Living in Greece

Enough Thinking – It’s Time to Move Forward!

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I’ve been talking with my supervisor at GEM about staying in Greece longer.  It looks like there are two options: returning for a second year-long internship or committing to a two- or three-year stay.  Right now I’m pushing for the year-long internship for two reasons:

  1. I don’t feel strongly about my life location in 2018.
  2. Committing to a two- or -three year stay would mean returning to the States for several months, and I don’t want to do that after just being in Greece for a year.  If I decide to stay in 2018, I think spending a good chunk of time in the States will feel better after being here for two years.

She and I are both talking to people higher up to make sure returning for a second internship will work.

Whichever way I return, this begins the exciting, horrible, awkward process of fundraising!   Continue reading →

An Orthodox Easter in Athens

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Καλὀ Πἀσχα!
Happy Easter!

Having grown up in rural Illinois where individualism is king and Easter mostly meant chocolate bunnies, I was thrilled to participate in ο Επιτἀφιος (Good Friday) and η Ανἀσταση (Resurrection) Orthodox services while living in Greece.  Although I was an outsider, it was a very cool experience to participate in the traditions that Greek Christians have observed for thousands of years.  Before I get into the details of how I celebrated Good Friday and the Resurrection, a brief overview of the Orthodox Easter, because it is so much more than these two services.   Continue reading →

A Week in Greece #16: Homesick, HD, and Easter

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Homesick

This week I’ve been more homesick than usual.  It started last Saturday when I was riding an escalator out of the Agia Paraskevi metro station, and these bright blue lights made lines on the walls…and all I could think about was the Rave movie theater in Peoria, and that was it!  The rest of my day was shaded in sadness.

Luckily, the homesickness doesn’t feel overwhelming, mostly because I can definitely see why it’s here.  There’s the usual: I keep making new friends, and I just want some OLD friends.  And also: whenever life starts swinging toward summer, I miss Woodland and the constant events, playtimes, and trips with My Group of People.  But mostly there’s this:  I’m moving next week!  And as wonderful as that is, it is a change, and my emotions usually react to change by sulking.   Continue reading →

Happy in my Homesickness

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Yesterday I was feeling especially homesick.  It was a combination of things: listening to Dallas radio stations online, seeing blue lights at a metro station that reminded me of a movie theater in my hometown, talking with friends from several places I call home.

I told one friend:  “I’m occasionally feeling homesick.  I think I’ve been here too long and I need to travel somewhere.”

She wrote back: “It’s funny that your reaction to homesickness is ‘go somewhere else.’  You are a very interesting person.”

I hadn’t considered that my feelings were kind of weird, but as soon as she confused me, she gave me some answers.  “Maybe you need to travel to regain your excitement for being away from home.  And then when you do get back to Athens, it will feel like home by comparison.  Maybe.”

She was totally right.  But it got me thinking…so what happens when Athens DOES feel like home? Continue reading →

A Week in Greece #15: A New Friend, First Week at HD, and Apartment Furnishing

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A New Friend

Luciana is the second Day Program volunteer.  Normally she will work just one day a week, but since our first week was abnormal, she’s been coming more often.  She’s from Brazil, she’s athletic, and she’s studied sociology, counseling, and social anthropology. She’s engaged to a Greek guy even though she’s a year younger than me, and she’s lived in Brazil, Portugal, and Northern Ireland.

Early in the week, we both stayed late to do some work, and I “kindly” told her “helpful” things that were really just me bragging about how I had been there longer than her and knew more than she did.  I went to the bathroom, realized what I was doing, and came back into the office.

“Hey, if I’m ever being obnoxious, it’s because I’m intimidated by you,” I said.  “Before you came, I had a very specific role that no one else in the office could fill.  But your talents  overlap mine, and I’m worried that you will replace me.”

Just like that, the jealousy went away.  Speaking our grossest feelings has an amazing ability to dissipate them.   Continue reading →

Brief HD Tour!

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On Saturday, we invited all the staff, board members, and volunteers to come to HD and see what they had invested in.  On Tuesday, we invited nine pastors to come to HD and pray in every room before the girls move in.  Since some people have had the opportunity to tour the house, I figured others might like to see it too!

Note:  I filmed this on Saturday.  By Tuesday things already had changed!  I might try to film another tour in a couple weeks when things are even more home-like.

A Week in Greece #14: Meeting Presidents, Reading at the Beach, and Starting HD’s Day Program!

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WHAT A WEEK.  It feels like everything in the world happened, but unlike last week, I felt really good about everything.  So much happened, but I still managed to find time to read two books, play an enormous amount of Civilization V (I’m obviously playing as Greece and I’m conquering everyone), and binge-watch season 2 of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Sunday

Argyris and Dina took me to a church plant, but we showed up an hour late.  That was fine by me since their Translation Headphones were mostly screechy and I couldn’t understand most of the sermon anyway.  I have resigned myself to the fact that the majority of my spiritual teaching will come from podcasts…so I’ve been listening to all of Mike Stroh’s sermons at TFC!  He’s my friend and he’s so talented!

After the service, we went to Dina’s sister’s place.  It was a family meal, since their aunt and uncle are visiting from Chicago (actually, this 80-year-old couple went from Chicago to Boston to Chicago to Uganda to Greece…#lifegoals!).  There was an enormous amount of good food.  For being a socially anxious person, I mostly don’t mind just randomly crashing other people’s parties.  Probably because of the food.   Continue reading →

HD Update: THE DAY PROGRAM BEGINS TODAY

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Six years ago I had a revelation:  In the United States, I can go for months at a time without needing to rely on God.  I know someone will say, “You can’t even BREATHE without relying on God,” and yes, thank you.  But practically, being a privileged person living in a privileged country, I am free to rely on myself to succeed in life.  Prayers become something more like wishes than declarations of God’s provision.  Continue reading →

A Week in Greece #13: House Hunting, Class Planning,and Nafplio

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So much happened this week but in exactly three categories:  house hunting (!), class planning, and Nafplio.

House Hunting

I’ve been thinking about moving into my own apartment for about a month now.  It would save me money, put me closer to HD, and give me some much-needed introvert time.  I thought that when I brought the subject up, everyone would talk about and think about it and a few months from now, something would happen.  NOPE.

I told Anthi about it last week, and the next day she called to say, “I found a 2-bedroom apartment for only €300!”  I freaked out, because I was not ready to make this thought a reality, but I broached the subject with Dina and Argyris last Sunday.  “This is a wonderful idea!” Dina said.  “We knew you would spread your wings and fly,” Argyris said, “But we did not expect you to want to fly this soon.”

Long story (aka I whined and stressed for several days) short, on Friday Anthi and I visited the apartment she saw and it is AMAZING.  Beautiful, newly renovated, private, so much amazing.  There is a random tiny room that is kind of like a walk-in closet without shelves, and I immediately pictured it covered in pillows and converted into a comfortingly claustrophobic Reading Room.    Continue reading →

A Week in Greece #12: HD Planning, Agatha Christie, and the Beach!

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Language Update

Short Version:  *mouth fart*

Long Version:  I have pretty much used zero Greek this week, and I can feel the pieces that I know slipping away from easy recall.  The problem is, I want to talk to people!  The thing I bring to the world and to relationships is TALKING – having deep, long conversations about anything and everything.  That might sound like a very good reason to learn Greek, but everyone in my life speaks pretty much fluent English.  So when we’re talking, I have two options:  struggle to express 10% of my thoughts in Greek, or else express 90% of my thoughts in English.  So why did I even spend two months learning Greek?  I don’t knooooow.

(I do know.  It’s just that the gap between “enough to get by” and “fluent” is SO BIG.)

Everything Else Update

This week has been SO GREAT, for me personally and for HD generally. Let’s start with me!  The past couple weeks, there has been some mild conflict brewing between HD staff, mostly because we are all working on our own (until we have our office set up) and that is a great recipe for miscommunication.  This weekend, I started daydreaming about how I am a counselor!  And I could see how I could fix everything!!  But after slowing my brain down a little, I felt like God was telling me to step back and do nothing.  It’s not like my idea was bad (it was phenomenal, as all my ideas are), but I wanted to be the savior.  I wanted to control everything.  Story of my life!  So instead, I started praying about what my role at HD is…and it’s not to be in control.  It’s to serve, and by that I mean actually serve, not pretend like I’m serving while in reality I’m manipulating the situation so that I look good.

So on Monday Continue reading →