life in monodendri, thoughts
I have wanted to write more about Monodendri and Lefteris and Panagiotis. I'm not sure how old they are - probably 16 and 18 respectively. They are two very nice guys, quiet, but always giving and sharing with me as if they could see that I needed and wanted a friend. They milk sheep in the mornings and spend their days tending to matters at their hotel. By night they usually watch football (soccer) or another sport on satellite television.
These two have their feet in two worlds and yet they pull it off with incredible ease. At the end of the day they seem to know who they are and they are quite happy with it. And yet their lives are not simple, nor are they.
Both Speak English and are the only two in their family who do. They speak more English than most people in Monodendri. They learned it at school in Ioannina, an hour bus ride one way, every day. They are finished now (at least Panagiotis is). It isn't exceptional that they speak English, especially not in Europe, where everyone seems to be multilingual. What is exceptional is that to them it is not something that seems put upon them. That is, they speak English because they learned it and it helps them in business - not because it is an imperialistic remnant and not because they are dominated by an English speaking country. It is exceptional that speaking English is no big deal to these sheep herding, hotel managing, young men. They speak it, but they don't give themselves over to another culture.
They are between worlds in more ways than that: they run a sheep business (more of a lifestyle) and they have a hotel that caters to well to do Greeks and foreigners. They have spent the past two years building a new hotel next door, managing everything from plumbing to new furniture. And yet, they seem almost unconcerned about tourism. Yes, they are helpful, and yes, the do care about making sure tourists come and have a good experience, but at the end of the day the tourist business is a small part of their identities. They are proud of their new building, but are more proud of sheep milk and traditional sheep milk pie.
I asked Panagiotis about living in Monodendri his whole life. He said of course he planned to stay his whole life. A city is fine to visit, but life is in Monodendri. The point, it struck me, is that here is an example of tourism gone right. The tourism supports the town and reinforces the life that the people want to live. This may have been different had I talked with someone who didn't own a hotel, but I doubt it, for tourism generally supports life in these towns. Even those who don't have a tourist business benefit because their neighbors and friends who have businesses help them in their sheep shearing, in taking wool to market, in selling milk. In short, the community ties and structure of the sheep business forces people to share work and thus the benefits from tourism are shared as those with more money, cars, or resources help other sheep farmers. Although Panagiotis and Lefteris work in tourism they don't ooh and aah over the city life but are happy and proud of their lives.
Panagiotis heads off in June for mandatory military service. It will be interesting to see how this shapes him and his view on Monodendri. A part of me fears for the country kid heading off to the army but a larger part of me thinks that going away to military service is just something that you do - like getting on the bus to go to the city for school - and at the end of it all you come back to real life. Real life in Monodendri.
These two have their feet in two worlds and yet they pull it off with incredible ease. At the end of the day they seem to know who they are and they are quite happy with it. And yet their lives are not simple, nor are they.
Both Speak English and are the only two in their family who do. They speak more English than most people in Monodendri. They learned it at school in Ioannina, an hour bus ride one way, every day. They are finished now (at least Panagiotis is). It isn't exceptional that they speak English, especially not in Europe, where everyone seems to be multilingual. What is exceptional is that to them it is not something that seems put upon them. That is, they speak English because they learned it and it helps them in business - not because it is an imperialistic remnant and not because they are dominated by an English speaking country. It is exceptional that speaking English is no big deal to these sheep herding, hotel managing, young men. They speak it, but they don't give themselves over to another culture.
They are between worlds in more ways than that: they run a sheep business (more of a lifestyle) and they have a hotel that caters to well to do Greeks and foreigners. They have spent the past two years building a new hotel next door, managing everything from plumbing to new furniture. And yet, they seem almost unconcerned about tourism. Yes, they are helpful, and yes, the do care about making sure tourists come and have a good experience, but at the end of the day the tourist business is a small part of their identities. They are proud of their new building, but are more proud of sheep milk and traditional sheep milk pie.
I asked Panagiotis about living in Monodendri his whole life. He said of course he planned to stay his whole life. A city is fine to visit, but life is in Monodendri. The point, it struck me, is that here is an example of tourism gone right. The tourism supports the town and reinforces the life that the people want to live. This may have been different had I talked with someone who didn't own a hotel, but I doubt it, for tourism generally supports life in these towns. Even those who don't have a tourist business benefit because their neighbors and friends who have businesses help them in their sheep shearing, in taking wool to market, in selling milk. In short, the community ties and structure of the sheep business forces people to share work and thus the benefits from tourism are shared as those with more money, cars, or resources help other sheep farmers. Although Panagiotis and Lefteris work in tourism they don't ooh and aah over the city life but are happy and proud of their lives.
Panagiotis heads off in June for mandatory military service. It will be interesting to see how this shapes him and his view on Monodendri. A part of me fears for the country kid heading off to the army but a larger part of me thinks that going away to military service is just something that you do - like getting on the bus to go to the city for school - and at the end of it all you come back to real life. Real life in Monodendri.
posted by Scott Warren at 5:26 AM
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