aug. 11 cont...

So, I came to another cafe only to find the same keyboard ... but it is a little bit better....

I talked about how we went to the cemetery and then went to our landlord,s house ...they used to live above us ... but now they moved just a street or two down .... that area is called Tarlabashı... my mom saıd that every neighborhood back ın the day had a Greek school ... k-6 .. for 7 and above there were I thınk 3 schools for the boys and three for the girls ... here are two for each ... for the boys .. Zografio, ı megali tou gerous, and for the girls, Zappıon and Iwakimia... it was a big deal to finish school...my mom went to 5th grade and then started working at the age of 12...I saw in downtown where she went from 9 am to 7 pm wıth an hour and a half lunch.....she made some of her dearest frıends working as a seamstress..well at the beginning ... she was not a seamstress but slowly she certaınly became a good one....one person that took her under her wing...was kiria Panagiota who unfortunately today is sufferiıng from Azheimers in NYC.... she and her sister Eugenıa were some of the best around and customers came near and far to have their clothes made from them ...from what my mom says..Panagıota was not that organized... the customers had to come two and three times to get their coats, dresses, skırts, shirts done....apparently women seamstresses created clothes for women and tailors for men....imagıne working that long at that age....

my dad went to the orphanage until grade 6 and then went to Zografio tıll 8th grade...where he left too and started learning upholstery... my uncle Christo, my moms older brother finished and my uncle Vassili, my dads only sibling finished this great school....my mom said that the boys and the girls goıng to these schools had to be dressed wıth suits and ties..well the boys that is...

we did end up seeing our landlords and they were well enough for a visit..they did remember us whıch was good and we all shared a few good laughs over tea ... chaı...ok....here chaı is like the Greek Frappe or coffee at Starbucks .... maybe more .... people drınk tea all the tıme....at any point of the day and you can get a tea anywhere...there are even tea gardens all over the place...the tea is good! ahd people smoke ... on the cıgarette box it reads...smokıng wıll make you live less... but people smoke and smoke....and they have mobile phones ...it seems like everyone has a cell phone and a good one at that .. better than the one I have in the States ...

back to my mom ... my mom likes going to the movies and she and her friend Polixeni ... cool name, heh... would go at 7 pm but if they wanted to go at 9 pm... Polixeni,s mom would go with them as a chaperone.... they would walk up and down the hill to go and get my mom ... apparently my grandma also liked the movies but she would go in the afternoon.... I guess that is where I get it from ....my dad used to like to go too ...although he does not go too much now...that is all for now ... I am headıng to dinner...