η Κυριακή (Sunday)

Friday: 1st activity in the appartment: Making cake (petit beurre, condensed milk, cacao, butter and smarties) Mix together and create a big mess =) something children really love:




Going out in Kiffisia... An area with lots of fancy (and expensive) shops and some posh bars. We ended up drinking something, on a bench in front of a church and going back home.

Saturday: Went to the centre of Athens, to buy fabric for making a pair of pants + needles... (because watching movies every night can get boring at one point). Met a french friend who also participated in the 'Intensive Programme' location: Rennes. And now also lives in the north of athens.

After lunch we've had a look in an 'ecological design exhibition' and went to Voula, where a beachvolley tournament took place. Team Zanneio did not win but played wel =). A party afterwards and a 2 or 3 hour trip back to Ekali on sunday. Its travelling from very south of athens to the northern part.



Next week will be a week filled with activities. Breakdance for the big kids on monday (where I'll be participating). Theater, music, gymnastics...

We started a project (The picture wall). We'll try to take pictures of everybody, staff, children, dogs with the names written on a blackboard they hold in their hands. The goal is to put all the pictures together on the wall to learn all the names. We still haven't finished this so this is next weeks activity as well.


On monday I'll try to do a drawing-workshop with the little kids.


Oh... and my phone number: 0030 698 1997926.

First week(s) arrival.

Believe it or not, my plane landed EARLY in Greece...

I'm living in Ekali, one of the richest areas in Athens, located in the northern part. Not exactly near the city centre, but easy to reach using public transportation.

The first week I had the time to get to know the neighbourhood, the organisation, the staff and now the children.

All the people i've met so far are nice and very friendly; the director of Zanneio, the EVS-coordinator (Patty), my mentor (Poppy), my fellow volunteer (Aurelien) in fact everyone in the orgisation.

It can be quite difficult somethimes to communicate without having a language in common.

For that I have greek lessons. I've learned the greek alphabet and a few words but at this point I cannot make whole sentences. I'm very motivated to learn of course because I like to talk and the children in the organisation often forget I cannot understand a lot of what they are saying. Somethimes the children teach me the name of objects and vegetables when it is time to eat (thank goodness they can be very patient).

It is the first year the Zanneio foundation started an EVS-project. In this moment there are two volunteers (including myself). Saturday there will be 3 volunteers and in january the others... (5 in total) Some people working in the Zanneio foundation have allready good experiences with the EVS-program and are familiar with it.

The volunteers will live in a flat especially put together for the EVS-project(s), it is located on the property of the organisation. Allmost everything is new; 8 hours of IKEA -shopping results in a very nice livingroom and working area with the most colourfull curtains ever seen in my life!

The flat will have 3 bedrooms, bathroom, storage, kitchen, livingroom + workplace (with internet connection). I have to admit, all this is more than i've expected. Off course on the 3rd of octobre we'll have a party to start the project...

In case you want to send me something; my adress is:

Zanneio Foundation (TO: JANA)
Thiseos 131, 145 65 Ekali, Greece

I also have a greek phonenumber but I can't remember at this point, give it to you later...

At this point I haven't seen much of athens or greece. I've been to Voula, to the beach linked to an other project in athens (pikpa) where there are a lot of nice volunteers as well and a great mojito party afterwards. I've been to Ekali (ah yes I live here) ,went walking up a mountain, went to a local market. I wen't to Monasteraki to see the area, shops and acropolis, went to Omonia and went to Victoria/Kipseli Where Sofie (fellow belgian EVS-volunteer) lives...


In short:

+ the project,
+ people involved in the project,
+ party's,
+ new experiences...

- musquito's!!! (only for writing this, I've got bitten)
- traffic (Belgians drive cars slowly very slow)
- QWERTY keyboards (aargh!).

Busy.

3rd of september... I'll be leaving belgium for a while.

For all of you wondering what I'm going to do over there in the north of athens, an extract from my activity agreement:

"The volunteers wιll be involved in a wide range of activities, according to their interests and talents (sports, music, drama, creative media projects, art, etc.) spending their time working directly with the residents, sometimes under supervision of qualified members of staff and sometimes working on individual projects. This is a great informal learning opportunity for the volunteer to develop their interpersonal skills and also their knowledge of youth work issues. Working at Zanneio would provide a volunteer with an insight into how the voluntary sector works with disadvantaged young people. "

I will be writing more soon.