We all felt short-changed that we were only able to spend three weeks in Greece instead of the full month because we had plans to meet Leo’s family in India. We could have spent months if not years exploring this beautiful country.
The shortened month was always the plan, but Greece was not. Originally, we were meant to spend this month in Israel. Everything changed when Hamas attacked Israel, Israel retaliated and the War in Gaza erupted. We were traveling in South Africa and Egypt when events were unfolding. Since Israel became no longer viable, we rerouted to Greece.
To the future, we relinquished our dream of seeing Israel, but we continued to follow the developments of the war closely. We explained everything that we read to the kids and together, we learned about WW2, history of Israel and Gaza, religious conflict, terrorist organizations, international relations, and what ever else came up in our conversations.
Life is unpredictable. Hamas’ attack on Israel pierced the veil of peace that existed in Israel. Similarly, Israel’s invasion of Gaza turned lives upside down, into something unrecognizable. For most Israelis and Palestinians, life felt perfectly normal one moment. The next moment, lives were torn apart.
Even though we aren’t facing life or death, the lesson here is universal. Everything could change at any moment. What we have, what we are given, is a gift. Our time in Greece was a gift bestowed upon us by a complex sequence of events.
Despite the tragedy of the circumstances, this unexpected gift gave us the chance to experience this beautiful country, almost I’d like to think, as locals. With few other tourists in the winter season, we strolled through the streets of Athens, dined in small tavernas and soaked up the Christmas atmosphere. The mild winter in Crete allowed us to enjoy the beaches, museums and archaeological sites with barely any other tourists.
From our time in Greece, we have developed a deep appreciation for the effortless natural beauty that abounds. A land that is blessed with the bounty of the sea and the soil that played no small part in helping the Minoans and Myceneans to develop into powerful and sophisticated civilizations that ruled the Mediterannean during the Bronze Age. The tales and exploits of Minoan and Mycenean kings and heroes (King Agamemnon, King Atreus, King Midas, Perseus and others), became the inspiration for the legends of another great civilization that came after, the Ancient Greeks. Considered one of the greatest civilizations of all time, the Ancient Greeks made countless contributions to the western world that continue to make their mark thousands of years later.
– The earliest democracy in the world was in Athens. When we visited the Ancient Agora, we could imagine Athenians (not all, just adult males) gathering at the Stoa Attalos to debate civil issues in preparation of a vote.
– We studied the exquisite architecture of temples like the Parthenon where the architects were able to use optical refinements that give the appearance of being perfectly straight and balanced, when in reality, it is not.
– We admired the realism and beauty of Ancient Greek sculptures on many of the temple reliefs that depicted Greek myths and legends. Most famously perhaps are the beauty and detail of the Parthenon marbles and the Caryatids of the Erechtheion.
– We strolled through Aristotle’s Lyceum, imagining the peripatetic teaching style of one of the greatest philosphers of all time.
– We listened intently to our guide at the Acropolis, Thenia, tell us the story of how Athena became the patron goddess of Athens. It was her contribution of an olive tree that made her victorious over Poseidon. For thousands of years, olives have been an irreplaceable part of Greek cuisine and culture. For Chloe, the sixth-generation owner of Astrikas Bioleas, an organic artisanal olive oil producer, olive oil is in her blood.
It is almost impossible to imagine a world without Greek contributions – democracy, classical Greek architecture and art and the philosophical ponderings of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. What about a world without olive oil? If you ask the kids what they consider to be the greatest contribution of the Ancient Greeks, they would all agree that it is Greek mythology.
The stories, myths and legends of Ancient Greece put a spell on the three older kids. I don’t think it would be an exageration to say that they were obsessed. Whenever we were in the car, their ears were glued to their favorite podcast, “Greeking Out”. When we weren’t in the car, they were supplementing the podcast with reading material on their kindles, just to make sure they knew all the minutiae and variations of their favorite myths.
Grown ups and kids, parents and children see the world very differently. What we think is amazing, they think is just average. What they find mind-blowing, we find just mediocre. One thing we can all agree on is that we loved our time in Greece and we will no doubt be back again one day.
As is our custom, as our time came to an end, we discussed what each of us hopes to remember and carry with us from this beautiful country that contributed so much to humanity. Below are our life lessons from the three weeks we spent in Greece, in order from youngest to oldest.
EY's Life Lesson from Greece
DY's Life Lessons from Greece
1. Nothing is impossible as long as we work together.
One day when we were driving back from the olive farm we got stuck in a ditch we tried to drive out of the ditch but it was no use so I thought all hope was lost until my parents got this brilliant idea about making a ramp out of rocks so we can drive out of the ditch and it worked.
2. Greek mythology was created for many purposes.
Greek mythology has taught us a lot of stuff for example explaining history, morals and natural phenomena. For history the Trojan war was real, part history part mythology. The history part was the war and the mythology part was the gods and heroes. For the moral part is Pandora’s box. The moral in Pandora’s box is hope will always prevail. For the natural phenomena part is the myth of Persephone and Hades. The first half of the year Persephone stays with Demeter, which is summer and spring(when Demeter is happy). Now for the other half of the year it is different, Persephone is with Hades which is autumn and winter(when Demeter will grief Persephone).
3. My actions will affect others.
I recently had this anger problem and I’m trying to control my rage. When I usually get angry when people provoke me or when people taunt me or when I start getting hangry or when I am tiered. And my bro Rand made this great poem about my rage. I know my anger is frustrating to some people but I’m trying make my rage stop.
4. Don’t be to head strong.
There was once two twin giants which were sons of Poseidon the big brother was called Otus and the smaller brother was called Ephialtes but they both crushes on goddesses Otus fell in love with Artemis sister of Apollo and Ephialtes had a long time crush on Hera wife of Zeus so they decided to invade Mount Olympus to get there future brides so they started stacking mountains and boulders on top of each other but each year Zeus forces them down there tower of boulder’s but each year they grow five meters taller. And Otus said ”we’ll come back here next year maybe then we’ll win there hearts ”. But Artemis shouted “I am the goddess of the hunt! I could be happy with a hunter true if you can bring me the Ceryneian hind I will happily be your wife” but Ares stepped in he lunged at the giants with a war cry that would make your skin crawl he swung his battle axe harder and harder but it was no use. With there massive strength they stuffed Ares in a pot and flung it down to earth. The two giants saw the hind but Otus “said don’t move Ephialtes ” but Ephialtes thought different he hurled a tree at the hind but it struck his own brother Otus was gone Ephialtes was so sad about his brothers death that he committed suisied
5. The world is always changing.
We saw lots of ancient ruins which came from ancient civilizations like the Mycenaean, the Roman, the Egyptian and the Minoan. The ruins proof that the civilization was real and ended. Sometimes civilizations were conquered or the people changed their religion or there was a natural disaster like tornadoes and earthquakes. Sometimes they even forgot about the ruins or tombs until they were found thousands of years later.
AY's Life Lessons from greece
1. No matter what, you can always think of a solution.
We were driving in a weird path after the visit to the olive oil farm. We did not know if we were on the right path or not, but we couldn’t go back, stop or even get help! We were trapped! We just continued to drive down the super rocky and uneven path, until we saw big ginormous flocks of sheep simply chewing on sweet and fresh grass in a small but completely pasture that was guarded by fierce and strong dogs. A few minutes after we drove past the sheep flocks and our car stumbled in to a deep DItCH! All I could say is ,”hai-ya.” My dad felt we were stuck immediately and he hopped out of the car, and started grabbing stones and rocks from the ground and putting them under the car to make a slope so we could try to smoothly drive out. We also came out a little bit after and started helping too. In no time, the car was on the rode once more!
2. Be adaptable to anything.
On this trip, I have made cinnamon rolls many many times. Every single time is in a very different location, place, kitchen, and even different cooking materials. I have learned to adapt to all of these new materials and new places as I make different but delicious cinnamon rolls. Some places have a wooden cracked up table, and some places have smooth glass tables. Some places have gas stoves or even induction stoves, and if you know, these are very different things. Some places have ovens easy to work with, others hard to work with and uncontrollable. If you are traveling the world like I am, there’s not always gonna be your special spatula or your special pan. You’re going to have to learn to adapt to things and just be able to work with it. Now, I can make cinnamon rolls anywhere.
3. There is always another way to do things.
We went to the beach in Crete the second time, we drove a whole 1 hour just to get to that beach and wished for it to be sandy and great, but it was stony and not much sand. But after a while of walking, we ended up in a Sandy and stony beach. We looked to the left into the right to see if there was a better spot. Turned out that there wasn’t so we sat there and played for a while. Then we saw an old man, he was fishing, but he was using a different type of well, let’s say fishing way. We’ve never seen people do that before but we were about to learn. My dad went to watch the old man fish, and saw that he took a big lump of old, hard bread and wrapped about 20 fishhooks dipped it in sand to make it heavy, and threw it in the water. That was a Way different way than what we did and a caught way more fish too.
4. Ancient Greeks were so smart.
When we went to the museum of ancient Greek gadgets, we saw so many things that we have never seen. We saw a robot maid that could help you pour wine. Since the ancient Greeks love drinking wine with water so they created this robot so that when people gathered to drink wine, they wouldn’t have to get up or have a real helper. They could just call the robot over and she would help you pour the perfect amount of wine mix with water. We even saw automatic doors. They were not made with sensors or anything they were made with a genius plan. They open and closed by themselves automatically. There was a fire pit in front of the doors which if you start the fire, then it will pump gas underneath where they would be a jar of water, and the water will be forced into a pipe to reach another jar that would be filled and it would be heavier than the weight on the other side so the weight, it would be pulled up and the wooden dowels would spin to open the doors. I know that is so genius! And how could they have thought of that with so less technology?
5. Don’t be too greedy.
In Greek mythology, there was a myth. This myth was of a Greek king, who loved gold. His favorite thing in the entire world was gold, and he wanted more and more, and never had enough. His favorite thing to do was the bath in a bathtub, full of golden coins. Now you might think that’s crazy but really that was his favorite thing to do. He kept praying to the gods to grant him a wish because he already knew exactly what he was going to wish for, he was going to wish for whatever he touched to be turned to gold! Apollo, the god of music and light heard his prayers and decided to grant him a wish. He agreed to grant him the wish that whatever he touched would be turned to gold. Oh, he was so excited and he started to touch stuff and it turned to pure gold. He was so happy. He touched his chair. He touched his desk, his bed and everything but the problem was when he tried to eat a grape or a piece of bread. He touched it, which means it would turn to in to gold, and the last time l heard, was that you can’t eat gold. So then he started crying that he wished for the wrong gift! His daughter loved him so much. She ran up immediately and hugged him., and she immediately he turned to gold. This king was too greedy and immediately ran out. Praying to Apollo every day and every night nonstop until Apollo came to meet him, and the king explain what he did wrong, and Apollo thought he was sincere so he turned everything back how it was before(not gold). He was never greedy again .
RY's Life Lessons from Greece
1. Persevere and you will achieve.
In Greece, when we were driving down a very steep slope, our car got stuck in a ditch and a giant rock was right in front of us. My Dad started brainstorming being the brilliant guy he is and landed on one of his favorite types of architecture, stone masonry. He asked us all to come out to get different rocks of different sizes and we created a sort of ramp. My dad drove us out and we finally got out. Even though the front bumper was a bit dented, we still managed to keep persevering and we achieved getting out of the ditch.
2. Take a good deal when you see one.
On one of our first days in Athens, we went to a mall and I wanted to get a fitness watch, but I didn’t know which one. We went to decathlon first and by brother settled for a decathlon watch, I was about to get one too but it didn’t have most of the features that I wanted so I thought better of it. We then went to the xiaomi store and I saw a smart watch for only 25 euros! Since my dad said I could only get something under 25 euros, I got it!
3. Take care of yourself early.
As you know, I have been exercising regularly for almost 2 months now and I can physically feel the difference. I feel much stronger and I can help much more physically. Especially now, I have my watch to track my activity and it’s kinda fun to see my stats and it’s been my main source of motivation. When you take care of your health young, you’ll have one less thing to worry about when your old.
4. Balance ambitions with caution.
I am in Greece so it would only be right if one of my lessons were about Greek mythology. The tale of Icarus, who flew too close to the sun with wax wings, reminds us of the balance between ambition and caution. It’s a timeless lesson about the dangers of overreaching. Aim high, but remember to temper enthusiasm with wisdom. Just as the sun melted Icarus’ wings, ambition can be your downfall.
5. Ancient Greeks were very intelligent.
In Crete, we visited a museum with the Ancient Greek technological advancement. There was a certain machine that appealed to me. This very interesting machine was used to lift heavy objects. The machine included 4 pulleys, each reducing the weight by half. While reducing the weight, the pulleys also reduced speed. Along with this pulley system, there was another method of attaching the stone that it was to lift. The method involved 2 little pieces of metal that fit into a stone so that the machine could lift the stone. Now look at all the amazing things the ancient Greeks have built. That was all due to this wonderful machine.
Song's Life lEssons from Greece
1. Learning happens even when you are taking a break.
When we first arrived in Greece, we all simultaneously heaved a sigh of relief. After an intense month of sightseeing in Egypt, we were relieved to arrive in a country that felt somewhat familiar. It was familiar enough that we didn’t always feel like tourists. In Egypt, we never could feel entirely at ease. It wasn’t that we didn’t meet amazing people and have unforgettable experiences because we absolutely did. But the difference in culture, religion and social norms, particularly in the locals’ interactions with tourists, made us always feel like outsiders because well, we were.
Now that we were in a place where we didn’t stick out so much and we felt like we could more or less blend in, we were ready to let down our guard. Even though Greece is as interesting a tourist destination with as many fascinating sites and history as Egypt, we didn’t feel as much pressure to be tourists because in Greece, we actually had a choice. Some days, we could be tourists and other days, we could just live as locals. If we wanted to, we could spend the day relaxing – strolling around the streets, buying a few things at the grocery store, stopping at the beach or a playground for a few hours, hanging out at home, catching up on learning time or crafts and cooking dinner with our family.
Some might say this wasn’t the best use of our time. But I think, you should take a break when you feel you need it and especially if the circumstances are conducive. Even though on these off days, we weren’t actively learning about anything in particular, we were doing something equally valuable. We were playing, resting, reflecting, spending family time together and observing and absorbing the way of life in the place that we were visiting. After a few days of rest, we were recharged and reinvigorated, ready and eager to get back out there.
2. Focus on the effort, not the outcome.
One of the most unforgettable memories in Greece was when our van got stuck in the mud in a grove of centuries old olive trees. I recounted this experience in my blog post, Champions of Komolithi. I have reflected deeply on this experience and there are so many valuable lessons wrapped up in these moments. One of my favorite lessons is – you can only control the effort, not the outcome. Even though on this day, our family worked together with a successful outcome, our efforts could just as easily have resulted in disappointment. The outcome was never under our control. We could only try our best to influence the outcome with our efforts.
There is never any guarantee of success. When the fender of our van got stuck in the mud behind a large rock, we knew we had to come up with a plan that would give us the best chance of getting the wheels and fender over the rock. Leo came up with the plan right away and all of us leaped into action to collect the rocks nearby to build two ramps for the two front wheels to clear the rock.
There was always the risk of failure – that the rocks would shift under the weight of the van or the mud was too deep for the wheels to gain traction or we miscalculated the height of the rock or we couldn’t successfully maneuver the car onto the narrow ramps. But we didn’t have much choice except to do the things that we thought would minimize those outcomes. For example, we collected both large and small stones so we could fill air pockets with the smaller stones. We took great care in positioning the stones to create gradual ramps for the wheels to traverse. When it was time to move the car, Leo and I maintained communication so I could give instructions to Leo who was at the wheel.
When we were ready, Leo took his seat in the car and stepped on the gas. Miraculously, the van made it onto the ramps and just barely cleared the height of the big rock. We were jubilant. On this day, our first plan ended in success. But just as easily, this idea could have failed and we would need to come up with another idea. There is never any guarantee of success. We can only just try our best by focusing on our effort.
3. History is full of unsolved mysteries.
It was probably ignorance or naivete, but I have been under the impression that most of human history was already well understood. It is not something that I researched or thought about specifically, but it seemed there were experts, publications and facts available for everything that needed to be understood. Just like how the secrets to Ancient Egypt were unlocked when Jean-Francois Champollion deciphered the Rosetta Stone, I assumed that the major secrets of every civilization had been studied and understood by teams of dedicated and passionate archaeologists and anthropologists. And based on the discoveries and ideas of these professionals, emerged generally accepted facts that told the history of mankind.
It is only recently that I came to appreciate that history is full of unsolved mysteries. I don’t just mean unsolved mysteries about disappearing persons or legends like the Loch Ness Monster or Abominable Snowman. I mean significant holes in our understanding of entire civilizations that meaningfully impacted the development of the world.
During our month in Greece, I was surprised to learn that significant aspects of the Bronze Age Greek civilizations, the Minoans and Myceneans, contained big question marks. What caused the decline and eventual demise of these great civilizations? The language of the Minoans, Linear A, has never been deciphered. All of our understanding of the Minoan civilization is based on excavations of sites, discovered artifacts and the occasional mention or record kept by trading partners, like the Ancient Egyptians.
After the collapse of the Bronze Age, Greece entered a period called the Greek Dark Ages. Because Linear B was no longer being used and the new Greek language had not been invented yet, there are no written records of what was actually happening at that time. What we know is based on excavations and artifacts.
I find it simply fascinating that the past can be as mysterious as the future. This ties into my Life Lesson #2 about focusing on the effort, not the outcome. In other words, there is no guarantee of the future. Similarly, there is no certainty of understanding the past. There is only the present – the choices that we make and the endeavors that we pursue should be firmly rooted in striving to be our best, do our best and enjoy every moment that we are alive.
4. Holidays and traditions are to be cherished.
I have never been big on celebrating holidays. Growing up, we celebrated some holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas when it was convenient, but never really consistently. I have very few memories from childhood connected with holidays. It was only when I had kids that I made a conscious effort to celebrate holidays with intention and enthusiasm. Why? Because kids love celebrating just about anything.
In the years that we lived in China, every year, we would celebrate all the major Chinese cultural holiday. We made homemade zongzi on Dragon Boat Festival and tangyuan on Yuan Xiao Jie, ate and gifted mooncake on Mid-Autumn Festival. Chinese New Year was always a big one because Leo’s mom celebrates it in an elaborate way with a new year’s feast with traditional dishes, each with its own meaning like fish (年年有余), dumplings （元宝）, ruyi vegetables （如意菜）, eggrolls （金条）, and nian gao (年年高). We pass out and receive red envelopes for the children and we always wear red on New Year’s day.
Over the years, I have come to enjoy celebrating Chinese holidays. But my favorite holidays are still the American ones like Halloween, Thanksgiving and even though we are not religious, Christian holidays like Christmas and Easter. When the children were small, I sewed the children’s Halloween costumes. Since they are bigger now, we still try to incorporate a homemade or handmade element to our costumes. We attend a Trunk-or-treat event and a trick-or-treat event so the kids can get their stash of candy.
On Thanksgiving, we always prepare a traditional Thanksgiving feast with a turkey and all our favorite sides like mashed potatoes and gravy, buttered corn, macaroni and cheese and my mom’s creation, sticky rice stuffing. It is not just the meal that I look forward, but also what that day represents – gratitude.
For Christmas, we set up the tree just after Thanksgiving with all of our unique ornaments collected from different places we have been to. We prepare our advent calendar with small notes of thoughts, wisdom and small treats for each day. We have our annual gingerbread house building and decorating that was one of the best selling items from Sweet Ever After, my bakery in Shanghai. And ofcourse, the kids looked forward to the gifts on Christmas day. Easter is another of the children’s favorite with our creative egg decorating followed by an egg hunt.
RY is 13 this year, so it is easy for me to remember that I have been ardently celebrating Chinese and Western holidays for 13 years. But it wasn’t until we were in Greece during December that I realized just how important holidays are to me and to the kids. As a Christian country, Greece’s enthusiasm for Christmas is ostensible. Almost everywhere that we went, we saw signs that Christmas was approaching – Christmas trees, Santa Claus, advent calendars, Christmas activities, books and decorations. The kids were invariably drawn to these familiar symbols of Christmas and looked upon them with heartfelt joy and delight.
That’s when I realized that holidays help give shape to the passing of the months and years and in particular, holidays and traditions observed when young leave a deep impression that last a lifetime. I cherish the memories that we have made over the years with all of our holiday celebrations, starting with when the kids were so young, they didn’t quite understand what we were doing. Over time, the traditions simply become an accepted part of life and as they came to know what to expect, they looked forward to celebrating. It didn’t matter that we were in another country and staying in Airbnb’s, we all knew exactly what it meant that Christmas was coming.
5. Everybody finds a way to face death.
Before this trip, death isn’t something that I have spent a lot of time thinking about before. In the past couple months, we have spent many hours learning about how the Ancient Egyptians and the Ancient Greeks viewed death and how they prepared their deceased for the journey to the after life. The Ancient Egyptians had a preoccupation with death because of the significance of the afterlife. There were certain rituals and preparations that needed to be made by the living to assure the deceased a spot in the much coveted afterlife. Elaborate tombs were constructed and filled with everyday objects as well as funerary objects needed to reach the afterlife and spend the rest of eternity in the afterlife. Walls were covered with information and instructions to make sure that nothing went wrong.
The Minoans and Myceneans also believed in life after death. These Bronze Age civilizations buried their dead in wooden or terra cotta vessels. A larnax was a ceramic coffin that was used to house the remains of the deceased. Larnax were sometimes shaped like a chest and sometimes shaped like a bathtub. A pithoi was another vessel commonly used to bury the dead. It was a large clay jug used to store water or grains and upon death, was converted to a funerary vessel. The most impressive form of burial reserved for the most important members of society was the tholos or bee-hive tomb. We visited several Tholos tombs in Nafplion like the Treasure of Atreus and the Tomb of Clytemnestra. Everyday objects as well as funerary items were buried with the dead so they would be ensured a comfortable life after death.
Around the same time as we were traveling in Greece, I began occasionally listening to the latest album from Depeche Mode called “Memento Mori”, which is Latin for “Remember death” or more explicitly, “Remember we all must die”. Depeche Mode was my favorite band when I was a teenager. I now admit that I didn’t really understand what they were singing about when I was young, but I loved the textured sound and the duality of the messaging that revealed a stark reality, but usually with a lining of hope. “Memento Mori” was the first album the band released since the passing of one of the three bandmates. The speculation is that the title, “Memento Mori” was a tribute to him.
In remembering that we all must die, we are meant to realize that every moment we have is precious. Our days on earth are numbered so we would be foolish to waste our precious time on trivial things. Instead, we must live with courage and curiosity, to make the most of the time that we are given.
DY told me recently that, “everyday, we are dying a little.” I don’t know where he got that from, but I know it to be true. In big and small ways, as we live our lives and make our choices, we are moving closer and closer to the inevitability of death.
Nobody knows what happens after we die. Chances are, it probably isn’t how the Ancient Egyptians or the Ancient Greeks imagined it would be. It might not even be how the Muslims, Christians or Jews believe it to be. So let us savor the time that we have together in life, doing the things that bring meaning and joy to our lives.
