A Xeno's View Of Greeks And Greece Part 1 How I Became A Greek American

Greeks. Greece. What Did I Know About These Things Before Marrying a Greek girl? Well, not too much, but probably more Than The Average American. You see, I Have Always enjoyed history, as far back as elementary school. I Used to look at black-and-white photos of the Acropolis in my Middle School Textbook With Wonder As Much as a 12-year-old boy Cdn muster for 4000 year old granite. I Took Philosophy in High School, Where I Was Introduced To The likes of Socrates and Aristotle, With admittedly very little oD on my part.

I Went there to get a Bachelor's Degree in History, With A minor in Geography. My studies Gave Me More Than A little information about Greece, but not Much in the Way of Practical Knowledge of the Country Gold Its People. I Knew A Few Greek people as a kid. My Mother Had an old friend Who Was Greek, to Sylvia's Kids Were named Buck and Mandy - not your typical Greek names, And We never did "anything" Greek "with 'em. The Girl I Knew in High School Lived just down the Street, I never saw to any "signs" that She Was Greek. I just Thought She Had a funny name (Effie). I Knew Two Greeks in college, though only in passing. Goal 2 of 3 people thesis from high school and college ended up at The First Greek wedding I ever Attended With My Wife Before We Were Married, Showing me how very Quickly Closely connected the Greek community is.

So I put my bride-to-be at work in 1995. When I first saw Her, At the End of 1994, I Thought She Was Hispanic. Captivatingly beautiful, With dark skin and long dark hair - I Was smitten From the get-go. But I Had No Idea She Was Greek. I did not really Know What Greek People were "Supposed" to look like. Her name wasn't "Typically" Greek, With An "-opoulos" gold "-akis" At the end to tip me off. Not Much Until Later, When i actually how to pronounce Asked Her Her last name, did it come up That She Was Greek.
I was pretty shy When It Came to Asking girls out, i did manage to muster to The Courage to do Just That. And WAS Quickly Turned Down. More than an ounce. But I Kept Trying and, finally, she has Agreed to go on "dates" with me and a bunch of mutual friends to a baseball game. The Relationship That Began Malthus Would, 4 Years Later, lead to Our wedding day.

As We Continued to date I got to know more about this exotic Greek beauty and Her Family. But I never got to Meet Any of These People Her When I Dropped off at night. Later I found out That She Was Afraid That Her overbearing Greek family Would scare me away, so she Kept me away from 'em. (She wasn't too far off - about 6 months dating Into Her I Was Told By Her uncle, one of history-through sound, That I Needed to Either marry her or stop seeing her) It Was Probably SEVERAL months Before I ever set foot In Her house, and when i did it literally WAS for only a few "seconds. She Would bustle us out Before Her aunt and uncle, With Whom She Lived, "could" scare "me With Their old-world attitudes about a Greek" xeno "dating Their niece. That's right, me. The "foreigner". In the country of my birth, With a family tree it exacts on this continent back to the 17th century, I Was Being Called a "xeno", an outsider, Because I Was not Greek.

Eventually I Was Allowed In The Door Long Enough To Actually Meet the People Who Lived There. In this part of the Family aunt and uncle Were year 7 and Their Children, 3 of Whom Lived "still at home, With 3 Others living nearby. Now, I come from a small Methodist family in The Suburbs. I Have One Older Brother and Two actual cousins. That's it. So to Be plunged Into the mayhem of a large Greek family was absolutely a shocking experience. The Noise, The Yelling (Which I Was Told is "How We just talk"), The Boy coddling of Children and the over-protective of the girls. Goal She Was worth it, and all-in-all, it was fun to Become Part of Such A Big Family ....