On not knowing (modern) Greek

Note the Virginia Woolf reference - clearly I have way too many literary pretensions! Seriously, though, I have been resurrecting my modern Greek vocabulary, slowly and painfully, and sincerely hope that it will come back to me the moment I set foot on Greek soil. It's the romance of fragments, I guess - that just as somehow the Parthenon looks romantic and impressive, all bare and part-ruined, and we'd probably be appalled at the gaudy, excessively painted building that the 5th century Athenians created and saw every day, the same is true of mapping ancient Greek onto modern Greek - that somehow communication just wouldn't be as fun if I had a really sound knowledge of modern Greek syntax...

I am longing to be gone now - I have acquired my first digital camera, a cell phone and an MP3 player - never have I been so hi-tech on a trip, being a rather primitive sort of traveller by inclination, so this is quite a new departure for me in many ways...