It's no secret that I am not the perfect housewife. I hate cleaning, I hate doing dishes, I don't iron, I rarely cook, and I don't even make my husband coffee when he begs. The only thing I can tolerate without complaining is laundry, and that is only because it basically does itself. When it comes time to hang it outside I'm all bitching and moaning again. I'm a pretty miserable excuse for a housewife by American standards, but by Greek standards, I am really horrible. I am actually surprised my husband tolerates me.
All this hasn't been brought to such a glaring light before we moved to Thessaloniki, the home of my mother-in-law, also known as Wonder Woman. She is a pediatrician, has office hours in the morning and the evening, manages to make a tasty home cooked meal every lunchtime, not to mention do the ironing, wash clothes, and ten million other tasks a busy woman with two kids (ok, the kids are 17 and 24, but so?) still living at home has to do.
When we lived elsewhere, the major embarrassment, to me, was the frequency of having food delivered to the house. Still, it was only some strangers in a village we were soon to leave that knew I didn't cook for my husband every night.
Our first night here in Thessaloniki, my husband sends some shirts to his mother to be ironed. There has been a steady stream of outgoing shirts since then (cordially delivered by the youngest brother-in-law). To add fuel to the fire, my mother-in-law has been sending us home-cooked lunches every day. In my defense, the electrician hasn't come to hook up our oven yet, but even so, the ironing, the lunches, make me feel a little less adequate as a wife.
To make up for it I've been on a cleaning frenzy every day, and I voluntarily make my husband's coffee in the afternoons. We'll see how long it lasts. There is something, after all, to being the worst.
5 comments:
What a wonderful team! Take it from a Greek girl who married a non greek xenos...keeping house is not the most important thing, keeping husband and wife happy...now that is the secret.
Love your blog, great that hubby comments!
I think Thanos gets extra good husband points. Almost enough to make up for moving his wife to the same general vicinity as his mother.
That was just CRUEL!
Mmmm...
Did anyone else read Thano's comments and think "Mmmm.... looks like this guy is trying to score brownie points. OK, I'm guessing he's done something wrong OR not done something he was supposed to do OR the most likely senario is he wants to buy something really expensive!
I think though Mel, you need to write a blog to honor your mother in law! She sounds fantastic! Although she probably says to her friends: "he married an American, she don't feed him like a good Greek wife would!" ... Haha!! Just joking!
Well, Thanos DOES want to buy something, stupid planes for his stupid Flight Simulator. =p
And don't get me wrong, I adore my mother-in-law. I would wish she was my mother if that wouldn't mean my husband and I would be brother and sister.
Greek women just appear to be super housewives. If you observe them they are always cleaning/doing laundry, etc.
I am lucky to get such a good Greek husband. I could have ended up with one who wanted a maid instead of a wife!
I think what makes Greek women, super wives is that they are somewhat competitive and ocd ^^, at least the ones in my surrounding family are!
Post a Comment