Noikokyrio

Today

Morning: Orientation to Greece

Greece consists of sun, mountains and the sea. It is the closest European country to the equator and has a Mediterranean climate with very direct sunlight. The climate impacts the sleep cycles of people who rise early to work, take siesta after a late lunch and then return to work in the evening, and the plants which are mainly scrub vegetation--low-to the ground plants that protect themselves from the sun. The terrain of Greece is 80% mountains and contains some farmable land. As for the people, there are two identities that make someone Greek: ethnic and political (or both). And of course, there's the food...Greeks consume 1/3 of their calories in olive oil. They eat lots of fruits and vegetables, and rarely have red meat. The Mediterranean diet is one of the healthiest and historically Greeks live very long. This diet is changing a bit though as more refined sugars are mass produced throughout the world.

Paros is known as the "transportation hub of the Cyclades" and has a population of 3,000 I live in the town of Paroikia (I misspelled it yesterday), which is pronounced Par-ee-KEE-yah.

After "lecture" we spent some time walking through the historical/archaeological part of Paroikia and saw an old Venetian wall built from the remnants of a temple to Athena. Just next to the wall is a 5th century church with a great view of the Aegean Sea. Then we walked to the public library where we met the librarian, Allegra, who helped to set up the service project we will be doing and various trips we are taking. Turns out she's Jewish, so I definitely want to talk to her about that. My teacher, Susan, just told me that when we were leaving the library this anthropologist introduced herself; apparently she is Israeli and is here for the summer doing research on the interaction between people and dogs. Interesting...but I imagine she's also Jewish! So that's at least 2 Jews on Paros, which is far more than I expected.

Venetian Wall

Church entrance

We had the afternoon off in which I went to the gym, supermarket and fruit stand.

Afternoon: Service Learning

We had lecture again in the evening where we talked about "Service Learning" in general and also the specific project we will be focusing on here. We discussed the difference in the civil society as we know it in the Western World and the civil society that exists in Greece. Unlike the United States and Northern Europe where there are non-profits and NGOs, Greece does not have formal organizations without governmental involvement that look after community needs. Instead, they have many informal forms of community engagements. Historically this consisted of dense networks of social relationships, but is evolving to include "organizations" that are a combination of government, business and voluntary action.

We also discussed tourism, both in general and with specific relation to Paros. 1 in 12 people worldwide and 1 in 5 in Greece work in tourism. The main focus of this discussion was the idea of "sustainable tourism," why we need it and what it means. One article used the workd "noikokyrio" to describe what life was like pre-tourism on Paros. This was a lifestyle in which Parians ate food they grew, made their own houses and were concerned about sustainability because if they used up the islands resources, that was it. This concept disappeared in the 70s as tourism came to Paros as a result of German exploitation of the island in Stern magazine and because young people became engrossed in consumer goods and strayed from their family history of being farmers and living a sustainable lifestyle.

There are pushes now to create sustainable tourism on Paros. The current and previous mayor are pushing for young people to understand Paros and value distinct Parian attributes. There are now laws forbidding buildings greater than 3 stories anywhere on the island and all the beaches are public.

So where do we come in?

Marine litter. We just briefly started on this topic, but our service project is to go out and pick up trash from beaches. More details about how this creates sustainable tourism to come...class ended.

Lesson of the Day

The street stones are outlined in white so that at night, without street lights, the light from the moon is reflected and you are able to see.

Photo of the Day

Could it get any more stereotypical? Note the whitewash stones.

The Count

Photos taken: 3703

Tomorrow

More class.