Sunday, September 13, 2009

Culture . . . and not yogurt, either

I coerced Josh into going with me to the Greek Festival in Salt Lake yesterday, hosted by the Greek Orthodox Church. It both sated and fed my travel bug. I've never been to Greece or anywhere close by- although the front of the program stated, "It's just like being there!" So I guess I have kind of been to Greece now . . . by going to 3rd West in Salt Lake. Josh was a great person to go with since he also likes the kind of nerdy intellectual conversation that I thrive on, so we discussed Greece and how different cultures influence each other and after we got a lecture inside the cathedral about the history of the church and the symbolism that goes into their cathedrals, we pondered the similarities between the Greek Orthodox Church and the Latter-day Saints, including similarities between cathedrals and temples.

We also partook of some dang good Greek food, all of which can be well described as savory and potent. We both made horrible faces after biting into very strong olives and I did a repeat performance when I tried chomping down on a chunk of feta cheese. However, I discovered that grape leaf wraps and spinach pie are both very tasty and if I'm brave, I might just try my hand at one or both of them sometime. Josh also professed an interest in trying to cook some Greek cuisine, aided by the fact that there were recipes included in the program. Excellent! We did turn down the opportunity to have a lamb dinner straight from the lamb carcass roasting on a spit, though. Josh thought that college apartments should be equipped with spits.

We spent some time discussing the geography of the central part of Eurasia and I discovered that I, at least, am a little shaky on how everything fits together in there. Which is why I've begun reading books about places like Greece and Turkey and Afghanistan, which, yes, I am aware is a little further east. I'm not sure why I'm so very hungry to learn about the world, but it seems to have taken firm root inside of me and I fear there's no going back. I wonder what other cultural festivals I can track down in Salt Lake? Hmmm.

3 comments:

Josh said...

It was awesome! You did a fine job summarizing the experience. I wish we'd gone for the spit-roasted lamb, though... :-) By the way, should you be seeking a less cultural and more scenic sort of experience this weekend, we're going to camp up around Mt. Timp and you're welcome to come. Later!

Danielle said...

That sounds really fun. You could always try the Spanish Fork India fest/llama fest/festival of colors at the Hare Krishna temple down there. It wasn't quite as elaborate as the Greek festival sounds, but still had fun stuff and good Indian food.

Maria said...

Aw, Josh, my computer didn't tell me you'd left that comment until today- I would have definitely come camping if I'd known about it! I hope it was fun!