Coming home

νόστος · nostos, the journey home

Four practices that nourish me, and that made me. Reading slowly, eating together, falling well, sitting still. Underneath, they have always been one practice, connection.

The Greeks had a word for the journey home, νόστος. Homer built the Odyssey around it. The Odyssey and One Piece share a shelf here for a reason. Both stories epitomize fighting for your dreams, keeping your friends close, and doing what is right. Odysseus crossed the world to get back to his people. Luffy brings his along.

Georgios smiling with a very happy corgi in his arms, under summer trees — Me, and a very good dog (not mine)

Immersed in a story

Before my day starts, my me time is a book, and a cup of coffee or green tea. I read widely, from psychology and philosophy to science fiction, fantasy, memoirs, and most any fiction that holds me still for a while.

On the nightstand right now

The Courage To Be Disliked
Dear Friend, From My Life I Write to You in Your Life
Nevernight
The Rings of Saturn

All-time favorites · hover over the stack

Cover of One Piece Volume 1, Romance Dawn, by Eiichiro Oda

Cover of The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Emily Wilson

Cover of Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Cover of Rilke's Book of Hours, Love Poems to God

And yes, One Piece counts as literature.

Sharing the table

Enmoladas under a pool of dark mole, topped with herbs and pickled onion — I can't explain how happy this makes me

A banana-leaf tamal on a clay plate, beside a bowl of caldo and fresh limes — Minutes before this all disappeared

Mexican food is both my favorite cuisine and my culture. I take real pride in it and its mix of complexity and history. Oaxaca has my whole heart, the moles, the markets, the idea that a dish can carry centuries and still be dinner.

I come from two cultures that agree on one thing above all. Nobody leaves the table hungry. Greek philoxenia and Mexican hospitality are the same instinct wearing different aprons; the guest is sacred, and the food is how you say so. That belief runs deep in me. Food is warmth, food is love, and food is a human right, not a privilege.

Nobody taught this better than Anthony Bourdain. Sit down, eat what you are served, listen. Half of understanding anyone is sharing their table.

Favorite dish · Caldo de Camaron Dessert I love · Anything Chocolate Appetite Level · Luffy

Training on the mats

Black belt, earned the slow way.

The story starts in 2009, in a Royce Gracie affiliated gym, and the blue belt came from Royce himself. A year in Japan followed, training judo at International Budo University and learning how to fall before anything else. Back home, Marcio Stambowsky at Gracie Sports tied on my purple and brown belts, and Luis Figueroa at Ronin Jiu Jitsu tied on my black.

I still train at Ronin today, my current focus is takedowns and leglocks

A jiu-jitsu class lined up on the mats, listening to two instructors — Teaching night

Georgios and a training partner grinning after class — Nothing boosts my mood like rolling with friends

Sitting with stillness

This orb breathes the way I practice. In, hold, out, hold. You are welcome to borrow it for a minute; the page is not going anywhere.

Meditation has been the anchor of my life. It has helped me weather many storms, and it is where my peace comes from. It shows up as a daily sit, and as a hundred small moments woven through the day, a breath before a hard conversation, a pause before I answer.

Trained as a meditation teacher; still very much a student.

Also in progress, four languages. Greek (B2), Spanish (B2), Japanese (N4), Chinese (HSK 1).

Slowly, calmly, in that order.

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