Greece

For about 5 weeks I was volunteering in Ioannina. A city in the north of Greece. The majority of my time there would be spent in the lively and happy Community Center, or as we learned to call it, the CC. Here I very quickly felt connected with all those involved. The staff of the NGO, the other volunteers who included ones like myself traveling abroad as well as volunteers from the community, and all the participants who came to the center. Having been my second time volunteering at a center with similar goals, it was a great opportunity to learn, compare and share ideas and practices between the two. There were many more common things than different. I came to the realization that in the end, how you go about doing things is of less importance and what matters is your core values.

One of the biggest differences between the centers was that in Greece, they had a kitchen, and we cooked a meal for everyone. Like all tasks in the center, we took turns rotating through them all. I have to say that the idea of cooking for that many people scared me a bit. But, as I learned quickly with this and all things, everyone is there to help each other. The constant teamwork quickly took away any worry or fear. The first time I cooked for everyone was helping one of the community volunteers from Syria. I learned from him quantities which at first seemed so large, but turned out to be just right. With meals for so many, comes that many dishes. We would almost always have at least two people doing them, one washing another rinsing and sometimes a third drying. There were moments when more stacks of plates were brought, that I would think, wow it doesn’t seem to end. But it did of course. And as time went on, each time I got more used to the amount of dishes. I’ve always enjoyed doing them, but this made me appreciate washing dishes that much more. It also reminded me of one of my father’s first jobs when we returned to the USA. Washing dishes at a senior living community.

On our days off we planned a number of trips. Twice we went to Pindus Mountain. On one trip we hiked for about 5 hours, saw stone buildings and beautiful views, then stopped by one of the 46 small villages in that area for coffee and pie. The most known, orange pie, or Portokalopita. It was my favorite and I would have it many more times later in different places. It looked more like a cake to me. Either way it was very sweet and delicious. The second, a shorter hike to visit the famous Vikos gorge, which was quite a sight to behold. Another time during the week, before going into the center, a few of us ventured a short drive to the north of the lake where we visited Perama Cave. It was the longest and biggest cave I have been to. With various large chambers and narrow paths connecting them with an immense variety of geological formations. On another weekend a few of us travelled to Corfu for two days. We took a bus and a ferry to arrive there. We enjoyed walking around the old town with its narrow and historic walkways and visited a couple of its deep blue beaches. We also became closer as we worked together to plan and tackle minor challenges like transportation and the not so easy path to one of the beaches, which we ultimately decided to abandon because the risk was not worth taking.

Our final trip during our time off was to Meteora. I had not known much about it until one of the volunteers who planned the trip told me about it. It was on her list of top things to see, and it was now on mine as well. We rented a car and our first stop was to pick up two other community volunteers at the camp where they live. As I stood outside waiting for them, looking at the structure and fences in front of me, the similarities to a prison were uncanny. The cement walls, the lack of shade and trees, the barbed wires, the guards at the entrance. After a short wait, one of our friends walked out followed a few minutes later by the second. I put aside the reality of their living conditions and focused on the happiness from seeing each other and the fun filled day ahead of us. We split the driving between the two of us, which worked out really well and neither of us were too tired. It took us about 2 hours and we arrived around 15:30 in the afternoon. This mattered because at some point, we remembered that many of them closed around that time. We made our way to the monastery we had been recommended. As we neared seeing most of it, we heard the call that they would be closing within 5 minutes. Perfect timing. After, we walked around a path which connected two of the monasteries. It was a beautiful green area, including a very large tree with a unique merged branch. We got to see some beautiful views of the monastery from afar as well. We returned to the car and brought the food out for a delicious picnic under a nearby tree. Without rush, we packed up, took a few more photos and headed back home.

Leaving a city and the people brings a slight sadness mixed with the joy of having met and gotten to know them. We part ways, but I take our memories, learnings and the connections. I left on a Friday evening to Athens, I was able to spend Saturday visiting the Acropolis and doing a walking tour. The Parthenon had been on my list of places to see, and it was as impressive as I had imagined. I saw the city from up high, a beautiful view. The next day, bags packed, I officially left Europe to enter Asia. I’m writing this from a large porch at my hostel in Hyderabad, India.