But, for mine own part, it was Greek to me
~Julius Caesar, Act I Scene II

Yassas!
I have often noted that it is good to keep your eyes and ears open when travelling around. Macon is a lovely city to be in and a jewel of the South. In fact, some of the old victorians in this town can be a lot of fun to look at. Aside from house watching, however, I didn't find much to do the last time I was here.

This time I was lucky enough to see that the local Greek Orthodox church was having a Greek Festival. Father Julian gave us a tour of the church while we were there and they have some beautiful icons inside. This is an old building that was recently refurbished a few years ago. The Greek population in Macon is pretty small, but there are 60 families who attend here. They're doing pretty well and Father Julian is rightfully proud of what they're accomplishing. I learned a lot. I was surprised to discover that Orthodox churches still use Koine in their liturgy instead of modern Greek. Pretty neat stuff...

The festival was outstanding. This is quite a complement since it is the first year they've ever done this. Everyone knows that you come for the food and stay for all the other stuff that is going on. I've been to enough Greek festivals to know as much. The food was great. I really just wanted a gyro, but the lady selling tickets talked me into an "opa platter". This consisted of souvlaki, pastichio, spanikopita, and some dolmetas. I had a beautiful dolma. Somehow, they found real grape leaves to make them and they were SOOO good. The souvlaki was nice, but I'm a big fan of spanikopita. If any at the church find my site through google, I have to tell you how much I *LOVED* the spanikopita. Please give my compliments and regards to whoever made it. I also wish you all the success in the world over the next two days with your fundraiser. You've all worked very hard and you deserve it.

When I went to get served, the lady at the food tent asked if I had been "opa'd" yet. I told her I didn't know what she was talking about and she peeled and placed this sticker on my chest. (photo to the right) Then she said, "Now. You've been opa'd". I don't really know how to argue that since my Greek is pretty bad. I think I said efharisto (thanks) and she just smiled at me. I hope that's right. I haven't studied any Greek in about seven years. Of course, if I said something wrong I probably would have heard about it. Anyway, I wasn't the only one at the festival who had been "opa'd" so I didn't feel out of place. In fact, I wore it with pride while I listened to the musicians playing and drank my Greek coffee. The Greeks make incredibly good coffee and I had to buy some at the festival. I don't have a lot and it wasn't cheap since it came from Greece. However, anybody who wants to try some is welcome to come over. At least, until it runs out.