MY BIG FAT FUNNY LIFE

Raised in Athens on strong coffee and mysterious recipes,
I spent 30 years in the U.S. learning irony the hard way.

Now I write funny, heartfelt stories about Greek life,
everyday absurdities, and the little moments that stay with you.

Start with this

MAYDAY, MAYDAY

“If it slips,” he said, “call me immediately and come back.” Then he added, almost casually: “On Tuesdays I see patients in Sparta. Wednesdays and Thursdays I operate in Athens. But I always drive back to Kalamata at night. If it happens on a day I’m not in the office, call me anytime. I’ll take care of it.” I was stunned.

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The Greek Property Odyssey 🏛️🔑

Ohhh the whitewashed houses with the blue shutters! The sunlight bouncing off cobblestones! The crystal-clear sea where even fish look like they’re on vacation! The food, the music, the people! My dream land! “Baby, let’s move there,” you whisper after your third plate of grilled octopus. “We’ll drink ouzo at sunset, dance barefoot to bouzouki, and never worry about taxes again!” All you need is a visa. But we are not EU citizens. Now what?

5 min read

The Greek Goodbye (This Will Take a While)

Stage 2: The Doorway Delay You move toward the door. Shoes on. Bags ready. And then—someone remembers something. A story. A question. A detail that absolutely cannot wait. You stop. You talk. Five minutes pass. Ten. You are still inside.

2 min read

You Do Not Plan the Peloponnese. You Surrender to It.

How do you explain to someone that they probably cannot “do the Peloponnese” neatly in two weeks because the Peloponnese is not one thing? It is several Greeces packed tightly together and refusing to cooperate. One part is myth. One part is mountain. One part is stone. One part is sea. One is hiking, rafting, and trekking. One part is villages that appear to have signed only a limited agreement with modern life.

5 min read

Diples Had to Go to Psara

Coming back from Methoni, my brain was still full of Athanasiou bakeries. Athanasiou in Kalamata. Athanasiou in Methoni. Athanasiou here. Athanasiou there. Athanasiou everywhere. At this point, I was beginning to suspect that Messinia was not actually a prefecture, but a bakery franchise with olive trees. Naturally, after all this deep investigative work, I had to walk into town for supplies.

6 min read

The Periptero (kiosk) That Knew Too Much

It began as a wooden box with cigarettes and gossip. Now it’s a mini-market with regulations, and still knows your business. There was a time when the periptero (kiosk) wasn’t shiny. It wasn’t stocked like a convenience store. It didn’t glow with refrigerators. It certainly didn’t resemble a glass cube bursting with products. It was a box. A real box.

6 min read

GOING TO AMERICA (part one) ✈️

It was 1980. Athens still had Hellinikon Airport then, low ceilings, the faint smell of cigarette smoke, queues that bent like snakes, and the sight of relatives waving handkerchiefs through the glass. There was no duty-free glamour, no polished marble. Just the weight of goodbyes, the clatter of luggage, and the anxiety of stepping into a world that felt impossibly far.