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.