Welcome to Greece

As I’m writing this, the breeze is blowing the curtains on the balcony doors in and out in a lulling, half-lazy sort of way. It’s an odd thing to be so far from the U.S. and yet find that things are so ordinary here. The wind in Greece blows the same way as the wind in Tennessee (albeit the air is dryer and cooler).

On the other hand, there are things that are rather less than ordinary to my American brain. My apartment has no AC, which isn't much of an issue, given the fact that every room (except for the bathroom) has sliding doors that open out onto a balcony. One simply leaves the doors open, and the airflow takes care of the rest. However, this opening of the doors makes it possible to hear nearly all the talking in the neighborhood, and there is a lot of talking. At ten in the evening, I awoke gradually to the constant chattering of tongues. I had a brief thought that this noise would necessitate the use of earplugs while sleeping. Then it occurred to me that my talent for ignoring my alarm clocks (yes, that was supposed to be plural) did not need to be augmented by blocking my ears.

It also occurred to me how different this was from America. All the houses here are close together—so close that I realized it was important for me to be more modest in my sleeping attire, as the neighbors could see quite well into nearly every room in the house. But what struck me more was that people were talking. And not just a few people. The whole neighborhood was overflowing with conversation. In the U.S., we are so consumed with technology that real face-to-face conversations take second place to texting and Twitter.  A little less cell phone dependency, a closeness of proximity, and a Mediterranean climate make for better community.  

While I am at a real disadvantage for not knowing Greek, and I rather wanted to sleep at the moment this difference in culture occurred to me, it seems that this closer sense of community is something to give thanks for. So I rolled over in bed, said a prayer of gratitude...and then tried to fall back asleep.