Take Five
By George Rose
July 14, 2009
Greetings from Greece! It is July 9th as I write this intro. I have been in Greece for a full week and have finally gotten around to watching my first movie (scroll down if you are impatient and want to know which one it was). It took me longer than expected, because I'm pretty forgetful and stupid and left my computer power cord at home in America. I had to get my uncle to drive me into town to get a new cord with a European plug on it, which I guess worked out well for me since now I can take my laptop anywhere without having to worry about bringing a voltage converter.
In the meantime, I have been busy reuniting with the many long lost family members that reside here on the island of Chios, many of whom have been more than accommodating and have done everything in their power to take good care of me. The only thing the people love to do more than eat is feed the foreigner. It's funny how my distant aunts and uncles fight over who can do more to serve me. This is a life I could get very, very used to.
My refrigerator is filled with leftovers and meals prepared solely for me. I'm usually not even home half of the time when they bring it over; I'm either sitting on the sand, drinking beer at my uncle's beach bar or stuck in the middle of a long conversation I can barely understand. I probably shouldn't have looked in the back of my Greek 101 textbook in college to find the answers. I might know how to say more than "I don't understand" and "I speak very little Greek". At least my pronunciation is on par. Note to foreign language textbook producers: do not include the answers in the back of the book. If you give college students the chance to cheat, we will. We'd rather be drinking and going on dates. Or sleeping.
My favorite part of being here is not the scenery, or even the food, but rather the common phrases that are not found in America. Sure, we have sayings of our own, but with different cultures come new ways of expressing common ideas. Here are some I have found particularly entertaining:
- For those of you who have ever spent a long night drinking, you may have realized that once you go to the bathroom for the first time, you cannot stop. You either don't go all night or you go every 20 minutes after the first time you make the mistake of visiting a restroom. In America, we call this "breaking the seal." You know the feeling, it's like the Hoover Dam has been shattered and nothing can stop the water from flowing out at full force. You either leave the dam in tact or you accept that it will flow for the next few hours. They do not understand this concept in Greece. What they do understand is the need to give such an inappropriate topic a cute phrase to cover it up. Here, they say "I have to pay the bill." It doesn't mean the dam broke, but it's a polite yet funny way to convey that you have to use the bathroom. It is only said while drinking. If you say it at dinner with your grandmother, she will give you an odd glare and pile more food onto your plate. I guess I could get a worse reaction.
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