Between Parkland and Pangrati

Eating breakfast this morning at 6:30 am was a little bit rough for me, because I was very tired, but I knew I had to be energized for our day trip to Corfu (a.k.a Kerkyra)! The banana I had put in my cereal for breakfast came from the farmers market I went to yesterday morning that was absolutely amazing.

It's so funny though because farmers markets are everywhere in Greece and Europe but usually in America, except sometimes in summers, the only farmers market we can find is in our local grocery store. Everything seems so different! The fruit have more color and are more fresh. The people are more lively and friendly. The streets are more filled with culture and the heart of the city is easily found. It is so beautiful to me!

I was actually talking to a few people from my class, noticing how different everything really is. Everyone seems to notice. Things that we have in America, like Dominoes Pizza or Coke-a-Cola, are better here in Greece. Sometimes, I think, this is because of the glass bottles instead of plastic (and logistical things) but sometimes this is because of our mindsets, emotions, and what we see around us. I am finding most things to be better here in Greece because of both reality and mindset.

I thought it quite odd today that when we were making our way to Corfu, I was already noticing some little things that differentiated America from Greece or Parkland from Pangrati. On the plane, I noticed that I wasn't reading just some magazine but I was flipping through a "Migazino" and the stewardess gave us each an apple pie that was very different from what I am used to (America's apple pie is Much better!).

Just the little things on the plane made me stop and think about the differences between what I call home and where I am now.

The little things, I think, are what stand out the most. For example, the door handles and keys are different.

The cars are different. The toilets are much different (you cannot throw any sort of paper in the toilet). The stairs are different (they are almost always a spiral staircase in smaller places and if it is a normal staircase, it is sometimes upgraded with elaborate decoration). The streets are different and more narrow (very few places in America are blocked off as pedestrian only zones, all the time). And the sodas are different (I have only ever seen Coke products), except that today, I saw my first European Pepsi EVER!

The gravestones, even, are very different (the stone will depict a scene from that persons life or death, depending, and will often show them shaking hands with another).

Every city is even more artistically decorated with statues, paint, etc. and is even more beautiful (I think this has a lot to do with the very long history of Greece, though, compared to the incredibly short in comparison history of the US).

I Ifound myself thinking about this quite a bit today, comparing my life in the US to my life here in Greece, trying to decide which one I like better.

But I start to feel in-between, because I love my home and what I've grown up with in America but I have grown to love the new traditions and things I have learned here in Greece. I am in-between identities and in-between cultures, because I embrace pieces of both.

But I am learning so much about myself, how the Jews must have felt (which is what we are talking about in class), and how to accommodate and acculturate myself as needed.

I am learning to live the in-between lifestyle and I kind of love it!