alpha, beta, gamma, delta

I was flipping through our vast collection of pictures from Greece when I realized that I almost forgot to add a note on one of my favorite things about being there:  trying to teach Aman the Greek alphabet.  (In the interest of full disclosure, let it be known that I am in no way, shape or form fluent in Greek.  As I like to describe my level of proficiency, “I can get by.”)  No, we did not have formal textbooks or study sessions or anything crazy like that.  I just had a habit of pointing to posters and signs and asking Aman to pronounce whatever words we saw.  Sounds easy, but for someone unfamiliar with the Greek alphabet, it can be daunting.  There are 24 letters in the Greek alphabet, some of which are unique to the Greek alphabet (i.e., Δ, Π, Σ, Φ).  Aman did well with these letters; it helped that most are recognizable from the name of some university fraternity or sorority.  Other letters in the Greek alphabet resemble characters from the English alphabet, but have wholly different sound values.  Beta's sound like “v’s,” but look like “b’s;” eta's sound like “i’s,” but look like either H’s or n’s (depending on the capitalization); and so on and so forth.  The pronunciation of these letters can be even trickier to nail down than the ones you have seen on a college-branded sweatshirt.  At any rate, it was “day number ten” in Greece, and Aman and I were meeting my parents at my Thea Tasoula’s apartment after spending the morning at the U.S. embassy getting extra pages for my passport.  Based on prior visits to see my aunt, I remembered the building, but not the exact apartment number.  Brilliant!  A perfect opportunity to test Aman’s progress, I thought as I asked him to identify my family’s last name - a name he has seen, heard, and been able to spell countless times - among the other tenant names listed on the buzzer system.  This should be easy, he thought.  He stepped up to the challenge with enthusiasm, which turned into frustrated laughter after the fourth or fifth incorrect attempt. I couldn't help but smile with each "nope" that I uttered.  Not wanting to keep the family waiting, in the end, I helped guide him to the right intercom button.  Not sure how any non-Greek-speaking person could have missed it…