Layers of helpful people following good rules

I discovered yesterday that our site is specifically divided by the Greek minister of education so that "teaching" can only be done on the right side and recreation on the left.

So the morning preschool classes are on the right in a tiny room hardly big enough for 8 kids while the afternoon Child Friendly Space we just opened on the left with room and outdoor play area cannot use the same facilities because they are on opposite sides.


I am sure the original rule was not for this situation but here is the result. Trying to Keep track of and abide by all the levels of well intended regulations makes me want to snap my crepe paper!

Greek immersion and transitory thoughts

This weekend we concentrated on Greece. We took the late train to Athens and stayed in an apartment.  Our tour guide and van found us Saturday morning and we went to Corinth, which we had been amazed was on no arranged tours or even covered in Rick Steves! Imagine a place so remote!

It did not take all day to figure out why. In Corinth was a wonderful canal with some amazing bridges and the ruins of Ancient Corinth. The Greek city was totally destroyed by the Romans
except for the a temple which does date from the 6th century BC. The rest of the ruins are of the Roman city where Paul preached and to who he wrote several letters. Our wonderful guide showed us all the hedonism and the reasons for the wealth of Corinth which back then was the larges and richest of the Greek city states.

It was all amazing but that plus some wine and cheese by the canal was all there was to Corinth. However it was exactly what we wanted to see (3 of us anyway and the 4th was a good sport) so we came back to Athens, had a gyro dinner and fried cheese.

Took the train home Sunday and ate dinner by the water. A nice break from the work site.

And a reminder that we are not part of the transitory life or chaotic displacement of the residents we work with. Even if we lived in the camp - curtained doors, community cooking and washing, outhouses and endless waiting, we volunteers will be leaving, with documents and freedom. It is impossible to understand lives without those things or the behavior that results from it. It is constantly a temptation to judge or suggest or evaluate, but, as in all lives that are not our own, we can only offer what we have and hope it is something.

Friday fluttered by

There are three of us (and we are all the same age!) to entertain, engage, provide crafts and activities for however many ages 6-12 year olds are in the camp. So every project we do has to be in 3 distinct steps. Today we 1) decorate with chalk random undefined shapes that might have been meant to be octopi, 2) have glue placed across the bottom edge and apply 5 ( no more or less ) colored streamers, and 3) i.e. A cord through the hole so it will flutter after you when you run. The prep for this took about 4 hours. The craft about 15 minutes for all 25 kids. Sort of like Thanksgiving prep vs consumption.

But like thanksgiving, the enjoyment - in this case delight - when the kids watched the streamers flutter behind them, was worth it all.

So we end Week 1 on a happy note. And hope our supervisor will be back next week so we can have 4 stations!

they are on to me

I thought I had a plan.

I bought three identical tops and pans in different colors and planned to get three "unique" outfits for 9 days for teaching. Then donate the tops and pants to the site.

Yesterday (day 4) someone noticed I looked the same but different...

Rats.

Decorating a box

Back home one can purchase locker decorations - mirrors and stickers and even chandeliers to make your locker personalized. Because.....we can!

So looking at this line of oversized cubicles that are now home to 500+ People, how does one decorate? Luckily there are no windows, cooking and washing and bathroom needs are met in other community spaces. So no window treatments or large machinery. Then consider that this culture sleeps on the floor in the living space all the time. No separate bedroom. And all arrived with only what they could personally carry in bags and packs. No need for closets or drawers or toy boxes or book shelves.

I got a glimpse of the answer through a curtained doorway (few cubicles have doors) and it is Rugs!  Large woven colorful rugs. On the floor and the walls, Stacked in the corners. No idea how they got here or if they are handed on as families leave the area. But Box becomes Home with a rug.

I wonder if they mourn the loss of chandeliers.

Pop up happy

We are getting the hang of crafts with 25-30 various aged children in an open outdoor space with no structure. Weasels.

Yesterday I started the group with just POP - they will repeated anything so they all Popped too and we went faster and faster until it sounded like the last minutes of popcorn preparation. Then I introduced the quality time honored line "pop goes the weasel" (which if I remember correctly has to do with the weaving or shoemakers trade?). They liked the sound of it and no one knew what a weasel is so it was an immediate hit!

Then we made three stage puppet: color 2 circles, glue them back to back over a pencil, stick the pencil through a hole in the cup. Three steps because there are only three of us. Now push the pencil up and down to make the "weasel" pop up. We tried then on a nearby random baby and he laughed! Success.

Armed with that triumph today we make flying octopi - Octopus' Garden in the Shade?

Observing but unknowing

We are part of several culture here. We live in the world of a Greeks (shockingly I have not heard a single "om-pa!") with vast amounts of history and current struggles and fascinating people.

But we only reside here. We purchase, we dine, we sleep. No one learns very much of the language.

Our work sites have populations that are Kurdish, Syrian, and Afghani. We provide services to and for them from handing out milk and water to doing laundry to working with children, but we do not ask stories of their past or make any attempt to invade already prove and complicated lives. We armrespectful and polite, but only have a few words.

And there is a third culture we interact with: the vast number and complicated interactions of the international volunteers. There is an alphabet of services with different specialities and goals and regulations. There are divisions and borders and guidelines. The volunteers are Polish or French or German or Swiss or American. They all speak English, but they are all focused on the special service they came to provide.

And a fourth level is the other volunteers. Most now are from the US - various stages and locations and life situations. Each week the faces change. We eat, sleep, meet, but barely touch.

So there is a lot of observation, a lot of questions that might have started a conversation.  And very little time.

Maybe this will all sort out in Week 2!