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Greek, Canadian looking for a home in Athens: search proves difficult.

Greek, Canadian looking for a home in Athens: search proves difficult.

Greek, Canadian looking for a home in Athens: search proves difficult.

Greek native Despina Safouri and Canadian Keith Gilmour were thrilled to buy a house and start a new chapter of their lives in Athens, Greece in the winter of 2019. What started as a Greek summer romance turned into an unusual combination that led to the couple getting married three times - once "on paper" for an international visa, then in Greece and finally in Canada.

But what Gilmour didn't realize when he agreed to cross the Atlantic and marry his wife was that he was also marrying her family, namely her parents with old-fashioned views.

In an episode of the TV show House Hunters International, the couple is on the Big Greek House Hunting stage. During the filming, it becomes apparent that Safouri and Gilmour are not only working hard to find a house, but also looking for common ground. "I don't think my parents would like it," Safouri says during one of the house inspections, to which her husband responds: "Your parents don't seem to be happy with everything."

The situation goes beyond cultural conflict and quickly ties into financial issues when Safouri's parents offer the couple $100,000 to increase their home-finding budget. Gilmour may be grateful, but still insists on his preferences, which include proximity to restaurants, bars and social life. His wife, on the other hand, is concerned about raising a family and the commute to work.

The search for a bi-national couple and the ensuing drama resembles something out of a comedy script with two characters who seem to become more and more incompatible than happily married.

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"You know how terrible the traffic can be here," she tells the real estate agent. "I don't want to be stuck in traffic getting to work every day and hating my life." "I like a neighborhood with more life," Gilmour says. "We'd like to have cafes, bars and restaurants nearby." "We plan to start a family, so we need to have, like, three bedrooms," says Safouri. "I would prefer two bedrooms," Gilmour says, directly contradicting his wife. "As long as we don't have children."

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