Life so far…

Two months later, she finally did it. She finally sat down and wrote her first blog post. And man, does she have a lot to say.

In all seriousness, a post is long overdue, and I think it would be easiest to start all the way at the beginning.

As most of you know, I arrived in Athens on the 7th of September 2023. It was nice for me to get here then because it meant that the previous Jesuit volunteer, Leo, hadn’t left yet, and he was still able to show me the ropes. For those who don’t know, the volunteers here all live in a volunteer community, conveniently located right above JRS. So I was able to meet all of my colleagues on my first day as well.

A day after I arrived, before I had even had my first day of work, we went on a road trip to Meteora and Delphi. This gave me the opportunity to become closer with the team and see different kinds of Greek landscapes and be immersed in Greek history, letting me get to know the country better. 

I also witnessed the aftermath of the horrific floods that happened at the beginning of September. We saw fields that now looked like lakes, and electrical lines laying in them. Many roads were also closed because they had been swept away or completely destroyed.

Personally I think this trip was very good for me because I didn’t know that much about Greece before coming here. In the past I had only ever been to Corfu, a Greek island, so that was all I knew about the country. But this trip showed me that Greece was so much more than blue water and white houses.

Monday after I got back, I was introduced to all of the projects at the Jesuit Refugee Service Greece. I was able to talk to all of the coordinators privately and ask them any questions I had. I will definitely do more of an in depth description of the individual programs, but for now you can read a little bit about them on my Instagram in the JRS highlight.

I stared to feel down though around week two. So much had happened in the first week, but around the 13th, the first volunteers left because their mission had ended. By the 20th I was the only volunteer living in the community. With five empty rooms around me and no friends in the city, I felt really homesick and question my decision to spend a year in Athens. All I wanted was to go home. 

To lift my spirits a little, I used the time to get to know the sisters, who also live in the building with us. I would eat all my meals with them and do other activities with them, which was really nice. I also us would go for a lot of walks around the city. Eventually I was able to go places without Google Maps which helped me feel more like the city was home.

But I knew I couldn’t continue on the way I had, and I needed to find friends. Luckily for me and other volunteers in the city, because of the number of NGOs (non-profit organisations) in the city, there is this place called “Kohra social kitchen”. Here volunteers and refugees can meet up and hang out together, and they also serve food during certain times. So I went and met other volunteers who would be here for a year as well. Soon after, new volunteers started to arrive to the JRS community, and I finally, slowly, felt less lonely. I won’t lie. I still am extremely homesick from time to time, but it is getting better and it really helps to have a good community around you. So to any future volunteers, try and get out there, even if it is difficult or uncomfortable at first. But don’t put too much pressure on yourself either. If you do try you will, eventually, find people.

After being here for two months I have definitely gotten the hang of my work as well.

No week is the same though, so I have had to learn to be extremely flexible and not get too upset if some things don’t go as planned.

Our work schedules for the following week are given to us at our Friday meeting. Typically I will switch between working in Magazi one day and Playroom another, but some volunteers give language classes or workshops. More recently we have started to spend an hour every Monday evening at the Pedro Arrupe center (PAC) doing crafts or other fun activities for kids. Equivalent to the German “Hort” or American “Aftercare”, the PAC is a place where kids, typically from a refugee background who go to normal Greek school, can get extra tutoring after school. Per week there are about 200 kids ranging from kindergarten to high school age. We only work with the younger kids, though.

Working in the playroom was pretty tough at the beginning, mostly due to the language barrier, but also the fact that I had never worked with kids this young before. Safe to say, there were a lot of frustrating moments the first few weeks.

After a while, I got to know the kids better, and communication is easier now that I know what they like. Not only that, but I have learned some Arabic and French words, which have proven to be very useful. Something that has been extremely interesting to witness, is how the kids have also learned words in English and sometimes even German from the volunteers.

Magazi, our free second hand shop, was never really hard for me to get the hang of. Although we did have a huge cockroach infestation when I first arrived which was extremely gross and also created weeks of work for us. We had to go through all of the donations and wash and clean everything. 

But on a normal day, Magazi basically just intails organizing clothes and helping people find what they need. 

Other than work, we have used the weekends to make little trips to different cities or the ocean. Even now in November it is still warm enough to swim in the Mediterranean Sea. 

Aside from that, there are also tons of museums and Archeological sites that European citizens can visit for free, so I have been trying to take advantage of those as well.

In terms of the culture, it has been sort of difficult to really get to know Greek traditions, considering the fact that the only Greeks I am ever in contact with are my bosses and the people in stores and restaurants. This has also made learning Greek a very slow process since I only have two hours of class a week and other than that don’t really have the chance to really practice. When I do go out and try to speak Greek, people tend to respond in English.

I did have the opportunity to get to know Greeks when I ended up in the hospital last week. Everyone was super light hearted, kind, and open. Patients, doctors and nurses would have conversations together in waiting rooms and you really wouldn’t think that anyone was feeling sick. It was definitely a very different experience from a German hospital and, in all honesty, made me feel less miserable.

What else? Oh yeah, food! 

I absolutely love Greek food. But I already knew that. I have eaten at more TABEPNA and had more gyros than I can count. My favorite meal, aside from gyros, is Moussaka, a potato or eggplant based dish, usually with ground meat. I have also tried more seafood than ever before in my life, although I still don’t think that it is for me. Still I will continue to try things.

I have also had the opportunity to try dishes from the contries of the volunteers and sisters. 

It’s safe to say that I have eaten very well these last months, but I am starting to crave a good piece of German bread. Nutella on pita just isn’t cutting it;)