“You were always trying to marry a Greek”

A woman describes how she met her husband in Montreal and reports that at the time it was important to marry a Greek.

Res.: And your husband, how had you met him?
P.Α.: (Laughs) My husband I met at… our best man’s house. My husband and my best man, they became acquainted on the ship on which… they were coming aah… to Canada. So, and they said that whoever marries first, they’ll become… best men. So… and my husband I met at my best man’s house. It happened that… my best man’s sister and my sister. My sister was a hairdresser… and we used to go to my best man’s house… to… comb his... his sister.
Res.: I understand.
P.Α.: And there I met my husband.
Res.: Aah! I understand.
P.Α.: Yeah.
Res.: And you met in Greece, right?
P.Α.: Here.
Res.: Ah, you met here.
P.Α.: Here, here.
Res.: And…
P.Α.: I was seventeen years old.
Res.: (Laughs) And your husband had come from Greece…
P.Α.: Yes, yes.
Res.: He an immigrant as well?
P.Α.: Yes, yes. My husband came in ’63. And I came in ’65.
Res.: And, that is, did it bring you happiness that… you married someone… who was a Greek from Greece?
P.Α.: Sure. Sure. And back then it wasn’t… that much… the foreigner… mania, you know, to marry a foreigner. Always… you’d try to marry a Greek. It wasn’t like nowadays, let’s say, that things are different. The children have grown up, they’ve been born here. They’ve grown up here. They’re not the same as us, I think. We didn’t speak the language… to get someone… from here. You know. And you’d always prefer to… get a Greek. But I think that it’s also in… when you fall in love with a person. You understand?
Res.: Yes, yes.
P.Α.: You don’t… you don’t look whether he’s a foreigner or a Greek. Yes.
Res.: And you, where did you get married? At which church?
P.Α.: At… at Holy Mary’s.