I have a feeling I know who one of the people who was leaving anonymous, nasty comments on this blog is.
I have no way of verifying this except some clues that suddenly hit me when I was reading the blog of another fellow Athens blogger.
I have no way of verifying this except some clues that suddenly hit me when I was reading the blog of another fellow Athens blogger.
I hope I'm wrong. This is someone who I respect and admire.
The person who was leaving those comments had an obvious problem with the fact that I moved to Athens with a transferable job and a social network in place. Their solo experience was obviously much tougher, but doesn't justify the things that they said to me.
I know I may not be the gutsiest or bravest of people. I know things were relatively easier for me having been coming to Athens for a while and already having a place to stay waiting for me when I moved here. But I say relatively, because it was still by no means easy. I don't say I am an expert about life in Athens, but I simply thought there may be others out there like me who found they had to move to Athens to be with the one they loved, and maybe they'd like to know they're not the only ones. Being able to keep my job from London was just a case of pure luck and negotiation.
I don't believe that people who move to another country to be with the one they love are cowards. In fact I believe in some ways this decision is harder because you're moving to a place because you have to. Moving to Greece was an impossibly difficult decision to take. I wasn't particularly crazy about living here, I didn't want to face the effort of learning Greek, I eroded my relationship with my parents. Each move is different, each person is different. So it's impossible to say my move was harder than yours, or your experience was tougher/easier than mine.
We're all here and we're trying our best. *Sigh* I HOPE I'm not right about the anonymous poster...
5 comments:
Keep on blogging, bollybutton.
Did someone say that "people who move to another country to be with the one they love are cowards"?
It takes a lot of guts to make such a move.
Anyway, glad to have you here.
mary
:) Howdy
comment enabled.... yeeayy!
I started reading your blog a couple of months ago, in the midst of a very difficult period in a long-distance relationship (at the time between Boston and Istanbul), and I just wanted to let you know how comforting it was to read your experiences and how much I admire you for 'taking the plunge' to move to a new country for the man you love.
At that time I was wondering if I would ever have it in me to move to a strange city in a country whose language is not even related to my own, or if when push came to shove I'd sacrifice a relationship with someone who could be (and is, I now think) the love of my life to stay in my own.
Anyway I now know from experience what a difficult decision that is to face, and it's been quite helpful to read the experiences of another person in a similar situation. Quite frankly, anyone who hasn't faced the travails of trying to communicate with prospective in-laws in broken sentences and sign-language (or, horror of horrors, cook in the presence of a prospective Mediterranean mother-in-law) really shouldn't judge what 'hard' is. ;)
Anyway, more power to you and best of luck in Athens! If I were there I'd really like to meet up sometime over a frappe or two to swap stories :)
Thanks for the encouragement everyone. It's good to know people who like the blog are reading it. When I moved to Athens I had no reference, no one to tell me what moving to another country for the reasons I did was like.
If my blog has eased even a little bit of your anxiety, then it's achieved its aim :)
Sorry I haven't had a chance to answer you properly. I will be back online in about 10 days. We'll speak then... stay strong!
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