Differences

The last few days I’ve been buying a few things for my place. The furniture is in, the painting is done and it’s looking really good! The bathroom still needs some work before I can move in but it’s close!

My silly kitty is having fun in there exploring all the new furniture and venturing outside for the first few times. He loves to climb trees and chases everything that moves including hands and feet (he has sharp teeth!). By the way, I named him: Μάιμου (pronounced: My-ee-moo) it means “monkey” in Greek.

I’m making a little list of the things I’ve found different here on Paros and things I’ve had to get used to (pretty general, there are exceptions to some things). It’s interesting to see the differences and compare them to other countries. Bare with me since the bullet points weren't working so I separeted the points with periods - keep in mind this is for a small Greek island and the place I live at, other parts of Greece would be different I'm sure:

There is no cable internet just the slower dial-up kind (at the part of the island I live at).....You cannot flush any toilet paper down the toilet as it will clog, it all goes into the trash instead.....The work and store hours are a lot different: work is usually from 8:00-2:00 and you come back at 6:00 to work in the evenings, except Wednesdays and Saturdays when everything closes at 2:00 for the day. On Sunday’s most things are closed.....We hang stuff to dry instead of using a dryer.....There are no street names or house numbers; everyone just goes to the post office to pick up their mail.....Going to the beach and/or having a nap is a daily thing.....Lunch is around 2:00-3:00 and dinner is at 9:00-10:00.....Everyone has mesh over the windows to keep the bugs out since the windows are open all the time.....No one follows the speed limit, it’s just some number on a sign that you ignore.....Pedestrians have no right of way at all.....The food is delicious!.....Everything shuts down in the winter since all the tourists leave and young adults go to college in Athens or elsewhere.....All buildings have to be white (some aren’t, but if they get a complaint, they have to change it).....All the cinema’s are outdoor on the island.....Paper work takes forever.....No one is in a rush (except when they are driving).....It’s popular to go for “coffee” in the evenings (although it usually comprises of a milkshake, smoothie, or dessert instead of coffee, since it’s in the evenings).....Fries made right from the potato are popular, not the frozen kind that is the usual in North America. In fact it seems that most things are made from scratch, I haven’t had any ready made food yet.....You can swim until November.....I have barely seen any clouds in the past month and a half; it is strange to see them when they do show up.....Cats are everywhere but Greeks don’t seem to like them, they are just around to catch mice.....Island hoping is cheap to do but some islands have a ferry coming once every few days so plan ahead. In the winter they are way less frequent as well. Paros is one of the main port islands, so it’s pretty easy to get there.

I guess those are it for now!

M