A different taxi ride...!

New house means purchasing new stuff. A desk, a chair, decoration, etc. UBER was the easiest and cheapest solution to drive us home safe and sound from a big shopping day out. I didn't expect what would follow...

The guy was Kurdish. He asked me where I was from, and I sincerely told him from Greece. He then started talking to me in Greek by saying Greek words and phrases. "Hi, how are you? All good?" (Γεια σου. Τι κάνεις; Καλά;). Common phrases that nonnatives may know after a vacation trip to Greece. Well, few moments later I would understand he wasn't another person knowing Greek phrases...

SYRIZA: chance for hope or death?

Greece is the main theme in the news all over the world since 26th of January, when the new government was elected. 

No one thought that this would be an easy path.. Many people voted for SYRIZA since they didn't believe any of the rest political parties. Others, including me, were sceptical about it as they were overly offering money to all the workers of the public sector, without mentioning anywhere where they will find the money to act so or providing convincing answers for the development of the private sector which was severely demolished since the burst of the economic crisis in Greece.

      The analysis that follows is made with two aspects in mind: why the election of this new government can act as a relief to the greek civil society and why this negotiation is actually so hard.

A nice day out..!

Well, many things have changed since my last blog entry. A new flat, - yes yes I know, that's a reality the past few months, but this is the last one and that's for sure -, but yes new flat, new housemates, finally settled down.
    And guess what? There is also a new aspect of my life! Yes, I do want to stay longer in London! Not because I loved London all of a sudden and cannot think my life away from it, but mainly because I haven't made the most of it, it is too soon to leave again, and deeply inside me I know that if I leave now Ι will never return. And, to be honest, I have just started to like it..!
    Nice places, every night a new corner to explore, and every day you have to go out there and confront your fears. The last one is not always easy and may not pleasant as well... But it brings out of you a new self that you may not know it existed! And you have to start enjoying time on your own, and this is hard to achieve it when you were used to living with your family, being surrounded by friends, and everything near you were already known and safe.
    I have many times asked myself if I had problems in adjusting to London; if I was really slow taking decisions through this process and things like that, but finally I think I am fine so I stopped asking. And yes life is not always perfect, but a nice day in the garden with some friends, a theatre in a pub, some food, and some nice walk in a new place can fill your day and change your way of thinking...!

Relocation project

I don't know where to start. My name is Anna and I am fine! I keep repeating that to myself for the last 2 months. I should be more than happy since I have achieved my dream; an internship abroad exactly in my field doing everything from scratch. So? Why am I not as happy as I should be?

Well, one thing you have to know when you decide to relocate for a job is that for sure things will not be as easy as you thought they would be. You are in your 30s, you are less adaptable than in the past, you don't want major changes in life and you are going to one of the biggest cities in the world. Although everything at work seems to work just fine, you can't help it, you cannot answer all important question that everybody ask you: "Do you want to live in London permanently?". I believe it's too soon to answer that, in just two months I have moved at least 5 times, being hosted by friends, places and hostels. And according to the Pyramide of Maslow: you have to be safe in order to try to achieve further things. So no for now, I cannot answer the question, I don't know if I like London, but I certainly cannot think me living here forever.

I miss my friends and my family and believe me making new friends and meeting new people in a huge city like London when you don't know no one is pretty tough here... So that's why Meetups are for.. You get to meet new people hanging around in new places or walking in the streets. But how easy is it to find the right people? Believe me, if you don't try it, you won't get it.. When you go to a new place, without knowing anyone, YOU have to make the start meet people... You have to go out of your comfort zone, don't be afraid of what people will say about you turning there alone and try to socialise. Because if you don't socialise, you won't be able to adjust to the environment, find your way around, settle down and see if you like London or not...

Yes, I am lucky, the best friend of my cousin is here and I have met also two terrific and really giving girls in my second meetup that they care so much for me. But is this enough to keep you in London? Everybody says that for now it's just perfect, for later on maybe not. I am just trying to chill out, enjoy my time in London and try to make the most of it. It's not as easy as I thought it would be.. But that's what life is for, to constantly surprise you..

Now I am writing from a borough near the city centre, in a shinny day, a little bit chilly though... I love the sun, but can I leave without it?

Hope wanted...

The article that follows was written on Saturday 1st of May but it was lost in a weird way due to the computer. I present it to you more or less the same including the events of the last days.
Due to the evolutions of this economic crisis and the measures that will be announced tomorrow by the government and the International Μonetary Fund I decided to share some of my thoughts with you.

We live in the era of the economic crisis. The unemployment is raising and this is not based on the evidence by the national Statistic Agency but it's based on the experience I have from my job. The renewals of the IKA health books* for the year 2010 were 40% conducted based on the certifications that were administered by the Unempolyment Fund (but they were the certifications for the previous year). I am sure that the percentage will raise dramatically in 2010.

So the salaries were reduced, the collection of the indirect taxes through VAT would lead to the reduction of the current income because always the consumer pays the price and more specifically the low-paid consumer....
So with a reduced income, without the 13th and 14th salary and the increased prices of products in what way are we supposed to survive?? Under normal circumstances, I would say that the condition we face is an economy in recession... But what comes out eventually is that we are going straight away in a phase of stagflation, where the coexistence of inflation and unemployment at the same period, is the most intractable problem even for the gurus of economy theory.

Besides that, the national debt of Greece and the public deficit that has reached 13% wasn't "achieved" by one government.
We are all responsible for the situation we have come to live in. All the politicians that have embezzled state revenues, that have taken money from the E.U. in order to make productive investments and eventually the money ended up to the politicians' pockets . We are ALL responsible including me. We are responsible for the politicians we vote for and the mentality we have...

Is there a hope for this country after all?? After the end of a contract, a postgraduate degree that I will hopefully get next month and a period in Athens that ends, I wonder honestly where we are going to.... If someone told me 5 months ago, that when my contract ends, the situation of the economy would be in such a mess, I would'nt believe nobody. And no, I don't want any comfort or anything like that....
I didn't get the job as a stager in order to be a permanent employee in the public sector. Βesides,I took part in the protest marches in November only for the sake of my civil rights-which were chalenged by that time,too..

Now what??
A society at empasse...
An economy near bankruptycy...
And a voice that is becoming less and less powerful every day...

"There is still hope..."
What hope??? What hope are we talking about??

We should all study for a better future... To get in a University, to finish our studies on time, to read in case we get in the National School of Government with MERITOCRACY, in order to have a secure future and-eventually- not getting anything from that, to get a postgraduate degree in order to get marks for the examination for becoming an employee in the public sector..and WHY all these?????

To end up with the basic salary of 740€ before and 600€ now?? For a future that looks uncertain??? To end up saying not that we will get our own house, but that we will be grateful if we have a job even with 600€??

Yes what I 'm saying may sound black, pessimistic, exaggerated, but this is my reality... A cruel reality at this moment...

But certainly not more than yesterday's reality.In 2010,we ended up mourning human loses in one of the most peaceful protest marches that took place in Greece after the 1974 dictatorship..
Not more cruel than the death of 3 young people and an unborn life that was lost before it could see the light of the sun....
Τhe human loses are: the 32 year old pregnanant Aggeliki Papathanasopoulou, 35 year old Aggeliki Zoulia and 36 year old Epameinondas Tsakalis...
Three young people that their only mistake was that they went to their jobs at the morning of the strike, without having the right to strike, as "rumours has "it"...
Under the threat of being fired, they satyed to their positions,although they asked several times to leave the bank at 12 o'clock before the protest march starts....

And then there is another crucial question: those silly people that threw the bombs, what did they have in their mind??? It's quite certain that they intended to bring death... That's what the testimonies of the eyewitnesses say... The death of their fellow citizens??? That's where we ended up??? Is there a civil war and we don't know it?? Because as far as I remember the last time I checked history, I saw that the last time that there was civil war in Greece was in 1946-1949. Oh yes I forgot... In Greece we ALWAYS have civil war... Between the political parties, between the social classes, between teams... EVERYWHERE...

Now it's time that every single one of us will contribute to the social change... In the extend we can and if we are capable of that...

If we want to have a better world... A world and a country with more justice, where the guilty will pay and be in prison...

And if all this sounds to you utopian or unreal, let me at leat to do that... DREAM... It doesn't cost anything... But yes I forgot, this is also not allowed...



*IKA = the bigger insurance organisation in Greece
Helath books = in Greece every worker has each one health book, where the prescriptions of the medicine are written and it is renewed every year according to the revenue stamps every worker has.