Greek to me

So far on this trip our attempts to say anything in Greek have been completely thwarted. We must look so obviously English speaking that it oozes from our pores. Typically when we walk into a restaurant or a shop, we are immediately greeted in English (a couple of times in Athens, Joanne was spoken to in German first, but never in Greek). Sure we have tried to say "Kalimera" instead of "Good Morning" and have remembered our ps and qs (parakalos and efharistos), but we were mostly just humoured by people whose Greek (and English) were far superior to our own.

We thought that being on Crete, which is a little less touristy than the areas that we have been and will be going to in Greece, would give us a chance to at least try and say a few things in Greek. On Saturday we finally got our chance. We went into a bakery/liquor store far off the beaten track. There was an English couple ordering through pointing (quite rude, actually) and three Greek patrons. The shopkeeper came around the counter and waited for us to point at what we wanted. Instead, Joanne said (probably a little too forcefully and a little too loudly) "Ena bookalee lefko krasee, parakalo", and the shopkeeper said "White wine?" Success! Sure, she spoke English and Jim was able to reach up high and put his hand on the one that we wanted, but still every victory must be savoured.