I'm baaack!

...so hide your booze and put your phones on vibrate!

Everything arrived safely, nothing broken, thanks be to God and to those who were praying for me.

I was particularly concerned about the liquids--olive oil and tsikoudia--but I packed them carefully in plastic bottles, and there were no mishaps.  The tsikoudia looks a little sad in PET bottle, so I went to the Goodwill and scored big time:

Glass liquor decanter: 0.99
Cordial glasses:          0.69 x 4
Pour spout:                1.99

Τσικουδιά (and the memories of hospitality that it represents): Priceless


I need to find glasses that are more like traditional τσικουδιά glasses, which about the same size and shape as communion glasses...hey! maybe a Christian supply store would have them.  But all the churches use plastic ones these days, so I don't know...

First leg

The first leg of my return journey is complete, and I'm safely ensconced in my room at the Kastro Hotel in Iraklion.  I miss Yaya, Dimitri, Dimitra, Tasos, and Katerina already!  It was all I could do to keep from crying during all the goodbyes; that came later.

Meanwhile, here at the Kastro Hotel, there is a gi-normous photo of the Old Harbour of Xania!  I guess the town wanted to give me one last good-bye.

This is not a photo of the Old Harbour of Xania

Being here in Iraklion is almost more surreal than the first time, because the feelings are so different.  When I arrived, I was completely disoriented, scared of getting lost and never finding my hotel again, and the future was a mystery: I had no idea what to expect.  But now, although I'm not as familiar with Iraklion as I am with Xania, I'm confident in my ability to get around, and the future is far more predictable, as futures go: I know I will miss my family in Perivolia, but that I will be glad to see my friends and family in Seattle.  I'll probably experience some reverse culture shock and occasionally confuse people by saying ναι (neh) for "yes".  I'll spend some time getting re-acquainted with people, but these will be people who I already know for the most part, so there will not be many big surprises--an entirely different sensation from not knowing anyone and not being quite sure what each day holds.

Well ... to time head out and find something to eat!  Tomorrow, Athens and Madrid, where I'll probably confuse everyone by speaking Spreek or Granish to the waiter.

Heading back already???

Hi everyone ... sorry about the lack of blogification.

Today is my last full day in Xania/Perivolia ... and it is a beautiful warm sunny day!  Dimitri says Crete is saying "bye-bye" to me.

Tomorrow afternoon I'll take the bus to Iraklion, spend the night in a hotel there, and leave for the airport in the morning.  I have a SIXTEEN HOUR layover in Madrid, so I've reserved a hotel room near the airport.  I plan to get something nice to eat, and see a few sights there before heading back to the hotel to crash.

Well I have to sign out ... busy day today!  I counted the stockings I'd like to feed, and discovered I need a few more μπεγλέρια...

Bye for now!

Jason

Athens here I come!

OK, it's time for a side trip.  I'm mentally exhausted from trying to learn Greek, and I need a break, so I'm taking a week off.  Tonight I leave by boat for Athens, arriving there Tuesday morning.  I'll be spending two nights in the "A for Athens" hotel, and will head back to Chania Thursday night.

My plan is to do all the touristy stuff about the Acropolis and whatnot; perhaps take a side side trip and visit Manolis.  This may not be possible, as his schedule is highly variable due to being in the military.  Perhaps I'll also get a chance to photograph some protests as well ... I promise to stay away from the guys with the clubs and motorcycle helmets!

Musical Musings

Yesterday my Greek instructor gave me the lyrics to the song "Kalimera, ti kanis".  It's a beautiful, optimistic song which she thinks is appropriate for these hard times.  You can listen to it here:

Iannis Parios - Kalimera, ti kanis

The final verse says, roughly:
Good morning, how are you, I hope all is well [this is the refrain --Jason]
when you think everything is going wrong
always something will happen, don't ask why
good morning, how are you, I love you a lot.

Upbeat, optimistic.  This is Greek culture.  All of the music here, from traditional Cretan dances, to pop like this, to the latest House being played at the clubs is at its root cheerful, optimistic.  The Greeks are currently justifiably very upset with their leaders--especially Prime Minister Papandreou--but still they meet with their friends for coffee, some really good food, and conversation.  Phone conversations tend to be brief, used to set up meetings in person ("from close" or από κοντά in Greek).

Meanwhile, if you found the above song a little too sweet, here is something slightly bitter from the Sonic Youth:

Sonic Youth - Washing Machine

You say you say "tomayto"; I say you say "tomahto"

Another funny anecdote:

My dad, upon returning from Crete:  "One of the things I remember most about them is how much they love olive oil.  They would sop up every last bit of it with bread after the salad was gone."

Our relatives talking about his visit:  "One of the things we remember most about your dad is how much he loves olive oil.  He would sop up every last bit of it with bread after the salad was gone!"

Some phonological observations

Perhaps only interesting to a linguist, but I've noticed that Greek makes no phonemic distinction between \nd\ and \d\; or between \ng\ and \g\.  This means a Greek usually can't hear the difference, say, between "Woody Allen" and "Woondy Allen" ("Woody" is spelled Γούντι in Greek).  On the other hand, they *do* make a phonemic distinction between \k\ and \χ\, and between \g\ and \γ\.  I can usually hear the difference, but can only produce the \χ\ and \γ\ sounds with difficulty.  As Spock would say: fascinating.

Learning Greek must be tiring!

...I take a two hour nap most days, in addition to my usual 8 hours at night.  

A common Greek greeting

A common greeting in Greece is: Που είναι παπούτσια σου; Βρέχει!  (In Greeklish: Pou ineh papoutsia sou?  Vrehy!)

Now, before you bust this out at your local Greek festival, I should warn you:  It does not mean "How are you doing?  Good to see you!" but "Where are your shoes?  It's raining!"

*sigh*  I suppose I should really try wearing shoes.  My sandal-wearing ranks right up there with pocket protectors and taped-together glasses.  But they are so dang comfy!

Meze

One of my favourite ways of eating here on Crete is to have Meze, which I think we would call appetizers in the States.  Small individual plates are brought out, and everyone helps himself to the dishes as they are set on the table.  From what I can tell, this is the most common way of eating the evening meal, or vradino.  I like this for a couple of reasons: first it feels more communal and friendly, and second, you can control your portion size.

Friday evening I got to go out for meze with Manolis and two other friends who are close to the family: Iannis and Kostas.  The name of the spot was Argentina Ψαροταβερνα ("psaro" = fish, so "fish tavern"), and I still don't know what it has to do with Argentina, but the food was outstanding.  Here we are heading in:

Argentina Ψαροταβερνα

After we sat down and the water and bread were brought out, the menus were taken away after a brief discussion, and the owner came to the table.  Apparently we were in for a treat: Manolis is friends with the owner (whose name is also Manolis) and rather than ordering from the menu Manolis and  Manolis were going to choose for us the best dishes.

dolmathes

fish salad?

The first two dishes to come to the table were the dolmathes, which are easy enough to find in America, but were especially nice here (although of course Για-γιά's dolmathes are better ;-) ) and a legume salad with little bits of fish.  I don't recall the name but it was very nice.




Then came the kalimari and the xtopodi (the word octopus has lost its initial o in modern Greek), fried and grilled, respectively.  I had had xtopodi before and it is a particular favourite of mine.

After this came a pasta dish with a variety of bivalves that I didn't recognise, but all very tasty.  Finally they brought out grilled kalimari, which is called soukia if I recall correctly, and was out of this world.

pasta with various bivalves

Soukia?

Finally came the tsikoudia (aka raki elsewhere in Greece), which no restaurant meal would be complete without.  I have come to love this practice--it makes the bill easier to swallow, among other things--and some time back I was complaining to another student that I didn't know how I was going to adjust to no tsikoudia after dinner when I get back to the States.  I will close this blog entry with her reply:

There was life before tsikoudia, and there will be life after tsikoudia.

From the left: Manolis, Kostas, Iannis, and Iasonas

Tin Tin!

A slightly disturbing family photograph

This picture was given to me by Manolis Sigioltzakis, who is in Perivolia for a few days, visiting from Athens.  It's from the German archives.

This is Grandpa Nick's brother Iannis and his son Manolis Katsanevakis just before the Nazis shot them along with about 35 others in the town square (a ten minute walk from the Sigioltzakis house, where I'm staying).

They have planted one tree in this plaza for each person that was shot; I jog past the spot every day.  There many spots like this all over Crete--and all over Europe, I imagine.  Another example is the peaceful plaza by Lexis, where I relax with my morning coffee every day before class.  Here there is a huge tree from which many Christians were hung during the Turkish occupation.

Living in the Pacific Northwest, we don't have these daily reminders of human violence, and it is easy to forget.

A couple of brief cultural observations

OK, I'm still up to my eyeballs in Greek, so I'm gonna keep this short:

I'm fascinated by the various cultural differences.  There are tons of them (I'm still getting used to a backward tilt of the head and/or a raise of the eyebrows meaning "no"), but since my time is limited, here are two:

1) They have never heard of 3x5 cards here.  It's a bit difficult finding blank cardstock at all, but they do have it.  On the other hand, if you're interested in erasers they have them in spades.  One store I went to must have had at least 20 different kinds to choose from, including pen erasers and the latest in German eraser technology.  In case you're wondering, the best brand is Staedtler rasoplast; I'll be happy to post a pic if you ask nicely.  But I still need to post pix of my last major outing which was ... erm ... two weeks ago?

2) No one has toasters here, but they do eat something called «τοστ» (pronounced exactly the same way).  In Seattle, what they call τοστ in Greece would be called a ham & cheese panini, and no Greek kitchen would be complete without a panini press.  So there you have it.

And now back to the Greek (ελληνικά)!

Why there have not been (m)any blog posts lately:

Α picture is worth a thousand words; more if they are Greek words:

Ο χίλια ελληνικόσ λέξις

"beep beep beeeeeeeeeeeeep beep beep" means "fresh bread is here!"

When I first got here, I was wondered who that annoying person was that honked his horn all over the neighborhood every morning.  Now I realise that he's the bread man, which means fresh bread--still warm from the oven--every morning.

Σιγά-Σιγά or Siga-Siga Means "Slowly, Slowly"

You can't listen to a Greek--from bus drivers speaking to their passengers to politicians speaking to their constituency--without hearing this phrase at some point, if not several times.  This idea seems to be key to understanding Greek culture, and it appears to apply to nearly every aspect of Greek life, with one notable exception:  Driving.

The philosophy to driving is "Faster! Faster!" and, as noted in an earlier post, it can be a bit unnerving to a Seattlonian like me, but as time has passed I've noticed that it is far less chaotic than it appears at first: for example, Greeks actually take the rule "stay to the right except to pass" seriously, to the point where on two-lane roads most drive halfway on the berm, to allow faster vehicles to pass even if there is a double line in the center.  Also, there doesn't seem to be the concept of "you cut me off, asshole" that is so prevalent in American driving.  If there's an open spot and someone squeezes by with a couple of inches to spare in a "no passing zone" (the concept of "no passing" exists more as a gentle suggestion than a hard and fast rule), there's no hard feelings.  In the US, cutting someone off in traffic is taken as a personal offense akin to breaking into a queue; here in Greece--as far as I can tell--it doesn't piss anyone off unless you almost cause an accident or something.  And then the pissed-offed-ness is about the near accident, not the cutting-off per se.

Moreover (wonderful word, "moreover": it sounds like a way of ordering your eggs to be cooked), unless you are in the city, there are no sidewalks.  This does not mean that people don't walk though: it is not uncommon to see someone out walking their grandmother--dressed in black from head to toe--on a road with no shoulder as people zip by at 60 kph.  I think in the US the first person by in a situation like that would first stop and ask if everything is ok, then offer a lift.  If said lift were refused I imagine the next step would be a 911 call and a police escort to ensure everyone's safety.

Well, enough about driving.  I should also point out that here all the distances are very close: when the oil runs out, people will still be able to get around on bicycles, or walking, or even horse-carts.  In the US there will be a problem unless we can figure out a viable energy source that is truly renewable and sustainable.

This is Jason Katsanis signing out.  Good night, and good golly.

PS Post on yesterday's trip to Φαιστος / Phaistos / Festos to follow.  Σιγά-σιγά.    

brief update

School is going ... ok.  The dialogues give me a headache, and I feel like I'm not picking up as quickly as I would like.  But it is coming along: I'm spending more time drilling at home, and I think this will pay off.

Yesterday we had a short cooking class and learned how to make Greek stuffed tomatoes (ΝΤΟΜΑΤΕΣ ΓΕΜΙΣΤΕΣ).  Sunday we have a planned excursion to a τσικουδιά (tzikoudia, or raki) factory, which I'm sure will be quite fun and intoxicating, but I will have to miss it as the family will be going on our long-anticipated trip to Phaistos and other spots which I'm sure will be even more fun, if not quite as intoxicating.  Poor me.  

School has begun: May the Lord have mercy upon my soul.

I've just finished my second day of school.  My head has not started hurting yet because it has apparently developed a hard shell that the new words are bouncing off like ping pong balls.  Still, I am keeping up so far, and tomorrow there's some kind of activity involving cooking and eating.  Should be fun!

Anyhow, here is a view of the school from a nearby sidewalk café.  You might be able to make out the name of the school on the blue signs on the railing of the balcony in the background.

Note the blurry drink to the right: this is called a "cappuccino freddo" in the local lingo, aka an iced cappuccino.  I have no idea why these haven't caught on in Seattle, but I'll be sure to introduce this idea to every barista I know when I get back.  Except it'll December and everyone will be drinking pumpkin eggnog  lattes.  Next summer, I guess.  Doubtful these will catch on at Starbucks, since they've begun making everything whatever "Super Mega Big Gulp" translates to in Italian.  <soapbox> People may feel more sophisticated ordering drinks that sound Italian, but I'm here to tell you those calories will sit on your gut the same way no matter what language you ordered them in. </soapbox>

Well it's getting late and I have a big day tomorrow.  This is Ιασον Κατσανεβακης signing out.  Good night, and good grief.

συγγνώμη means "I'm sorry"

Hey everyone ... sorry about the lack of blogocity, bloggishness, bloggility, or however you want to call it.

I've been busy and lazy.  Call it "lizzy" or "bazy".

Knossos was hot and full of tourists.  I didn't take many pix because the books are full of photos that are better than what I could do; nevertheless, here is proοf that I visited the labyrinth from which this blog gets its name (well, that plus my brain, but that's another story):

pay no attention to the dork on the left

The title of this short film is: Why I Did Not Visit the Throne Room at Knossos.  Bear in mind that the temperature was around 35 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) when I shot this.

Last night I went with Tasos and Katerina and friends to a nice bar for "meze," or μεζέ.  After a few shots of raki and a couple of glasses of ouzo, you think that you look like
this:

      ...when you really look like this: 

Well, tomorrow is my first day of class, so I'd better get to bed.  I hope that my head does not explode, or, if it does explode, that it does not hurt too much.

καληνύχτα!

Brief!

In case anyone's wondering why there's been "radio silence", it's because yesterday we went to Samaria Gorge.  This meant getting up at 5:00am and returning very tired after a rather long day!  I will write about this and post a couple of pix later.

Today I went to church with Dimitri, had a wonderful dinner cooked by Yaya Katerina, then coffee with Dimitra & Dimitri at Kou Kou Vaya, and looked at the graves of some very important Cretan heroes.  Then, back home and off to a salsa dance party with Tasos.  I did not dance, as I do not know how to salsa; however, I may look into lessons: it will be a good way to meet some people, plus a good skill to have.

And now to bed.  Tomorrow, to Chania with Katerina, who will show me how to use the bus system and help me find the hiking club if there is time!

πάμε στην παραλία means "let's go to the beach!"

...at least I think so! And so we did go to the beach. Tasos stayed at home working on a project with an aggressive deadline, while Katerina caught up on sleep after staying up till 8am with friends the night before. Before going to said beach I picked up some sunblock, which is like liquid gold.

For example, this little tube cost a little less than 10 euro. To put this in perspective, a boat from Chania to Athens is 20 euro.







 Ah, but the beach was beautiful, and the water warm; it was lovely. Here is my little attempt at a bit of artistry:

Hmmm.  It is slightly tilted: I will need to get some editing software and fix that at some point.  :-P

Today Tasos drives me into Chania on his moto. I'll take pictures, wander around, have a coffee or two: relax.

Chania, aka Χανιά

Rode bus from Heraklion to Chania; beautiful 2.5 hour trip!  And finally met Tasos, his sister Katerina, and their parents Dimitri and Dimitra.  Wonderful folks, who fed me a wonderful lunch of pastitsio and greek salad. We made a short tour of the Old Town part of Chania...very picturesque: long narrow alley-ways lined with plants.

And now it is time for bed.  I'll see if I wake up at 3am again!

Jason

Here is an extremely fuzzy photo of all--well most--of me and the family.  I mean I'm all there (as much as I ever am), but Yayá Katerina is in Athens.

Greetings from Heraklion!

Rick Steves says if you can force yourself to stay awake until the normal bedtime of your destination country, you'll go a long way to conquering your jet lag.  Well I did everything right and stayed up until Midnight last night, and immediately dropped right off to sleep. And woke up wide awake 3 hours later. So here it is 3:30 am and I'm blogging because I can't sleep. Best laid plans, and all that.

My one checked bag arrived safely after much needless worry (or perhaps thanks to the prayers of my sisters), and I called Tasos immediately after checking in.  Everyone over there is looking forward to my visit; I take the bus tomorrow to Chania, which is about a 2 hour trip.

After checking in to the hotel (I'm kind of glad I splurged: the taxi driver knew exactly where it was, and I have internet access) and calling Tasos and family, I showered and changed and went out for a walk.  I now know that 27 degrees is quite warm, and was happy to be wearing shorts and a T.

Heraklion is a crazy, crazy place.  Everyone is driving like a maniac, with mopeds and scooters weaving in and out of traffic, all while talking on their cell phone or passenger and eating a sandwich.  No honking thank goodness.  Just very aggressive driving, but no one seems to be very upset.  Sometimes if you want to cross the street you have to just step out.  No sudden moves; they will see you and avoid you, but it is a bit unsettling.  Don't count on that walk signal either: they're usually good about that stuff, but it's more important to make sure they see you.  If you've seen the movies on YouTube of people crossing the street in Viet Nam, this is nowhere near as bad.  Think Madrid or Rome if you've seen movies set there and you'll get the general idea.

It is also very easy to get lost, even with a map.  The streets are a crazy patchwork and usually not marked, and not every street is on the map, but some surprisingly small ones look like major thoroughfares on the map.  But I survived, didn't get too lost, and got an awesome pita sandwich for 3 € and ... hey! I think I might have gotten short changed.  Maybe should have been 1 € and he gave me 1 € coins instead of 2 € coins hoping I wouldn't notice?  On the other hand, that might have been the right price.  I need to be more careful.

This is all very surreal for me.  I just saw the movie Midnight in Paris (see it if you get a chance: I loved it) ... again ... because it was one of the inflight movies.  Last night as I was wandering around Heraklion, I started feeling like I was Woody Allen's -- I mean Owen Wilson's -- character in that film; and when I found myself unexpectedly on a deserted street, I found myself wondering if a car filled with strangers drinking champagne -- I mean ouzo -- was going to pick me up and take me to a party and introduce me to Nikos Kazantzakis.

Free wi-fi at SeaTac...

...so one last post before the flight! 

This morning I ran to the grocer to pick up last minute snax: sliced up an apple, some cheese, bananas, triscuits--so I wouldn't have to buy anything on the flight.  Then I left it all on the kitchen counter as I was heading out the door.  :-( 

Well something had to go wrong, and feel like I just got it all out of the way right at the beginning!

Check-in and security went very smoothly this morning, and my bag with all my gifts was checked through to Athens for free.  I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do when I get to Athens, though...I have no ticket for Athens to Heraklion.  I'll figure it out: most likely, I just go to the Aegean desk and tell them I'm here.

Lots of lovely birthday greetings on facebook.  Facebook's nice that way.  :-)

Last Post Before Flight!

Flight leaves tomorrow at 8:30am!  Final packing/freaking out.  See you all in Crete, in 2 or 3 days.

Packing

Today I begin packing for real.  Still need to get some last-minute items: batteries, flash drives.  A camera if I can't find my spare.  :-/  What else am I forgetting?  Oh, shorts!  I only have one pair: I need another!

I can't check in online until 24 hours before my flight, so not yet!  Also, I never got around to choosing my seat for the first leg of my journey, and now I can't.  Where is the worst possible spot you can sit on an airplane?  I want to know so I can prepare myself.

T-minus 3 days

It is getting really close now!

Last night I went up Mt. Si with Neil and Shan. I've been doing this hike every Thursday night for almost two months now, and the days are definitely getting shorter! When I first started, we could make it up to the top without turning on our flashlights, but last night we had to turn them on about halfway up. Explorer Search & Rescue was up there rescuing a hiker with a twisted ankle (and a Newfoundland with heat exhaustion!) We ended up turning back before reaching the top because we had some delays (mostly me responding to text msgs that I was unable to ignore. long story) and Shan needed to get back home to do some work.

As we were coming back down, we ran into the same S&R team, who were looking for another hiker with a twisted ankle. When they saw us they decided to turn back, after much confused conversation. We were not completely convinced that there was not another hiker above us, since we didn't make it to the top. I hope no one was stuck up there overnight!

Today is my last day at work. They took me out for Korean! Yum. And tonight will be last bikram class (most likely). Many lasts.

The Title of This Blog

I once had a blog entitled The Title of This Blog, just so I could say "The title of this blog is The Title of This Blog." Clever, yes, but not terribly descriptive.

So I thought long and hard about the title of this one. Jason's Big Fat Greek Blog? too obvious, and has probably been done to death. One friend suggested The Oracle at Chania, as a spinoff on the famous Oracle at Delphi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_of_Delphi), but I decided against it as I am not feeling terribly oracular.

Then I learned that the original labyrinth was built by Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. So there's a nice Cretan tie-in, plus it's descriptive of my thought processes! Now if I can just find my Ariadne to help me.

The Deepak Chopra Project?

I just learned there's a game called "The Deepak Chopra Project." I haven't heard anything about it, but I'm guessing that it's like Railroad Tycoon for Gurus:

You have sold 1,000 tickets to people, by telling them that they don't have to die unless they want to. At $1,000 each, you just earned $1,000,000! Congratulations!

And so on.

Exercise update, and other stuff

The yoga studio was the coolest its ever been tonight. I almost want my money back: I mean, what is the point if I'm not dizzy and nauseous and on the brink of passing out? Well, now I know the spot to avoid...I don't think it was that cool everywhere. I still think I got a pretty good workout, despite not feeling all woozy afterwards.

My sister and neice have offered some more gift ideas, but I'm not going to say what they were, in case certain Cretans (not Cretins!!!) are reading this blog. You know who you are. ;-) Which reminds me: I need to figure out how to swap in a Greek keyboard on this laptop.

This is my last week at work, and I'm trying to perform a final brain dump for the guys I've been training for the past few months. I hope they do ok! Although part of me hopes they don't do too well. There's a fine line between "Jason sure did a good job of training you!" and "You're picking this up way faster than Jason did--I guess we won't be needing him anymore!" In any event, they keep saying that they don't know how they're going to survive after I leave, and that feels nice. I keep surprising myself with the stuff I know. Was it Donald Rumsfeld who said there are known unknowns, and unknown unknowns? Well it turns out that there are also unknown knowns. Who knew?

OK, signing off for the night. I feel like I need to do a better job of keeping this interesting!

First Post!

Wow. I'm leaving in a week. I'm super excited!

Trying not to stress about what I might forget to bring: Calmer friends say: "Got your passport? Good, then you're set."

I spent the last weekend picking up a few gifts. I hope this doesn't scare my gracious hosts: "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts," and all that. But the way I see it, they're way more Greek than I am, so should be no problem.

Meanwhile, 50% of my tuition has been received by Lexis, the language school I'll be attending while I'm there. Class doesn't start until Sept 19th, so I get to spend the time up until then hanging out with my cousins. They're gonna take me to the Samariá Gorge my first weekend there! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samari%C3%A1_Gorge

On the home front, I've been exercising like crazy. I have concluded that I simply cannot afford to go a day without exercising; and the bonus is I'm getting in better shape! Yesterday I went running on a route that has lots of steep hills, and normally I have to walk at least one of them, but not yesterday. Thursday night will be my last hike before the trip: I've been doing Mt Si once a week for a while now -- it's a hoot after dark, and if it's foggy it is really spooky.

Once I'm on Crete, I'm hoping to do lots of hiking in the White Mountains (Λευκά Όρη). I'll post pix.