed to hear my being bursting its shell and growing larger. That night, for the first time, I felt clearly that the soul is flesh as well, perhaps more volatile, more diaphanous, perhaps freer, but flesh all the same. And the flesh is soul, somewhat turgid perhaps, somewhat exhausted by its long journeys, and bowed under the burden it has inherited."

* * *

"I looked at him and was very happy. I felt these minutes on that deserted shore to be simple but rich in deep human value. And our meal every evening was like the stews that sailors make when they land on some deserted beach- with fish, oysters, onions and plenty of pepper; they are more tasty than any other dish and have no equal for nourishing a man's spirit. There, at the edge of the world, we were like two shipwrecked men."

Cape Town exhibit, June 10, 8 p.m.

2010-06-01T13:57:00.001+03:00

One of the best parts of living in Athens is being surrounded by so many creative and artistic people. In my year here I've met comic book authors, international literary agents, festival directors, photographers and jazz musicians. I wasn't even trying.

Everyone here seems to have some crazy hidden talent. My friend Giorgos, for example, I first thought was only an architect. But slowly I discovered that he was also a pilot and an incredible photographer. I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow he let slip that he can also breathe underwater.

But back to the point. Giorgos is having an exhibit of some photos he took in Cape Town. The exhibit will be up from June 10-12 and if you're in Athens you should definitely check it out. Giorgos is a great guy, the photos are beautiful and best of all, he's donating all the proceeds to a charity in a Cape Town township.

Here's all the info in English and Greek (click the images to enlarge)

Uh oh...

2010-06-01T13:40:00.000+03:00

From inside Kalemegdan, a park/ancient fortress in Belgrade

You can't say the Serbians didn't warn you...

Photos of Belgrade

2010-05-31T17:18:00.000+03:00

No Sleep Till Athens

2010-05-30T12:23:00.002+03:00

I just got back to Athens after an 18-hour bus ride from Belgrade. I'll be putting up some posts from my brief time in Serbia tomorrow, but until then let me tell you about the bus ride.

First of all, why would anyone take a bus from Belgrade to Athens? Two reasons:
1) It's the cheapest way.
2) I'm inexplicably drawn to crazy journeys like that. Need a partner for a train ride across Russia? I'd probably be down.

Now that we've established why I was on the bus, let me give you some highlights from the trip:

Our driver was named Zorro. At first I thought I'd heard wrong but I confirmed three times. "Your name is actually Zorro? For real?" "Yes. Please stop talking and let me drive in peace."

The guy sitting behind me had a quote from the movie 300 as his ringtone so every time he got a text message during the night, I woke up to an angry man shouting "TONIGHT WE DINE IN HELL!!!"

You run out of things to do on a long bus ride pretty fast. I set some new high scores in the snake game on my cell phone. The guy across the aisle from me bought a Serbian Playboy at a rest stop (no shame, he didn't even try to hide it) and ended up reading all the articles.

3 Reasons to Visit Budapest

2010-05-29T17:43:00.000+03:00

1) Goulash

It tastes so much better than it looks. I swear.

2) Thermal Baths

The lobby of the Széchenyi Baths, a massive complex with incredible architecture. The best part is a courtyard with hot mineral water which you can soak in year round. I didn't take my camera inside (it's not waterproof) but here's a photo from the web.

3) Cool doors

I don't know why, but everyone has awesome doors in Budapest.

More Photos of Sarajevo

2010-05-29T17:35:00.000+03:00

The Miljacka River, which runs through the middle of Sarajevo

The Latin Bridge, where in 1914 Gavrilo Princip shot Archduke Ferdinand setting WWI into motion

Not Allowed

2010-05-27T19:39:00.005+03:00

Do not bring ice cream, roller skates, cigarettes, dogs, bicycles or handguns into the Sarajevo Post Office.

Especially no ice cream or handguns.

Leaving Sarajevo

2010-05-27T15:00:00.080+03:00

My time here in Sarajevo has gone by all too quickly. This city has quite a bit of charm, from the beautiful hillsides to the friendly people to the spectacular local beer.

For a city whose buildings are still riddled with bullet holes and whose streets bear the impressions of grenade blasts, it's a remarkably hopeful place. Everyone here has been so eager to tell us about Sarajevo's long history of peaceful coexistence between religions and about the city's role as a crossroads between East and West. Between the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarians, Sarajevo has soaked up a mysterious and cosmopolitan air that even a brutal war couldn't wipe away.

Sarajevans seem to have a real optimism for the future. The economy is rough and the outside world is mostly inaccessible due to visa difficulties but the people I've spoken to are eager to put the past behind them. My tour guide, a young woman with blue eyeliner and long black hair, told us about how she's studying to become a pharmacist and has learned to live with Serbs even if she can't understand what they did.

The owner of my hostel told me about his experiences in the war last night. He described how he sat with his six-month-old baby boy and his wife and thought "This is Europe. The world won't allow war here." He told us how when the Serbs began shelling the city, he went with his neighbors up to the hills to defend their homes. The three of them, Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim, respectively, fought side-by-side to defend their families. Thankfully, all of his immediate family survived. And now that the war is over, they're eager to share their experiences and their newly rebuilt and beautiful city.

That's not to say there aren't problems here. Bosnia definitely has more than its fair share. But at the same time, Sarajevo is a unique city that's changing and developing by the minute. It's the kind of place that makes me want to go home and tell everyone, "Change your plans! Go to Sarajevo!" both because it's so interesting and because the tourist dollars are so badly needed.

So what are you doing? Go visit Sarajevo already!

Photos of Sarajevo

2010-05-26T17:09:00.000+03:00

A view of the city

The tunnel that during the siege was the only way to get food/medical supplies in or out of Sarajevo

The other side of the tunnel

A "Sarajevo rose," the indentation left in the concrete where a rocket-propelled grenade exploded

The inside of a synagogue in downtown Sarajevo. Judaism, Islam, Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity are all represented in the city.

Top 5 Ways to Live Abroad for Free

2010-05-25T10:11:00.001+03:00

Check out my latest article for Glimpse.org.

Interviews with five young people living and working abroad, find out how you can do it too!

http://glimpse.org/stories/view/top-5-ways-to-live-abroad-for-free/

Train to the Balkans

2010-05-25T10:10:00.000+03:00

After an 11 hour train journey, Erica and I have arrived safe and sound in Sarajevo.

My first impressions are that it is a much larger city than I was expecting and much more beautiful. I have also noticed that the keyboards here do not have an apostrophe key which is going to make this post a bit difficult.

We have already met some incredible fellow travelers, really cool people. I guess Sarajevo draws a certain kind of adventurous crowd of people with interesting histories.

Another first impression of the city is that it is surrounded by green beautiful hills. They look incredibly tempting for a hike and to get a view of the city but I can not dare step foot on them because they are covered in landmines. The no go areas (basically anywhere unpaved), in addition to the bullet holes in buildings and blast marks in the concrete streets are reminders of how recently Sarajevo was at war. I have never been somewhere like that before.

Here is another reminder that I am not in Kansas anymore. When we got to the train station, the owner of our hostel was coming to pick us up. (The hostel is incredible, by the way. If you stay in Sarajevo, stay at Hostel and Guesthouse SA). Before the real guy got to us, another driver tried to trick us into getting into his car. Basically he listened to our conversation with some other backpackers headed to the same place and then said "Ok, Martin, I am here to pick you up."

We smelled something fishy since no reservation was under the name Martin and refused to go with him. A few seconds later, the real pick up arrived. Once we were inside, he said "It is good you did not go with him. He works for Mafia hostel."

Looks like we really dodged a bullet there...

The Budapest Metro and "Kontroll"

2010-05-23T20:55:00.000+03:00

What's particularly fun about this trip is that I really don't know what to expect. I don't really have an image in my head to compare these cities to.

In fact, the only images I'd ever seen of Budapest before getting here were from the Hungarian film, "Kontroll." If you haven't seen the movie, I definitely recommend it. It's shot entirely in the Budapest subway system and it's really beautifully done. Part comedy about free-riders trying to escape from the ticket police on the metro, part thriller, part allegory about good and evil, it's the kind of unique and atmospheric movie that doesn't come along very often. You've got to see it for yourself.

Anyway, the funny part about me liking this movie is that the Budapest Metro itself became a tourist attraction for me. I was really excited to see the setting for the film and had Erica take lots of pictures of me reenacting scenes from the movie. I'm pretty sure most Hungarians walking by us thought I was deranged.

Welcome to Budapest

2010-05-23T20:43:00.001+03:00

After a week grading papers and typing up worksheets, we have our summer vacation.

I met my friend Erica in Budapest for a week of traveling through the Balkans. So far, we've soaked in thermal baths, walked along the Danube and eaten our bodyweight in goulash. We also got soaked in a thunderstorm which was an interesting break from the dry Athenian weather.

True to form, during the thunderstorm, Erica told me about a man who's been struck by lightning more than 5 times. Nothing like old friends to calm your nerves.

A Great Meal and A Recipe for Success

2010-05-21T19:40:00.000+03:00

Here's the photographic evidence of a fantastic meal on Santorini.

A Santorini Salad with complete with local chloro cheese and Santorini capers

Fava in Greek, or pureed yellow split-peas with onions and olive oil

Some fantastic fresh fish. Fried whitebait, marithes, and grilled tsipoura, which I don't believe has an English translation other than "delicious"

Although it was definitely the simplest, the fresh, summery taste of Santorini Salad was my favorite staple at all our meals. Here's the recipe, which is really just a list of fresh, delicious ingredients to combine.

First, make the dressing: Combine equal parts good quality olive oil and vinegar. Add a bit of minced garlic, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper.

Then, mix together in a bowl: sliced cucumber, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced onion and sliced green pepper, croutons and capers.

Dress lightly and, if you want, finish with fresh lemon juice.

Greek salads in Greece never feature lettuce, but if you want, you can throw some in as well. For a truly authentic taste, try to get Santorini capers, which are larger and sweeter than the capers I've tried before.

More Photos of Santorini

2010-05-20T19:32:00.000+03:00

A Must-Read Article

2010-05-20T07:31:00.001+03:00

Finally an article that sheds some light on why Greek protests turn violent. I felt like I actually learned something. It's great to read something that doesn't just lump "protestors" together with the kind of people who throw molotov cocktails and attack innocent people.

You've got to to read this. If only all journalists covering Greece were doing the kind of research Joanna Kakissis clearly did.

On a related note, I walked by the now-infamous Marfin Egnatia bank branch earlier this week. The windows were boarded up but the charred facade is a clear reminder about what happened there. The ground outside is covered with flowers, stuffed animals and letters, some sad, others outraged.

Vampires, Donkeys and A Bro-neymoon

2010-05-19T22:14:00.001+03:00

I did not want to go to Santorini.

I'd heard too much about it. "You have to go." "It's so beautiful." "I can't believe you haven't been to Santorini!"

After all, my favorite places in Greece have been the small villages, the little mountain towns and cobble-stones paths well-off the beaten trail. What possible interest could I have in visiting Greece's most famous island, complete with the most tourists?

But I couldn't resist forever. And, honestly, I'm really glad I went. Santorini deserves the hype. The white-washed houses clinging to a stunning volcanic cliffside are just as beautiful as everyone says. Despite the tourists, the locals were friendly and warm. And the food is outstanding, possibly the best I've had yet.

As Lawrence Durrell, a great writer who probably knew Greece better any other foreign author, said, "few, if any, good descriptions of Santorini have been written; the reality is so astonishing that prose and poetry, however winged, will forever be forced to limp behind."

I visited Santorini with one of my oldest friends, Jake, who is a true foodie. His family runs New York's famous Katz's Deli (check them out winning NYC's best pastrami sandwich) and so I knew we had to explore the culinary delights of Greece. During Jake's visit to Athens and Santorini, we chowed our way through the best of just about everything Greece has to offer from gyros to fresh fish and everything in between.

Food-wise, Santorini was a great choice for Jake's visit. Delicious. But visiting arguably Greece's most romantic spot with my dude friend from high school? Kind of awkward at times. After the fourth time we found ourselves surrounded by only honeymooners, we decided that our trip was officially "The Bro-neymoon."

Boy, was it bro-mantic.

We ate lunch on a black sand beach.

We took photos of each other next to panoramic views.

We visited Santorini's famous Red Beach

Actually, in true form as twenty-something guys, we got to the Red Beach, said "It looks nice but really boring," took this photo and drove off to get a beer.

Lawrence Durrell, in addition to raving about Santorini, also wrote about its superstitious nature. Apparently, the island is thought to be "a specially favoured home for the vampire." Durrell writes that he's heard an expression among Greek farmers that doing something redundant is like "taking vampires to Santorini."

I was skeptical, until I smelled the sulphur from the volcanic fumes and took this photo of Jake.

If that's not a vampire, I don't know what is.

Best Kept Travel Secrets

2010-05-19T12:37:00.002+03:00

A while ago, I helped contribute to an e-book project about best kept travel secrets. Packed chock-full of awesome travel secrets, the book is now available for free download. But what's even better is that for every person who downloads a copy of the book, TripBase is going to donate $1 to Charity:Water, an organization that provides clean drinking water in the developing world.

So here's a no brainer. Download the e-books, make the world a better place and read my contribution about "Secret Seafoods" in the foodie travel book.

Download the book here.

I've helped, please help too

Download Free eBooks

led by Tripbase

Santorini

2010-05-18T23:02:00.000+03:00

Santorini (I Think)

2010-05-16T17:00:00.000+03:00

If everything went well, I'm on Santorini with my friend Jake from high school. I've put off visiting the island because I haven't had time but also because it's such THE SPOT to visit in Greece that I almost didn't want to go, just to be difficult. But I could resist no longer. Everyone tells me it's incredible and I have to see for myself.

I'll post pictures and my impressions in the next few days.

Funny Youtube Videos

2010-05-15T17:11:00.001+03:00

The last day of class in Greece means pretty much the same thing as the last day of class in America: Party!

Before I gave in and let my kids celebrate the end of another school year (wow, that flew by), I had them do an activity where we all shared some goals for the future. I told my students about some of my goals: become fluent in Greek and Korean (clearly a long term project), visit every U.S. state and get certified as a teacher in Boston.

Then I had the kids share some goals of their own. My students make me so proud sometimes. These kids all came up with such admirable and heartfelt goals, from becoming a dance instructor to a doctor (who doesn't take bribes!) to just simply being a good citizen and helping Greece out of this tough situation.

Anyway, after saying goodbye, I let the kids break out all their junk food. We snacked and chatted while I showed them some funny Youtube videos.

Here are some videos that the kids got a kick out of: a supermarket musical, a dance in the London Metro, and a home shopping blooper with a ninja sword.

Kalogria

2010-05-14T19:10:00.000+03:00

Another highlight of my weekend visiting Christos and Kostas was the incredible beach/national park at Kalogria. Kalogria is a protected area with a long sand beach and a forest that almost made me think we were in the Serengeti.

When we got to the beach after a half-hour walk through the woods, I jumped into the sea for my second swim of the season. This time the water was undeniably warm. I stayed in for a long time splashing around and jumping over the waves like a little kid.

Continuing the little kid behavior (who doesn't act like they're 7 at the beach?), we built a massive sand castle, complete with double fortifications against the incoming tide.

Here's Lydia, our friend from Athens who drove us there, working on the inner courtyard

And here's the point of view of one of the sand soldiers, standing a lonely guard against his enemy, the sea.

Beach Bonfire in Aegio

2010-05-13T17:14:00.000+03:00

This past weekend, I visited two Greek friends who are studying at the university in Patras, about 3 hours outside Athens. Christos and Kostas are both absolutely hilarious and completely fluent in English. In fact, it's hard for me to believe how good their English is since they've never lived in an English-speaking country or even spent an extended period abroad.

Christos kindly invited us all to stay at his house for the weekend in the little seaside town of Aegio.

Aegio is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, a really calm and relaxing place to spend the weekend. Around Christos' house, there were tons of olive and citrus trees. The Greeks thought it was hilarious when I got excited about the lemon trees and told them I'd never seen a lemon growing before. That was unthinkable for them. On the other hand, it's pretty difficult for me to imagine a lemon grove in the middle of Manhattan. The whole rest of the weekend they kept making me take photos next to lemon trees.

My favorite thing we did all weekend was our bonfire on the beach. A bunch of their friends from university came down and we all hung out around the fire, drinking beers, eating, playing games and having a great time.

Some fun with long-exposure photos

A Greek Street Fair

2010-05-12T23:08:00.003+03:00

You are not going to believe the things I saw for sale tonight.

I visited a street fair in the Vrilissia neighborhood. The street fairs are held each year on a particular patron saint's day and are called panigyri, (you might remember my school's panigyri).

In some sense, the festivals have maintained a religious meaning even in Athens. Here, you can see the older Greeks lining up to enter the patron saint's church and worship.

But Vrilissia's street fair was really about shopping. There were tons of vendors who had set up tables and you could buy all kinds of things, including quite a few that were definitely not church-appropriate.

Here's a selection of the best:

Enormous phallus-shaped lollipops anyone?

Or what about a Hannah Montana underwear set?

You know you want to buy a chipmunk.

A mechanized stuffed grape leaf roller

Popcorn and Cotton Candy. That sounded delicious until I figured out that "cotton candy" in Greek is "Grandma's hair." I lost my appetite immediately.

Here's the haunted house. Or in Greek, the "traumatic house." (Correction: actually just the "scary house" but the word sounds just like traumatic in English) Doesn't that sound like fun?

Top 5 Things about Greek Middle School

2010-05-10T21:21:00.001+03:00

Tomorrow is the last day of regular classes at school. After that, my students will just be reviewing for and taking their exams. And then, summertime!

It's crazy how quickly this school year has gone by. For a while, the time hardly seemed to be moving at all and I felt like I'd never even figure out which room to go to, much less memorize my students' names. But today, I was actually really sad to say goodbye to my students. For the most part, I'm really going to miss these kids.

So in my students' honor, here's my top five favorite things about middle school in Greece.

1) That it's not called middle school but gymnasio, which sounds like a health club your grandma would visit.

2) That barely a day went by without a student bringing in chocolates or sweets to share for their name day or birthday.

3) That the girls are totally unafraid to loudly tell off the boys when they disagree on a point.

4) That the boys continue to ask me every day "Which team are you?" despite the fact that I've already explained that a) That sentence is utterly ungrammatical and b) I don't care at all about Greek sports

5) The way that my students know way more about American pop culture than I do and will just as easily explain something to me about the latest American T.V. series as they will about a Greek cultural point.

Let's Burger

2010-05-09T16:40:00.001+03:00

I try my hardest to cook healthy food for myself and explore as much of Greek cuisine as I can. But every once in a while, I need a break. I need something that tastes like home. I need... a big fat burger.

Finding a quality burger in Athens is easier said than done. There's a Greek dish, bifteki, that's basically a burger without the bun, but it's also seasoned differently and those flavors (along with the tendency to char the outside of the patty) spoil most Athenian burgers.

Enter Simply Burger. With locations all over Athens (and several throughout Greece), these people are obviously doing something right. Their burgers are excellent. I think I still prefer American burgers, but this guy, "The Cowboy" gives them a good run for their money.

BBQ Sauce, thick patty, onion rings, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, sesame-seed bun and a side of fresh-made fries. Welcome to Paradise.

An added bonus? The people who wrote the menu at Simply Burger threw in a bunch of random English phrases, including one where they use the word "burger" as a verb.

"Come on, everybody, let's burger!"

I can't decide whether that sounds delicious or gross.

Zitsa, Land of Wine and Fresh-Baked Bread

2010-05-08T16:56:00.000+03:00

This is a bottle of the naturally sparkling, sweet red wine that the town of Zitsa is famous for. Zitsa sits high in the hills of northwestern Greece, a town of about 600 people about 40 minutes away from Ioannina.

Kristin and I visited Zitsa on our roadtrip to Ioannina. We were drawn, not by the delicious wine or views of mountain ranges extending into neighboring Albania, but by the lure of a free couch to sleep on. Zitsa is home to one of Greece's most prolific CouchSurfers, an unbelievably hospitable baker and artist named Kostas.

Over the past three years, Kostas has hosted over 200 travelers, an incredible number considering that it's equal to a third of his entire village. The man has, in essence, single-handedly brought foreigners to his village.

As soon as we arrived, it was clear why everyone would want to visit Kostas, and why they'd come back again and again. Zitsa is beautiful and welcoming, full of lush forests, blooming wildflowers and the bleating of sheep. It's a Greek village straight out of a painting. But on top of that, Kostas and his family run the bakery (best bread ever), a sheep farm (best feta ever) and the local taverna (do I even need to say it? Best food ever).

In many ways, Zitsa was the archetypical little Greek village. But Zitsa also surprised us. Kostas' taverna, for example, was far from the little one-room, paper tablecloth establishment that I'm used to. This was a beautiful modern space decorated with large prints of photographs Kostas had taken and track-lighting. It also had a spectacular view of the valley below. Honestly, this taverna, Monastiraki, is worth the drive to Zitsa alone.

Between the taverna, the wine and Kostas' intellectual conversations (he described baking as "artistry" and asked us to tell him about "our passions") I started feeling pretty philosophical. You can tell from these overly artistic photos I took at dinner.

Blurry art shots or not, if you're in Northern Greece you definitely have to stop by Zitsa. While you're there, drop by the bakery and say hi to Kostas!

Photos of Athens Unrest in Foreign Policy

2010-05-07T16:33:00.001+03:00

There's a pretty incredible photojournalism spread about the Athens protests on ForeignPolicy.com today.

I'm not sure I'd characterize what happened as widespread rioting, which is what the implication of the accompanying text seems to be, but it's hard to argue with the power of these images. Pretty astounding.

This one in particular seems to capture the anti-government mood in Athens. This seems much more like the full-context reality of Athenian protests than the images of deserted streets burning or masked anarchists emerging from clouds of tear gas. I'm not saying those images aren't real, but without context they make it seem like all of Athens is a war-zone.

See all the photos here

Books About Greece: The Colossus of Maroussi by Henry Miller

2010-05-06T17:07:00.068+03:00

Have you thought, "I wish I could meet that author!" after finishing a good book?

I have that feeling a lot, especially when reading about Greece. I can imagine the wine-fueled discussions I'd have with Gerald Durrell, John Fowles, Cavafy and Homer sitting around a little table in a local taverna.

But that's not how I felt about Henry Miller. I'd like to give Henry Miller a good slap in the face. He is one stuck-up, pretentious son-of-a-gun.

When Miller indulges himself, The Colossus of Maroussi becomes a real slog to get through. For example, a long fantasy about Saturn where he writes sentences like "Saturn is life in suspense, not dead so much as deathless, i.e. incapable of dying... Saturn is postponement manifesting itself as an accomplishment in itself."

If you have any idea what he is talking about, you deserve an award.

I'm amazed that some other parts of the travelogue survived an editor, like the line "As I was leaving the museum I got the jitterbugs so bad that I made caca in my pants."

But the book is still worth reading because when Miller turns his gaze to Greece, he comes up with some incredible descriptions of this country and its people.

Some of my favorites:

"In Greece one has the desire to bathe in the sky. You want to rid yourself of your clothes, take a running leap and vault into the blue. You want to float in the air like an angel or lie in the grass rigid and enjoy the cataleptic trance. Stone and sky, they marry here."

"Athens and New York are electrically charged cities, unique in my experience. But Athens is permeated with a violet-blue reality which envelops you with a caress; New York has a trip-hammer vitality which drives you insane with restlessness, if you have no inner stabilizer. In both cases, the air is like champagne-- a tonic, a revivifier."

"It seems ridiculous to say so, yet I have the feeling that in Athens the miraculous light of day never entirely vanishes; in some mysterious way this soft, peaceful city never wholly lets the sun out of its grasp, never quite believes the day is done."

3 Dead in Athens Protests

2010-05-05T22:23:00.003+03:00

Today, the protests downtown got out of hand. A group of extremists set fire to a Marfin Egnatia bank branch in central Athens and three bank employees were killed.

What's so crazy about this is that the bank was just a regular old bank. It wasn't the Mint, or the National Bank or anything symbolic at all. The victims were just regular young Greek people doing their jobs. According to the local news reports, it was one man and two women, one of whom might have been pregnant. I cannot conceive of what these rioters thought they were accomplishing.

Despite the fact that there have been many protests before, today a line was clearly crossed. Greek has a long, proud history of taking to the streets and demonstrating. If you've been following this blog, you know that I normally think the international media coverage of Greece is sensationalistic and one-sided. But there's no defending people who would light a building on fire and then prevent firefighters from putting out the blaze while innocent people die. I think Prime Minister George Papandreou put it exactly right in his address to the nation tonight when he said, "A demonstration is one thing and murder is quite another."

The mood in Athens tonight is one of shock and disappointment. The Greeks that I know have a lot of sympathy for protesters but no tolerance whatsoever for this kind of violence. I hope today is a turning point. A time when people realize there are other ways of making their voices heard. I hope the media aren't right when they say this is only the beginning. This crisis is going to be painful for Greece, there's no question about that. But it can be a painful rebirth, a restructuring of the society into something better and more sustainable, ultimately into a place with more opportunities and growth. Or it can be the beginning of a slide into violence and mayhem. Only time will tell.

To hear more about what's going on, try checking out updates here or listening to the audio "Back Story" accompanying this NYT article, I think it does a good job of conveying the insanity of downtown but also the strange normality of life elsewhere in the city. Where I live, for example, there was absolutely no sign of anything out of the ordinary. Or read this AP article. You might be wondering why I'm only posting articles from international sources. Well, first of all, they're in English. But today they were one of the only sources of news since Greek journalists were striking (for most of the day) as well.

The Greek Oscars

2010-05-05T00:49:00.002+03:00

Without even trying, I somehow ended up at the Greek Oscars last night. It was the kind of ridiculous, random thing that only seems to happen when you're living abroad.

My friend Sophia called and said she had some extra tickets to "a movie event" so I met her downtown. Next thing I know, Greek paparazzi are taking photos of all the movie stars standing next to me. Except I had no idea who any of these people were. I felt kind of like I'd shown up at the Academy Awards and asked Brad Pitt if he worked there.

Despite being clueless, the βραβεία της Ελληνικής Ακαδημίας Κινηματογράφου (Greek Cinema Academy Awards) were pretty entertaining.

Some highlights:

-Half the winners didn't show up to the ceremony. One award was accepted by what seemed like a random dude who said, "I'm not Georgos [the guy who won the award]. He's not here. I don't know why he didn't come." Then he sat down.

-The winner for Best Actress was a transvestite from the film "Strella." Pretty progressive for Greece. My seat was far enough away from the stage though that I couldn't tell until someone told me.

-Between awards, they had these over-the-top metaphorical interludes involving a young boy discovering how the movies work. It was very strange and confusing. At one point the host basically said, "Honestly, what is going on here?"

If you're curious to know who actually won the awards, I'm going to assume you must be Greek and you'll be able to read this article with the full results.

Cooking For A Crisis: Fasolakia Recipe

2010-05-03T16:50:00.002+03:00

Delicious, easy, and very, very cheap. The perfect food for an economic crisis.

One of my goals for my time in Greece was to learn how to cook Greek food. I thought this would be a real challenge but I've actually been surprised by how easy most Greek dishes are. The focus tends to be on incredibly fresh ingredients prepared simply and eaten in great quantities with wine. How can you go wrong with that?

One of my favorite foods here is a taverna staple called, quite simply, Fasolakia (Little Beans). It's green beans stewed with onions, tomatoes, garlic and potatoes until all the flavors have combined into something soft, tender and magical.

Most American recipes call for green beans to be crisp and firm, but this is the exact opposite. Everything is supposed to fall apart. It's the kind of food you can take your dentures out and eat with your gums (ok, not exactly) but it doesn't matter because the flavors are so delicious.

Everyone has their own recipe for Fasolakia so I combined a few suggested versions and made one of my own.

Ingredients:

-2 pounds of runner beans (or regular old green beans if you can't find these), with ends broken off and strings taken out

-3 or 4 medium onions, diced

-4 cloves of garlic, minced (although in my opinion there's no such thing as too much onions and garlic in this dish so feel free to add more)

-A full can of diced tomatoes (or if you're feeling ambitious, a couple of ripe tomatoes without skins grated)

-One bunch of parsley, chopped

-3 medium potatoes, sliced thickly

-Salt and pepper

-Good quality olive oil

First, heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of your pot. Then add in the onions and cook them on high until they're tender (about 5-10 minutes)

Add in your minced garlic, a generous amount of pepper and half the parsley. Saute everything for another 5 minutes.

Add in your tomatoes and bring everything to a boil. After another 5 minutes, stir in the potatoes, some salt and a bit more pepper.

Now layer the runner beans on top. Don't stir them in since you actually want them to cook from the steam. Sprinkle the rest of the parsley on top. The liquid from the tomatoes shouldn't be covering the beans, it should be about midway through the bean layer. If it's too low, add some water.

Finally, turn the heat down to simmer, cover the pot and simmer for at least an hour, checking occasionally to see if it needs more water added. This is one of those dishes where an hour is the minimum, and it will taste good, but if you have the time and you can slow cook it for hours it's going to taste even better. And the leftovers the next day? Perfection.

Greeks traditionally serve Fasolakia as a vegetarian dish with a hunk of fresh Feta cheese on top and some bread for dipping. If you wanted to you could also top it with some meat, maybe chicken or veal.

Hope you enjoy this delicious meal! If I can make it, anyone can. Let me know if you have any questions.

Hitting the Beach in Athens

2010-05-02T19:04:00.000+03:00

With the sun out and the mercury hitting 80 degrees today, it was a perfect opportunity to go to the beach and get my first swim of the season. I can't say that the water was warm but it wasn't freezing either. I'd call it somewhere between "refreshing" and "exhilarating."

My friends Marina, Katherine and I took the tram from the center of Athens straight to the water. Near where I live it's easy to forget how close Athens is to the sea, except for the moments when the wind changes and you smell the salt in the air or a lost seagull flies overhead. So it felt pretty awesome to be able to take public transportation right to the beach.

By Greek standards, this beach was disgusting. By American standards, I thought it was pretty nice. The water was clear and seemed clean, there was sand and sun. What more could you want?

Of course, no day at the beach would be complete without ice cream. There were so many options to choose from and Greek ice cream bars all have great names like "Chocolate Scandal" and "Magnum." I decided on "Status: Mystery."

As far as I could tell, the only mystery was what was going to be inside the box, but it turned out to be an ice cream bar just like I expected.

How Americans See Europe

2010-05-02T18:39:00.001+03:00

Hilarious and so sadly accurate. Click on the picture to see it full size.

From infographicworld.com

Two Good Articles About Greece

2010-05-01T21:12:00.001+03:00

I can't tell you how many articles about Greece I read each day that are completely, wildly off base. Some are obviously written without any perspective on the country, others rely on easy stereotypes and misconceptions.

But every once in a while, someone hits the nail on the head.

Nikos Konstandaras, editor of Greece's Kathimerini newspaper, wrote a very moving and powerful editorial, which I'm glad to see the International Herald Tribune picked up and published.

Today, there was a very perceptive article about tax evasion from the NYT. I went for a long run through the northern suburbs today. I stopped at the top of a hill and looked at the sprawl of mansions and luxury homes. It doesn't take more than that view to convince you that the numbers on Greek wealth are underreported.

But what I thought was far more interesting about this article was the way it addresses the constant "lure of petty corruption." Article after article talks about the fakelakia (little envelopes full of cash) that Greeks have to pay for top-notch medical treatment, or the overt bribery of inspectors and tax-collectors. What most journalists miss is the little stuff, which is even more widespread.

The Greek anticorruption activist interviewed here is spot-on when he talks about the daily option of accepting a lower price without a receipt (and, obviously, without taxes being paid). Just one example, when I was shopping around for a rental car last weekend, one rental agency didn't know I could understand their Greek and they openly discussed 200 euros for three days with a receipt or 130 for three days with no paperwork. I ended up going to another dealership altogether (and got a receipt) but that's not at all an isolated experience.

Three Greek Songs I Like

2010-04-30T21:05:00.009+03:00

I've noticed that I tend to only post Greek music on the blog when I think it is sub-par. To fix that, here are three songs that I actually like quite a bit. With a lot of Greek music, the appeal is more in the lyrics than anything else so I'll try to get some translations up soon, but in the meantime here's a somewhat representative assortment of good Greek music.

It's still an acquired taste, but I think I'm acquiring it.

First up, Alkinoos Ioannidis singing "Kemal," one of the most famous Greek songs and a particularly epic one. The song is the story of Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern Turkish state and a staunch advocate of a secular republic. Then, Greek rockers Upoyeia Revmata sing "San Fos" (Like Light).

Finally, Nikos Portokaloglou and Melina Kana sing "Kleise Ta Matia Sou" (Close Your Eyes). This song is a good example of the older style of Greek music, the kind you hear in a smoky taverna or hidden bar. The song was apparently also featured in a movie, and it's fun to see in the clip the way that the music used to be performed. You can tell it's a Greek movie because there is a lot of smoking followed by passionate making-out.

UPDATE: If you want to see the lyrics to these songs, I've put up my own (attempted) translations in the comments section below. Let me know if I missed something. I particularly find the lyrics to "Kemal" fascinating. I had no idea some Greeks felt such reverence for Ataturk...

Photos of the Vikos Gorge

2010-04-29T17:32:00.000+03:00

Don't worry, I'm not backtracking on the "glad I didn't bring a camera" comment. These photos are not from the Oxia lookout point, but from inside the gorge itself.

We had a great hike down and cooled off our feet in the freezing cold river at the bottom before hiking back up and out. Next time, I would love to do a multi-day hike through the villages and along the length of the gorge.

The Zagorohoria

2010-04-29T17:30:00.000+03:00

The Zagorohoria (or "Villages of the Zagori") are some of the oldest and most traditional in Greece. Tucked away in the mountains of Epirus, just next to the magnificent Vikos Gorge, they're famous for their stone architecture, local cuisine and beautiful location.

The great part about the Zagorohoria is that while you can drive between the villages, you also have the option of hiking along the kalderimia (cobble-stone donkey paths). It's a great way to get out into nature and see some of Greece's best mountains even if you only have a short time to spare.

Here's a look at some of the traditional stone houses and a church in Dilofo, a less-visited village.

Most villages in the Zagorohoria have a town square, around which town life is centered. Most town squares also have an old plane tree. According to one old resident, this tree, for example, is more than 300 years old!

I didn't take any photos of it but the Oxia lookout point over the Vikos Gorge has to be the most incredible view I've seen in my life. The Vikos Gorge is the deepest gorge in the world and standing at Oxia, you're at one of its highest points. Looking down over the sheer cliffs at the green valley below is completely surreal. It's the kind of landscape that feels prehistoric, like a pterodactyl is going to suddenly fly by. Honestly, I wouldn't have been surprised.

I'm glad I didn't bring my camera along (I thought it was going to rain) because it's the kind of image you want to store in your mind and not compare with the photograph later on. If you visit the Zagorohoria, definitely don't skip Oxia. Kristin and I almost did, but then we flipped a piece of bread to decide and it told us to go. Best bread ever.

Ioannina

2010-04-28T17:30:00.000+03:00

Ioannina is undoubtedly one of my favorite cities in Greece. The air is clean, the architecture is impressive and the nature is beautiful.

Ioannina sits on the shore of Lake Pamvotis and is nearly surrounded by mountains. While I was there, I came across people enjoying all kinds of outdoor activities, including rowing on the lake, which I hadn't seen before in Greece.

Here's one of Ioannina's former mosques. Many of Ioannina's main attractions are from its time under the rule of Ali Pasha, "The Lion of Ioannina." Depending on who you ask, Ali Pasha was a vicious and cruel leader who didn't think twice about mass murder or a swashbuckling Albanian who stood up to the Ottoman Empire and indirectly helped the Greeks achieve independence.

The other main thing to do in Ioannina is visiting To Nisaki or "The Little Island." It's a tranquil little spot in the middle of the lake with a lush forest and tons of wildflowers.

The island also has a number of options for adventurous eaters. We visited between meals so I didn't get to try any of the more unique dishes like this sign is advertising.

They also had eels, snails, crawfish and all kinds of other interesting food to offer the customers.

Photos of Ioannina

2010-04-28T17:29:00.000+03:00

Strike 1, Strike 2, Strike 3

2010-04-28T00:30:00.000+03:00

Public transportation went on strike today. For me, that means an expensive taxi ride through Athens traffic instead of taking the bus and metro. There are signs for another strike on Saturday and a third (and possibly fourth) next week.

With Greece's bonds being downgraded today, it doesn't seem like there's any end to the financial problems in sight. What really strikes me about all the coverage is how little empathy there seems to be for anyone involved.

Yes, people made mistakes but the fact of the matter is that a lot of ordinary Greek people are going to take a big hit for a problem that they did little to create. I'm not saying that justifies the strikes (actually, in my opinion, they're a terrible idea and hurting tourism which is just about the only money coming into Greece right now) but I can understand why people are so angry. It's a really tough situation and there's no easy solution.

Lamia the Proud

2010-04-27T19:17:00.020+03:00

Lamia is one of those cities in Greece that doesn't get a lot of love. When I told people that I was headed to Ioannina, they all said "Oh! That's such a beautiful city!" When I said I was going to stop in Lamia, they said "That's a place."

Telling someone in Athens you're going to Lamia is the equivalent of telling someone in New York City you're planning an exciting trip to Darien, Connecticut. The only possible result is confusion.

But don't let the blank stares dissuade you. Lamia has its charms. The people were friendly. Kristin and I had a great lunch in a little mezedopoleio, a restaurant specializing in small dishes. And I'll tell you something else about Lamia. They love America.

Check out this pizza place. American Pizza.

And right down the block, a kiosk selling cigarettes with a big ol' photo of a bald eagle.

"President cigarettes, Full American Taste"

What Caused the Greek Financial Crisis?

2010-04-26T21:25:00.002+03:00

Everyone has an opinion. Some people say it was American greed, others blame cronyism and nepotism. Within Greece, the finger has been pointed at everything from the legacy of Nazi invasion to a culture of tax evasion developed as a form of resistance to the Turkish occupiers (surprisingly, that's the theory of the guy in charge of collecting Greece's taxes).

Here are two more interesting theories, both from The New York Times:

Are family-owned businesses responsible for Greek's economic predicament? Philomila Tsoukala, a Georgetown law professor thinks so.

Or is the problem simply geography? That's Robert Kaplan's theory.

Ephemera from a Greek Road Trip

2010-04-26T08:45:00.000+03:00

From the wall of our hotel in Ioannina

Strange sense of nationalism: "Stop Amstel + Heineken. Only Mythos" (That's a Greek Beer)

Greek Road Trip!

2010-04-26T08:34:00.000+03:00

Woohoo! This weekend, my friend Kristin and I rented a car and drove all over mainland Greece. Our destination was Ioannina, a fun little lakeside city in the northwest. Getting from Athens to Ioannina is no easy task, but it's also one of the most beautiful drives I've ever been on.

There are two possible routes, both about seven hours long, so Kristin and I got to make a big circle of Greece by taking both. On the way there, we drove up along the east coast, passing through seaside villages and historic sites like Thermopylae, where 300 Trojans valiantly held off Xerxes' invading Persians (for a while, at least, then they got killed).

Today, the site of Thermopylae is marked by a statue of King Leonidas. Kristin and I got out of our car and started photos next to this dinky little statue without a head. It hardly seemed like a fitting memorial to one of the most legendary figures in Greek history.

But then as we we starting to leave we noticed that about 150 feet to the right there was a crowd of people and tour buses in front of the real statue (below). Oops...

It's really easy to get dressed in the morning when you're only wearing a helmet.

After a few more hours driving, we cut inland and drove past Meteora, a place that never ceases to amaze me. When we got there, the light coming through the clouds was incredible. Here's Kristin soaking it in.

On the way back home, we cut down along Greece's west coast, over a fancy new bridge to Patra in the Peleponnese where we stopped for dinner with two hilarious college engineering students, Costas and Christos, and then sped along the northern Peloponnese back to Athens.

Here's a photo from the bridge to Patra, which everybody better really enjoy because the toll was 12 euros (!@@#?!#!)

Photos from My Daily Commute

2010-04-23T17:21:00.000+03:00

Living in an Economic Crisis

2010-04-22T23:34:00.000+03:00

Athens dealt with another large round of strikes today as budget cuts begin to set in. Here's the poster that was plastered all over the city. In big letters it announces "We're Striking" and gives the details of the protest.

You can read more about today's strike here.

The question that I keep getting asked by friends and family back home goes something along the lines of "What's it like to live in a country that's imploding?"

I can definitely see why you would think that if you were just watching the international media coverage. After all, there are a lot of photographs of people fighting with riot police, tear gas and molotov cocktails. The thing is, that's not really representative at all. Personally, I feel really safe in Athens. In fact, Athens is considerably safer than most American cities.

But that's not to say that the financial crisis isn't having a profound impact on life here. It's just in smaller ways than most people think. I don't really have the best perspective on this, since I haven't lived here for years, but here's what I've noticed.

1) Receipts

In an effort to crack down on tax evasion, the government is trying to require almost all transactions to be documented on paper. I don't really understand the exact practicalities of this policy (honestly, I haven't met anyone who does) but it means that now I get a whole lot more receipts than when I first arrived. Some of my Greek friends are even hoarding all their coffee receipts since they believe this will be important for taxes... or something.

As an example of how not everyone is willing to follow the spirit of this law, a local restaurant I go to now gives you a printed receipt for 1 euro (the part they'll pay taxes on) and a hand-written receipt for your actual meal.

2) So Many Strikes

There have been a lot of strikes recently and they seem to be increasing in frequency. In the past two weeks, everyone from doctors to taxi drivers to the guys who run the kiosks selling candy have gone on strike. Strikes and protests are always common in Greece but I think this year is exceptional.

3) Cuts to Benefits

The government is a huge employer here and state salaries are being cut significantly. People are having to make do with a lot less, which is particularly difficult in Athens, one of the most expensive cities in Europe. I'm curious to see what the impact on tourism will be since domestic Greek tourism is a big market. Anecdotally, many of the teachers in my school have said that they're staying closer to home this year for holidays like Easter and cutting back on their travel in the summer. On the plus side, this probably represents a huge opportunity for the gyro market, which at 2 euros or less is just about the cheapest meal you can find.

Learn Greek: Volcano

2010-04-21T23:36:00.001+03:00

In recent news, Greece is doing awesome on the volcanic ash front. No problems down here. Take that, London and Germany!

Here's the relevant vocabulary, which I just learned this week.

-Volcano is ηφαίστειο (ee-FES-teeoh)
-Ash is τέφρα (TEH-fra)
-"That volcano's name makes me think that Icelandic must be even harder than Greek" is
"Αυτό το όνομα ηφαιστείου με κάνει να πιστεύω ότι ισλανδικἀ πρέπει να είναι πιο δύσκολο από τα ελληνικά"

Cursing in Greek

2010-04-21T00:12:00.000+03:00

Now this is a true masterpiece. As far as I can tell, no other culture has so perfected the art of swearing.

Since my parents read this blog, I'll spare you from literally translating all of the incredible, hilarious things that Greek people say when they get angry. I'll just translate some of the best.

Arguably the most common word in the Modern Greek language is malaka, which translates to "masturbator." Used to address everyone from your best friends to your worst enemies, it can also be transformed into literally any part of speech.

A lot of Greek cursing involves combining insults to deliver a death blow. For example, I heard a cabdriver call someone a "sperm-mouthed gorilla."

My personal favorite of all the Greek curses though is "I write your name on my balls." What a bizarre and graphic image to shout at a stranger. And that's not even creative, that's just a standard phrase.

Where did I hear these? Well, one of my favorite activities in Athens is to stand on the street corner while a traffic cop waves cars through a green light. The people waiting to cross the street (particularly old men) get so spectacularly enraged that I'm worried they're going to have an aneurysm right there on the curb.

Ads in the Greek Metro

2010-04-20T15:09:00.001+03:00

Every time I'm waiting for the Metro, I notice the video screens installed on every station. They display some useful information, like the weather and whose name day it is, but they also show videos about how great Greece is.

I always think it's funny that they're still trying to sell you on Greece in the metro. After all, if you're watching that video, you're already here. But they do make Greece look pretty awesome.

On days like today when the weather is perfect and the sun is shining, I almost feel like I'm living in one of the ads. Except I'm not getting together with a group of really hot half-dressed friends and dancing on a patio...

This is a Greek Word

2010-04-19T23:29:00.002+03:00

It's no secret that many English words come from Greek. This is a fact that the Greeks are very proud of. One phrase I hear all the time is "This is a Greek word."

Interestingly, many Greeks seem to be proud of their etymological status regardless of the actual word. Personally, I can see boldly proclaiming that my mother tongue is the source for words like "linguistics," "psychology" and "democracy." On the other hand, I'm not so sure I'd lay claim to words like "necrophilia" and "proctologist."

I've also had a number of conversations where I'm taught about the Greek origins of words that I'm positive don't have any Greek origin. One particularly patriotic old man told me "All words in English come from Greek." When I pointed out that we also use words like "google" or "ramen," he didn't give up. "Those are Greek words," he insisted but then turned around and left before I could disagree.

Honorary Americans

2010-04-18T21:00:00.001+03:00

I'm amazed at how much people know about American pop culture. So many of my Greek students are way more connected to the latest trends back home than I am. They chatter about the latest episode of Gossip Girl and the newest rap lyrics. But there's also a lot of moments when people I meet here have a slightly skewed image of what exactly it means to be American.

For example, last night I met up with my friends Marina and Katherine and some of their Turkish, Serbian and Greek classmates. We all sat on a hill overlooking Athens, talking, drinking and listening to music. At one point in the eclectic playlist, our Greek DJ announced "This song is for you Americans."

I wondered what song he was going to play. Maybe some country-western music? Maybe hip-hop? Nope. He put on "What if God Was One of Us?" by Joan Osborne.

Hmmm... I can't say I wasn't confused. I knew the song, but I definitely have never heard it and thought, This is so American!

Another funny moment was when a Greek guy at a bar found out I was American. He told me how much he loved America and then said something about how he was a "true American." To prove his point, he raised his glass in the air and started shouting "My gun, my flag, my country!"

That man is way more American than I will ever be.