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"Rural development and Memory" - Story of long term volunteer Anne Dahlhoff - (01.09.2022-31.08.2023)

Story of long term volunteer Anne Dahlhoff

Time is going by so fast and its been already six months since I arrived in Kryoneri. Compared to the first few months, the last 3 months were more quit in Kryoneri.
During the winter time the inhabitants of the village prefer to stay at home and therefore our dance classes and some of our Tandem Classes were not taking place.
We used the time for personal projects and enjoyed the winter by going for walks, spending time together in the house, going out or being creative on our own.
I went to the mountains to enjoy the snow and we spend many nights sitting in front of the chimney and playing games.
It was a time to calm down and as many days seemed boring at first, I am really grateful for these peaceful days.
In February, we started planning for the future months and what we are going to prepare for. In March I spent some days at home in Germany and recharged my energy with friends and family.
Just last week I was able to go to Portugal for a Seminar. We talked about Agriculture, Water, Biodiversity, Depopulation and Circular Economy. I learned so many new things and met the most amazing people.
Again something I am really grateful for.
In the next weeks I am looking forward to Easter and experience the greek way of celebrating it.
Also new groups and seminars will come to Kryoneri and therefore more life and energy will come back.
I started taking greek lessons twice a week. I must admit that I am a bit lazy sometimes to really sit down and learn the language but its one of my top goals for the next months to be more active in learning greek.
The spring in Kryoneri is beautiful. It’s nice to see all the flowers and the green grass coming back. It’s starting to get warm again and I can’t wait to go for a swim again.
With the new short term volunteer Julia from Lichtenstein, I am planning to renovate the volunteer villa and do some gardening that I learned in Portugal in order to eat our own grown vegetables and fruits.
Kryoneri starts to feel like home and when I am on trips, I always love coming back.

This project was supported by the European Solidarity Corps of the European Union through the Greek National Agency “INEDIVIM”