WORK TRIP TO ATHENS

“Do you travel for work or vacation?“

“Work.”  I answered to the asking man after a little doubt.

„Are you a photographer?“

„No.“  I smiled down on a camera, laid down in my lap.  

„I am not a photographer.“

After this short conversation with the man from a plane I first started to wonder about the real purpose of my journey to Athens. I would not name it “business”, however it was not a vacation. I flew there as a volunteer for the meeting of partners of I’mappy project.  

Let me explain that. It is a project of 6 partners, from Greece, Turkey, Lithuania, Sardinia and Slovakia, who are trying to create a map and an application, designed for young refugees. ADEL Slovakia is there as a Slovak partner and the one, which through I got to the project.

This is the short description: IM’MAPPY is an integration map especially for young refugees. Project is made for young refugees who don’t have access to social and basic information about the asylum country or has no parents or families. IM’MAPPY will pin Youthwork organizations that shall provide social and basic information to young refugees as well as able to provide language lessons.  

Do you want to know more about the project? – (I am working on the article ;) )

And if you are interested in my trip, continue with reading.

I arrived something around 8:00 PM my time. That means 9:00 PM in Greece. Count with the time I wasted by finding my way from the airport, it was pretty late when I finally got to the hotel Zafolia. Nevertheless, ADEL girls were waiting for me in the entrance hall, prepared for the night out.

I met the other participants of the project that night. I also found out, that people live during the night and wake up in the lunch-time in Greece.

The next day had a truly work spirit. Do you know how much a head can hurt after the 9 hours long meeting? Especially if you are a little over motivated person. Anyway, there is not a thing that the roof-pool would not cure. And the view was definitely worth it.

And as far as we were in a Greece, the day was just about to start.      
    

Do you like the seafood? Yes? Then you should visit this place. It is located in a port de Piraeus. There is a ship and a Greece writing in their logo. It says: ΥΠΕΡΩΚΕΑΝΕΙΟN. Don’t you know what does it mean? Me neither. One of our Greece companions told me it means “the big big ship” and the translator says: “superior”. It is a typical Greece tavern, with a huge variety of sea things. We tried all of it. I may be a shrimp lover, but I don’t consider myself to be an expert on the octopus and so on. Anyway, judging from the smiles on Greece-girls faces, it tasted exactly like it should have. 

We were suppose to visit 3 centres working with refugees, during our stay.  2 of them cancelled our visit because of a growing flow of the people they had to take care in that very moment. So we went to the last one the other day. We were welcomed by a young woman called Ariana. She was skinny, tall and I noticed four golden circles in her left ear.

„We provide accommodation to the people, who were not given the “refugee” status by now. We are helping them to fit to the society, to find work or education and in some cases, to get out of this country. If someone does not gain the permission to be moved to somewhere else during first 3 months, he is stacked in Greece forever. That is how it works.”

Why not to stay in Greece? It is such a sunny place.

„We have no money in Greece. We basically live from the European Union foundations. It is not the ideal place to raise a family.”

Yes, that sounds reasonable.

„Usually, it is the woman with a little child who travel the first. Most of the time they just walk. It is easier for them to get across the borders. Once when they reach their final destination, they start sending applications to get their husband there. We had a few families here that just walked away like this and they keep sending us photos from abroad.“

Ariana was speaking about the other possible accommodations for refugees in Athens, about all the paperwork that has to be done for every single person and also about the normal day in their center.

„They mostly complain about the ban to cook their own food. All these people are given the food in a canteen. They are suspicious about everything, which is not red. That’s why we add the spice to every meal.”

I could not help myself but that remind me of prison. Especially the rule that main door have to be locked during the night. I knew that Ariana and others are aware of the fact, but they could not do anything about it.

While she was answering the questions, a few silent observers entered the hall next to us. They were watching from a distance. A little girl in a yellow shirt dared to get closer. She could not speak English, but even though, she tried. Her black curls moved every time she hopped. Observing everything with her dark eyes, she obviously did not see any difference between us and herself. She did not know that she have any status or that there is a border drown by man, telling her what she can or can’t.  Right now she was trying how far she gets before some of the adults call her back. 

***

My last afternoon in Greece. It is impossible to see whole Athens in a tree days, but I did my best

street markets

Tzystarakis mosque

two really nice musicians

Russian girl working part-time in a souvenir shop

Plaka

After a few hours long tour around the city I finally gave it up. I agree to follow my college Lucka, two Turkish girls and our Greek guide Joanna. Joanna draw us all the best bars on the map. The bars that are secret for the normal tourist. If you are planning a trip to Athens, I recommend these: The Clumsies, Baba au rum, 7 Jokers ... or you can also try the ones that we didn’t manage to go to. Drunk Sinatra, La Pairidaeza or Booze Cooperativa ;) 

Baba au rum

The Clumsies

 7 jokers