A World Away

Today marks one week in Greece, and although Greece is part of the EU and definitely part of Europe, it feels like a world away.  I am reminded frequently of our time in the Middle East.  Traffic rules (or lack there of) are similar to Egypt.  The food is also similar - lots of lamb, vegetables, baklava, coffee and Ouzo! Greece, of course, is not the Middle East, but it is also not Germany, Switzerland or France.

Here’s a picture from our flat in Thessaloniki. We are staying in this flat courtesy of one of the member couples of my church in La Porte - Bert and Adi.  Their daughter, Elka, and their Greek son in law, Yanni own the building which has three flats in it.  Yanni’s mother, who has Alzheimer’s, lives in the bottom flat with a caretaker.  Elka and Yanni have the middle flat and Bert and Adi rent the upper flat and have given it to us for as long as we need it here in Thessaloniki.  Yanni also has a shop in the basement which opens out onto the street.  You walk down about four steps into his shop where he sells water purifiers on the side.  Yanni is a plumber by trade.  Everyone up and down the street lives in these flats.  There are shops opening out on the main street below every flat.  And everyone knows each other in the neighborhood.

The flat is quite comfortable.  We have air conditioning which is very helpful as most days it is in the high eighties or low nineties.  I think most people do not use their air conditioning.  We do!  The net result of the heat, however, is that most of the shops open by eight or nine in the morning and close at 2:00 PM.  There follows a quiet time when people go home and eat their lunch and then rest or nap.  The shops reopen at 5:30 and stay open until 8:00 PM.  Most Greeks eat dinner between 8:00 and 12:00 PM.

We started getting oriented to Greek life and then promptly left for our trip to Philippi with a side trip to Mount Athos. It was an amazing trip!!! (More on that later.). We returned home to Thessaloniki on Thursday night and have been getting a little rest and focusing on getting on our Greek life!  Here are a few of the adjustments:
1. Everything is in Greek and everyone does not speak English as we were led to believe.  All those hours practicing Modern Greek are paying off.
2. We live on the third floor of a big building.  We walk up the marble circular staircase every time we go to our flat.  Everything is in marble here!  We carry everything upstairswith us... suitcases, food, etc.  There is no elevator.
3. We have a small washing machine, but no dryer.  Not really a problem.  The clothes are hung up on a clothes line on the roof, up another flight of marble steps.  The roof is beautiful, by the way.  Elka and Yanni have it set up with table and chairs for dining or relaxing and decorated with plants.
4. The oven is in Celsius.  Thank God for google.
5. We have to turn on the hot water 25 minutes before we need it and then turn it off again afterwards to save on electricity which is very expensive.
6. Food is purchased in a variety of shops that are all within a few minutes walk of our flat. We go to the butcher for meat, the bakery for breads and pastries, the fruit and vegetable stand for fruits and vegetables unless we go to the farmer’s market on Saturdays where the growers sell everything fresh from the farm.  (We went today.) Shampoos and personal care items are purchased at the pharmacy.  Nuts and candy are bought in a separate shop.  Sweet pasteries are purchased in yet another shop!  There are a couple of small supermarkets, but one only goes there for items you can’t find in the local shops - so Elke and Yanni tell us.  Oh... and you need to bring your own bags to carry home your purchases.

So today, I decided to go shopping for a light weight skirt and swimsuit.  The skirt I brought with me is too heavy for this climate and I needed a swimsuit.  So many places to swim here!  Elke offered to come with me, because I had tried shopping on my own and everything on the racks was too tiny. Elke assured me there were larger sizes in the back.  She was right.  Elke knew the shop keepers by name and once she explained what I was looking for, the shopkeepers started pulling out all sorts of different skirts.  Too short?  They had a longer one.  Too long?  They could shorten it for me.  The swimsuit situation was even more personal.  I found a suit I liked, but it was too big.  They sent a girl to fetch a smaller size from their shop down the street.  It was too long, so they sent me to a tailor!  She received me in her home while she was making lunch for her husband and fit the suit to me.  Then she made the alterations and called a couple of hours later so I could pick it up.  The alterations cost 3 Euros, or about 4 dollars!

Part of me thinks I could get used to this simpler lifestyle with close knit neighborhoods.  We made a salad for lunch with fried feta cheese, cashews from the nut shop and fresh cherries from the farmer’s market.  We ate it with a slice of bread baked at the bakery this morning.  Tonight we are walking to the sea shore where we will have a leisurely dinner with Elke.  The waiter will likely bring us an ice cream desert or a glass of Ouzo after the meal “on the house.”   Tomorrow we will go to church again at the Orthodox Church where we understand maybe half a dozen words and have to stand for the entire service.  So maybe I couldn’t get used to everything!