A White Christmas

When I found out that I received a Fulbright grant to Greece, I think most of my friends and colleagues thought that I would be basking on a beach on some Greek island while they were freezing back in the U.S. at this time of year.  Believe it or not, it does snow in Greece.  I awoke last Thursday to approximately four inches of snow on the ground in Ioannina.  A few days prior to that the mountains surrounding Ioannina took on a decidedly white tone.  This was the first time that students from Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, and Egypt saw snow.  Unfortunately, I didn't get to see their reaction. I left early that morning for Athens where the weather while not exactly balmy was quite pleasant for December at least in comparison to Philadelphia.

Last Wednesday evening the Stavros Niarchos staff hosted a Christmas party for the students and they extended an invitation to me, too.  The evening consisted of students performing Christmas songs or dances typical of their countries:  Dominica and Margarita (Domenica is dressed up as an angel) sang a Polish Christmas song;  the students from Ukraine, Georgia, and Russia performed a skit featuring a sheepherder and his(or in this case her) entourage;   Peter from Macedonia along with students from several countries performed a Greek Christmas carol; and Olga, Anna, and Anastasia performed a dance from Kazakhstan.  Afterwards, we got to enjoy a lovely dinner and were entertained by a high school saxophone quartet that performed traditional Christmas songs;  they were excellent.

I have spotted Santa Claus around the campus and in Ioannina.  In one photograph, you can see Santa up on the roof of the student center.  In another, you can see him ascending a ladder of a gift shop next to one of my favorite restaurants.  In addition, someone placed Christmas ornaments on the bush outside of Stavros Niarchos. 

Several of the students from Stavros Niarchos have already left to go home.  Some others will be spending the holidays with the families of classmates.  For example, Tomoko from Japan will be spending Christmas with Maria and her family in Macedonia.  Some, like me, will remain here for the break.  I am glad that I will have some company.  However, I am afraid that I will experience "empty nest" syndrome until the rest of the students come back the second week of January.  In the meantime, I received an invitation from a doctoral student, Eugenia, to spend Christmas Eve with her husband and son at their home in Metsovo, which is a mountain village about an hour outside of Ioannina.  That will be great.  On Christmas day, another doctoral student, Dmitris, invited me to spend the day with his wife, Maria, and their 15-month old son, Immanuel.  It will be fun to hear a toddler starting to say his first words in Greek.  Of course, it will be great to see the look in his eyes when he opens his presents.

It looks like Santa is going to be busy in my part of the world.  I am pretty sure that he is going to check up on the students from Stavros Niarchos and their respective families, which means he has about 21 countries to visit before getting on his way to the U.S.  However, there is a seven hour time difference so I think he will make it.  Whatever language you speak, I hope that you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!