So it's the summer. Almost the end now, but no doubt all you Greekies not currently living in the motherland will be off in Greece or Cyprus on your holidays!
Let's explain what a Greek holiday is really like. For the 3eni, it's lovely being on a gorgeous Greek island, sunning themselves on the beach, drowning themselves in beers and cocktails while they slap on their factor 50. But, for the Greeks, it's not so glamorous...
As a kid, the thought of going away over the summer did not conjure up thoughts such as "yayyy I get to play on the beeeeeach!" or "woohoo I can't wait to lay on the sun lounger all day and tan up!" No, no, no, no, no... A kid going to Greece or Cyprus for their holiday meant bracing themselves for weeks on end of being dragged to relatives homes during the best part of the day in the blazing heat, being force fed food for hours on end and being compelled to engage with some random 'cousins' whom you hardly knew while they laughed at your funny Greek accent.
If you did manage to find any down time by yourself, it would be something authentic like playing with yiayia and pappous little cute bunny rabbits that they were breeding, to only later find them slaughtering them to eat for dinner later that night... cue mortified child, scarred for life.
Finally, just when you had spent the whole week seeing every relative in the country and thought you were done, it was time to do the goodbye visits which took up the whole of the final week of your holiday.
And before you ask why we let ourselves be pulled back and forth by our family whilst we are meant to be on "holiday", let me just warn you that every Greek knows of the unwritten rule that states "sheer hell will be unleashed upon any family that visits the country and does not go and eat with them".
Yes, our countries are gorgeous; we know this! If only we got to actually see and appreciate some of it once in a while...!? Having said that, once the sun goes down, night life is brilliant and you're often out with your cousins late at night, just don't let the family see you have been drinking...!
Most of you will be coming back from your trips soon, and no doubt you will be in need of another holiday to recover from the exhaustion! I'm sure there will be an army of Greeks waiting for you at 'Gadwig' airport and a nice hot bowl of augolemoni/augolemono (depending on where you come from!) to settle you back in.
What did you get up to in Greece or Cyprus this summer?
Let's explain what a Greek holiday is really like. For the 3eni, it's lovely being on a gorgeous Greek island, sunning themselves on the beach, drowning themselves in beers and cocktails while they slap on their factor 50. But, for the Greeks, it's not so glamorous...
As a kid, the thought of going away over the summer did not conjure up thoughts such as "yayyy I get to play on the beeeeeach!" or "woohoo I can't wait to lay on the sun lounger all day and tan up!" No, no, no, no, no... A kid going to Greece or Cyprus for their holiday meant bracing themselves for weeks on end of being dragged to relatives homes during the best part of the day in the blazing heat, being force fed food for hours on end and being compelled to engage with some random 'cousins' whom you hardly knew while they laughed at your funny Greek accent.
If you did manage to find any down time by yourself, it would be something authentic like playing with yiayia and pappous little cute bunny rabbits that they were breeding, to only later find them slaughtering them to eat for dinner later that night... cue mortified child, scarred for life.
And before you ask why we let ourselves be pulled back and forth by our family whilst we are meant to be on "holiday", let me just warn you that every Greek knows of the unwritten rule that states "sheer hell will be unleashed upon any family that visits the country and does not go and eat with them".
Most of you will be coming back from your trips soon, and no doubt you will be in need of another holiday to recover from the exhaustion! I'm sure there will be an army of Greeks waiting for you at 'Gadwig' airport and a nice hot bowl of augolemoni/augolemono (depending on where you come from!) to settle you back in.
