Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Sunday, December 4, 2011
3 December 2011 Cafecito and the Greek Way
Coffee seems to be the most popular drink in Greece. It is always accompanied by a glass of water. Drinking coffee here is more of a public communion where loved ones, co-workers, friends and elders gather in groups around tables and share their public lives. After church, at market time or before or after the noon hour - any break in the day, seems to be “cafecito time” here. You can see the glasses of Frappe or little demitasse cups next to the cash boxes at the vendor tables in the agora. I was in the post office the other day around 9 am to buy stamps and I saw a young man walk in with a tray of coffee for the clerks.There are cafe/tabernas in every town. Some have strips that are a whole social world of their own. We are currently in Kalamata and every block has a cafe or two. There are some where men gather to drink coffee, ouzo or wine and seem to spend the day debating the issues of the day until the football game starts and then the coffee house becomes a theatre with all the chairs turned toward the television. There is a pedestrian only street we call “eyeball alley” where the tables spill out from the cafe-clubs and you see mostly young women and men in their 20's sitting in groups of 4-8 sipping frappes while they listen to loud music, stare at whoever walks by and then return to their conversations, and they do this all night long. I am writing my blog piece at Fuente, a cafe-club at the Center Plaza on Aristemenou. We can order a coffee here and remain all day if we want to. Coffee houses line the plaza and every night the locals descend on the area for coffee and conversation. This is a country in crisis so there are currently regular demonstrations and strikes. There are days when all public buildings are closed and the locals come to the center, give a few speeches, pass out flyers and stand around talking and then they walk over to the coffee houses to sit and continue to share and rise above the personal, and share struggles and victories. More than anyplace else, we see the ancient Greek philosophy alive here-the idea of free individuals unified by spontaneous service to the common life. There is room for all Greeks at these coffee tables and for a few Xenophons like us who wander into town thirsty for the unknown.
Bueno y como se hace un cafe griego? Greek Coffee for Two:
There are, that I know of, three ways to order a Greek coffee. “Sketos” - strong without sugar. “Varis ghlykos” strong and sweet. I order it “Metrios,” medium strength with a little sugar. To make your own you will need a “briki”. The “briki” is a small brass pot, broad at the bottom, narrower at the neck with a long handle. You can use any small pot but it won't froth - the mark of a well made coffee.
Add 1 cup of water, add 1 teaspoon of sugar if desired, and bring to boil.Then add 1 teaspoon powdered coffee (expresso ground). Let it come back to a boil, frothing at the top and serve immediately. To make it stronger, remove from heat when it boils to the top and then bring it back to boiling point again - a third time will make it stronger yet. Keep watch that it doesn't boil over and spill the froth. The coffee is served pouring a little at a time into each cup to divide the froth equally. “Yassou” Cheers from Greece!
While you sip your cup of cafe eliniko, here's a poem by Yannis Ritsos, my favorite Greek poet. Neruda called him the greatest living poet. We visited his home in Monemvasia where he wrote when he was not in jail.
“Fundamental Difference”
In the middle of the road they got hungry, they sat
down for their lunch,
there, near the grass. A feather from a passing bird fell
on their bread. One of them
saw it and was astonished. He stopped. The other
continued to eat voraciously. There they separated.
Sylvia
Coffee seems to be the most popular drink in Greece. It is always accompanied by a glass of water. Drinking coffee here is more of a public communion where loved ones, co-workers, friends and elders gather in groups around tables and share their public lives. After church, at market time or before or after the noon hour - any break in the day, seems to be “cafecito time” here. You can see the glasses of Frappe or little demitasse cups next to the cash boxes at the vendor tables in the agora. I was in the post office the other day around 9 am to buy stamps and I saw a young man walk in with a tray of coffee for the clerks.There are cafe/tabernas in every town. Some have strips that are a whole social world of their own. We are currently in Kalamata and every block has a cafe or two. There are some where men gather to drink coffee, ouzo or wine and seem to spend the day debating the issues of the day until the football game starts and then the coffee house becomes a theatre with all the chairs turned toward the television. There is a pedestrian only street we call “eyeball alley” where the tables spill out from the cafe-clubs and you see mostly young women and men in their 20's sitting in groups of 4-8 sipping frappes while they listen to loud music, stare at whoever walks by and then return to their conversations, and they do this all night long. I am writing my blog piece at Fuente, a cafe-club at the Center Plaza on Aristemenou. We can order a coffee here and remain all day if we want to. Coffee houses line the plaza and every night the locals descend on the area for coffee and conversation. This is a country in crisis so there are currently regular demonstrations and strikes. There are days when all public buildings are closed and the locals come to the center, give a few speeches, pass out flyers and stand around talking and then they walk over to the coffee houses to sit and continue to share and rise above the personal, and share struggles and victories. More than anyplace else, we see the ancient Greek philosophy alive here-the idea of free individuals unified by spontaneous service to the common life. There is room for all Greeks at these coffee tables and for a few Xenophons like us who wander into town thirsty for the unknown.
Bueno y como se hace un cafe griego? Greek Coffee for Two:
There are, that I know of, three ways to order a Greek coffee. “Sketos” - strong without sugar. “Varis ghlykos” strong and sweet. I order it “Metrios,” medium strength with a little sugar. To make your own you will need a “briki”. The “briki” is a small brass pot, broad at the bottom, narrower at the neck with a long handle. You can use any small pot but it won't froth - the mark of a well made coffee.
Add 1 cup of water, add 1 teaspoon of sugar if desired, and bring to boil.Then add 1 teaspoon powdered coffee (expresso ground). Let it come back to a boil, frothing at the top and serve immediately. To make it stronger, remove from heat when it boils to the top and then bring it back to boiling point again - a third time will make it stronger yet. Keep watch that it doesn't boil over and spill the froth. The coffee is served pouring a little at a time into each cup to divide the froth equally. “Yassou” Cheers from Greece!
While you sip your cup of cafe eliniko, here's a poem by Yannis Ritsos, my favorite Greek poet. Neruda called him the greatest living poet. We visited his home in Monemvasia where he wrote when he was not in jail.
“Fundamental Difference”
In the middle of the road they got hungry, they sat
down for their lunch,
there, near the grass. A feather from a passing bird fell
on their bread. One of them
saw it and was astonished. He stopped. The other
continued to eat voraciously. There they separated.
Sylvia
Friday, November 25, 2011
Stories About My Grandfather
My grandfather - "Papou" - was named Dionysios Marusi. He came from a farming family in the area of Pakia, in southern Greece. Family lore has it that he decided to move to America to escape the military draft in Greece at that time. This would put him squarely in the family tradition of resistance to war. He came from Greece in 1907 on a ship called Principe di Piedmont, out of Naples. For some strange reason, at Ellis Island his English name was given as "William." He arrived with his wife, Alexandra, his 2-year old son, my Uncle Spiro, and a young woman, perhaps a relation, who cared for the baby.
They settled in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a kind of mecca for Greeks at the time, and, with money from his well-to-do wife;s dowry, purchased a candy store, all the time adding children: Antonia, Maria, Stavroula, my mother Christine, and two more boys- Nikos and Charles. There was also another daughter, Minerva, who died very young. All of them, following the Greek custom, bore "William" as their middle name.
Around 1918 or 1919, America went through one of its periodic "morality" spasms, and one by one, states passed laws against the consumption of liquor. One would put a sign in the window that said "DRY" to signal that this family too wanted the law to pass. My grandfather posted a huge "WET" sign in his window. Despite his effort, the law passed and Prohibition became one of the dumbest laws of the land ever - and there is much competition for that honor. During the Depression, he lost his store, but, as my mother always said, "rolled up his sleeves" and went to work in a candy factory.
In 1940, with the Italians and the Germans were poised to invade, Dionysios Marusi went back to Greece, to try and sell some of his wife's ancestral land near Gythio, a lovely port town quite close to Pakia. In this he was unsuccessful, but he did visit the home of his nephew, my Uncle George, and there attended a wedding of a cousin. A photo was taken of this occasion, and imagine my amazement 65 years later to arrive in Pakia at the home of my cousins and see my grandfather looking out at me from this photo. Word has it that he was quite the life of the party - he loved to dance and got so drunk that when he went horseback riding he fell off his horse. "WET," indeed. He hated Germans until the end of his life, given the atrocities committed by Hitler's Army during the occupation of 1941-44.
Later, when the family had moved to San Francisco, he had a house on Westgate Drive, where I lived before my dad came back from the Pacific War. There was a dog named Lucky and a haunting picture of Jesus, whose eyes, it was said, would open and close if you stared at them long enough. Every day, my grandfather would down a glass of lemon water and a tumbler of wine, first thing in the morning. He spoke no English. I used to sit next to him at the table and he would show me his hands, which were wrinkled and veiny. "Nyonyo (my nickname) look. Papou old man." We all, my cousins Denny and Danny and myself bore his name in one form or another - "Denny" and "Danny" were the usual translations of Dionysios; "Bill" was the extension of some immigration officer's moment of twisted inspiration. He died in 1960, at the age of 80 or so.
One story about him especially bears repeating: One Sunday, my grandmother and all her daughters attended a wedding at the the Greek (now Armenian) Church on 7th street in San Francisco. Before the wedding they were waiting outside and one of the daughters asked, "When will the wedding party get here, mother?" At this moment, my grandfather, who had slipped away to have some drinks, came around the corner, smashed, and leaning on a building for support. My grandmother pointed to him and said, "I don't know, but here comes the bride."
They settled in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a kind of mecca for Greeks at the time, and, with money from his well-to-do wife;s dowry, purchased a candy store, all the time adding children: Antonia, Maria, Stavroula, my mother Christine, and two more boys- Nikos and Charles. There was also another daughter, Minerva, who died very young. All of them, following the Greek custom, bore "William" as their middle name.
Around 1918 or 1919, America went through one of its periodic "morality" spasms, and one by one, states passed laws against the consumption of liquor. One would put a sign in the window that said "DRY" to signal that this family too wanted the law to pass. My grandfather posted a huge "WET" sign in his window. Despite his effort, the law passed and Prohibition became one of the dumbest laws of the land ever - and there is much competition for that honor. During the Depression, he lost his store, but, as my mother always said, "rolled up his sleeves" and went to work in a candy factory.
In 1940, with the Italians and the Germans were poised to invade, Dionysios Marusi went back to Greece, to try and sell some of his wife's ancestral land near Gythio, a lovely port town quite close to Pakia. In this he was unsuccessful, but he did visit the home of his nephew, my Uncle George, and there attended a wedding of a cousin. A photo was taken of this occasion, and imagine my amazement 65 years later to arrive in Pakia at the home of my cousins and see my grandfather looking out at me from this photo. Word has it that he was quite the life of the party - he loved to dance and got so drunk that when he went horseback riding he fell off his horse. "WET," indeed. He hated Germans until the end of his life, given the atrocities committed by Hitler's Army during the occupation of 1941-44.
Later, when the family had moved to San Francisco, he had a house on Westgate Drive, where I lived before my dad came back from the Pacific War. There was a dog named Lucky and a haunting picture of Jesus, whose eyes, it was said, would open and close if you stared at them long enough. Every day, my grandfather would down a glass of lemon water and a tumbler of wine, first thing in the morning. He spoke no English. I used to sit next to him at the table and he would show me his hands, which were wrinkled and veiny. "Nyonyo (my nickname) look. Papou old man." We all, my cousins Denny and Danny and myself bore his name in one form or another - "Denny" and "Danny" were the usual translations of Dionysios; "Bill" was the extension of some immigration officer's moment of twisted inspiration. He died in 1960, at the age of 80 or so.
One story about him especially bears repeating: One Sunday, my grandmother and all her daughters attended a wedding at the the Greek (now Armenian) Church on 7th street in San Francisco. Before the wedding they were waiting outside and one of the daughters asked, "When will the wedding party get here, mother?" At this moment, my grandfather, who had slipped away to have some drinks, came around the corner, smashed, and leaning on a building for support. My grandmother pointed to him and said, "I don't know, but here comes the bride."
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Things I Like About Greece
My Favorite Things About Greece (So Far)
For this blog entry I wasn't exactly sure what to write about, so I decided to make a list of the things I find particularly enjoyable in Greece so far and why!
1. Going to the Farmer's Market- I love going to the market every Wednesday and Saturday in Kalamata! All the food is so fresh and most of it is organic. There are so many varieties and you see things you would probably never see in the U.S. It is completely crowded too. Everyone and their mother goes to the market. I literally have to hold onto my dad, Jelly or Sylvia so that we won't get separated because the hordes of people are pushing from all sides.
2. Biking in Kalamata- Jelly and I rented bikes here and now we are able to go to cafes or the center of town regularly. It is really easy to bike here because of the bike lanes provided by the city that have made a route from the beach to the center of town.
3. The Olives- The olives here really are just the most amazing thing. The Kalamata olives are so fresh and rich with flavor, I haven't tasted anything like to them anywhere else in my entire 19 years of living.
4. Relatives- So far we have only met some of the relatives here in Greece. The ones we have met though, Patty and Nikki are so amazing. They were so welcoming and hospitable. Both of them had amazing stories about the area where they live (Pakia) and WWII. I really enjoyed staying with them for a few days and learning more about my family history in Greece. The best thing was getting to know them and hearing their opinions about the current state of affairs in Greece.
5. The Beach- Here in Kalamata and all over Greece the ocean and beaches are so beautiful. The water is clear and you can see everything at the bottom. It is a little cold when you first get in, but once you swim around the water is perfect.
6. Learning Greek- Although I haven't been as studious in my Greek studies as I'd like to be, because I am always engrossed with loads of online homework, I hope to concentrate on it more. Every Tuesday from 1-3 we go to Greek classes with our teacher Katerina. She and another woman run a language school to teach Greek kids how to speak English in Kalamata. So far, we have only gone twice, but I have learned a lot. Our teacher is really kind an patient with us and she is a really interesting person to talk to. She like many other Greeks is very vocal about her opinion on the current political/ economic situation, so it's interesting to hear about it from a true Greek.
7. Going to Cafes- Something that I don’t really do or have time for in the U.S. is sitting in cafes and doing work on my computer and just watching the people go by. In Greece you see so many people sitting in cafes outside, just enjoying their day and company. They sit for hours on end just talking, smoking and drinking coffee. The only reason I really go is to use wifi and do my online schooling, but it's nice to see how other people socialize and spend their time, especially when its so different from the United States.
8. Visiting the Ruins- So far we have visited the ruins at Messini and Olympia and they are so amazing. It's really astounding to see ancient ruins here that I hear about in my history classes. Many of them are pretty well preserved and really show you how people use to live. Some of them date back to the 1st and 2nd century AD and just amaze me every time that they are over 2,000 years old and have survived through so much war, conquest and change that has taken place over the centuries.
9. Eating New Food- Even though I am a pesco-vegetarian, I still find some really great new food that is Greek. My favorite is tiropita, which is feta cheese inside filo dough. It's so good and is usually eaten at breakfast. Plus, it is a nice alternative to spanakopita, which is like it, except it has spinach and has been my least favorite food since I was about 4 years old.
10. The Nice people we have met here- Sometimes when traveling you are lucky enough to find people who are genuinely nice and make your time that more memorable. Patty and Nikki definitely go under this category. Along with our Greek teacher who is really informative and gives us good advice about where to go for good bargains. Then there is Maria, who owns the cottage we are staying at. Even though, she doesn’t speak very much English, I see her everyday and she always has a smile on her face and a warm welcome that never gets old. Hopefully there will be more people to add to this list, but as of know those are the few I can think of!
Hope you enjoyed my list and that it gave you some insight into our life here in Greece and some of the things that continue to make this trip awesome!
- Vita (:
For this blog entry I wasn't exactly sure what to write about, so I decided to make a list of the things I find particularly enjoyable in Greece so far and why!
1. Going to the Farmer's Market- I love going to the market every Wednesday and Saturday in Kalamata! All the food is so fresh and most of it is organic. There are so many varieties and you see things you would probably never see in the U.S. It is completely crowded too. Everyone and their mother goes to the market. I literally have to hold onto my dad, Jelly or Sylvia so that we won't get separated because the hordes of people are pushing from all sides.
2. Biking in Kalamata- Jelly and I rented bikes here and now we are able to go to cafes or the center of town regularly. It is really easy to bike here because of the bike lanes provided by the city that have made a route from the beach to the center of town.
3. The Olives- The olives here really are just the most amazing thing. The Kalamata olives are so fresh and rich with flavor, I haven't tasted anything like to them anywhere else in my entire 19 years of living.
4. Relatives- So far we have only met some of the relatives here in Greece. The ones we have met though, Patty and Nikki are so amazing. They were so welcoming and hospitable. Both of them had amazing stories about the area where they live (Pakia) and WWII. I really enjoyed staying with them for a few days and learning more about my family history in Greece. The best thing was getting to know them and hearing their opinions about the current state of affairs in Greece.
5. The Beach- Here in Kalamata and all over Greece the ocean and beaches are so beautiful. The water is clear and you can see everything at the bottom. It is a little cold when you first get in, but once you swim around the water is perfect.
6. Learning Greek- Although I haven't been as studious in my Greek studies as I'd like to be, because I am always engrossed with loads of online homework, I hope to concentrate on it more. Every Tuesday from 1-3 we go to Greek classes with our teacher Katerina. She and another woman run a language school to teach Greek kids how to speak English in Kalamata. So far, we have only gone twice, but I have learned a lot. Our teacher is really kind an patient with us and she is a really interesting person to talk to. She like many other Greeks is very vocal about her opinion on the current political/ economic situation, so it's interesting to hear about it from a true Greek.
7. Going to Cafes- Something that I don’t really do or have time for in the U.S. is sitting in cafes and doing work on my computer and just watching the people go by. In Greece you see so many people sitting in cafes outside, just enjoying their day and company. They sit for hours on end just talking, smoking and drinking coffee. The only reason I really go is to use wifi and do my online schooling, but it's nice to see how other people socialize and spend their time, especially when its so different from the United States.
8. Visiting the Ruins- So far we have visited the ruins at Messini and Olympia and they are so amazing. It's really astounding to see ancient ruins here that I hear about in my history classes. Many of them are pretty well preserved and really show you how people use to live. Some of them date back to the 1st and 2nd century AD and just amaze me every time that they are over 2,000 years old and have survived through so much war, conquest and change that has taken place over the centuries.
9. Eating New Food- Even though I am a pesco-vegetarian, I still find some really great new food that is Greek. My favorite is tiropita, which is feta cheese inside filo dough. It's so good and is usually eaten at breakfast. Plus, it is a nice alternative to spanakopita, which is like it, except it has spinach and has been my least favorite food since I was about 4 years old.
10. The Nice people we have met here- Sometimes when traveling you are lucky enough to find people who are genuinely nice and make your time that more memorable. Patty and Nikki definitely go under this category. Along with our Greek teacher who is really informative and gives us good advice about where to go for good bargains. Then there is Maria, who owns the cottage we are staying at. Even though, she doesn’t speak very much English, I see her everyday and she always has a smile on her face and a warm welcome that never gets old. Hopefully there will be more people to add to this list, but as of know those are the few I can think of!
Hope you enjoyed my list and that it gave you some insight into our life here in Greece and some of the things that continue to make this trip awesome!
- Vita (:
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Messinian Ruins!!!
Hi! It's Cynthia again and for this entry I want to talk about the Messianian ruins we saw. One day we took a road trip to these ruins and wandered around looking at all the cool looking structures and columns. We soon started taking pictures and posing for them like insane people like us do. I thought it was really peaceful and enchanting, knowing that people have been using them since 2nd century B.C. It was kinda weird to know that ancient people stood, sat, talked, laughed, and gossiped the same place that I was at, and how crazy it was that it was still there. The ruins used to include a track for racing, an amphitheater, areas just to hang out, and a temple to Artemis (goddess of the moon, archery, and maidens). Anyway it was a lot of fun to do some exploring around ancient ruins and I had a really nice time! Until next time...
- Cynthia Nayeli Moncada
- Cynthia Nayeli Moncada
Friday, November 4, 2011
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