First of all, our sincere best wishes for a loving, happy and above all healthy 2023.

By now we know very well how important health is and we are therefore happy to leave 2022 behind us.

It was not our best year. With Els’ serious car accident and the loooong recovery that lasts until today.

But hey, 2022 also brought beautiful things: the value of friendship, of connection and closeness. We felt surrounded by a great group of “saviours”, people who wanted to step in with practical help of all kinds. We received so many beautiful attentions and words, so much encouragement.

And for us, of course, the most beautiful thing: 2022 brought us a (temporary, we are renting) Greek house! Despite everything, we are making our dream come true. Living in beautiful Greek nature, with sun, sea and mountains all around us.

And that fresh new life sometimes brings some fresh dilemmas.

Dilemmas from everyday life

After 3 weeks in Greece, we are now back “home” for a while. Or wait…. What do you mean? Where is home? Do you mean our home in Bazel (Belgium) or in Agios Nikolaos ( Greece)?

*

We need new vocabulary, need to agree on how to name the rooms in our Greek house. The living area (living room and kitchen) is on the middle floor. The bedrooms on the second. Downstairs there is a flat, also with two bedrooms.  When Els asks Bart to put something “downstairs”, he puts it in the flat, and she just meant in the house downstairs. We have to agree on that : flat – downstairs – upstairs.

*

Do I throw the toilet paper in the bucket (GR) or do I drop it in the toilet (BE) ?

*

Do I drink water from the tap (BE) or from bottles (GR)? How do we organise our lives so that the plastic waste pile we create does not become too big? 

Do we eat outside or not? (GR!) Do we go outside or not (BE)? I, Els, stayed inside the house for the first two days in Belgium, far too cold to go outside.

*

Which taverna do we want to eat in tonight? Eating in a taverna costs us about 10-15 euros per person if we do go for a sumptuous meal, with wine.

*

And “last but not least”…. The dilemma these days…. Do we take this to Greece or not?

We are currently packing. A lot of things are going with us. We are, here in Belgium, currently living among boxes (and mess đŸ˜‰ )