Foto: St. John the Baptist church, 143 E. 17th Street - Easter 2010When I told Eugie for the first time that I was thinking of leaving Greece and come to New York to find her, she had found it a great idea and she had given me 3 reasons why I should really do it. Upon your arrival she said;
1. you will have your own room with me in my two bedroom apartment.
You will adore the place!
2. you will also have a backyard to have your morning coffee.
There is a backyard at my place.
3. one block away from the house there is a Greek Orthodox Church for you who still believes! Nothing will change Garozi,trust me! You will have it all in New York; great home, backyard, me and your God! What more would you wish for?
What Eugie forgot to mention though was that I would be staying in a mini, let me rephrase myself, little little tiny room with a single bed which I had to share with her in a small two bedroom apartment that we were sharing with her roomate who used to cook for endless hours in the house Chinese noodle soups and the whole place would smell so bad that I definitely had to run out to the backyard for fresh air fast! Not that I have something against noodle soups but this girl was definitely cooking noodle soup with broth from very old rockford cheese.
And of course, there was no backyard the way I had imagined it...the backyard was a coffee spot on 18th Street and 3rd Avenue. We even had to pay for coffee in our own backyard. Jesus Christ as I always say...
The worse was when I visited the Church of St John the Baptist to go pray and be thankful that I have arrived safe in America. I was expecting a nice Greek Orthodox Church with a huge outdoors patio for me to rest and pray as I always loved to do in Athens at the Church of Agia Fwteinh in the area of Nea Smyrni where my first house was and at St. Panteleimon Church in Penteli where I found my spiritual guidance in the later years of my teenager life in Athens. To my suprise, St. John the Baptist was a tiny little Church built between a grocery store and a bicycle store that looked like a project and there was no outdoors patio but only one step separating the Church from the street. And to make it even more heartbreaking for me,the Church was locked and was open to the public only during the Divine Liturgy hours.
Although everything in America is supposed to be BIG and bigger than in Greece my whole new world in America was tiny compared to what I had back home. It felt strange at start but slowly with the years I got used to all these differences and St. John the Baptist became a profound ally throughout my struggles & victories.
Almost six years later and about nine houses in NYC later, every time I go in that little Church I say; Agie Iwannh eimai akoma edw! Se efxaristw!
1. you will have your own room with me in my two bedroom apartment.
You will adore the place!
2. you will also have a backyard to have your morning coffee.
There is a backyard at my place.
3. one block away from the house there is a Greek Orthodox Church for you who still believes! Nothing will change Garozi,trust me! You will have it all in New York; great home, backyard, me and your God! What more would you wish for?
What Eugie forgot to mention though was that I would be staying in a mini, let me rephrase myself, little little tiny room with a single bed which I had to share with her in a small two bedroom apartment that we were sharing with her roomate who used to cook for endless hours in the house Chinese noodle soups and the whole place would smell so bad that I definitely had to run out to the backyard for fresh air fast! Not that I have something against noodle soups but this girl was definitely cooking noodle soup with broth from very old rockford cheese.
And of course, there was no backyard the way I had imagined it...the backyard was a coffee spot on 18th Street and 3rd Avenue. We even had to pay for coffee in our own backyard. Jesus Christ as I always say...
The worse was when I visited the Church of St John the Baptist to go pray and be thankful that I have arrived safe in America. I was expecting a nice Greek Orthodox Church with a huge outdoors patio for me to rest and pray as I always loved to do in Athens at the Church of Agia Fwteinh in the area of Nea Smyrni where my first house was and at St. Panteleimon Church in Penteli where I found my spiritual guidance in the later years of my teenager life in Athens. To my suprise, St. John the Baptist was a tiny little Church built between a grocery store and a bicycle store that looked like a project and there was no outdoors patio but only one step separating the Church from the street. And to make it even more heartbreaking for me,the Church was locked and was open to the public only during the Divine Liturgy hours.
Although everything in America is supposed to be BIG and bigger than in Greece my whole new world in America was tiny compared to what I had back home. It felt strange at start but slowly with the years I got used to all these differences and St. John the Baptist became a profound ally throughout my struggles & victories.
Almost six years later and about nine houses in NYC later, every time I go in that little Church I say; Agie Iwannh eimai akoma edw! Se efxaristw!
Foto: Holy Friday 2010, Ceremony of "Epitaphios", New York 
Foto: Holy Friday 2010, Ceremony of "Epitaphios", New York
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