Ethnic (adjective)

"eth-nic"
Definition: pertaining to or characteristic of a people, especially a group sharing a common and distinctive culture, religion, language, or the like.

A few saturday nights ago I was actually free, as in FREE TIME! I was shocked in an extremely pleased way and planned to head home after work and just chill with some tea and a book, or maybe be even chiller and watch a movie. My family on the other hand had different plans. They decided to do something fun for once, WITHOUT ME. They assumed I was working, which I got very offended that they would plan to go anyways, but no matter, it worked out after all. So as tired as I was we loaded up in the car and we went to the greek festival in Dekalb. Where I ended up spraining my ankle. Despite the pain and the tiredness, it was WORTH IT.

                          

 The place wasn't very big, but it was crowded, which gave it a homely sort of feel. I was cold when I got there but warmed up soon enough, just from the sheer energy of the place. There was loud music and a section where Greeks were doing cultural dances. There were people EVERYWHERE. I had no idea there were so many Greeks in the Atlanta area. There were tons, some actually speaking Greek, and others that had grown up in the US. While we were eating, there was a family next to us speaking in English, while the elders had accents, and a girl was talking to another girl and was like "this is my mom and my 'thia' so and so." It was cool how she still used the greek term for aunt like my sisters and I use the spanish word for aunt.

   

Sorry I ate most of the Gyro before I remembered to take a picture. those are LAMB kabobs by the way. Unfortunately we never tried those. :(

  The festival was hosted by a huge orthodox greek church. They opened up all the classrooms in the school section for shops and there was a lot of cool stuff. There was one huge room that was like a market, there were greek goods and PASTRIES. When we went in the market place my brain just went  "aaaaaaaaaawe" (think the angelic music that they put in cheesy movies when people find treasure or something.) It was AMAZING. Leslie and I got a sampler of all the pastries. The only things I actually ate that night were baclava and this little greek cookie. Man that baclava was good. It tasted different than when you get it like at kroger, but it was a good different. They also had these greek fried donought holes, which the line for was incredibly long. That plus my wallet and stomach's conscious didn't let me get any, but man they looked good. They were frying them up to order.

Some of the amazing stuff in the "bakery"

                                      

 

The church also left their sanctuary open for people to see how they worship, and there was a little "lecture" which I assume was about the history, but I'm not sure, we didn't stay for it. It was a cathedral and very impressive. There was a reverence you could just feel in the air, even those who weren't religious. They had signs everywhere explain what and why things where. It was a little sad to see all the regulations they had to go through just to worship, when I know the freedom God has really given us. However, it was a also little convicting, because I know sometimes Christians can be irreverent in their worship. It was definitely good for my perspective.

             

 People could give a donation and get one of these candles. Normally, Greeks pray over them to help them become "pure" and reverent before each service. Then the priest prays over them. (I think)

 It was really cool to just stop and look around, to take in the sights and sounds, the people waiting in line for food, (who were having a jolly old time despite the fact that it was cold and they were STANDING IN A TWENTY MINUTE LINE for food.), the people watching other people dance, the people dancing themselves, the people sitting around chatting about the good old days, and the other people running around trying to figure out what on earth was Pastitsio and what kind of meat exactly was on their kebab (that was us).  It was very impressive. Inside was fun too, it was stuffy and crowded but the things they had for sale were cool. Some places had stuff that was "made in china" and I was like "what? china!?" But then I realized in some shops it wasn't about the where it was made, it was more about the original Greek style regardless of the manufacturer. The clothes and jewelry were in styles you wouldn't find in your local target. (Interestingly, most of the stuff said "made in India." Greeks must use India as their main manufacturers, like we use China) It was lots of fun trying to get in the shops without knocking anyone or anything over, and cool to see the different styles. Also there were shops with paintings and house decorations. The paintings were superb. Most of them were of scenery in Greece and it was beautiful.

 All in all, it was very fun and inspiring and I will probably go back next year. 

 When we were by a shop that said "Ethnic Jewelry and clothing" a group of teenager girls started to go in. One of them, I kid you not said "wait guys, this isn't greek stuff, it's ethnic... what's ethnic anyways?" and the other replied, " haha I bet all these americans are going in there thinking it's greek stuff, when really it's ethnic." And they went away laughing like they knew something no one else did. I didn't know whether to bust out laughing or cry. They didn't know what ETHNIC was!!! They were HIGHSCHOOL AGE. Even if they didn't know exactly what ethnic meant, they should have known the gist of it. It made very sad. I know it's possible they might have been exceptionally dumb, but it was sad because most likely, a a lot kids their age don't know what ethnic means, which is a sad view of how education is going these days. For those of you who may not know, don't lose heart! Just take the time to learn, and I even helped you, just go back and re-read the top.

p.s. we got greek TEA!!!!!!!!!

We have yet to try it because mom wants us to look it up first and make sure we aren't drinking weird stuff.