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