One Year Away

Penny

Most of my family in Greece are from the Peloponnese’s area.  Although many have moved to Athens, in August almost everyone returns to their home towns where they spent their childhood.  This is a great way to escape the chaos and noise of Athens and thanks to the great beaches in the area it is also a great way to escape the heat.

After northern Greece our stop was Agia Sotira, the village of around 40 full time residents where my mom grew up. We were greeted by my uncle Thodori and aunt Kostoula (a.k.a Maria – don’t ask) at the bus station in Kalamata.  After many hugs and kisses, we hopped into the car and were driven past beautiful beaches and thousands of olive and fig groves to the ‘xorio’ (meaning village in Greek). There my uncle has inherited the family home and he has spent a lot of time and energy upgrading the place. I barely recognized it after being away for only two years.  He had completed lots of stone work on the wrap-around patio.  He removed all the vines and plants from near the house and for shade extended the terra cotta roof.  The decrease of greenery next to the house also significantly decreased the number of bugs (particularly grasshoppers) that get into the house!

We greeted Ketty (Thodori’s wife) and the kids, Thanassi who is seven and Maria who is three.  The first order of business, like in any Greek home, was to eat.  Within minutes of being there we had a Greek salad, rice, cheese and beef patties waiting for us on the kitchen table.  As we ate, my family members had loads of questions particularly for Joe.  Unfortunately, there was a communication barrier.  Joe does not speak Greek and my family speaks little to no English.  Therefore, I became the official translator.  I rarely had my own conversation.  Most of my time was spent translating conversations between Joe and my family.

While at the village, we attended both nights of the ‘panigiri’ which is the yearly village festival.  There we were joined by my aunt Voula, her husband and my cousin Nancy just to name a few. The village square which is next to the small church and cemetery is packed with tables and chairs.  A few hundred people showed up and enjoyed a live band, beer and ‘wurnopoula’ – roasted pig that is served with bread and salt.  We had a great time but Joe did have some difficulty getting used to the screeching sound of the clarinet, which with the ‘bouzouki’ consist of the most important musical instruments used in traditional Greek music.

The time at the village was very relaxing.  We spent most of our days going to beaches around the area, sleeping in the afternoon and going out for large meals in the evening.  Joe did manage to also spend a few hours playing farmer with my uncle.  Both went to the family olive groves to clear the fields of weeds and to water the trees.  We also took the opportunity to learn about olives and olive oil.  We visited the village’s olive press and oil making facility and my uncle and seven year old cousin walked us through the process.  Although the facility is high tech, the process remains straight forward – you pick the olives, you wash them, you press them and you remove all water/moisture from the pressed olives and you get olive oil!

While in the Peloponnese’s area we also visited my god-daughter and her family who were vacationing at their family home and to visit my dad’s home town of Militsa.  There we met with my over-90 year-old great aunt who is going strong.  Of course she insisted that we stay for a ‘meze’ (Greek equivalent of tapas) and wine.  Joe made sure to eat and drink everything he was offered to make sure that he did not offend Giagia Olga.

After seven days in the village we were heading back to Athens to catch our flight to Canada the following day.  We promised to return to Greece and to do so during the olive picking season.  We promised Thodori to help with the olive harvest and to earn our share of the oil the family produces!

Thank you to everyone who welcomed us and we hope to see you all soon!