Reflections

There is a plethora of things which I find extremely interesting in this period of time.

I have include them in the Chapter of my thoughts...

Chapter 1: Social awareness vs depression

Among them, in the recent financial turmoil, I started to be interested in macro-economic theories, following blogs of economics gurus .... the "celebrities" of our times ....I follow the blog of Prof. Yanis Varoufakis and some other relevant pages for example http://kantooseconomics.com/.

Moreover, I believe that it's worth spending some time watching informative documentaries, directed by G. Avgeropoulos

( http://www.smallplanet.gr/) or infowar productions. Frequently, when I watch a documentary, I realize that the life is out there and not in our sterilized offices.

I have to confess that I am a member of Diem25, not an active one. For some reason, I am in my social isolation for a long time, people around me talk but they do not do. It was written in a book that "love is what love does" and I believe the same is valid for politics and active citizens. I am between Scylla and Charybdis, I "play" between social awareness and depression...

Chapter 2: Germany

As I have already written in this web-page, I spent two years in Muenster (Germany). I don't speak German at all but I survived! I believe that everybody can survive but I am not sure if this is enough. I started learning Finnish with a German teacher which was a bit tricky but I really enjoyed the experience...something else other than research is always reviving! But something more important happened to me, something that reminded me the words of Michel Foucault when he was explaining in one of his interviews about his stay in Sweden: the importance of my mother tongue, how restricted and alienated we can feel in a place that we cannot express ourselves in a way that we learned when we were babies. Our country is our own language.

Iceland July 2008, A family trip

Chapter 3: Spare time - a western invention

In my spare time, I love dancing and playing my classical guitar when I am visiting my hometown, Kerkyra...I really miss my cuenca guitar... My future ambition is to improve my skills in Spanish guitar but at the moment because I am in a "cross r0ad" I compromise it with drinking some beer, wine, going around and observing the cities-people around me and reading.

Chapter 4: Reading, Reading and Reading

Yes! My main escape is reading novel, psychoanalysis and philosophy. Starting from Eric Fromm ("to have or to be") and searching for the meaning of happiness and fulfilment to other books which try to show us the purity that is somewhere hidden deep, deep inside us. I cannot forget the valuable discussions with Ms Mary Charalampous who showed me the "Papalangi" by E. Sheurmann and the "Basic forms of fears" by F. Riemann and many other books which open a new window for understanding our-selves and to observe the laughable aspects of our western culture.

Recently I read again "the unbearable lightness of being" by M. Kundera, the mixture of thoughts, philosophical questions, history, basic instincts of the characters are unveiled in a peculiar, artistic way.

Chapter 5: Corfu

Many times I am dreaming that I am moving back to my island with Ville, to see my family and friends and to have these deep and funny discussions with my friend Katerina, Sofia and all the others. Arguing is a hobby for us :-)!

However, things in my country are not very promising. The financial and cultural devastation is so blatant that you cannot omit it.

Of course, as people say, hope dies last..but....

Sunset in Kerkyra

Kerkyra - Town, morning coffee AMAZING!

Chapter 6: Living between two cultures

Ville, a talented engineer with passion for life, without fears for the unknown, he is my companion and supporter in every step. Together we build our own personal small history. We met in Finland in a difficult time in my life and I followed him in his work in NZ for two years . We visited small islands, we saw amazing landscapes and we learned to stand each other :-) even though we are from two totally different places.

Who can predict the future?? (now we laugh...)

Chapter 7: Back to my roots

A small village once hidden in the green sea of the myths still holding some of the stardust of the past.