Kalaitzakis

Sunday happened to be Maura's birthday, so before we met up with her, Katie and I put together a gift. I had brought a ND bottle opener (that played the fight song) to Athens just for an occasion like this. Katie bought a box mix of chocolate cookies and baked them. Well, our oven is very...European...so every time we use it is an experiment. Unfortunately for the cookies, they were one of the first experiments, and judging by their gooey goodness and crunchy doneness, we still have a way to go in understanding the oven's temperments.

Manos met up with us at mass, and afterword, both him and Maura invited us over to their apartment. The invitation was greatly appreciated and we made our way to the metro station. The metro in Athens was improved and cleaned up for the summer olympics. It is currently not only efficient and clean, but user friendly and cheap. A one-way ticket is .70 Euro and the abundance of maps and signs allows even a novice subway passenger like myself to understand where I'm at and where I'm going.

Their apartment is conveniently located 5 stops down the line near our own apartment in Kolonaki. They live in a neighborhood that Maura loosely compared to a suburb. While walking there, we passed a Hyundai dealership and I asked Manos if there was a native Greek car. There is! (Dad, I'm still looking for the little figure to prove it to you.) Maura and Manos live on the third floor of the building. Their apartment has a gorgeous balcony (everyone has those here) and cute artwork. I immediately went over to the framed photographs on a table. One in particular caught my attention: it was of Maura running the Chicago marathon!

In Greece, birthdays aren't celebrated like they are in the States. In fact, the same type of celebration that Americans would have for their birthdays is instead on the nameday of the person. Maura's name is related to Maria, which happens to be the biggest nameday of the year. (Shops close down and everything.) Knowing the cultural importance of birthdays to Americans, Manos and his family celebrated with her.

According to Maura:
- Manos’ name is really Emmanouil. The people who picked him up at the airport in the US nicknamed him that because they could not pronounce his name (sort of like Ellis Island or something). Manos is a Greek nickname, but he had never used it before.
- Manos’ dad’s name is Alexandros (or Alekos) Kalaitzakis. His girlfriend’s name is Maria.
- Manos’ aunt’s name is Katerina Papadaki (last name from her late husband, not a family name)
- Manos’ uncle’s name is Adonis Adoniadis
- Manos’ grandma’s name is the Greek version of Angela, but I am not sure how to write that because she is just gia-gia. (or as Americans pronouce it, 'yia-yia')

Manos & Maura, Alex (Alekos), and Katerina & Adonis all live in the same building. So, for the birthday celebration we all went up to the fifth floor apartment of Katerina & Adonis. Katie and I were welcomed with open arms. In addition to the family members, we met Rosa, the live-in. Katerina is a beautiful woman. The word "ritzy" comes to mind when visualizing her. She's a bit of a socialite and her apartment mirrors that. The decoration in that place was extraordinary. I felt like I needed to show someone my ticket of admission because the artwork on the wall is museum material. However, I was comfortable right away because everyone was so welcoming. She has a mid-sized, poodle-like dog with curly black fur named Carrie (or the Greek equivalent). Carrie spent no time in getting to know me and jumped right into my lap when I sat down.

Alex is a very tall man with a deep, rich voice and a gleam in his eye. With a flourish he brought in a delicious chocolate and strawberry cake for Maura. She jokes that he resembles James Bond, and in fact, Alex greeted us with, "Bond, James Bond." All sorts of images of Sean Connery in Astin Martins ran through my head. Alex's girlfriend Maria is radiant and knows a bit of English. She greeted us with, "You're welcome" which, at first, I thought was the wrong thing to say because I hadn't thanked her for anything, but then I realized that "you're welcome" is actually the more formal way of saying, "Later on we'll break out the ouzo."

Adonis is a dignified figure. He used to be a professional soccer player and is now the president of the Greek soccer federation, or something along those lines. He's a bit of a celebrity around here. Apparently, when Maura first met Adonis, he said, "You may call me Mr. President." It was all in good fun of course. Katie had this to say: Manos has an aunt who is married to a very famous former soccer star. If you can imagine being from somewhere like, say, France, finding yourself in a very nice living room eating birthday cake with an incredibly nice person you've only just met and a bunch of other nice people who are talking in a language you don't understand, while looking across the coffee table to watch Joe Montana take a swig of whiskey, then you'll know how Noelle and I felt. It was surreal.

All the family gathered around the table and sang a greek birthday song. The cake was topped with a candle that I'm sure could only be purchased at Reservations back home. As you can see in that weblinked picture, I look like an even minier version of myself. This is due to the fact that Manos is 6'6", with Maura and Alex not that far behind. For the record, I was ducking a little because I didn't think Alex was completely in the picture. However, looking back, I can see that was completely unnecessary.