Για σου (Yasou)

I started Greek this week. It was great. It's certainly a more leisurely-paced class than a college language course, but that's cool. In two hours, we learned the alphabet and how to say, "Hello, My name is Lena, lemonade, Nescafe, goodbye." I'd say 75% of the class either has some Greek heritage or is married to a Greek. For example: George and Kosta - Greek, Audrey and Kim - married to Greeks.

Here's a brief comparison of the history of Greeks in America (USA!) and Australia (??).

Greeks in America:
ca. 1850 - Americans get tired of making fun of Irish. They invite male Greeks to come to the U.S. to finish building the railroads
ca. 1890 - Greek men get around to responding and come to the U.S. They're too late to build the railroads, but they're in plenty of time to fix the railroads. They also find time to kill cows.
ca. 1900 - Greek women finish packing and go to the U.S.
ca. 1930 - Due to the depression, there is a shortage of steak fries, iceberg lettuce and blue and white awnings. Greek Americans invite the rest of Greece to join them.
ca. 1970 - Any other remaining Greeks show up and begin the SCOLA network.

Some notable Greek Americans: Jennifer Aniston - commonly referred to as "beige", Pete Sampras - did not graduate from high school, Bob Costas - okay, he's kind of a douche, but I still have a little crush on him.


Greeks in Australia:
ca. 1860 - Some Greek men mistakenly end up in Australia because they heard there was gold in Austria.
ca. 1950 - Australians get tired of making fun of the Irish. They invite Greek men to come and live in a desert at the bottom of the world, where there are no women, jobs, or olive oil. Greeks think this sounds like a good idea.
ca. 1960 - Greek women finish packing and join the men.
ca. 1970-2000 - Half the Greeks return to Greece and introduce "vegemite gyros."
ca. 2009 - Despite everyone telling me that Melbourne has the largest population of Greeks outside of Greece, I've seen one block with Greek-labeled trash cans, three Greek restaurants, and canned domathes at the grocery store.

Some notable Greek-Australians: Mark Philippoussis - I saw him lose at Wimbledon once, Anthony Koutoufides - no, not the lead singer of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jenny Mikakos - I don't who she is, but Wikipedia says she's a famous Greek-Australian.