Stories

Eva

09/09/2017

Our first meeting was not one of the best.
I arrived at the port very early, after an overnight trip by ferry.
When I got to the pension I booked online, she was there to welcome me, but she was not very welcoming. Now that I know her very well, I know it was too early for her too.
She showed me my room and I thought I wanted to leave that place immediately.

After 10 years, here I am. In the same place. And I am writing this post from the same room.

That day, when I went to have breakfast she asked me if I wanted a peach juice.
I thought ‘whatever’ and said ‘yes please’.
And she arrived after five minutes with a fresh peach juice, it was delicious and it was not the hip era of smoothie-extractor juices.
So I fall in love with her.

She is a unique character.
She is a young widow who grew up three children alone, running a pension and its restaurant.
Give her one thing, she will cook for ten people.
If she could, she would give away herself, for the others.
She is heart and soul all together.
She has friends-guests who have come back to her pension for 10, 20, 30 years because they love her.

After few years I was coming back here on holiday, I decided to learn greek as this was a deeper way to communicate with her.
Now we speak in greek everyday. Sometimes, when she is nervous and angry, she speaks to me in english, but I don’t care, I shout at her in greek anyway.
She always says that I am another one of her children and I also think that she is my second-greek mother and I have now a second family with another sister, two brothers and another two nephews!

She is so generous.
She is so unpredictable too.
We laugh, we hug each other, I take care of her and I always think she deserves more by everyone.
The amount that she gives away, it’s not at all what she is getting back.

She is the reason why I moved to Santorini.

Thank you Eva!

©Nicoletta Barbata/OneQuarterGreek

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