A Happy or Unhappy New Year in Greece? Celebration, Decoration, and Deprivation

Springtime in a Cretan December

Around our neighborhood in early December, days would go by when I observed the same fuchsia bougainvillea hanging on at the end of the season, the same palms, eucalyptus, and bright lemons or bitter oranges. (Another ho-hum day in a botanist’s paradise.) Then suddenly I’d notice something different—flowering thyme, the earliest anemones, new lavender like tiny, pale green pine trees. One day I followed goat tracks up a hill full of hardy wild shrubs to discover dozens of brilliant little purple and white saffron crocuses with their golden stamens and crimson stigmata. The delicate blooms darkened in the shadow of massive clouds that filled the sky almost up to where it met the sea, but the blossoms lit up when the sun emerged.

In the warmest year on earth, as our planet heats up and El Niño returns, this Cretan December felt even more like spring than fall usually does here. Warm temperatures complemented the crocuses, daisies, early anemones, and undulating green and yellow carpets of sorrel beneath the olive trees. Tufts of new grass sprang up after the rain in muddy farmers’ lanes. The White Mountain peaks first saw snow in the middle of last month, missing their typical November appointment.

Holiday Bustle, Hope, and Charity

Before the Christmas holidays, middle and upper class Greeks who still had jobs dashed from work to school to pick up children, return home for a late lunch, and shuttle the kids to their activities. Parents stopped at stores decorated with garlands, tiny lights, paper snowflakes, and various sizes, styles, and colors of Christmas trees for gifts and holiday treats. They whirled from one party to another--parties organized by schools’ parents’ associations, sports groups, music teachers, and the many Greeks celebrating their saints’ name days last month.

Even so, Greeks could not help remembering that many here cannot buy their children all the shoes, coats, and clothes some classmates have, let alone pay for parties or gifts, because they have no job or too little income, cannot pay their rent and bills, and may even be homeless. Unemployment continues to hover around 25% after years of economic crisis and political and social upheaval. All the supermarkets in our part of Crete long ago placed dishwasher sized bins for donations of non-perishable items for the needy near the checkout counters. Both of my children’s schools collected food for impoverished people before the holidays. Women, children, and men wished us happy holidays and a long life as they sought donations on city sidewalks and outside suburban grocery stores. In Chania, Doctors of the World organized a Christmas bazaar near the farmers’ market and set up a food drive in front of downtown tourist shops, with a four-foot pile of condensed milk and other canned goods attracting attention in front of tables with brochures and a donation box.

Perhaps Greeks, who are closer to financial disaster than many Americans, need fewer reminders that scientific studies have linked “financial generosity … to lower blood pressure,” so that for those who have extra, “spending money on others may improve physical health.” Even for those who do not have enough, “helping others may act as a buffer against the stresses of daily life,” since “simply writing a supportive note to a friend can protect people from the surge in blood pressure that typically occurs in the face of a stressful event,” as the New York Times recently reported (in Give, if You Know What’s Good for You).

Many have been impressed by the generosity of ordinary Greeks toward desperate refugees, even in the face of Greeks’ own economic struggles. One empathetic, unemployed Greek PhD I know commented that “one thing poverty does to you is to prevent you from helping others, and this is devastating more than when you cannot help yourself.” Yet she and a friend managed to make some winter hats for refugees—only to emphasize that she is one of hundreds involved in grassroots efforts to knit or crochet winter hats for those who need them: “I do not do anything special.”

Other efforts to help also stand out. The Press Project in Greece selected Matina Katsivelis as their Person of the Year for 2015 for her selfless, caring work to provide shelter for refugees landing on the island of Leros, as well as necessities for those who end up on Farmakonisi. She was recognized for her refusal to give up in the face of difficulty and for remaining “in the line of action exactly where it counts most; where the refugees arrive in their hundreds and thousands in rafts from Turkey…. Keeping hope alive, and responding to plain necessity, she kept trying to drain the sea of human suffering.” A moving interview with English subtitles follows the article.

Another noteworthy Greek venture led the Council of Europe to award the 2016 Raoul Wallenberg Prize to Agalia, “a Greek NGO operating on the island of Lesvos, for ‘outstanding achievements in providing frontline assistance to thousands of refugees irrespective of their origin and religion.’” In Greek, “agalia” means “hug”--something many refugees appreciate, as many volunteers’ experience shows. Grassroots endeavors to compensate for the inadequacy of both Greek and international governmental actions inspired a petition to award the Nobel Prize to residents of Greek islands for their contribution to the refugee crisis. I signed it today, adding to more than 110,845 signatures since November 16.

Christmas Time in Athens

Outside the metro station in Monastiraki’s main square, several bunches of Dora, Spongebob, princess, and Santa balloons rise above the crowds. Beyond the carts offering bread rings, coconut, and chestnuts for sale, a young man plays with fire that burns at the points of a four-foot wide star in the center of a wide circle of onlookers. The tourist shops and souvlaki restaurants are all open on the streets branching off from the square, although winter hats and gloves have replaced summerwear, and icicle-type white Christmas lights hang above the pedestrian crowds between the shops. Walking away from the square, we can glimpse the Acropolis between the buildings.

On bustling Ermou Street en route to Syntagma (Constitution) Square, street performers play instruments, sing, and present puppet shows as others sell roasted chestnuts and corn on the cob outside chic stores. The biggest audience is drawn to four young musicians who play acoustic guitar and violin and sing familiar Greek songs as listeners clap, sing along, or—in the case of one white-haired woman--come forward with arms raised for a short, impromptu dance. On another street, Attica department store’s famous window displays mix Santa with black-clad mannikins in puffy white hair.

Next to the Parliament building at Syntagma Square, cars zoom beneath strings of white star lights. This year’s Syntagma display features a giant artificial tree, plus strings of white lights, blue stars, and white balls haphazardly strung all over the real trees, in a possibly halfhearted attempt at festivity. In the center of the square, crowds mill around by a fountain lit, like the Grande Bretagne Hotel, by lights of changing colors. Santas gather with Micky Mouse for photos with children, and tired migrants sell balloon swords and hearts for whatever we wish to pay. A full moon rises above Parliament. Athens does not look as festive this year as it has in recent years, even during the crisis: there are fewer Christmas lights and outdoor children’s events. 

On Christmas day, a migrant drummer and clarinetist on a suburban street play Greek carols as an associate seeks contributions. One of the musicians agrees to a photo, but the other keeps his back to me. Young migrant men sell roses and balloons in downtown Athens, and older women sell evergreen and holly branches all around the capital. A sidewalk sale offers a gorgeous selection of pink and red cyclamen and hearty red poinsettias that grow into trees here if planted in the ground. Bakeries display neat pyramids of kourambiedes covered in snowy powdered sugar beside heaps of spicy brown melomakarona that have been saturated with honey. Rows of New Year’s cakes or vasilopites line shelves next to a variety of breads. A father and daughter go caroling in matching Santa (or Agios Vasilis) costumes. But it’s not the most wonderful time of year for everyone, whatever the TV song may say. Fireworks exploding over the Acropolis for the New Year create a striking picture but last for a very short time.


It’s Not All Merry and Bright


On sidewalks and trains all around Athens, women, children, and men appeal for money to stave off their hunger. The cold snap that reduced temperatures to around freezing just before New Year’s sent them in search of the warmth that makeshift cardboard shelters rigged up on park benches could hardly provide in a sharp northerly wind. If only I could have remembered where the government had opened warm shelters, I would have told the homeless men I saw, but I’d just read about that in the comfort of a warm, dry house and forgotten the details.

I am not sure whether one taxi driver in Athens really has two master’s degrees and don’t know if he speaks six languages, as he claims, but that could be true. It is quite possible that another man has a university degree in finance but can now find work only as a taxi driver, as a friend who used to work in a bank must now drive a city bus. And I do know what three other Greek friends have been reduced to doing, in spite of many years of training and experience. They gave me permission to share their stories, using pseudonyms to protect their privacy.

Vasilis earned a degree as a ship mechanic at a technical college in Piraeus and worked on ships full time for 15 years. Last year he worked just 43 days. He would have worked even less if he hadn’t been a friend of the head engineer who arranges for contract work on ships. People like Vasilis have been able to earn very little in recent years, since Greek shipyards started closing down after the government agreed to reduce ship construction to let Germany and Italy’s industries develop back in the 1990s, and ship owners have sought cheaper labor abroad during the economic downturn. This has left many families lacking even one wage earner, and increasing numbers malnourished and dependent on the free clinics of Doctors of the World for their healthcare. Since 2004, Vasilis has worked when and where he could, with only one job lasting as long as 18 months.

Generally, Vasilis explained, Greeks must work at least 50 days a year in order to be eligible for IKA, the government-sponsored health insurance. Some years, exceptions were made due to the lack of jobs; other years, there was no exception. To get unemployment benefits for one year, Vasilis told me, one must have worked at least 250 days the previous year. After one year of benefits, the unemployed must wait two years and work at least 250 days in a year for another year of benefits. This is difficult since unemployment still stands around 25% nationwide, and there are almost no jobs for shipyard workers. In Perama, which has been largely dependent on shipyards, there was 60% unemployment--95% among shipyard workers--in 2014, since shipbuilding “is now being outsourced to shipyards in China, Korea and Turkey, where labor costs are much lower and minimally regulated,” according to the International Business Times.

Vasilis last received unemployment benefits in 2011. Now only his youngest son is able to work full time in an effort to support their family of four. A college graduate, this son works six days a week for 500 euros a month, or about 2.60 euros an hour. Compare that with the $15 minimum wage discussed in the U.S. Yes, some things cost less here in Greece, but others—including taxes—cost more. And so many families are supported by just one job or pension, however much--or little--that may bring in.

My friend Eleni is struggling with underpaid underemployment that creates serious financial difficulties. Her husband’s pension has been cut like everyone else’s, her own income reduced to just 250 euros a month for teaching two college classes and writing 200 pages of notes for her students every six months (a book’s worth). So they need to say “next year” to their young son, who wants to rent toy cars, go on rides, and buy ice cream during a holiday outing focused on a playground and a stroll by the sea, since those are still free. A professor with a PhD and 25 years of experience, Eleni feels like she has lost her professional identity. She wonders if she can call herself a professor—or what?

Eleni is afraid she will lose her apartment since she cannot make her mortgage payments. She blames the world’s major powers for bombarding some countries and destroying others—such as Greece--economically. Feeling like “a refugee in my own country,” she acknowledges, “certainly it is worse to bomb your country, but it's also bad not to have a future,” not to have one’s choices respected, not to have dignity, as the increased numbers of suicides in Greece during the crisis seem to emphasize. “It’s like a war,” Eleni says. Like many, she believes the major powers are using austerity measures and the third memorandum of agreement to turn people against the leftist government so it will fall. (Others argue that powerful nations approve of this government now that it follows their directions.) Yet Eleni realizes that “there are worse cases” than hers and adds, “Maybe I should not complain, after all.”

Another friend, Katerina, has a PhD and two other postgraduate degrees, fluency in four languages aside from Greek, plus multiple publications and talents, but after 197 applications for jobs, postdoctoral research positions, and fellowships in various countries, still no luck! She has given up on Greek universities and institutes, which are not hiring for permanent positions or paying part-timers on time, if they hire at all. Katerina points out that “it is one thing to become an expatriate because of better career prospects abroad, and another thing to become a migrant (or refugee) because you cannot live in your own country. This is the situation for many Greek people. I am still lucky because with a good education I have some chances for a good job in a sector I like abroad, if I ever find it. Other people do not have even those chances.” Fully aware of the plight of non-Greek refugees and other unemployed Greeks, she feels grateful to have managed to travel, do interesting research, and continue some of the artistic activities she enjoys in recent years, due to “the class privilege that I had by birth, which still gives returns.” She considers herself “privileged in comparison to other people,” such as women without a university degree who must “try to cope with the situation with even less means and perhaps less hope.” 

Katerina has joined many well-educated offspring of middle-class families in applying for jobs for which she is vastly overqualified, for example at translation agencies and a cruise ship company—and still has found no long-term work. Without a steadily paying job for many years, she feels that she is “currently in such a dire situation that you cannot imagine,” struggling to cover basic expenses and lacking access to the public healthcare system for six years. Katerina feels fortunate that she still has electricity and running water, enough blankets and clothes, and “some food.” But after spells of poverty during the last 15 years, she knows very well that with very low and unsteady income, however wisely one manages money, it may not be possible to avoid a worse situation. As Katerina and Eleni remind me, many of the women and men now standing in line at soup kitchens, sleeping in the streets, and seeking clothing from churches and other groups in Greece are well-educated people who once felt securely rooted in a middle class life like mine. But as Eleni points out, they “lost their house, their job, their dignity.”

It is Epiphany today. The schools and stores in Greece are all closed as hardy swimmers “dive into the sea to retrieve a wooden crucifix” and Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos calls for “the light to smash the darkness of poverty” (Epiphany celebrations in Athens). Hear, hear. May the New Year bring new hope and opportunities to all who need them.

Acknowledgements:

Many thanks to the friends who agreed to share their stories with me in order to help others better understand the situation in Greece. Thanks also to Doctors of the World and all the other volunteers who have done so much to help impoverished Greeks and needy refugees.

SYRIZA’s Radical Leftist Moderation: With No Grexit So Far, Life Goes On In Crete

Constant Change, But Is Anything Really Different?

 

Greek political and economic news is too boring to remind most people who don’t live here of an old-fashioned rollercoaster ride’s ups and downs, but from where I sit on the island of Crete in Greece, it’s been a bumpy month. The news was full of twists and turns in the policy and strategy of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s new leftist government, along with changing stock market reactions and varying forecasts of the likelihood of a Grexit (in which Greece would leave the Eurozone to return to the drachma). No one I talked to here was sure what to think, with Greek and European politicians talking compromise some days and refusal to compromise other days, the leftist SYRIZA government saying they’d fulfill their campaign promises some days and might not on other days. Reluctantly pushing myself through the required routines of daily life while under attack by three of the many viruses circulating here, I’ve been both relieved to sink into my desk chair for sedentary distraction from my symptoms, and struck with anxiety as hopes here rise and fall. And now it feels like Greece is facing a steep uphill climb. Most Greeks can’t escape this, lacking the foreign job, connections, and money to get away. As one working mother said, “We started the dance, now we have to dance it”—whether or not we were in charge of telling the dancers what to do.

February began with a dust storm in Crete, then shifted between warm southerly winds and cold northerly gusts, mild sunny days and rainy, sleety periods with temperatures almost down to freezing even here near sea level, and the Cretan mountains filled with snow. By the end of the month, we were back to the strong warm, dusty southerly winds, the wildly waving olive branches, and sea mists blowing above whitecapped waves so boats stayed in port and delayed their deliveries to Crete. The question is whether we were also back to the same old story of a detested bailout program imposed by the troika of the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund that we’ve been hearing for years now. 

Many of us in Greece (and elsewhere) have been frustrated by the stubbornness of German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and his allies, who refuse to acknowledge what so much of the world does—that austerity has not worked in Greece, that it is unjust to continue punishing ordinary Greeks to save the banks, and that a different solution is needed here. Commentators disagree on whether Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and finance minister Yanis Varoufakis have really gained anything substantial for Greece. Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman saw “an unholy alliance … between left-leaning writers with unrealistic expectations and the business press, which likes the story of Greek debacle because that’s what is supposed to happen to uppity debtors.” But according to Krugman, who disagrees with both the angry, disappointed leftists and the disgusted conservatives, “there was no debacle. Provisionally, at least, Greece seems to have ended the cycle of ever-more-savage austerity” (What Greece Won). 

Most of us here seem to think that remains to be seen. A gas station attendant I spoke with believes things will continue to be difficult but figures we’ll know what’s going to happen in about five months. He was probably thinking of Prime Minister Tsipras’s “bigger goal … to deliver quickly on reforms to earn credibility so the government can negotiate a new bailout agreement in June, with terms more favorable for Greece” (In Greek Crisis, Rare Moment of Consensus). I was sorry that SYRIZA was asked to give up on so much of what it had promised voters, and upset that Greece had yet again been pushed to prioritize banks and creditors rather than struggling people. Many who voted for SYRIZA expecting substantial change are even more sorry—or angry. But Krugman insists, “If you are angry that the negotiations didn’t make room for a full reversal of austerity, a turn toward Keynesian fiscal stimulus, you weren’t paying attention. The question instead was whether Greece would be forced to impose still more austerity” (What Greece Won). At least, he says, Greece didn’t get that—for the moment.

No one thinks Greece’s problems have been solved. It’s clear that the government has a tough road of reforms and negotiations ahead of it and that Greeks will see very limited improvement in their situation, if any, in the near future, since the government cannot afford to offer much help to struggling people. So an unemployed Greek mother outside a local supermarket expects no help from the state, and instead begs her fellow citizens for food for her children since she has lost her job in a shoe store. Greece may be allowed to run a lower primary surplus (before debt payments), which could provide some money for relief for the needy. The government might gain some leeway by collecting unpaid taxes, especially from wealthy tax evaders, and fighting corruption and tobacco and oil smuggling, all of which could bring in desperately needed income.

SYRIZA calls the troika “the institutions” now and writes of an “agreement” rather than the hated old “program” or “memorandum” signed by earlier governments—changing the terms--and it did manage to make some of its own decisions about which reforms to focus on. So some agree with Prime Minister Tsipras that SYRIZA won the battle, if not the war. But others say SYRIZA did a U-turn and completely gave in to the other Europeans, led by Germany and other austerity-loving governments such as Portugal and Spain who fear for their own political futures, which could be jeopardized if Europe really made changes to prioritize regular children, women, and men instead of banks and creditors. (For different views, see for example Greek reform list to comprise mainly structural actions, says gov't and A Deal That Preserves Greece’s Place in Eurozone, and Fiscal Restraints, as well as The unlikely winners of Greece's surrender on euro.)

Support for SYRIZA: Still (More or Less) Strong in Greece

 

I am concerned that some of SYRIZA’s proposals, for example regarding universities, may be counterproductive, others may be impossible to implement in the foreseeable future, and others may be inadequate. (No one talks of abolishing the wastefully expensive system of after-school private schools, or frontistiria, that compensate for known deficiencies in public education—it seems impossible to dismantle such a well-established institution that employs so many.) Nevertheless, SYRIZA is growing on me, which seems to be the case with many here. Even the conservative-centrist Greek daily Kathemerini praised the new government’s flexibility and criticized the Germans’ refusal to acknowledge that the European situation has changed (Stubborn but not almighty). 

During February, SYRIZA supporters were demonstrating in support of the government, for a change. After the agreement with the Eurogroup to extend the bailout program with some changes, several hundred far(ther) leftists did protest the government’s actions, and there was some violence after the march, but that was a small demonstration compared to what Greece has seen in recent years. Some disappointed, angry leftists have criticized Prime Minister Tsipras so harshly that there’s been talk of the most radical elements of SYRIZA withdrawing their support for him. But recent polls show SYRIZA with 41-42% approval ratings overall, with the previous governing party, conservative New Democracy, in second place with only 18-19% ready to vote for them in an imaginary election. An astonishingly positive poll just after Greece signed the Eurogroup agreement showed 68% of respondents “satisfied with Greece’s negotiations with Europe” and 76% viewing “the government’s course as positive so far.” 55% considered Alexis Tsipras “more suitable for Prime Minister” than Greece’s previous leader, Antonis Samaras, who received just 13% of the votes (New Poll: SYRIZA has Comfortable Lead Over New Democracy). 

However, a slightly later poll hints at less enthusiasm: “after the final negotiations [with the Eurogroup] and a four-month extension deal, 43.3% of those polled view the situation as getting worse, with only 15.9% of respondents saying they were optimistic about the country’s future,” and “39.1% of respondents said things are ‘neither good nor bad’” (New Greek Poll: SYRIZA 41.3%, New Democracy 19.2%). On February 25, “it was stock and bond markets that reacted more positively, while Greeks appeared more subdued about the outcome” (Greece gets warnings from creditors, now comes hard part). That is not surprising; nor are the most recent, mixed poll results. Things look better, for the moment, for investors and banks, but to regular citizens and immigrants it’s not so clear. A young psychologist doesn’t know what will happen but keeps hoping: “I trust them; they’re not thieves like the other politicians.” On the other hand, a social worker and mother is “worried. I voted for them. I’m not SYRIZA, but I wanted a change. But now I don’t know. If it doesn’t get better, those of us who want a better life for our children will have to find somewhere else to live.”

No Tie, Untucked Shirt: The Significance of Style

 

Greeks’ tension was sometimes alleviated by press attention to SYRIZA leaders’ refusal to wear ties and finance minister Yanis Varoufakis’s habit of leaving his shirt untucked. Some Greeks seem to be proud of the bold independence of these rather daring gestures on the European political stage, although one of my elderly neighbors seemed horrified by it, asking me whether anyone had ever seen such a thing before. In any case, even those who pay little attention to political or economic developments noticed Greek leaders’ clothes as the leftists rebelled against a more conservative world order stylistically and hence symbolically as well as politically. “Varoufakis becomes unlikely heartthrob in Germany,” announced a headline last month. Unlikely heartthrob, indeed—and does it do any good if some ordinary Germans are attracted to the Greek finance minister, if the German Prime Minister and finance minister are dead set against him? 

A German satire video from NEO MAGAZIN ROYALE that had been viewed over 1.3 million times by March 4 complicates the question by suggesting that Varoufakis puts the “hell” in Hellenic with his James Bond-like sex appeal, domineering awesome-ness, and Facebook friendship with Voldemort—strange claims (even in a satire) for someone who strikes many as pretty friendly and straightforward for a finance minister. This satire self-consciously examines the way Varoufakis poses a threat to some Germans’ understanding of not only politics, economics, and priorities, but also style, manners, and the culture they belong to. (Watch at your own risk, and only if you’re over 17; this should probably be rated R.)

In portraying someone whom many consider a casual, ordinary smart guy as a dangerous evil villain who’d befriend good ol’ Harry Potter’s nemesis, the satirical video emphasizes the cultural differences between northern and southern Europe which have previously been masked by conservative manners and clothing. Letting it all out in the open makes many people nervous, rather like a discussion of racist attitudes toward African Americans or their right to dress and speak as they wish. Georgetown law professor Paul Butler seemed to imply a similar connection when he said that “Greece is the young black man of Europe. Both get all these finger-wagging, cultural critiques – they’re undisciplined, impulsive, lazy, hedonistic. The subtext is ‘just stop wearing your pants below your butt, Greece, and it will be all good!’ But both sets of issues are deeply rooted in historical deprivations and structural inequality” (Reading The Times With Paul Butler). Act more like the American white middle class, act more like the conservative/centrist elite European political class—that seemed to be what Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi wanted Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to do when he gave Tsipras an Italian tie. But we haven’t seen Tsipras wear it yet, since he has vowed not to wear a tie before he gets the Greek debt situation under control. Many of us still think, “Good for him!” as the underdog stands up to the mighty ones, attempting to fight inequality and deprivation. But will he be allowed? Can he manage it?

Grexit, Anyone?

 

In the last month or so, the likelihood of Greece leaving the Eurozone has moved up and down along with hopes, varying between one in four and one in two, as far as I’ve heard. This was part of the stomach-churning ride through the month, since if Greece exited the Eurozone, life here would be even more difficult for some (undetermined) time. One Greek father I talked with at our school’s pre-Lenten carnival party seemed to believe leaving the euro would just mean some confusion at the supermarket as Greece changed currencies again—how many drachmas for this milk?--as if there would be no greater consequences in everyday life. However—leaving aside what would happen to the rest of the European and world economies, which are most people’s main concern, but not mine or ordinary Greeks’—it looks like a Grexit would mean much more than that for Greece.

Various commentators suggest that newly printed drachmas would make Greeks’ money worth much less than it was before, so that the price of imported goods, including certain foods, petroleum, and medicines, would rise incredibly and even be rationed and/or available only on the black market (The Grexit Dilemma: What Would Happen if Greece Leaves the Euro Zone? and Ending austerity in Greece: time for plan B?). It seems quite likely that there would be high inflation and lower living standards, and Spiegel also predicts many bankruptcies. Many expect “social unrest,” possibly riots (e.g. Here's what happens if Greece is forced out of the euro). An increase in the already serious brain drain would likely be accompanied by a worsening recession, although most seem to think Greek tourism and exports would become more attractive due to their cheaper costs, offering possible hope for the country’s economy—although how much hope, how soon is unclear (see e.g. Grexit: How likely is a Greek exit from the Euro and what would happen to the economy?). Given such threats on top of years of recession and 26% unemployment, it is unsurprising that a recent poll found 81% “in favor of Greece staying in the euro, while only 15% prefer returning to the drachma” (New Poll: SYRIZA has Comfortable Lead Over New Democracy).

For Now, Life Goes On

 

Since we haven’t left the Eurozone so far, business and life carry on pretty much as usual here—with the usual high unemployment, reduced salaries, pensions, and benefits, and closed businesses, that is--even if we do wonder whether we’re heading for a rollercoaster wreck. One hairdresser and mother of three hasn’t even been following the news, but her customers, like many others, seem to think things will stay about the same here. Some hope for at least a bit of improvement; others don’t know what to think. Everyone is just waiting to see what happens. Meanwhile, snow falls on the mountains, rain falls near the coast, the sun comes out, the winds blow, and the anemones, buttercups, almond blossoms, orchids, and daisies bloom. Students head to school and after-school activities; those who still have jobs head to work; adults find ways to take care of families, houses, laundry, cooking, shopping, and errands.

I fight with my dryer and dehumidifier daily, trying to convince it to work. A plumbing problem leaves us with too little water to shower, run the washing machine, or even wash hands and feet properly for a couple of days. Then the electricity blinks on and off, so I scramble to unplug appliances lest more of them get fried to death as so many already have here. I expected all the outages we had during the week of our fiercest storms, particularly on one especially cold, windy, rainy/sleety day, but not the blackouts of the calm, sunny day. I should know by now, though, not to take electricity, water, or phone service for granted here. Even within the Eurozone, life in Greece is no vacation. 

Carnival Time: Let Them Eat Cake and Cheese Pies

 

In the middle of last month, our school’s parents’ association organized its annual pre-Lenten carnival party at a restaurant we took over for a few hours at midday for a break from our rollercoaster of stress. There may have been a slightly smaller crowd than in previous years, but parents provided all the usual cheese pies, cakes, cookies, popcorn, sandwiches, and donuts. This year, Zumba dancing was replaced by kung fu exhibitions, and the punches, kicks, blocks, and turns of the more advanced kung fu students--especially the one with the sword--impressed the watching parents and costumed children. Our instructor inadvertently added extra drama to his routine with a long staff when he shattered a large, globular glass light fixture above him; he joked that that was a special effect until he learned that one little girl was cut by a stray glass shard. After the glass was swept up, games began, with dozens of the younger children holding a large colorful cloth they could lift into a balloon or playing a “land/sea” game where they jumped to one side of a line or the other as instructed, while older kids played their own games outside. Greek dancing by everyone from kindergartners to grandmas followed, with many of the children’s costumes beautifully complemented by the artistic face painting of a white-faced mother in a Japanese kimono.

I didn’t see as many vampire girls this year as last, but there was the usual contingent of small princesses and Spider Men, my kids reported sighting a number of Darth Vaders, and there was a variety of clowns, belles, Ninjas, and pirates male and female, plus a female police officer with her face attractively (if incongruously) painted half full of flowers and a lovely female Joseph (of the Technicolor Dream Coat, but in pharaoh assistant garb) courtesy of last month’s musical. Unfortunately, the party, like most events of its kind here, was a prime site for virus transmission—at least, school absences and parents’ illnesses suggested as much the following week. 

Viruses, Sleet, Snow, Flowers and Compassion

 

The flu hit Greece hard this year, along with a generous selection of additional viruses; “olos o kosmos,” the whole world, was said to be sick here, and two neighbor children were even hospitalized. A pharmacist’s assistant commented, “I don’t want to attract the evil eye, but I haven’t gotten sick all winter,” and I promptly knocked on wood, while the customer waiting behind me pretended to spit to discourage the “evil eye” from destroying what it might view as too much good luck: Ftuy Ftuy. 

Right after I told my cold, snowed-in American Facebook friends that we don't have snow days in our part of Crete, I looked out the window and was astonished to see a sleet storm. Just at the moment when school was letting out, no less! My kids insisted that it was really snow—at least higher up the hill at school—since they managed to collect enough from a corner to throw at each other. Snow and sleet are always a surprise here near sea level, although the Cretan mountains were hit by loads of snow last month, and a fair amount in January. We managed to find a foot of mountain snow in mid-January, to the kids’ and my delight, since we weren’t driving the car that slipped around on the slushy, winding single-lane road. As the kids threw snow at each other and D, I photographed a snowy mountainside punctuated by pointed rocks above us and evergreens below, fading into the hills and the distant sea.  

However—unlike us--many Americans got their fill of snow this winter. I discovered that posting photos of Cretan winter flowers is a better way to attract attention on Facebook than discussing the Greek economy, Greek politics, or my Albanian friend Spressa’s brother Nikolaos, who had emergency surgery for a duodenal perforation, a life-threatening complication of an ulcer in the small intestine, here in Chania in January, and then needed treatment in an Albanian hospital for an infection after he returned home. Thanks to the help of some wonderful, compassionate family members, friends, and friends of friends, we managed to raise enough money to cover Nikolaos’s Greek hospital bills, which is important since Nikolaos is unemployed and uninsured, with no savings or safety net. There are still Albanian hospital bills to pay, the possibility of more tests and treatment in Greece, and food to buy for Nikolaos’s five children. Could you contribute even a few dollars or euros to help this unfortunate family? However much you may be struggling, I know they are much worse off, financially, than most of the people who read this. Please go to this site to learn more and help them, if you possibly can!