We've been here a few days, and the experience has been special
to say the least. After greeting our neighbours with some enthusiasm and a smile,
it appears most have accepted us into their town. The
toughest nuts to crack have been the male, 20 something's.
Daily, we've watched the neighbours working in their
garden plots, and as much as I wanted to go over and say hi, the language barrier was just too great,
and me too shy. This morning for some reason however, I just couldn't resist.
While an elderly gentleman was working his plot, I headed
over. Ka-li-me-ra (good morning), I yelled
as I got close. Fortunately, I got the same response from him with a bright one
or two toothed smile. Then he continued on with more Greek than I'll ever know.
He kept chopping at the soil in his garden. After a couple of minutes, I motioned
that I wanted to try, and he reluctantly gave up his wide nosed pick. I did a row
and passed it back to him. He did a row, and I motioned for it, and so we
went until the plot was broken up.
After the stones were raked to one side and removed, we agreed
without common words that we were done. We both beamed smiles, and clapped each
other on the back at the accomplishment. When it was time to go, he motioned
that he had something for me, and he cut a bucket full of greens. An internet
search afterward showed it was Amaranth and should be sautéed with olive oil.
We thanked each other, exchanging ef-kha-ri-sto's (thank you's) and smiles,
then went our separate ways.
In early evening, Marlene started preparing for the sauté, but
she couldn't find the garlic we bought the day before. Now, it's important to
understand, when we're in the grocery store, there's some degree of confusion
at checkout time. I think we paid for the garlic, but it didn't get into our
carry-out, and the guy behind us probably got a freebee.
Anyway, now late in the afternoon, I struck out for the
grocery store to get garlic and 2 onions. I only got 30 meters up the lane, and
there's a woman and 2 kids looking at a ball stuck down the hillside in a mixture
of vines and the like. A fourth woman, arrived with her
cane to help. I motioned I would use the cane and try to retrieve the ball, and
so I did with success. The show of appreciation far exceeded the effort
required. By then, another guy, Mickel showed up with a smile, shook my
hand, and introduced himself, Maria, and Alexandra. We were all confused
by the attempted conversation, but in the end, Alexandra gave me 4 eggs from her
hens. After taking the eggs home, Maria showed up with some homemade stew. I
still had to get to the mini-market for garlic, but that's another story.
We're hopeful that maybe we're moving from acceptance towards
integration into the community. Today's experiences were enriching for us; we got so
much for so little, under the Grecian sky.
Click here for the next story in this series:
http://travellingwithsteveandmarlene.blogspot.ca/2015/08/our-family-of-cats.html
Click here for the next story in this series:
http://travellingwithsteveandmarlene.blogspot.ca/2015/08/our-family-of-cats.html
