Now, Evelyn, one of the elementary school teachers, was being very stern and was pretty angry at the boys for running away, so I had to take care to stifle my laughter. That's a pretty funny thing to hear.
Names are a big deal over here in Greece. It's a very important part of your family history, and no name comes arbitrarily. You are either named after someone in your family, the patron saint of your village (every third baby boy or something like that on Corfu is named Spiro), or some important figure in Greek history. Let me tell you, taking roll my first few days of teaching was very difficult. I had to get used to having an Antigone or a Pericles or an Artemis in my class. One class had a Helen, an Achilles, a Hector, and a Paris. No kidding.
The way your surname ends also indicates where your family originated. I did not come close to learning all the nuances, but the Greek people certainly know it. There's no hiding your regional heritage around here.
Furthermore, there is a complicated system of surnames concerning the women. I won't try to explain too much or I'll mess up the details, but the long and the short of it is that a woman's last name changes ever so slightly so that it denotes that she is "owned" by her father. Daughters and sons, therefore, will have different last names though they share the same parents. When we asked why Greeks in America often do not adhere to this rule, we were told that this system is just simply too complicated for non-Greeks to understand, so the names get unified a lot outside of Greek communities. Just as well; these names are long and complicated enough already.
You are also identified in Greece by your father's first name. Since so many people have the exact same last name, formal documents need to show to which father you belong to avoid confusion. What's funny is that we foreigners have the same treatment even though there is no way that I am getting mixed up with anyone here. All the same, any documents I have received here that are even semi-official state that I am "Amanda belonging to James." Patriarchal society, indeed.
Because names stay in the family, sometimes a person will wind up falling in with unfortunate timing in a name's legacy and end up with literally a "double name." Our favorite employee in the library is named Manos Manos, and the infamous editress of our Greek text book is named Dimitra Dimitra.
Because names are such a big deal, the celebration of "Name Days" is even more important than one's birthday. A Name Day is a specific day of the year attributed to those who have the name of the saint or historical figure to which that day is dedicated. For example, all of the Christinas, Christianas, and Christophers are clearly named for Christ making their Name Day Christmas Day. Name Days are really fun around here because the tradition is that the person whose Name Day it is will bring in sweets for everyone at school, or if they are an older adult, they will take their friends out for dinner or drinks on them-- the complete opposite of how we celebrate birthdays in the States. I've never had more chocolate than on the "George" Name Day or the "Konstantinos" Name Day. Seriously epic sugar comas.
There are websites you can access to see when your name day is! If you don't know what the Greek equivalent of your name is, google "Greek version of John (or whatever)," and you'll get your answer. For example, my name is Amanda, which is a name rooted in Latin and meaning "loving." The Greek name for "loving" is Agapi, whose Name Day is September 17th. I'll bring you all some chocolate.
If there is just absolutely no Greek equivalent for your name, your Name Day is September 1st. There you go.
While we're speaking on names, I feel this is a good time to update the Cast and Crew as there have been many important characters added to this shebang. Here are a few more:
George- George was Whitney and Meredith's supervisor from the college counseling office. He is Greek-American and married a lovely Greek woman and stayed here. He totally adopted the Fellows and showed us endless hospitality. He took Whitney, James, and me to a tour of a microbrewery on Evia once and also had us all over for dinner and watching football games during Superbowl season to ease our American homesickness. He also had an amazing end of the year dinner for us over at his house the other night. He is absolutely hilarious and a really caring guy.
Angeliki- I've mentioned her more than once for sure before now, but I feel she deserves to be properly introduced. She is our Greek teacher from this year, and she is just wonderful. She is this tiny little sprite of a woman who was an excellent teacher and turned into a lovely friend. You may recall that she is the one who hosted Easter for Whitney and me, and she has had the Fellows over to her house more than once to cook us traditional food and take us swimming. She has a darling little daughter named Myrsini who now thinks of us Fellows as her older brothers and sisters from America.
Lillian- Lillian also works in the counseling office with Whitney and Meredith and has been very kind to the Fellows. She hosted a ladies dinner one night at her house and let us play with her cats and her piano. She is very smart and has always been willing to lend a hand.
Christiana, Angelos, and Stavros- What a group. Robyn met this crew midway through the year, and they have been delightful in showing us around. We've had several outings, house parties, and other adventures with them. They are not shy about yelling at us if we do anything not in accordance with the Greek way (Christiana almost tore my head off when I accidentally referred to "Constantinople" as "Istanbul." Never made that mistake again).
Matt Barrett- If you are ever coming to Greece for a day, a month, a year, or forever, you should access Matt Barrett's travel blog about Greece. It has been THE most helpful tool I have discovered all year. From amazing restaurants to step by step instructions on how to get to obscure islands to a perfect listing of all of the timetables of busses and trains, Matt has all the answers. A few of us actually met him one day when we were sandal shopping at the Poet Sandal Man store in Monastiraki. He happened to be there talking to his friend, the Sandal Man, and I walked up to him solemnly, shook his hand, and said, "Thank you for saving my life 1000 times this year in Athens." I meant it, too. He was a very nice guy to boot. Seriously thrilled to have met him.
Papadimitriou- Not sure what his first name is, but this is one of the kids that rode the bus with us during Summer Camp. He fell asleep every day on the ride home, and the bus attendant would SCREAM his name out in a shrill tone every time we would get to his stop. He would wake up at her call and his first words upon waking were always, "Pame stin thalassa!" ("Let's go to the sea!"). Papadimitriou, you had the right idea.
Now that you know about Name Days (and a few of the new names that have been important to my year), I expect you all to look up your Name Days and bring me candy to remind me of Greece. Thanks.
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