When you realise how much you've changed...

This blog's main subject until now was living in Greece, which I must say, it's still "all Greek to me" to this day even though I've been living here for some years now. The people, the tabu's, the unrealistic obsession with the glorious past, the food(no wait, that is the only thing that makes total sense here), nothing here makes sense to me but then again, you know what? It doesn't really matter that much anymore because now, there is something that I know and understand even less and it's taken the entire spot light. It's called motherhood.
No matter how much you read about it, no matter how many friend advice you receive on the subject, when it actually happens you realize that all you read is basically wasted ink since nothing and no one can prepare you for this.

Every day is like a carousel: laughter, cry, desperation, relief, anger, worry, frustration, fatigue, fatigue, fatigue (no, it's not a typo)  and any other state that you can think of, blend all together in a beautifully unstable time bomb that starts rolling like a snow ball getting bigger and bigger until one moment, when your significant other comes home and asks you: "how was your day, honey?" and then BOOOOOOOM! There goes the snow ball which by then is the size of a mountain and it hits him in the face with the force and speed of a TGV.

Believe it or not this is the happy scenario. The alternative one is the one in which, freakishly obsessed with controlling your reactions you bury the bomb as deep as you can every day. After a few months you are sitting on the deafening ticking of a bomb that would make Little Boy jealous and all it needs is a spark.

You don't ask for help even though you could use all the help in the world because you're sure you can do it and besides you expect the other to notice that you need it, to notice you're struggling, to notice you...to NOTICE. By the time you do ask for help, it doesn't really make any sense to the other one since..well..you've been doing great this far? what changed? why change? ....and that is the spark....

Myriad of emotions break free from their cages and they run wild like rabid animals, thirsty for blood, with teeth and claws as sharp as glass shards. They are all yours, you recognize them, you bread them patiently for months and yet now you have absolutely no control over them. They're taking over. You are under siege and defenseless.

The carnage seems to last for ever. And yet, at some point, the smoke starts clearing and you get a glimpse of the crater that's left both inside you and around you. They are not done yet, they will be haunting you for months but at least they are back in their cages for now. In all this mess, there, behind the ashes of a burning hope there is a pair of eyes looking at you enquiringly.
"Is there something I did, love?"

And here is when desperation kicks in...

Tsiknopempti

This year Tsiknopempti was on the 7th of March. And now you're gonna think: " Ok, ok, but what is Tsiknopempti?" 

Tsiknopempti(τσικνοπέμπτη) is the first day or the carnival here in Greece. The name comes from tsikna which is the smell of the grilled meat, generally pork, while pempti means Thursday. Why is this Thursday in which you eat grilled pork so important? Because after the carnival, the Easter fast begins.
Not that I would know a lot of people who actually fast but every reason to have a party is a good enough reason. 
This year's theme was "Not everything that shines is gold" probably referring to the company who intends to extract gold in the area of Halkidiki while the local community is trying to prevent it and/or the current political situation.
Since the theme was related to gold, the symbol of the carnival was king Midas He was the one who presided the 4th edition of the bike parade, his chariot being pulled by a bike. 
Here is a small movie from this Tsiknopempti in Thessaloniki.

It's All Greek to Others Also

I received this photo today and I found it very funny.

As I understood is an ad for a Norwegian language school. It's a expression written with Greek letters. 

Since there already exists a Greeklish. The combination of Greek and English. This ad would be...Greewagian, probably. 

Anyway, the point of the ad is that "Norwegian won't be All Greek to you anymore".

Traffic Jam

I was in the buss the other day going home and suddenly the buss stops. Half a millisecond later the buss driver starts honking...and honking...and honking and waves of swearing and bitching are coming from his direction.

Apparently someone "parked" their car so that no one else could pass through the road. The car was double parked and practically in the middle of the road. After about 20 minutes of intensive honking, during which about 30-40 cars, that I could see, gathered behind us joining in the honking and swearing concert, the owner of the car appeared. 

He was having his coffee in a nearby coffee place, the heard the noise outside and he came out out of curiosity. 
I can understand the buss driver's frustration but what have I don't wrong? Because of the guy who left his car in the middle of the road I would have been late.. and I came to terms with that but now I also had a brilliant headache because of all the honking and I was not ok with that.

Setting Things Streight

Dear all, 

I probably should have done this before but it's better to do it later then never.
The blog that you are reading is mine. It reflects how I see things, in my distorted or not reality, and how I feel about things. This is not a news blog and it's not intended to be. This is a personal blog with the pluses and minuses that come from it.

It had never been my intention to insult anyone through this blog so if I have done that or will do that in the future I apologize. However, if anyone doesn't like how I write or what I write about, nobody is forcing that person to read it and I believe we would all be better off each other.

Thank you for your understanding
Have a brilliant week ahead

The Ugly Face of Greece

"He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals." -Immanuel Kant

A study conducted in the US by Northeastern University and the Massachusetts SPCA found that people who abuse animals are five times more likely to commit violent crimes against humans. The majority of inmates on death row in California's San Quentin State Prison "practiced" their crimes on animals, according to the prison's warden.
The FBI has found that a history of cruelty to animals regularly appears in the backgrounds of serial rapists and murderers, and the standard diagnostic and treatment manual for psychiatric and emotional disorders lists cruelty to animals as a diagnostic criterion for conduct disorders.(source here)

At first I was surprised by the big number of road kill, particularly in the cities, then, I understood they are not by accident. Some drivers, by the body count I could even say "many drivers", not only don't try to avoid hitting the dogs and cats on the car road, the aim for them. 

Last Saturday, we were passing through a small village outside Thessaloniki and I saw a scene that is going to haunt me for a long time. A dog, at the side of the road got scared by a motorcycle and went a bit into the car road. From behind came a blue van and ran it over despite the fact that it would have had the time to avoid the impact by breaking or stirring the car. The driver aimed for the dog. He didn't slow down and didn't stop. He just continued his way as if nothing happened. 

I found a group on Facebook, it's called Greece Exposed.If you have a strong stomach have a look to see a few examples of how some understand to pass their free time. Animals that are hanged, shot, eviscerated or tortured for the "pleasure" of it.  And remember, this is a country in the XXI century that is part of the European Union. We are supposed to be in the so called "civilized" part of the world.

So now, along your "idyllic vacation" image of Greece and the "point of reference for the world's history" image of Greece add the "animal violence and torture" image of Greece.

Visiting Oslo

I really enjoyed my trip to Oslo. Even though visiting Norway in winter might not be the best thing to do if you don't ski. Temperatures there have two digits and they are negative. 
We didn't manage to see all the interesting things in the city but at least we got to see some. When we visited The Folk Museum which is an open air museum, there were -17 C. What can I say? it was a refreshing 2 and a half hours.

No Receipt, No Pay!

No receipt, No pay! Is a new way in which the Greek state is trying to reduce the "black" income of the companies by forcing them to register the real income they are making.

For example when you go to a coffee place, a tavern or even a supermarket, if they don't give you a receipt you are allowed to leave without paying. That is the official version. What they failed to mention is that generally, you receive the receipt after you pay so what you would actually need to do is ask for your money back. With the traditional and well known Greek temper though I don't see that negotiation going very well. 

What the politicians from this country haven't figured out yet or, even worse, they continue ignoring, is that there is no law in the world that Greeks can't find a way around to.

The law starts to have effects from the 12th of January 2013, meaning last Saturday. Businesses were testing their "way around" even from last year. Now, you will probably receive a receipt, so you won't be tempted to ask your money back but the value on the receipt will be, if you're lucky, one third of it. If you are vigilant and ask for explanations they will apologies and bring you your receipt or, even funnier, several receipts that other customers didn't take that add up to the sum of your order. 

The people though usually don't ask for receipts not to mention ask for their own receipts. That is why I believe that this law, for as nice and efficient as is could have been it's going to end up like the "smoking law". 

Like in all other European countries, smoking is forbidden in bars, coffee places and restaurants in Greece. The law exists, the fines are high, they even have a phone number where you can denounce places that allow smoking. What they don't have is someone to apply the law. And there is where the law becomes useless. 

The thing that is the hardest to change here but once changed it cold improve a lot of things is the mentality of people. Everything starts and ends there. For as long as they don't understand that they'll keep chasing around their tails. 

Source article

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Everyone!

I  wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Enjoy the Greek Sweets Calendar 2013 that I made for you. I hope you like it. Don't drool on the keyboard, your computer won't be happy. There are other calendars in the Free Stuff Section also: Cute Cats and Dogs and Greek Modern Painters. 
See you next year!:) 

Zorba the Greek - Sirtaki

It had been a surprise for me to find out that Sirtaki, the world known dance form Zorba the Greek, with Anthony Queen, is Greek inspired but not really Greek.
The choreography of the dance was created in 1964 for the movie and it is based on various Greek traditional dances. The name of the dance comes from the verb "serno"(σερνω) which means "to drag". It comes from the fact that during the dance the feet are almost always close to the ground, seaming they are dragged. The "aki" at the end of the word implies a diminutive.  

According to Guinness World Record Book the biggest Sirtaki dance took place in Volos, Greece on the 31st of august 2012. It united 5.614 people aged between 14 and 89 that danced for 5 minutes.  

Greek-Romanian Cold Treatment

And now, along with this exquisite cold weather with 92% humidity in the air and real feel of minus god knows how much, guess what... totally unsurprisingly, everyone is sick. Even my teacher from school called in sick yesterday. 

That's not me but it could as well be

This Monday my boyfriend came home feeling sick. You know, the usual: head ache, throught ache, chest pain, a bit of fever. I considered myself lucky because for a couple of days I didn't get any symptoms and I even started fantasizing that I won't at all. 

That happened till yesterday when it all started with a slight throught pain. And then I remembered something I read on Facebook a few days ago and I found very funny:

"Insanity does not run in our family, it strolls taking the time to get to know each and every one of us personally".

It was the same with this cold. I couldn't pass over to me so quick..it had to first dedicate all its time and effort to by boyfriend(who brought it home in the first place!!) and only then it could pass its gracious self to me. 

But no worries, tonight we're gonna treat it in the traditional Greek-Romanian manner with boiled țuica and τσιπουρο. Hic!

Tomorrow we'll still have a headache but from a different reason:))

Greece Frozen

There is this very popular song in Greece that says "It's never cold in Greece. Here, the weather had never been cold" (Δεν Κανει Κρυο στη Ελλαδα). Well, that's not exactly true. I just came from outside and I'm still in de-freeze mode.

If you look outside you don't really expect it to be cold. It's nice and sunny but there are 0 Celsius degrees at this time and a real feel of -6 plus a really "refreshing" wind.

I must admin I have been warned so it was not that much of a shock when i went out of the house but, the real shock was when I got to the street market. There was something wrong, something missing but I couldn't put my finger on it from the beginning. The market was quiet! I have never in my life went into a quiet Greek street market.

There are always people shouting their offers, asking you to come check their products, arguing...Now, nothing, just silence!

Not that many people in the market either. The few brave ones that had the courage to get out of their houses were in a great hurry to buy what they need and go home. No long talks in the middle of the road while cars are honking, no old ladies hitting and pushing you because you are in their way, no long negotiations or discussions with the sellers...nothing.. Everyone was frozen, moving and talking as little as possible, thing that in Greece is unimaginable. I had never happened before.

It was a "refreshing" alternative though from the daily hassle. I'm starting to wish there was cold weather more often in Greece.

PS
Here is the song I was telling you about.

The Bouzouki in Pulp Fiction

Yesterday at school we had a lesson about Greek traditional music, or at least one of the traditional kinds of music that are in Greece, called "ρεμπετικο"        [rebetiko]. The main instrument used in accompanieg the songs is called "μπουζουκι" [bouzouki] and it looks like this:  

The music was, for a lot of years, outlawed because it was talking subjects that were sensitive to the political system of that time and/or because the people singing it were themselves outlaws.  Probably the most known "rebetiko" song "Mousourloum" end even you know it. You just don't know it yet:)
The original Mousourloum has no known writer and it goes like this:


Doesn't ring any bells, does it? Well, listen to it again and them compare with this:


The main theme from Pulp Fiction is made after the Mousourloum and the name of the song is Misirlou which is a slightly Americanized version of Mousourloum.

When Hollywood Meets Ancient Greece

 

Here is what happens when you have a lot of imagination but not that much common sense and an architect who does exactly what the client says no matter how kitschy.

Hollywood stars on the ceiling, caryatids, archaic representations on the pillars, renaissance angels, informative tables with names exiled philosophers at the entrance and-most important-smooth integration into the architectural style of the neighborhood.

As for the colors? Dark blue, dark red and gold "join" forces to produce the momentum needed.








 



No, it's not the same building, although the similarities are more than obvious. Again we have Hollywood stars in balconies and caryatids (constant values these days) while on the top of the building Zeus with his spear stands proud on top of the ... Olympic Games symbol. 





 






A mini pantheon with busts of ancient philosophers gracing the entrance, where there is also a marble sign explaining the ignorant visitor or passerby subversive concept of the house. 

According to exclusive information, on the ground floor there is a construction shop. It's obvious that the owner found the best way to advertise his business.






And last but not least ...The Parthenon of Rhodes

Completely loyal to the ancient architectural ideals, a real ode to antiquity, this house is to remember. Ancient representations, columns, ancient style decorations and of course the temple. No, no, the house doesn't have a temple. The house IS a temple.

Source

What Being Anthropo (Ανθρωπο) Use to Mean

One way or another we all heard about anthropology, anthropology or other similarly complicated words that have one thing in common, the root "anthropo". 
It's not hard to guess that the origin of that name is Greek. Today, in contemporary Greek, "anthropos" means "person" in general. 

What is interesting about it though is what is use to mean in Ancient Greece.
The current Greek word "anthropos" (ανθρωπος) is formed out of two other ancient words "ano" (άνω) and  "throsko" (θρώσκω). The literal translation would be "the one who looks up and moves up or forward". Meaning the open minded one, the one who is capable and willing to go higher. 

It's funny and disturbing in the same time to look around us and realize whom are we calling "anthropi" these days.

Give Greece a Hero!

CONTEST
From the Ancient times to the modern days, from mythology to reality Greek heroes found their honorable place in history.

It’s time for Greece to give the world another hero to fight the beast that has been plundering and terrorizing our world for the last 5 years.Insinuating at first, she caught a hold on our lives so strong that we can barely breathe.

Her name is Krissia and everybody knows her true face for we see her everyday amongst us causing pain and anguish while harvesting people’s bitter tears. 
Krissia is a daemon as old as time itself but don’t be fooled by her elderly appearance for her powers grow along with the age. Defeated in the old times by knights in shining armor or by cunning witches she retreated in her underground lair plotting against humanity, planning her return and waiting for the best time strike again in a moment of weakness.

Before our time, her moment came in 1929 along with Wall Street Crush. Then, she plunged upon the un expecting world sinking her sharp teeth into unsuspecting victims to feed her insatiable blood thirst. She kept the world in her iron fist grasp for four agonizing years.

Now, she crawled again out from her creepy deep lair to do her worst. 
Stop her reign of terror! Give Greece a Hero! 
 
Play!Play!Play!Play!Play!Play!Play!Play!Play!Play!Play!Play!Play!Play!Play!Play!Play!

CONTEST DETAILS
"Give Greece a Hero"
5.11.2012 - 20.12.2012
Create your own hero:
1. Click on the picture to change it
2. Click on the weapon to change it
3. Clink on the power to change it
4. Click on the name to change it
5. Click on the supra-name to change it 
6. Write the hero's objective - use your imagination
When you found the right combination register your hero by writing your name and email address at the bottom of the game in the specified areas. 
7. Click "Submit"
8. If you're proud with your work, print screen the page and share it on Facebook for your friends to see and give them a change to build their own hero.(this is not mandatory) 

What do you win? 
You get an official "It's All Greek To Me" T-shirt that you can see here:
and half a kilo of siropiasta (Σιροπιαστά) - syrup sweets from Terkenlis. Here is the link, you can start drooling from now.  
If the winner is from outside the European Union, unfortunately we won't be able to send the sweets. 
 
How do you win?
The hero with the most imaginative mission wins. 
Important!
Missions that are outside the purpose of the game or are vulgar will be disqualified. 




 I own no rights over the pictures used in the game.I thank the creators/designers for them. 

Thessaloniki - One Hundred Years of Independence

The city of Thessaloniki celebrates tomorrow 100 hundred years of independence from the Turks. October 27th 1912 is the date in which the Greek troops entered Thessaloniki.

Thessaloniki 100 Years of Independence

But that didn't just happen over night. Taking advantage of a wick and unorganized Ottoman Empire due the revolution that started in its interior in 1908, the Balkan states decided to take back from their occupied territories and, why not, more.This was the spark that started the First Balkan War.

Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria and Greece made an alliance, called the Balkan League, to fight together against the Turks and retrieve their territories. The League underestimated the Greek army's strength considering it weak after being defeated by the Turks so easily in the Greek-Turkish war from 1897 but they were in dire need of their fleet. Leaving the sea unguarded for the Ottoman Empire to transport troops from Asia to Greece could have cost them the war.

In October 1912 allies start moving towards the boarder releasing territories from under Turkish occupation. The Greek prime minister at that time, Eleftherios Venizelos understood the the aim of their Bulgarian allies, which was to gain access to the sea buy occupying Aegean Macedonia so he insisted that the Greek troops make haste towards the city of Thessaloniki.

On the 27th of October 1912 the Greek troops enter victoriously in the city of Thessaloniki. A few day later the Bulgarian troops reach the city also but they were not granted access in it. 

Even before the Treaty of London from May 1913, that marked the end of the First Balkan War, the Bulgarians expressed their dissatisfaction regarding the way the territories were shared and they were prepared to intervene military against their ex allies. That set the stage for the next war in the Balkans, that were known at the time as the "gunpowder barrel of Europe".

I found this National Geographic documentary on YouTube if anyone is interested in more historical details. It's called "National Geographic - The Doubling of Greece 1912-1913" and it has 6 parts ( Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six)

Tzon Kennenti (John Kennedy) Street in Thessaloniki

John Kennedy, with his Greek version Tzon Kennenti, has a street named after him in Thessaloniki. Until now, nothing out of ordinary. If you look on the map though, there is something special about it in the typical Greek manner. 

Tzon Kennenti Street

As you can see, Tzon Kennenti (John Kennedy) street goes up to a point then it disappears and then it appears again. 
I discovered this the hard way. I was looking for an address on Kennenti street on a dark rainy evening and I found myself, half way through, facing... a house. 

John Kennedy Street

Yes, I'm not joking. The reason Kennedy street is interrupted is because there is a house in the middle of the road. I don't know if the house was there first and the municipality decided to appeal to the adventurous nature of people and made the street like that or if the street was there first and one fine day a person decided to just build a house in the middle of the street. It's hard to tell since they are both very plausible options in Greece. Either way, I found this very funny but only after I managed to get home and get dry.

And the T-shirt Goes To...

We finally have a winning t-shirt for the blog!!!And that is...... Ta Ta Tam!!!
The Logical Schema design. 
In total there were 18 valid votes, out of these, 8 were for this design. 
 

I want to thank everyone for participating and for helping me choose. To show my gratitude, I decided to have an extra price, a second a t-shirt for the first runner up. 

First of all, the winning number was written on a different blog before the contest started and it is 682. To make sure you can check it here.
 
And now....the winners are:
First winner is Shock  - who will receive a t-shirt with the "Twisted Roads"
First runner up is, who also gets a t-shirt, is Mer who will receive a t-shirt with the winning design.

Stay tuned for the next competition that is going to start in November:) Then you'll get to create your own hero.

Thanks again everyone!

The Business of Begging

The other day we were in the center, waiting in the car for a traffic light to turn green. At some point, a gipsy kid comes and starts cleaning the windscreen. I doubt he was older then 10. His cloths were all dirty and almost turned to shreds.

In the middle of cleaning the windscreen he stops and starts looking for something in his small bag. Then, he takes out a phone and starts talking while passing impatiently in front of our car. When he finished, he put the phone inside his bag and continued cleaning the window. We were both watching him stunned...

Digging through my old emails I found a short movie with a similar situation. The only difference is that the scene takes place in the subway, in Bucharest.

If I had any doubts before now I'm pretty sure that there is such a thing as the business of begging and they must have international conventions because the strategies and the approaches are always the same no matter the country. I guess it's safe to call it the most blooming business during crises.
 

An incredibly realistic movie about this business and how well organized the whole system is, is Philanthropy. You might have a rough time finding it since it's a Romanian movie but if you have the opportunity to see it, don't hesitate. It will really change the way you think.


P.S Don't forget about the on going contest on the blog
Contest - Choose a T-shirt for "It's all Greek to Me"