Special Day Out
Trip Start
Sep 07, 2008
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62
148
Trip End
Dec 09, 2008
Athens,
Attica,
Greece
Sunday, October 5, 2008
I was excited but also a little anxious because I speak almost no Greek and Kyria speaks almost no English. We've done a pretty good job with basic communication, though, with the ten words I do know and lots of nonverbal gestures and pantomime. But what was I going to do, I worried, smile at her like an idiot for an hour over coffee?
But we actually had a three-hour afternoon out, and it was wonderful. First we went past the Kalimarmara ("beautiful marble") Stadium where they're setting up for an R.E.M. concert tonight (I can hear the sound check of "Losing My Religion" from the balcony of my apartment as I sit here typing). She asked me how the Bear and my kitties have been doing, and I asked her about her two daughters and one son, and her little grandson.
We walked through the National Gardens to the Zappeion, a beautiful mansion given to the people of Athens by the wealthy Zappeios brothers and now open only for special occasions. But there is a little café right beside the building, and we stopped there. I had chocolate milk and a scoop of chocolate ice cream, and she had a Nescafe, which is one of Greece's favorite coffee drinks.
Armed with my Greek/English dictionary, a phrasebook, and pen and paper, I learned a lot about her thanks to her gracious patience with my attempts at conversation.
Kyria in shadow
First of all, I discovered that my first friend in Greece who speaks no English is not originally Greek at all, she's Polish! She fled Poland 15 years ago because of the Communist regime. She moved to Greece and met a German man eleven years her senior who is now her ex-husband (ah ha, now the mystery I was trying to unravel last time, about the connection between Germany and her former husband, is solved).I wondered what people who live in Greece think about Germans, given the invasion in World War II, but Indy told me last week that there is actually a close relationship between Greece and Germany now because many Germans come to Greece as tourists and contribute to the Greek economy, and because many Greeks go temporarily to Germany to work because the unemployment rate in Greece is very high. I also read that although the unemployment rate is high, the poverty rate is not equally high because the Greek system of extended families taking care of each other leads to a higher standard of living than the GDP would imply.
I learned the names of Kyria's two grown daughters -- one who lives here in Athens who has a 1.5 year-old boy, and one who lives "in a house by the sea" in Chania, Crete (yeaaaay Chania!) -- and her one grown son who lives in Poland with Kyria's five siblings. We tried to call the daughter in Crete who speaks excellent English so she could translate for us, but her cell phone was off. But look what I understood without a translator!
After our drinks at the café, we walked to Plaka, which is a beautiful neighborhood of Athens in the shadow of the Acropolis. We looked at all the shops, and Kyria bought me a Parthenon t-shirt, and later a sea sponge. This was a real sponge actually from the ocean, not a synthetic. I was deeply moved by her generosity, and she pointed to the sponge and said, "Now every time you take a bath, you will think of me." I've been here a month and I haven't bought any souvenirs for myself, so Kyria's gifts are doubly meaningful to me.
But her hospitality wasn't over yet. We went to a taverna in Plaka, and Kyria treated me to melitzanosalata. I finally got the eggplant dip I've been wanting for two weeks! We ate the little dish of eggplant dip spread on bread, and then they brought *another* dish of it! Then came the fried calamari. Kyria was not impressed with the calamari, but I'd never tried it before so I thought it was fine. My friend Triathlete commented the other day that Greek food is so healthy that I should come back feeling zippy, but I fear she does not know the truckload-sized portions I've been eating.
We took the bus back, and as we parted I gave Kyria a bracelet I had made in the blue and white colors of Greece. I was glad I had a way to express my gratitude for the delightful day she gave me.
