End of the Odyssey
We’re at the end of our Greek Odyssey now and will be leaving the country for good next month. Even before the economic crisis took hold we were unhappy with Junior’s schooling and just as we moved out here for her, to enjoy a carefree childhood, we are now moving to give her a better standard of education. She’s at school at the moment for her last day and had a weep yesterday when she said goodbye to her class teacher who has taught her for the last two years’. Her class bought her a lovely necklace with different charms on to represent Junior (including a mushroom to show she’s a vegan!), the children all drew pictures which the teacher made into a little book and they all wrote goodbye messages in another book. It’s all a bit overwhelming for an 8 year old but she’s looking forward to her next school which she will be starting in September in Ireland. Obviously that’s why we went over to Ireland last month, to find a house to rent and a school for Junior. The house is typically us i.e. down a long and winding private track surrounded by fields! Junior loved it straightaway and just ran around the garden saying she wanted to live there – not that that swayed us at all, it was the location that sold it. I love peace, I love listening to the noise of nature, I don’t enjoy listening to the sound of other people shouting and mopeds going past all the time which is what we have at the moment.
We know lots of people who are leaving or have already left Greece, not just expats but Greeks too and everyone who we have told about our impending move has said it is the right thing to do. Yes the country may recover but how long will it take and at the expense of what? Education? Parents already pay millions of euros in private lessons just to get their children through school. We don’t want Junior to have to spend her spare time being taught things she should be taught during the school day.
It’s the right move at the right time, now I just have to finish the packing and sort the animals out 
WOW, what a change…. I did wonder when I would be reading this post though
I think you have to make the right move at the right time, as you say, and as long as you are true to yourself it will always be right… and here we are currently planning a potential road/camp/volunteer trip, to include Greece 
I guess the difference for us is that we home educate so hopefully if we go for it, it will be the right thing for us at the right time :-/ Wishing you every luck and looking forward to hearing about your new life. I’m sure this decision has not been an easy one and I still think the years of freedom you have given Junior will make a lasting impression x
Hi Alice, it’s definitely the right move for us all. We moved to Greece for a laid back life of peace and quiet and it has definitely not been that! We believe we’ll be able to get the rural life we enjoy more easily in Ireland and that Junior will benefit from that. She was born in Ireland and she so wants to live there, to feel at home – maybe the peripatetic life is not for her
Hi Helen
Have read your blog from the very very beginning, with much interest. Sorry to here things have not worked out the way you had hoped, but it is often the case that the dream versus reality are two completely different things. If things seem bad over there now, wait until they dump the Euro – were it to happen, prices of imports are bound rise dramatically (and let’s face it, Greece has to import a lot of stuff); and those Brits with property over there will find their homes are only worth a fraction of what they paid. Greece should never have joined the Eurozone, it was not a good move, and now the Greeks are getting worried and they are taking themselves, or at least their money out and putting it anywhere else, but Greece. Talk about a downward spiral! On a positive note, I guess UK holiday makers will start returning if real values return more like those in the days of the good old Drachma. As it is, most people I know who head out that way on holiday, seem to go to Turkey or the Balkans at the moment, where their £ goes a lot further. On a final note, at least you can say that you did it and had you not, you may always have wondered, what if??? Luck of the Irish to you all!
Thanks for the comment Nigel. I think a part of it for us is that we were never really following a dream, we hadn’t longed to live in Greece like other people seem to do, we just wanted to move somewhere and as Sean had contacts over here we decided on Greece! Probably not the best way to pick somewhere to live but hey, we’ve always been a bit flighty
It’s been an experience, Junior is now bi-lingual and we’ve made friends with people of many nationalities so I guess it’s all been okay in the long run!
Education and experience are everything, and can never be taken away- ‘here’ and ‘hear’, whoops..!
Best wishes
Oh I will miss your blog but you have obviously made the right decision for your daughter. My family and I are heading to the Cyclades next week for two weeks and are hoping we will actually make it out of Piraeus! It is a nerve-wracking time to travel but we love going to Greece so much. We live in Northern Ireland in a lovely village by the sea but of course we long for the sun. I have been learning Greek and have wanted to live there for about 20 years now but will probably not do it while our son is young. He is only 8 and I think the education he gets here is pretty good. Maybe if and when we retire we could head out to a place in the sun. Good luck in Ireland … maybe you could blog about your vegan food there too – we are vegans (I eat mostly raw fruit and salads, my family eat cooked) and we enjoy your ideas and photos.
Nigel, what’s a typo between friends?
Janet, thanks for your words. I definitely wouldn’t recommend moving to Greece with school age children unless you planned on home educating and then they’d miss out on the interaction with other children.
Living by the sea is most people’s dream and I can take it without the sun. In fact sitting here with a fan on my face having just made Junior a pizza from scratch, I could quite happily trade all this sun for a nice stiff breeze!
I always found being a vegan in Ireland really easy and hopefully having more choice will encourage Junior to try different things and actually eat a bit more
Have a great holiday.
Thanks Helen. I can’t wait for the heat. It has been raining non-stop here for weeks! Good luck in Ireland.
Have just returned from 2 weeks on Corfu found it cheaper than the last couple of years which was great but thats just a holiday ( I couldn’t print in that heat )
Good luck to the three of you
I didn’t think you could print in any temperature Ross