an outsider's view

I just started reading this book called Eurydice Street, A Place in Athens. It's written by a British woman who married a Greek (outside of Greece) and together they moved back to Athens with their kids. I'm only in the second chapter, and already I'm nodding and shaking my head all at the same time at her familiar descriptions of this culture.

Just a few that she illustrates that I have already noticed:

Parents' primary concern is their children's education. Because of their own lack, they work hard to support their kids all the way through higher education (lots of lawyers and doctors here). This is even shown in parents with young kids. In the book, the author writes about conversations she overheard in the schoolyard after dropping off her kids:

"'Have we got a test in history tomorrow?' the mothers would ask one another...

"'Yes, we've got to learn all the last three chapters. I don't know how we're going to do it.' It quickly became obvious that the mothers' main preoccupation was with schoolwork, and it was a serious subject. 'Yesterday, Angelos's teacher told them to learn the names of all fifty-one prefectures by today,' bemoaned one mother. 'We had to sit up until eleven o'clock doing it.'"

The young kids of my Greek friends are some of the busiest people I know: regular school, English school, karate, swimming lessons, piano lessons, tutor, then sometimes 5 hours of reading and studying when they get home! Listening to Voula keep track of her two daughters makes me feel like an underachiever. But, it's the culture here, moreso than in the States, and parents will struggle to provide the best opportunities for their kids. There is such a high value placed on education here, because that is how you get good jobs.

Another thing I've noticed is the expressiveness and forcefulness in their conversation. It's fun to listen to; they definitely do not speak flatly! If you don't know what they are saying, it's easy to think you're listening to a fight. Yet they could simply be discussing cooking or work or their history professor; any topic is game for a lively discussion. It is high-pitched and spirited and sprinkled with terms like "παιδί μου" ("my child," rather patronizing and only among close friends) and "τι λες;" ("what are you saying!?" in a tone that implies that the other person has just said something completely preposterous, even if they just said they like their octopus grilled, not fried). Everything is "barbarous" and "a scandal," and to say that the Greeks are dramatic is an understatement. :)

Anyway, just read in this book today: "...it did occur to me that most Greek people I know can hold their own in a debate with the vehemence and alacrity of a dueller. If there is one thing that characterizes Greek conversation, it is a lack of reticence in expressing opinions. In fact, such is the natural argumentativeness and critical nature of many Greeks that what is a perfectly normal conversation can appear on the outside like a frantic matter of life and death. When my mother first heard Vassilis [her husband] and me speaking together in Greek, she often thought we were in the middle of a terrible row."

When I can finally speak Greek, I fully intend to speak this way as well. :)