Posted by Marco on November 28, 2001 at 02:44:05:
In Reply to: Re: Can I understand? posted by vicky on November 27, 2001 at 10:06:23:
: DEar Vicky,
sorry for the confusion, but I am not a native english speaker and, I have to say, I am relaxed.
I don't know wheter you are greek or not, and I agree on many points of yours e.g. Greece lies between Turkey and Italy, so for sure has more eastern influence, but be aware that Turkey is itself an hybrid country, part westernized part oriental, it is not a "true" middle eastern country like Lebanon etc....
What shall I say about Italy? we are much closer(together with Spain) to Africa, geographically and culturally than Greece(Trapani to Tunis only 80 KM of sea!). You can see that closeness to Africa in the architecture and the way of living of south Italy and south Spain and in the traits of most of the people of the whole of both countries. For example I never saw a greek with very dark skin or really arabic features like you can find relatively easy in Italy or Spain and Portugal. When I first came to Greece I was amazed from the relative huge number of fair people among the greek population.And remember the history of a people is also traceable from the people faces.
I do not intend to challenge or offend anyone(as a matter of fact I am just depicting the concrete truth based on my observations and other people inputs) I have here where I live (San Diego) some greek friends that totally share my opinions.
Moreover I'd like to say that we should just exchange opinions and experiences in a constructive way to benefit from this message board that allows people from all over discuss a various range of topics
If you like you can mail me personally
Ciao
Marco