Monday, January 18, 2010

Fan of the Tan

So just about this time every year my tan is pretty much a distant memory.  Living in Canada, by mid-winter most people are near-albino, even my friend who is Punjabi is looking a little pastey and heads to Cancun for her yearly pilgrimage.
My tan is about a million miles away *sniff*and -20C is sooo lame-ass.  But I'll dry my tears because my consolation is our plans for our yearly summer vay-cay to Greece.

Exhibit A- without Tan.   Pale,  meh.




Exhibit B- with tan.  Glorious, golden sun-kissed fabulousity


*Note, this is an authentic Mediterranean-summer tan, not some Jersey Shore nasty-fake-stuff


Each year we go to our summer house in Greece for  4-6 weeks. Husband is from Athens originally and we have a place just outside of the city on the sea.  Greece truely is a great destination to holi-dayyy. Yeah, believe the hype. The islands are gorgeous, it's smokin' hot and the beaches are super fab.  What a culture to marry in to! Sure beats having to head back to some rual nightmare like Saskatchewan to visit the in-laws.  (sorry peeps from Sask, admit it, it does kinda suck....)



"Kid #1,  pass Mama her iced coffee please...."


But nothing good comes easy. I'd be lying if I said that my journey to become a "good" Greek wife has been a simple one. I met Husband when I was 21 and I figure that I was too young and dumb to realize how challenging entering into a new culture can be. And by entering I mean, more like total dunk-style immersion.  All of Husbands friends were Greek (not as in Greek-Canadian, but as in they came from Greece di-rectly.) Even though husband came to Canada as a teenager, he's always preferred authentic Greeks, straight from the motha-land.
They spoke all the time in Greek, joked, laughed and smoked. (yeah, all Greeks smoke). Greek Greek Greek.
AND what an eff'n, freakin', f*ckin' hard language to learn! (I'd put the brain-boggeling level above learning Russian or Portugese and but slightly below Arabic and Mandarin.) Seriously.
I've been studying the language for years...still not fluent. (I am not a dumb person, honestly!)

Greeks live and love out LOUD.  Tell it like it is, speak their minds and don't hold back on anything..... "oh sweetie, your dress is nice, but you've gained weight." (They're not asking, they're telling you.)

But they're also loyal, caring, honest and hard working people (they all own resturants, pubs and bars).  And they totally know what really matters in life, family and friends!
And of course they always have to stop to drink coffee and have a smoke (never mind that the coffee break lasts 2 hours...no one rushes coffee. It's like a religion.)

My life has definately been rich and colourful since meeting Husband. Love him to death and his 'krazy' culture.


Summer 2009 in Greece- note glorious tans

Greek food = awesome
Greek islands = awesome
Greek parties = awesome
Greek language = complicated, multi-syllabic nightmare.   
(My last name has 14 letters.)
WTF!?!?!?     FOURTEEN LETTERS.     Our kids will be spelling their names by grade 6 (if they're lucky).

But honestly single girls out there...go find yourself and nice Greek guy, you'll be happy you did! What could be better than summer holidays in Greece?!!...  nope, not Saskatchewan.
Photobucket

10 comments:

noone said...

I watched big fat greek wedding and didn't relize that greek and asians have a lot in common about family vales! And when I saw teh -20 C I just had to check your profile (since I live in Ottawa and it's pretty cold here too) you live in Calgary!? I'm thinking of visiting Calgary sometimes in April... What is the weather like? And what's there to see? How is the shopping??

Alicia said...

ohhhh sweet mother....i don't know how you do it in that cold weather...i would DIE! and i love love love different cultures. my family is all el salvadorean and we have a house there on the beach that we go to yearly....we haven't been in the last few years because of the wee ones, but i can't wait to take them and show them off to the fam! and my sweet patient white boy of a husband....he's such a good sport about my loud (drunken) family! lol...btw- i can't wait to go to greece one day...its so on my list!!

Angela said...

What a cute post. : ) I would love to visit Greece one day. Btw, I have a freshwater pearl necklace giveaway starting today.

Kimberly said...

Tan...I live in CA, and have not been tan since I moved here. The SF Bay area is too cold to sweat in the sun, and then have the wind blow you dry in an instant. TOOOOO COLD!

Chloe said...

wow, it seems like i'm the only one who loves being pale. And you must believe me honey, i'm much more pale than you. But i'd never get tan!
I'm loving ur blog, is pretty cool ^^

Tracie said...

I sure screwed the pooch by marrying a reserved/mute beer drinking German. Damn.

Honey B. said...

Love the tan! I so miss the natural summer tan. I feel like I get whiter every year, and this year has been SO bad- thinking about just skipping the ultra-pale foundation and using White-Out. And I'm Italian, so that's saying something! lol

Sierra said...

My best friend is Greek and she is so tan, love it! You look great tan too, I bet it helps so you don't get burned, now that is no fun!

Irene Blushing Loves said...

I loved your comments about Greek people,you're so right.We 're just like that nothing more nothing less...

Phivos Nicolaides said...

Lovely family, gorgeous pictures. If you like travelling, I invite you to my travelling blog here Travelling

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