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Some years ago I decided to get a Masters degree. I studied, and I studied more, I applied to some dozen universities, I packed anything useful or not I could think of, got into a plane and left for England.
The first days were full of excitement and joy! What if I was living with three other girls in a house that had not been cleaned for six years�who cared if there was no mixer tap in the bathtub and in order to take a shower I had to fill up a little plastic jug with hot and cold water in equal quantities so that I don't get burnt or freeze to death�and what if all bars closed at 11 p.m. exactly when I was dying to go out for a drink? All these were just a bunch of details! The important thing was that I was at a country that was asking me to go out and explore everything!
There comes a time thought that even an explorer like myself is faced with nostalgia, gets depressed and begins to think of all those things that are missing from this new experience. Yes I missed my mother and my brother, and of course I missed my friends�
Most of all though I missed a Periptero! Maybe it was because of the addictive relationship I have with Lakis, the man who owns the Periptero opposite my house. Each time I run out of cigarettes, or I wake up late to go and get the Sunday morning newspapers, or when I feel an urge for a chocolate or an ice-cream in the middle of the night� Lakis is always there and I know that he will never let me down!
So, one night in England, all alone in the house with no cigarettes and the nearest store about four kilometers away, the image of Lakis and his Periptero visited my thoughts and brought into my mind all those things that I could not find or I could not do at the foreign lands!
1. Frape or Frapedia or Frapogala: What if in any country where there are Greeks there is a special educational program on how to make a good frappe? Being able to drink your frape at a Greek beach is a unique ritual and experience. (Plus foreign bartenders never get it right!)
2. Ouzaki or Tsipouraki or Raki: Accompanied by the proper mezedes they are the best psychotherapy you can get!
3. Pasxa (Easter) with the lamb souvlisma, the splinantero and the kokoretsi: Even though I am not an actual fan of the specific foods I have to confess that the first (and fortunately the last) Easter I spent in England, I bought a turkey (there is no way you can find a whole lamb to buy), I put it in the oven (in order to have a barbeque you have to get a special permission!) and I put a CD of traditional Greek music (kalamatianos, tsamikos, etc), just in order to be able to feel normal!
4. The Greek coffee, with kakoule (a spice)- just like my best friend makes it- made on the ember, metrios (equal amounts of coffee and sugar), serbeti (really sweet), pikros (with no sugar at all)�anyway you like it! Plus you can use the coffee cup to learn about your future -provided you have someone who knows how to read it! Now tell me is there any chance to have your espresso or cappuccino coffee cup read???
5. Feta: Only if you have been deprived of it you can realize its value! A great thanks to the Hellenic Post Offices and all those mothers of Greek students who study abroad, that quickly realized the psychological problems created from the lack of feta and took all necessary therapeutic actions!
6. Tsoureki! Just the fact that there is no such thing anywhere but in Greece is a proof of its uniqueness.
7. Sour cherry preserve (vysinno glyko tou koutaliou) on vanilla ice cream�
8. Shrove Monday (Kathara Deftera) with the flatbread (lagana), the kite, the olives, the fasolada and tarama salad�
9. To start for a walk and a coffee at the Paralia of Thessaloniki, to continue with an ouzaki at Athonos square and to end up at the bouzoukia!
10. The Bouzoukia! With the flowers, the dance, the music, the fun�what a life!
That night in England I promised my self one thing: Next time I decide to "immigrate" I will take with me neither clothes nor shoes�I will just take with me Lakis�my Periptero man!
See you Soon
Katerina Kourtessi
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