Living in Greece

Language Learning Meltdown

Trish4 Comments

An hour and a half into our Greek class today, I excused myself to the restroom, stared at my face in the mirror, and allowed myself a couple silent sobs before drying my eyes and returning to the classroom.

I don’t know what happened!  Last week we started Level II, and I was feeling pretty confident!  I knew a lot of vocabulary, I was translating for myself into Greek as I went about my day, and I was trying out conversations with strangers on the bus.  But yesterday, something broke in me.  Absolutely nothing was making sense, to the point that our teacher asked me the Greek equivalent of “a or the” and I thought she was talking about a verb.  That is like, day 2 information.

But I left school yesterday determined to catch up.  I copied everything into my Official Grammar and Vocabulary notebook.  I spent four hours on homework last night, and I read through my lists of irregular verbs on the way to class this morning.  The class started, and again….nothing.  My brain could not process anything that anyone was saying.  Hence the bathroom breakdown.   Continue reading →

Greek Homework

Trish10 Comments

Our teacher told us, “Oh, just finish your exercise book this weekend,” like it was no big deal on top of four pages from our official workbook, creating questions and answers and stories for two dialogues, finishing eight pages in our second exercise book, AND transcribing an audio dialogue.  It will come as no surprise that yesterday, I did laundry and homework.  The end.  Happy Saturday!

That little “finish your exercise book” is still to be done today, but I found a fun way to make it bearable:  ignore the instructions and write whatever I want!

For one exercise, we had to read a letter from Sophia talking about how she will go to Hydra after she finishes her class to hang out with her friends Eleni and Alexandros.  We were supposed to write back about what we, her fictional boyfriend Kostas, would do while she was on the island.  This is what I wrote instead:

Σοφἱα μου,

Εἱμαι ευχαριστημἑνος για εσἑνα αλλἁ ανησυχὡ.  Γιατἱ θα εἱναι ο Αλἑχανδρος στην ᾽Υδρα με εσἑνα;  Σου αρἑσει ο Αλἑχανδρος;  Τον ΑΓΑΠΑΣ;;; Εἱναι ψηλὁς και ἑξυπνος και πλοὑσιος…καταλαβαἱνω.  Εμεἱς τελεἱωσε.  Λυπἁμαι αλλἁ θα εἱμαι καλἁ.  Σε θυμἁμαι πἁντα.

Καλὁ ταξἱδι!

Κὠστα

Translated, this means:

My Sophia,

I am pleased for you but I am worried.  Why will Alexandros be in Hydra with you?  Do you like Alexandros?  Do you LOVE him???  He is tall and intelligent and rich…I understand.  We are finished.  I am sad but I will be okay.  I remember you always.

Have a nice trip!

Kostas

Who knew channeling my inner jealous boyfriend would make Greek so much more fun?  (Everyone knew.)

Okay, on to the next exercise!

A Week in Greece #6: Beginning Level II

TrishLeave a comment

This week has been great!  Last Saturday I went to Sounio, which was a much-needed mini-adventure to somewhere new, beautiful, and fun.  It really rejuvenated me and gave me the energy to jump back into life in Athens.

IMG_9136

On Sunday, after church, Argyris and Dina took me to a lunch for a group of church planters. I was not excited about it, because church always drains me. There is so much Greek to listen to and so many introductions and opportunities to forget even the most basic of Greek phrases. But I went to the lunch, and I’m so glad that I did!  There were a bunch of people there that I already knew, which was nice. I got to reconnect with Joy, an American woman who has worked in Athens as a counselor for about four years.  And I met Sarah, a woman from Illinois who married an awesome Greek guy (Leonidas) last year and moved to Greece. She’s 33, and she told me to wait until I’m 33 (like she did) before I get married so that I can take advantage of being single in my 20s.  It was the best thing someone could tell me on Valentine’s Day (which, wonderfully, is not really celebrated much in Greece).  Her husband translated the mini-lecture at the lunch for us, and I like them both so much!  Continue reading →

HD Update: Renovations Begun and People Connected

TrishLeave a comment

Every time I get together with Dina to work on emails or foundation requests, I leave feeling so encouraged!  Every new story is one more piece of the puzzle that spells out “God is working RIGHT NOW.”  It’s incredibly cool to be a part of something that is forming from scratch….if you can call HD “from scratch” when it has been a dream of Dina’s for seven years.

The last time I blogged about HD, we had just found our house through some-might-say miraculous means.  In the weeks since that announcement, so much has happened!   Continue reading →

Sounio Vlog!

Trish2 Comments

I created a YouTube channel, creatively named ItIsTrish | inGreece, to post videos and vlogs about my adventures in Greece!

Last Saturday, Anthi and I went to Sounio to explore beaches and see the Temple of Poseidon.  It was SO good to get outside of Athens and be surrounded by nature.  And it was fun to get a little creative and tell my story with video rather than the written word.  I hope you enjoy this peek into my life in Greece!

A Week in Greece #5: Level I Ends, Other Things Happen

TrishLeave a comment

I’m done with my Level I Greek class!  YEAH!  I’m going to celebrate this weekend by going to Sounio, which I will talk about in a separate blog post sometime in the next few days.

I need to celebrate the occasion, because on Monday, I’m going back to class to start Level II.  This time I’ll be taking a three-week course for FOUR hours every day.  I’m already exhausted just thinking about it.  But not nearly as much as I could be, because I’m really looking forward to continuing to hang out with Elvira and Emi (and maybe Stewart – he is undecided).  Plus, this week I had a decisive shift toward self-confidence that actually makes me excited to keep learning Greek.  It first happened at the grocery store when I handed the cashier €20 and said, “Oh, I think I have change, just a second.”  When the transaction was finished, I grabbed my bags and walked out the door and suddenly realized: I could have said that in Greek.   Continue reading →

A Week in Greece #4: One Month Anniversary, Feeling Homesick

TrishLeave a comment

It’s been a month!  I’ve officially stayed in Greece longer than anywhere other than Senegal (this week I passed the Mongolia mark).  I’m happy with this milestone – although I’m missing my homes in the United States, there’s nothing about Greece that I actively dislike.  It’s a really nice place to live.

As always, my life continues to revolve around my Greek class.  I was planning on saying, “Only one more week!” in this post, but on Thursday I talked with Dina and Argyris and we decided I should go ahead and take the Intensive Level II course.  It starts immediately after this one ends, and it will be FOUR hours a day, but for only three weeks.  I’m already exhausted just thinking about it.

However, if I’m going to continue studying Greek, this is definitely the best option.  1)  I will continue to study with Elvira and Emi, and I really like my new friends.  2)  It will be taught by Rosa (my teacher the first two weeks) and she is fantastic.  3)  I used to think I needed a break to let my knowledge settle, but when I gave myself last weekend off, I wound up forgetting a million things.  It’s better, I think, to keep going.  4)  I will be done on March 4, which will be when House Damaris renovations will be winding down and furnishings/planning will be winding up!   Continue reading →

Athens Goes on Strike!

TrishLeave a comment

One of the things I miss most about the Midwest is how, out of the blue, all your plans are cancelled and you are forced to spend the day cocooned in your bed with Netflix automatically streaming episode after episode.  I am, of course, talking about:  snow days!

It turns out Greece has them too, only they are called strikes.   Continue reading →

My Desperate Search for Books in Athens

Trish12 Comments

I mentioned a few days ago that I was struggling with the phase of culture shock where everything unfamiliar feels like a personal attack.  Nowhere did I feel this more strongly than in my search for books written in English.  I love to read, books are my happy place, when I see them my face goes all wistful, etc etc.  But everywhere I went, the titles were maddeningly indecipherable.

Duh, Tricia, you may be thinking.  You’re in Greece.

But you’ve forgotten – I’m incredibly privileged, and I expect everything to be available in my mother language!

Which is, you know, selfish.  But also true.  And anyway, it just felt like a slap to my face every time I saw a book and knew that it’s pages – MY PAGES, MY LOVE – were stories and words and phrases that I would never understand.  Street-side book sellers hosted tables full of familiar covers and unfamiliar titles.  The center where I volunteer had a bookcase full of Greek books; I pulled out the most basic books for children and wilted with my inability to translate more than one sentence.  In a desperate attempt to find normalcy, I returned to Omonia where I had once walked through a bookstore to get to a bathroom.  It was made of several rooms, but I found only two bookshelves with English books.  There was nothing worth reading, and I left really dejected.

I complained about this to Argyris on Sunday, and an hour later he exclaimed, “Oh!  There is a big building at Syntagma, next to the McDonald’s!  Public, it’s orange.  There are many books there.  I’m sure they have some in English.”

“You mean there’s been a bookstore right next to my metro stop, and I’ve ignored it for two weeks??”   Continue reading →

The Beginnings of Culture Shock

Trish1 Comment

This morning I was in a bad mood.  I felt sickness twisting in my stomach and I was just annoyed by everyone, and no, I am nowhere near being on my period.  Instead, I was suffering from….CULTURE SHOCK.

Everything was wrong.  Nothing was familiar.  I made a list of all the things I miss about the United States:

  • being able to read street signs
  • knowing where to buy a straightener
  • TFC’s worship service
  • Eatzi’s salads
  • being able to watch current TV shows on Hulu
  • Target
  • Rory, my cat
  • speaking quickly
  • libraries
  • knowing that Old Navy is guaranteed to have pants that fit me
  • lots of restaurants with various ethnic foods

As I am very slowly learning, talking about your problems can make them seem more manageable (being a counselor means advising people to do things you are only barely able to do yourself).  So during our break at Greek class, Emi, Elvira, Nir and I sat on the roof to drink tea in the sun.   Continue reading →