I have a friend....

I have a friend, he is from Greece. Real nice guy, friendly and funny too. It was this semester that I get to know him more. We are doing 3 groupwork together. So, that's how I started to be friendly with him (as many of you may take me as very unfriendly, arrogant and sombong as first impression, that's quite true ^wink^).

I learned many things from him. One of which interest me most... His name.. He's got a nice name "Ioannis Tompras" which I think sounds 'classy' to my ear, well me not used to foreign names, I think of it that way. Pronounce it as the famous musician, "Yani". He told me it was actually his grandfather's name. I was impressed, such an honour to hold somebody's name. It was funny when he said he didn't like the name and didn't have the choice of choosing a name for himself, a unique one just for him. He revealed to me that it was actually a tradition in Greece. The tradition goes for the first son in the family, it shall bear the name of the grandfather (father's father). If followed continuously, not breaking the tradition, the name will be retained in the family honouring them, the family members. Same goes to the first daughter which will follow the grandmother's name (mother's mother).

I have another friend... whom I take as my best friend in class.. She's a Mexican, her name's Adriana Reyes Cordoba. She's the one given me to try her Tajin Chili to be eaten with clementines (buah oren.. sedap ooo...). We see now how Mexican culture does have similarities of putting their surnames names as Greeks does. From Adriana name, Reyes Cordoba are from her mother and father's surname. Reyes is father's and Cordoba is mother's. Where Reyes means "king", Cordoba, for my ears sounded very nice and very firm which brings out the strength in the names. Both names retained within the family. When she got married, she will combine her surname with her husband's for naming their children where she will only carry her father's surname to be pass on to the next generation.

You see how I picture it... I remember there was one time I learned about genetic code during A-Level Biology... The genetic code only comprises of X (female) and Y(male). There are a lot of different combinations that these code can make because it will not exist as a single gene, it will occur in pairs. I reflect this phenomena as such coupling up the surnames such as Adriana's. Yeah, in probability and statistics as well.. we learned about many different combinations of things in life. Will there be a probability of accurances of the same surname again? Incredibly VAST information to be spilled out to study. A little bit too much to do compared to solving a jigsaw puzzle.

In these two cases, I see it as a reflection on how affectionate the relationship is between family members and members of the extended family. Ioannis said to me, everywhere he goes, people will know him, his name, his father.. they are well known.. such a friendly atmosphere he should have back there in Greece. I like to think that everywhere I go, my neighbour recognize me. It showed how close the community to each other where they can all depend on each other. It's really the kind of culture that I would love to live in. We have that back in Malaysia, oh yes we do. But, has it gone with time? That nobody ever cares about anyone anymore..