Farmer friends

Today was officially Greece’s D-Day (that’s D for Default) but nothing in southern Messinia has really changed—people are friendly, the sea is inviting, the rhythm of life goes on. But there is surely some gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands.

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Jonathan’s farmer-neighbor, Yioryio, with whom he has become fast friends, arrived after siesta with his large Fiat tractor and mowed the far end of the lot. It was a violent spinning of chains, ripping up the cluster of thick vegetation and revealing another sowable section. What Jonathan attempted over a twenty-day period with a hand scythe—to everyone’s amusement—was accomplished in a matter of minutes.

Then his neighbor dashed home and replaced implements, returning to plow/furrow. He did a tremendous job of leveling the lot while bringing up another two tons (no exaggeration) of large rocks and boulders. Jonathan spent most of today’s post-siesta consolidating piles of stone, a Herculean effort for a guy with a bad back from the fallout of a recent (in Maine) car accident.

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One of Greece’s best friends in Europe, Jean-Claus Juncker, the head of the European Commision, broadcast an address directly to the Greek people yesterday on the subject of Greece’s Yes (Ναι) or No (Οχι) referendum about continuing with the bailout in exchange for more austerity concessions. One thing that the new leftist governement has right: Greece has endured enough austerity, and the results have been catastrophic for ordinary Greeks. Something has to give. They cannot continue like this in perpetuity. And the 500 pound gorilla in the room? Greece will never be able to pay off its enormous debt. The country produces almost nothing--there is shipping, of course (still the largest registered merchant marine fleet in the world), and olives. And the brightest of lights: tourism.

His comments, really more like pleas, raised many eyebrows. Juncker stated that Greece's PM Tsipras grossly misrepresented the nature of the final negotiations, failing to mention the compromises that the EU, the ECB, and IMF have offered Greece, and urging the Greeks to vote Yes on July 5. Juncker framed it this way: “Greek people, don’t commit suicide just because you feel like you are dying.”

The Yes or No vote resonates with Greeks, as it harkens back to 1940, when the Axis Powers (starting with Mussolini's prewar ultimatum) asked Greece to willingly accept the fascist occupation of their country. The response of the Greeks to a diplomatic cable was Οχι! (No!), and to this day “Οχι Day” is celebrated in October as a sign of brave resistance to the ultimate Nazi Occupation, a brutal episode in modern Greek history. So it is no small irony that the consideration of another No, seventy years later, is a point of pride if not self-preservation.

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As Yioryio plowed the lot he uncovered and broke a neighbor’s water line, which ran through the middle of Jonathan’s lot at a depth of only 6 inches. The elderly farmer, who waddled over from his orchard, was utterly apoplectic, screaming and gesticulating wildly. He was so angry, in fact, that he began to cry. Yioryio whispered to Jonathan, “say nothing other than, ‘I’m sorry’” and let me handle it." A tense standoff ensued, which ended amicably enough, with a repaired water line and handshake..

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Greek Language

After just a few weeks, Jonathan’s semi-fluent Greek has reemerged as a genuine fluency and an abilility to negotiate many situations, most good, a few (like with farmer neighbor) not so good. He has also, as one ought, adopted the body language, the gesticulations, they sounds of exasperation and joy, that are part and parcel of this ancient language.

Wherever he goes, he carries his τετράδιο (notebook) and copies down new word, often the most obscure but helpful vocabulary.