Give me a word…

I oscillate between exultation and despair. “Are we ever going to get the hang of it? Speak in Greek, I mean”? I ask Shreesh. Shreesh says nothing. He has his own battle, he has found out he may be just a tiny bit dyslexic, not a good thing for learning a new script.

“You are learning Greek”? Pregnant pause. “Why”? The Greeks, just like the Italians, cannot understand this. Everyone asks us the same question and we do not have a good answer. It takes me back to the days, decades ago, when everybody was flying to the suburbs, people asked why we wanted to live in San Francisco. I could never explain. “It’s the life that I can feel throbbing around me”, I would feebly explain. Why are we learning Greek? It is certainly much harder than any of the languages we have attempted to learn as adults and I am not sure what we are going to do with it.

I feel the action will somehow provide the answer. Another common question we are asked is “But can you not learn it at a university in the US”? Of course we could. But that’s not the point. How would we know that the Greeks are a most friendly, open hearted people, who, inspite of the crisis, always have a welcoming smile? How would we learn about the τραχανας (trahanas), a porridge like gruel that is like comfort food in these parts? And only the Greeks would call a form of their music “skiladika” (loosely translating to “doghouse”, because they say the singers sound like dogs barking), which, to be honest, sounds like any other pop music…bad lyrics, easy rhythm and completely non intellectual.

I had a few places I was determined, as a child, to go to. Egypt, Africa, Greece and Macchu Pichu (because of Nancy Drew; I know, but I was only in middle school). If my goal was to learn about a rich culture, I am not about to be disappointed. There was never any doubt that we would come to Greece. And not because of the islands. It dominates a lot of historical and cultural education that we receive in school. Aristotle, Plato, Homer, Socrates, Archimedes…Greek culture is prominent in education, literature, science and the arts. Even then, I was surprised to find how intertwined Ancient Greek still is in modern Greek life.

“It’s like tuning in a radio”, Shreesh says, as we chomp down on another great meal at the local salumeria. At first, we could understand nothing of this foreign tongue. Nor could we read anything. Now, we can understand snippets of conversations. And read most signs almost effortlessly. I still, for the life of me, can’t match the cases of the pronouns, nouns, articles and adjectives, not without a lot of effort. I am back at engineering school, creating and learning flash cards all day, only to forget them the day after.

But I also get to eat exotic dishes at a restaurant with a view of an old Byzantine church, walk by the Aegean of the many colors everyday, stuff myself with puff pastry delights unheard of in the US and make friends with the local butcher, the wine merchant, the baker, as they attempt to speak s-l-o-w-l-y and c-l-e-a-r-l-y in Greek so we can understand them. And there is always the satisfaction of saying “Give me a word, any word, and I(‘ll) show you that the root of that word is Greek…”