Hello! My name is Ekaterina Papaioannou and I am from Astoria, New York.  I was raised in New York's "little Athens" and loved growing up bi-cultural although it was not always easy living in between two worlds - my American environment and my traditional Greek lifestyle at home. Talking "about me" is meaningless without talking about my parents, without them I would be not be who I am today.  

   My parents left Greece and moved to New York in the 1970's, lured by the promise of the "American Dream." 

   Meet my parents. Here they are during their trip to Greece last summer. In the background, if you look closely, are little houses tucked away on the sides of a mountainous cliff. This is is my father's village, "Anavriti," located in Central Greece. It is a slow and (quite perilous) 1-hour-drive from the port of Nafpaktos (it would be 10 a minute drive if the road was paved).  My father's village has not changed much in the past 50 years. The current population is 3 (including the one goat), since everyone has moved to the city. In the summer time we return to the Anavriti, along with approximately 150 other descendants of the village, where we all gather in the village square to eat, drink, exchange and enjoy the pure air.