I did learn the word for sorry: συγγνώμη (pronounced sing-no-mee). Also learned how to write my name:
They don't have a /j/ sound in Greek, so my name ends up being more like Zina. or Xena (Warrior Princess), which I'm definitely okay with.
I love Greek already. Not really the speaking part--it sounds like gibberish to me, it takes me a good 30 seconds to sound out a word and I feel like I'm a four-year-old learning to read, but worse because the same letters that I already know make completely different sounds (H makes a long e sound, Y makes a long e sound, I makes a long e sound, E doesn't make a long e sound, P makes an r sound, v makes an n sound...). But I do love writing in Greek; I've always liked writing in symbols, and while not quite as esoteric and cool as my brother's Elvish writing, I think it's pretty cool. I find myself wanting to write in Greek symbols as much as possible (just replacing the English sounds with the Greek letters).
After a long day of getting oriented--both mentally and physically to this great city--we got some Greek dancing lessons, which seemed to effectively disorient many. We all circled up in the cafeteria, and two young Greek dancers taught us four or five sets of dance steps that got progressively more complicated, and then turned on the Greek music. It was cool to watch a hundred pairs of feet moving as one (for the simplest dance step) and then to watch the feet begin stumbling and tripping over themselves as the dances got harder. A few guys waited until their part of the circle had shifted to the doors, and then made a break for it. But I thought it was a blast. Bizarrely enough, it reminded me of American line dancing--many of the steps were the same. But comparing the faux-country OC club where I've been line dancing to the Greek dancing venues is laughable.
Even though I sound like a total idiot trying to read Greek, learning some key phrases also proved very useful. As I predicted, συγγνώμη came very much in handy when I got a little too excited, laughed a little too much, and spilled my (very first legal and first Greek) beer across the table (the beer was cheap and tasty and translated in English to "Vergina", which makes the second drink containing my name, Orangina being the first).
In two days, I've managed to make a fool of myself twice. I'd say that I'm off to a great start--because you really aren't living fully enough in a new culture unless you embarrass yourself at least once a day. Or so I tell myself.
They don't have a /j/ sound in Greek, so my name ends up being more like Zina. or Xena (Warrior Princess), which I'm definitely okay with.
I love Greek already. Not really the speaking part--it sounds like gibberish to me, it takes me a good 30 seconds to sound out a word and I feel like I'm a four-year-old learning to read, but worse because the same letters that I already know make completely different sounds (H makes a long e sound, Y makes a long e sound, I makes a long e sound, E doesn't make a long e sound, P makes an r sound, v makes an n sound...). But I do love writing in Greek; I've always liked writing in symbols, and while not quite as esoteric and cool as my brother's Elvish writing, I think it's pretty cool. I find myself wanting to write in Greek symbols as much as possible (just replacing the English sounds with the Greek letters).
After a long day of getting oriented--both mentally and physically to this great city--we got some Greek dancing lessons, which seemed to effectively disorient many. We all circled up in the cafeteria, and two young Greek dancers taught us four or five sets of dance steps that got progressively more complicated, and then turned on the Greek music. It was cool to watch a hundred pairs of feet moving as one (for the simplest dance step) and then to watch the feet begin stumbling and tripping over themselves as the dances got harder. A few guys waited until their part of the circle had shifted to the doors, and then made a break for it. But I thought it was a blast. Bizarrely enough, it reminded me of American line dancing--many of the steps were the same. But comparing the faux-country OC club where I've been line dancing to the Greek dancing venues is laughable.
After our Greek lesson, I ventured out for a night on the city with a few friends. At 9 pm. The "night" was dead, almost no one out and almost nothing open, because in Greece this is still evening and no one starts doing anything until 10 at least. Even so, our group (after foolishly letting my sleep-deprived self determine the route, which involved me making turns pretty much at random and ending up in the same place we started after about an hour) found a nice, quiet cafe/bar with a homey atmosphere indoors (backgammon and chess boards to use!) that opened completely to the outdoors.
Learning the Greek symbols earlier was helpful for reading the menu--in fact, I thought that I was doing pretty well, speculating to everyone else about all the different drinks listed, until the owner brought us a menu in English and it turns out half of the menu was food. Didn't guess that! But I did know the word for beer, so even without the English menu I would've gotten by alright.
Even though I sound like a total idiot trying to read Greek, learning some key phrases also proved very useful. As I predicted, συγγνώμη came very much in handy when I got a little too excited, laughed a little too much, and spilled my (very first legal and first Greek) beer across the table (the beer was cheap and tasty and translated in English to "Vergina", which makes the second drink containing my name, Orangina being the first).
In two days, I've managed to make a fool of myself twice. I'd say that I'm off to a great start--because you really aren't living fully enough in a new culture unless you embarrass yourself at least once a day. Or so I tell myself.
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| My bedroom, the way it looks to me after having gotten 5 hours of sleep total in the past 3 days |
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| And wraparound patio. |
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| A view outside my room |
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