Friends without Borders

It is an odd thing to be on vacation as a child. I don't right much remember what it was like as a child coming to Greece with the exception of how hard it was to make friends. Back in my day, it seemed that everyone else was tight friends and took to new kids on the block like cats to water.


I was slightly unsure of what it would be like for Faviana. Of course, she came with the open hearted love of a six year old for her dear friend, Eleni, whom she hadn't seen in a year and a half. Eleni is also seven years her senior and I was unsure whether she would return the same fervent desire to play together.


Fortunately, Faviana's enthusiasm was justified and she played very happily with both Eleni and Nikoletta, Eleni's six year old sister, every day for the first month and a half. There is also another girl, Carmela,11, (or Karamela, as Faviana unintentionally calls her) whose mother recently has let her out to play with the other girls. All four of the older girls crowd around Baby and play with her too.


Here, in Aetofolia, no one is left out. They are friends without borders. Gender, age gaps and language barriers are crossed with no problems and all are accepted into the play group.


As the summer has progressed, the play group constricted on weekdays and expanded on weekends as the Athenians come for weekend holiday. We had Yianni, 14, for two weekends playing with the girls in the church square. He's now gone 'till August. We had 2 year old Josephina for a week but she went back to Athens as well.


Today, in the village there are ten children 16 and younger. There's Florian, 16, who voluntarily opts out of playing in the village with the girls, his younger sister, Kathryn, 14 and her friend Jacquelyn, also 14, all three of whom are from Cologne, Germany but bought a summer home in Aetofolia. There's Carmela, 11, and her two second cousins from Athens, Mary, 4 and Tenya (Stamatenya) 2. There's sisters Eleni, 12 and Nicoletta, 6. And of course, there's Faviana, 6 and Ava Argyro, 10 months.


Depending on the game, they all get to play or the younger ones get sidelined. Oddly, Faviana plays no matter what the game even when Nicoletta sits out. Ava Argyro loves to watch no matter what's getting played and most times Nicoletta plays with the baby when the older ones are going at it playing soccer or volleyball. Faviana acts as translator between Jacquelyn and Katherine and the rest of the girls. Jacquelyn, or Zaklyn, as they call her here, speaks English fairly well and then translates the unknown words to Katherine.


Baby and I watched today as the older girls played soccer. Zaklyn and Faviana played two on two against Eleni and Kathryn. Carmela was ref. Nicoletta played with the baby. Mary tries to be top commander and pushes her way in and out of whatever's going on. When the games were up, all of us, with the exception of Mary and Carmela, both of whom were not allowed to go, went for an ice cream to Agni's Taverna in Kato Kleisma and back.