It’s All Greek to Me

I went to the Yiasou Greek Festival yesterday in Charlotte.  Even though it rained a bit and was hot and humid, it was a good time.  I’ll admit that I showed up for the food more than anything.  I had the gyro pita and souvlaki on a stick and a beer to wash it down.  The food was good, and I got to watch the kids come out and dance while I enjoyed my meal.

Greek Festival

Seeing those kids come out on stage in their Greek costumes reminded me of Catholic school and the uniforms we wore.  I always felt awkward in the school uniform and would have died of embarrassment if they had made me dance.  The only time I danced in Catholic school was trying to avoid the nun’s rulers.

Ever been smacked on the back of the hand with a ruler?  You’ll never forget it—I guess that was the point.   

Back on the stage, some kids were enjoying themselves while others were going through the motions.  Watching the latter group, the kids that seemed to have two left feet, reminded me of 9th grade PE class.  This was my first year in regular (public) school.  Whenever it rained, we had to go to the gym and square dance.  Yes, I was one of the awkward ones trying to shrink into the wall.

Greek Dancers

I think part of my issue with square dancing was because it was an infrequent occurrence.  Maybe if we danced more often and it was part of everyone’s curriculum, it would have been easier to deal with.  Maybe if we started dancing earlier than the 9th grade, before puberty made us awkward and embarrassed, it would have been better.  Maybe I wouldn’t have stumbled into half the girls and wished I was back in Catholic school being chastised by the nuns(Okay, that was probably one too many maybes).

As you can probably tell, I don’t like square dancing, but I can see the wisdom of the Greek dancing.  These kids may or may not appreciate learning these traditional dances, but I’m guessing they won’t feel awkward when they go to a Greek wedding or another dancing event.

Okay, even though watching the Greek dancers churned up some old semi-painful memories, I still enjoyed the festival.  Memories help us to learn from past experiences after all.  I did learn that rulers and nuns don’t mix well with incomplete homework assignments.

By the way, I have yet to see anyone square dance at their wedding either, so I stand by my aversion to that particular dance style.