Bad Romance

So most people know Lady Gaga’s s song titled Bad Romance but there have been quite a few songs here in Greece that we haven’t known.  Yes a lot of the music in the clubs and in restaurants is American pop music but it has been fun to get to listen to a taste of Greek culture through their music as well.  Many people were surprised that on our first trip to the club nearly every song was a song that was popular or had been popular within the last year in the United States.  I wasn’t surprised by this fact because I had a similar experience when I lived in Ecuador realizing that a lot of the music produced in the States makes its way around the world. 

Our time at the club was filled with American things.  The bartender spoke English well and they had a TV in there that was playing one thing the entire time.  It had a constant slideshow of Red Carpet pictures of celebrities in their gowns and tuxes.  It was a very weird thing to be showing on a TV in a club at night.  This was in addition to the American songs that were played one after another once it was dancing time at night.  It’s interesting being back in Athens now and realizing how many places actually do speak English.  We went to a restaurant tonight that was called Smile where they had traditional Greek food like mousaka, which is this dish that is similar to lasagna but instead of noodles it has eggplant and heavy cream, but they also had spaghetti and pizza and spoke English to us the entire time.  They also seemed surprised when we ordered and thanked them in Greek.  We are around more hotels now where we are staying though so I think that contributed to the places catering to people who spoke English. 

Many people today were very sad to leave Rhodes behind as I believe it has more of the traditional Greek experience in it.  Rhodes is a much smaller city and is an island so it was much quieter than Athens where you can hear the hustle and bustle at all times of the day.  This is something that I love about it.  It was wonderful being in Rhodes and near the beach where you could only hear the crash of the waves on the shore at nighttime but I am glad to be back in Athens as a love the busy streets of the big city. 

Back to the music topic, when we were at the stadium in Rhodes below the acropolis Finitsis taught us the tradition Greek dance where we all put our hands on each others’ shoulders and dance around in a circle and that was great.  We had heard Greek music in the smaller cafes or family owned restaurants in Athens but it wasn’t until we got to Rhodes that we got to try it out for ourselves and really dance it out.  It was a blast.  We even learned an island dance that was more difficult and usually done in pairs so that was enjoyable as well. 

At dinner this evening we went around the table and each discussed which our favorite was so far, Athens or Rhodes and it was interesting to hear people’s answers.  Our table was actually split half and half as to who preferred Athens and who preferred Rhodes.  Those who liked Rhodes better said that they liked the calm and quieter aspect of Rhodes as well as the fact that people seemed to be nicer on the island.  Those of us who preferred Athens seemed to come to the consensus that the beach and quiet was nice for a bit but that we liked the atmosphere here being busy and having lots of things to choose from. 

All in all we have gotten to experience many different aspects of Greece in only a few weeks time and although we may hear some of the same songs and have people speak in English to us we have definitely tried our best to immerse ourselves in the culture by doing things like eating dinner at 7:30pm and taking a couple of hours to eat or having coffee and bread for a meal.