It's all Greek to me...

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Lesson one in traveling to Greece: the locals do not speak Italian, no matter how many times I try. Talk about confused...I landed in Crete and kept trying to tell everyone "grazie" and "si." Unfortunately, that doesn't really work in Crete. So I've had to learn a few Greek words. I am proud to say that, after much struggle, I can now say "hello & goodbye" and "thank you." And most important of all, I have mastered "sit down," "come here," and "be quiet, please" - key words for class with 20 Greek 4th graders.

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I successfully arrived in Crete on Saturday and spent Saturday and Sunday meeting the other volunteers and doing orientation for the volunteer program. There are 19 volunteers in total. I am the only one of the 19 who is between the ages of 21 and 55. Its hilarious. When thrown together like this, you all get to quickly know each other and there are some entertaining moments. Its a good group of people, though, and everyone is pretty nice and easy going. Although between us, there is one elderly man who goes on and on and is a bit trying (and I feel more than a little bad for the group of kids who have his wife and he as teachers)...and of course, I find out later that he's the only other lawyer.

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The first Monday after we arrived turned out to be a national holiday in Greece, so we started school with a vacation. My kind of school. I joined seven other volunteers and got to site see around Crete for the day. Then on Tuesday, we had our first day of class. I am team-teaching with a lady from Texas named Bonnie, who I like working with. We have about 20 4th graders, although its hard for sure to know really how many there are, as they tend to wander in and out of class each day. They've taken English for a year or so at school, so they know some basic stuff, but they are very very shy about speaking it. (English is a mandatory school subject in Greece, starting in the third grade. They need to be quite good at it to get into university, and apparently, the school curriculm is not good enough if you want to go to college. So almost all kids supplement school with private English lessons, but they are extremely expensive and, although they are good at grammer, don't do as good a job at helping them with conversation. The day camp I am working in is all run by Global Volunteers and is free to all the students.)

The first day of class was pure chaos - which was obvious by the number of volunteers who bee-lined straight for the hotel bar when we got back after class. The after-school beer is now a tradition. The second day was much better and the third felt good. So far, they're favorite things are bingo and duck duck goose. They love to make me play duck duck goose and take an almost sick pleasure in making me run after them, those quick little stinkers. :) Simon Says is also a favorite, as is soccer and jump rope. I think I impressed them because I am one of the few volunteers that can actually play soccer and jump rope with them...the advantages of being one of the few people under 55. I even got a little note the other day from one of the little girls in my class that said, "Mr. Stacy, I enjoy together" with a big heart. It was cute, so I'll overlook the mister comment.

We are all staying at a very "lowkey" hotel in a tiny village about a 1/2 hour outside of Heraklion, Crete's major city. In the morning, we have a team meeting and breakfast, then board a shortbus to school, about a 15 minute drive away. The kids all show up at 9 am. First thing every morning, they gather in the courtyard and sing this really cute Good Morning song for all the teachers. Then we head off to class from 9 am to 1 pm. We catch the shortbus back to the hotel around 1:30 pm, have a beer, eat lunch and then have the afternoon off, before group dinner at 8 pm-ish (nothing is too exact on Greek time). There are about 150 kids altogether at the day camp (between kidnergarten and 6th grade) - so the place is bustling. On Wednesday, we had a speacial treat as our team leader Samantha took the whole group of volunteers out to a restaruant for dinner. She ordered tons of things off the menu and we all got to sample each one. It was amazingly good! Though I will admit, I am not a big fan of either Raki or Ouzo...the traditional Greek liquours. Especially Raki. I know now why Greek men are so hairy...drinking Raki will definately put hair on your chest. Yikes.