Today we are TWO! Happy Birthday to us!!! Χρόνια Πολλά και Καλά!!!

Source: (c) Frosted Pink by Stacey

Today, 21 March, officially the first day of Spring in Greece and the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, and we at Global Greek World are celebrating our second birthday!

This post is dedicated to our readers and wonderful friends around the world who have supported our efforts and helped this blog develop and grow!!!! We've had a great two years and we would like to thank each and everyone of you for taking the time to visit, read our posts and leave comments.

Source: (c) Frosted Pink by Stacey

We thank our followers on Twitter, or our friends who 'like' our Global Greek World Facebook Page and all who have participated in the discussions there!

We have had some lively discussions and debates on that page and some great laughs!

Source: (c) Frosted Pink by Stacey

Some of us are still laughing at one of our recent posts on facebook which had someone trying to speak Greek in an episode of Xena, Warrior Princess. The writers obviously hadn't done any research on the Greek to be spoken, so the result was something totally ridiculous for anyone who can speak the language! The only thing one could do was laugh...or cry...



You can check it out for yourself - we'd love to hear your comments! Don't be misled by the title, Gabriella's Greek has some Spanish mixed in with it...Yeia sou Kalimera, Yeia sou Kalinyxta, Yeia Sou Kala Noches! (Thanks Vicky D - Sydney for posting it)

Over the last year we have also made a lot of wonderful new friends; we have had readers visit us from 161 countries, up from 117 last year, with the USA, Greece, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom still topping the list .

Source: (c) Frosted Pink by Stacey

Above all, it has been another great year for our Global Greeks who have worked hard and made headlines in many parts of the world.

• Chris Pissarides from the London School of Economics won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Economics;


• Dr Nicholas Christakis and Greek PM George Papandreou were named amongst Foreign Policy's 100 Top Global Thinkers;


• Yorgos Lanthimos' Dogtooth, Mary Zophres, Alexandre Desplat - three Global Greeks made it to three different categories of the Oscar nominations;


• Greek America Foundation's Greg Pappas inaugurated the USA's first gathering of global leaders, innovators, thinkers and doers who share Greek heritage, the first-ever National Innovation Conference (NIC) in Chicago;


• Greek Australian Dimitris Dollis was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in Greece;
  
  


• Greek Russian Cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin went back into space and


• Ethniki Ellados, under the guidance of super coach Otto Rehhagel, the architect of Greece's Euro 2004 soccer victory, qualified and competed in the World Cup in South Africa.

We all know that it hasn't been such great a year for Greece economically and we have spent a lot of time discussing the economic crisis with those who care about this country, who have worked hard to keep the flag flying in every corner of the world and who want to know more about what is happening in Greece.

Source: (c) Frosted Pink by Stacey

We continue to believe Greece will pull through but not without hardship in the short term of course. In the long run, we think the Prime Minister George Papandreou, a Global Greek himself, is on the right track, but we need to stop blaming everyone else for Greece's difficulties, and get on with the job, making many difficult and often painful decisions in the process.

Source: (c) Frosted Pink by Stacey

We continue to believe in Greece and the achievements of our Global Greeks wherever in the world they are, and will continue to highlight and promote all the positive things we see.

Greece has much going for it.



Despite the economic doom and gloom and the many natural & man made disasters that our world is going through right now, we need to keep thinking as positively as we can, so that the positive thinking catches on...

We at Global Greek World are certainly trying!



With your support we will continue to spread the word until we're well into our 90's, just like the Global Greek ladies that the cakes below were made for!

Source: (c) Frosted Pink by Stacey

Efharistoume Poly!! Ευχαριστούμε Πολύ!!!

Source: (c) Frosted Pink by Stacey made for her grandmother, Kyria Evangelia.

Regrettably Kyria Evangelia died late last year far away from her beloved Arcadia but surrounded by her loving family...

PS The delicious-looking birthday cakes are courtesy of Frosted Pink by Stacey.

Talented young Greek Canadian, Stacey Korolis Sherlock, works from home in Tisdale,Saskatchewan. To get a taste of the rest of her top class creations on Facebook - Click here.



Efharistoume Stacey!

A Bonus for the Omogeneia: Greek Australian Dimitris Dollis is Greece's New Deputy Foreign Minister.

Greek Australian Dimitris Dollis, former Australian MP and ALP Deputy Leader for Victoria, has been appointed one of Greece's two Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet reshuffle announced early this morning.



Born in Kastoria in Northern Greece in 1956,  Dimitris Dollis moved to Australia with his parents at the age of 15, in 1971.



After 28 years of living in Australia, Mr Dollis' accomplishments attracted the attention of then Foreign Minister, PM George Papandreou and he was appointed General Secretary for Greeks Abroad, a post with particular symbolism and significance for a repatriated son of the diaspora...



His extensive and in-depth involvement in Australian politics, both at local and  state level (from city councillor to shadow-minister of Ethnic Affairs) in Melbourne which is often called the 2nd largest Greek City of the world, made him an ideal candidate for this role which he kept until 2003.



One of George Papandreou's staunch supporters and close advisors over the years, Dimitris Dollis was earlier this year sent as the Greek PM's Special Envoy to Afghanistan to negotiate the release of teacher Athanassios Lerounis who was captured by the Taliban, during the course of his duties as curator of a heritage museum, linking the Kalash tribe's culture with Greece. (See note at end of post)





We at Global Greek World are very pleased with the appointment of one of our Global Greeks to the post of Deputy Foreign Minister. We consider that PM Papandreou is doing this to send out a signal of his confidence in Greeks Abroad. He has many close advisors from the Omogeneia but this is the first time that one of it's representatives has been given such a pivotal post.



We believe that there is a lot that Dimitris Dollis can contribute to a government which is having to undertake some of the toughest austerity measures in Greece's history.



If he is given the responsibility for Greeks Abroad, as we believe he will be, then there is a great deal that can be done to consolidate the relationship between Greece's formidable omogeneia and the metropolis on all levels, but especially on the level of credibility, to ensure that each and every one of our Global Greeks is also a 'Goodwill Ambassador' for our homeland at this very crucial time.



In an interview with Neos Kosmos of Australia, he said that it was a great honour and a challenge for him personally to be given this post, but an even greater honour for it to go to someone from the omogeneia,  and that he would do everything he could for Greeks Abroad.



We wish Deputy Minister Dollis all the very best in his new undertaking. We will be waiting!



Καλή Επιτυχία!





To read Dimitri Dollis' biography, Click Here



Athanassios Lerounis was abducted while based in the northern district of Chitral, where he worked as the curator of a heritage museum in the Kalash valley, pursuing his interest in the Kalash tribe, an ancient "lost tribe" whose people have European features and still practise a pagan religion resembling that of ancient Greece.



They are said to be descendants of Greek soldiers from the army of Alexander the Great, who passed through the region nearly 2,000 years ago.



Sponsored by the Greek government, Mr Lerounis managed a museum which highlighted the tribe's culture and Greek connections.