Tuesday, September 22, 2009
It was Laura’s birthday today, so I made a card, some other girls made breakfast brownies frosted with Nutella, and we had a birthday breakfast. We had a long day of classes too: first, Greek Language and Culture, then history, and then Theology. For Theology, we went to Father Stefanos’ Church in Halandria. We had a little adventure with that. We knew that we had to take trolley #10 to the end of the line to meet Father Stefanos there, however, our first task was to find the stop for trolley #10. Once we found the stop, we all climbed on and road it to the end of the line only to find that we went to the wrong end. At this point, our entire class was late, but we hopped back on for the ride to the other end of the line. After 2.5+ hours of traveling, we finally found Halandria, and Father Stefanos walked with us to his church. On the way, he showed us the original church of the town, a tiny stone church. His church, St. George Orthodox Church was magnificent! It is a new church and the inside is not yet completely painted. The paintings that are finished are stunning. The image of Christ in the dome is huge and colorful. Father Stefanos told us that Christ’s pointer finger was as long as he is tall, so that gives you an idea of the size of the painting. The icon screen in front of the altar was unbelievably detailed woodcarvings. On either side of the altar room, there are marble baptismal fonts, one for adults (they can walk right into the font), and one for infants. Father Stefanos is a really great professor and such a nice man. I was so glad we were able to visit his church even though we took quite the detour.
After Theology (about 8:00 pm), Sara Kokkila, Ashley Wenning, Laura Krasky, and Sara Kingston and I went to a performance in the Odeon of Herodes Atticas, right next to the Acropolis. An Odeon is a kind of theater in Ancient Greece used especially for music events and poetry reading. The performance that we attend was called “Once Upon Smyrna,” and took us through the history of Byzantine and folk music of Smyrna. The theater is outdoors with an open roof and tiers of stone seats with cushions. It was full, but we found seats near the center and because they were tiered, we had an excellent view. The night was a little chilly, but there wasn’t a bug in sight! That was nice for different. The first half was mostly Byzantine chant music sung by a choir of men and women. Two narrators accompanied by a flute and a bouzouki spoke in between each piece, presumably about the history of Smyrna and the music, but it was all in Greek, so we couldn’t understand a word. The second half included a semicircle of instrumentalists (bouzouki, flute, violin, and hammer dulcimer), a women’s choir, student choir, and men’s choir and they performed folk music. Dancers even joined in the performance in the space right in front of the stage and danced traditional Greek folk dances. I loved the second half of the performance! People in the audience knew the songs and sang or clapped along sometimes too. The performance began at 9:00 pm and was not over at midnight when we finally decided to leave because we had class early the next morning. What an excellent experience!
After Theology (about 8:00 pm), Sara Kokkila, Ashley Wenning, Laura Krasky, and Sara Kingston and I went to a performance in the Odeon of Herodes Atticas, right next to the Acropolis. An Odeon is a kind of theater in Ancient Greece used especially for music events and poetry reading. The performance that we attend was called “Once Upon Smyrna,” and took us through the history of Byzantine and folk music of Smyrna. The theater is outdoors with an open roof and tiers of stone seats with cushions. It was full, but we found seats near the center and because they were tiered, we had an excellent view. The night was a little chilly, but there wasn’t a bug in sight! That was nice for different. The first half was mostly Byzantine chant music sung by a choir of men and women. Two narrators accompanied by a flute and a bouzouki spoke in between each piece, presumably about the history of Smyrna and the music, but it was all in Greek, so we couldn’t understand a word. The second half included a semicircle of instrumentalists (bouzouki, flute, violin, and hammer dulcimer), a women’s choir, student choir, and men’s choir and they performed folk music. Dancers even joined in the performance in the space right in front of the stage and danced traditional Greek folk dances. I loved the second half of the performance! People in the audience knew the songs and sang or clapped along sometimes too. The performance began at 9:00 pm and was not over at midnight when we finally decided to leave because we had class early the next morning. What an excellent experience!
Saturday-Sunday, September 19-20, 2009
This weekend, our whole group took a bus to Ancient Delphi with our Art History/Greek Literature teacher, Anne Stuart. On the way, we stopped at an Orthodox monastery situated on the slopes of Mount Helicon called Hosios Loukas. The hermit St. Lucas founded this monastery in the 10th century—his body is still preserved in the church today (rather creepy to see). The area was beautiful! Sloping landscapes surrounded the area and the monastery was quiet and peaceful. Apparently, people come to this place for inspiration and I can understand why. Anne told us about the place and gave us a tour of the old and new church and we got to explore a bit before we had to leave. Anne is so knowledgable! It is like we have our own English speaking tour guide, and I think that most of the time, she knows more than any of the tour guides around. There is not a question that will stump her. Before arriving in Delphi, we stopped for a quick lunch in a village called Arachova. Once in Delphi, we went to the Delphi Archeological Museum for class. Ann took us through the museum and taught us about many statues and sculptures that have been preserved. After the museum, we dropped our things off at our hotel overlooking the Mount Parnassus and Sara, Sara, Laura and I went exploring in the small city. There were two or three streets filled mostly with shops in which to look. We did see one small museum room full of old, traditional Greek clothing (we saw the inspiration for the uniforms that the guards still wear today). I thought that was interesting to see. We had another class session with Anne before all gathering for supper at a taverna nearby. The evening was a quiet one, with some more roaming about the city before heading to bed. On Sunday, we all went to a Greek Orthodox Church service. The church was filled with icons and every inch was full of paintings. There were three elaborate chandeliers down the center of the church and some seats to sit. When we arrived, the service had already begun and as the service proceeded, more people gathered. It it not considered rude to enter a service late or to leave early here. When people came in, they usually picked up a tall candle at the entrance, kissed it, lit it, and placed it in a sand-filled stand on the side of the entrance. Then, they walked up the aisle and kissed the cross, then crossed themselves multiple times. There were several icons situated in elaborately carved wooden house-like structures, and people kissed the pictures and again crossed themselves several times before they found a seat. It was confusing to know whether to sit or stand. Some people sat and some people stood, and then they would switch and it was never at the same time. I tried to follow, but ended up just doing a little bit of both. The altar was in a separate room from the sanctuary and we could not see the priest most of the time, except for the procession with the Gospel. The entire service was chanted and it was a constant flow, with no pauses or silence. Sometimes several voices chanted at the same time. There wasn’t any music (besides the chanting) and the people didn’t participate in any of the chanting either. We couldn’t stay for the entire service, so we didn’t get to see communion or a homily, but it was all in Greek, so I wouldn’t have understood it anyway. It was a good experience to see an Orthodox Service and it seemed so different from the Roman Catholic Mass that I am used to. After the service, we met at the Archeological Museum again to see a bit more and then we visited the ancient sites. Because there was a rock fall, we didn’t get to go very far in the upper site--only up to the Athenian treasury, but not to the altar, the theater, or the stadium. In the lower site, we saw the Temple of Athena and a gymnasium. We tried to imagine what kind of workouts the ancient Greeks had here and we pretended we were ancient Greek athletes. On our way back to Athens from Delphi, we stopped in Arachova again and had time for lunch some exploring. It was a cute and quiet town in the mountains with more beautiful views of the countryside and more shops. Our teacher recommend the ΦOPMAEΛA (for/my/ella) cheese, so Sara Kokkila and I bought some together. We tasted it at our classmates apartment when we got back to Athens and it was delicious! To make it, you cut it up into pieces, fry it in olive oil, then squeeze lemon juice on it and eat it up. I can’t wait to make our cheese!
Friday, September 18, 2009
This morning, I went to the market near my apartment. The road is lined with stands of vegetables and fruits and there are lots of women with rolling carts filled with their weekly produce. The vendors shout back and forth to each other and they shove a plastic bag into your hands if you so much as peek at their produce. I picked up some oranges, plums, nectarines, onions, a tomato, green pepper, and some eggs. I like going to the market just to watch the people and see all the stands. It’s like a giant St. Joe Farmer’s market.
This afternoon, I went to Monastiraki and the Plaka with some girls to look around. These neighborhoods are near the Acropolis and have many shops. My big purchase was a pair of handmade leather Greek sandals from Melissinos. Student on past Greco-Roman programs recommended this shop to me, so I was excited to find it. The man there helped me find the correct size, showed me all different styles, and fit the sandal to my foot. Of course, I had to try on a zillion pairs before I decided. I ended up with a criss-cross strappy pair.
Later in the afternoon, the sunshine left us and a raincloud burst, flooding the streets and causing the shop owners to pull their merchandise back into their shops. The water gushed down the streets and we got soaked, but it turned out to be fun.
This afternoon, I went to Monastiraki and the Plaka with some girls to look around. These neighborhoods are near the Acropolis and have many shops. My big purchase was a pair of handmade leather Greek sandals from Melissinos. Student on past Greco-Roman programs recommended this shop to me, so I was excited to find it. The man there helped me find the correct size, showed me all different styles, and fit the sandal to my foot. Of course, I had to try on a zillion pairs before I decided. I ended up with a criss-cross strappy pair.
Later in the afternoon, the sunshine left us and a raincloud burst, flooding the streets and causing the shop owners to pull their merchandise back into their shops. The water gushed down the streets and we got soaked, but it turned out to be fun.
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