DIFFERENCES
Published by deviousdiva April 6th, 2006 in Personal.Those who have been reading this blog for a while will know that I drink tea. (I often choke on it as I read the more outrageous comments and posts around Blogland) You will also know that I am English, which explains why I drink so much tea. So put all that together with the title of the blog itself, the photo and some past writing and you get a fairly good picture of me. There is a reason for this post but you will have to read on to get to it.
TEA
From about the age of three I have drunk tea. On an ideal day I would have two cups before I did anything. Sadly, my early morning treks to school only allow for one, which is very disturbing, but I keep going knowing I can have a second cup when I get home. Now I don't know about anyone else but Lipton's dust does not do it for me. As my dad once put it "it looks like scared water". When I first came to live here I had no idea how difficult it would be to get a decent cuppa. It got so bad at one point I switched to coffee in the morning and believe me, that's radical and didn't last long. One day I ventured into Marks and Spencer (not a shop I frequent) and discovered that they sold extra strong English teabags. Yes, they ship it all over the world but who can afford to do that? Imagine my joy. It was a short bus trip to the centre and I would be tea-bagged up for the month. Mornings restored to normal and all is well with the world. After a couple of years of this great situation M and S, in all its infinite wisdom, decided to close all it's food-halls in Greece. I'm not exaggerating, I was devastated. Well, I was a bit miffed. For the next few years I relied on friends and family and infrequent trips to England to keep my addiction in check. This part of the story has a happy ending. Alpha Vita have finally got with the programme and now imports PG tips for a reasonable price. Yes, they ship their tea too but again, who can afford it? The fact of my tea-drinking obsession does not define who I am but living in country where I cannot easily indulge my fairly typical everyday habit, highlights an aspect of my "foreignness". I have been unwilling to give up this part of my life and indeed go to great lengths to ensure that I don't have to.
HAIR
On a subject which does contribute to defining me. Hair. I am mixed race, as many of you already know. Something you may not know is that I don't get up in the morning with my hair looking fabulous as in the photograph. No. The lucky people who do see me in the morning are more likely to mistake me for someone who has been dragged through a hedge backwards. Several times. I have scary hair. My wonderful hair needs help and that means the right hair products. Living in multicultural London for so many years made buying hair necessities easy. A short trip to the local supermarket and you're done. For those who are uneducated in non-white hair, Timotei and Fructis just will not do. I used to use the children's shampoos and conditioners from African Pride as my hair is thick but very fine. The most essential ingredient for my particular gorgeous locks is the leave-in conditioner.
Aside: This is not a moan about Greece so please do not take it as such. Now read on.
When I first came here I had many issues to grapple with. Language being the big one (still is). Hair came fairly low on the list of priorities ( below tea in fact) I'm not a great fusser about hair but when you actually get the chance to go out and "let your hair down" you don't want to scare people, do you? There are only two or three shops in Athens that stock black hair products and the range is small and very expensive. I am lucky though. I can make a bottle of Luster's Pink Oil Moisturizer last a very long time so I'm not complaining.
DIFFERENCE
My tea drinking and, more importantly, my hair are part of who I am. The tea obsession I suppose I could change if I really had to but I don't have to. So I won't. My hair is here to stay. I can no more change that than I can change the colour of my skin. One of the results of living in this relatively homogenous society (although that is changing) is that your awareness of being different is always with you. I have been accused at times of being obsessed with race or identity (only by people who do not have to think about it) For those of us that do and are, being conscious of difference is a constant thing. It is always there. Not always loudly or in your face but there, in everything you do. From making a cup of tea to facing the world. I would not want to change who I am for anything but sometimes, I would like to not have to think about it. I do not need people to tell me I don't belong here or anywhere else for that matter. I have lived my whole life knowing that some people would rather I was not here. But here I am. Grappling with life, the same as everyone else. Getting on with it like everyone else. And wanting in some small way to talk about what it is like to be part of a minority.
And don't get me started about how I miss patties and plantains and fish and chips and pubs and ….
More later. Real life intrudes!
Devious you are living in the wrong neighbourhood! I live in Kypseli, which has a very large immigrant population, meaning: at the Polish shop up the street I found very good loose Assam tea leaves, which even met with the approval of my stepmother, who is British, as big a tea fanatic as you, and has gone through a similar tea odyssey over the years. (There I also satisfy there my craving for my favourite kosher dill pickles, homemade pierogies, and other such delicacies.) In Kypseli, it is also almost impossible to go two feet without stumbling across a hair salon catering to a black clientele (including products for sale). I have also recently discovered (though have yet to explore) an African/Arabic food produce shop, and a health food shop. So come on over and check it out!
Unfortunately, Kypseli does seem to lack (or at least I haven’t discovered it yet) a Chinese produce store – but that’s OK, cause I found a really good one (including vegetables, and all the sauces and more which they have at Alpha Vita in the pricey “foreign import” food section) in Ambelokipi, right around the corner from the Carrefour.
(Alas I can’t tell you specifically where any of these places are, because I am one of those people who navigates by “oh, there’s the house with the pink door, and there’s the crooked orange tree”. But I am trying to make a habit of writing down addresses in a little book (for when my landmarks/memory fail me – which is often). So next time I find them I’ll post the addresses if you’re interested.)
One thing I don’t get, though, is why most of the Chinese here decided to open up clothing stores instead of restaurants like they did in Canada and England. Don’t they realise what they’re depriving us of?!!
I have to admit, as well, that I would KILL for a good shish taouk. Montreal has a Lebanese restaurant on every corner, and the pitas are about a dollar, so I basically lived off Lebanese food through university. Greek souvlaki is just no match, and I seriously suffered withdrawal symptoms my first few months here.
I also really miss cheap sushi.
And I can’t find the good blistex lip balm in the round tubs which I am addicted to, so every time my mom comes to visit she has to bring me about 6 of them.
Basically what I’m saying is that I, and every other foreigner here, know what you’re talking about - and even the delights of fresh galaktobouriko, spanakopita, and 10 euro haircuts can’t fill the hole.
As for ‘difference’, I have to admit it’s something I’ve never had to deal with till now (unless being a huge nerd in high school counts) so it’s something of a novelty to me here. Especially since my accent, though not quite Greek, doesn’t sound American, so people generally assume I must be Russian and have, on several occasions, discriminated against me in their shops for this reason (their attitude changing drastically the minute I uttered a surly “Thanks a lot”) So suddenly I find myself belonging to an assumed “minority”, despite the fact that I am actually half Greek! It’s an… interesting, and eye-opening, experience, I must admit.
I’m very glad you’re here, you tea-drinking fancy-haired Diva! LOL
KASSANDRA BEAT ME TO IT ,,
I THOUGHT ROCK N ROLLERS (BAND PEOPLE GOT AROUND)
CASSIES RIGHT YOU’VE GOT TO GET OUT TO SOME NEIGHBORHOODS
LIKE KYPSELI, I MEAN DUH….
BY THE WAY “RIDGEWAYS NATURAL LEMON TEA ”
IS IN MY CUPBOARD .
ΤΗΕ ΟΝΕ ΙΝ ΤΗΕ ΤΙΝ , 100 grams.. ring a bell… nose wise i mean .
HERES THE IMPORTER, ASDDRESS AND TELLY:
it was on the back of the tin can.
ΧΑΤΖΗΠΑΝΑΓΟΣ
ΛΕΩΦΟΡΟ ΑΛΙΜΟΥ 70
ΤΚ 17455 ΑΛΙΜΟΣ
ΤΕΛΕΦΟΝ 210-9950603
now that i think about it , its a fact youve not seen a lot of this country
or LIVED IT . … XMMM.
I MEAN GREEKS UNFORTUNETALY IMPORT A LOT OF TEA.
GROW A LOT OF TEASSSS,
AND EXPORT A LOT OF TEASSSS(GREEK KIND).
PROPOSAL(IF YOU EVER GET UP IN THE PILION AREA
YOU DEFINETELY HAVE TO TRY THE LOCAL STRANDS
NOT THE WISHY WASHY STUFF THEY BRING IN FROM ATHENS)
ON THE ISLAND OF ALONNISOS(SAVE THE SEAL FAME)
THERE IS A WONDERFUL WOMANS COOP, THAT MAKE
LOCAL CANDY AND PICK HERBS AND TEAS
THAT LL BLOW YOUR MIND
HAIR DOS THERES A WASAFI WOMAN HAS A KIND OF
HAIRDO PLACE BEHIND THE ATHENS MAYORS OFFICE.
DETAILS I DO NOT KNOW.
YOURE LETTIN LOOSE A BIT.
THATS GOOD YOU NEEDED A BREATHER.
TAKE CARE.
””’Z A R D O Z””’
P.S. ON THE TV CHANNEL MEGA
THERE IS A VIDOCLIP THEY SING MEGALICIOYS
AND BUTTERFLYS GO BY , AND PAINTED LADIES,
NOW THERES ONE IN PARTICULAR WHICH A GIRL HAS GREAT LIKENESS TO
YOU , FROM YOURE PICTURE IN “THIS IS NOT MY COYNTRY”
I SAY THIS BECAUSE I THINK OF THE WOMAN DIVA,,,,EVERYDAY
WAIT LET ME EXPLAIN….
AND THEN IT HITS , ME WHAT DID THIS GOOD PERSON DO TODAY
FOR EVIL NOT TO PERSIST.
ANYWAYS SOME DAYS ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS. KEEP STRONG == Z ==
Kassandra, Thanks, as always, for your comments and observations. I know Athens quite well and Kipseli is one of the places that wild haired girls like me go to buy our hair products. Another is in Pangrati and the other is somewhere in the centre. I can’t remember the name of the street but you can buy all things “ethnic” there. I will get back to you all if I remember it!
Thank you SeaWitch as ever.
Dear Zardoz, I am having a little trouble interpreting your words today. But I will try. I have seen quite a bit of Greece not all by any stretch but a fair bit. I have however LIVED this country for the past 11 years. I have experienced the daily reality of work and taxes and illnesses, pregnancy and accidents. Pretty much the whole range of real living in a foreign country. The tea story was an illustration not really to be taken so seriously as to say “How awful not to be able to find good tea” but rather as metaphor(?) for what I am used to. What I like. What I am.
I cannot reply to the last part of your comment because I have no clue as to what you mean? Can you clarify or am I being an enormous idiot?
Good read, I really enjoyed it. A friend came over from Switzerland a few days ago, asked me if he should bring anything I miss and I could not even think up one thing. But being “different”, an “outsider” of some sorts here, that’s the well known feeling that comes up with reading your post. Thank you.
in the last part i described similarities
between a t.v. character in a commercial
and your picture in your blog
which i combine when seeing
the commercial,.
and your blog slogan comes to mind.
thats it.
simpleminded as i think i am , i took the tea , literaly.
stupid on my part.
and thought that there are quite a few tea and herb producing
mountains in all of greece that i think are worthwhile
to see and visit,
because all in all
ive come to think of you
as greek, as a part (healthier part of this community)
and maybe among the best
this country has to offer
in the betterment of human nature
some other bloggers are included too.
foreign for me
are things that represent nothing good for humanity.
soorry if anything was misconstrued on my part
hope i cleared up , my foggy comments
==Z==
Thanks Betabug, glad to see you are still around here.
Good Morning Zardoz, thank you for the very complimentary comment clarification. I am honoured that at least in your mind I am part of this community in Greece. And although I find it hard sometimes to work out your writing, I didn’t believe you were saying anything bad. I was just confused, if you know what i mean.
Yes, I live in Pattisia and there are tons of ‘ethnic’ shops here as well. I am also a tea person You should try egyptian tea sometime it’s pretty good but my favourite is Indian tea with spices, which is not for everyday but only to bring out for special occasions. As for the hair - sorry can’t help you there
Your excellent (and quite originally cobbled) “Differences” was picked as one of two featured posts in today’s edition (April 7) of the daily Best in Blogs review at Candide’s Notebooks.pt
Buru, Hey you again. Hope all is ok with you? Glad to see you back with us. You have been missed. Love DD
Thank you very much Candide’s Notebooks.
Well my first throught on reading this blog and the comments that have been made is that I really want some Indian tea now.
So you came to Greece in 1995 Diva? Partly I think you are lucky you didn’t come earlier. During the 80s just about everything you could possibly imagine was considered a luxury item and very hard to get hold of.
Things are better now, you can get most things you need here in Greece without having to write long long lists for stuff you want friends to bring from the UK.
As for your metaphors (?) then I suppose that went totally over my head too but I’ll use the excuse that it’s late and to be fair, I am a bit foreign
But I do back up the thoughts of the SeaWitch, we are glad you’re here. In such a short time you have opened my eyes so much to various different issues.
I’m sure through your efforts, you achieve more good than you could ever imagine.
I have commented on your site once before – opposing any new mosques in Greece – quickly realising that my Greek (diaspora) nationalist views did not sit well with you.
Since I do not share your concerns for ‘oppressed minorities’ in Greece and you, no doubt, find my nationalism abhorrent, I don’t see any point in entering a discussion on these issues with you or your commenters – unless there is a point to insulting each other.
However, as a Greek – born, brought up and continuing to live in London – I have to tell you that I am antagonised, to say the least, by English people who go to live in Greece and find very few positive things to say about the country, who seem in fact to intensely dislike the experience of living there.
In your criticism and contempt for Greece, you should remember that Greece suffered – on and off – 800 years of foreign domination, during which foreigners, such as yourself, came to Greece and, among other things, developed a racist and colonial discourse that sought to demean, degrade and dehumanise Greeks.
Are you sure you are not continuing this tradition?
What would you say if I, as a Briton, were to go to, say, Ghana or South Africa, and rather than dwell on the progress these countries are trying to make having escaped centuries of foreign domination and exploitation, I spent my time bemoaning the backwardness of Africans, accusing them of failing to meet the standards of human behaviour which I have arbitrarily set. At the very least, you would accuse me of being neo-colonialist.
Ultimately, what I’m trying to say is: haven’t you got anything positive to say about Greece? You always seem so angry and fed up. Doesn’t Greece provide you with any consolation?
Demonax, I find a lot of positive things about Greece in Diva’s blog. I live here because I *want* to live here. I wouldn’t do that if I didn’t really, really like it. From reading Diva’s weblog I get the feeling that this is true for her and others too. One of the first posts I read here, was her describing her neighborhood and it sounded pleasant enough.
But in Greece - like in any other country - there are also things happening that shouldn’t happen. We need people like Diva to show us this, lest we forget between the beach, the bouzoukia and the kafenion. And don’t tell me that only the foreigners complain, I have some Greek friends which I choose to see only rarely, because they are always complaining (or you might just turn on the TV news to hear a lot more complaining than Diva will ever get to do on her weblog).
Demonax, I suppose you have to remember that Diva is here in Greece by choice. I’m sure if Diva didn’t enjoy living here, she’d leave.
Secondly, I agree with your complaints about Brits who come and live in Greece and then do nothing but whine and complain to English language newspapers about it. I’ve often wrote to the Athens News (a weekly English langage paper here) to complain about those kinds of whining people and to pretty much put them right on a few issues.
BUT (and this is a big BUT), Diva isn’t one of those ‘whining Brits’. If you read through her posts, she writes about serious issues that need attention. Never once do I feel she’s attacking Greeks and that is because she isn’t. I mean, you live in London, born and bread. I live in Athens born and bread, I’m Greek, this is my home city and a lot of what I read here on this blog, I didn’t know about. Before finding this blog, I did what most other people do here, turn a blind eye.
Yeah, thats right, we turn a blind eye to the roma gypsies and their troubles, we turn a blind eye to racism, we turn a blind eye when TV news goes out of its way to portray foreigners as bad.
Diva doesn’t turn a blind eye to this, she points these kinds of issues out and because of that, you’re able to spot exactly what she blogs about in your daily life.
You don’t want a Mosque here in Athens, well you don’t live here so I’m sure whether we get one or not, it’ll not affect you in the slightest. Personally, I do live here and I can’t help but think why shouldn’t there be a mosque here? There’s Greek Orthodox church’s all over the world.
But we’ll see how this plays out…
But in the meantime, try not to get all defensive when you read this blog. Like me, you might actually learn something.
DD I’m totally with you on the tea thing but especially THE HAIR!! As a curly locks myself I can totally relate to the waking up with the bush on my head thing. The other day I decided to experiment and go out without any hair product on…BIG mistake! About an hour later I looked like a giant candy floss on legs and people I would meet could barely hold back their sniggers….This is not my country either and I LOVE your blog!
I’ve been thinking about blogging about the way my own identity has been constituted through being positioned as ‘different’ and the ‘other.’ I spent my childhood as an english speaking, nascently gay, roman catholic girl in a predominantly welsh speaking, welsh nationalist, homophobic, chapel-going community. It has had an effect!
If you ever get desperate, email us at mind the gap and we will mail you tea!
How interesting you think that Greece is “the beach, the bouzoukia and the kafenion”. In which case, England is the Queen, drunks and ignorant narrow-mindednesss.
What is the point of living abroad if you bring all your prejudices with you?
Try addressing your own prejudices and inadequacies first before condemning those you perceive in others.
I have stayed out of this one for a bit just to see what would happen. I think the responses to Demonax say more than I could in attempting to defend myself. Thank you to all who left such kind responses.
Demonax. I suppose the only thing I can say is that I feel differently about how you as a Greek man living in England should respond to the situation there in my country. I would EXPECT you to speak out about injustices whether you were English or not. I would not want you to keep quiet about racism towards Greeks (or anyone for that matter) just because you were not of the nationality of that country. I guess that’s just how I am.
And as you said,”I do not share your concerns for ‘oppressed minorities’ in Greece”
I think that says it all.
This is a wonderful post. I lived most of my life never being the “different” one, and here in Greece I am. It is refreshing getting this perspective, but many times I hate it.
You just reminded me of all the U.S. convenience foods and things I miss. Browsing through the Marks and Spencer shop website made me crave so many things.
Being an ex-pat, whether by choice or as a means of escape is not easy. Of course we are going to criticize things about Greece. Things in Greece are weird sometimes. =p Just as Greeks would find things in America or England or Sweden or wherever weird. Greece isn’t what we grew up with, and we can be sad and miss things and criticize what we aren’t used to without it being abnormal or cruel to Greece and Greeks. There are plenty of nice things about Greece too. Just give me a few days to think of something.
The logic of your argument, DD, seems to be that you have the right to go to any country in the world you choose – regardless of its history, culture, idiosyncrasies – and judge, condemn and criticise it in your fight against ‘injustice’.
Of course, this is the same logic Tony Blair used to justify the invasion of Iraq.
Does it not give you pause for thought that you as someone from England – carrying all the baggage of imperialism, colonialism and racism that every English and English-born person carries – still feel you have the right to set up shop in a foreign country and try and tell the locals how they should organise their lives?
As for “There are plenty of nice things about Greece too. Just give me a few days to think of something” – if I were to go to India or Jamaica and say this I would be accused of racism and bigotry. I thought this site was for people trying to fight perceived racism and bigotry in Greece, not a platform for those who think Greeks are a ’safe’ target for their prejudices.
‘Whenever you hear anyone abuse the Jews, pay attention, because he is talking about you.’
Franz Fanon said this in reference to how uncomfortable he – a black man from the Caribbean – felt when his French friends indulged in anti-semitism.
He knew that you cannot be an anti-semite without being anti all other races too.
Thus, if you think it’s funny to be bigoted against Greeks, then I believe, after Fanon, you think it’s funny to be bigoted against black people, Chinese, Asians and so on.
I enjoy reading this site – otherwise I would not bother to contribute – but I do think there is a lot of self-satisfaction here, people willing to challenge others’ beliefs but not their own, people who proclaim they are devoid of prejudice when in fact they have displaced it, found other means to express it.
Obviously, you don’t know what winking means. I was so obviously kidding.
Much ado about nothing dude. Chill out.
Just like I said if you think it’s funny to insult Greeks, then you must also think it funny to insult Jews, the Irish, Indians and so on. Any good anti-black jokes for us, melusina, or maybe black people should just ‘chill out’ too.
I’ve heard this from racists so many times: ‘Don’t be offended. It was only a joke.’
To repeat: some people on this site need to engage in serious self-criticism.
There’s only one thing worse than a racist and that’s someone who says and thinks they’re not a racist but in fact is as racist as they come.
Demonax - so nobody who isn’t Greek should criticize things in Greece? Care to support that argument further?
If we Greeks are the only ones who can see ourselves and our country’s problems clearly, then we need glasses. Everyone develops a certain tunnelvision in the place where they live, we tend to blind ourselves to things we prefer not to think about. I’m sure there’s lots of weird stuff in London that you don’t see until a Greek friend says something. But I dare you to come live in Athens for a while and not notice the shit. Bet your blog would be more critical than this one.
Greeks have a tendency to keep their worst problems in-house (that’s to say there isn’t an English translation) and we are not the only ones. But Greek newspapers are bursting with articles and opinions about all the problems every single day. There’s not enough ink in the world to print all the bitching. Corruption, white collar crime, black market, profiteering, you name it. Even one TV screen isn’t enough to hold all the yelling, we’ve developed picture-in-picture into high art.
And yet the problems persist. I can’t think of any one problem - like corruption, like price-gouging, LIKE PARKING!!!!, let alone racism, sexism, etc.. - in the last 15 years that has been resolved. There is an indolence and a ridiculously short attention span here that allows this stuff to go on and on and on. After a while, society as a whole stops being a victim and becomes an accessory. The tunnelvision closes in. We need outside voices to provide some perspective and well, you know, kick some ass.
You are right that there is something really distasteful about the image of an Englishman dismissing the locals with a well-cut turn of phrase. Think about that for a minute.
By the way, today I heard that there’s this idea to turn the old mosque in Monastiraki back into a mosque. (It’s been a museum since god knows when.) It addresses the issue of location, and it is an old mosque after all. Right next to the metro. How’s that for an idea.
‘Demonax - so nobody who isn’t Greek should criticize things in Greece? Care to support that argument further?
I think that if you’re criticising something you better be sure you are well-informed about the object of your disapproval, because in the absence of knowledge, what remains is prejudice; what remains is melusina who defends her right to ‘criticize what we aren’t used to’ – as good a definition of racism as I’ve heard in a long time.
Yes, I think ex-pats in Greece, or anywhere else for that matter, should be very careful about condemning the country they live in. These people should be even more careful if they come from countries like England or the US which have a continuing tradition of traipsing around the world telling other people how to live their lives and bombing and shooting them when they don’t pay enough attention.
DD defends her right to fight, without regard to borders, against ‘injustice’. It is not a totally invalid argument. I just point out that it is not so different an argument from that deployed by Bush and Blair in the so-called ‘war on terror’ and by every other colonialist and imperialist there’s ever been.
As for ‘the image of an Englishman dismissing the locals with a well-cut turn of phrase’, you’re right, I agree, it is distasteful. Why do I need to think about it for a minute?
Well, I see your point and I think you’re wrong in this case. There are indeed Brit expats who dine out on complaining and criticizing the bloody Greeks all the time. (And American expats, and French etc..) But diva is not one of them.
There is a qualitative dfference in criticizing Greeks for yelling all the time, for driving like morons, for idiosyncratic business practices, and in criticizing Greece for allowing/forcing some of its citizens to live in dire circumstances. You will not find many Greek-bashing British expats who give a toss about the Roma. Diva’s writing has a different nature, it’s unfair to classify her with the rest of the chattering set. And I think it’s a bit much to compare her writing with the threat of military force.
Diva does not hold up British values as something all Greeks should emulate. She does hold up basic, universal values of humanity. In this day and age, it’s shocking to see that an entire category of Greek citizens is obliged to live in the 12th century. There are very, very few Greek reporters who will go out and report on a story like that, it’s just way below their radar.
So, yes, old colonialist habits need to be spotted and condemned and I’m sure there are blogs for people who just want to complain about the bloody Greeks. This isn’t that.
How the hell anyone could survive for so long without tea is a things of wonder! Great post.
I often wonder what I’d miss if I ever decided to emigrate. On reflection a good cup of tea would be among the first things, along with my local spit and sawdust pub.
I would take this opportunity to side with Diva. Her blog is about making people aware of racism and prejudice, trying to bring attention to the injustices here. Now if that makes her a racist, then I plead guity too.
Another question I’d like to make is why does her place of birth have to do with the problems she describes ? (I always say Iceland, just to confound people). Only Greeks have he right to comment about Greece and the rest of us have to keep our mouths shut, even though we pay taxes, provide useful services and do our best to fit in ?
αγαπητε, demonax
Σε βρισκω να βαζεις ταμπελες,
σε κατι που δεν του αξιζει,
κανε τον κοπο , και ξαναπερασε
το μπλογκ της ΝΤΙΒΑΣ,
ισως διαμορφωσεις καλυτερα
την αποψη σου…………………
== Ζ ==
Diva,
Great post.
It reminded me of my father who immigrated to the US in 1970 and continually whined: “God, do I miss Greek coffee”. He stayed there for many, many years and always had a rant that even though he bought imported greek coffee it still “didn’t taste as good”. I think he was using this as an excuse to reminisce his former life in Greece, the cafes and his friends.
When he finally “returned to the homeland”, 30 years later, he’d ask my Mom: “Don’t we have any REAL american coffee?” My mom would just shake her head and roll her eyes.
[Irrelevant, but just in case you were still wondering, skink's doing just fine!. Later...]
Hello to everyone following this thread. I just caught up reading all the comments here. You have all been busy! Thank you for the great feedback. I am glad it managed to get people thinking in some way. I am writing a follow-up post today if I get a chance.
[BTW Steph, happy to hear that the skink is doing well and seems to be rather busy!]
Diva, good to be back, thanks. I think Scarf + spelled it out. There IS a qualitative difference. Those issues discussed here are not manufactured they are real, and the fact the so many people follow them through this blog gives credit to Diva (Although i’m sure she’d like a larger audience) - not because she is egocentric or anything like that but i beleive she is truly interested.
Demonax, I have also lived abroad for 20+ years and have noticed that greeks abroad are very sensitive to any criticism of their home country. I think greeks abroad are probable even more patriotic and dare I say nationalistic, because in their heads Greece is this ideal country where everything is wonderful, something that we all take great pride in. I’ve been there. When I was abroad, I always felt great pride in claiming my greekness. I don’t mean to patronize you and put you in this or that category, but in my experience, the things that drove me mad when I was living in Egypt are 80% of the same things that have the same effect on me here. Corruption, misgovernment, minoroties rights, white collar crime (nice ly put scarf!). And just like I used to rant when I was there about the shit there I continue to do it about the same poo-poo here.
So take it easy on Diva or I’ll get my cousing who works in the Ministry of Interior to cancel your passport, Just kidding of course!
THIS COMMENT HAS BEEN REMOVED BY DEVIOUS DIVA