host family dinner

This happened before spring break, and I really meant to blog about it but I just didn't find the time. It was right after Jenna left and I was so set on blogging about my wonderful weekend with her that I spaced on mentioning my host family dinner. Anyways, through my school, ACT, we had the option to sign up for a "host family dinner" at one of the ACT faculty's house. The idea of it was to get an authentic feel for Greek home cooking and for a Greek's home in general. The ever-so-amazing Efi requested that Lawrence (LA), Gogos, and I attend dinner at her home. Efi is the study abroad coordinator at ACT and we all call her "Big Mama" because she's like a mother to us study abroaders. She's positively amazing and has a huge heart of gold!

My host family dinner was absolutely incredible. Getting to visit a Greek family's home, full of hospitality and warmth, greatly contributed to my study abroad experience. The food was prepared with love and tasted more authentic and delicious than any other meal I've had in Greece. Efi spent 2 whole days cooking for us and the care she took preparing it was tangible. Not only did my host family have a beautiful home, but they had beautiful hearts. I could not be more grateful for the opportunity to spend an evening with a Greek family, enjoying laughter, warmth, and true Greek "philo-xenia."

Efi prepared a multiple course meal and piled our plates high with food. When we asked for seconds she filled our entire plate up again. It was like Thanksgiving but 20x more difficult because the food was thick, hardy, and heavy. No mashed potatoes or stuffing to lessen the load. It was all heavy beef and eggplant, tzatziki, two salads, bead, cabbage/carrot dish, etc, etc. I have seriously never ever EVER eaten that much food in my life. After I was stuffed PAST the brim, she served us ice cream and cream-puff pastries from her favorite restaurant in town. Efi's daughter Athena and her husband joined us for dinner as well. After ice cream and pastries they all took us out for coffee. Oh dear mother of god. I have never been that full in my entire life. Seriously.