Thursday 11 September 2008

I wish you a good winter

The school holidays have officially come to an end. Schools in Greece start up again today after a long three-month summer break. This may sound rather late to many of you, but that's got nothing to do with me; ask the government why Greek children go back to school in the iddle of September. I also can't understand why teachers get 12 weeks away from school in the summer (not to mention the 2-week Easter and 2-week Christmas breaks), and still complain that they are underpaid.

When people in Greece come back to school or work after the long summer vacation, they wish each other Καλό χειμώνα (kalo heemona), which means "I wish you a good winter."

snow in kalithea vamvakopoulo hania chania

Snow does not fall often in Hania. We do not really understand the phenomenon, as it falls very rarely. When it's snowing, everyone treats the moment as a happy hour. The fractures clinic at the local hospital has a field day trying to cope with the numbers of idiots who go out into the snow without the right footwear, while insurance agents lay claim after claim for crashed cars. But when it does snow here, it is a real treat.

This photo was taken on February 13 2004 when my neighbourhood (my house is the one on the right) was covered in snow - the only time we have ever had such a heavy snowfall in my town since I have been living here (for the last 15 years). But I wasn't there to see it (my neighbour took the photo). I was on a Singapore Airlines flight heading to Athens, when suddenly we were informed that we were going to land in Thessaloniki instead, because the airport in Athens was closed to all flights due to the heavy snowfall. As we flew over the country, we noticed that icebergs had sprouted in the sea - at least, that's what the Greek islands looked like after they were covered in snow.

We landed in Thessaloniki, capital of Macedonia, with the sun shining brightly. It did seem a sort of paradox that Athens (as well as Hania) was covered in snow, while the north of Greece, always colder than the south, had no snow. I'd never been to Thessaloniki before, so I thought my family could do some exploring there. We were wearing the summer clothes we had travelled with on our two-month journey to the Antipodes. My sister was to bring our winter coats with her when she picked us up at Athens airport, which of course was not going to happen now. We left the airplane in great excitement.

To our dismay, it was freezing: -8 degrees Celsius. Bright sunlight, no snow, freezing temperatures. We were taken to Kempinski Hotel for the night (yes, it was very grand, thank you Singapore Airlines), and there we stayed, not venturing outdoors, not even onto the balcony. We left the next morning, slightly dazed, feeling an opportunity lost to the elements.

16 comments:

  1. that was a interesting post about the holidays! we dont have snow in mumbai either! have only experienced rain and hail falling from the skies never snow :(

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  2. kalo heemona, mediterranean kiwi. :) over here classes start in june, and end in march.

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  3. και άντε πάλι να τρέχεις στις διαδρομές σχολείου, φροντιστηρίου, και αθλητικών και μουσικών και ... Όσο για τις μέρες των διακοπών, θυμάμαι την γιαγιά μου που μου έλεγε να γίνω δάσκαλος γι' αυτό το λόγο. και μια που μας έφερες αναμνήσεις από χειμώνα, ελπίζοντας και φέτος να δούμε άσπρη μέρα, ΚΑΛΟ ΧΕΙΜΩΝΑ λοιπόν

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  4. Καλό Χειμώνα! We usually don't see snow on the street because we live to an island but last winter, we had many of that. So the school remained closed and we enjoyed the snow.

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  5. Καλό χειμώνα...the worst wish to ever hit my ears...
    "Where are you going? Let's go to the sea....what?.....school? No, sea....Winter? Where?....Oh man!"

    But i must say...Winters in Greece taste sweeter than winters in the UK....No hard feelings, just weather.

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  6. Yes, yes everything is starting again!!! I'll be 'Marina the taxi driver' again!!! Never mind!
    I wish you a good, healthy and white winter!!!

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  7. Well then, Καλό χειμώνα. (I love the look of Greek letters, especially when I uncover a Greek inscription in a mosaic floor, as happened once!) Have a good school year. Sorry you missed those tours in Soloniki.
    I can hardly wait for that snow. Great picture.

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  8. Kalo himona to you also! The weather is changing next week...cold winds a blowing! I'll have to see if I can swim at least a few times before it really gets cold. Lovely post.

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  9. If you didn't post this, I'd have a very hard time believing that it snows in Greece, which I've always associated with bright, sunny days and beautiful beaches and coasts.

    Three months between new school years? Wow. We only get April and May off. And the fact that the school year begins with the start of our rainy season definitely does not help Filipino students look forward to school! ;)

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  10. Five years ago, we stayed at Boca for six months. We had many rains and hurricanes but we saw so many new things for us.

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  11. I love your description, especially the "idiots!" Where I live we usually get a couple of light snowfalls a year, but one would think they were blizzards by the way people flip out, cancel school and can't drive! I don't mind that school is canceled because I don't like the whole school routine anyway and prefer not to be on the road with those who can't drive in this, but "idiots" describes a lot of people when it snows where snow isn't very common!

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  12. I am so not ready for snow. What a horrid four-letter word that is. :(

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  13. good pics and hope we get snow in north in sted.have great weekend

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  14. That is an awfully long holiday. We rarely get snow here, which is odd as
    England is just across the water which does. It is mazing how a littlee snow flurry can turn rational humans into idiots.

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  15. Great story - we left a cold snowy Manchester and flew into Singapore where the heat was overwhelming so I can imagine you getting the same contrast arriving back in Thessaloniki.

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