As reported in 25/019 Greek Word, my nephew has been offered a place in a School of Medicine here in Greece. Getting his transcripts from the UK was one problem; Getting everything translated, signed, sealed and delivered was another. At a time like this, who ya gonna call? Nepobusters or, maybe Mesobusters, the web of connections so necessary in Greek life.
The lad’s father called my wife (his sister) to ask if she knew one key person in the British Council. She didn’t, but she asked our American friend who seems to know everyone here. She didn’t either, but one of her close friends in England, who had worked for the Council, did. She contacted the Council employee. Now Phase 2 – to speed things up with the Education Ministry. The boy’s mother – a member of one of the major political parties – enlisted the help of a Member of the Hellenic Parliament to contact the Department of Secondary Education. He did. Meanwhile, the young man’s maternal grandmother was getting ready to travel with him to the university to help him settle in. Now for Phase 3. Not to be outdone, his 90-year-old paternal grandmother got in on the act. Realising that a contact in the university might be useful, she remembered that her uncle’s adopted daughter’s ex-husband worked in the same university. The grandmother called her niece to ask her to contact the divorcee (the grandmother’s second cousin and the niece’s third cousin) and ask if she would be willing to call her ex. She was. So, at least ten people were drafted to ensure that the boy’s paperwork was submitted on time. My wife later realised that enlisting our American friend was a case mistaken identity; the person who knew the Council employee was none other than our κουμπάρα, the godmother of our children.
That is Greece in a nutshell. The boy’s parents, aunt, grandmothers, second, third and fourth cousins, friends of friends as well as α politician and ex-partner all got involved. To put things in perspective, I have eighteen cousins. I am still in contact with one. I have never met five of them, and I met a sixth only once. Now, my wife has a cousin. Her son and ours are very friendly. Technically, the aunt and her son are my children’s second and third cousins respectively but as far as my children are concerned, they are aunt and first cousin. This is quite common in Greece. People are not interested in the biology of kinship. It’s the relationship that counts. I know one young teenager who refers to his great aunts as his γιαγιάδες, grandmothers.
To conclude: Operation Matriculation ended successfully. Τέλος καλό, όλα καλά.