OMILO Newsletter February 2014

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Dear OMILO fr iends and st udents ,

We hope 2014 will be a great year for you, a yearwithout health problems and with a lot of energy tocontinue your Greek studies, as well as enough moneyon your bank account to book your trip to Greece orspending your holidays in Greece!

OMILO started 2014 by cutting the vasilopita andtoasting on the New Year. We had a good start with alot of joy and all the motivation to make 2014 a

wonderful year. Have a look at our video athttp://bit.ly/19K053g

Since January Christina stopped working for OMILO. Shewas our administrative assistant in Maroussi since 2006, as wellas a teacher for the Beginners levels for many years. Christinachose to stop working because of family reasons but will regularlystop by the OMILO-school to greet the students and have acoffee with us! We thank her for her excellent work,trustworthy, patience, friendliness and diplomacy.In some weeks her work will be taken over by Nina.

In the meantime we reached February, the days are gettinglonger and brighter again and the temperatures remained warmwith mostly sunny days. Slowly-slowly also the carnival seasonstarts and soon we will welcome our students again in the Intensive Athens courses(February and March) as well as in the Nafplion course (Greek Easter). As usual, we cannotwait to see so many known faces aswell as new faces again.

Last but not least, we are excited to present the Cultural Week in Syros, the last week of July.

Greek culture has so much to offer that we have to spend a special week on that! You can readmore about it here below.

In this Newsletter we will write about:1. 2014 : El Greco Year2. Green walks in Athens3. Greek cinema: Mikra Anglia4. Roots of Greece : the olive tree

5. The OMILO Greek Cultural Week

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1. 2014: El Greco YearWhich Greek painters do you know? Greek art is not onlyantiquity. One of the most important painters of theRenaissance is El Greco. He created famous paintings suchas: the disrobing of Christ, the Purification of the temple, theResurrection etc. A famous painting, "The Assumption of theVirgin" is hosted by a church on the island of Syros.

His real name was Dominikos Theotokopoulos and he wasborn in Crete, Heraklion, in 1541, when the island was part ofthe Republic of Venice. He lived in Crete up to the age of 26. In

Crete, he became a master in painting, following the Byzantineart. Then he moved to Venice where he became Tiziano spupil and was influenced by Venetian art. Later, he moved toParma and Florence and in 1570 he settled in Rome.

He lived there for six years painting and studying the works of great artists such as Michelangelo,whom he recognized as a great sculptor and architect, but not as a painter. Because of thisopinion, which he expressed to Pope Gregory the 19th, he was expelled from Rome. In 1577 hemoved to Spain, Toledo, where he lived until the end of his life and created his most importantpaintings. His fame spread quickly. In 1600 he became a citizen of Toledo. After his death, his

work received negative comments. El Greco's work was re-assessed in the late 18th century and itwas only in the early of the 20th century, that its value was really recognized. Today El Greco isconsidered a forerunner of Expressionism and Cubism. He combined the Byzantine and westernart and many modern scholars believe that El Greco is a truly unique artist who broke the rules ofall conventional schools.

The year 2014, on the occasion of the 400 years of his death, is named El Greco Year. Anumber of exhibitions in Greece and abroad are planned. In Toledo, the Santa Cruz museumorganizes an exhibition of 100 works. The chapel where El Greco painted some of hismasterpieces will be open for the visitors. The Prado Museum is organizing the exhibition "ElGreco and modern painting" with twenty five paintings in dialogue with the works of contemporarypainters who were influenced by him.

In Greece there will be several exhibitions:

1)The Historical Museum of Crete organizes an exhibition called: El Greco between Venice andRome. The exhibition will also be presented in autumn in The Benaki Museumin Athens.In Athens:1) The Benaki Museum organizes in November the exhibition The friendly cycle of El Grecoin Toledo.2) The Cycladic Art Museum organizes 2 exhibitions Art and Society in Crete in the Years OfDominikos Theotokopoulos and Dominikos Theotokopoulos and the Nafpaktos battle.3) The Byzantine Museum is organizing an exhibition of the Cretan school and all the painterswho were contemporaries of El Greco, because he was one of them before he left for Venice.4) The National Gallery will present digital representations of his paintings in real size.

When you are in Greece, do not forget to visit one of those exhibitions and also explore themuseums themselves, as well as their beautiful gift-shops.

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3. Greek movie: Mikra Anglia

When Greek cinema meets the Greek literature the result is excellent! A very interesting moviecame out in December 2013: the movie 'Little England' directed by Pantelis Voulgaris and basedon the book by author Ioanna Karystiani. The book was first released in 1997 and won the StatePrize. It is a romantic drama that takes place on the island of Andros from 1930 till 1950.Please read more about this movie and see the trailer on the OMILO BLOG at :http://bit.ly/1fvoZCC

Since 2010 OMILO organizes Greek courses on the island of

Andros during the month of July.During those courses thestudents have the opportunity to visit Andros town, its museums andbeaches. After seeing the movie, you will for sure recognize mostscenery of the movie.For more info about Andros island, click here.

The movieMikra Anglia, 2013, 153Directed by Pantelis VoulgarisCast : PenelopeTsilika, Sophia Kokkali, Andreas Constantinou,Maximos Moumouris, Anneza Papadopoulou

The bookIoanna Karystiani, Mikra AngliaKastaniotis, 1997, 365 pages

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4. Roots of Greece: the olive tree

By OMILO-student Natasja Gras

Once upon a time, when old Greek stories where still daily reality,the megalopolis Athens was only a village waiting to spread itswings. In those days people where still humble enough tounderstand that not everything was in their own hands. And so theyturned to the Gods to ask them for a specific God. A god, whocould guide, protect and feed them with a spirit to give sense totheir lifes and deeds, in whose name a city could be build. TheGods took this request very seriously and after carefulconsideration Zeus decided, with a feeling of democracy, to let the

people choose themselves. So two candidates came down fromthe Olympus and had to face each other in a competition to win thehearts and souls of the mortals. And like politicians are doingnowadays, they tried to convince their audience with their offers forthe society. It was Poseidon, God of the seas, brother of Zeus, who

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put his triton into the rock of what later would become the Acropolis and made a spring happilyflow its water. Probably because his power was first of all related to the sea, the gift was notsweet, but salted. Athena, Goddess of wisdom, justice and war put her spear into the rock.Immediately an olive grow started to grow. This gift was gratefully accepted by the people ofAthens and became a spring of a fluid, which Greeks since then cannot do without: the elixir ofhealth and the golden touch to the Greek cuisine, the oil of olives.

A basic ingredient of Greek societySince then, olives and olive oil probably became one ofthe most stable ingredients of the Greek society. OldGods disappeared, a new one arose, glorious days

passed as well as periods of misery, temples becameruins or transformed into churches, democracy becamedictatorship and again democracy, borders werechanging, war and peace were challenging each other,but in the meanwhile the roots of the olive tree gotdeeper and deeper into Greek soil, living happily everafter.

Big consumersAnd so every year between half of November and half of Januarypeople disappear into the fields to collect their small black and

green treasures. In the country-side, where the work is done,villages fall into silence. The only sound heard is the whisperingfrom the valleys and the yards, where the news about the harvestis exchanged. For centuries, the methods of collecting havehardly changed. Although nowadays machines are available,most of the (small) farmers prefer collecting with a comb or awooden stick in order not to harm the trees and the leaves. Mostfamilies cultivate just enough trees for their own consumption andfor their relatives who live in the cities. But still, in Greece the

average consumption a year is over 30 litres a person. For a family of ten persons (300 litres) this

requires about 125 trees, counting on a good year. No wonder wherever you travel in Greece, youwill find these beloved trees, with their artistic trunks and silver sparkling leaves.

Sharing treasuresSmall agriculture doesnt leave a lot of space for export. Thisis probably one of the reasons the Greek olive oil is relativelyunknown abroad. However, in international contests theGreek oil is highly approved. It has a pure and honest taste,mainly because the oil is not mixed like a lot of Italian oils,especially those of the big brands. Another reason might bethe lack of chemicals and artificialities used for cultivation.

Not bothering about official certificates for biological andorganic products according to European standards, most ofthe Greek olive oil has a natural origin by itself. This certainlyhas an influence on the taste. With a world opening up forhealthy food and Greece getting ready for a market beyond

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its own borders, little by little things are now changing. Smaller and bigger initiatives now exportthe Greek oil not only to Northern and Western European countries, but also to Asia, especiallyJapan, where oil is a substantial part of the local kitchen.

And so, after all these years, the choice forAthenas gift, has still a growing influence. Ithappened to be a wise decision. Do not worryabout the Poseidon: he lost the contest but thecitizens of Athens never forgot him! The God ofthe Sea got his own temple in Sounion.Only50 km from the OMILO school, many of you have

visited this temple of Poseidon and witnessed themost amazing sunsets or full-moons! If you didnt,its certainly worth to put it on your list withamazing-places-to-go-in-Greece-!

Natasja Gras (1967, NL, author/ independentteacher) lives on the island of Kythira, where she is working on the fields of mythology andphilosophy. She became familiar with the Greek farm life by helping her partner in his familysyards. Together they travel once a year to Holland and Belgium to deliver a taste of Kythira to anetwork of friends and acquaintances. For more information: [email protected] /www.natasjagras.nl

Do you like the Greek Mythologie and you would like to hear more of those wise andwonderful stories, book your Greek Mythologie Course with OMILO!More information here below! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

5. The Greek Cultural Week with OMILO

In 2012 our first Greek Cultural Week took placeon the island of Andros, with great success. Backthen we offered cooking lessons, dancing lessonsand Greek private lessons. A great group, a lot offun and a very good experience.Here a link to some photos:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.470596256307262.115435.113515072015384&type=3

After 17 years of teaching Greek, we have realizedthat our students are so much interested ineverything that is related to Greece, the language and the culture, so we brainstormed about morepossibilities and options.The only thing we were not that convinced about, was the available kitchen for the cooki nglessons. Marina did an excellent cooking teaching job, but for cooking lessons you really need avery equipped kitchen in order to feel comfortable, as well as good shops and markets to find all

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the necessary ingredients. We therefor decided to keep the cooking lessons available in Athens,but not anymore during the cultural week. Click here for more information about cooking lessonswith Marina.http://www.omilo.com/cooking-lessons/

So what do we offer this year? New things, more options, something for everybody!

1.Greek dancing2.Learning Greek through Greek songs3.Greek Mythology4.Introduction into Ancient Greek and Etymology5.Greece Today : Lectures and discussions

The various courses take place on different times of theday, so it is possible to register for more than onecourse.

You can find all the information on our website, wherewe have explained in detail what every course means :http://www.omilo.com/cultural-week/

For 2014 we chose the island of Syros to

host our Cultural Week. Syros has manyfestivals as well as music and theatreperformances during summer, which istotally in line with our cultural week.

More information about Syros at:http://www.omilo.com/syros/

The OMILO-team will be there to welcomeyou and we guarantee you will learn a lot

of new things as well as having fun!

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Many greetings from Athens,The OMILO-team

OMILO Greek Language and Culture in Greece

Pan. Tsaldari 13, 15122 Maroussi, Athens (GREECE)Tel. (00 30) 210-6122896 Fax. (00 30) 210-6122706Email:[email protected] - URL:www.omilo.comFB:www.facebook.com/omilohellas - Twitter:www.twitter.com/omilohellas