I miss Sklavenitis. It's my favourite Greek supermarket:). You describe the cultural differences so well, Nick. I am so glad I stumbled upon you. Your posts are not only so accurate, but light, funny, and most importantly, they highlight that we *can* live in harmony and embrace our differences provided we remain open minded and accepting. Wishing you and your wife a wonderful Wednesday! :).

Thank you for such a thoughtful comment, I truly appreciate it. And yes… Sklavenitis nostalgia is very real 😄 Somehow a trip there can feel like a cultural experience. I’m so glad the posts resonate and reflect that beautiful coexistence of differences that makes life here so interesting. Have a lovely Wednesday!

I love this!! We’re from South Africa and living permanently in Greece since 2021. What a change, well …… what a welcome change it was for both of us, but more than often rather strange, or shall I say unfamiliar? There’s a lot still to get used to, like e.g time and timekeeping. I honed my timekeeping skills in the corporate world, strict time contracts, excellent timekeeping and prompt delivery, like in yesterday. But here the siga siga thing is something to get used to. I heard that expression the first time when we got handed the keys to our half completed house with the lower level just open space where the wind and occasionally red Sahara dust found its way, I was serious about starting construction soon and finishing it even sooner but was gently reprimanded with a siga siga and a dismissive wave of the hand. To the amazement of our Greek friends we managed to finish construction in 6 months which was record time, after all I did the supervising and managed the time, but know that it took us 14 months of agony to get permits and organising contractors to start construction. And then being invited to a friends house or that appointment at the hairdresser, we race like hell to get going and break all rules of the road to get there in time, my wife nowadays start to think it’s not necessary to rush like that but I somehow just can’t get to grips with it yet. Inviting friends over for supper at 7pm, everybody quickly accept but then the Viber requests start coming to change it to 8pm and soon afterwards to 9pm….I mean you can’t go to bed on a full stomach, or can you?? It’s strange, but coming to think of it, it’s nice

Thank you for such a thoughtful comment. What you describe — the slow recalibration of expectations around time, plans, and certainty — is one of the quiet adjustments of living here. Your story illustrates that beautifully. Siga, siga 🙏🇬🇷💙

OMG 😆 I love this one.

Thank you 🙏

Greece is a parallel universe to any other western country, I plan on moving there sometime soon and I love the challenge 🙂

Al, parallel universe is spot on — same map, different rules 😊 If you do make the move, the challenge eventually turns into stories… which is how many of mine started. Good luck with your plans.

your pieces always entertain and inform! very funny and astute. i come from birmingham, uk and i lived in london uk for a few years and there was much more of a cultural difference between them than i had realised. and then there’s the difference between my husband and myself - hes very mathsy and im the opposite. let’s just say we don’t speak the same lingo alot of the time. so yes i can imagine how another country is quite a challenge to adapt to, but it’s obviously giving you insight into the human species as a whole. if any of that makes sense from a brummie, like.

Mary, thank you for this lovely comment. You’re absolutely right — cultural differences can exist between countries, cities, and occasionally across the dinner table at home 😊 Somehow we all keep translating each other. Greetings from Kalamata to Birmingham.

😂 I enjoyed this so much! As someone raised between these two cultures and two languages, I felt every line. Sometimes you’re not arguing about the thing at all…you’re arguing about the cultural subtitles…the “what I really meant to say was”, and all that is lost in translation! 💛

Love this — thank you 💙
You captured it perfectly: sometimes the conversation isn’t about the words themselves but the cultural subtitles running underneath them. The pauses, the tone, the “what I meant was…” that never quite survives translation.
Living between languages is like constantly watching life with dual captions — occasionally helpful, occasionally hilarious, always revealing.
So glad it resonated 😊