The Baltimore Greeks

"Όλα τα λεφτά" (All the Money): Greece's Economic Woes

2011-08-30T13:42:00.000-07:00

As we all know, Greece is in the middle of one of the worst economic crises that any modern country has seen since the post-World War II era. In fact, their debt rating is now the lowest in the world, ranking them below the likes of so-called “Third World” or developing nations such as Ecuador, Ghana, and Sri Lanka. This has been a massive blow to the Hellenic ego, and the ramifications of the European Union mandated austerity measures have stirred the pot further in a country whose people, as we all know, don’t need much of a reason to strike or demonstrate. But who has the moral high ground here? The EU, led by Germany, which is hesitant to throw good money after bad to bail

Greece

out? The people of Greece, who are demanding that the benefits and services they have come so accustomed to receiving be fully restored? Or the Greek politicians, who have inherited a legacy of mismanaged and misdirected government programs from their predecessors?

I think we can throw the politicians out of the moral high ground discussion right off the bat. I’m not one to bash all politicians as corrupt, and they aren’t all, but in the case of

Greece

, the political system has allowed decades of cronyism, corruption, poor leadership, and entitlement to fester into a wound that is killing the modern Greek state. Has the government of George Papandreou been handed a hell of a mess? Absolutely. But many in the present PASOK government have been a part of the dysfunctional machinery of Greek government for years, and they can’t simply blame New Democracy and Karamanlis for leaving them with this problem and claim that they are the solution.

So what about the Greek people, who are suffering through this economic hardship and having their way of life turned upside down? Well, this is a dicey subject, and I’m sure I will anger some people with my beliefs on this subject. In many observers’ eyes, Greece became a leftist entitlement society once Andreas Papandreou took over in 1981. The economy of the past 30 years has been imbalanced toward state involvement and has been unfair to much of the private sector, particularly small businesses which would have helped drive the Greek economy and raise much-needed revenue. Instead, these businesses were subject to some 250 arbitrary and politically self-serving laws and regulations that placed Greece toward the bottom of the list when it comes to ease of doing business (109^th out of 183 countries on the World Bank’s list, behind countries like Paraguay and

Bangladesh

). As we all know Greek immigrants in America and around the world tend to be entrepreneurial and do very well with restaurants, shops, contracting and other small businesses. But in the climate of modern

Greece

only the most dedicated and those prepared to cut corners survive the anti-business environment.

Due to the promises of high pensions, “free” healthcare, and other social services made by successive Socialist governments, businesses have also been stymied by excessive corporate taxes, revenues from which were designed to fund all the programs Greeks were promised while politicians pandered for votes. These entitlements are a large part of today’s problem, as the bankrupt nation is no longer able to deliver on its promises. Statistics bear out that Greeks work some of the longest work weeks in Europe, and a certain amount of security that all these hours of hard work should translate into a comfortable retirement is to be expected. But the Greek governments of the past 3 decades have promised the world to its people, all the while knowing that the day would come when the well would run dry. Do I blame the Greeks for being upset? Absolutely not. If my government promised me something I depended on and then couldn’t deliver I’d protest as well. (Social Security, anyone?) What I do hold the Greek population responsible for is relying too heavily on handouts from the government and hiding their heads in the sand while the treasury evaporated. (Before anyone jumps on me for that statement, let me say that it’s not a personal attack on Greeks by any means. I hold them responsible in the same way I hold the American people responsible for allowing our government to devolve into the partisan, do-nothing nightmare it has become.) Then there are recent reports from the IMF that an estimated 65% of Greeks don’t pay income tax (or even file tax returns) and I wonder, “How can Greeks be surprised by the fact that there’s no money left?” It’s like going to a bank where you don’t have an account and asking to withdraw money every month. If you don’t pay in, you can’t expect to take anything out! The Greeks have gone to the well for a generation and it has finally run dry.

The revolving door of Greek politics has allowed the same corrupt lawmakers to take alternating turns in the ruling government for 30-plus years. It is these politicians who are responsible for falsifying economic reports to gain access for Greece into the European Union (to its seeming detriment), which is where we shall look next. Much of the ire of the Greek population has been steadily aimed at Germany for what they perceive as bad faith from their EU partner in their time of need. But is Germany really the villain here? As the strongest European economy, Germany is providing quite a large share of the bailout funds given to Greece, at the expense of their own population which has done no wrong in this situation but is still paying the price. One could say that the Germans voted to be a part of the EU, their government ratified Greece’s inclusion, and they knew the risks if one of the member states fell on hard times. But, fair or not, the Germans feel that the Greeks have brought this situation upon themselves (in combination with the global economic downturn) through poor economic strategy, stifling regulation and over-reliance on their government for entitlements. As mentioned, it has been determined that Greece, along with Spain, Portugal, and Italy, did not meet the economic standards set forth as conditions of EU membership. But in their haste to be accepted as a modern European country and a player in the international scene, Greece conveniently “tweaked” their reports to the EU in order to gain access to the club. Obviously the Greek officials who did this deserve the most blame, but EU officials did not perform their due diligence and, in their own haste to expand the Eurozone, allowed subpar economies into the fold, to the potential detriment of all member states. That potential has now been realized in countries across Europe, and the crows are coming home to roost. As the key economic and political force in the EU, Germany must accept some of the blame for the current crisis in

Greece

So what’s the solution to Greece’s current situation? How can the country get out from under its past economic decisions and emerge as a real player in Europe and in the global economy? Some in Greece and around the world feel that the country is beyond repair, and many Greeks are actually leaving the country to find opportunities. Most Greeks feel that the current crisis will be a very difficult time, but will result in an improved Greece at the end of the experience. That’s a topic for another day...

Σας ευχαριστώ για την επίσκεψη (Thank you for visiting)
Todd

The Time I Went to Greece with my Parents by Andrew, age 9

2011-07-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

I went to Greece when I was 5. Greece is nice and pretty. I like it but it's hot. We went to the Acropolis and Parthenon in Athens. I also met some of my Greek relatives. I met my Theos and Theas, my grandmother, a great grandmother and lots of cousins. We also went to a lot of beaches. We drove all over Greece and saw lots of mountains and old ruins. My favorite places in Greece were Nafplio and Athens, and the beaches. My favorite foods there were makaronia me kema (spaghetti with meat sauce) and what I called “matias” (“eyeball” eggs, over-easy).

On the way home we went to England. It rains there a lot but it’s nice. It didn’t rain too much while we were there. I got to ride on the London Eye and see Stamford Bridge, where my favorite soccer team, Chelsea FC, plays. In Salisbury we saw the cathedral and we saw Stonehenge and the Roman baths in Bath. We had some tours on buses and we saw lots of attractions, like Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Parliament, and the Tower of London. We also went to Cardiff in Wales and saw the castle and harbor there. We stayed in hotels and we rode on trains. I came home and met my grandparents at the airport in Maryland and they drove us home.

A Xeno's View of Greece and Greeks: Part 8: "Once a Xeno, Always a Xeno?"

2011-07-07T11:43:00.000-07:00

So, fifteen years after meeting this Greek girl who I thought was Hispanic, what part do I play in my new Greek-American family? Where do I fit in? Well, I am tremendously proud of my own heritage, and the fact that I can trace my descendents back to England and Scotland, Germany and Bohemia (part of the present-day Czech Republic). My parents asked a family friend to do our genealogy, and I love that we discovered that I have roots on this continent going back to the 1600s. But despite all of that, being of “mixed” ancestry and having no real ties to the old country left me feeling a little empty in the heritage department. And while I love my family and would not wish to have grown up any other way, I’d often thought about what it would be like to be part of a big family. Well, marry a Greek and wonder no more, my friends. I now have an entire side of my family that is a living, breathing connection to the motherland; a land that I have become extremely fond of and attached to myself. I now have around 400 Greek aunts, uncles, in-laws, and cousins here and in Greece, all of whom I could depend on as though I have known them my whole life. I most definitely feel I am a part of the Greek half of our family, and I thank them for accepting me into their world.

So now when our sons look at their family tree, the branches will stretch farther into Europe, dipping southeast towards the Mediterranean and the home of their mother and her ancestors. My hope is that when they look at their family tree, they will see in Greece and its people what I have come to see. I will certainly do my best to fill in all the branches so they (and I) can better know who came before them on that side of their family. Although we are far from Greece, I want our kids to know that they come from Greece as much as they come from America, and to learn about and appreciate the Greek culture, language, and history. As a result of this process, I hope to be able to delve deeper into my own roots. I have visited one site in Scotland where one of my ancestors fought (and lost to) Oliver Cromwell during the English Civil War and was shipped over to Maryland as an indentured servant in 1650. Perhaps we can visit parts of Germany and the Czech Republic to see where some of my other people came from. Maybe a visit is in order to the small villages of England, and the ports from which many of my forebears embarked on their journey to a new life here in America.

But there's a fine line to walk, in my opinion, when you are attempting to soak up and participate in a foreign culture. I feel a responsibility to always keep in mind that I am not Greek, no matter how much I enjoy being a part of a Greek family. Not that I necessarily want to be something I am not. I didn't share the same experiences as my wife's family growing up, and hearing about those experiences from friends and family isn’t enough to make me part of the club. My family didn’t live through Nazi occupation, recent civil wars, military dictatorship, genocide, and mass exodus as so many Greek families have during the past century. I always make sure I don't go "too far" in my attempts to assimilate into the culture. I know my limits. I respect the Greek culture too much to pretentiously impose myself upon it and insert myself into it. Am I a part of what my wife's family does? Absolutely, and I love every minute of it. But unless (and even if) I one day move to Greece, work and raise my family there, and live the day-to-day life of a Greek, I will always be an outsider, and that's fine with me. I feel extremely lucky to have the opportunity to be part of a Greek family and the culture that goes with it; to learn a second language, to raise my kids with an awareness and appreciation of their Greek heritage. I am fortunate enough to be able to travel to Greece and see my wife's (my) family there, to see the extraordinary natural beauty of the land and the remarkable historical sites and to feel the spirit of a very resilient people. But I am always mindful that I am experiencing all of this as a xeno. A very grateful xeno.

Σας ευχαριστώ για την επίσκεψη (Thank you for visiting)
Todd

Next Time.... ????

A Xeno's View of Greece and Greeks Part 7: "I Wasn't Late - I'm on Greek Time!"

2011-03-28T09:10:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, “on-time” meant 10-to-15 minutes early. That’s what my parents always did, so that’s what I grew up thinking was right. Movie starts at 8pm – get there at 7:45. Have to meet someone at 5 o’clock? Get there at 4:45, just in case they are early, or just so you don’t make them wait. Nevermind the fact that most people were always late, so YOU were the person waiting for twenty minutes or more. The point is, you should already be there when it’s go-time. Unless, of course, you happen to be Greek. Then, all bets are off.

“Greek Time” is what they call it. Doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Perhaps it is the ancient precursor of “Island Time” which I have heard about from people who have been to Jamaica or the Bahamas. In these parts of the world, the living is slow, and you are on vacation, so you go at your own pace, relaxing lazily at the beach under a coconut palm while drinking some fruity tropical beverage and listening to steel drums play in the distance. Ahhh….Island Time….. Whoa, sorry. Almost drifted off there.

Greek Time, especially in America, is not about taking it easy, or being laid back. Most times it seems like a simple disregard for plans and the people with whom they were made. My first real experience with Greek Time was at my wedding, which was held, of course, in a Greek Orthodox Church. To the priest’s credit (thanks Fr. Lou!), he told us there would be no Greek Time and our wedding did, indeed, begin on time at 5:30pm. Now, at that time, my side of the church had all of my friends and family comfortably seated and ready for the big event. At the same time, on my wife’s side, sat exactly 5 people, one of whom was a church employee who just needed a breather. For those of you who don’t know the Greek wedding ceremony, the bride and groom face the front of the church with their backs to the congregation until the end of the ceremony, when they are led around the altar by the priest in the “Dance of Isaiah”. As we rounded the altar to face our families for the first time, the 5 Greeks had multiplied into nearly 100, vastly outnumbering the xenoi invaders on my side. They had all arrived 15, 20, or 40+ minutes late, but they had arrived nonetheless. Not all of them, mind you. In a time-honored tradition (which bugs the hell out of me), many Greeks only show up for the reception, skipping the tedium of the actual wedding and attending “the good part”, with the food, drinks, and dancing.

Perhaps my most exasperating personal experience with Greek Time occurred on my second day ever in Athens, back in 2001. We had taken the first day there to relax and get over our jetlag, but our second day was to be our first day touring the city, with the Acropolis at the top of the to-do list. That morning we were invited for coffee to my sister-in-law’s house, whence we would depart, astride various motorcycles and scooters, for downtown Athens. We arrived (on-time) for coffee, and talked for a while on the balcony with my wife’s sister and boyfriend, and another couple they all knew. Seconds were poured, and croissants were brought out. Cigarettes were smoked and phone calls were made. Then more coffee was drunk, and several more cigarettes were slowly smoked. Apparently sensing my agitation, nearly two hours after we had arrived, my wife’s sister asked, “What’s wrong with you? You look like you have to be somewhere.” To which my wife answered, “He just wants to get down to the Acropolis, and see the Parthenon.” The response? “Relax, it’s not going anywhere.” But they didn’t realize that I WAS going somewhere! I don’t live in Athens, so I can’t just drive downtown for a peek when the urge hits. I was only going to be in Athens for a total of like 8 days, with side trips planned for other parts of mainland Greece, Samos, Cairo, and Turkey. I had the whole day planned out, and was now 2 hours (and counting) behind schedule because everyone needed multiple cups of coffee and a pack of cigarettes each before we left! We finally made it to the Acropolis, by around noon, in the sweltering sun of that Athenian August day. It was everything I had hoped for and more – just three hours later in my life than I had hoped to see it.

I have since experienced several annoying instances of Greek Time. From baptisms to family dinners, concerts to parades, none of these Greek events ever start on time. But the biggest and most public display of doing things on Greek Time, the one that had the most serious possible repercussions for an entire nation, was the planning and execution of the 2004 Olympic Games. The games were a rousing success, and, maybe I’m a little biased, were among the best I ever recall watching. But how close were they to being taken away from Greece, making a mockery of the country that was birthplace to the Olympics? Probably closer than we know.

After being snubbed by the IOC for the Centennial Olympic games in 1996 (a slap in the face), Greece was awarded the 2004 games in 1997. That’s right folks – they had seven years to plan for the return of the Games to their ancestral home and they almost blew it. All of the early planning seemed to go well, but as the IOC began making its inspections of the venues, facilities, and transportation routes in and around Athens, it was becoming painfully clear that the entire country was on Greek Time when it came to preparing for the Olympic Games. After an inspection in 2001, the IOC was so worried that there was talk of them asking Sydney to keep all of the infrastructure in place from their 2000 Olympics so that, if necessary, the games could be held there again in 2004. Can you imagine the damage to the national psyche of Greece and the impact on Greeks and Philhellenes worldwide if this had happened?

Fortunately it never came to that, and through several months of 24/7 construction work (much of the work done by immigrant Albanians, who took on the jobs for striking Greek workers - imagine that!) everything came together in time - just in time – for two wonderful weeks of international sporting events that showcased all the beauty and timelessness of Greece, and the filoxenia – the hospitality - of the Greek people. The Greeks even managed to poke fun at themselves about the delays, as in this commercial for potato chips that came out around the time of the games:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67ykGyZLa9U

The whole concept of Greek Time is very odd to me, because the Greeks are a hard-working people who always take pride in what they do. Those who came here, or went to Australia or the U.K., are overwhelmingly successful at what they’ve chosen to do, because they worked hard to get ahead in their new worlds. And you can’t become a success opening your restaurant 40 minutes late everyday or making your business appointments wait for you while you drink frappe, or running your contracting job weeks behind schedule. Is there a difference to the pace of life in Greece? Absolutely. People there value their time with family (or at least away from work) above all else, and enjoy this time slowly, soaking up all that is has to offer. Work, like the Acropolis, will be there tomorrow, and they’ll get to it then. But for now, they are on their own time – Greek Time – and they aren’t changing that anytime soon.

Σας ευχαριστώ για την επίσκεψη (Thank you for visiting)
Todd

Next Month - Part 8: "Once a Xeno, Always a Xeno?"

A Xeno's View of Greece and Greeks Part 6: Birth, Marriage, Death

2011-02-01T13:49:00.000-08:00

There are many differences in the ways Greeks celebrate the milestones of life when compared to what I was used to growing up.

When I began to look toward marriage, I expected a “normal” wedding and reception, although I knew there would be some differences, as we were being married in a Greek Orthodox church. So where do we begin to dispel that notion….?

Perhaps with the marriage bed (krevati) celebration held at my wife’s (our) house prior to the wedding. During this bit of voodoo, money and babies are thrown on to and rolled about the bed as a symbol of good luck, prosperity, and fertility. As a man, I was not afforded the opportunity to attend this lovely event. Darn.

The wedding ceremony itself, while not too bad to be a part of, is a pretty boring affair. For one thing, as an attendee, you are standing up pretty much the whole time, and if you don’t know Greek, you’re lost for about 90 minutes. We actually made our own wedding programs and put in a detailed description of the goings-on and their symbolism so my side of the family could follow along.

There’s the wedding candles, which weigh approximately 263 pounds each, and which the bride and groom must hold, lit, for about 1/3 of the service. There are the stefania, which the bride and groom wear as crowns, as they are king and queen for the day. These crowns are connected by a ribbon (get the symbolism?) and are switched above the couple’s head 3 times. Pretty much everything in this service is done three times. We drank wine, had the rings blessed, and were walked around the altar in the Dance of Isaiah – 3 times. But the one thing we didn’t do three times, or one time for that matter, was speak. Nope, no vows here. You are making a pact with GOD to stay married forever. A promise to a person – that’s easy to break. But a promise to God, well you better think twice.

After the ceremony, we received wedding gifts at the front of the church from my wife’s aunt, who had raised her most of her life. Then it was off to the reception, which was pretty much like your normal reception except for the presence of Greek people even my wife didn’t know (invited by an aunt or cousin), and the playing of much Greek music with spirited Greek dancing. The great part about this was that many of my friends and family members were willing to join in, and were heartily encouraged by my wife’s family.

So then it was baby time, and we had rules to abide by here, as well (although we chose not to). Our first-born was to be named after my parents. Anything other than this would be disrespectful. Our second child would be named after my wife’s parents, no questions asked. But I had no desire to name my children in such a way, nor did my wife, so we compromised. Our first son’s name is my middle name, and his middle name is my wife’s father’s first name. Our youngest son’s first name came from nowhere, but his middle name is my father’s name. In our own way we managed to keep a sort of family naming intact without going by the letter of the Greek law and creating more people with the same name. Ever wonder why every Greek guy you know of is named John, Jimmy, Nick or Gus? Now you know why. They just recycle the names every other generation. It can get pretty confusing at large family get-togethers, because if you call out a name, about half of the people will turn and respond. Both of our kids have names that sound like “normal” American names, but both can be translated to Greek names, so I think we did a pretty good job walking the line between American and Greek traditions.

So when I was a baby, my parents had me baptized about a month after I was born in a small ceremony during the course of a regular Sunday service. (Coincidentally, my wife and I were baptized on exactly the same day – she an almost one-year-old, I a little over a month old) Afterwards my small family and a few close friends had lunch at someone’s house and that was it. Not so for the Greeks, my friends. Far from it in fact. I know some people whose baptism “after parties” were bigger affairs than my wedding, with hundreds of guests and a live band. And that is not an uncommon occurrence in the Greek community.

A Greek baptism is held most often after church on Sunday, or on a Saturday night if it’s going to be one of those rocking affairs mentioned above, but not as part of the normal church service. Here the baby is held up naked as the day he was born and is dunked into a large marble font while doused in olive oil. Doesn’t make it very easy to hold the little ones I’m sure. Once the little Greek salad is purified, he is dressed up like the Pillsbury Dough Boy (or Dom Deluise, in my oldest son’s case) and is given a cross necklace and pinned with blue matia, or eyeballs, to ward off the evil eye. In a sort of a religious reverse psychology, it is not uncommon for little ones to be spit upon (or mock-spit upon, to be more accurate) in an attempt to trick the devil and his evil minions into thinking that this child is not worth his attention.

At our very small (by Greek standards) “receptions” after each of our sons’ baptisms, we had around 50-60 people (45-50 of whom were Greek) attend luncheons at local restaurants. But again, I think the celebrations we hosted successfully combined the Greek and American traditions, and the whole family had a great time.

Every family has one day to deal with the death of their loved ones, and I won’t dwell too long on this part of life, but I think there are a few things worth noting.

The closeness of large Greek families, to include family friends, is perhaps most apparent at the death of one of their own. When my wife’s aunt passed away she was in Greece, and my wife was unable to attend the funeral. She was able to visit her aunt for a few weeks prior to her passing which was a good thing for both of them I believe.
During our most recent trip to Greece in 2007, we went to visit the monastery where my wife’s aunt was buried. We went to her grave site, where there was a candle, which was kept perpetually burning. We were then taken to what I can only describe as a sort of “bone vault”, where the exhumed bones of the deceased are placed into a metal lock box, labeled and put on a shelf. You wouldn’t think there would be any issue with space to bury people in Greece, but I have found out that that is, indeed one of the problems. The other is that cremation is illegal in Greece, a law which is the result of the partnership between the Greek government and its official state church. Greece is the only country in Europe where such a law is in effect and enforced, much to the dismay of many Greeks, who feel the exhumation is humiliating and a counter to the natural process of death.

Now, that doesn’t mean everyone has to be exhumed. If you have lots of money, as with many things in Greece, you can get what you want. Permanent plots in a cemetery run between $18,000-$120,000 per plot, while renters pay $650 to $1,050 for a three-year burial, with the option to stay up to one year longer at $155 per month. After that, exhumation is mandatory in most other cemeteries, to make way for new bodies.

This is just another bit of culture shock to an outsider like me, although I must say that the grounds around the monastery where my wife’s aunt was buried were beautiful, and the priest and nuns were all very nice and respectful, making it a not-unpleasant experience.

These are the ways of the modern Greeks, based on hundreds of years of ritual and superstition. It is amazing to see such ancient rites and ways carried on in much the same fashion they were centuries ago. While strange to our western sensibilities, these are the fabric of a people that have been through war and famine, oppression and slavery, and have never been broken. To me, that says keep up the good work, for, no matter how weird this stuff seems, it is working to keep the Greek identity and way of life alive in a modern world that typically eats and spits out the old ways. Bravo Ellada.

Σας ευχαριστώ για την επίσκεψη (Thank you for visiting)
Todd

Next Month - Part 7: "I Wasn't Late - I'm on Greek Time!"

A Xeno's View of Greece and Greeks Pt. 5: "Play That Funky (Greek) Music…"

2010-12-16T13:00:00.001-08:00

Greek Music, when you first hear it, can sound a bit like a cat in heat on a steamy summer night in Athens. And take it from someone who has been awakened by said cat more than once, it's not pleasant. Especially if you're unlucky enough to hear some older nisiotika, or "island music". Consisting of very screechy violins and equally unbearable clarinets droning on in a mind-numbing audio attack, this music is enough to drive you to leap from the beautiful cliffs of the aforementioned islands into the sweet silence of death. Okay, perhaps it's not that bad – but it's close, especially if you are not at all used to the oriental sounds of Greek music.

Most people only know one or two Greek songs, if that. Everybody's probably heard "Zorba's Dance", which is the prototypical and stereotypical piece of Greek music. Repetitive tune, bouzoukis, clarinets, upbeat tempo - you can almost feel the shards of china cutting your legs as they break plates with glee (crazy Greeks…). But once you have the opportunity to learn a bit of the language, and about the harsh reality of the recent history of the Greek people, the music really begins to make sense, and, for me at least, conveys the true meaning of what it is to be Greek. When Greeks stir themselves up into a frenzy at a concert or dance ("bouzoukia"), there is a feeling and a sense of euphoria known as "kefi". Kefi is a difficult word to translate, but can best be described as the spirit of joy, passion, enthusiasm, high spirits, or frenzy when the soul and body are overwhelmed with an exuberance that must find an outlet through singing, dancing, drinking, throwing money or carnations, or smashing plates. I have seen kefi in action, and it is contagious. You will do and say and sing and drink things you would otherwise never think of taking on. And the best part is, even if you're a xeno like me, and you don't know all the words, or all the steps to the dance, no one is going to make fun of you (at least not to your face). On the contrary, Greeks will take time to be there next to you, encouraging you in your attempt to feel their spirit, in your endeavor to experience what it's like to be Greek, at least for a little while.

My first exposure to Greek music was while I was dating my wife, and it was, to my ears, second-rate disco music in a strange tongue. Because she likes dance music, I was only hearing more modern songs, which don't have the same appeal to me as more traditional Greek music. But the longer we were together, the more chances I got to hear more traditional Greek music, and to hear it in its proper settings: weddings, dances, bars, restaurants, and best of all - in Greece. The more I heard, the more I liked it, and that includes the "dancey" stuff, too. Now, it certainly doesn't hurt that nearly every popular female Greek singer I have seen is a goddess. It is a scientific fact that hotness enables men to do things that they may not otherwise enjoy. I cannot say that this was not the case with me, but I can say that I also enjoy listening to male Greek singers, although I think most of them are pretty hot, too!

While in Greece we've been able to buy a bunch of bootleg CDs, and I have since downloaded dozens of CDs online so that our Greek music library is quite sizeable. In fact, you are probably more likely to catch me listening to Greek music than to anything you'd hear on American radio. Maybe it's because it reminds me of Greece, maybe it's because I'm bored with (or too old for) most popular music today. But whatever the reason, I genuinely enjoy listening to Greek music, and I probably listen to it more often than does my wife.

I have been to see three large Greek concerts in Atlantic City and have enjoyed them all immensely. My first show was Elena Paparizou, fresh off her EuroVision success with "My Number One". Her opening act was Nikos Kourkoulis (hot). It was only my wife and me, and, while we enjoyed the show, it wasn't as good as it would have been had we shared the evening with others. Our next show was the legendary Peggy Zina, and we sat second row with a large group of friends and family. Here is where the Kefi kicks in. A few drinks, an opening act, and by the time Peggy hit the stage we were throwing carnations at her and dancing on the chairs and tables. This continued for 2 straight hours of pure joy, and none of us were ready for the show to end at 11pm. Good thing it was at the Taj Mahal so we could carry the kefi on to the gaming floor for a few hours.

Most recently we saw Despina Vandi with Stelios Maximos, and again it was second row with two tables full of family and friends and was another fantastic experience. Before I knew my wife, I had no idea concerts like this even happened. Now I consider myself lucky to be able to experience nights like those, and I look forward to the announcement of Greek concerts the way most people look forward to the "normal" summer concert schedule being announced every spring. The ultimate in concerts for me will be the day we can go to a bouzoukia in Greece to see one of the big acts at one of Athens' best clubs. Top of my list? Natasa Theodoridou and Kelly Kelekidou. Hopefully they'll come here before we get back to Greece, but if not, it will be a highlight of our next trip to see such a show.

Σας ευχαριστώ για την επίσκεψη (Thank you for visiting)
Todd

Next Month – Part 6: Birth, Marriage, Death

A Xeno's View of Greece and Greeks Pt. 4: Ελλάδα Μου (My Greece)

2010-12-16T12:59:00.003-08:00

I am a Philhellene. I am totally in love with the country of Greece. Not the politics, the corruption and rampant cronyism, the government's support of people like war criminal Slobodan Milosevic and terrorists like the PLO, the high unemployment rate, labor strikes, and bankrupt economy or any of the other countless day-to-day worries that any country faces. But rather the physical beauty of the landscape of Greece, the overwhelming sense of history and timelessness that I feel whenever I am there, and the spirit of the Greek people. I have visited twice, staying for a total of around 7 weeks. With my wife and oldest son, we have been to all corners of this beautiful country and there is no place we have been that I would not recommend to people. Greece has something for everyone. From our base in Athens, where my wife's family lives, we have gone east to the Aegean and the island of Samos. From here we cruised to Turkey to see the magnificent Greek ruins at Ephesus. We have explored the Attic peninsula, driving along the Saronic Gulf beaches through the exclusive town of Glyfada to take in the stunning views from Cape Sounion. Heading west from Athens we crossed the Corinth Canal and the spectacular Rio-Antirio bridge to visit Lefkada, Kefalonia, and Ithaki in the Ionian, and Ioannina to the north. We visited Piraeus, took a ferry to Aegina, dropped in on ancient Corinth and Delphi, and have driven around most of the Peloponissos, seeing Epidavros, Mycenae, Diakofto, Kalavryta, Olympia, and our favorite – Nafplio.

If there was one place in the world I could live it would be this little port town in the Argolis surrounded by olive groves, mountains and beaches. Greece's first national capital, the old town of Nafplio is filled with tiny streets full of shops and cafes, bright flowers and sleeping cats. By night the tavernas come to life with impromptu table-side concerts as families celebrate life with one another. Their children run and play safely through the pedestrian streets long into the night as the adults eat, drink, tell stories, and sing the songs their parents passed down to them. The marbled Syntagma Square is ringed by cafes, and all is presided over by the imposing figure of the Palamidi, a Venetian fortress atop a hill, floodlit at night and appearing as a halo over this idyllic spot by the sea. A short walk around a point of land brings you to Arvanitia Beach, where you can spend the day swimming in the warm waters, lying on the pebbled beach, and people watching. I feel at ease in Nafplio, relaxed, despite the fact that I've only spent a total of 6 days there during two visits. It holds some of the fondest memories I have of Greece, and I will return there on every visit I make.

Many people write off Athens as a noisy, dirty city that they only visit for a day to see relatives and to use the airport to the east or the ferries in nearby Piraeus to get to "better" places. I love Athens. And I love that I get to see it as an Athenian sees it by virtue of my wife's family living in the section of eastern Athens called Zografou. I get to see real neighborhoods, shop at the weekly "laiki" or street market, and eat at real neighborhood cafes and restaurants. I get to enjoy the night air on the taratza, away from the noise and congestion and tourists downtown. And I get to travel throughout the city – when I'm lucky - on the back of my brother-in-laws' motorcycle. (Our oldest son, on his first trip to Athens at age 5 got to ride with his Theo on his motorcycle. Needless to say, this was the highlight of his entire vacation) My first view of the Parthenon, perched atop the Acropolis, came from the back of a motorcycle. As a lover of history, sights like this are almost overwhelming the first time they are viewed. I really can't take it in enough – the scale, the beauty, the antiquity of it all. And this type of thing is EVERYWHERE in Greece. Subway stations, beside the train tracks headed to Piraeus, under the sidewalks (with plexi-glass viewing areas to look beneath the surface), in fields as you drive around Attica or the Peloponissos. The backdrop for much of this is the mountains that rise around Athens and extend to points north and west. Then there's the sea that surrounds this beautiful land, in myriad shades of blue the likes of which you have never seen before – unless you've been to Greece. There's simply nothing not to like when it comes to the splendor that is Ellada.

Σας ευχαριστώ για την επίσκεψη (Thank you for visiting)

Todd

Next Month – Part Five: "Play That Funky (Greek) Music White Boy…"

A Xeno's View of Greece and Greeks Part 3 - What? You No Speak-a the Greek?

2010-12-16T12:59:00.001-08:00

This week we address the Greek language. Being the root of much of what we say today, you'd figure maybe you'd understand a bit of Greek if you heard it. Sorry - you're wrong. When first encountered it is not a beautiful language to listen to by any means. It sounds nothing like any other language you are likely to have heard, and very few words are discernable at all as the Greeks speak so fast that even my wife can't understand them sometimes, and she is fluent.

My first exposure to the language was, of course, the curse words, which I still use (and quite well, I might add) to this day. There's something inherently funny about telling people who don't speak your language to say all your dirty words. Not sure why, but I've done it myself with non-English speakers and it's a good time (this was in 3rd grade, people, not like it was yesterday).

After the bad words, I went on to learn the letters and the numbers, and a few words here and there. On my first trip to Greece, my wife's Theo Niko (Uncle Nick for you xenoi) gave me, as a parting gift, a book and CD set to help me learn Greek. He told me "When you come back, you will know how to speak Greek!" Needless to say, 6 years later upon our return to Greece, I was nowhere near fluent, but I do understand and speak much more than I did in 2001 during my first visit. I used the book and CD, I watched Greek TV, listened to Greek music, asked my wife a million times "How do you say…?", even read the old kindergarten-level primer Theo Niko also gave me. It's just damn hard! I found at my age, it's very difficult to do any meaningful learning of this language without being completely immersed in it. I can read Greek pretty well – I just don't know what all the words mean. I can speak Greek at a very basic level, which is great for talking to our 2-year-old son, to whom I speak Greek as often as my Greek wife. Same thing happened with our older son, except with him, I think I actually spoke more Greek than she did. I'm the one talking in Greek to them while she tells them things in English. Go figure. If my kids ever speak Greek to you and you wonder why it's a little off, it's because they were taught by a xeno.

The language barrier has never been too big an issue in our marriage, as my wife is almost always around to translate whenever necessary. But the fact that the little Greek I do know I speak very well (I've been told I barely have an accent) has gotten me into situations where I have no idea what is going on. When we visit Greece, I try to speak Greek as much as possible, and only speak English once I know the person is comfortable speaking it to me. When we go shopping I will greet the shop owners in Greek and, because I sound so good, they think I'm fluent, so they start rambling all kinds of Greek gibberish and I don't have a clue. Fortunately, I know how to tell them in Greek that I don't understand. "Den katalaveno!", I say quickly. "Milate Agglika?" "Do you speak English?" And they almost always do.

I am so envious of people who are bi-lingual. I'm pissed off that they stopped offering Greek as a foreign language in high schools (and even at my university). If my wife had been Hispanic, as I first thought, at least I would have had 4 years of Spanish classes as a foundation. I wish I knew what it was like to hear another language and not have it sound foreign to me, but instead to have it be just another way of communicating. I listen to bi-lingual Greeks talk and they go in and out between Greek and English all the time. I don't think they even know they're doing it.

I won't give up trying to learn Greek, and I feel like I'm always getting better. I will be sure to speak as much of it as possible to my kids and to learn along with them. I'm not too proud to use a Level 1 primer with cartoon pictures - whatever works!

When we visit with my wife's family here and they speak Greek to me, I feel more at ease, and I can usually provide at least elementary answers or replies. On visits to Greece I feel more comfortable getting around and speaking to people. The worst part is that after spending a month there, when I really start to pick up the rhythm of spoken Greek, and am feeling great about trying to speak it - it's time to come home. I guess the only solution is to pack up and move there. Talk about expensive language lessons….

Σας ευχαριστώ για την επίσκεψη (Thank you for visiting)

Todd

Next Month, Part 4: Ελλάδα Μου (My Greece)

A Xeno's View of Greece and Greeks Part 2: Clash of the Frypans – Release the Gyro!

2010-12-16T12:58:00.001-08:00

Previously on "A Xeno's View"…… I met my beautiful bride-to-be, was introduced to her enormous family, and began my assimilation into Greek-American culture (for a recap, check out the blog archive for Part 1….)

When at last I was deemed worthy by my wife's family, I was shown some philoxenia (hospitality +) and offered a drink, or some bread and feta, some soup, or leftover pastitsio from that night's dinner. It wasn't long until the real love affair began – with Greek food. The seafood: fried and grilled kalamari, grilled marinated octopus, shrimp giouvetsi, fresh grilled fish, sea urchin, raw clams and mussels, taramoslata (a creamy fish roe spread). The meats: keftedes (lamb and beef meatballs), loukaniko (sausage), lamb, goat, marinated roasted chicken, kontosouvli (marinated grilled pork). A special mention here to two Greek staples, and two fine examples of "street food": souvlaki and gyros. Nothing is as tasty as a souvlaki from Thanasi's in Monastiraki, Athens. And gyros – I don't know what the hell is in those things, what conglomeration of mystery meats they press together and then shave off of a pole, but damn is it good!

Now as I was saying…The vegetables: fresh Greek salad, fakes (lentil soup), fasolada (bean soup), imam bayaldi (stuffed eggplant), horta (dandelion greens), roasted potatoes, stuffed peppers and tomatoes, green beans in spicy tomato sauce. The pasta: pastitsio, makaronia me kema, orzo. All made with delicious olive oil, fresh Greek oregano and/or healthy amounts of garlic and lemon.

I have come to enjoy Greek food so much that I eat the stuff that even Greeks don't eat – patsa (tripe), magiritsa (see below), kokoretsi (lamb offal wrapped with intestine and grilled), lambs brains and eyeballs (all Easter favorites). The first time I went to my wife's family's house for Easter, I really wanted to try the magiritsa. For those of you who don't know, this is a very rich soup that consists of lamb meat and all of the lamb's organs that is traditionally served at Easter as a way to recoup all of the oil and fat people have forgone during their 40-day Lenten fast. As I walked back to the table with my bowl of hot soup, I was approached several times by members of my wife's family asking, "You do know what's in that, right?", and "Ewww, you're going to eat that? Nobody eats that. Only the old people!" Well, I do, and I love it. It's one of the reasons that Greek Easter is among my favorite holidays.

My wife's aunt has always been very nice to me, and has always wanted to feed me. Plus she can cook her kolos off, which doesn't hurt. I would learn that this is the way Greeks are, and there is no way to tell a Greek woman "no" when she puts food in front of you. You have to have at least a little bit, or you will actually hurt her feelings. I remember when we visited Greece for the first time, we were invited to one of the myriad aunt and uncle's homes for "dessert" at around 10pm. They knew we were coming over after dinner. They knew we had to get up early the next morning to go on some tour, or catch a flight to one of the islands or whatever the case was. Regardless, we were given beer, wine and mezedes upon arrival: dolmadakia (stuffed grape leaves), spanakopites (spinach pies), tiropites (cheese pies), fresh bread with delicious feta and melitzanosalata (garlic and eggplant spread). This was followed by the main course of pasta carbonara, with dessert and coffee finally reaching the table sometime after 1am. There was no refusing any of this. It would be rude to do so, and these people were so genuinely happy to see us and feed us that I would feel like a complete jerk to turn any of their hospitality down. This has been the case with my wife's family at every event I have ever attended.

My parents got their first taste of this when we took them to meet my wife's family for the first time one Christmas. Again, this was supposed to be light food and desserts, which of course meant a full spread of Greek and American favorites followed by honey-drenched and powder-sugar-covered Greek desserts. I told my mother a little secret: put a little of everything on your plate and spread it around so the sauces cover the whole surface and it looks like you ate a lot. I have found this to be the only defense against a Greek family hell-bent on stuffing your face to the point of gastrointestinal illness. You can show your dirty empty plate and smile in lieu of trying to futilely explain to your native-Greek-speaking hosts that, "I really can't eat anymore because I'm going to throw up!", only to have them not understand a word you say and promptly offer you more of everything while saying, in broken English, "O-K, O-K, Good! Eat more?"

Σας ευχαριστώ για την επίσκεψη
(Thank you for visiting)

Next Month, Part 3 – What? You No Speak-a the Greek?

A Xeno's View of Greeks and Greece - Part 1: How I Became a Greek American

2010-12-16T12:52:00.001-08:00

Greeks. Greece. What did I know about these things before marrying a Greek girl? Well, not too much, but probably more than the average American. You see, I have always enjoyed history, as far back as elementary school. I used to look at black-and-white photos of the Acropolis in my Middle School textbook with as much wonder as a 12-year-old boy can muster for 4000 year old granite. I took Philosophy in High School, where I was introduced to the likes of Socrates and Aristotle, with admittedly very little enthusiasm on my part.

I went on to get a Bachelor's Degree in History, with a minor in Geography. My studies gave me more than a little information about Greece, but not much in the way of practical knowledge of the country or its people. I knew a few Greek people as a kid. My mother had an old friend who was Greek, but Sylvia's kids were named Buck and Mandy – not your typical Greek names, and we never did anything "Greek" with them. The girl I knew in high school lived just down the street, but I never saw any "signs" that she was Greek. I just thought she had a funny name (Effie). I knew two Greeks in college, though only in passing. But 2 of these 3 people from high school and college ended up at the first Greek wedding I ever attended with my wife, before we were married, showing me very quickly how closely connected the Greek community is.

So I met my bride-to-be at work in 1995. When I first saw her, at the end of 1994, I thought she was Hispanic. Captivatingly beautiful, with dark skin and long dark hair - I was smitten from the get-go. But I had no idea she was Greek. I didn't really know what Greek people were "supposed" to look like. Her name wasn't "typically" Greek, with an "-opoulos" or "-akis" at the end to tip me off. Not until much later, when I actually asked her how to pronounce her last name, did it come up that she was Greek. I was pretty shy when it came to asking girls out, but I did manage to muster the courage to do just that. And was quickly turned down. More than once. But I kept trying and, finally, she agreed to go on a "date" with me and a bunch of mutual friends to a baseball game. Thus began the relationship that would, 4 years later, lead to our wedding day.

As we continued to date I got to know more about this exotic Greek beauty and her family. But I never got to meet any of these people when I dropped her off at night. I later found out that she was afraid that her overbearing Greek family would scare me away, so she kept me away from them. (She wasn't too far off –about 6 months into dating her I was told by her uncle, through one of his sons, that I needed to either marry her or stop seeing her) It was probably several months before I ever set foot in her house, and when I did it was literally for only a few seconds. She would bustle us out before her aunt and uncle, with whom she lived, could "scare" me with their old-world Greek attitudes about a "xeno" dating their niece. That's right, me. The "foreigner". In the country of my birth, with a family tree showing relatives on this continent back to the 17th century, I was being called a "xeno", an outsider, because I was not Greek.

Eventually I was allowed in the door long enough to actually meet the people who lived there. In this part of the family were an aunt and uncle and their 7 children, 3 of whom still lived at home, with 3 others living nearby. Now, I come from a small Methodist family in the suburbs. I have one older brother and two actual cousins. That's it. So to be plunged into the mayhem of a large Greek family was absolutely a shocking experience. The noise, the yelling (which I was told is "just how we talk"), the coddling of boy children and the over-protection of the girls. But she was worth it, and all-in-all, it was fun to become part of such a big family....

Σας ευχαριστώ για τιν επίσκεψη
(Thank you for visiting)

Stop back next month for Part 2 of A Xeno's View - CLASH OF THE FRYPANS: RELEASE THE GYRO!