Athens Thinks English is Funny!

My time in Athens was split in to two parts: the first was cultural and history, the last part power sight seeing! My first introduction to the city was on a Free Waking Tour lead by a witty, fun archeologist named George. I have found that these tours are so informative because they are lead by people truly passionate about their cities! George made it his mission to teach us how to read Greek, saying ‘no offense to the English speaking, but here we just read the letters like they sound – not like English where one letter can make 3 or 4 sounds!” As we walked we saw the ruins of Aristotle’s first school, the Temple of Zeus and Panathenaic Stadium! At the Changing of the Guards at Parliament he reminded the group of the importance of being an active Citizen. The stories of this countries current crisis is mentioned by any local you speak with.

Proof it’s small world – I had the weirdest encounter on the street of Athens! I was looking for the location of my cooking class when I was approached by a man on the sidewalk. He said ‘you’re the lady from the ferry in Brindisi’. It took my brain a few seconds to process that he wasn’t following me as that had been five days ago! With the language barrier I couldn’t figure out why he was in Italy but did determine that he works at the restaurant underneath the cooking school! It really is a very small world!

Next up: my cooking class at The Greek Kitchen. After a great tour of the local market we returned back to the kitchen to prepare authentic Greek cuisine: Moussaka, Tzatziki, Greek Salad and Mosiac Cake! Not only was the food amazing – eating dinner with Nevyana, Vasia & Stepehen the owners was full of laughter, old stories of their families and friends, and travel! And again – laughter at the English language! They were having a problem with something eating all the leaves off their pomegranate tree. As we discussed the possibilities – Vasia put it into her English translator – to hear the electronic voice say ‘worms’ was hysterical!!