Last posting of the year...

...in Greece we have a saying (apparrently we have a saying about nearly everything, just for the record) on New Year's Day: That whatever you get to do during the day you will do for the whole year. Well, don't take it literally, but I guess you know what I mean.

So how's my New Year's day gonna be like? First of all I am the first guard of 2005 on my guarding spot, from 12 to 2 am. Will celebrate the new year on my way there :) Secondly, tomorrow there is a small celebration set up in the camp and then I am out (after noon, till 11pm). I am meeting a good friend from AIESEC who is also a soldier in a nearby camp, some 40 km outside Alexandroupolis: Lefteris. Haven't seen him since he left for his traineeship, which was sometimein spring if i remember well, so it will be good catching up. That's just about all for my new year's day :)

Not too bad, but rather ordinary. I hope I will manage to shape 2005 to something better than that!

2005 new year's resolution

It's the time to set goals for the new year. And this year they will be somewhat more important than those of last year, I feel.

#1: Finish University. Need I say more? No shit, this year I will do it.
#2: Get a job, or at least being close to getting one by the end of the year (don't forget that till the beginning of November I will still be a soldier, so this still remains a difficult - yet important - goal)
#3: Keep and expand my networks however I can.
#4: Think a little less of my own happiness and a little more of other people's around me. This is a non measurable one, but all of us can make it measurable these days by spending less in celebrations and try to donate and help the people struck by terrifying disaster in SE Asia. An example of how is on http://nomadlife.org/2004/12/how-to-help.aspx and I am sure all of us can find other relevant ways in our respective countries.

Lets hope the new year will find us all in good health. Take good care, all of you.

2004 coming to an end...

Amazing...

Another year has gone by, and it has been a great one and an unusual and unique one indeed.
2004 has been the year of my great comeback to University. I managed to come down from 20something subjects to just 4 for my degree, and that wasn't even my best shot. It was the year when I spent a lot of time travelling and being together with Ying, till we broke up in October. It was the year when I was the best man on my friend George's wedding! It was the year of great family reunion, my ties with my sister and parents being as strong as they have never been in the past. It was the year I had to add the element of discipline in my life, to get over with University and the military service instead of just moving on and skipping them, risking too much. It was the year when I joined the Greek armed forces for my compulsory service. It was the year of catching up with close friends, and finding out that there's quite a few real friends out there that will remain very close for a very long time. It was the year I started publishing my thoughts online through a blog. It was the year of the Olympic Games. It was the year of superb summer holidays, 13 countries, thousands of klms and tens of people I hadn't met in years all included.

2004 was a year that will leave a positive mark in my memory, and indeed a year that has been documented :)

I really don't feel like evaluating the 3 goals I set at new year's resolution exactly one year ago - not bcause I failed in all three of them :) - but because they are too petty in front of the great moments that 2004 offered me. But, just for the record, I will.

1. Finishing University: I got close to that one. I am now down to 4 subjects and intend to finalise everything within 2005.
2. Refreshing my Italian: I started taking free Italian classes at University in the spring semester, and practiced a bit, but not to a satsfactory level. Nevertheless, when I was in Venice in July, I found out that my communication is fine, although it still needs a lot of improvement (remember: The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement)
3. Exercising: I started exercising again in 2005 and can proudly proclaimed that through playing basketball, watching what I eat (and drink...hmmmm) I am now down to 71 kg, as compared with the 77 that I was in July.

Thank you all for the great moments of this - soon ending - year.

Countdown is a sport in the army

This is a posting mainly addressed to my international friends, ot get you a bit more in the spirit of being in the Greek army.

Well, the title means that everyone counts the days till the day they will be through with their military service. Some ppl count days, some ppl count months (makes you feel less desperate, especially in the first months). But there's a general "rule" on how to count. You count the remaining days, mths etc plus today.

The good thing is that you see the progress. The bad thing is that if you compare with other ppl around you (some ppl in my room have 55 plus 1 to go) you get a bit jealous and a bit desperate.

So, as of today, Private Mazarakis of the XXIII Armoured Vehicles Brigade has still 311 plus one.

Dario Fo is on

In addition to the Planet Simpsons Book, I also read a book given to me recetly by Rodopi as a gift. It's a theatrical play by Dario Fo. I generally like theatre and try to attend plays when I get the chance to, but I think I've just hit upon an artist like no other.

Dario Fo is kind of an anarchist, contradicting values that we take for granted and concepts that are the status quo in this society. It's amazing how much thought and emotion a 60-page book provoked on me. I seriously recommend you to attend any of his plays you might come accross, or at least read one of his books. You don't have to agree with him, but for sure you will find he has an interesting and unusual perspective on the world, and on theatre as such.

Dear Minister of Defence

Isn't it just unfair how bad things in this world keep happening out of the blue? I am talking about the disastrous Tsunami that recently struck the countries of SE Asia, as everyone these days is.

I have been following the news on TV and on the Internet these last few days, and I can't help the feeling that I am useless to those people, as I am not only at the other side of the world, but I am also currently a part of the Greek army, and even if I wanted to help in some way, I am unable to do so. In fact, I do feel like everything I do on a daily basis is futile - you can always judge me and say I am exagerrating - I am deeply concerned about the whole issue and I don't feel like my nightshift or my washing the dishes at the camp restaurant improves the situation. In a nutshell, I am falling into a kind of depression.

And then this thought just came to my mind. Couldn't we just organise some humanitary help as a country towards the countries that have been struck by the disaster? I mean, a mission sent by the Greek armed forces. Wait, I know it's a mission difficult to organise but it would be real help to those people. And I am sure there would be a lot of volunteers, including myself, willing to jump in.

I urge you to seriously consider my thought.
Kind regards,

Private Dimitrios Mazarakis

Nightshift

Last night I was guarding from 6-8pm and 2-4am, and right after the 8pm shift I wanted to come down to the internet cafe in the camp and share a couple of thoughts I made during my 2 hour guarding. I ended up hald in mud and half soaked in water, as it had been raining harsh for 28 hours straight in this part of GR, and so I missed the opening hours of the internet cafe till the time I got to change clothes...

Thank god for evenings off, so now I am out of the camp and have plenty of time to put stuff online.

Book review: Planet Simpsons by Chris Turner

Planet Simpson
Originally uploaded by Dimitris Mazarakis.

I bought this book in a very cool science fiction bookstore in Stockholm an couple of months back, and I just managed to finish it. For those of you who don't know, I am a big fan of the simpsons. The book is being commented upon also on http://www.snpp.com/news.html#planet (simpsons archive online).

It was a great read, as the book not only describes the characters and makes numerous references to funny and serious aspects of episodes, but also links them with the way the simpsons view our world, and the way they make satire out of it.


An excerpt of the book worth putting down here, that really struck me as I have had similar thoughts:

The following was written as a foreword by Neil Postman to his 1985 book "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business"

What Orwell feared were those who ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much information that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy and the centrifugal bumblepuppy.

The only disadvantage of the book I find is that it refers to the Simpsons as the biggest pop cultural phenomenon of the 90's, which I kinda disagree on (on the other hand, can you name a bigger pop culture phenomenon in the same decade?). It's definitely worth a read though, if you see the Simpsons as more than just a cartoon.

Earthquake in SE Asia

I know this isn't much of relief or consolation to anyone, but I just wish to all friends in South East Asia that they, their family and friends are all safe and sound. I wasn't able to grasp much of what has happened, but I understand the disaster is extremely large scale.

Take care, all of you.

Losing touch

Sometimes it almost seems like the entire world is moving on and you are stuck somewhere losing touch with it, no? It used to feel like that in the past sometimes, whenever I was stuck in a routine or something, and certainly it does feel so now, when I will have a similar (or rather identical) routine for the coming 10 months on a daily level. And not having too much communication with the real world is painful sometimes, as I feel idle...

Blogging is one good idea, but it's one-way communication mainly, so far. Another idea is 200 euro monthly bills on my mobile, but that's not a good idea since I don't have any income for the time being. So please try and keep in touch all of you, send some mail or sms, I am desperate to hear your news :)

Getting lucky

Did I mention I got in the choir for the carols for Christmas and the New Year? It's true. How was I chosen? Randomly. But the bottomline is that we got to sing the carols for the Mayor, The Bishop, the Commander of the camp, the general, other officials etc and we got 5 days of leave each. Dunno when I am going to be able to use that, but it feels great that I got it.

Other news in brief:
- There is an internet cafe in the camp (!!!) open daily for 4 hours. So I can stay in touch and update my blog too.
- Today I have 50 days in the army, and 8 in my new camp, to which I got used to already and it feels good. It's gonna feel better in a couple of months when the winter will be coming to an end, as it's freaking cold over here.
- I got my leave for the 5-10th of January, and it right now looks like I am gonna have a few extra days off after that, to sit for a couple of exams at university in Thessaloniki.

So far so good...

U2 are on

That's it - evaluation of my goals for 2004 pending for a later posting - but I know for sure that one of my goals for 2005 is to watch u2 play live, whatever it takes. Lets see if i'll get any close to that, hopefully they'ss still be playing somewhere in Europe towards the end of the year, when I will be a citizen again :)

Who's up for it?

Christmas in the camp

No shit...this is real. It's not my first Christmas away from home, anyway I haven't been living with my parents for 8 years now (this is the ninth one) but it is the first and last time I am passing my Xmas celebration in the camp.

I was at the choir of the camp for today's carols (we do that the day before Xmas in Greece) and we went to the bishop, the General, the mayor and other people of the city to sing the carols to them. That's probably the only thing that made me remember it's this time of the year. Oh yes, and the cold and wind of course, but that could happen anytime.

There's no other things happening on that respect. I mean there's no gifts, no close people of mine nearby, no wishes, no shopping, no family gathering no nothing. Is it all that depressing? I'll tell you one thing: I have my first 6 hours guarding shift in my new camp tomorrow evening, and I don't feel that bad. In fact, I don't feel bad at all. I think it's all a mind game, once you convince yourself that this is it, if you can tolerate it, the trick is not to compare with any other situation in the world.

Is this called lack of ambition? Lack of will for a better lifestyle? For me, I think not. It's called compromise and adaptation, and that's what you have to do in the army if you don't wanna end up depressed and miserable. There's quite a few people here and there that call me apathetic, also from my previous non military life, but I see myself as a pragmatist. I am gonna miss my family and friends and an exciting Xmas celebration, but that's not gonna change this year's Xmas for the better. So I'll try to have fun here where I am, and I wish all the world to cherish their time as much as they can.

After all, I got all the important things I need in life. A bunch of people I call family and friends who love me and whom I love, my health, an interesting life so far and ambition for a better one in the future. I wish you all the same for the year to come. Have a merry Christmas.

Smallest day of the year...

I don't know how this works in other countries (dumb or what?), but in GR December 21st is the day with the least sunlight in the year...This can be quite depressing but it depends on whether you see the glass half - filled or half - empty. This time I prefer to look at it as half-filled, meaning that it might be 5pm and already dark, but at least this is just as bad as it can get. From now on the days will start getting bigger, even marginally, to reach the 12h night vs. 12h day on March 21st.

The border

This is the time. I am now in Alexandroupoli, up in the Greek - Turkish border, and will be stationed here for the next 5 months or so, with a month's interval of going back to Lamia for some extra training.

My biggest worry before coming here was the people I am going to meet here. The reason is that in my specialty in teh army, which is to handle the supplies warehouses, there's only 4 new people that were coming to this camp. This meant that i was entering a complete new environment, in a given status quo, where we are the only 4 new ones. To tell you the truth, back in the training camp it was much easier to make connections, since everyone was in the same stage = newies in the army, clueless of what this is all gonna be about. And as I already have some very good memories from training camp, I was worried that this might be spoiled by a harsh experience at the real camp, which is also quite far from home.

The first two days have shown me that this is going to be an experience I will be able to handle easily. Already got a couple of people to talk with, I know the whereabouts of the camp, and there's a couple of friends as soldiers or working in the nearby area, so when I get an evening off I can hang around with them.

The city has around 80,000 ppl population. The winter should be expected to be quite harsh, though probably with no snow, as Alexandroupoli is near the sea. The good thing is that I will be gone for the second coldest month of the winter, February, going to Lamia, so this makes things much easier for me. Only have to deal with the cold, wind and rain in January, and hopefully for not very long all through March. The first week we are given the evening out of the camp (have to be back in the room by 23:45) to integrate and see a bit of the city, which is not bad at all. It assimilates Thessaloniki quite much, although in a much smaller scale. Another good thing is that I will be able to update my weblog as there is also an internet center in the camp, also check e-mail and stay tuned as much as I can to the real world outside. So, send me e-mails :-)

Also got a few days off in the beginning of January, to visit my parents and take a couple of exams in the University.

So that's news for now, next posting to be made soon...

Book review: Lust for life

lust
Originally uploaded by dimitris_maz.

If you are a Van Gogh fan (as much a fan of him as you can be) this book is certainly one to put on your list.
The book is not really a page turner, but it displays the interesting life story of Vincent Van Gogh, the search for his interest in life and also the struggle to become a painter. For the record, he died before his 40s and he was a failed painter while he was still alive.
The story, a true one, shows the passion to become something you want, and Van Gogh had to battle not only with his family and friends for this, but also with his own nature, as he had epileptic tendencies.
Irving Stone - good companion of mine in the camp.

Photos

Photos from my times in the training camp can be found here...Have just uploaded them so no comments under them yet...And I don't know how to create permanent links yet either, so please bear with me for now.

http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=kaersxd.5sr1puft&x=1&y=-uhv4b9

Alexandroupoli

Alexandroupoli
Originally uploaded by dimitris_maz.

There you go, so now you know where I will be stationed for the next few months, relative to Thessaloniki at least!

Getting transferred

I got to know my transfer on Wednesday, as we all have to serve half our time on the military near the border. I am getting transferred to Alexandroupoli, near the Greek-Turkish border in Northern Greece. So I already moved out of training camp and am preparing to leave for that location tomorrow, as I have to present myself there Monday morning.

Alexandroupoli is some 350km away from Thessaloniki, and the last time I was there it was during a theater performance (yes, I was acting!) when I was 14, in 1992. Not many vivid memories though, so I am looking fwd to checking out the city. I am also lucky to have a friend from AIESEC in a nearby camp (some 40 minutes away from the city) plus a new friend from the training camp, in the neighbouring camp from the one I will be stationed at.

How this all is going to work: Monday the 20th moving to Alexandroupoli. During January I hope I will be able to take a few days off to go to Thessaloniki and take a couple of exams at University. End of January I am coming back to Lamia for a month, for some extra training here, and end of February I am moving back to Alexandroupli where I will be staying till the end of May or longer. Sometime around April I should know my next (and final) transfer.

Lots of sentimental moments yesterday in the camp, when everyone was leaving for different destinations around the country, and I hope to see many of those people I met in the training camp again in the future.

Sudden joy

For the past 40 days I feel a bit disconnected from the rest of the world. Not much access to the internet, not much sms being received, same goes for phonecalls.

You just cannot imagine how much joy a simple sms gave me. I had just come back to the room after a 2-4 am guard shift, ready to get to sleep as I had to wake at 6am again for the new day, when I received an sms from a girl from my LC running for MCP (4 terms after mine!), just telling me the news about her big decision. Felt really good, as it seems that the entire world has stopped moving in here (you don't get much access to the news either, btw), to realise that some things are still happening in my favourite organisation of all time!

On a second note, I was happy to know that I will get to meet people from a 10th (since 1996) generation of AIESECers before and after my times spent there...

Short term memory and short term anxiety

There's many theories I already have about the army. After all there's a lot of time I spend in there, and plenty of thinking is being done on a daily basis. Some of the theories I can post here, some I will probably keep offline in a personal diary, as I don't know If i am allowed to reveal a lot of info on specifications of how our army is organised today.

One observation I have made in my first 40 days in the trainign camp (call it newies camp if you will :-) is that we always have some kind of anxiety which lasts only for a few days. The cause of this is clearly the fact that every 2-3 days we learn something new which is necessary knowledge for the next stages of our service, and builds on previous knowledge. I remember in the beginning we had to learn how to march together, later how to use the weapon, how to do precision exercises with it, then we had the day when we got sworn in, after that our first times of patroling and guarindg the camp overnight, and then we had a kind of excibition for the ministry on what we have been doing for the past month, after which the discussion issue was our transfers and where everyone is going to be stationed after training camp. All these discussions last for a maximum of three days as the next topic emerges straight after that period of time has gone by...

I guess this will probably change in the near future, as after the first 3 months we will probably have learned most of what we need to know about our service and will finally be able to do all we have to do without difficulties for the next 9 months.

Owning a gun

It's not really popular owning a gun in Greece, don't know much about the status of this in other countries (except the US, who are constantly on the press about this issue).

First time I lay my hands on a handgun was in my teens, when I got to shoot with a hunting weapon for a couple of times, just to get the feel of it. Now is the time when, while in the army, I have been handed a gun I have to take care of for a full 11 months.

My father was telling me that the day I get my gun will change the way my days in the army. It isn't quite so. The whole idea hasn't excited me much, and basically the notion that (well, bloody unlikely but...) I am beeing trained to use this thing which potentially can kill other people, is not at all fun.

So far my basic knowledge around it is going to 3 times for shooting to targets in different distances, cleaning the gun and basically learning how to use it, what happens if it does't work etc. Also have been around a few precision exercises with my weapon, and held it during my hours of guarding the camp. I hope I never get to use it in the next 11 months or so...

Sunrise in Omvriaki

Sunrise in Omvriaki
Originally uploaded by dimitris_maz.

A sunrise after guarding the camp of Omvriaki, somewhere in the province of Fthiotis, where we were sent for 3 days. In the photo there's me and Yiannis, my pal from Kavala, Northern Greece.