Germany + Greece

I saw this tweet recently.

Someone just used an emoji in a pretty serious work email. It was a middle aged German. Such informality! It's like they've become Greeks.
— Jorge (@ChocoLlama) April 14, 2014

It reminded me of another encounter I saw between German and Greek cultures.

While in Greece, we visited  the local travel agency to book some tickets.

A spry sprightly middle aged women worked there, Mrs Papanagiotou. She had dark brown curled hair tightly cropped and sat at her little desk with a light cardigan hanging from her shoulders.

One day when we called she was sitting outside, animatedly chatting and drinking coffee with a neighbour.

We mentioned that she seemed to be having a lovely time, an easy summer life. "But I'm a little worried," she said, would she be affected by the recent Angela Merkel led German bail out the Greek economy?

"No, no, I don't want to be a German woman, sitting in an office and never speaking!," she said as she crossed her cardigan in a certain fashion.