Greeks around the world

So, let's get personal. Having had a difficult day up to now, and it's only 11 am, I have to get my thoughts into perspective and try to make a new beginning. New beginnings are always difficult, but today I feel like I have to. I won't go into the bad points of the day, suffice to say that a sleepless night due to one of my kids illnesses, and two phone calls from the bank calling in their dues were only the two of the five things that made this a bad day. When I got to my computer I actually wanted to write about last weeks elections, maybe give you some insight into politics in Greece, but even that didn't make me feel better. Anyway, I thought, politics are the same wherever you live. It's a question of too few being in control of so many. So, on opening my e-mails, my mind wandered to what I was going to write about. An e-mail caught my eye, and as I read it my day was suddenly better. It was as if someone had started to take away the burden.

I don't know if you know about the Greeks and the evil eye. From a young age, whenever I was feeling under the weather or had a headache, my grandmother would say "ehis mati...tha se xematiaso"or in Greek"έχεις μάτι...θα σε ξεματιάσω". This meant that someone had seen me, and cast his or her evil eye on me and grandma, having been taught some words, had the power to send the evil eye away. If you have gone through this process, it actually does work. You actually do feel better. Please don't ask me if there is any truth in this. I have no idea, but when grandma said those magic words, boy did I feel better.

Anyway, back to the e-mail. It seems that my post is being read!!! Yes, although I did not believe it myself, I received an e-mail from a wonderful lady in Chicago (Thank you so much for you kind words). It is not the first e-mail I have received, but at that moment I had a great feeling of happiness, surprise, pride and satisfaction. It also gave me an idea. I would love to know more about all of you. I would love to hear your stories. Which parts of Greece and Cyprus are you from? What do you do in the country you are currently living in? Do you need any information from Greece, that maybe I could find out for you? Are you from other countries living in Greece? What would you like to see on this post...Anything...

The "let's get personal" part of this is my story. You see I was born a giver. I'm not sure if it is due to my star sign, Pisces, my upbringing, or just my nature. I just love the look on people's faces when something I have said or done fulfills them. Unfortunately, and this can be verified by the banks and my pocket, this will never make me rich, but I still enjoy giving. I am still lost on my life path, not knowing where I am actually going annoys me. I have a job in which people, and this happens a lot in Greece, continually owe me money (sometimes I think that they will start paying me in kind as they did back in the good old years). I have a degree that I worked so hard for, but is not even respected here. I have loved and lost. I have two children who have to be brought up properly, with a mother who was raised so differently. I have debts (who doesn't...??). I have to find a second job soon. The one thing that I do have is optimism. I believe that solutions and opportunities are out there. We just need to open our eyes and look for them, and unfortunately, here in Greece, it helps if you have binoculars!!!! But this post is not about me... it is about you.

Please send me your stories. Let me know about you and your lives. Maybe I can help you with something. Maybe you can help me on my life's journey. Again I would like to thank the lady (the reason I am not mentioning names is that I do not know if she would want me to) who gave me a smile on a very difficult Wednesday morning.

E-mail : allgreek1@gmail.com