As I (finally) sit down to write my last report, I find it difficult to distill this entire experience into short descriptions and advice for my successors. Instead, I find it much easier to wallow in my misery. You see, I am very sad to leave Greece, especially as I have finally Hellenized. Now I can gesture broadly, ride crowded buses, eat for several hours, and soak up the sun almost as well as a local. Well, maybe not the 'soak up the sun' so much as 'burn in the sun'.
I think what I will miss most are the people I have met. I have made some extraordinary friends and met some incredible people. I will miss Christos Foundos with his teasing Grandparents and Aris basketball games (which were intense and amazing). I will also miss future fellow former Fellow Will Stroebel's company and his bizarre collection of acquaintances. Even the odd smell of Thessaloniki has grown on me (I'd recommend viewing the water from a distance). But I will especially miss the students. They have given me a delicious amount of unpredictable freshness to my life in Greece, for better and worse.
For example, one day, an eleventh grade Pinewood student and avid guitar player, asked me if I would sit in on bass with his band. They had already written four songs and were scheduled to play at Pinewood's annual 'Fun in the Sun' fundraiser, but their bassist couldn't play with them. So, two weeks (and fewer full-practices) later, I found myself slapping out 'I Love Rock and Roll' to a crowd of expatriate parents and face-painted elementary school students. The performance was, in all honesty, delightfully horrible (no thanks to yours truly), but still a lot of fun. Another unforgettable example is when an underground wrestling match (which is officially banned from rooms) ended with a dislocated kneecap and a late-night trip to the hospital. Yay kids! So whether or not these events were enjoyable at the time, I already look back at them fondly and am at least glad for the story fodder and the distinguished look the new gray hairs are already giving me.
As I reflect on the students, one last interesting point of conversation swims to the surface of my mind. One experience that Lucy and I had, which will not be shared by all of the following fellows in Greece, was dealing with the dynamic in the dorm between the students from Anatolia College and the students from the Pinewood International School. Now, I imagine that all students everywhere form cliques and have periods during which everyone gets along, as well as the unsavory alternative. As for these two groups in our dorm, they certainly didn't hate each other, but that doesn't mean they always got along.
One of the main differences between the Anatolia and Pinewood students were their economic backgrounds. All of the Pinewood students are paying for their private, entirely English language education, which means that they are generally from more affluent backgrounds (although in the Balkans, what constitutes affluence can be quite different from elsewhere in Europe). This tended to be troublesome because the students that were from privileged backgrounds were generally more of a handful. For example, if a student comes to the dorm and has never had to clean up or share her/his room, or has never had to deal with cafeteria food, naturally she/he is going to chafe at the dormitory's rules and living situations. These minor problems easily become headaches when wealth and influence are connected, which is often the case. Once, in December, we were forced to expel a student from the dormitory for a severe violation of the rules, and my supervisor received a call from the appropriate Consulate. At other times we could be prevented from punishing a student because the administration would remind us who her/his parents were. This didn't happen often, but it did happen.
The Anatolia students are different in the sense that some are on full scholarship, some on partial scholarship, and some are paying for the dormitory and education themselves. This means that these students come from a variety of economic backgrounds. Also, the students come from a variety of locations within Greece, from small villages, to Thessaloniki itself. So while some students would wear the same clothes day after day, others could dress fashionably and overfill their closets. The Anatolia students also caused problems, but they were a bit easier to deal with for a couple reasons. Basically, the deterrents and punishments were more severe: the scholarship committee meets each year and decides whether or not to continue supporting each student, and the head of the Boarding Department is much more intimidating in his native Greek.
Aside from the occasional class clashes between these two groups, the biggest source of frustration and tension came from the fact that each group could be separated neatly by national lines and the Balkan nations have a long history of nationalism and fighting each other. This, more than anything else, was an occasional source of tension. For example, it was difficult to get the students to intermix, and if they got angry, occasionally you could hear a derogatory comment about a national group. Most of the times it was not serious, and the kids were really just frustrated that they had to do their homework, but the comments were still something that Lucy and I tried to stop.
The biggest headaches arose when students would make claims of racism if they were confronted about breaking a rule. Absolutely racism exists in Greece-show me the country in which it doesn't-and it was frustrating to have students claim that we were being racist because we told them to clean their rooms. Besides the fact that enmity towards you would be spread, for the sake of solidarity, across the entire national group, it weakened the claims of actual instances of racism. Lucy and I found it difficult to talk about differences in the way groups of students were treated because the students had 'cried wolf' so many times that it was difficult for the administration to examine the issue seriously. It is important for me to stress that I am not accusing the administration of being intentionally unjust-they are all wonderful, loving people that are my friends and deeply care about all the students. I just wish that the students would have used serious charges more seriously. But kids will be kids, and generally life got on very well in the dorm.
Even now, I'm reluctant to finish this report because it will mean that my experience is truly over. I also do not want to end on such a low note. So, let me express my immense gratitude to Grinnell College, especially Doug Cutchins and those professors who recommended me for this position, for helping me get to Greece and enjoy myself abroad. Let me also thank Greece and Anatolia College, specifically Panaiotis Antoniou, Theresa Platidou, Alexia Dara, Phill Holland, the Librarians, Vicky Zaroucha, Christos and Costas, every taverna I ever visited, Giota and Alkis, Nick Piston, Maria and Georgia Prestopoulou, the sea, the mountains, and the weather. I love Greece, kai elpizw na epistrepsw ksana syntoma.
If any students are interested, please contact me via GrinnellPlans for information. I would love to tell you more and help you get to Greece, too.
