Greece - 4 Answers
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1 :
I'm from UK Hardest thing(s) to get used to: rudeness - lack of rules - red tape - bribes - dirt (public places/ hospitals/ taverna toilets etc) gossip - miserable faces Miss the most - British humour and characters ... you know the kind you meet and can talk the hind leg off a donkey! Laughter - real jokes and having good fun - not caring what people think of you. SMILES - manners Ms_S - you went through exactly what I did - but I experienced it 20 yrs ago! Thought things had changed!
2 :
Being far away from friends and family. The language barrier. The invasion of privacy and gossipers. The first two years were the worst. What do I miss the most? Now, nothing.
3 :
I'm from Australia (having no Greek family...like I am not Greek Australian) I miss the shopping...which ok...I love my island and I don't exactly want s massive 5 story shopping centre here, but I can't help but miss the shopping and my favourite brands and the prices I was used to. I miss all the different foods. Ok, I loooove Greek food, but in Australia, we are such a multicultural society that we have every food imaginable! I miss Thai food and Indian food the most...you can only really get that in like Athens or Thessaloniki...the good stuff I mean. What was a HUGE shock to me, was the downright racism I experienced! I'm sorry to say this because I know Greeks are extrememly patriotic and sensitive about their country, and I am sorry to say it. It didnt come from everyone, there were many people here on my island who were very friendly and welcoming and hospitable. But from a lot of other people...especially older women...they saw me as some sort of foreign whore or something. I would say Yeia sas, Kalimera and they would walk right on by. Rumours went around that hurt my relationship with my boyfriend (now husband) and my best friend at the time I arrived in Greece who was English had a women who worked at the Kiosk across from her job actually scream at her to go back to her country and stop stealing the good Greek boys!! Its amazing, all these women who looked at me like I was dirt are now smiling and pinching my baby girl's cheek as I go past with her. I guess now its because I am now a nice little Greek wife....rather than some foreign tramp wanting to corrupt their sons. It was a really hurtful and stressful time. But I never gave up trying to show to people I was a nice and respectable girl, and they soon came around. But I only really trust people who were nice to me from the beginning.
4 :
I'm from England and now living in Athens... The hardest things to get used to were taxi drivers (they never seem to know where anywhere is, only pick you up if you're going somewhere they want to go, pick up other people on the way & ask for your phone number before letting you out at your destination!) and being stared at all the time. After a few years here though I have got quite good at & rather enjoy doing the staring thing myself now! The things I miss the most (all food & drink-related!) are 'proper' bacon, being able to get a decent cup of tea, ALL Marks & Spencer's food & Pimm's
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