The Issues of Greece Over My Stay

Over the course of my stay in Greece I have learned a lot life lessons that can be carried to my future. I have traveled on a plane by myself to discover a land I was not sure I would be comfortable with. In my adventure, I have learned that it is good to go out of the comfort zone and explore the world that we live in. I am blessed to have the opportunity to stay in a country so full of history and culture.

In my time here in Greece there was a great political change happened. Antonis Samaras won the leadership of Greece’s conservative New Democracy Party (Wilson 4). He was elected on the 29th of November on my last day here and he won by a landslide (Wilson 4). He has over half of the vote with 50.18 percent (Wilson4)! That is amazing. The runners up were Bakoyannis with 39.76 percent and Psomiadis with 10 percent (Wilson 4).

It was time to get a new leader, because recently with the recession in America, it also affected Europe. In a recent article by Matthew Saltmarsh, Greece has a long way to go to bounce back from the economy’s slump. Greece’s economy was not hit as fast as many other European nations, but the recession did get to Greece. The banking system has got so bad that soon Greek bonds may no longer be accepted as collateral for credit (Saltmarsh). With this new government in place they should fix the problem. The new leaders have a plan to tax the rich to stimulate the economy (Saltmarsh). In a Paris study mentions in Saltmarsh’s article was the unemployment rate would reach 10 percent by 2010 and remain that way for a year. And Oregonians thought there unemployment rate was bad!

Another issue that was happening during my stay was that Greece has been importing lower priced prescription drugs to Germany, because Greek drugs are less expensive here (Cleaver). For example, the HPV Vaccine Gardisil in Germany costs 477 Euros while in the United States and other European countries it is in the 300 Euro range (Cleaver). Not are just name brand drugs more expensive in Germany, generic are also expensive compared to Greece.

While these are some pretty controversial topics Greece was very pleasant to stay in. I learned so much from country and from myself. I also learned so much about classic Greek food. Living on your own in foreign country can be very difficult, but to me with was a great adventure.

References

Cleaver, Hannah. "Germans Footing the Bill for Big Pharma's Drugs." The Local 23 Sept. 2009: 1. Web. 1 Dec 2009. .

Wilson, George. "Samaras Wins ND Leadership." Athens News 30 Nov. 2009: 4. Web. 30 Nov 2009. .

Saltmarsh, Matthew. "As Europe Rebounds, Greece Gets Left Behind." New York Times 19 Nov. 2009: n. page. Web. 1 Dec 2009. a.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=greece&st=cse>.

Archives

Last week, I was so fascinated by the Greek Literature that I had to do more research about this culture. I really wanted to see the primary resources that are available to the public. I traveled all the way to Mytilene, Greece where I came across the Historical Archive of the Aegean Ergani. There were multiple collections in this archive. They had personal archives that had pictures of some important people like Michal P. Koutzis. He was the founder of the Kourtzis entrepreneurial activities. He provided food and provisions to the markets in Mytilini and Constantinople. He was very well respected in the community. He served on the local council. A good majority of his family also has great prominence in the archives. Including his first son, Panos Kourtzis. He was one of the most important Greek entrepreneurs of the Ottoman Empire. In the archive they also had memorabilia of the different companies the Kourtzis family was involved in. The family was highly involved in the olive oil industry because they developed a new way of extracting oil from the olive. This has a lot to do with the oil we have today.

Another Archive that I found online was for the Sterling Memorial Library in New Haven, Connecticut. The title is the Mary M. Geran Starr Papers. It was a matter and memorabilia depicting the friendship of Mary Geran with the royal Greek family and with the members of German nobility. There were also photographs. But the collection was composed of a lot of letters. These letters were from Grand Duchess Helen of Russia and the princess of Greece, Sophia. This is amazing because the evidence of European history is located in the United States as well.

I found these archives extremely fascinating because our present day life can be traced back to a single group of people, like the Koutzis family, who pioneered a new way of creating olive out. The food that people make would have been a lot different with out these people.

References

Kortizis Archive.1850-1980. Historical archive of the Aegean Ergani. Web. Mytilene, Greece. http://www.ergani.org.gr/web/guest/collections/routes

Mary M. Geran Star Papers. 1910-1960. MS 459. New Haven, CT. http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ms.0459

The Literature

This week in Greece I came upon The Greek National Library. It was established on May 15th, 1832 but was later joined with the Athens University. Since I never really went to college, I decided to take a look at the literature they had there. Oh my goodness, there was a huge array of very old books. I came upon Homer’s Classic, The Odyssey. Homer is universally known as Greece’s most classic historical author of all time. The Odyssey the sequel to Iliad, is about Odysseus, the hero of Greece that goes to fight in the Trojan War. This fiction depicts Greece because it has so much reference to the Greek gods. In The Odyssey I found a line that struck my attention, “ Be of good cheer, and let not these things distress your heart…” I find it amazing that words so old can be relatable to all of us.

Homer is not the only historic writer to ever come out of Greece though. In the book, Modern Greek Writing I came upon a writer that was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1963. His name is George Seferis and he was the first Greek to be honored this way. In this collection of writers he really caught my eye. In the first line of his poem, Upon a Foreign Verse he references to Homer’s The Odyssey in the first line. This poem “ Upon a Foreign Verse” when I read it gave me the chills. The use of visualization is great. I highly recommend you read his work.

Not only are there great men writers in Greece but also there are also great women poets. In the book, The Rehearsal of Misunderstanding I came upon a contemporary poet named Jenny Mastoraki. Her poems also reference to Homer’s stories, because she talks about the Underworld. Greek Folklore is still prevalent in Greece today.

When I walked into the huge national library I really realized how much the Greeks take pride in their culture. I wish I were more involved with my heritage, because then I could more pride in a certain culture. It doesn’t help to be a “mutt”.

References

Homer. “The Odyssey”. 2nd. 2. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University

Press, 1995. 29. Print.

Seferis, George. "Upon a Foreign Verse." Modern Greek Writing. 1st

Ed.London: Peter Owen Publishers, 2003. Print.

Van Dyck, Karen, and Jenny Mastoraki. "Tales of the Deep: The

Underground." The Rehearsal of Misunderstanding: Three

Collections by Contemporary Greek Women Poets. 1st Ed. New England: Wesleyan University Press, 1998. Print.

The Literature

This week in Greece I came upon The Greek National Library. It was established on May 15^th, 1832 but was later joined with the Athens University. Since I never really went to college, I decided to take a look at the literature they had there. Oh my goodness, there was a huge array of very old books. I came upon Homer’s Classic, “The Odyssey.” Homer is universally known as Greece’s most classic historical author of all time. “The Odyssey” the sequel to Iliad, is about Odysseus, the hero of Greece that goes to fight in the Trojan War. This fiction depicts Greece because it has so much reference to the Greek gods. In “The Odyssey” I found a line that struck my attention, “ Be of good cheer, and let not these things distress your heart…” I find it amazing that words so old can be relatable to all of us.

Homer is not the only historic writer to ever come out of Greece though. In the book, “Modern Greek Writing” I came upon a writer that was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1963. His name is George Seferis and he was the first Greek to be honored this way. In this collection of writers he really caught my eye. In the first line of his poem, Upon a Foreign Verse he references to Homer’s “ The Odyssey” in the first line. This poem “ Upon a Foreign Verse” when I read it gave me the chills. The use of visualization is great. I highly recommend you read his work.

Not only are there great men writers in Greece but also there are also great women poets. In the book, “The Rehearsal of Misunderstanding” I came upon a contemporary poet named Jenny Mastoraki. Her poems also reference to Homer’s stories, because she talks about the Underworld. Greek Folklore is still prevalent in Greece today.

When I walked into the huge national library I really realized how much the Greeks take pride in their culture. I wish I were more involved with my heritage, because then I could more pride in a certain culture. It doesn’t help to be a “mutt”.

Homer. “The Odyssey”. 2nd. 2. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University

Press, 1995. 29. Print.

Seferis, George. "Upon a Foreign Verse." Modern Greek Writing. 1^st

Ed.London: Peter Owen Publishers, 2003. Print.

Van Dyck, Karen, and Jenny Mastoraki. "Tales of the Deep: The

Underground." The Rehearsal of Misunderstanding: Three

Collections by Contemporary Greek Women Poets. 1st Ed. New England: Wesleyan University Press, 1998. Print.

I think it was time to get out of the city! I have been in Athens for a month straight, so it was nice to get out and see what else is out there. The other day I rented a car, and drove along the coastline of Greece. I met this really interesting young chef in Athens. He had the day off so he came along with me. His name is Tyler Florence, and he is quite famous actually. He has a show on Food Network called, “Tyler’s Ultimate”. He is in Greece for the same reason as I am, food. He came with me on my adventure and we both learned a lot.

When we drove along the coastline we saw a huge array of olive groves. We discovered at a tasting center that the production of olives is around 2.3 metric tons (Kaltsas, A.M., et al.). This results in 450,000 metric tones of olive oil and roughly 200,000 tons of table olives (Kaltsas, A.M., et al.). This is a lot of olives! Tyler and I found this very interesting. In “Europe A Thematic Atlas”, 24 percent of Greece’s imports are food and beverages. I’m positive olives and olive oil is a huge contributor.

In Greece there is a big issue on whether pesticides should be used in Greece. According to the article, “ Sustainability of Three Apple Production Systems” using organic practices of farming does not ensure the sustainability of the land.

Also along our drive along the coastline we saw a ton of fishing boats. According to “ Farming In Greece” a lot of people fish for a living. They don’t just catch fish. Fishermen also fish for squid, shrimp and octopus.

This trip wasn’t just educational, but very beautiful. The coastline was amazing. I learned about the culture of food in Greece. I’m sure I will incorporate a lot of the Greek characteristics into my restaurant to make it more authentic, but also original with my creativity.

Works Cited

"Greece Hellenic Republic." Europe A Thematic Atlas. 1st ed. 1. Great Britain: The Economist Books, 1992. Print.

Kaltsas, A.M., et al. "Energy budget in organic and conventional olive groves [electronic resource]." Agriculture, ecosystems & environment 122. (2007): 243-251. Agricola. EBSCO. Web. 9 Nov. 2009.

Reganold et al., 2001 J.P. Reganold, J.D. Glover, P.K. Andrews and H.R. Hinman, “Sustainability of Three Apple Production Systems”. Nature 410 (2001), pp. 926–930. Cited 121 times.

Thomas, Ron. & Sydenham, Shirley. Greece [Online] www.kidcyber.com.au. (2009)

Well I’m in Greece and winter is approaching fast. I think I got too used to the hot weather, because now it is so cold! Since I came here to learn about food I was wondering what restaurants are good and what dishes are seasonal. If I want to open a Greek restaurant I have to learn about the Greek ways of cooking. According to Cristina, in her blog she says that the best real traditional Greek restaurants serve meals that are based on what ingredients are in season. In the winter a lot of dishes are based on potatoes, cabbage. There are also a huge array of stew and pies that use the listed ingredients. In Cristinas blog she also has familiar Greek recipes such as cabbage-carrot salad, oven roasted potatoes, and keftedes also known as Greek meatballs.

In my trip to Greece I have learned a lot about how the restaurant industry. In an article by Grunewald, he stated that the first real inns and hostels were set up in Greece. Greece basically is the birthplace of restaurants and hospitality. Grunewald also stated that the catering trade also developed so it was not free to the person served. I was walking around and I saw some very old and cute restaurants.

I wanted to know more of what restaurants were good in Athens. According to Matt Barrett, Paradosiako is his favorite. This restaurant is located in the corner of Voulis and Nikodimou. It is a “mom and pop” place and Barrett has said that the owners are very entertaining and they are great cooks. They always have fresh seafood. Another restaurant Barrett suggested was Vyzantino Taverna. This restaurant is a favorite among the locals. It is popular for locals then it has to be great. I had the pleasure of going to both of these restaurants and they were both amazing. I am excited to learn more about Greece and the culture!

Barrett M. Matt Barrett’s Restaurants in Athens. Nov 2^nd 2009.

http://www.athensguide.com/restaurants.html.

Cristina. Foods to Enjoy During the Winter Season in Greece. Why Go Greece. Oct 29th 2009. http://www.greecelogue.com/foods-to-enjoy-during-the-winter- in-greece.html.

Grunewald T. History of the Fine Cooking and Catering Trade. Achive for Lebensmittelhygiene. Vol. 55. Issue. 1. Pgs. 10-15. Jan Feb 2004. Cited. 1

So now I’m Greece. I have checked out the museums and they were great. What I noticed about Greece is the number of people that were actually in Athens. I know that Athens is the biggest city in Greece but how do the other areas measure up?

Whenever I like doing a little background research I always us Wikipedia.com for a short brief on any topic. Simply typed in Greece, scrolled down and saw what I was looking for. There was a whole table on the population of Greece right down to every periphery or “state”. The largest periphery was Attica where the capital city is Athens had a total population of 3,761,810 people. The smallest periphery, Mount Athos, had a total population of 2, 262 people. That is how many people went to my high school! Below is the full table of all the peripheries with capital cities and populations, courtesy of Wikipedia.com. Wikipedia’s total estimated population for Greece in 2009 is 11,257,285. The 2001 census had a population of 10,964,020 people.

I wanted to make sure this was correct. So I headed to a library that had books in ENGLISH! I found a reference book called Cities of the World. In the Greece section under population the total population they had was 10.1 million. This was pretty off of the total population I got for Wikipedia’s census population, but I looked at the publication date on the book and it was published in 1993. I think a few more people were born within that time.

I wanted to see how Wikipedia’s census population compared to other resources. I went to kwintissential.co.uk and found that the Wikipedia article matched that census population as in the kwintissential article. This goes to show that Wikipedia isn’t completely unreliable! Yes! Below are my image captures to show the population.

Cia.gov

Wikipedia population with table, courtesy of Wikipedia.com

Kwintessential.co.uk scan from website.

References:

"Europe." Greece. cia.gov, Web. 26 Oct 2009.

Greece. Wikipedia, Web. 26 Oct 2009.

Hubbard, Monica M. "Country Profile: Population." Cities of the World. 4th ed. 3. Detroitm MI: Gale Research Inc. , 1993. Print.

"Population of Greece." Population of Greece. Kwintissential.co.uk, Web. 26 Oct 2009. .3

Now that I’m here what do I do? I have arrived in Greece and I have nothing really to do. All I can successfully do is walk around and eat, a lot! One of the reasons why I came here was to immerse myself in the culture. I think I will go look for some museums in Greece, so I know more about the history and culture. I got online and I found the website for the Acropolis Museum. The museum showcases the Parthenon, The Archaic gallery, Athena Nike, Erechtheion and The Slopes of the Acropolis.

The Parthenon is a very important building to the Greeks. It is where democratic leaders led in the 5^th century BC. The Acropolis Museum showcases a special video so visitors are more aware of how the leaders led the Greeks.

The Archaic Gallery at the Acropolis museum shows how the Greeks had developed throughout the 7^th century. The museum has a different light input so viewers are able to see the advancement in the arts.

The Athena Nike temple can be seen. It was built in 427-423 BC, by the architect Killikrates. It was thought to be built in replacement of another small temple.

The Slopes of Acropolis are a very important to Greek culture. They were found to be having many important artifacts. Michael Petrou was lucky enough to visit this museum. He titled his article, “Nice Museum, but where are the exhibits?” Apparently Britain has about half of the sculptures from Acropolis’s Parthenon. Britain will not return the artifacts.

Greece has been demanding the artifacts back but the artifacts have been there for two centuries. The Lord, Elgin took them from Greece and sold them to the British Museum.

Other than this unfortunate drama, I’m still excited to see what Greece does have. I will visit the Acropolis Museum tomorrow! The

"The acropolis Museum." Greek Public and European Union, Web. 19 Oct 2009. .

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Petrou, Michael. "Nice museum, but where are the exhibits?." Maclean's 122.24 (2009): 35. Web. 19 Oct 2009. .Data Base: OneSearch

Bring on the Sun and Salt!

I felt like death was upon me this week. I was fighting a horrible cold this week and I realized that I should watch out for my health while I’m in Greece. With the whole Swine Flu freak out, maybe I should figure out if there are other “epidemics” in Greece that I should be aware of. I have never been keen on research, but I did it!

The only crazy thing that I found that was happening was that in 2006. According to PubMed.gov, there were cases of Candidemia or Fungemia. This is the presence of fungi and yeast in bloodstream. The treatments would consist of antifungals, such as fluconazole and amphotericin.

According to greeka.com the website stated that there are no real health concerns other than the Fungemia. There are some vaccines that people should get even before thinking about leaving their own country. They are the tetanus, polio, diphtheria, and hepatitis A and B vaccines. They are all very common vaccines.

There were some drugs that you are not allowed to have in the country. Codeine is not allowed. It is a headache medicine that was outlawed. There are immense regulations on what medicines are allowed in Greece. Greeka.com also advises that travelers have a medication medical certificate for every medication you carry into the country. It is quite clear that they do not want people to bring weird drugs in to Greece.

Over all others greeka.com said that most of the health problems come from the unforgiving heat. As with any warm climate, you want to be completely hydrated. They also recommend salting your food because sweating makes you loose sodium, which is essential to you body. Believe it or not. The greeka website also explained that the food is very good quality. It is recommended that you drink bottled water, because you don’t want to get stomach upsets.

Well, I feel very prepared now. All I really have to be conscious of is carrying medication and to drink high quality water. This will be a breeze!

"Greece Health." About the health situation in Greece and Greek Islands. greeka.com, Web. 12 Oct 2009. .

"Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Fungemia. 16 September 2009. Wikipedia, Web. 12 Oct 2009. .

Mycoses,. "Epidemiology, risk factors for and outcome of candidaemia among non-neutropenic patients in a Greek intensive care unit. ." NCBI (2009): n. pag. Web. 12 Oct 2009. . PMID: 19793354

I know where I'm going!

What am I going to do for the rest of my life? I’m a year out of Culinary School and I have no idea what I want to do. Even though I graduated at the top of my class I’m completely lost. I have worked at a few restaurants in the Downtown Portland area assisting the owners and chefs. This was all fine and dandy, but nothing is silencing the voice in my head that is begging for something more stimulating.

I think I will take this fall to explore outside of my Northwest bubble. Actually, I think I will venture out of the country. Once deciding this, I realized that I should go to Europe. It has always been a dream of mine to live in another country and I have always been fond of Europe. After all, I do have all European roots of German, English, Irish, Swedish, and Greek. What is there that I cannot find in the states? I started looking online and I found my dream destination, Greece. The images of the Greek cities are divine. I loved the way cities still retain the historic image of early Greece. I have decided to tour Greece and immerse myself fully in the culture. During my school years, I have always been fascinated by the mythology of the Greeks. After studying Homers saga of the Iliad and The Odyssey, I was entranced by the ideology of these mythical gods. Each god has their own purpose and affects the Greeks everyday lives.

I also love the food. Whenever I walk into a Greek restaurant my mouth instantly waters. The aromas of the restaurant disperse though the whole restaurant spreading the aromas of rotating lamb and warm soft pita bread. I have made it my goal to learn all there is about the Greek culture and Greek food and bring it back to America and open my own Greek restaurant. So I’m leaving purchasing a ticket and packing my bags. Here I come Greece!