Greek gal in the UK post 1

Some of you may know me from my other blog (myeltrambles.com), but if this is the first time you are reading my posts, allow me to introduce myself. I am Joanna from Greece. I grew up in Sydney, but have been living in Greece for the past 27 years (I am 39 at the moment). If you ask me if I feel more Greek or Aussie, my answer of course will be Greek, although I do like that fact that I am from the land down unda. I am an English teacher and I have been lucky enough to have had the opportunity to work in the UK. For the past 5 summers actually, I have been going to the UK and these posts will be about that. What life is like for the Greek gal in the UK. So, here is post numero uno!

Opening doors

The first time I lived in the UK I felt like a princess. Let me explain. You see, there is a whole philosophy (mannerism/politeness?) of holding the door in the UK I neva eva knew existed. So, imagine this. Me, at work walking around and people holding the door open for me. I thought, “Wow, this is really cool”, but when I would be at the door, yeah, I would check to see if anyone was coming, but if someone was not right behind me, I would just leave, and the door would probably slam in the next person’s face (I am overexaggerating a bit to make this more dramatic). Now, if you are English, you know that this is very inconsiderate (not holding the door for a while , I mean), but in Greece (from my own experience), sure the majority of us doesn’t slam doors in people’s faces, but we don’t hold it open for the next person who is 10 meters away either!! Or maybe it’s just me, I don’t hold the door open for someone who is far far away!! Now of course, I know better and I, too, have become a door holder-opener, but in the beginning this was soooooooooooooo strange and soooooo cool at the same time. Felt like a princess, a rude one, but a princess!