Finding our Feet in Greece!

It’s been a while since my last post.  I think Mike and I have been a little overwhelmed by Greece. I am reminded frequently of our time in the Middle East so many years ago.  In Greece, like the Middle East, traffic rules (or lack there of) are left up to interpretation.  The food is also similar - lots of cheese (especially feta), vegetables, honey based desserts like baklava, coffee and Ouzo! Greece, of course, is not the Middle East, but it is also not Germany, Switzerland or France, and takes a little getting used to.

Here’s a picture from our flat in Thessaloniki. We are staying in this flat courtesy of Bert and Adi Veenendaal.  Their daughter, Elka, and their Greek son in law, Yannis own the building which has three flats in it. Yanni’s mother lives in the bottom flat with a caretaker.  Elka and Yanni have the middle flat, and Bert and Adi rent the upper flat which they have loaned us while we are 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.  Yanni is a plumber by trade.  Everyone up and down the street lives in similar flats.  There are shops opening out on the main street below every flat.  It seems everyone knows each other in the neighborhood.

Almost everyone in Thessaloniki lives in this type of flat, by the way. Thessaloniki had a terrible fire in 1917 and created quite a housing crisis.  The Greeks secured their independence from the Turks in 1832, deepening the housing problem as thousands of Greek refugees came pouring from Turkey into Thessaloniki.  The net result was the construction of thousands of apartment complexes usually 3-6 stories high.  Here’s a picture I took from the upper city.  This is only a small slice of the city.

The Veenendaal flat is quite comfortable.  We have air conditioning which is very helpful as most days it is in the high eighties or low nineties in the shade.   The other day I read a local thermometer which said it was 40 degrees Celsius.  That’s 104 Fahrenheit, but Mike pointed out it was in the sun.  Still...!   I think most people do not use their air conditioning.  We do!  The  result of the heat, however, is that most of the shops open around 9:00 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.  Getting adjusted to the heat has been a challenge.  We keep getting caught down in the city center in the heat of the day and have to make for the shade and some water so as not to get over heated.

Here are a few other observations about living in Greece:
1. Everything is in Greek and everyone does not speak English.  All those hours practicing Modern Greek are paying off.  Even the little we know is helpful.
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 upstairs with us... suitcases, food, etc.  There is no elevator.  Mike says this means we can take more trips to the bakery!
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 settings are 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. Shampoos and personal care items are purchased at the pharmacy.  Nuts and candy are bought in the nut  shop.  Sweet patisseries 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 Yannis tell us.  Oh... and you need to bring your own bags to carry home your purchases.
7. Clothing can be purchased in shops all around the neighborhood.  I did a little shopping in the last couple of weeks because my clothing was mostly too warm for the hot climate here.  Shopping is an interesting experience because the shop keepers all want to help you pick out your clothes.  They run to the back for the correct size or a different item they think you will like better.  They are not shy about telling you if they don’t like something on you or if they do!  And if it doesn’t fit just right they will send you around the corner to the home of a seamstress who will make the alterations in less than a day for a few Euros!

We love being in a different culture, but there are always bumps and missteps with such experiences.  For us, these have been eased by the kindness and assistance of Elke and Yannis.  They have been quick to ask questions when we look confused and more helpful than we would have asked them to be.  They are delightful people and we have been the beneficiary of the good graces they naturally seem to offer to everyone they know.

Part of me thinks I could get used to this slower, 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 fruit 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... after the sun begins to drop of course and we, like our Greek neighbors, venture out for the second half of the day!