Good Morning Corfu: Living Abroad Against All Odds

---

Cathedrals of the Flesh. The Leopard Print Luggage. Syros - Blue Guide Chapter.

Poros - Blue Guide Chapter. What Changed Our Lives. How to Do Stuff In Japan: A Guide for Visitors to Japan. The Little Book of Lykke.

How To Travel Fulltime. Two Flags in China: Fourni with Thymaina - Blue Guide Chapter. The One Life Movement. Waiting for a moment. Ultimate Handbook Guide to Port Elizabeth: South Africa Travel Guide.

What is Kobo Super Points?

Spetses - Blue Guide Chapter. Travel Fun, Travel Solo: Ios - Blue Guide Chapter.

Partial Fuel Energy Answer for America. Thanks to My Killer Wife. Indian Curry with German Beer. Ultimate Handbook Guide to Neijiang: Opportunities and Uses of the Ocean. How to write a great review. The review must be at least 50 characters long. The title should be at least 4 characters long. Your display name should be at least 2 characters long. At Kobo, we try to ensure that published reviews do not contain rude or profane language, spoilers, or any of our reviewer's personal information.

You submitted the following rating and review. We'll publish them on our site once we've reviewed them. Item s unavailable for purchase. Please review your cart. You can remove the unavailable item s now or we'll automatically remove it at Checkout. Continue shopping Checkout Continue shopping.

No doubt, each person has his own method of coping with the many conflicting circumstances he might encounter, and whether or not he is eventually able to attain some acceptable measure of comfort is determined by any number of factors. Here are some that I have found to be important: Many who come to live on Corfu do so having a ready-made income.

Join Kobo & start eReading today

At first glance this would seem to be an ideal situation, but it can also be a one-way ticket to a much less desirable circumstance: Countless times I have encountered pensioners with very little to do but sit in a pub and drink. They are there day after day, until eventually they fall off the bar stool in ruined health.

I'm quite sure that this was not the so-called retirement they once envisioned — one of leisurely days in a warm climate with few cares. To my eye, those who come here with limited funds, thereby necessitating that they work, find integration not necessarily easy, but at least possible to a degree.

Becoming intimately involved with one's new culture is not only desirable but also essential, I believe. Integration helps the newcomer to feel a sense of belonging, which is an essential part of a healthy and happy emotional life. Yet, even if one is determined to work in his new culture, it hardly guarantees him a ready-made place in the working world. Here on Corfu, one does not simply go out to look for a job. The reality is that jobs here are scarce to begin with, and those that are available usually go to the native population.

This circumstance demands that the expatriate create his own niche, so to speak, and that exercise requires that he is not only highly observant, but also very creative. Those who come here to live that possess such qualities are far more likely to have a successful integration on every dynamic of life. Here on Corfu, making friends seems at first to be an easy process.

Not only is there a good many other ex-pats to lend support and friendship but the Greeks themselves are a very welcoming people. But again, there are many layers to this so-called social integration. The initial easy acceptance by the ex-pat community hardly guarantees that once one has come to know his new friends a bit more intimately, he will find their habits and personalities to be in concert with his own.

It's like anywhere else: Likewise, the much touted and revered Greek hospitality can be a well-practiced veneer. As one penetrates deeper and deeper into this culture, he inevitably learns that the Greeks are like all other people. They have their likes and dislikes, their prejudices and misconceptions, and while their cultural bias demands that they treat their guests with respect and dignity, and even unbridled enthusiasm, they can be intolerant and rigid as well. In my experience, patience is the key to successful integration.

Reward Yourself

One absolutely must avoid making snap decisions based on surface appearances concerning character and circumstance. Time and endless observation will eventually reveal at least a measure of truth, and understanding both who and what one might be dealing with is a sure way to sidestep a multitude of social problems. The reasons one might decide to live in a foreign land are certainly many and varied, but whatever one's reasons might be, he must certainly come to terms with his place in his adopted home.

• THE ESSENTIALS OF RAINWATER HARVESTING
• The Wealth Singularity
• The Infinite Thread: Healing Relationships Beyond Loss
• Who Said It Would Be Easy?: A Story of Faith
• TEN FUN THINGS TO DO IN NEWPORT NEWS
• The Little Black Book of Tea