From EXPAT to REPAT: The Shocking Truth Revealed ✈️ 🔙 | Expat Interview with Pauline

Episode Transcript:

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recording from food Paradise Athens this episode will for sure spark your
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appetite so grab and a snack before we start today we will talk with go ibraim
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po a passionate food lover and explorer who has made it her mission to enover the best culinary germs in Athens and
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cologne born in Germany cologne from an Iranian family go has been living in
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Athens for over one year bringing her unique perspective and
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love for the food that this city can offer Jonas as we dive into Go's
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fascinating Journey favorite dining Sports and the cultural differences
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between food and experiences that has happened in her
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life this is expat experts the podcast that dives into the fascinating lives of
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those who've lived and worked across borders exploring the challenges experiences and insights they've gained along the
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way but as always before we dive into today's episode I want to remind to all
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of our listeners that the best way to stay tuned with the latest episodes is to subscribe to the YouTube channel and
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also in your favorite audio platform for extra insights and Exclusive Calls
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one-onone on creating your own podcast YouTube channel or navigating the expert live please check our website expat
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exprs podcast.com or check the link in the description the expat go
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abraa first also thank you for the for the space it's amazing so um how how was
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it for you like what when it comes the the decision of moving to Greece why why did you decide to come here uh I was
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always a big fan of Greece um I was living in Barcelona actually um
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200 2006 actually yeah was living in Barcelona for half a year but uh I
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really enjoyed living there I really like the Mediterranean flare and but I was really young and everything was exciting of course so um Greece was
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always for me and my family also since I'm a little child it was U our favorite
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travel destination and I had always good memories of Greece so um I never had it
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in mind that was different from Spain or Italy I always thought okay it's all the same South on Europe it's more or less
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uh the same Vibe and stuff but uh somehow in August 2022 I was doing a little island hopping Tour by myself and
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uh for some reasons I I didn't uh do it on on purpose I came here the moment
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when everything was shut down everything was closed all the restaurants and stuff and I was um I didn't realize no one
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told me about it some people said U it's closed or something for this day but I didn't understand was a whole entire
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period of time while I was staying in Athens for two weeks it was after all this islands and but I enjoyed the silence
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because I had this Island Vibes I was in kefalonia and saking TOs and then I was
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here in Athens and I wanted to have food and go for coffee go for restaurants and check them out but everything was closed
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on Google Maps nothing um was right I I walked it's still not right no no they
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didn't manage to put it uh offline or to to write we are on holidays or temporary
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clothes so I basically walked the entire day with 35 Dees outside I was almost
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dying but it was um at least it was quiet no cars on the street so I was basically walking and looking for
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restaurants where I could have lunch or drink a coffee somewhere and um yeah I
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it was a little bit frustrating so I I after a while I had a big list of restaurants that I want to check out
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because I was looking on Google Maps uh and then I saw ah this restaurant is rated good this one is good and I looked
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it up on Instagram Etc so after a few days I had already I don't know 50 spots
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on my list which are all U closed or yeah gone for summer holidays and um I
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thought hm I was here in essence already a few years ago in winter and it was super nice it was like spring Sun was
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shining so maybe not why not moving here for a few months maybe in Winter I could
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just stay here for four months so I don't get depressed in Germany with all the rain and clouds um and I told my
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friends about my idea and they said yeah we are actually leaving to Africa we want to travel so you can stay in our
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apartment and there are these kind of people like backpacking and um um yeah
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alternative people and they were super easy with that they said oh yeah our apartment is in petala and during that
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time I wasn't an Airbnb in P okay and I didn't know the area before because before when I was in Athens a few times
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for um I was always an exarchia so it was such a coincidence for me um to be
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in one area and I was like okay this is crazy that they are living 10 minutes from my Airbnb so I just stepped there
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and I looked at the apartment I really liked it and they gave me the key so in August
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2022 uh I decided to move here at least for a few months to Athens it was really
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convenient to reach everything in P of course there's a lot of nice restaurants
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there and um some old taverns it has a nice Vibe you're in two metro stops
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you're in the center um I really enjoyed living there and uh but I didn't want to
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move yet back to Germany I was going forth and back um so yeah I um a friend
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of a friend said um it's a German guy he said uh I have an apartment I was like
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oh my God okay it could be everywhere and I was so in love with patal I was so anxious that it's in the last corner of
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essence I don't know it could be in every part of town and I was I was prepared for the worst I was really like
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mentally I was like well let's let me see it let me have a look I mean I can
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always say no but I was so anxious and then he sent me the pictures I was like okay I take it so this was the and
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that's when you moved here yes so you said before coming to Greece you were already living abroad like you moved
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from from Germany to to Barcelona it was 2006 only for half a year just for an
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internship but it was a memorable times I had the best time I mean I was super
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young and um after um after school and um before my studies so um I picked up
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the language really easy by the way okay I learned Spanish on the streets but I I
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always had the feeling I could do it do the same here in Greece but uh it sounds similar it is not as easy I think yeah
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somehow I thought okay I'm going to pick up some words because I'm really talented with languages but uh it didn't
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work so now I'm doing a course hopefully soon yeah yeah Greek it's another
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recurrent Topic in this podcast it's a very complex language to learn um so
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yeah you move here a little bit like okay I come for some days then I come for some months and you stayed for more
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than one year right now so are you planning to stay or I'm planning to stay uh I really feel comfortable here and I
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realize that the greekman mentality and culture are really similar to um what's
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important to my values and stuff to to be generous to share everything to um
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look for other people to look after some after people being hospital um Hospital
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Hospitality yes Hospitality being um guest friendly and stuff so um these are values that are
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really important to me so I really enjoy being here um in contrast to Germany
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where everything is more U concentrated on yourself and
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um where you always being I was always being told in Germany you have to lower your expectations you should not have
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any expectation on no one but I don't know maybe it was just me or the Persian
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culture that I always thought we are all one Society but uh and I want to be like
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in a society where people take care of each other and um um help each other
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when there's problems of course you can always do everything by yourself if you're strong enough but sometimes like
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for example the mattress if I tell you like can you just give me a hand to put up the mattress I mean I'm strong but
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still sometimes you need someone you have to ask for help so yeah I really like um the mentality and culture and
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the people here nice yes you just said something also very crucial I suppose
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for you in your life and it's that you were raised by another kind of culture
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in a different country how was that like because your parents are from Iran both of them so you have
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like more a Persian approach on life and everything which is not I assume not very similar to the German approach on
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things how how how does that work for you I mean um for my parents it was of
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course not easy um to come from a middle eastern culture to to Germany to a
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complete other culture with another language with other um everything new
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friends new job uh the studies were not accepted there they had to start from the scratch it was really tough times
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and um I think for them it was important that we integrate really well that we
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are not um that we try to be as German as possible of course because if you a
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Foreigner Foreigner in another country with black hair and you look different
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um people treat you differently it's um no matter if on purpose or not but I'm
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Not Lisa I'm not Anna I'm not Mrs Miller Mrs Mrs Schneider um so we were always
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raised um to be as German as possible and to be like
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um to be as our German friends also my mother would always tell me some stuff
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like don't be so generous don't people take advantage of you um she tried to
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just prepare me for um for the world make you fit into a society that was
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different makesense and um I don't know we were raised Iranian at home of course
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with a lot of food with a lot lot of like all my friends were invited to eat with us and uh a table full of food when
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friends came over and um but yeah there were a lot of differences it was difficult for me to um to see why is it
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at home like this outside like outside why is everyone else different why do I
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not get uh the same amount of food why is not every why am I asking to go away when the friends of mine have lunch
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after school when I go to their place they would say okay you have to go now because we are having lunch those kind
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of small things um I think many people can relate to that many cultures but it
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was weird I didn't understand those things um so um you never belong
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somewhere for the Iranians I mean I I've been only once to Iran you are the German and for for the Iranian also so
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the friends of my parents you are too too German to direct you are not so polite because you're not talking with
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those sweet words and um they have a lot of like when they say goodbye it's like 15 minutes of uh yeah and flourishing
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and I was not like this I was like bye and everyone would consider the Iranians
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would consider super roue uh and for the Germans I was never the German no matter
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how how I would um behave my myself how what I would say I would never be the
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German um yeah so it was difficult you never belong somewhere you you for the
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Germans you are not the German for the Iranians you are too German because you I also speak with a with a strong accent
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okay so um they would say oh but you don't look Iranian or ah but you talk
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like an a Afghan person because it sounds more like Daddy okay not not like
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fary yeah it was um difficult but um I I really realized
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since I'm here in Greece that everyone has black hair everyone's a little bit darker that also um um from from my
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appearence I fit here better and I I'm not like ah among all these blondes I'm
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not the one who's like pointing out and um being different because sometimes you
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don't want to be in the center of attention but you are because you look different you know you are in a group of germ
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you have the darker skin the darker hair of course you are like ah she's a foreigner yeah so here is the imigrant
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all here is the like but I suppose like here in Greece you're finding something if you're willing to stay here it's like
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okay you didn't feel like fully Iranian fully German but in here suddenly in a third country that you wouldn't mind you
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didn't ever think about it you're starting to feel like it's also curious like it's also nice for you I mean it's
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good that you find a place but um is it influenced also by the by the
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lifestyle here it's not only about your appearance I suppose you feel comfortable like come on you have an
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account of food and drinks if something is Athens and gree it's food and drinks
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yes um can you repeat the question if if you feel like that your lifestyle also
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fits very well with gree in that sense like um yes maybe um for the Germans I
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was maybe sometimes a little bit too chaotic or something and too spontan
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or um yeah maybe this fits good to the Greek lifestyle but I don't like I like
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to be on time at some point like 15 minutes is the max that I'm late it's always those 15 minutes maybe this is
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the German en me but um I like the way of Greeks enjoying life no matter if
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it's food drinks um I mean I always say the day has 24 hours and only eight
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hours if you have only one job of course um only eight hours of work so what are
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you doing with the rest of your day and the Greeks they are not living to work
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they are really living and enjoying their life no matter how hard they're working and uh coming to another Point
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actually the Greeks are working more hard than Germans and it's really sad to hear and see how the image of Greeks is
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um in outside of G Greece it's like being lazy and um not working much just
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because you see them after work maybe having a coffee because they don't go home and live only
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to work for someone else you know um I really like uh this about Greece and the
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Greek people that they're really fully enjoying every day I have the feeling no matter how hard their life might be they
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really enjoy the day with a coffee with a with food with friends everyone is
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invited on the table you see all the big groups and maybe not everyone knows each other but it's not like one to one it's
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the cousins and the girlfriend of the cousin and maybe the neighbor and everyone is gathering on the table and
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sharing stuff stories food a sense of community I really like it what was the
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thing that shocked you the most when you arrived here though like besides everything being
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closed um how pedestrians uh how they really
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don't give a about pest how how how you are in danger
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everywhere like not only watch on the street but if you're on the sidewalk you're in danger there as well because
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the motorbike would just go through the and uh it's crazy for me that
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traffic light um it's like dark dark red and the cars would still go it still
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surprised me how how less they look after you like some days of course I'm not always like turning my head like
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this but some days I'm like on Google Maps and I'm just passing a street which I should not do of course but of course
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it happens once in a while that I'm not paying attention and uh I'm really
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shocked every day almost every day how the taxis and every other car is like
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almost hitting me and I'm happy that I'm living and I'm still alive and there's
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no accident yeah traffic it's a nightmare especially in Athens I would say like it's always this kind of thing
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like even like you have a green light and if you pass and then a car is passing it's your fault that you're
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Crossing and it's just like no it's I have a green light what are you telling me like it's It's Curious the whole
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traffic uh thing in here what about language you said that you were planning
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to start learning I wanted to um do it now actually at the moment in a school
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here nearby in Nets but unfortunately I'm going on holiday so I would miss uh
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one week I will start right after the um holidays so at the 22nd of August I will
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do an intensive course because I'm too impatient to um wait long term yeah I
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don't want to go once a week I want to see the progress right away it's going to be tough times but I'm going to U I
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want to do one course after another so um hopefully in inshah as we say Iran in
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half a year I will uh speak much better than now nice because I realized that um
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after one and a half years here uh I really want to make some stronger connections with for the people and um I
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realize that the English level is not always um given and it's frustrating for
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both sides because um the Greeks feel sorry that they don't they feel sometimes really ashamed and I don't
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want to give the feeling to someone that they have to feel ashamed because they don't speak English because I'm the
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guest here and I'm living here and I'm planning to stay I'm not actually a guest I'm uh living here so I have to
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learn the language yeah makes makes a lot of sense although not a lot of people see it like this I totally agree
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with that um now that you were saying I mean I think also Greeks very much appreciate
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when you are able to say some words in Greek and that changes the whole perspective on how they see you that's
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true and it's it's very cool when when you do um what about Greek uh Community
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you have majority of friends who are experts also or do you already have like
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some Greek friends around I was trying to make Greek friends I have a few yes
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but it's really difficult um to um to get a connection with them because um
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most of the times they are really busy they're working a lot they have their own friend Circle I really appreciate
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when they try to squeeze me in somehow they invite me to their birthdays and stuff um but it's difficult to be always
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behind you know it's I have the feeling with my Greek friends I always have to run behind them and um say hey can we
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meet this week can next week and it's not that they don't want to see you but
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they have other plans they have their life buil here yes that's why so I have
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a lot of expert as friends from Germany a few okay most of them actually and uh
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one um from uh one couple from B so uh they're also working here and I
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think one thing that we have in common is of course that we are all experts and um
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our life here in Greece is new so we can exchange our experiences it unites a bit
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yes definitely how did you meet these people through Instagram it's really nice okay all of them or through
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restaurants and cafes okay one friend I met at the airport going to
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Ence um another one was introduced by a common friend in Germany the other one
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is is from Germany um and uh a lot of friends I have on Instagram they texted me and I
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was like okay let's go and have a coffee sounds cool so the project is also
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giving new connections not only I suppose restaurants and bars that you know but also people that's very nice
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not on purpose well but things grow up as it is like I also have met people
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through the podcast for example that now it's just like okay from time to time grab a coffee or whatever or even like
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doing uh I interview this photographer for example she's from Russia and and
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she needed a model I was interviewing her on Wednesday and she needed a couple for modeling in next to the acropo and
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Saturday we were we were doing a photo shooting never did a photo shooting in my life before and I was like okay so it
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opens also some doors that you you don't know um like a romantic shooting or yes
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a little bit like it was more like okay like couple holding hands and kissing
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and whatever it was it was funny it was a fun think why
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not so I would say I do this section
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before going to the second part it's a little bit of recommendations I would skip the question of restaurants and bars because
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if I think you have thousands of them so it will be very difficult to for you to
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choose one so for anyone who is listening if you want recommendations per neighborhood actually uh in Athens
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and restaurant you just need to go to aent Food Explorer the profile of go and
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in the highlights there is all the different neighborhoods in this city like you have thousands of places so if
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you are planning that just go there I will not ask you about that but if you don't find something just let me know
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you can always text me I always answer the questions um I think I really know
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every almost every neighborhood like the central ones I haven't made it up North
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but UHA very good ones halandri marusi has a lot of restaurants yes I
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know see step by step step by step it's good to have some things still because
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otherwise it it gets boring you know it's good to still uh keep on exploring oh you have you have City to
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explore so I would I would say like I would ask you the other recommendations though if you have anything in there
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like the first one would be if you have any I don't know if you are very music
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person uh do you listen to any music Greek music at all unfortunately not no
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sorry don't cancel me now still follow me no I don't like uh I don't like um
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other music than American hip hop oh or American Music okay it's not really true
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of course some it's not about American or not American but um I mainly listen to English speaking okay music um I I'm
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not open for country or folklore folkloristic traditional music
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nice sorry that's okay actually Greece has a lot of hip-hop if you are open to
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that they they the I went to one concert to Pop Con but they would smoke the
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entire all away and I'm not talking about cigarettes so it was I had a
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headache after five minutes but I like hip-hop yeah Greek hip hop is nice but I canot understand what they're rapping
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about but the beats and stuff are good also SE after the Intensive we we talk
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again probably the same uh the same words bad words explicit lyrics like in
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yes 100% uh but maybe coming back to food is
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there any dish that you say okay this is the top for me in the Greek
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cuisine yes I like FAA M and now the season for alir
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it's so healthy I'm a big fan of uh now I have to I told it to every of my
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friends and no matter who's talking with me about food I always said for me Greek food is the best food really you can
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find very good healthy food here that think it's the most healthiest and I'm talking like I'm not saying it as my own
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opinion I really think it's the fact that Greek food is the most healthy one because it has everything and everything
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is locally sourced and uh I mean from avocado to Mango To Nuts to oil to Fish
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seafood everything all these healthy fats and stuff everything is coming from
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Greece and you can taste it it's really it's very aromatic and flavorful tomatoes taste like tomatoes not like
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not like in German um what about drink is there any
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drink that you like from Greece I like Fredo espresso or Fredo capuccino nice
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of course what about you what's your favorite food I would say
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foodwise I really like Bui it's this
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melted cheese with peppers and spicy I had it yesterday um this is incredible
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with f cheese and pepp if it's a very I mean that's that's the days that I'm like very very like
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okay when I'm not healthy at all and I want to have something very very very dirty
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like this I go forast which is this um they also call it P King it's like a
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instead of putting the pasas and roll it up they do levels of p with the meat in between it's like it's a monster it's a
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and you eat it like this like it's like a burger of of gidos but it's crazy okay
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where do you get it it's crazy oish and crazy like I know a couple of good phrases for going that but it's once
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every two months because if you eat it too Reg L it's too much okay I'm going to get those addresses and you will find
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it soon on my page send me credits to him I want to go and try it now it
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sounds really it it is heavy yeah but yeah that's but how do you eat it then
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if it's it's like a p so instead the whole PA they put it like in vertical then they do a layer of the meat and the
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whole thing that they will put in a wrap in a pizza sometimes they put melted cheese in between then they put another
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pizza and then they put another level of things and then another piz so then you cut it in a quarter yeah and you eat it
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like a like a pancakes with things in between but I piz
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style I can send you a couple of places to go cool um now that we are talking about
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food I would say if it's okay for you we can go directly to the second part and talk about your project yes please the
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expert food lover content creator so welcome to the second part of
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the episode um we already talked a little bit how did you end in gree but
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now let's talk about your projects uh in plural because it's not only one so
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maybe we start from the beginning um you started this project in Cologne I suppose back in the day uh with the
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cologne food Explorer account how did that happen what what was the moment in
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your life that you decide I want to become an instagrammer or I don't know if you're calling your Instagram influ I
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know I hate it actually so um when I was uh younger like 11 years ago I started
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so at the first hours of Instagram uh I was I was there and I posted pictures
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back then it was pictures with his hip static filters yellowish blue colorful
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filters and um 30 hashtags and stuff um I'm getting nostalgic but I started it
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was easier also very and voice overs and all the uh
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things that you have to do like was one picture but now it's uh the how do you
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say the tasks got more and more yeah so yeah I started uh to show just my
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friends and family where I'm going because my hobby is since I'm 16 my hobby is to um check out coffee places
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and spots when I was younger it was only coffee places because mom would cook at
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home of course or I would cook by myself I love cooking fun fact I love to cook everyone thinks
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that I'm I'm a bad chef but I'm actually a really good one I I just don't I'm I'm
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alone so I don't cook uh for myself I don't enjoy it to read by myself and eat
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by myself so I enjoyed the company so I was um blogging about coffee places in
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Cologne and um at some point the German the cologne newspaper the local
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newspaper after a few years they did a big article like one page about me and then I got like a few thousand
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more followers and uh finally I I I reached 10K I always wanted to have 10K
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for the swipe ups but uh unfortunately swipe ups were uh gone by then anyways I
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had 10,000 followers and this was like a big step for me and after that it was growing really fast and um I was always
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doing it aside while working in restaurants okay I was working a lot in the Gastronomy oh okay um I really enjoy
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people that are in the Gastronomy they're always special they're always um
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a bit chaotic maybe but um if you decide to work in a restaurant or if you decide
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to open a restaurant you're definitely not doing it for earning money because
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um you don't get rich from a restaurant you get rich from from a snack bar maybe
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with selling fries but you don't get rich in a restaurant so um people that
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work there or that have restaurant they're really nice and hospital and um generous and they like to serve people
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they are a certain kind of person they like to chat they like to get to know people so um I always enjoyed working
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restaurants and my mother and my father they always thought she's going to end up in a restaurant she's going to be a
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service person for her the rest of her life and I was studying design oh okay
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yes in Cologne and um I was always working in restaurants I was in the
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University I was doing the caterings when they had some events I was cooking I was organizing everything so food was
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always a big topic even my bachelor was about food okay so um design and food so
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um all my life is uh around food I don't know this is my biggest passion and um
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when I go to bed I'm thinking what should I eat tomorrow so my my whole life is around food and food spots so
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somehow I I was sharing all these experiences from my travels also from cologne and um yeah it it grew there in
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Cologne so for me it was natural to start it here in essence because I didn't want to mix because I I don't
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think the people from Germany necessarily need some recommendations for Ence in this amount so I just
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started for myself to see how it's going C sea I didn't have any pressure because
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um now I'm already um doing cologne food EXP as a job it's my fulltime job beside
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content creation for restaurants so my job is um doing videos and photos and
32:06
content for restaurants okay no matter if it's for my own page or for them okay
32:12
um so if you if you restaurant owner here in Athens just hit me up I'm GNA help you and support you um I'm looking
32:19
for a client actually in Greece but um I'm building up my connections slowly
32:25
I'm not forcing anything I think if you um grow organically it's um better I
32:31
don't know I don't like this many people do like um giveaways or ads and stuff um
32:38
I'm not a big fan U it's going really well here in asence I really I can't believe my eyes when I look on my
32:44
follower reach in one year it's like I'm really really happy how the people like
32:49
my content and how how they are engaging how many messages I get I don't want to break about it or something I don't want
32:55
to be like oh my God people love my content but but they really do like I really um I'm really thankful for
33:01
everyone writing me a message um hey uh we really enjoy your content thanks a lot lot they just text me like this keep
33:08
up the good work and I really get almost daily a message from someone and they're so kind and
33:14
thankful also different than in Germany um before they ask me something I get many messages of course where can I eat
33:21
in PTI where can I eat in Kip where can I eat or do you have a recommendation
33:26
for seafood or something um but they always they don't say give me a name of a restaurant of seafood in
33:32
Germany they would ask more like this style but they say hey how are you
33:38
thanks a lot for your work if you have time could you be so kind and like really sweet messages um I really enjoy
33:45
doing content here yeah that's really cool like um it's a reflect I mean at the end if
33:52
you do good content this comes out so don't don't BR about it but be proud
33:58
about it so that's for sure like I mean I contacted you because I saw your profile and at the end it's also a matter of like how many people it's
34:05
reaching you and how many people it's following you at the end and I if you wouldn't be having the amount of
34:12
followers and amount of people maybe believe your profile will not have appeared under my brother and it's a
34:17
whole ball that it goes and follows of course like I didn't know you were like doing content for also for restaurants
34:24
and that's that's also an interesting part I think um you also said something
34:29
very interesting before and it's that you cook yes by yourself you you are a good Chef I think that's also important
34:35
because it doesn't disconnect you from the restaurant real life uh I also worked in restaurants and bars for some
34:42
time I'm also designer oh nice you have anything you also lived in Spain right yes you have many things in common yeah
34:49
yeah I've I've I am from a Town Club like 20 kilometers away from [Music]
34:55
Barcelona yeah CL exactly I'm from s it's 20 kilometers
35:04
away from and yeah the good I think the good part is
35:10
that you are able to connect with these people I assume um you're saying that here it's working really really
35:16
straightforward you also said in the first part that you already had a list of the places that were close when you
35:22
first come how do you find the restaurants how how is like your process of like okay I want to go here and there
35:28
um of course a lot of working but um also Instagram helps because they
35:34
recommend you some other restaurants or you um or you see it from other bloggers or something of course um then friends
35:42
that tell me ah they live in marusi for example they say ah this restaurant is
35:48
nice let's go and check it out um but mainly Google I would say um and
35:55
Instagram okay I always as I said I always listen to friends of course when when I know they have a good taste I
36:02
take recommendations but um I'm like a hyper Focus if I once start to look for
36:09
something like seafood restaurant or something I'm going through all the restaurants I'm reading the reviews I
36:14
look parallel on Instagram if if the pictures of the food look appealing it's
36:20
also really important that's why content creation is important because if the
36:25
pictures look nice and tasty and I want to have it you go first to the to places that have a good promotion places that
36:32
don't of course yeah that show the food like if the food looks nice and most of
36:38
the time it should be also tasting nice then I would rather go to a place where the food looks appealing then U to a
36:45
place where I don't see how it looks like yeah don't I don't I'm not going to go to
36:51
peros without having any idea of uh how the food could be so um yeah that's
36:58
for sure part I mean right now part of the restaurant industry and Hospitality it's marketing I love how the
37:04
restaurants in assens do uh they do a really good job with for Instagram and marketing they're better than in Germany
37:11
to be honest it's not only they invest more money I think so it's and it's not only like the the presence on social
37:17
media or Internet they put a lot of effort on their interior also the design of the places it's crazy here it's it's
37:26
the contrast I always said the same you go out to the street and it's everything like why is everything falling apart you
37:31
you look back you enter to the restaurant and everything it's perfectly positioned everything the napkins and the glasses and everything
37:38
yeah the dress code of the service people like it's very very well
37:43
created they really pay a lot of attention attention uh I suppose that also makes your job a little bit easier
37:50
here than in Germany it's so easy to take a nice picture because everything looks so nice true also the people with
37:56
a smile on their face and being friendly and how is it though when you go there
38:01
because I suppose some of the restaurants you also go for having yourself a foot like you are not going
38:07
only to create content for them you're having dinner there you're having lunch there how is it because you're right
38:13
there with a camera uh no no I have my iPhone and um my everyone that comes
38:19
with me on on a dinner date um they appreciate of course that I'm suggesting
38:24
some good places always and I'm always in charge of uh where's the best spots in town in my circle of friends but uh
38:33
they have to be a little bit more patient because uh the camera eats first for sure like five minutes at least I
38:39
need for doing the content no matter if I'm there uh like there is no private and uh job like everything is mixed is
38:47
mixed there there's no um uh content Creation Day or only I'm going there
38:54
private without camera I always have my camera with me I always always carry my light with me and I take um every shot
39:01
of every dish so either I do something out of it afterwards or not but most of
39:06
the times if I can if I can recommend it I do a nice reel out of it at some point
39:12
the good thing is that I don't have the pressure like 99% of the spots I go are unpaid and it's uh I just go by myself
39:20
and U here it's not um it's starting to get a job some restaurants hire me but
39:26
um but the good thing is that I pay everything by myself almost everything so um I don't have the pressure to post
39:34
something I don't have the pressure um yeah to to say oh it was
39:39
really tasty although it was maybe not tasty but did it happen to you this never never to be honest the quality and
39:46
standard here in Greece and also my good as we say in Germany my good nose because I'm uh I I would never go to a
39:54
bad spot but because I choose of course beforehand spots I never got
39:59
disappointed so far only once when someone took me on a date to be honest
40:05
it took me to a place that was not really good but um yeah because I didn't choose
40:10
it I don't want to say it was the fault of him but um I would have probably not showed in this place if I would have
40:16
known the name before and if I made some research but yeah it's okay it's good to
40:22
experience sometimes something bad so you can enjoy the the other rest restur
40:27
better what about high standard High topnotch restaurants itself you try to
40:34
keep your content as far as i s pretty much affordable for everyone so you are
40:39
not promoting restaurants with three Michelin stars menus of 300 that's
40:45
that's true because uh I'm curious to check them out but to be honest um the
40:52
food quality and the basic or average range is so good um
40:58
that I don't see the purpose of going to find like on a really high level I
41:04
really like it sometimes but it has to be a special occasion or something um sometimes I find it too stiff I don't
41:10
like the atmosphere if it's like you always think you make something wrong I like a snack bar I would always prefer a
41:17
snack bar with suaki down to earth uh spot more than fine dining sometimes as
41:24
I said if it's a birthday or something I would go for the experience it's about the experience it's not about like having a
41:32
soul food from Grandma or something of course not it's something else it's art and I really appreciate the work um but
41:40
I don't promote those places no because um I try to keep it um simple more on my
41:47
page I think for some people even um find dining places that I recommend are
41:52
already um expensive enough um and my Community is mainly Greece from Greece
42:01
so I don't want to like I don't know I don't see the sense of promoting places
42:06
where you pay like 150 or something per person yeah I mean it's depending on
42:11
your audience of course I love going to this kind of restaurants one two times per year maximum because I cannot afford
42:18
more it's what you're saying it's like about the experience I've tried quite some s Hearing in a there is good
42:26
quality there is some of them that are very good quality for the price so fine
42:31
dining here in a compared to other places compared to Germany especially and to France the prices are much lower
42:37
here so you can afford it if it's a very special occasion and that's good but I'm also a person who local tavernas are
42:45
always preference you know like um what about the coffee part because you said
42:51
you were started the whole process the whole project with the coffee part in Cologne are you doing coffees here in
42:58
Athens because there is coffees here in a oh my God it seems like there's not
43:04
even one shop somewhere the whole street is full of I'm always surprised how these coffee shops um survive I'm always
43:10
shocked one next to the other it's crazy and all of them have their um clients none of them is taking the client of the
43:17
other it's crazy in pagara I don't know if I would count the coffee places like no matter if coffee island or coffee lab
43:23
or uh third wave specialty coffee places it's crazy C I love coffee but uh
43:29
maximum two per day so um otherwise my I'm a nervous person anyways I'm like
43:35
full of energy if I drink more coffee I'm uh getting nervous so um okay there's also Decap
43:42
but um I can drink only two coffees but pagati is full of good places yes so I'm
43:48
really happy to stay here in this neighborhood what about the restaurant itself like for you
43:56
like you choose a restaurant do you need to contact them in advance or you just show up yourself with a camera and a
44:03
light and say hello I don't um take the attention on me I mean these days
44:08
everyone is taking pictures of their food no matter if it's bloggers or not I think um also almost everyone these days
44:15
is a blogger no how many people or a podcaster or YouTuber yes yes so um no
44:21
no I don't uh contact them beforehand sometimes of course if it's an opening or something or
44:27
um if I need something from them I contact them before but um in general
44:32
I'm not that famous here I don't think someone gives a about me to be honest not uh trying to lower my uh um
44:40
importance or something but I think no one knows me here so that's why I'm trying to keep the real contact like um
44:47
sometimes when I see the chef or the owner I talk to them but um I'm not like hi here I am and uh I don't need a
44:55
special treatment or something if they want to to give me something because they recognize me or if they
45:01
um I don't know if they ask me what are doing or something I'm of course I'm going to introduce myself but I'm not um
45:08
I'm not contacting them beforehand sometimes when I went there already and I want to go again and I need something
45:14
from them I ask them but um usually I just go and do my things and afterwards
45:20
they contact me most of the times and they say thanks a lot for coming thanks a lot for your content if you like next
45:27
time please let us know beforehand so we can uh show our appreciation for you and
45:32
your work that's really sweet nice yeah sometimes they do it it's really cute do
45:38
they over ever open the kitchen for you that's a very a like because you're
45:43
filming always kitchen kitchen restaurants are another whole history always like yeah sometimes they open the
45:50
kitchen for yes especially uh I'm trying to be always charming and I think the
45:56
the guys in the kitchen they're always happy to uh to welcome me and show me behind if it's not a disaster yes most
46:02
of the times they're really top notot and clean and spotless so um cool yeah I really like the behind the scenes yeah
46:09
that's it's a whole life yeah yeah that a lot of people doesn't know about it because if you never work in a
46:14
restaurant or a park you don't know that part so it's also very interesting now I think with this bear uh the be Series in
46:22
in Amazon that there was about the chips everyone was like oh that's how a kitchen
46:28
works more less yes or no the cows and the stress
46:34
yes but yeah I don't know if you have content like this it's it's also interesting I would like to actually
46:40
have more content like this because um it's really interesting but I want to
46:46
learn that's why I also want to learn uh Greek because the people in the kit um
46:52
their English skills are mostly not really good so um I try to make
46:58
connections with the people for me the most important is um to have contact to the Gastronomy scene here and I like to
47:05
meet the people that are behind it um I have really like a big interest in
47:10
meeting those people from the Gastronomy nice how much of your work currently
47:16
it's editing like because now in content creation right okay you go to a
47:22
restaurant you film the dishes you film yourself maybe entering the restaurant behind the scenes on the whatever you
47:28
can produce how much is afterwards uh I would
47:35
say with with finding a song and um changing maybe the song and editing
47:41
cutting the video to the song and stuff I would say like four hours per real per
47:47
video okay with also maybe uh on top of it the caption and um fine tuning and
47:52
stuff minimum four hours oh wow okay what tools do you use for do cap cut of
47:58
course the premium version I see no and I have also access to the
48:06
fonts and different features automatically correcting the light and stuff I think
48:13
they brought ccat brought a little bit or like harmonize a little bit the the video editing for humanize it a little
48:20
bit before that it was all After Effects Premiere like very complex tools which I
48:26
still use from them to time of course like I studied them in universities being a designer in
48:33
Barcelona oh nice two of my friends um studied there too as a exchange student
48:39
okay or I think they didn't did their Master there okay when did you graduate so I left
48:46
elava in 201 16 I think it was graduation oh okay
48:54
no no it's U I think they where ear yes but yes I mean I learned tools Adobe
49:01
but I think G now no no that's uh that one it's a FX I
49:07
think no no I was in elizab I studied product design yes Furniture Design
49:13
mainly but here I am like not doing anything about furniture now I do websites and
49:19
applications Co um you said also that right now your full-time job it's
49:26
cologne how how do you deal with that you're living here yes no my phot job is uh my
49:32
client still in Cologne yes I go forth and back every two months um I go to Germany and create content but I also
49:38
have an employee so if there's events or new openings I my employee is going
49:43
there I have some support and uh she's covering it there but I try to squeeze
49:49
in everything when I'm in Germany okay and I also know all the restaurants like if it's not a new opening I know all the
49:56
restaurants so I don't need to go there to test it so I just sent my employee
50:01
there and I know everything about the food and I don't need to eat again there
50:07
and I trust my employee of course she's um um she's having the same taste and a
50:12
good taste so ni um so she basically records for you she records and sent me
50:18
the content content and I'm cutting it here from gree briting the catch and and
50:24
um whatever I need uh will send it to me I need some information so luckily I
50:30
don't have to fly all the time yeah um it's really exhausting to go forth and
50:36
back to be honest um I really enjoy my time here makes sense but um yeah I six
50:43
to eight weeks I'm in Germany I would say for one or two weeks nice and I'm creating as much content as
50:50
possible Co yes also for my clients from the restaurant they need some they have
50:55
a new menu or new dishes and stuff yeah it's something that normally renovates
51:01
from time to time now I assume like how many days per week do you have
51:07
lunch or dinner outside to be able to create content right now like do you cook a lot at home do you not at all
51:13
like I do salad for lunch often if I can um afford it not um financially wise but
51:20
also time wise like if I can give the time and money to go out I go I try to
51:26
go out every day okay like I enjoy it because it's my hobby it's um it's my um how do you
51:34
say luxury stuff some people buy uh I don't know a car or expensive um clothes
51:42
or something I do both I'm just kidding have I have my bicycle and nothing yeah
51:49
perfect yeah yeah another adventure trying to keep it more exciting in my life every day I thought
51:56
I'm going to get killed anyways you know as a pedestrian so why not go be on the bike at least so I'm quicker at the I
52:03
always think okay if if the time that I'm getting to my destination is only 10 minutes by bike maybe the risk is lower
52:11
than I don't know if it works like that but yes sure do you see my point actually because everything is so
52:19
chaotic I have really seriously I'm maybe it's girl math or something but I have the feeling that uh it's less
52:24
dangerous here than in Germany because people are uh the motorbikes are so chaotic that the cars have to pay more
52:31
attention to the motorbikes so that's why I feel even more safe because
52:36
actually the cars don't depend on in Germany the cars think ah there's a bike lane and they don't pay any attention if
52:42
something happen but here I have the feeling the people are stressed anyways and they look around so I know luckily
52:49
so farun they are always with the phone on their hands and the FR press on the
52:54
other always see it yes what having a cigarette and driving with their knees
53:00
like you wish they I wanted to make a series of uh
53:06
pictures of videos what people do on the motorbik eating suaki drinking Fredo
53:12
smoking they do everything on their motor bike it's so funny it is it is like crazy if they
53:18
wouldn't be so quick I would really like to take a picture yeah you need to be a very good photographer to Capt or spend
53:26
a lot of time in front of a big road and you will have them coming yeah with the
53:31
in the but what was the question before no
53:37
it's just like if you were like um how many days per week yeah going out like
53:42
almost every day okay but just because I'm curious and uh I enjoy being outside
53:48
and it doesn't accumulate a lot of content to create because if you're needing four hours per each re that you
53:54
generate you're going out nearly every day like I don't know when are you creating the content like it piles up in a back yeah
54:01
it piles up yeah maybe now in August because the restaurants are closed yes I
54:06
can finally manage to um yeah to edit all the stuff but uh it's a lot of Po so
54:13
there is content for a long time in this account so it's worth it to follow me
54:19
because there's a lot coming yes I have a I keep I have a long list and I keep track of everything so makes sense yeah
54:27
well saying follow you I would ask the last question I think we repeated your
54:32
text multiple times but where can the listeners follow follow you see you um
54:38
give you recommendations maybe where where it's the Instagram accounts mainly
54:44
Instagram Tik Tok sea at some point Tik Tok as well but now only um Instagram
54:50
but because I really lost my uh access to Tik Tok I don't know what the password is and stuff I can't log in
54:57
it's a uh it's also on my to-do list to fix it but that's why I cannot upload anything on Tik Tok but you will find
55:04
everything on Instagram yes okay cool either colog food Explorer or probably
55:10
more interesting as in food Explorer well if you are in colog or Germany check cologne food Explorer if you are
55:17
in Athens or coming to Athens to visit Athens uh check as some food Explorer you have of course as always the links
55:24
on the description and yeah follow us follow go
55:29
and if you have any recommendations uh either for the podcast or for go
55:34
restaurants bars wise uh just sent a message thank you so much for your time
55:40
for the space and for the experience and for explaining your your projects was a
55:45
pleasure thank you s and
55:51
canana you've been listening to expat experts the podcast that takes you
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