From Tom "Duck" Pass

Enjoy the following blog entry from Latin Teacher Tom:

Somewhere on the Aegean Sea, 1 July 2009

Actually, I know exactly where we are: tied up to the dock at the famous Island of Rhodes. I remember the Colossus was one of the wonders of the ancient world. It was a statue of a man holding a torch on top of his head, to guide the ships. I would tell you more, but I bought yet another guide-book in the wrong language, this time French. When I finish translating it, I will share what I learn.

The ship is flying the red and white flag of ... the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, which is now located, I suspect, in an unmarked post office box somewhere in Rome. "Whatever floats your boat!" I really imagined a cruise on a ship with Greek or maybe Italian registry, but those flags cost more, I guess.

I have never been on a cruise ship before, and never imagined that when I finally did get on one, it would take me to TURKEY. Actually very close to the ancient site of Ephesus, one of the major cities of the world for a long time. The Apostle Paul was a resident for 3 years, and the hostile Ephesians eventually awarded Paul three months' free lodging, courtesy of the city, in the local jail. (After they found him hiding in a dry cistern, which is hidden to this day). The jail was pointed out. (Really?)

We saw the ancient theatre at Ephesus, still used for concerts by people like Michael Jackson, who died suddenly last week, and Joan Baez, and Yanni, and Elton John. I did not Hear Rascal Flats listed, but that doesn't mean that he wasn't here. And we walked the famous Harbor Road upon which Marc Antony and Cleopatra processed. I watched for snakes.It was in Ephesus that Aaron Moser corrected the guide who mentioned the cotton of Georgia, USA, saying that Texas produces more cotton than the state of Georgia now.

This ship would be a wonderful place for a ship-board romance, and there's a lot of that happening. But I asked my suitemate, Mike Sharporisky, from West Virginia, and he said he was not interested.

Actually, a certain fair lass on the ship already has my heart. My granddaughter, Kaleigh, 12, is on the trip, and we are having a wonderful time. Yesterday she went shopping ashore... and she haggled a record seven tee-shirts for 20 Euros. She learned the skill from the very aggressive souvenir hawkers in Turkey earlier in the day. Even I learned to say "NO!" and mean it to them!! When we had been the House of the Virgin Mary, and Ephesus, the bus dropped us off in the port city of Kurdasi, and 21 of us were ushered across the street into the fancy den of carpet sellers, including carpets that FLY and change colors as they land. Mike was offered the large carpet he wanted for only 9,800 Euros, or roughly 12,000 dollars, but that includes shipping. He did not pay that much, but it took a long time and two visits to arrive at a suitable carpet-pro-mise. (He bought another rug on a similar trip several years ago, but he must have gotten tired of it. The 2'x3' miniature rug I liked was 1600 Euros, but I realize I could have had it for less, if I only had a room that small.

As we sail the Aegean Sea, it is customary to inquire about the health and welfare of other passengers, saying something like, "Is it Aegean with you?" (agreeing)

I should probably "Reverse Engines," and say that we started the tour in Rome, after a short lay-over in Frankfurt, Germany. In Rome we saw the Colieum, the spaghetti, French Fries, the Vatican, and the Forum (Agora in Greek). In Athens we saw the Parthenon, the Acropolis, Mars Hill, and French Fries. Over 9,999,998 other folks besides aleigh and me will visit those HIGH-lights this year, and it is wonderful to see re-construction of earthquake or fire-damaged historic shrines being rebuilt. We did not see the Catacombs in Rome, but there are MANY cats in this part of the world, and they all seem to belong to everyone, and to no one.

It's kinda like, "OPA!!!" a Greek exclamation that means nothing and everything, and is especially appropriate when "Bravo" or "Neat" would be misunderstood. Actually, my Greek conversational skills have been so poor, that I did not know how to say "Boo!" Now I can say it easily: "boo!" (I did know that cows in Greece and Italy are called "boos" because of the distinctive sound they make, rather than English-speaking cows that say, "moo.") My dear friend Charles in Louisville is called "Opa" by his grandchildren, a Scandinavian word for "Grandfather." With his love for St John's Gospel, I felt like I was walking in a place Charles would have found fascinating. He would NOT have been amused by my search for a "St Charles" icon, and I guess we will have to settle for the St Charles Ave trolley in the Garden District of New Orleans.

Our original port in Greece is the lovely city of Patras, which is still guarded by a hill-to fortress on the far side of the harbor. Lots of foreigners are touring these areas about now. including hordes of American kids celebrating graduations, or who knows what else? It is interesting to hear their accents: kids from Texas, Chicago, Virginia, California, Louisiana, all of them with regional assaults and variations on the English language.

We did not go to Delphi, which was a real disappointment to me. There are so many lingering mysteries and suspicions about my life, that I wanted to join the throng of pilgrims to consult The Oracle at Delphi, but I never made it. I DID see a Fortune-teller in Athens who asked a fortune to tell me anything! Since I did not make it to Delphi, perhaps I shall never know -- anything! The un-experience did inspire some lyric poetry though, to wit:
I will always wonder why,
that no matter how I try,
We never made it by,
My quest tossed aside,
to get to The Oracle.
It Del-fies explanation.
I wonder "why," for example, why we were invariably served a pasta dish, AND French fries, as a representative meal in Italy! "Mama Mia, that's a spicy mystery!"

I watched Kaleigh run at the site of the original olympic stadium near Mount Olympus. It was really hot that day, but she won her "Heat" and then was disqualified for wearing clothes -- a distinctly un-Olympian faux pas. Imagine, if it had been the style to wear uniforms in those ancient days, the fortunes that would have been made selling uniform replicas of the best athletes! We heard about the mother of one of the athletes in the ancient days who sneaked into the stadium, dressed 'like a man,' so that she could watch her son compete. She knew, of course, that if she were detected on the premises, which was forbidden to women, she would be killed. Then he won! And without considering the consequences, she went to embrace him, clothes flying --- giving away her secret. *

Some of us spent Sunday night at a "Greek evening" in an old restaurant, being entertained for hours and hours. I was most impressed by a young lass from Lake Charles, LA, who danced on two continents in a single week, joining a host of "barbarians" (non-Greek-speaking people) on stage to dance.

While I was on Patmos, I saw a tea infuser hanging with a bunch of other souvenirs (all made in China). The lovely proprietress asked me the English term for a metal ball filled with loose tea leaves, and it stumped me for a while, and I worried that I might have to refuse her, and then remembered "infuser." She said the Greek term is much more complicated, and she told me what it was, and it sure was more complicated!

I found out that the names of the week in Greek are actually numbered. The second day is "deutra," the third "tritee," the fourth "tetartee," and the fifth "pemplee." All of that is inaccurate; I am torn between writing the Greek letters, or the phonetic representations," and so I have done neither, and both. To me, the most significant is the one reserved for the first day of the week, our Sunday, which is "Keeriahkee," which begins with the word for "Lord," as in "Lord's Day," and resembles the actor's name on "Days of our Lives," Victor Kuriakis," played by Jennifer Anniston's father, John. Let those who have interest, appreciate."

I took a class yesterday in conversational Greek. It lasted 45 minutes, about one minute for every year I have been reading ancient Greek, while all of those years knowing that I did not have a clue how to say, "Howdy, Y'all." if I ever met some ancient Greeks!" I'm ready now!

Now, a modern Greek language lesson for you!
Calamari = good seafood, kali being "good," and mari being "from the sea". Fresh calamari has been offered at every meal on the ship, including breakfast. But I don't eat squid. Except once in Louisville, KY, fried. I doubt, seriously, that it had slept the night before in the Ohio River!
Calimera = good morning, kali being "good," and "mera" being morning
So, Calamari-mera = "did you have good squid for breakfast?" Wait 'til I try that in Houston!