After each country on our WorldSchooling Adventure we are asking the kids, and ourselves, to name one cultural difference that we observed, focusing, of course, on positive aspects of the culure. Here are the observations for Greece:
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Ryan:
Young kids stay up really late in Greece. Okay, it is true that, at least in our small, seaside village kiddos were out until 10pm-11pm sometimes later, but it was also summer so maybe they were operating under Summertime Rules? This is considereed a positive aspect by the kids so it gets included in our list.
Austen:
Lots of Cats! This is true. Througout Crete there were cats everywhere! But I don't think Crete or Greece has a monopololy on this feline fascination. I think they are prevalent throughout at least parts of Europe - I think we saw even more in Dubrovnik. The kids thought this was a definite positive, although Francesca, who is highly alergic to cats, did not.
Finley:
You can't throw ANYTHING in toilets in Greece, including toilet paper!! It's true and it's totally gross! Ya basically wipe and then drop the TP, poop and all, into a trash can next to the toilet. This took a lot for us to get used to. We did run into a few friends who apparently had better plumbing and were able to toss TP down there, but that was rare, even for restaurants. This was not a positive cultural aspect for either us or the kids, but I had to put it in there as it fascinated me that in 2024 basic plumbing was a privilge, not a right in some places.
Francesca:
Old Greek ladies serve as small town security guards. We saw this throughout Crete where older ladies, usually clad in a black dress, would sit in a chair in the center of town and people watch, chat with friends and generally observe the goings on. One local friend told us, only half joking, that this is the security system for the village, nothing happens without the matriarchy seeing who did it.
Dan:
The screw caps on plastic bottles are attached to the bottle! When you unscrew a plastic bottle cap for the first time, one strand of the under-ring remains attached to the cap (see photo). This is both a blessing and a curse. At first, I thought "What a brilliant idea! Now no one will ever lose their bottle cap". But after living with this "feature" for a month, I also saw the downside. Which is, it's hard to get a swig with the cap sticking off the edge. This is true only for the single serving bottle, but even for the 1 liter bottles, the attached cap can sometimes cause problems, like getting in the way of the pour. For the record, we saw this feature on plastic bottles in Croatia and Bosnia so it is not a uniquely Greek phenomenon.
We hope you liked these cultural observations from our time in Greece. Please let us know if you noticed any of these or any others on your travels to Crete or Greece.
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