Writing in Greek

When I first moved to Greece, my Greek language skills were 'good', probably better than most diaspora Greeks' skills, perhaps because I had studied linguistics, which meant that I could detect language patterns that would ultimately help me to use Greek more effectively. To improve your foreign language skills, it helps to live in a country where it is used as the main language medium, it also helps to speak the language frequently and converse with native speakers - but that will not necessarily help you to improve your written skills in that language.

My Greek reading skills were good to start with, but my writing skills were completely lacking. This is because I did not need to write in Greek. In fact, most people's writing skills in those days (over 2 decades ago) were lacking - apart from the occasional letter to a friend, Christmas cards, and shopping lists, we did not write much. These days, we write much more given our use of the internet; therefore, we read much more too, because we have access to more reading material than we ever did before.

This is in fact what helped me to improve my writing skills - thanks to the internet, I had access to as much reading material in the Greek language as I wanted. Reading allows you to 'see' the language, which then helps you to remember spelling and standardized word endings. I have now got to the stage where I write the Greek press releases for my son's local fencing club. Normally, I am simply informing local newspapers and web sites about the competitions that the young athletes take part in, the results, and messages of thanks to sponsors. The press releases are often used just as they have been written, but I notice that the print version in the local paper rewrites them to suit their newspaper's style.

My latest write-up is more descriptive: it discusses a visit by German students during an exchange trip. I've just sent it off to the papers and news sites. You get a sneak preview of it here - in translation!

"The Hania fencing club received a surprise visit last Wednesday from a group of high school students who came to Chania via an exchange programme from Straubing, a German town about 100 kilometers away from Munich. The exchange was organised through the 5th High School in Nea Hora, Chania, through e-Twinning. The visit to the fencing club was organized by the fencing coach, Mr. Michael Konstantinopoulos, who is a physical education teacher at the 5th High School. The German students stayed in Chania for a week. They also visited Knossos, and watched the football match between Platanias and PAS Ioannina, among other events planned for them. 

The fencing club in Hania, in the area known as Palea Ilektriki.
Η αίθουσα της Α.Λ.Ξ. Χανίων, στην Παλαιά Ηλεκτρική.

"In the frame of exchanging ideas and experiences, Mr. Konstantinopoulos organized the visit to the fencing club, so that our guests will have the opportunity to learn about the sport of fencing and to see Greek students participating in this sport which is particularly widespread in their country in contrast to Greece. This is the second time that the same German high school has visited the club, at their request, to get an experience of the fencing sport. After a short demonstration by the young athletes from the Hania club, our German guests also had the opportunity to test their skills with the swords under the supervision of Mr. Konstantinopoulos. 

The athletes of the fencing club show the German students how it's done.
Οι αθλητές της Α.Λ.Ξ. Χανίων κάνουν επίδειξη στους Γερμανούς επισκέπτες.

The German visitors get a chance to try out the swords for themselves.
Οι Γερμανοί επισκέπτες δοκιμάζουν το άθλημα.

"Overall, our German guests were quite enthusiastic about their fencing experience and left with the best impressions of the progressive nature of their Greek peers. They ask that such exchanges continue to occur in the future."

And here is the Greek version, which will appear sometime tomorrow in the following websites: www.kydon.gr, www.neatv.gr, www.haniotika-nea.gr, www.flashnews.gr, www.zarpa.gr .

"Η Α.Λ.Χ. Χανίων έλαβε μια ευχάριστη  έκπληξη την περασμένη Τετάρτη από μια ομάδα μαθητών γυμνασίου που ήρθαν στα Χανιά μέσω μιας μαθητικής ανταλλαγής, από το Straubing, μια γερμανική πόλη περίπου 100 χιλιόμετρα από το Μόναχο. Η ανταλλαγή έγινε με το 5ο Γυμνάσιο στη Νέα Χώρα, Χανιά, μέσω του προγράμματος e-Twinning (http://www.etwinning.net). Η επίσκεψη στην Α.Λ.Χ. Χανίων διοργανώθηκε από τον προπονητή ξιφασκίας, τον κ. Μιχάλη Κωνσταντινόπουλος, ο οποίος είναι καθηγητής φυσικής αγωγής στο 5ο Γυμνάσιο. Οι Γερμανοί μαθητές έμειναν στα Χανιά για μια εβδομάδα. Επισκεφθήκαν επίσης και την Κνωσό, και παρακολούθησαν τον ποδοσφαιρικό αγώνα μεταξύ Πλατανιά και ΠΑΣ Γιάννενα, μεταξύ άλλων εκδηλώσεων που είχαν προγραμματιστεί για αυτούς. 

"Στο πλαίσιο ανταλλαγής ιδεών και εμπειριών, ο κ.  Κωνσταντινόπουλος οργάνωσε την επίσκεψη στην Α.Λ.Ξ. Χανίων, έτσι ώστε οι επισκέπτες μας να έχουν την ευκαιρία να γνωρίσουν το άθλημα της ξιφασκίας και να δουν Έλληνες μαθητές να συμμετέχουν σε αυτό το άθλημα ιδιαίτερα διαδεδομένο στη χωρά τους σε αντίθεση με την Ελλάδα. Αυτή είναι η δεύτερη φορά που το ίδιο γερμανικό γυμνάσιο έχει επισκεφτεί την λέσχη, μετά από αίτησή τους, για να πάρουν μια εμπειρία για την ξιφασκία. Μετά από μια μικρή επίδειξη του αθλήματος από τους Χανιώτες αθλητές της λέσχης μας, οι γερμανοί επισκέπτες είχαν επίσης την ευκαιρία να δοκιμάσουν τις δικές τους δεξιότητες με τα σπαθιά. υπό την επιτήρηση του κ. Κωνσταντινόπουλο. 

Συνολικά, οι γερμανοί επισκέπτες μας έμειναν ενθουσιασμένοι και έφυγαν με τις καλύτερες εντυπώσεις από την προοδευτική φύση των Ελλήνων ομολόγων τους. Έχουν ζητήσει τέτοιες ανταλλαγές να συνεχίσουν να λαμβάνουν χώρα στο μέλλον."

It's not a case of the internet degrading our reading and writing skills, if you know how to use this tool which has changed the world completely in just over a decade.

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California dreamin'

I was in Iraklio yesterday, close to the area of the Olympic stadium, built for the use of the Olympic Games held in Athens in 2004. Although the area doesn't show the same signs of disuse and neglect that the OAKA facilities show, it reinforces aspects of Greek identity in similar ways. The stadiums have a bigness to them that never boded well with small Greece, and the modernisation that took place in both of the surrounding areas was never really appropriate for the Greeks: no matter how much they seem to embrace modern trends, there will be some aspects of modernism that they will not be entralled with. This is the reason why these facilities look so neglected these days: they never really suited the Greek lifestyle.

My son was involved in a fencing tournament yesterday, which was held, not at the Pan-Cretan (Olympic) Satdium of Iraklio (shown below)...

... but right next door, at the LIDO, a small cosy gymansium built in just the right size for local use. The stadium was also in use ont he same day, and although fencing tournaments do take place in the Athens Olympic facilities (OAKA), the site today was seen as more appropriate: as the coach explained, if you live in a rented property of 80 square metres, and you are suddenly gifted a 2000 square metre space, at first you will be excited, but later you will realise that you prefer to live in the rented property rather than maintain such a big amount of space...

In the area of the Pan-Cretan Stadium, the roads have been done up to look like ... something like 'boulevards' and 'avenues', things I've seen in photos of places like 'California' and 'Miami', places that have names to the likes of 'Sunset Boulevard'.

Yes, it looks sleek and chic in many ways... but the rate of upkeep, and the fact that much of the land around this area is still in private hands, hasn't helped the general area maintain this sleek chic apperance.

Greeks don't prefer lifeless soulless places for their leisure activities. They will congregate in the dingiest looking places where there are many other like-minded people.

So places like parks and bicycle tracks and outdoor seating and wildlife and coastal roads will not attract people ... unless people are already installed there.

I was in the area in the morning, so this place was empty - by the end of the day, before my trip to Iraklio was over, the place was buzzing with life. 

Where there is a modern-style stadium, there is a modern-style shopping centre. In Athens it's called the Mall; in Iraklio it's called Talos. In the morning, the place looked quite empty because Greeks don't hang around at the mall all day long: the mall is for certain times. This quiet moment gave me and my daughter a chance to savour a little peace before we joined her brother at the fencing tournament.

Talos does not contain any traditional-style stores or eateries - they are all brand label type places. I let my daughter choose where to sit. Flocafe and Starbucks were side-by-side - she chose Flocafe. AS it was a special day, I let her choose what she wanted to have: I chose an iced chocolate (full of fat and sugar), and she chose a waffle with ice-cream (full of fat and sugar). If you eat like that most of the time, well, we all know what happens to you (obesity is oft discussed on the news these days in Western mass media - not so much at all int eh Greek media, though).

We did some shopping at Peacocks  and OVS, two brands we don't have in Hania, and then walked back to the stadium (oh yes, we walk everywhere in Iraklio, much to the surprise of my friends - my whole family knows why we walk everywhere) where we were just in time for my son's games. He is a very good fencer... and we knew he'd win first prize among the dozen kids participating in his age group... but his goals were not to win gold (he knew he could do that easily), nor was it to play well (he has been doing this already). His goal was to play the best that he has ever played. In a sense, he did this, because he didn't lose any of the rounds he played in. But his opponents still managed to score hits against him, something that made him realise that there is great room for improvement. (He told me about this at the end of the tournament. I liked that. It's called maturity.)

For a treat, I took him back to Talos to buy him some new clothes, and then I let him choose the place we would have our celebration lunch. (He hadn't eaten since breakfast, and we got to the shopping centre after 6.30pm.) Talos was slowly filling up. The cafe tables which were empty in the morning were now buzzing with human activity. Again, people weren't 'hanging around' at the mall - they were hanging around with each other. Greeks are very very social. If their friends were hanging around elsewhere, they'd flock there, not at the mall.

My son chose a place called Yankees. Its name gives us an idea about what kind of food it may be serving. If the name and decor isn't enough, the menu makes it obvious.

Modern food for modern people...

Chicago, Ribs, Antiburger - total cost: €32 with 3 soft drinks and a bottle of water. 

... but only in the right company, which is still dictated by tradition, and tradition says 'people above places'. But even if we were to place some importance on the actual site, the view of Mount Juktas with its face of sleeping Zeus made perfect sense to us, as we found ourselves not too far away from the birthplace and final resting place of Zeus.

Mt. Juktas, as seen from the city of Iraklio, yesterday. Legend says it is the face of Zeus.

The Greek world always led with a radiance of its own, quite unmatched and never able to copied anywhere else by anyone. This will be the key to survival in a competitive world.

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Fencing (Ξιφασκία)

I'm at the National Fencing Boys' and Girls' Championships this weekend, held at the OAKA stadium.

When my son saw the picture of the sword at the municipal gymnasium, he decided that fencing was the sport he wanted to take part in. Thanks to Zorro and The Three Musketeers, we have all become endeared to dashing young men wielding swords deftly in the air. But we thought it wasn't a sport he could keep moving in or take an active role in, or learn to work as a member of a team. After a year of fencing, we talked him into enrolling in basketball instead, a sport which keeps you active where you must cooperate with other people for your team to win. That's what the world is all about these days, being a member of team that can quash an opponent.

I remember how much I hated team sports when I was young. (With boobs at the age of ten, I wasn't really built for sports anyway.) When I was in Form 2 (as it used to be called then - I don't have a clue what it is known as now in NZ), our class teacher made me and another Greek girl (whose Greek body equally hated sports) captains of the opposing softball teams. The announcement was made without any notice to the mixed-abilities, mixed-race class of my co-ed primary school. As soon as the other kids heard who was going to be head each side, they instantly all made a very audible groan at the same moment. They all knew that both of us were hopeless at sport.

 

Sword craftsman

As captains we had to choose our team members. Every time both I and the other captain chose a team member, the other child would look down on the ground and then come and join the forlorn queue forming behind me and Maria (yes! we even had the same name). There was not much to choose between us. But all that the other children saw in us were that we were not made to be captains of a sports team. They didn't realise that it was not the captain that needed to be the best player - it was the team that had to be good, and the captain had to ensure that the other team members were pulling their weight. For the first (and only) time in my class group's history of playing softball, no one cared if they played well.

I don't remember who won that day. It isn't even important for me. But I do remember that I instantly understood why the teacher made me and Maria team captains. She wanted to instill a sense of responsibility in us. She wanted us to have the confidence to lead. She didn't want to make better softball players of us. She just wanted to make us feel good about ourselves, and she probably succeeded. The problem with each of our teams wasn't the captains' disinterest in sports; it was the lack of trust shown to us by the other team members.

Practice board for hits

Maria and I were not very sporty, but we were good students and it's no surprise that we did well in our later studies (she became a doctor, and I don't mean a PhD graduate). When we worked alone, we were able to excel in our fields. But when we were forced to work with others, we often found that we couldn't convince them to make similar decisions to ours. We were trying to cooperate with them, but they weren't always cooperating with us. Some leaders are under the false impression that they are in charge, when in fact, their own approach may be misguided, less encompassing or elitist.

It's the same with my son. After three years of basketball, I knew he had no interest in taking part in it. There were many moments where I realised that this team-sports/group-member/keeping-active thing was the wrong approach on certain people, my son being one of them. One example I recall strongly is when the new school year started. My son's lessons took place in a school gymnasium after school hours. The free schoolbooks that Greek children are distributed at the start of the first term had been piled up in the gymnasium, around the basketball court. While the young players were lined up in front of the coach, I noticed that my son was the only one of those under-10s who was not looking at the coach. He was looking behind him, eyes to the ground, at the schoolbooks.

The local news websites picked this shot to ilolustrate the reporting of the events - I was surprised to see my son in it!

Some of us are not made for team sports or contact sports. Some of us prefer to work in small groups, getting to know our opponent well, rather than be faced by a large group with many members. I stopped forcing him to go to basketball and he started back at the fencing club. Fencing is a sport that requires great concentration, the special uniform makes you sweat, you can't take too many steps (more than 50 and you lose the match), and the speed of a game is fast. Last month, he took part in the 1st Pan-Cretan competitions last month and came third in his age group. This weekend he's taking part in the National competitions. I hope he wins something again, not because I want him to be a world-class athlete, but because I can see he likes what he's doing.

My son's individuality has not helped him in the consewrvative school system that the Greek one is. His teachers accept the idea that if the majority of children are doing something, then the minority that is not doing it must be mistaken. Therefore, it's landed him into more trouble, not helped by the fact that his is a clever child that does not work hard to show he earned his accolades. If he continues to take a follow a more unique path, through his chosen sport, he will be exhibiting an endurance that is bound to open doors for him later, especially in an unusual sport like fencing. If he applies himself to it, he can truly say: "I did it by myself."

©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.