The PRAXIS magazine
      

Mikro

A short time after the concert of Alexandros and the Lone Stars, Praxis organised another one in EKKOKISTIRIO, a club in Serres. It was a Greek group called MIKRO . I didn’t know them, I knew only a song, that I liked… Anyway we were supposed again to work, in the entrance, to sell and check the tickets!! There was a lot of people more than I thought… we stayed outside until about one o’clock, than when there weren’t any more people arriving we were allowed to go inside… Some people were dancing and there was a nice atmosphere…I would have probably enjoyed the concert more had I   not been so tired, because of the long time I had to stand working!! Earlier on Susanne and I were standing by the door, checking the tickets. A girl arrived with the firm intention of going inside and we asked her for her ticket as usual… but then she looked at us in a strange way and said "I’m the singer!". We were rather embarrassed for the rest of the evening!
                                  

Those butchers’ shops. Okay, so it’s honest to hang the whole mutilated body of an animal in the window, to remind us exactly where our pork chop came from. But do you have to stick a Greek flag in the pig’s rear end? The sight is turning us vegetarian

	KOMBOLOI: the beads that old Greek men play with all the time. I like them, because a) they’re pretty, and b) they keep men quiet.
	The amount of paperwork in banks and other institutions. It’s quaint, but slow. Use that computer: we’re entering the next millennium!
	Double (and triple) parking. There’s hardly any room for moving cars. We thought this was funny until everyone started beeping their horns outside our house.

	But when those cars start moving, look out! It’s tough being a pedestrian in Greece, where vehicles own the road (and the pavement). And don’t expect anyone to stop at the red light for you to cross: Τρέξε Λόλα τρέξε!
	You never see a coin under 5 drachmas. So no shopping bill is ever precise; sometimes I gain and sometimes I lose out on the change. Perhaps a smaller currency is the answer?
	We get free nuts and nibbles when we buy alcoholic drinks. This is definitely a practice that should be introduced to my home country –yum!
	The sight of cool guys in bars sipping frappe and daintily eating chocolate cake. At home they’d be swilling lager and downing shots of whisky. At least Greek men are less drunk and rowdy than their English counterparts, but they’re a little too cool for me.
	Everyone smokes, all the time, anywhere. Well, we’ve encountered a few Greeks who don’t smoke, but they always justify this social faux-pas with pleas of asthma.
	GREEK TIME! It’s great. Have that extra ten minutes in bed: you deserve it! Finish work at 2pm? You’ve worked damn hard, have a little rest. The flipside is when you trudge along to the supermarket just to find that they felt like closing early. But on the whole, this is the rhythm for me. Now please excuse me, for I’m feeling a little sleepy. Time for my 11am nap…

Claire

Hi! My name is Vicky Delli, and I come from Serres. I’m 24 years old and an ex-volunteer. I enjoyed very much being a volunteer! I am really proud of myself, because with voluntary service I helped other people to discover what it’s like to live with different people working together for the same purpose. Although I didn’t come from the same country as the people I worked with, it was always a very pleasant experience. I joined the European Voluntary Service, also called EVS, last year from the 15^th September 1998, until the 30^th June 1999. I chose to go to Germany, to the town of Leipzig, in the East. My hosting organisation was called AUFBAUMERK. My sending organization was PRAXIS from Serres . My programme was about the protection of Leipzip’s cultural heritage. The volunteer was asked to help to “save and protect an ancient monastery”. The whole group and I worked hard to give this monastery a new face. Every three months we prepared a different exhibition about the customs and the previous life of the monastery. These exhibitions about the monastery, “Kloster buch”, were successful and now I don’t think that people will forget about the existence of this old and historical building !!

This kind of experience comes only once in lifetime! You have the chance to taste a new life with different people and to discover your strengths. And I discovered that people don’t have so many differences between them!

Now that I’va finished with my project, I’m doing “future capital”.