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<\/p>\nWelcome to our Greek corner.\u00a0 Today, we would like you to meet\u00a0Dr. Niki Karavasilis professor of foreign languages who was born in Greece and educated in the United States.\u00a0 Fluent in many languages, she taught for thirty-five years at high school and college levels in Athens, Greece, and several universities in New England.\u00a0 She was the founder of the workshops in New Hampshire: In Search of Excellence in Teaching Foreign Languages<\/em>.\u00a0 A member of numerous honor societies, she was selected for Who\u2019s Who in America<\/em> and Who\u2019s Who in the East<\/em> for her outstanding achievements in the teaching profession.\u00a0 She was commended for her efforts in promoting the study of foreign languages by the Consul General of Spain in Boston, Andres Drake, and also by President Reagan for helping high school students.<\/p>\n By now, you probably are\u00a0asking yourselves, who cares what Dr. Niki Karavasilis has accomplished, right?\u00a0 Hold on don’t\u00a0judge her yet.\u00a0 Read on…<\/p>\n Dr. Niki Karavasilis is a grandmother of three grandchildren and upon her retirement she thought that she was going to be the happiest woman in the world now that she had all the time to do whatever she pleased. However,\u00a0after three to four months of her retirement, she found out that she was becoming bored with all the free time that she had and\u00a0joined many organizations\u00a0to keep her busy.\u00a0 But, she still wasn’t happy! She also went daily to the library to find something exciting to do during her retirement years.\u00a0 One day, however, as she was returning home from the library, she had an idea; to write about her youthful years in a small village called Trikorfon, in the northern part of Greece.\u00a0 She had left from the village when she was ten years old and could hardly remember anything about her village. \u00a0She started making plans of going back to her village, but at the same time she was afraid\u00a0of what she was going to find or if anyone would remember her.\u00a0 She felt that she would be a stranger among strangers, after so many years living in\u00a0the United States.\u00a0 Finally, one day she took the first step to buy her ticket to Greece.<\/p>\n It was the day before\u00a0her departure, and suddenly she felt a surge of excitement penetrating her body.\u00a0 Finally, she was going back where she came from.\u00a0 She arrived in Athens (\u0391\u03b8\u03b7\u03bd\u03b1<\/strong>) and took the next flight to Salonica (\u0398\u03b5\u03c3\u03c3\u03b1\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd\u03b9\u03ba\u03b7<\/strong>)\u00a0and the taxi to her village, Trikorfon.\u00a0<\/p>\n It was six o\u2019clock\u00a0in the afternoon when the taxi arrived\u00a0to the center (\u03c0\u03bb\u03b1\u03c4\u03b5\u03b9\u03b1<\/strong>) of the village.\u00a0 The villagers with curious eyes asked each other who was the foreign lady,\u00a0\u00a0 but nobody recognized her.\u00a0 They kept looking at her while Dr.\u00a0 Karavasilis greeted them by saying good-evening (\u03ba\u03b1\u03bb\u03b7\u03c3\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03b1 \u03c3\u03b1\u03c2<\/strong>) and introduced herself:\u00a0 I am Niki, the daughter of Mr. Demetrios Simopoulos (\u03b5\u03b9\u03bc\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b7 \u039d\u03b9\u03ba\u03b7, \u03b7 \u03ba\u03bf\u03c1\u03b7 \u03c4\u03bf\u03c5 \u0394\u03b7\u03bc\u03b7\u03c4\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03c5 \u03a3\u03b9\u03bc\u03bf\u03c0\u03bf\u03c5\u03bb\u03bf<\/strong>\u03c5<\/strong>).\u00a0\u00a0 Suddenly, all the villagers came closer to welcome her.\u00a0 Everyone opened their homes for the American visitor.\u00a0\u00a0Dr. Karavasilis at last\u00a0felt happy!\u00a0\u00a0She had made the right decision to\u00a0come\u00a0back to her youthful playground that she\u00a0had left long time ago.\u00a0 She felt so comfortable among the villagers, her classmates, relatives and friends. The next day, she started doing her research about the villagers\u2019 lives, their sufferings, and the destruction of their lives during the three wars: The Italian Invasion, The German Invasion and the Greek Civil War. She visited many other villages, heard so many stories which were new to her and when she returned to America, after a stay of four months in Greece, she started writing about her experiences in Greece.\u00a0 When I ask her how her retirement years are coming along, she smiles \u00a0and says, wonderful (\u03c9\u03c1\u03b1\u03b9)!<\/strong>\u00a0 I love\u00a0 to write books (\u03bc\u03bf\u03c5 \u03b1\u03c1\u03b5\u03c3\u03b5\u03b9 \u03bd\u03b1 \u03b3\u03c1\u03b1\u03c6\u03c9 \u03b2\u03b9\u03b2\u03bb\u03b9\u03b1)<\/strong>.\u00a0 In our retirement years and in general,\u00a0we have to do the things that really please us in order to be happy and successful.<\/p>\n So that\u2019s Dr. Karavasilis background, and she looks forward to sharing more about Greece with you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 Hello ( yiasas)!\u00a0 Welcome to our Greek corner.\u00a0 Today, we would like you to meet\u00a0Dr. Niki Karavasilis professor of foreign languages who was born in Greece and educated in the United States.\u00a0 Fluent in many languages, she taught for thirty-five years at high school and college levels in Athens, Greece, and several universities in…<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/greek\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2010\/12\/DSCN1488-350x263.jpg\")