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Ad talk

By on February 9, 2009 in Columns, Culture Shock

There was one very annoying ad on my tv today. There’s the beautiful lady and the suit-presentable-supposedly-sexy-guy and he is all mushy cause she’s so wrapped up in an air of mystery and has the all-over-interesting aura and is now walking his way, softly on her heels (presumable a stranger whom he absolutely has to [...]

A bright & sunny disposition

By on January 23, 2009 in Columns, Culture Shock

I heard it from quite a few people: Americans, they say, always see the sunny side of life. If you compare the American-English tone of voice with the British-English tone of voice the American tone always fits an extra smile in there. Greek-Americans are somehow caught in the middle between their Greek over-analyzing tradition and [...]

Sweet Holidays

By on January 7, 2009 in Culture Shock, History, New York

photo credit: Rachel Portele The Holiday anti-climax in the U.S. pi**** a lot of people off. The first holiday anti-climax wave comes right after Christmas day and the second hits on January 1st. North Americans feel cheated. “That was it?”, they keep asking themselves. All this fuss, the sales, the marketing frenzy…for what? One lousy [...]

Christmas shopping…

By on December 9, 2008 in Culture Shock

Consumerism is not solely an American plague. It’s pretty much international -for those who can afford it or for those who can not afford it, but do it anyway. Overspending and over-consuming is no-doubt a pretty annoying pre-Christmas habit for Greeks. When it comes to Greek-Americans though it is threatening to become a purpose for [...]

Dress sense

By on November 25, 2008 in Culture Shock

I’m not quite sure where dress sense comes from. Is it a cultural thing? Is it an ideological thing? Is it a stage-in-life kind of thing? No clue. What I will say, though, is that it sort of bothers me when someone rages against “my” dress sense, or better described, the kind of dress sense [...]

Barack Obama: our new President.

By on November 5, 2008 in Culture Shock

I woke up this morning (or should I say yesterday morning) both elated and scared. Dead scared. Elated the moment of truth was here. Scared there might still be a chance it won’t be so. Dead scared. Now, fear is not one of those things neither Greeks nor Americans tend to feel. Me being Greek-American [...]

On Greek Time…

By on October 20, 2008 in Culture Shock

When your Greek friend tells you, you will be meeting around 5, it is perfectly acceptable for him/her to be there around 5:30, 6:00, 6:30 or even 8:00 if it is understood that you’ll be waiting at your place anyway so you won’t be getting out of your way.