The differences of mentality...a Guide.

I was talking to some of my foreign friends and we agreed on some points.
The differences in culture. the life style.
They liked beeing here, but were puzzled about certain things.
Those of us who were here longuer were less kind.
Me in particular.
I am half Greek.
The guide applies to me also.

To be read with a grain of salt



1)HUMOR (They dont have any)
Do Never and under any circumstance make a joke concerning your greek friend, even if its a harmless one, he will dwell on the fact you showed no respect to his face.
However, if you make fun of someone else(not in a nice way), he will "get it", he will feel right at home and participate, especially if its someone like his best friend.
That explains why he gets insulted if you tease him.
If you are a woman, for Goodness sake, do not joke, if you dont want to fight some guy off of you while he sscreaming that you gave him the green light.
Because women who joke witn men are poutanes, not serious and asking for it.

2)POLITENESS
If you get robed by a taxi driver, pushed in a supermarket or someone takes your place in line, think twice before speaking. This is THEIR country and you should be grateful to be allowed to be there at that moment.


3)HISTORY
When they were building the Acropolis, all of you were monkeys. All languages come from Greek, and its a heritage that gives asylum and greatness towards all the rest of the world.Kind of like if we were made from the breath of God(or when He s passing wind)
Oh, and they have a extra gene(Im hearing lately...)


4)SOLIDARITY
They hate one another,they fight all the time, they call you every name under the sun if they disagree with you(politically, for your blog, how you raise your child, you name it)because they think they are "passionate".
"Like the italians but better."



5) MARRIAGE and family
Marriage is a 3 or a 4 people affair. Him and his wife an girlfriend was the stereotype for years. Lately the wife has come in with a boyfriend, sometimes the mother in law comes in the equation too.
Be careful not to rat the infidelity of a friend, and if you marry a greek person, expect your child to be named after a your father in law, and to be raised by them too.


6)FRIENDSHIP
Dont invest too much.
Its the thing they do to pass time till they get married.
Then its like changing a wardrobe that fits the new status...they get married friends.
Expect your friends to sleep with your girlfriend, and you ll be fine


7)PRIVACY
The word doesnt even exist in greek.
Expect everybody to know everything about you from the moment you will set foot in the neibourghood, and to hear everybody s opinion or lecture about how you should live your life.And get heavily criticized


8)HONNESTY
Is the excuse they use for telling you off.
In general, they are very honnest about how they feel when you leave the room.


9) RESPONSIBILITY
Its always someone elses fault.
The turks, the man next door,you...
In case of your break up, your friends gather around and try to find out who the guilty party is, and trial him out.Expect phrases like "its your fault you didnt see it coming" even if you were beaten by mistake from a complete stranger.Understanding and compassion are a rare commodity.


10)CAPABILITY
They are better than you, they know better than you, you are, under every circumstance on a lower level(dont ask me more, I never understood it). They read a lot and like to show how much they know by quoting famous phrases, writting articles,anything that will "polish"
and show off their culture, and therefor their "superiority".
Trivial pursuit is everybodys favourite game.


11) Dont expect to see a lot of pubic hair on either sexes. Women tend to be too skinny, trying to fit the beauty magazines, and normal women (what is concidered normal in Europe anyway) are concidered chunky.



12)Women are sexually liberated but its a big secret, with everyone in on it.



13)Women are second class citizens. Payed less.
Expected to work, tend on their husbands, do the house chores (lately men cook-but dont clean up their mess or the dishes,take the garbage out and maybe put the washing machine)and raise a family while looking gorgeous. If you re a man, you ll make some woman very happy. If youre a woman...run! :P

14) they dont smile, they dont say goodmorning to strangers, they are the definiotion of crankyness.(taxi drivers, public offices etc)

15) If you want to pay taxes, register, whatever, expect to go back at least 3 times, always something is missing you should know about(but no one ever bothered to tell you)to go to 15 different offices till you get the right one by mistake and to be treated like anuisance.
Smile,
If you get angry you ll never get the job done.


16) If you order a steak rare, expect it to come back well done.
There seems to be a hearing problem all over the nation, not only when it comes to food, but also in your everyday onteractions.


In general, keep praising the ancient history, tell how much you admire and love Greece, accept invitations for dinners, praise the cooking, tell what studies you ve done, be polite, dont protest if you pay 4 euro for a bottle of water,dont look at the women even if they are dogs(Its their women, see),men will show you friendliness(dont worry, they are not all gay, its mostly genuine), and things will be fine.


If you have a beautiful wife/girlfriend
if you are american
if you are albanian
If you are a tourist back packing
Dont even bother to read this.
You dont stand a chance.




But hey, if you should get abused, yelled at, criticized, can you think of a better place than on top of the Acropolis?
Praise the Lord.
(He has a special contract with the greek church)

Serious NOte:people in the islands ARE POLITE and they GET the fact that there are other people in this planet and they make an effort to meet you half way. And of course there are a lot of exceptions.I made it a life s mission to find them and create a ring of humanity, respect and kind hearted people...regardless of origin ;)