7:00-8:00 WAKE UP / BREAKFAST (PROINO) - The typical cafeteria offerings are fried eggs and bread with bright orange jelly or chocolate spread. My usual proino consists of two eggs on wheat bread and the occasional piece of bread with chocolate spread. I will elaborate on food in a future post.
8:00-13:30 FREE TIME - I spend the majority of this time writing and reading in the library. I have random meetings throughout the week and sometimes teach English or sit in on classes.
13:30 LUNCH (MESSIMARIANO) - Lunch with the students is my first official duty of the day, so I guess you could say that my workday officially begins at 13:30. At first, the students were wary of having me around. I would sit with a group of kids and they would go silent. They would glance at me, speak rapid Greek with each other, laugh at the random American, hurry through their lunch, then bolt out of the cafeteria. Thus, I would be left alone at the table to eat my full tray of food. If I was the first person to sit down, nobody would join me. So it went for the first week or so. It is much better now that the students are comfortable around me, and we actually sit and converse. They teach me some Greek, I teach them some English, we all overdose on feta, and everybody wins.
14:00-16:00 FREE TIME - Greece is similar to many European countries in that the early afternoon is siesta time. Most businesses shut down after lunch and do not open again until five or six in the evening. For me, this is usually more reading time. I have a favorite bench on campus in a somewhat secluded area where I go every afternoon. It's a nice spot to read and sometimes nap a bit.
16:00-18:00 GYM - Two or three afternoons a week, we have soccer practice during this time. The other days I will open the weight room for students or play basketball, volleyball, or tennis.
19:00-22:00 STUDY HALL (MELETI) - All of the students have study hall during these hours with a thirty minute break (20:45-21:15) for supper (vrathino). Emily and I supervise study hall in the library*, work at the library circulation desk**, and help the students with homework***. We have a group of 20 kids, allegedly the best students****, who are assigned to the library for their meleti.
*By supervise study hall, I mean Emily messes around on Facebook and I play online hearts.
**By work at the library circulation desk, I mean we sit behind the desk while Emily messes around on Facebook and I play online hearts.
***By help the students with homework, I mean Emily messes around on Facebook and I was once asked to help a kid with his homework; I was in the middle of an online hearts game, so I told him to scram. I probably shot the moon - I'm just sayin'.
***The "best students" are an interesting bunch: We had to separate two students who would consistent spoon/dry hump each other in one the study rooms, one girl draws bubble letters during the entire three hours, a group of five girls always have dance parties between the book shelves, and I'm relatively certain that two Goth girls participate in voodoo rituals and are planning a meleti mutiny of some sort in the library.
22:00-22:01 Sprint from the library to my room so Shimosh doesn't ask me to open the laundry room.
22:01-23:30 Read in bed and ignore knocks on my door (it is probably Shimosh about the laundry room).
23:30-7:00 SLEEPY TIME (dream about online hearts)
So that is my typical work week. Fridays through Sundays are usually free. I discovered a beach last weekend that is about 1.5 hours away on the public bus. There were about a dozen people there and I was the only one under age 60 (I'm now in love with several elderly angels). It is appropriately named Golden Beach. The "sand" was small pebbles, but the water was clear and smooth; it is a great place to swim. The best feature was the view of Mount Olympus looming in the distance. Unfortunately the beach season is coming to an end, but I will post some pictures of the Golden Beach trip.
Word.
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