Mariangelina Evilati and Stella Karavazaki - students at the University of Athens - won first prize recently for their short video for theGlobal Model United Nations contest.
Students were asked to identify an MDG; outline the steps that have already been taken to meet the 2015 target; identify what more needs to be done; and outline their own plan of action to make sure the target is reached.
Mariangelina and Stella chose "Achieve Universal Primary Education" as their video theme.
The ruins of a submerged town covering an area of 30,000 square metres off the southern Peloponnese in Greece has now been surveyed by marine archaeologists. Although it was discovered by an oceanographer 40 years ago, it is only now that it can be properly surveyed, thanks to digital technology.
Known as Pavlopetri, the sunken settlement dates back some 5,000 years to the time of Homer's heroes and in terms of size and wealth of detail is unprecedented, experts say. It is believed to have been consumed by the sea around 1000 BC. Some are even linking it with the lost city of Atlantis.
"There is now no doubt that this is the oldest submerged town in the world," said Dr Jon Henderson, associate professor of underwater archaeology at the University of Nottingham. "It has remains dating from 2800 to 1200 BC, long before the glory days of classical Greece. There are older sunken sites in the world but none can be considered to be planned towns such as this, which is why it is unique."
Thanks to the fact that the settlement is located in a protected bay and to shifting sands, the explorers were able to discover a world of buildings, courtyards, main streets, rock-cut tombs and religious structures. Thousands of shards of pottery were also discovered in the seabed.
"We found ceramics dating back to the end of the stone age, which suggested that the settlement was occupied some 5,000 years ago, at least 1,200 years earlier than originally thought," said Henderson, who co-directed the underwater survey.
"Our investigations also revealed over 9,000 square meters of new buildings. But what really took us by surprise was the discovery of a possible megaron, a monumental structure with a large rectangular hall, which also suggests that the town had been used by an elite, and automatically raised the status of the settlement."
More than any other underwater site so far, the find offers potential insights into the workings of Mycenaean society.
It has yet to be understood why the settlement sank. Theories include sea level changes, ground subsidence as the result of earthquakes, or a tsunami. It is, however, the first time a sunken city has been found in Greece that predates the time that Plato wrote his tale of the sunken continent of Atlantis.
Now I don't normally get involved in politics - I haven't seen much there to really inspire me, but I do get the feeling that George Papandreou, the new Greek prime minister (seen above arriving at the first ministerial meeting yesterday), is sincerely trying to turn things in Greece. Normally I wouldn't use the words 'sincere' and 'politician' in the same sentence, but here I think the optimist in me is getting the better of the cynic.
He seems intent on changing the understanding of the purpose of a government - that it should be there just to serve, support and respect the people. At the first meeting of the new ministers he invited the head of the Citizens Counsel organisation (an NGO which looks after the interests of the citizens) to come and address the new ministers for 30 minutes, telling them of people's concerns - mainly with the public administration. This, to me, was a bold and innovative move which helped underline that the essence of what they were doing was to serve the people.
He went on to ask the ministers to disband the innumerable committees which have been set up and which seem to have no purpose other than to be a 'nice little earner' for some people and a way to do and return favours. This will save the state about 150 million Euros a year - not a huge amount in the general scheme of things, but good housekeeping nonetheless.
The minister for the newly formed ministry of Environment, Energy & Climate Change, Tina Birbila is highly experienced in the field and an author. It was refreshing to see this young lady relatively casually dressed with her backpack slung over her shoulder at the swearing in of the ministers.
Papandreou is not (comparatively) a party animal (political party). He is open to working with anyone who can help provide solutions. He is also consulting with international experts to help kick-start the dire economy here.
As I said above, I do not like the world of politics but I have so far been impressed. I know it will take a lot for a change in mentality and attitude to filter through all the levels of public administration, especially, but there is a strong feeling that the first steps have been taken. To me it seems that this may be the beginning of a turning-point in this country and that indeed George Papandreou is the right man at the right time.
16 - 22 September is European Mobility Week. Hundreds of towns and cities from countries across Europe are participating, except for - Greece! Well, actually, one town is participating (in a half-hearted way) - Lamia. But apart from that, the traffic in Athens will most likely be like the photo below - immobile! 358 towns from Spain, 375 from Austria, 155 from France....and Greece?? Perhaps their minds are all on getting votes at the upcoming national election!
During European Mobility Week people are invited to participate in a wide range of activities promoting sustainable mobility. The campaign theme this year is "Improving City Climates", underlining the importance of local level efforts to tackle climate change and improve quality of life through the promotion of alternative transport modes to the car such as cycling, walking, and public transport as well as clever car use schemes such car-sharing and car-pooling.
By adopting "Improving City Climates" as the 2009 focal theme, European Mobility Week wants to establish a link with the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December 2009 in Copenhagen by demonstrating that citizens and local authorities have a key role to play in the fight against global warming by fostering a radical change away from private car use and towards more sustainable travel. By doing so, they also help to improve the quality of life at the local level.
Stavros Dimas (ironically, a Greek!), Commissioner for the Environment, stated: "Private cars are large emitters of the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. They also seriously affect the quality of urban life. It is therefore important for public authorities and citizens throughout the European Union to adopt more sustainable modes of transport. Doing so would help reduce the impact of climate change and improve the living conditions in our towns and cities."
Last year, Budapest received the top award for its activities in European Mobility Week 2008. You can see a short video about it here.
I previously posted about education in Greece here, but some recent reading has made me want to post again. The reference to Socrates is because 2.500 years ago he was teaching people by asking them questions and encouraging them to think and find the answers for themselves. Something which, ironically, is the opposite of what is happening in Greece today. I say ironically, because we are so proud (rightly so) of him and the other great Greek thinkers of the time and yet are doing completely the opposite. As I said, Socrates would be turning in his grave or, as we say in Greek, 'his bones would be creaking'.
The great Greeks from ancient times really were great minds and thought 'out of the box'. Their legacy can still be seen in so many areas in our life today - medicine, physics, mathematics, education etc. And yet that 'thinking' is the very last thing that children are encouraged to do nowadays.
I was reading an article in a British newspaper which was putting forward the claim that children in English schools are not being taught to think. Now this may or may not be true (I'm sure it probably is), I am not familiar with the English school system, but I thought to myself - if this writer saw the educational system in Greece, what would he say!
Learning as a child to question and to think will help us when we are older to have a society where common sense and intelligence prevail. At the moment, children just learn things parrot-fashion and with a view to just doing what it takes to pass exams. This cultivates a society of people who have learnt either how to just work in the system or how to beat or cheat the system.
The second piece of reading I was doing was from the latest report from the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development) on Doing Better For Children, including the data Comparative Child Well-Being across the OECD. This shows Greek 15-year-olds third from bottom (above Mexico and Turkey) in literacy and mathematics. They are also third from bottom in the percentage of 15-year-olds who have at least 4 of the basic educational tools (a desk to study, a quiet place to work, a computer for schoolwork, educational software, an internet connection, a calculator, a dictionary, and school textbooks). Greece is bottom in the state financial support of families with one person working and two school-age children.
The education - or rather 'non-education' - system needs a bomb under it. In order to qualify for university or college, nearly all schoolchildren have to go to evening classes or frontistiria. Not only is this wrong because they should be taught what is needed in the school, but also because it means children have hardly any free time and have ridiculous pressure to do homework. It also means that most families in Greece have to spend large amounts of money (which they don't have) every month for something which should be needless.
I cannot believe that people are not out on the streets every day demanding the abolishment of these frontistiria! In a time of such financial difficulty, to have to spend so much money every month for something that shouldn't exist is not only ridiculous but obscene! But people don't do anything - they just accept that it is necessary.
Schools are told by the state what books they should use - nothing is done to develop the creation of a variety of materials for the schools to choose from for themselves. Exams encourage pupils to just learn specific sections by heart and then regurgitate them. You may as well just answer like this - Q1. - Answer: page 34, para 5; Q2 - Answer: page 46, para 2 etc. You can get full marks (20 out of 20 in Greece) for composition/essay and history. How can this be? Is you essay so good it cannot possibly be improved on?
Facts, now more than ever with the internet, can easily be found - it's learning to use them that is not so easy. This is what needs to be encouraged - thinking. This is what made great thinkers in the past great. They took themselves beyond the barriers, they thought 'out of the box' as I said above. If we are so proud of the ancient Greek thinkers, then the best way to express this is by trying to do the same and encouraging young people to do the same.
In a previous post - 10 Corfu Trees- I mentioned the Prickly Pear Tree. We are now busy eating the prickly pears here! Prickly pears here are called either Frangosyka (Frankish Figs) or Pavlosyka (Paul's Figs). The latter name is used only in Corfu as far as I know and, though it is not certain, I have been told that the name comes from Pavliana, a part of the island where they were originally prolific. If anyone has any more information on this, then I would be glad to here from you.
Although we say 'tree', it is really a cactus plant and grows easily and prolifically in many areas in southern Europe. In Corfu you can find the plants all over the island. The name 'prickly pear' comes from the fact that the fruit has large, sharp thorns which make it difficult to handle. The photo above is of a large, sprawling cactus on our neighbour Soula's land.
You can see in the photo below how the fruit is picked. The tin-shaped part at the top of the long handle is hollow so that you can enclose the fruit in it and then twist and pull it off and put it straight into the bucket or basket. This means that you avoid having to handle the thorns. You'll notice it has two sizes to accommodate for different sized fruit! This is the cutting edge of village technology!
This is Soula showing the fruit that she's just picked.
These are some of the Frangosyka that we picked.
Again, when you are peeling the fruit, you have to be careful of the thorns. As well as the large, obvious thorns, there are tiny little hair-like thorns that take an age to get out of your fingers - ask me!
You can see one way of peeling in the photo below, using a fork to hold the fruit and a knife to peel it. The final photo shows the fruit as it is once the skin has been removed. I can tell you it's definitely worth the effort! The juicy fruit is definitely one of my favourites and especially if you keep it in the fridge before eating.
First, cut off the end.
Slice the skin lengthwise.
Peel off the skin to reveal the inner fruit.
The fruit ready to eat. You can see the seeds here as well. Delicious!
Digital Innovationshas produced these two great sites with virtual tours of the Achilleion Palace and Corfu Casino (see above) and 12 Corfu churches(see below). The Achilleion Palace was built by Princess Sissy of Austria in the 19th century and is visited by thousands of tourists every year. The casino used to be located in the Achilleion Palace for many years, but was then transferred to the hotel Corfu Holiday Palace, overlooking the famous Mouse Island.
The virtual tour of the 12 Corfu churches includes, of course, the Church of St. Spyridon, the patron saint of the island.
Those of you on Twitter may have seen several profile images with ribbons or other small images in the corner. These are Twibbons and show that you support a particular cause. I've just created a Twibbon to support the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece.
At the moment there are over 6600 causes on Twibbon and the one with the largest support so far has 18466 supporters.
All you have to do is go to Twibbon and create your own cause and add an image - it doesn't have to be a ribbon - to be superimposed on your profile image. You can also browse through the causes there and join whichever one you support and have the twibbon added to your profile.
If you agree that the British Museum should return the stolen Parthenon Marbles to Greece to be displayed in the new Acropolis Museum, then please click below to get your twibbon!
Continuing the series Corfu Lists of 10, I have posted here 10 types of tree that can be found on the island of Corfu. This is obviously not a complete list, but gives a good indication of the variety that can be found.
Olive Tree
Olives are the predominant product on the island. From the trees we get eating olives, beautiful and healthy olive oil, olive soap, olive wood and other products. See my previous posts here and here about collecting and preparing olives for eating.
MyrtleTree
Greek legend tells of a nymph called Mirsine who raced against the goddess Athena and won. Athena, in a rage then killed Mirsine whose body was transformed into a beautiful myrtle bush. Branches and flowers are often used in wedding bouquets and in classical times poets and renowned thinkers wore wreaths of Myrtle. The leaves and flowers contain scented oil, and the leaves are also used as a herb when cooking meat and fish.
StrawberryTree
The fruit of this tree resembles strawberries and ripens from green to yellow to vivid red. This plant can live for up to a thousand years where older stems are replaced with new growth from its flattened woody base. The Strawberry tree is native to Mediterranean countries and also some milder Atlantic coasts such as western Ireland. The fruit is edible with a delicate flavour and is used in liquors and jam making.
JudasTree
This tree, also known as the Redbud, is so named because it is from this type of tree that Judas is said to have hanged himself after he betrayed Jesus, therefore it is said to blush with shame ever since with a display of pink (magenta) flowers. Appropriately, it blossoms around Easter time. See my previous post on this tree here.
Holm Oak
The Holm Oak is an evergreen tree not unlike the olive and is one of the trees still remaining from the primeval forests of Corfu.
CypressTree
The Cypress tree is common enough in many countries, but has always been on of my favourites and you can see their elegance in the typical Corfu view above.
Carob or LocustTree
This tree is evergreen and has brown broad bean like seedpods, which have been used as a substitute for chocolate and also to make carob flour. The Carob seed due to its uniformity of weight has been used to measure precious items such as gemstones for thousands of years, hence the word Carat as in the measure of diamonds.
Prickly PearTree
The Prickly Pear is also known as the Frankish Fig and is one of my personal favourite fruits. I hope to write a post about it later in the year when the fruit is ripe and you can see how it is collected and cut and eaten. These cacti can be seen everywhere in Corfu.
PomegranateTree
The Pomegranate is supposed to bring good luck on New Year's Day, when you take it and smash it on the ground. The seeds and the juice are delicious and refreshing.
KoumquatTree
This fruit was introduced to Europe from China in the mid-19th century and Corfu is especially renowned for it. There are distilleries on the island which produce the Koumquat liquor (rather sweet and syrupy) and you can also buy them as preserved fruit.
Following my post on the recent opening of the new Acropolis Museum in Athens here and the post about the number of people who think the Parthenon Marbles should be returned to Greece here, I have just started a Twitter petition.
It's really simple to start a petition on Twitter, and when people tweet it, that is their signature. I have tweeted the petition directly to the British Museum and they will be updated regularly with the number of tweets and also have the opportunity to respond.
So, if you are on Twitter and agree that the Parthenon Marbles should now be returned to Greece and put on display in the new Acropolis Museum, then just tweet below. It's set up so that auto-follow anyone who tweets.
The original idea of this blog was to provide a one-stop directory of information on the island of Corfu in Greece. However, I then decided to add a more personal element with my own thoughts plus various stories from life on the island. The Directory element will of course remain, and will gradually be built up, so that you can hopefully get any information that you may want.
RETURN THE PARTHENON MARBLES TO GREECE - TWEET HERE IF YOU AGREE!
