Restoring health

by Kathryn Lukey-Coutsocostas

13 Sep 2012

ALL SOCIETIES have relied on natural substances to cure ailments, but Greek herbal medicine notably dates back to antiquity, with Hippocrates declaring: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”

Take Greek mountain tea: years ago, when my parents purchased a handpicked batch to take back with them to Canada, the weather-beaten street vendor endearingly told them that the tea cured… everything.

Perhaps he wasn’t far off the mark.

According to the recently aired Deutsche Welle television segment entitled “New Hope for Alzheimer’s Disease”, German researcher Jens Pahnke and his team have experimented with several medicinal plants traditionally associated with age-related disorders. So far, the most effective one for preventing or reversing dementia has been Greek mountain tea (alternatively called ironwort or sideritis).

Drink your tea

After 50 days of tea therapy, Pahnke found that the protein deposits and damaged nerve cells once dotting the brain tissue of mice with Alzheimer’s disease had nearly vanished.

The accompanying practice sessions were also remarkable to watch: the mice were placed in a basin of water to see if they could recall the location of a platform hidden underwater on which they could rest. Needless to say, the tea takers struck out for the platform, whilst the others splashed around pointlessly.

Pahnke says that Greek mountain tea provides a mental boost; experiments on humans will be conducted next year. If successful, the tea’s international market value should rise. My husband’s family, who originate from a mountain village, annually gather the tea stalks. Unfortunately, they inform me the tea grows in the wild and would prove difficult to cultivate commercially.

Briton Jean Bailey-Moutzouki has lived in Greece for more than two decades, and only turns to mountain tea when she runs out of camomile. “It’s too bulky,” Bailey-Moutzouki says, “and doesn’t have the sweet smell of the camomile flower.”

Apply a compress

She’s converted to using natural remedies, utilising her favourite camomile, for example, as tea with honey to cure winter colds, as a tepid wash for sties and as compresses for stomach aches. Amongst other things, she’s also heard of louisa, or lemon verbena, for digestion and oregano for coughs.

Samantha Stokes already used herbal remedies back in the UK, but after her move to Greece in 2002, she learned about applying cucumber or yogurt to sunburn, chewing mastic for an upset tummy, teeth whitening and oral hygiene, and drinking tea with spathohorto, or St John’s wort, for kidney stones.

Fennel tea, Stokes says, is phenomenal for an upset stomach – she’s even convinced her husband, an urologist surgeon, to drink it.

Alas, all three of us women admit that Greek mountain tea is not one of our favourites. But… those wee paddling rodents may soon change our minds.

Kathryn Lukey-Coutsocostas is an Athens-based, Canadian Greek (by marriage) writer, and a transnational of some 30-odd years. She blogs at kathrynlukeycoutsocostas.wordpress.com

http://www.athensnews.gr/issue/13512/58156Athens News 14/Sep/2012 page 36

Upcoming Athens WING presentation

Saturday September 29th

Be invited to join our interactive presentation:  I’ll bet you’re a transnational!

Presenter: Kathryn Lukey-Coutsocostas, Writer & Community Advocate

Crossing visible and invisible borders changes a person’s perspective. And finding the balance between your past, present and future is never an easy task, especially when your past is far removed.

Kathryn Lukey-Coutsocostas has been covering transnationalism for two decades in Greece’s national English-language press – join her in a female-oriented, interactive exploration of matters that shape identity, such as: belonging, encountering fresh cultures, speaking new languages, establishing relationships, fitting in at the workplace, dealing with homesickness (and returns), raising children, and more.

Professionally, Kathryn Lukey-Coutsocostas’ columns, journalistic work, and photographs have spotlighted the local international community in various publications, like the Athens News, Insider Athens, Odyssey, ELGazette and the ELT News. Her current fortnightly Athens News column, ‘On the borderline’, specifically explores the joys and challenges of being a transnational. Privately, she’s been a community advocate for even longer, serving – and creating – several not-for-profit, migrant-related groups and networks in Greece. She blogs at http://kathrynlukeycoutsocostas.wordpress.com/

When: Saturday, September 29^th, 2012, 11:00am-1.30pm
(Doors open @10.45am. Please come in time)

Where: At Synergy Project, Lebessi 5-7, Makroyanni,
close to Metro Station Akropolis 

RSVP to info@athenswing.com or call 210 2849073

Entrance Women-only event. Guests pay 6 euro                Athens Wing members free

Source: http://www.athenswing.com/events_athens_wing.html

Don’t articulate – gesticulate

by Kathryn Lukey-Coutsocostas 24 Aug 2012 AFTER UTTERING several mere “Good mornings” to the tourists next to us on the beach, I devised a communication strategy to break the ice. Suspecting their English was minimal, I pointed to the sea, gave a thumbs-up, and said: “All okay?” The rudimentary gesturing elicited a broken “From where?” and some simple conversation and goodwill. Basic positive or negative messages are easy to convey through internationally recognised gestures, like the A-Okay, thumbs up-down, moutza, V-sign, or the finger (which, apparently, stems from ancient Greece, according to the Language Trainers blog article by Wendy Wong entitled “The top 10 hand gestures you’d better get right”). But, what about more localised gestures? Upon encountering chaotic milling at a Greek post office, Briton Christopher Holmes, who moved to Greece in 2006, recently asked someone where the queue began. The recipient, Holmes says, gave a wonderful slow raise of his eyebrows and a languorous twirl of his hand. Twirling commentary “It was the mother of all Greek gestures,” Holmes says. “It didn’t just put the queue on that day in perspective but it caught in one gesture every eternal verity of queueing and lining and waiting, since the start of time – since the serpent at the gate to the garden said to Eve: ‘No, no, I insist, after you, my dear.’” When Holmes pronounced it was the most eloquent gesture he’d ever seen in this land of eloquent gestures, everyone enviously produced solidarity twirls – and moved into a straight line. American Melissa Stamoulos also mentions the whimsical twirl, describing how her sister tried “to imitate a Greek doing the circling hand manoeuvre – which we all know only a Greek can accomplish correctly.” After four decades in Greece, Stamoulos feels the open-handed moutza is the most characteristic Greek gesture – oft displayed in its disparaging glory on roadways. That eyebrow lift George Raptopoulos, who moved to England in 2010, begs to differ. He feels the gesture most representative of his fellow Greeks is the simultaneous clicking of the tongue and raising of the eyebrows – a somewhat veiled expression of disapproval. When asked, he says he’s witnessed non-Greeks by birth use the gesture effectively, but recommends caution: the user must ensure that the observer knows exactly which situation warrants contempt, if not the present one. “For people not quite used to the nuances of the Greek mentality,” Raptopoulos says, “I’d say refrain from it until you’re fairly certain that the people who see you using it won’t misunderstand you.” For those of us not born and raised in the country in which we reside, I propose a good measure of our integration is the ease with which we whirl and twirl. The more extroverted the society, the more whirling and twirling… Kathryn Lukey-Coutsocostas is an Athens-based, Canadian Greek (by marriage) writer, and a transnational of some 30-odd years. She blogs at kathrynlukeycoutsocostas.wordpress.com

http://www.athensnews.gr/issue/13510/57847

Athens News 24/Aug/2012 page 18

Old cook, new tricks

by Kathryn Lukey-Coutsocostas

10 Aug 2012

The same basic ingredients are recycled over and over again in recipes worldwide, so when writers disclose culinary secrets from ethnic sources, humanity is (literally) served. American Diana Farr Louis has written several such books on food and travel, including the recently re-released Prospero’s Kitchen: Island Cooking in Greece, reviewed in the July 27 issue of Athens News. What are some Greek twists to old standbys? “In America, you chomp on pure hamburger, but here ground beef rarely appears on its own,” Louis says, noting that variations of meatballs – often spiced with parsley, mint or cumin – are made lighter and stretched further by adding bread to the meat mixture. “But, perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of Greek food is its treatment of vegetables.” Growing up, Louis remembers vegetables were boiled and buttered, but she has since learned that olive oil brings out the flavour, especially in creative ladera (oil-based) dishes. New finds also include beans, lentils and chickpeas – as well as novel ways to stuff and wrap. Since her Greek move in 1963, she’s learned to shun butter and serve food at room temperature, but still refrains from serving bread with meals or spoon sweets to guests who visit outside meal times. Fresh and simple Due to limited resources, “Greek cooking has ended up being relatively simple gastronomically”, Louis says, “but reliant on fresh and good-quality ingredients, a few key herbs (mint, oregano, bay leaf, thyme, parsley), that miraculous, tasty olive oil and, of course, lemon juice.” Scotswoman Rosemary Russell Damianos, who moved to Greece in 1991, also embraces olive oil, bread in her ground beef and fresh herbs. She’s a veggie enthusiast, too. “The abundance of fresh spices and herbs, as well as vegetables, has widened Greece’s range of vegetarian recipes,” Damianos says, describing imam baildi as a “very delicious combination of aubergines, tomatoes, onions and herbs baked to melting point”. Plain old semolina – which Damianos used to make children’s bedtime puddings in the UK – has now become a tasty family treat in halva and revani, or samali, a moist sponge cake. But one needn’t be a gourmet cook to learn new tricks. Helen Krystallis, who was raised in Ireland and first came to Greece in 1976, calls herself a “survival food eater and preparer”. Krystallis has also turned to olive oil, along with tahini, honey and spinach pies, and has adopted the Greek gusto for oregano and freshly chopped tomatoes. Culinary customs carry flavour – and wisdom. Louis advises we learn from the Greeks “not to drown our sorrows without eating something, to share what we have with friends and neighbours, to drink wine rather than milk or coke, and to remember that the Mediterranean diet is not a regime – it’s a pleasant way of life.” Kathryn Lukey-Coutsocostas is an Athens-based, Canadian Greek (by marriage) writer, and a transnational of some 30-odd years. She blogs at kathrynlukeycoutsocostas. wordpress.com

http://www.athensnews.gr/issue/13508/57619

Athens News 10/Aug/2012 page 18

Dominant tongue

by Kathryn Lukey-Coutsocostas

27 Jul 2012

I ONCE caught my translingual toddler sitting on a bed at her grandmother’s house in Canada, secretly sifting through a jarful of grandma’s saved pennies and reverentially whispering to herself: “Millions, millions….”

 

To my surprise, my mini-miser was using Greek.

 

Afterwards, I noticed she spoke Greek to her dolls, as well as counted in it. Our core family language was English – why had the community language ended up dominant?

 

If external factors, like amount of input or frequency of exposure, are not balanced between the two languages being simultaneously learned from a very young age, then one language may develop faster and exhibit greater complexity, replies Greek repatriate Froso Argyri, a developmental linguist.

 

Argyri is a member of “Me 2 glosses” (With two languages), an Aristotle University-based counselling service which is a branch of the University of Edinburgh’s information service called “Bilingualism Matters”. She says that the most common way to determine language dominance is to examine proficiency.

 

Competence

 

For instance, a smaller vocabulary, shorter phrases, the limited use or absence of complex grammatical structures, or mere yes” or “no” responses, may indicate non-dominance. A marked preference for one language may also show up in contexts where either language could be used (like discovering treasure at grandma’s).

 

Unlike my household, the OPOL – One Parent, One Language – approach is being used by Argyri and her Icelandic husband to raise their four-year-old daughter and eight-month-old son.

 

“My daughter uses Greek most of the time, even when she is addressed in Icelandic,” the linguist says. “It’s clearly her preferred language, and she has developed a more advanced grammar in Greek compared to Icelandic.”

 

But, they plan to increase Icelandic exposure with an au pair next year. Puerto Rican Yadira V Calderon, one of the founders of the nonprofit association “Great Parenthood Greece”, also employs the OPOL method, immersing her four-year-old in Spanish and Greek.

 

Seventy per cent of the tot’s day is in Spanish, so Calderon – who moved here in 2007 – is not surprised by its dominance. However, things may change with preschool this September.

 

Dynamic, not static

 

“The community-language exposure will increase, and I shall welcome the transition,” Calderon says, “regardless of my limitations with the community language.”

 

Argyri confirms that patterns of language dominance – in children and adults – aren’t static. A non-dominant language may assume dominance because of circumstances, like school entry or relocation to a new country.

 

In addition, translingual people are often better in one language in certain domains – as in academic subjects or work – and in another in other domains, as in family banter or religion. So, dominance may also swing back and forth between languages, depending on the situation and past experience – including miserly moments.

• Kathryn Lukey-Coutsocostas is an Athens-based, Canadian Greek (by marriage) writer, and a transnational of some 30-odd years. She blogs at kathrynlukeycoutsocostas.wordpress.com

http://www.athensnews.gr/issue/13506/57279 Athens News 3/Aug/2012 page 18

Useful stereotypes

by Kathryn Lukey-Coutsocostas 13 Jul 2012
HOLDING A few cultural cliches or stereotypes when moving to a new land is “not necessarily all bad”, according to the article “Cultural Intelligence” in InterNations Expat Magazine. Some stereotypes – which implant themselves in collective memory because they are simple to understand and therefore more memorable – may carry an element of truth. So, stereotypes can serve as an accessible starting point on the route to cultural awareness – first, about our own native homeland culture, and then about our host culture – eventually leading to true cultural intelligence, suggests the article. Ellen Werter, for example, moved to Greece from the Netherlands in 1985 with the preconception that “Greeks are very interesting people, but you cannot trust them”. As she grew to better understand the language and code of behaviour, she could ascertain whether, for example, a promise was a promise – or if it served some other purpose, like pleasing the listener. She was also surprised to learn that people sometimes express opinions they don’t hold, in order to incite lively discussions. “Coming from a Dutch culture, where people are quite direct in giving their opinion,” Werter says, “I really had to adjust to this particular part of the Greek culture.” Legendary hospitality Pakistani Taj Khan Kalash comes from the Kalasha tribe, which believes it descends from Alexander the Great’s troops. He anticipated finding generous and hospitable Greeks, and his expectations were met. Wanting to surprise his host when he moved here in 2002, he ended up being surprised himself: his host was away in Finland. But, Kalash said, “he immediately made arrangements with a friend of his who was in the Peloponnese and the friend drove all the way to Athens to receive me and offer me great hospitality”. Like him, UK-raised Katie Quartano grew up with a positive picture of a warm, hospitable Greece, conveyed by her Greek grandfather and the London-based Greek community, and confirmed locally. Two-way street But, stereotyping works both ways. For instance, Quartano, who moved here in 1982, finds many locals believe the English to be cold and unfriendly. She is angered by those who would judge a whole nation without having had a single personal experience with the country or its nationals and, like the article, suggests the motives for attitudes and actions run deep. For instance, British children may be encouraged to leave the family home and live independently at a younger age than Greeks, but she suggests that this does not imply that the parents are uncaring or incompetent. Nor does their tough-love philosophy of allowing a child to learn through its mistakes imply a lack of interest or love. In short, stereotypes may contain a kernel of truth, but genuine comprehension requires cracking the whole nut. Kathryn Lukey-Coutsocostas is an Athens-based, Canadian Greek (by marriage) writer, and a transnational of some 30-odd years. She blogs at kathrynlukeycoutsocostas.wordpress.com
http://www.athensnews.gr/issue/13504/56964		Athens News 13/Jul/2012 page 12

Matters of faith

by Kathryn Lukey-Coutsocostas 4 Jul 2012 The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares, among other things in Article 18, that “everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief”. The reasons for religious shifts may include a change in personal belief, coercion, or, simply, convenience. But, any change – whether conversion to a new faith, or reaffiliation within the same denomination, like Christianity – must require some soul-searching. What about newcomers who encounter a predominant religion in a country, as in Greece? Do they go with the flow, adopting a new creed? Or hunker down further into their own established beliefs? Most importantly, which factors affect their decision? Anglican Frances Kaltsiki moved to Greece from Canada in 1981 – a year before Greek civil marriages legally took their place alongside religious marriages between Greek Orthodox participants. She notes that life would have been easier then, bureaucratically, had she reaffiliated. New ways But, as a newcomer not steeped in Greek Orthodox tradition, she found it unfulfilling to worship in a language she didn’t understand – to Byzantine music that she found uninspiring. She was also disappointed by the church’s use of its immense wealth and influence – and by its stance on women. “I had a Greek priest tell me once: ‘You’re a woman. You don’t count,’” Kaltsiki says. By contrast, Lynn Margaret Norwood, who left England for Greece in 1980, accepted Orthodoxy here, heart-and-soul. After having been raised in the Methodist tradition, Norwood had forsaken all religion, even managing – at great financial expense – to avoid being baptised Greek Orthodox before her marriage. However, following a personal crisis, she experienced a spiritual breakthrough due to counselling from a Greek Orthodox priest. “To say I grew in faith is so weak,” Norwood says, “but words cannot explain what I experienced, and still experience since I died in Christ.” Old ties However, peace of mind is not guaranteed by place or prevalence. Eleni Tsigante was born Greek in India. As a toddler, she was baptised Greek Orthodox by one set of grandparents in Greece, and then Anglican by the other set of grandparents in the UK. After residing in several countries, she settled in Greece in 2007. She recently faced the dilemma of whether to denounce Greek Orthodoxy in order to be fully received into another Christian church. “My first reaction was,” Tsigante says, “without Orthodoxy, where do I go, when I, Eleni, am in need of comfort?” Much to her surprise, she realised that her internal organisation was based around the Greek Orthodox year, with religious ceremonies and periods of fasting. Tsigante decided to resist reaffiliation, embracing engrained doctrine and practice instead to bring her solace and salvation. Kathryn Lukey-Coutsocostas is an  Athens-based, Canadian Greek  writer. She blogs at kathrynlukeycoutsocostas.wordpress.com
http://www.athensnews.gr/issue/13502/56688		Athens News 29/Jun/2012 page

Borderline on Dukakis Center blog, Politis

ACT is featuring one of my Athens News columns - on naturalised/natural-born citizens – on its Michael and Kitty Dukakis Center for Public and Humanitarian Service blog, Politis, at http://politis-dukakis-center.act.edu/blog/2012/06/04/one-click-off/

Note that they will be liveblogging the June 17 Greek election and welcome observations all of next week.

Kids heading back

by Kathryn Lukey-Coutsocostas 25 May 2012 NEARLY HALF of the global workforce say they’d consider moving to another country for the right job, pay and incentrives, according to a recent survey of 24 countries by Ipsos, a global research company. It must be even easier for the working-aged children from binational families to decide to relocate to one of their parents’ native homelands – or is it? Briton Jean Bailey-Moutzouki feels her only child’s decision to become a heritage repatriate and migrate to England last month in search of work is the negative image of her own choice to move to Greece two decades ago. “I had the luxury to go in search of adventure,” Jean Bailey-Moutzouki says, “knowing full-well that any number of jobs would be available to me if and when I returned.” Talk the talk On the bright side, her Greek daughter has the built-in advantages of being a British national and speaking accent-free English. “She is in the privileged position of having the choice of whether or not to declare her Greek heritage, which I think gives her an enormous advantage in the whole relocation game.” Greece-based Stephanie Smith ensured close ties to her native Britain by returning there to give birth to her two boys, and continued, like Bailey-Moutzouki, to arrange frequent to-and-from visits. Both of Smith’s sons were encouraged to attend university – and to work – in Britain. “From an early age, I think they felt they were bicultural and bilingual,” Smith says, “and never had any problems integrating.” Her younger son presently works there at his dream job in fashion and textile design but her older son, who returned to Greece and changed careers two years ago, is now reconsidering his decision. “He loves life in Greece,” Smith says, “but with the crisis now, he might not stay.” Glad and sad American Elizabeth Wahlert-Athanassiadis’ daughter gladly left Greece for the USA at the age of 17 to study and then stayed on to work. Her son, however, is a different story. Greece’s economic crisis triggered reductions in his salary and workhours, obliging him to migrate to America in January after procuring a good position there. “He loved Greece,” Wahlert-Athanassiadis says, “the nightlife, the food, his parea (his group of buddies) and his job.” But, without a shadow of a doubt, she feels their having had an American mother and a father who’d attended university in the States – plus regular visits – was a great integration advantage. Flawless English also helped, as well as American passports and US Social Security Numbers. “In all probability,” Wahlert-Athanassiadis observes, “my son would not have been considered for the job without these two vital documents.” Kathryn Lukey-Coutsocostas is an Athens-based, Canadian Greek (by marriage) writer and a transnational of some 30-odd years. She blogs at kathrynlukeycoutsocostas.wordpress.com
http://www.athensnews.gr/issue/13497/55811		Athens News 25/May/2012 page 22

One click off

by Kathryn Lukey-Coutsocostas 16 May 2012
GLOBALISATION has us readily accepting goods from other lands into our homes. But can countries absorb imported citizens just as easily? Whenever I join the crowd to criticise a line-jumper in a queue in Greece, someone inevitably tries to muzzle me with the classic insider-outsider putdown: “You’re not Greek.” Apparently, only locals have the right to criticise public behaviour – and they (incorrectly) assume I’m not Greek. We naturalised citizens – who have acquired citizenship not held at birth – have consciously chosen to belong to a new nation. But, do we truly fit in like the natural-born citizens – to our mind, and theirs? Even in the United States of America, a land traditionally associated with migration, only a natural-born citizen can be president. A bittersweet state “That I have become a Greek citizen in recent years is a source of pride, and sadness, too,” says American Greek Alice Eppinga, “because I realise I view my new nationality as my immigrant grandparents viewed theirs in America, not as my Greek compatriots view me – always a foreigner.” Eppinga, who came to Greece in 1968, concedes that those who know she is Greek show her the same respect they show fellow-compatriots. But she points out that because she looks physically different there is inescapably some discrimination, for better or for worse, in daily exchanges – from sweet comments on her smile to attempts to cheat her. Briton Chrissie Taylor, who moved here in 1982, also holds Greek citizenship. While it’s valid on paper, Taylor agrees that it’s a different story face-to-face. “People are not going to view you as being Greek – even with a taftotita (Greek identity card),” Taylor says, “so don’t try to pretend you are.” Finding point zero Coming to terms with our new status can be slow. When Taylor first acquired Greek citizenship, she became an avid Hellenophile, ferociously defending Greece and its ways – to the dismay of some relatives in the UK. “Looking back on it, I believe I was eulogising my ‘new country’. I have become considerably more guarded and objective in my views. Perhaps I have become Greek, as I now have no problem loudly criticising the system, but woe behold any Brit who should do the same.” Only once has Taylor experienced prejudice here; on the contrary, she has witnessed reverse discrimination, against native-born Greeks. “I can get away with a lot of things that a native-born Greek can’t do,” says Taylor, who, for instance, took her newborn infants out of the house before the traditional 40-day waiting period. As expedient as that sounds, it does indicate different standards. The sad reality is that naturalised citizens are always one click off – on either side of the citizenship dial. The greater the country’s experience with immigrants, the smaller the gap of the click. Kathryn Lukey-Coutsocostas is an Athens-based, Canadian Greek (by marriage) writer and a transnational of some 30-odd years. She blogs at kathrynlukeycoutsocostas.wordpress.com
http://www.athensnews.gr/issue/13495/55560		Athens News 11/May/2012 page 22