My Big Fat Greek Baptism

I'm sorry again for letting so much time pass before writing!  I have actually been quite busy (for a nice change) lately.  This weekend was packed with authentic Greek activities!  On Fri. night, Brian, myelf, Fotis, Maria, Fotis' brother Taki (sp?) and Taki's gf went to dinner at a really popular restaurant on Ag. Nikolau.  The food was delicious and there was a live saxophone player.  Afterwards we decided to go dancing so we went to one of the many indoor clubs that are starting to open for the winter season.  It was called The Disco Room :-).  It was PACKED.  We could barely get through the door and we squeezed our way to the back of the club and up the stairs so we could get a birds eye view of everyone down below.  They played some really great old American classics and Brian and I were singing along and having fun.  The later it got though the more packed the place got and my eyes started to burn from all of the smoke.  Those places are like hot boxes of cigarette smoke, I don't know how the people here do it!  Around 2:30am we decided to leave and go to bed since Brian had practice in the morning.  I am sure the night was just getting started for everyone else there.

On Saturday, after Brian's practice, we had been invited to Billy's niece's baptism.  A few weeks ago Kate had given us the adorable invitation.  Baptisms here are big occasions.  We followed Billy and Kate to the very small church, in the middle of nowhere really, off of a dirt road.  The ceremony lasted about an hour but the church was so small Brian and I sat outside (and I got ATTACKED by mosquitos, grrrr!).  People kind of took turns cramming themselves into the church to see what was happening, but we were content just sitting outside looking in through the door.  There was also a loudspeaker outside so we could hear what was going on (even though we didn't understand).  Billy had explained to us that at the baptisms here in Greece a big part of the ceremony is the naming of the baby.  Here the Godfather (who was Billy) formally gives the name to the baby during the baptism.  I can't tell you the name of Billy's niece, it is very Greek and we were having a hard time pronouncing it.  Something like, Avrodavia....?????  Afterwards we all went to a restaurant.  There were about 100 people there!  It was just like a wedding.  There was a dj and formal seating on these long tables.  The family, the baby and her parents (Billy's sister) and Billy and Kate, sat at the head table.  Billy had gotten tons of pink balloons and giant minnie and micky balloons, they were really cute.  The food was brought out to us in three courses.  It was all AMAZING.  Some of the best food we have had yet!  There was tons of wine too!  People started to dance the typical Greek dancing.  Everyone holds hands in a circle and the leader holds a napkin and leads everyone around.  Of course I got dragged up there and of course we didn't have our camera!!!  Oh well, I'm sure we will be doing more of that another time :-).  It was really nice of Billy and his family to include us in this celebration.

On Sunday Billy's grandparents had us over for lunch.  They are the sweetest couple.  Don't speak a lick of english but it didn't really matter.  His grandma cooked delicious rabbit and chicken with potatoes.  It was funny because the grandpa would throw us bread from across the table.  They really encourage you to eat and if you refuse anything they just give it to you anyways.  Especially Brian.  I think they think since he is so big that he needs to eat an excessive amount of food!  They always make him finish off everything.  The best part of the meal though was the Greek coffee.  Greek coffee is made in this contraption called a Brinka (sp?).  They use the Brinka on the stove and cook the coffee in boiling water with a little bit of sugar.  It is pretty strong and you only drink a very small cup of it but it is very good.  When we finished our coffee Billy's grandma read our fortunes in our cups!!!   I guess there are only a few people left in Greece who know how to do this.  It was amazing.  Brian's was all good, she was impressed.  Mine was good as well but she said that I miss my family back home!

The picture of Brian above is from a restaurant we went to with Fotis and Maria on Sunday night for Pita Gyros.  They were delicious but Brian asked for extra tzatziki sauce.....I don't know if that was a good idea :-).