What is our ordinary Greek life like? What is it like to live here and not only spend holiday here?

What is our ordinary Greek life like? What is it like to live here and not only spend holiday here?

   Before I start to answer these questions we’d like to give you something you don’t have to buy, you can get inspired, get to know us better and not just via Instagram pictures. We are trying to find topics that can bring you something. The internet is full of blogs about make-up, cooking tips and outfits. That’s why we hope to tell you something new or if not we welcome your tips how to improve. We aren’t any bloggers but we think, that we have many topics that every woman or young girl can relate to.

    We haven’t heard of anyone else in our closeness or in Slovakia who’d talk about Greek lifestyle. We’ll talk about things you can’t know or don’t have time to notice while being on holiday.

    After living in Greece for some time, or 3 years to be exact, and giving birth to your child here it feels like home for you so I’ll show you Greece from a closer view and compare it to our home country Slovakia. Greek lifestyle is completely different than the Slovak one. Why?     

 To begin with immediately when you step out of the airplane you can smell souvlaki (grilled meat on a wooden stick) and of course beautiful smell of coffee. These are typical for Greece. But wait not regular coffee its has to be freddo! What is it? Basically ice and coffee. Nowhere in the world freddo is not going to be like the one here. Some other time we’ll get to the recipe because they have their own special ones. That’s why I could drink it all the time.

  All the beginnings mostly the ones in foreign country or city are tough, you are alone and you don’t know anyone.. But in Greece it was different and a little easier than in other places, people are kind and they treat you like you have known each other for ages. Maybe it is because of the name “ Mak” ? Well maybe sometimes.  But at the same time they are very loud and temperament… especially when it comes to driving that’s pure madness. 

  Often they create their own rules, and they have the theory of two lanes: "we will go" and so on. We'll come to the centre, but there are probably not a lot of people ... I notice on Monday morning. Ha ha, you know so many people on our favourite coffee, right on the promenade down in Solon, as if they were giving out for free, a tablecloth. And I'm not talking about just one café, there's a lot of advice on the promenade. Yes, at 10:00 in the morning you do not have where to sit. People are there as ants, seriously everywhere. Just imagine it a working day with us and in the centre of the city full of equal! Do we just think they really do not have to do it ?! Nobody?!  Even during crisis they won’t curtail themselves of their rutines. They simply do not let themselves restrict and succumb to the moments they are accustomed to. That's how they live! We will not be mistaken here :)

When we are at the promenade, women and men sometimes act like they are after a fashion break. Every single woman is beautifully dressed, perfect make up , and outfit ! Clearly, except for me! Miška is always tip top! Each one is really interesting in something. From this city, it is just a hint that it is the Balkans of fashion and that's why we decided to inspire Greek and bring you beautiful, other outfits you can find in Slovakia yes, only on mazumis.com

  And men ? Single, taken … they’ll stare. They take a lot of care of themselves and they visit barber shops often. Aligned dark beard, nicely done hair, you could say they look alike. There are some exceptions who don’t really care about smelling and looking nice and clean. 

In centre of Thessaloniki on Aristotle square you have “all in”: breakfast, coffee, sea view, fashion tips. You can whether criticise or get inspired by peoples style. They are really stylish and you can feel it, they are pretty forward with fashion. They are not afraid of showing they’re style of. You whether love them or hate them. We just LOVE them! And now we got to the food topic… 

  So the food. OMG! That could be a very long speech, the fact that we can stuff ourselves with they’re food speaks for all. What we really like is the fact that you can get vegetables and fruits on every corner, like in the past… and it’s always fresh and seasonal. For meat you go to the butchers. He knows us already, it’s aways: “jasas family Mak” and he brings the best pieces from the back. For fishes we go to the fish market. So in 15 minutes you have all the shopping done and you’re ready to go. Of course there are also supermarkets but if quality matters to you this is the way. And the tons of time you spend in bio stores… Miška could be there for hours but we can’t because kids can’t last there a long so haven’t been there for a while.

Speaking of food… one would bankrupt here on eggs. Ps: in our kitchen we use them a lot egged bread, omelette, scrambled eggs, pasta with egg etc… And yeah for intance you pay 4 euros for 6 eggs in Greece.

 If you’d see us in the greek grocery store for the first time. Don’t expect anything in english.  I had to open the flour to find out what kind it was. Lot of times I didn’t know what I have bought until I started cooking. You’ll figure out what it is like not to be able to read or write.   About restaurants and food? Almost every restaurant is exceptional when you love fish and see food or also the meat here is very tasty. You will find here many many good restaurants. They prefer to eat dinner around 8-9 p.m. When we are already sleeping of course.

  An interesting fact, Thessaloniki  is one of the biggest party places in Europe. There’s a party every day. Unfortunately kinds can be tiresome so haven’t been on any. Until now we were talking about the joys of Greece, but let me mention also the problems! 

1.The roads? Like we are going to complain in Bratislava? In comparison with these roads here! They’re typical roads are usually for one car, so I woman with the biggest possible car my husband could have bought me and with my abilities… well a few times I bumped the discs who didn’t right? Sheeps are running on the main road and also homeless dogs. Animal protects would probably get a hearth attack! No worries there are many people who help these dogs in their free time. Yes, you wont go out for a walk with kids here. Once my dog Aira got hurt because of these dogs!

2. Children? You have to prepare breakfast and lunch for your kids when they go to the kinder garden. They don’t sleep there. School busses function here but we don’t use them, we drive the kids ourselves. All the activities like tennis courts, football etc. are almost free but there’s a weak choice of only swimming ( of which they get sick) and football… other sports just ages more than 6… After kinder garden you can only go to kid clubs, which there are many. For small children for up to 8 years olds. I think it’s great because you can take a break at least for a while. While kids are with an animator you can enjoy a cup of coffee. Greeks prefer going out with kids around 8 p.m., when ours are in bed by then like right Slovak kids. 

3. Public transport? You can’t go anywhere without a car. Forget about calling an UBER! And a cab is a pretty expensive thing.

4. Shopping ? The city of Thessaloniki has 1 million of residents, but only one shopping mall!  You read it right, not like in Bratislava where we have lots of them :) Therefore on Saturday I don’t even try going there. Smell like crazy all the way to the highway, well and around a 1 hour long waiting line for parking. Speaking of highway there’s not an exit sign just a gravel road with many holes, why would they bother with a road and signs. Right ?! But for shopping the city centre is the best location. You can find there everything, clothes, little bakeries, coffee places, great restaurants and the walk by the sea is splendid! 

5. The dirt! This is the thing I can’t get used to. There’s litter all around the streets, they have lots of bins, no side-walks for people. Yes, this is Greece! When I came from Nuremberg in Germany and we moved here I was absolutely shocked. And still can’ ť get used to it. The buildings are old and threadbare, nothing gets reconstructed due to the crisis. BTW, besides this we really love it here!  These were our observations, maybe you’ll be able to tell which are mine and which are Miška’s We wanted to compare the Slovak and Greek lifestyle with their pros and cons. So also the reality. We probably forgot to mention thousand things, but I guess it’s impossible to fit it all in one article.

  We hope that you’ll also read our next article, which will be written by Zuzka, about life with professional sportsman in a foreign country! It’ll be something similar, I’ll tell the truth and will talk not only about the perks. 

 And in the next one, Miška will tell you what it takes to build your own brand, how we came to this idea and all and also about how much daily work is behind all this and that it is not as easy as it may seem.

   Greetings to everyone and now I’m rushing to the kinder garden to pick up kids. Have a nice day! Zuzka & Miška, Mazumis