On having and not having something to do

 It's two weeks to the day since my first day of not having school to go to, and this anniversary finds me in pensive mood. I went away for four nights, two in a small lakeside town called Ioannina, which was lovely to look at, small and pretty, but full of students and with nothing to offer the older traveller who isn't interested in mountain walks or canyon hikes, and two nights in Thessaloniki in the far North of the country. It turned out that, completely by chance, there was an International Documentary Film Festival happening which, on the plus side, meant that there were films to see in the evenings, all with both English and Greek subtitles, but, as might be predicted if one had done any planning, meant that there were no rooms available anywhere in town on Friday and Saturday night. So I came back to Athens early and was frankly delighted to see my little studio again and to be somewhere approximating home.

Early morning in Ioannina. Lovely. What the hell am I doing here?

One of many very attractive cinemas in Thessaloniki. I should probably come back here where I'm not feeling so lonely

While at the hostel in Thessaloniki, I did a yoga session and decided to use the 30 minutes' silent meditation at the end (thirty minutes!) to do some thinking about what life should look like in the Athenian existence without school that was to follow. I decided to dedicate myself to fitness, eating well and general personal wellbeing. Something about having my shorts on, and the special little white socks I bought myself to do running in always leads me to thoughts of becoming A Fitness Person. I can only assume it's the shortness of the socks that does it. Or maybe it's the slippery material of sporty shorts. I don't know but the effect is real. On my return to Athens I discovered that somewhere along the way I'd lost my running shoes, so the transformation to early-morning gym bunny took an immediate and inevitable slide.

Time here has been marked by two very distinct phases: the first of these is teaching English with refugees, which I'm now doing every Tuesday and Thursday, and about which I'll have to write a whole separate blog, doing a talk to a different set of refugees about being a software engineering, and helping out in little ways at the English language theatre I've kind of attached myself to. During these phases I feel useful, full of energy and ready for anything.

The other phase is basically spent in my flat, which means mostly either being in bed or on the bed, either playing guitar, making basic pasta dishes and salads, watching Greek-language TV or going on Instagram. Actually it's been an interesting experience getting into social media properly for the first time. Since I'm in need of a community of people, and in need of things to do, I decided I should join Instagram and join Reddit and I'm starting to see exactly how it makes zombies of the people I see all around me in London. It starts off being very entertaining: here's a "sub-Reddit" all about Athens where you can post questions like "What are these military jets doing flying around town today? Should I be worried" and get instant answers from lots of different locals saying "Don't worry, they're rehearsing for the Independence Day celebrations on 25th March". There's a Greek comedian on Instagram with short funny videos with subtitles which is great for my learning! Here is a person knitting a scarf with literal noodles where the end of the scarf is still dangling in the broth! Here's a post from a 21-year-old single mom looking for fun and no-strings dates in Athens! Here's a Greek influencer being funny while talking about hair products! Oh wait... I see what's happened here. It's terribly easy to be drawn into this stuff, especially when you're pensive and lonely and looking for easy connection. The communities on Reddit are of course not real communities from which you can actually draw any solace, and the funny stuff on Instagram very soon becomes just an endless stream of mild amusement, stealth marketing or just distraction from the fact that you haven't yet managed to get out of bed.

So there's a very stark divide between the me who has got something to do, and the me that has not. At the start of these travels I had nothing to do by default for many days on end, and I think I used the time fairly wisely. There was contemplation! Sketching! Amateurish poetry! Running! But it seems like the well of that kind of self-starting energy does actually run dry if you draw to heavily from it. And it's at times like these that I extra need to get up and get out and find Something To Do.

Today for example, I went to the Archaeological Museum which is a real wonder, drank a coffee and did some very hasty biro sketches of various little sculptures and pots and whatnot. It was really a lovely time and something I can definitely afford to do much more of in the yawning intervals between English teaching. As an aside, they say that inclusivity policy means that everyone should see their own stories reflected in the exhibits of a modern museum, but this is surely ridiculous:

Ah sir, you are a tall thin circumcised man with wings, beard and a little hat? Yes, we have an exhibit for you. Step right this way. 

The story of my Greek progress is the fodder for a separate post, but it's definitely coming along. Texting with Greek people is absolutely brilliant because you've got all the time you need to understand their messages, and all the time you need to formulate yours. Real life is of course a little bit trickier, but things are definitely progressing nicely.

That feeling when your Greek verbs app is the source of all your solace

Back out into the world

 This week I find myself both out in the cold and tucked up safe and warm.

Today was my last day of Greek language school. I've done three weeks and it's time for me to fly the nest and go back out into the cold. So the time ahead of me stretches out once again without structure or a place to go in the mornings.

But on the "safe and warm" front, I moved on Wednesday into my new studio flat. It's a basement flat that opens directly onto an incredibly busy road so it's suffused with the white noise of traffic and the occasional turn-the-radio-up blast of police sirens, and it's basically just one room and a bathroom, but for the next four to six weeks it's going to be my home and I already kind of like it.

Having your own place not only means that you don't have to worry about where you're going to be sleeping on any given night but, just as importantly, it means I can get around without taking my whole rigmarole of bags, suitcases and musical instruments everywhere I go. For that reason alone, it's 500 Euro well spent.

But so school: it was a lot of fun. They have socials every Wednesday which is a real fixture of the calendar, the classes are small and engaging, and all the students are friendly and up for doing stuff. There's homework to do (I absolutely love having homework to do. I don't know why. I think it's about having time where you're absolutely doing the right thing, the very thing you should be doing at that moment. No worries about what else you should be achieving, you're doing your damn homework and that's enough.) But I actually feel that it wasn't that great for my Greek. There was quite a lot of learning the months of the year, the colours and a whole long list of different fruits and vegetables. I'll no doubt be grateful for the vocab at some point in the future, but I think that the real magic comes from limping through conversations with real Greek people in real situations. I felt like my progress was actually being hampered by the structured learning, the carefully paced curriculum, and the international ex-pat vibe of the place. I think the school is excellently run, and to cater for those who want to fly off as fast as they can would be madness. So I've got no gripes with the place. I just think it's not quite aimed at people who are up for focusing very hard on the language to the exclusion of everything else.

As is quite common in these contexts, the teachers themselves couldn't wait to get away from their students at the end of the day (fair enough!) so I have ended up hanging out with lots of Americans, Germans, Danish and French people. That's a joy in itself but I don't want to spend my whole time here in the comfort and ease of an international crowd.

But progress has been steady: I'm regularly having very small conversations with various service personnel and occasionally even understanding what's said back to me. I'm also regularly catching little phrases and words I recognise on the bus, on the radio and even in the theatre (a funny story, which I'll tell in person if I see you, dear reader) but due to a misunderstanding I ended up with front-row seats for Chekov's The Cherry Orchard, entirely in Greek and without subtitles. Needless to say I understood almost nothing, but it's amazing how many little words and phrases you can catch even in that difficult context, and also how the language stops sounding like gobbledegook and rather becomes a collection of verbs and nouns I happen not to know yet. That sounds like a small difference but it's really quite a huge deal.

So what's a man to do when he's got no school to go to? Well, I've got a couple of interesting little leads already: I'm going to do some volunteering at an English-language theatre round the corner from my little studio. Initially they want me to help them work out how to add stuff to their website, boringly and predictably, but I'm also going to help their technical guy do a sound-check on Sunday which should be fun and I'm also invited to attend rehearsals whenever I want.

And I've just got off a video call with an NGO which does language and social integration work with refugees. From 17th March I'm going to be teaching English to a class of adults and a class of kids every Tuesday and Thursday night. That old English teaching qualification from 2007 never stops being useful!

Between then and now, it's all a blank so I'm considering doing something more self-indulgent like a yoga retreat or a trip to an island. Having had three weeks of something approaching a routine, I'm excited to once again be free to choose how I spend my time. I love nothing more than sitting in a cafe with my Greek text book, my notebook for poems and drawing and whatever, and an iced espresso, which is absolutely the only thing anyone drinks here. The weather is slowly starting to warm up and I can hear the distinct sounds of some tweeting out there among the traffic noise.

Back out into the world I go...

A random gallery of pics

There now follows a few sights and vibes from my last few weeks of hostel, Athens, weekend trips away, language school and my tiny little basement flat.

Tote bag painting at the hostel. It says "Athens" in Greece. I'm rather proud of my Greek handwriting here.

Ancient Greek dance class at the hostel. Togas included and mandatory.

An incredible live gig I stumbled into while on a weekend away in Xalkida, a workaday little town away from the capital.

From the English theatre I'm volunteering with.

Sunset on one of the many massive hills right in the middle of Athens.

Chekov in Greek. Not the easiest to follow tbh.

It's not all fun and games you know.

I had to pay for my month's rent in cash. Dodgy? Nah, it's just how things are done here! (Maybe.)

My fellow Greek students.

My little flat

Last day of school!