A bad day

Posted on July 2, 2009 by Eleni Zoe| 14 Comments

Today, I’m having a Bad Greece Day.

These days don’t happen too often but when they do I find myself silently questioning the decision I made to move back here. These bad days usually happen more often during the summer months. I’m not a summer person and summer in Greece lasts a kajillion years. Tempers flare, older men and adolescent boys smell. On good Greece days, I’m happy to be here. I watch the absolute chaos with fascination. On bad Greece days, I want to throw my toys around and tell everyone else to basically� “Grow the fuck up.”

Yesterday, for example, as I approached my parked car the car parked in front of me reversed, crashed into me and was getting ready to drive off. I ran after him and almost flew my body on his body while screaming, “What the hell are you doing?”

He jumped out and his first response was, “What? Don’t tell me you haven’t done the same thing?”

I looked at him in shock while he continued.

“Don’t tell me you have never bumped a car while trying to get out of a parking space? Answer me. You have, haven’t you?”

I looked at him with an expression that I am sure was brimming over with disgust and said,

“First of all, I’ve never been caught. Second of all, bumping the car behind you is only acceptable when you have NO OTHER WAY OF GETTING OUT OF THE PARKING SPACE. Look at the space in front of you.”

My hand gestured to the obscenely large parking space his tiny car had previously occupied.

“I don’t care. You’ve done it, I’ve done it. There’s nothing we can do it about it.” he said as he began climbing back into his car; having seemingly decided on his own that this spat was over.

I swallowed my anger, for a moment and replied calmly:

“You know, we could all be better people. ”

He all but gave me the finger.

I probably deserved it; if only for that fact that you can’t exactly reason narcissism with schmaltzy.

Regardless, his attitude, his conclusion that because parking spaces are hard to come by in Athens this gives him the right to crash into my car and not apologize for his behaviour because oh everyone does it .

This the reason that on Bad Greece Days I think that this country will never change and it just might not be the one for me.

Answer me this. Do you ever have bad [insert your country's/city's name here] days? Please tell me I’m not the only one and that Greece is not that special.

P.S Also, a huge, huge, huge thank you for all comments about your love of flying. Each time I feel a little nervous I go back and re-read them all.� I’ll be sure to do this until the day I leave.

This entry was posted in on everything else and tagged crushes, differences, driving, Greece, ridiculous. Bookmark the permalink.

14 Responses to A bad day

Erin | July 2, 2009 at 8:32 pm | Reply

I have bad Seattle days ALL THE TIME. It’s gotten to the point where I HAVE to get out of here. I am yearning for a sense of community and I get none of that here. In east coast cities (and Chicago, midwest, holla!) it’s easy to make connections with people… deep connections. That’s just how people are. They are not like that here and after six years, I have had ENOUGH. So much so that I’m trying to move back to my hometown, something I said I’d never do. Egads.

Sorry for venting in your comments, but dang, I feel a little better.
consuelodasa | July 2, 2009 at 8:41 pm | Reply

Haha, in the U.S., Corpus Christi has some of the worst drivers I have ever encountered.They are extremely arbitrary and it only gets worst at night.Plus, there is nothing fun to do here…unless you are into the beach, which I am not so fond of.
Can’t wait to finish school so I can get out of here. :)
Georgia | July 2, 2009 at 9:18 pm | Reply

I’ve never really thought of them as “Bad Los Angeles Days”, but now that you mention it, I’m sure the horrendous traffic, idiot drivers, narcassistic assholes, long lines, and smoggy heat are all of a certain kind special to Los Angeles. Good thing I love this city most of the time.

That guy sounds like an asshole. Sorry about your car.
Hope | July 2, 2009 at 9:31 pm | Reply

Georgia: LA sounds eerily similar to Athens. Now I feel better. :)
adorablybitter | July 2, 2009 at 10:01 pm | Reply

I’ve figured that we all have a love-and-hate relationship with our homes. Have you ever read Argentinian poetry – they love Buenos Aires with a fiery passion, yet they feel the city is smothering them to death. Russians, despite of being proud of their country’s vastness will always feel a melancholy about their country. The Greeks seem to share a similar pride because of the history of their country, however they seem to get lost in modern day and therefore thy feel down… Those moments are ingrained into us.
Jess | July 2, 2009 at 10:06 pm | Reply

I had lots of bad DC days, when it was boiling hot and humid and the bus was late and everyone seemed rude and pushy and self-absorbed. So far I haven’t had a bad Denver day, but I’m sure it will happen eventually.
Chris | July 2, 2009 at 10:47 pm | Reply

That’s not a Bad Greece day. That’s a Business as Usual Greece day. Bad Greece days involve some of the following situations:

a) Standing in a long line at a bank, post office, tax office or similar civil service
b) Being unable to use the mass means of transport because they’re on a strike
c) Being stuck in a traffic jam because of b) or because of a demonstration by students, retirees or *insert your favorite social group here*
d) Being jammed and squeezed tight inside a bus or the metro (the aforementioned MMTs) in the summer, without air-conditioning

And these are just a few examples…
Bridget | July 2, 2009 at 11:48 pm | Reply

I have bad Nevada days frequently. Sometimes people are incredibly small minded, the town I live in feels inbred, and it snows. I hate the snow.

And it’s a desert – brown. Lots and lots of brown.

I feel your pain.
Leah | July 3, 2009 at 1:16 am | Reply

Bad Calgary Days – when I regret moving across the country away from my family and friends. Mostly they include a lot of anxiety over nothing, homesickness and wallowing in my own self-pity. I get scared of everything – including moving so I find myself frozen in one place for hours. Not a pretty scene.
But the Good Calgary Days MORE than make up for the bad ones, as I hope yours do too.
Here’s to a Good Greece Day coming soon!
paula | July 3, 2009 at 3:41 am | Reply

Hopedieslast,

I think no matter where you live you after a while you will get sick of it. For instance now that I am in the US ( i find myself saying “why did I come back here?”) And when I am in Greece I find myself saying the same exact thing. The problem is that there is no perfect place out there. i think we all need to accept that, and stop searching for utopia.
I hate the weather in the USA, and how people are not that social as they are in Greece, but I love the opportunities. Then again I love Greece’s weather, the holidays, and being outdoors, but when it comes to jobs, education, and hospitals, forget about it! I am torn between 2 countries, but I am young, and I hope someday I make the right decision as to where I want to live permanently. What i am trying to say is that, when you have experience living in 2 different countries, states, etc.. you will always compare, and one day you wake up, everything seems to be okay, and another day you might wake up and regret your decision for moving there. (It happens to all of us)

For the past 2 weeks it has been raining non-stop here in Boston and it is driving me insane. Boston is a great place, although most people here are miserable due to the weather, not to mention, we also have some of the worst drivers in the USA .

As for Athens, I never lived there(and i refuse to, i only go there for entertainment) so I cant comment, but I know it is a zoo.
bollybutton | July 6, 2009 at 4:23 pm | Reply

I disagree about the summer – i’m so nuts about summer I’d gladly have it twice as long. But I’m in a catch 22, the UK now seems like such a miserable place to live that it’s Greece or bust for me. I have to make it work. Since there is no escape plan, I try to keep a positive attitude. That doesn’t mean that I don’t feel like tearing my hair out at:

* The endless paperwork. And I hear I ain’t seen nothing yet
* Having to go to the post office to pay for everything. Hello! Ever heard of direct debit?
* Going to official places and evvveerrrything being in Greek
* Having a parcel from Victoria’s Secret stuck at a delivery office somewhere near IKEA since last week because I could not make head nor tail of what I was being told on the phone. Some problem with the delivery. I dunno, I just want my undies!!
* Selfish attitudes on the road, and until recently, in terms of smoking and not giving a shit who was in your vicinity. God bless the smoking ban
* No greenery. Sometimes you just want to refresh your eyes a little

All that said, my other choices of habitat are a semi-warzone and an anally retentive iceberg, so I’d still pick Athens than anywhere else.
Pesto Sauce | July 6, 2009 at 7:41 pm | Reply

Yes, we all have bad days or off-days…..guess this is common across geography
plaka | July 21, 2009 at 6:12 pm | Reply

This is what makes Greece, GREECE. Really, I have to love all of Greece’s and its peoples’ idiosyncrasies. Of course, I may get fed up while I’m there in a bank and the teller is puffing his cigarette smoke in my face and taking his sweet ole’time.

Ha, and yes I remember the good ol’days on buses in 100F+ weather and NO A/C. That was intolerable, yet Greek in every way. Hated it at the time, but laugh now at the memories.

This all grounds a person, especially one that has lived, for the most part, in the US. When I do visit Greece, Im reminded of a different way of life, and in some ways, definitely better (compared to living in the northeast US)
Ladybird | September 18, 2009 at 9:19 pm | Reply

R u kidding?! It’s definitely not just Greece. I think every Mediterranean country is like that. Some get it worse than others, depending the size of the country. (mine’s really small, so as you can probably imagine, it’s pure hell). I don’t know though, much as I hate the Mediterranean way of life, I kinda love it as well. In any case I love your blog and the way you write! :)

A bad day

14 Responses to A bad day

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