Postcard No.2

I know, I was scared too that the rest of the Greece posts won't even happen, you know how it's like when work gets in the way of life. But here it is another infusion of sea water just for you.

Places, People and Languages

Just like last year we spent most of the time contemplating ways to simply stay there, in Pefchokori, Greece. I suppose the same thought was in the minds of many hundred thousands of other Balkan people who were there at the same time. But we, we're different, oh yes! I found a little language school  (I'm pretty sure it's not working though) tucked away in a back street and his work depends only on the internet connection any way. What do you say, Pefchokori? We are the people for you. We got to know you from the top of the hill to the bottom of the sea. We speak English and Serbian, but your mother tongue and ours mix in the most wonderful ways on your streets. There's nothing we couldn't say to each other with a bit of hand waving and big smiles.
 
Another thing I realised, English is not very useful in this part of Greece. Former Yugoslav languages, on the other hand, are very much so. How do I mean that? Well, on the very first day of our vacation in this same place last year I got into a store to buy a bathing suit. 'How much is this one?', I asked in English. The lady said: ''15 Euro.'' What I didn't realise is that she said it in perfect Serbian, so I continued: 'Do you have it in other sizes?' in English. But she was stubborn, she probably heard us speaking Serbian going into the store: 'Do you need it in bigger or smaller size?' 'Bigger', I thought in Serbian, and 'Bigger' I said in Serbian finally, and blushed. She was Serbian and this thing happened many times over, so we ended up getting in stores saying 'Dobar dan', and just watched the things unravel in this or that direction.

Food

This was the only food that stayed on the table long  enough to be photographed and that for the sole purpose of making the recipients (my sister) extremely jealous. We got into that little bakery Lemoni, that we were warned was expensive, but who cares, we'd just try one thing. And although I'm usually more attracted to the desserts with a lot of fruit and cream this time I was strangely drawn to this chocolate miracle that seductively stared at me from the fridge - the Profiterole (second picture). I was hooked but I mustered enough of my brain power to spot at least three other things we had to try (and our wallets cried, but we didn't care). And we did try them all in those 10 days. Profiteroles were the best, I had three and I still suffer I didn't take one more on the last day. The second was Karamelito with caramel and chocolate and cream (second in the first picture). Tried it once and it would be the best one if it weren't for the queens Profiteroles (yes, still crying). Cherry panna cotta got the third place, it was very good and as I said I usually go for the desserts with fruit, but this time they lost to chocolate and caramel. The last one was strawberry panna cotta which was a total disappointment (first on the first picture). Although strawberry is one of my favourite fruits and I was even surprised at myself that I didn't choose it on the first day, lucky that I didn't, it was really bad and I'm still sad I didn't took the Profiterole instead.

And yes, it's not right to speak about Greece and food and not mention giros... No, I can't do it, I'm still thinking of, you know... I'll tell you what, you just go find that place in that little street of the main walk with the old plaid tablecloths, where they watch soccer on the TV from the seventies. They have the best giros not the big ones on the main street, don't trust what anyone else tells you.

Cat

You were worried I left the country where the cat is the national animal without a picture of a cat? Impossible! Well, last year I only started learning about the Greek cats, this year I had a personal teacher. So, the first very important thing we learned from this guy was that in Greece they grow cats in flower pots. And don't try to make any contact while they are sleeping like that, they'l just snore a bit louder. Second, if you have a cat meowing under your balcony in the morning don't try to give it food as your neighbours will also try and many pieces of meat and bread will start flying past you. The cat will just smell it and leave it because it's not food time, it's petting time, so come down for a session, and only after that they'll eat your food. Although on the day seven you might be tempted to throw a sausage at the said cat and say: 'Shut up and eat cat I'll come down later if your not gone sleeping in your pot!', not my proudest moment.

There will also be more Greek cats in another post until then relax from my Profiteroles and cat talk with a few more pictures.

;)

*Serbian