Posted on 22 August 2010.
My first job in the U.S. was an office job. There had been a few reasons for me wanting to quit that job, yet a pretty unlikely reason really pulled the plug: The air-conditioning system. The damned thing was set way too high. Full blown summer outside and inside the office you had to wear [...]
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Posted in Culture Shock
Posted on 05 June 2010.
Greek-Americans are a group of people who have contributed a great deal to Greek tourism, especially during hard economic times. Summertime has arrived and most Greek-Americans are ready to visit their homeland once again, and hoping to give the much needed boost to Greek economy. With the euro at a four-year low against the U.S. [...]
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Posted in Opinion
Posted on 02 June 2010.
Once June starts approaching, and that may be as early as March or even February (Ο Φλεβάρης κι αν φλεβίσει, καλοκαίρι θα μυρίσει.), Greeks start their little seaside drive-by’s. These are preliminary appetizing mood-lifting expeditions that may or may not lead to sunbathing, swimming and water sport or other beach activities. Given that beach visits [...]
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Posted in Columns, Culture Shock, East Coast, Opinion
Posted on 17 May 2010.
When Patricia V. Davis, author of Harlot’s Sauce: A Memoir of Food, Family, Love, Loss, and Greece was a divorced, foreign woman living in Greece she ran her own imports and education business there. But she says that was only doable because she discovered three basic things that banks never bothered to learn before loaning [...]
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Posted in Opinion
Posted on 05 May 2010.
I was reading the CNN article on the deadly Greek strikes when I came across the following comment by another reader: “Maybe the Greek protesters don’t want to bail out their own “Wall Street” the way the Middle Class was forced into doing in the US. If that’s the case, then GOOD FOR THEM!” Even [...]
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Posted in Columns, Culture Shock, East Coast, New York, Opinion, Washington
Posted on 11 April 2010.
Easter, Christmas, weddings, anniversaries, baptisms, all fall into the category of “family time”. Family time involves organizing & emotionally preparing oneself(if wise), packing, traveling, sharing (with all positive or not quite so, connotations) and definitely losing one’s own routine.
Both Greek & American cultures formally idealize “family time”. It’s all family values, sharing beautiful candlelit meals [...]
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Posted in Columns, Culture Shock, East Coast, Opinion
Posted on 17 March 2010.
The economy in Greece is bad just the way it was in the US a few months back and a fuss needed to be made about it. Yet, when the big crisis hits, people handle it differently.
Greek people don’t swarm into malls the way Americans did, to save the economy. Well, you may say, they [...]
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Posted in Culture Shock
Posted on 16 March 2010.
By Lucine Kasbarian*
Recent articles in the mainstream media would have us believe that governments around the world somehow question the factuality of the 1915 Armenian, Assyrian and Greek genocides committed by Turkey. These articles would also have us believe that the Turkish government’s latest temper tantrums over these genocides are justified. Turkey, of course, just [...]
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Posted in Opinion
Posted on 03 December 2009.
I love Christmas time! It’s glimmering and shimmering and sparkly and lovey-dovey and cute. It’s lush and it’s fun. Also, scary. Cause it’s all right to carry on regardless when it’s not Christmas. Think about it! Easter is all about suffering. Leading a miserable life doesn’t get threatened by Easter. Yes, summer is supposed to [...]
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Posted in Columns, Culture Shock, Opinion
Posted on 27 November 2009. Tags: Add new tag
Greek or American fashionistas share equal amounts of obsessive compulsive behavior when it comes to clothes. Fashion and its ability/promise to glamorize our simple existence is at its best this time of the year (see pre-Christmas & meta-Thanksgiving).
Some things though, differ. A lot. And it’s not just marketing and prices and trends and shop-window displays. [...]
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Posted in Culture Shock