I've got a lazy Sunday afternoon on my hands and I haven't laid down a substantive update of my adventures in Greece for a while, so I suppose now is the time!
Let me give you a walk-through of a typical week for me in Volos:
Δευτέρα-Τετάρτι (Monday-Wednesday) - Wake up with the bells at 7:30, make coffee and breakfast, and out the door by 8:15. Greek II from 9-10:30, and a different class (Mediterranean Culture, Global Futures, or Greek Practicum) from 10:30-1. Then lunch and lounging around until I go to sleep and do it all over again! I usually study, read, write, or surf the web. Depends on where I am. I actually try to spend most of that time out in the city, usually at a coffee shop, so I can be around the Greek people and practice talking more.
Πέμπτη-Κυριαχή (Thursday-Sunday) - Lots of time on my hands. I wake up whenever I feel like it (though I still have the church bells to contend with), go through my morning routine, and then I fend for myself! Again, lots of reading, writing, surfing the web, and spending time in the city trying to meet people. On the weekends there is a group of us that go out to the bars where it's REALLY easy to meet people. Speaking of which...
This weekend was pretty crazy! Don't worry, Mom and Dad, I'm still being responsible. But let me tell you, I've made some massive strides as far as speaking Greek and meeting local people goes! Thursday night my friends took me to our new favorite bar, Drops, where we met all the bartenders, the owner, and all of their friends. They're all really fun, laid back people and they LOVE to give us drinks for some reason. So......we went back on Friday!
On Friday we met a group of very cool locals and relaxed with them for about three hours. I discovered the key to meeting people here: I start off with the pleasantries (Hi! What's you're name? Where do you live? What do you do? All in Greek now, by the way!). Then, when they ask where I'm from, I have learned that when I say, "Είμαι απο την Αμερική, αλλά δεν μαρέσιε Bush," which means "I'm from America, but I don't like Bush," I'm almost always given a huge smile, a hug, a kiss on both cheeks, and then we chat "Obama!" And then they buy me shots for the rest of the night. Whoa! Who knew meeting new people could be so simple?!?!
The group we were hanging out with at Drops on Friday invited us back for a celebration on Saturday. One of the girls, you see, is named Valentine, which means yesterday was her "Name Day." In Greece, they don't really celebrate their birthdays. They celebrate the day their Saint Day, or Name Day. Since she's named after St. Valentine, we celebrated! Greek people love to drink and dance, so we drank and danced. Until 5am. Goodness gracious.
All in all, I spent less than 20 euro in the bars in three nights. I bought one, maybe two beers a night and then some group would adopt me and give me drinks the rest of the evening. When they find out I'm an intelligent American who speaks Greek and actually wants to talk to them and learn about who they are, we're suddenly best friends. Last night, one of the guys actually looked me in the eyes and said, "Tonight, everything is on us. You don't pay for anything." So I gave him a very emphatic thank you and told him I'd help out with the tab next time. "No no no!" he replied. "While you are in Greece, you are our guest, and we are very hospitable people!" Apparently if they ever come to America though, I'm going bankrupt!
Another thing: These are the most loyal people I've ever seen in my life. Last night at the bar one of the girls I was hanging out with - her boyfriend is the one who told me that everything is free for me while I'm with them - started getting hit on by some dude from another crowd. Γιώργος, another guy I was hanging out with, was so outraged by his friend's girlfriend being hit on that he actually started swinging at this guy. I went over there to help break it up and the girls grabbed me and said, "No no! This happens all the time! Don't worry about it." It was broken up quickly and I learned my lesson about not hitting on girls that you think have boyfriends. I've never seen that kind of dedication from friends! It's crazy! And it makes me really happy to have made friends this weekend too!
So I experienced a lot this weekend, made a lot of friends, and learned some too. And don't worry, I really didn't drink myself stupid. The Greeks do drink a lot (and, ipso fact, I did too. It's really taboo to turn down drinks), but they space out their shots well and dance it off as soon as they put it in.
I've noticed that already my English is suffering from my attempts to become bilingual. Because I don't speak fluent Greek and they don't speak fluent English, we all end up speaking in broken sentences, using terrible grammar, and gesturing a lot to get our points across. Consequently, when we leave the bar I always find myself talking to Roddy like I'm trying to talk to one of my new friends. It goes like this:
"Rohit, tonight was very good, no? Ο Γιώργος, he is very nice man. The people were good to us, ναι?"
It's weird, but it works. It takes me about two hours of reading and thinking in nothing but English to start using proper grammar and descriptive adjectives again. So sorry if this post isn't up to snuff grammatically!
On another side note, my dreams are starting to have Greek in them. I'm pretty sure that's a good sign. Most of the time I understand it when my subconscious talks to me in Greek, but - strangely enough - not always. This morning I had to wake up and open the dictionary to realize what I was saying to myself in my sleep. It's really weird.
9 comments:
Actually when you start dreaming in the language you are beginning to absorb the language.
You don't know how badly I want to analyze the bar-fight episode from a feminist/gender equality standpoint. *twitch*
Look what's gone and happened to me....
Lol Mozart i would be interested in analyzing and duscussing the barfight with you from a mans standpoint who has encountered this situation before.
Speaking as someone who has been in a barfight or two it is rarely the girl that causes the fists to fly. While the girl is what sparks the situation it is the disrespect between men thas causes the fight to ensue. I do understand that these action make men look childish and much less desirable in the eyes of most women but honestly by the time punches fly the the girl is not even on the mind anymore.
Yes i know men that fight are dumb. This is just a little look into the mind of a man that fights ;).
Ah, but see, there would be no disrespect read or intended between the men if one wasn't infringing on the other's "property," correct? Now, I'm sure that this is a subconcious action here, but I would imagine that this is a territorial response on the boyfriend's part. There's a lot more to it than that, of course, and I would agree that the fellow should "protect" the girl from harm and be willing to discourage negative or unwanted attention--but it should be from a standpoint of common sense and decency, not because he's keeping what belongs to him and preventing another male from taking his lady-friend.
Being as that i am not a feminist our opinions will deffinately clash on the this matter. Although i will agree that fighting is a "territorial response", i believe it is deeper than that. I don't believe any woman is any mans personal physical property or vise versa, but in a relationship i believe they belong to each other emotionally. When an outsider infringes upon this connection it can be hurtful for both men and women. I will admit women and men differ on the way they deal with this situation but not always. Mainly what i'm trying to say is yes the woman belongs to the man, BUT not any more than he belongs to her. They fight anyone who offends this connection. When alcohol and testosterone join this situation it tends to get bloody. There you have it... my opinion *covering my head with my hands awaiting painful blows* lol.
Hey, I'm only a quarter of the way through the class, so the blows shouldn't be too painful just yet... :)
And I'll give you this--women are just as likely to experience this territorialism, I think, although they'll often exhibit it in different ways. Example: Let's say Rachel likes Tommy. Regardless of whether or not they're 'dating,' Rachel considers Tommy to be her man. She's gonna get pretty damn possessive, too, so when Lisa comes along and starts flirting with him, Rachel's bound to be pissed. Now maybe she'll start spreading rumor's that Lisa's a ho, or she'll send a nasty anonymous facebook message, or maybe she'll bite the bullet and get into an out-and-out hair-pulling brawl. Of course, that's really sexist on my part, assuming that the gals are that petty and stupid. For the most part, they're not (or at least I sure hope they're not, or I have some serious soul-searching to do!). And for the most part, the majority of guys aren't fighting for their 'personal physical property,' either--at least not directly. But that's still ingrained into them, and there's really not much getting around that, I don't think. Nothing inherently wrong with it, either, as long as you realize it's there. But there's a deeper response on the guy's part that has to do with reproduction, ownership, and power--do you want to get into that? I'm sure enough game, and it's helping me learn as I discuss these ideas.
I wish I knew who I was talking to, though. Is this the infamous Pete?
--Shanna
lol i didn't know i was infamous but i'll take it
Sincerely,
The Infamous PETE
Sooooo,
Shanna, meet Pete!
Pete, this is my friend Shanna.
Pete, doesn't this remind you of a conversation you and I would have over a beer back home? I think we may have had this EXACT one once! I'm glad there are different kinds of people in the world.
Ha i'm pretty this is the conversation we had over several beers and woke dad up on a satuday night back at the lake... He was pissed as i recall it. I am very impressed to find another person other than you, Mark, that can hold a conversation expressing different opinions without turning it into a nasty argument! Must be a Drury thing.
Post a Comment