Yesterday

Although I have more or less stopped my lessons it seems that my days are full and somewhat intense. Lots of images and chance meetings which fill up the time.

In the morning there was a student demonstation here in the centre of the city near the White Tower, they were protesting against proposed changes in the way universities are run. I won’t bore you with the details, just that about 10,000 people wandered by the place in the park where I was happily surfing on the net. Some of the university studentsI taught this year were in the march and came up and we chatted. Despite the size of the march and the seriousness of their demands it was all very good natured, more like a carnival than anything else.

Later on I found another wifi hotspot in the centre and I was trying to post something on Blogger when a guy came out of the cafe nearby and asked me if I was a “macas”, which I later found out was Greek for mac user. We started chatting about computers and how the wifi hotspot The one I'd stumbled upon was in fact his (but open to anyone one wanted to use it). He also offered to give loads of free software.So that was another great moment.

I bumped into another old student, again in the centre who had recently returned fron a six-month stint with the Erasmus programme in Barcelona, a city I have always wanted to visit. I told here how envious I was and she explained how wonderful it had been. Ok, now I really have to book a ticket, no more excuses.

As it got dark I took a shortcut through one on the small streets off Navarino Square, there I passed by a musical instrument store, glancing inside I saw a man giving a violin lessons to a young girl, no more than six. On the walls around the tiny room were hung violins and tools of all shapes and sizes. I was so moved that I stayed there and watched, entranced.

Finally as I went to find my Vespa I passed a young Greek Orthodox priest, with full beard and long, flowing black cassock stride by with ipod earbuds discreetly wedged just below his pillbox hat. I wonder what he was listening to ?

A full day indeed.