Day 11: The Earthquake and Languages

Pictures: A fellow Fulbright-er, Amy, and me on the coast of the Gulf of Corinth during a stop on the bus and a picture of the Sphinx that sat on top of a column in the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. Do you know what kind of animal walks first on four legs, then on two, and finally on three?

Today is a day of journeying from the Peloponnese back to the mainland of Greece. We are going to Delphi and stopping several times to visit small little port towns along the way. At one of our stops in Itea, I put my feet into the Gulf of Corinth (in the Mediterranean) and right afterwards felt an earthquake. I have never felt an earthquake before and I thought at first it was me just being dizzy from the bus ride. We found out later it was a 6.5 earthquake and the epicenter was near Olympia (where we were yesterday). Unfortunately there was a death, but little damage.

Berenice, Maria, Stephanie, and Wojciech -- All of you asked questions about the Greek language, so let me tell you a little bit about it. First, the language has a different alphabet than our Latin alphabet. All the street and shop signs are in this alphabet. The language has a very unusual sound to it: not like English, German, or Chinese...something very much its own.

While many people in Athens spoke English, older people do not and people in smaller towns do not. Here in Delphi there are very few people who speak English. I have gotten in the habit of pointing on the menu to what I want and then, of course, always saying "Efharisto" and "Parakalo" (Thank you and Please). In school most students learn German or Italian since it is closer than the States. The third most popular language people study is English.

Greek seems difficult to learn since their accents aren't always on the same syllable of each word and since the alphabet is so different.

Alright, well that's it for now. Tomorrow we visit the archeological site of Delphi with the Oracles! I'll tell you about it later :)

Ms. G