Being a student and being the Erin

There are "life-long learners" and then there are LIFE-long learners.
​When I have the opportunity to participate in trivia night at the church in my school's community I marvel at the ways life-long learning can be differentiated. I have friends who never stop consuming books. Others have traveled the National Parks of the United States extensively. Always fascinating to me are the lifelong learners who memorize sports statistics like player's names, the dates of big games and the details of important plays. If you are going to keep learning something as an adult, it is something you will enjoy. It should bring you pleasure and maybe even be your passion.
Foreign languages are not my passion. Understanding how people think and communicate and where ideas come from, however, do spark my curiosity.
The Greek alphabet challenges my brain but I had a breakthrough this morning when I read a "p" as an "r" - that's Greek!
My tutor, Eleni, is endlessly patient and in our three sessions together I've learned so much. Hearing the words fuses new connections in my brain. My synapses are firing differently.
I'm supplementing my tutoring sessions with Rosetta Stone online and I recently learned the word for bakery is φούρνος. The word sounds like "furnace" because you can't have a bakery without an oven. 
Last week Eleni helped me understand an essential grammatical rule when talking about people in Greece. Every time you speak about someone you include a form of the Greek article for "the"
Are you waiting for Giannis? is "Περιμενεις τον Γιαννη" or Are you waiting for the Giannis?
Now, waiting for THE Giannis might be something fans do whenever the Bucks play at the Fiserv Forum, but you don't have to be a championship winning basketball player to deserve that "the."
In Greek, we all deserve a "the" because we are all unique. Each person is their own identity. 
THIS.

---