Mission

2006

Spanish Fly

2009

From Russia With Love

2010

The Italian Job

2011

Turkish Delight

2012

…

My Big Fat Greek Mission

The following are tasks that I think anyone should be capable of completing in any language in which they claim to be fluent. I will be checking them off as I accomplish them this year, and when all the boxes are checked I will call this mission a success.

	Touch-type in Greek, using a standard Greek keyboard layout.
	Check the weather on an all-Greek web site.
	Shop for, find, and purchase a product on a all-Greek web site.
	Find plane or train tickets and book a hotel room using an all-Greek web site.
	Get seated, order a meal, and pay in a Greek restaurant without using English.
	Read an article from a Greek newspaper or news web site, and be able understand and summarize it without any help from a translator or dictionary.
	Download a short news clip in Greek and understand it.
	Chat with new friends online about general subjects without using any translator or dictionary
	Retell a joke in Greek.
	Watch a movie in Greek without subtitles and understand what’s going on.
	Comfortably express my personality through the language as I do in English, by making silly jokes, puns, wordplay, and flirting in conversation.
	Have an in-person conversation with a native Greek speaker for at least 30 minutes, without using English.