Would you mind sharing a bit about what it is like to live in Greece? How is the atmosphere there? I am greek in origin so I love hearing about it My great great grandparents on my dads side moved to Pennsylvania from Greece. I've never been out of the country but it is one place i would like to visit some day.
Hmmm, 4 years ago I would say that it's just like living in the US concerning living standards. There was lower class, middle class, upper class just like in the US.
Right now, about 80% of the population have to live on 300 - 1000 euro a month. 10% earn about 1000 - 2000 euro a month and the rest 10 % more than 2000 euros a month.
Living on very little money? It's feasible, I have tried it but hey
I have saturn on an angle, I can live a Spartan life; I have all my life, that's why this situation hasn't really affected me so far.
If you are talking about Greece as a country, places to visit and see ...
I have no words to describe that feeling I personally get.
To me it's mesmerizing
I wasn't born here, my mother is from Greece, I was raised in the US but this place ...
it feels like it holds some magic power over me, I feel like I'm tied to this place.
It's weird that my IC is 25*55 Sagit and my Relocation ASC is 26*30 Sagit.
Maybe I was meant to be here.
I have been having thoughts of moving back to the US for good, but I can't see myself living in my birth city.
Concerning the political situation; the Media does tend to blow things a bit out of proportion concerning riots etc. The other day my cousin called me asking me if I'm OK because of some riots in the center of the city.
I told her that I felt safer being in the center of those riots than passing by a gang in Madrit.
It's just that Greece has been a quiet place - compared to the rest of the world - and now this has changed.
When people are jobless they are angry, and when they get angry, they take to the streets demonstrating their anger.
Things are bad concerning the financial situation because about 1 out of 4 people I know, have lost their jobs. we're talking about middle middle class and upper middle class. It's much worse further down we go.
That's one of the reasons I'm not even thinking of having a family of my own any more.
In my family, 2 out of 4 people still have their jobs ... and that's because it's our own private business. We are the lucky ones.
The good thing is that the people have not given up and the ones who have lost their jobs have been helped by family members - that's one of the good things in this small country.
They have φιλοτιμο ... it's quite a difficult word to translate into English, it means the person who combines conscience, generosity, kindness, philanthropy.
On the other hand, there are those who can be real as#es, well there are people whose IQ hits rock bottom in every country
right?
What has happened is this: money was being borrowed from the EU for years for the development of the country but that money never reached the People.
Some politicians are in jail for "borrowing" that money and German Siemens admitted bribing greek politicians to help them out in their business deals.
Yet, the same political parties are voted again and again....
do you know why? Because politicians would promise jobs to people in exchange for their vote.
He*l,
if I were poor and a politician offered me a job ... I think you would find me guilty of voting those corrupted politicians.
Anyway, I think it's much deeper than that. Europeans, mostly Germans and Russians have been visiting Greece looking to buy large pieces of land, mostly in Peloponesse and the islands. The Greeks, are tied to their roots and they don't give up their land easily (The Ottoman Empire enslaved this country for 400 years and they were unable to assimilate the Greeks in their own culture) My grandfather has said that he would never sell his land to them even if he had no food to eat - and he and his parents actually proved that during the German invasion in the 40s' when he, being 7-8 years old at the time, almost died of famine.
Anyway, call me a conspiracy theorist but this is just a game to them.
I think all this is going down because they want control over this land ... how do you take control over a country?
Either by invading the country - didn't work 70 years ago -
or by financially "enslaving" them
Imagine "George" borrowing $1000 for 30 years from his friend "Nick".
"George" only gives back to "Nick" $100 a year.
Well is Nick stupid to be lending money to George all the time?
No, he is just sly, he knows George will have trouble paying him back and in the end, Nick will ask for George's house , car and whatnot.
The fact is that George has borrowed $30,000 total, gave back $3,000 but he will have to pay back $300,000. That's what has been happening in Southern Europe. It's just how the Mafia works.