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Greek Language and Culture June /July 2010 OMILO Newsletter

Dear friends, The summer is there, the intensive courses in Syros started. We are few left in the Maroussi office and from July 5th the whole OMILO team will be in Syros. Therefor, here the last newsletter for this "schoolyear". The next one will be sent in October. 1. OMILO news : Group courses in Maroussi finished on June 18. Most of those participants live permanently in Athens and looking forward to a summer break..: just enjoy the summer festivals in Athens, heading for the beaches or leave for holidays. Greek schools also finished on June 15th, so all families will have to keep their children busy till September 10th, when the schools will re-open again. A long holiday indeed! Athens has a lot to offer during summer, with festivals in every municipality (there are about 40 municipalities in the Attica area!). A good time to explore all the hidden secrets of the city, learn about Greek music and theatre and enjoy foreign performances as well. More and more foreigners seem to enjoy those festivals and combine it with Greek private lessons in the Maroussi office during the mornings. An excellent way to have a cultural and active holiday. The OMILO first course on the island of ANDROS took place from May 23 till May 29, with success! A nice island, sunny weather, smart participants and fantastic teachers.. This four ingredients matched well together and made Andros a great experience. Have a look at the new photo-album on facebook at www.facebook.com/omilohellas. 2. News from Athens: Since mid-May Athens calmed down, but strikes in the public sector are still organized frequently. In the meantime, the Government keeps struggling with new laws and financial issues. A wide-range of programme privatisations of state enterprises - covering rail and road transport, airports and ports, utilities, gaming and public real estate holdings - was discussed at a cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister George Papandreou. "The governments decision is to step up privatisation proceduresin order to extract value from major state assets," Finance minister George Papaconstantinou said at a press conference. Under the scheme discussed, the government plans to sell off a 49% stake of TRAINOSE, a subsidiary of the Hellenic Railways (OSE), a 10% stake in the Athens water utility (EYDAP) and a 23% stake in the Thessaloniki water company (EYATH) and a 39% stake of Hellenic Post (ELTA). It also plans to fully privatise casinos and extend its highly successful public-private partnerships to concessions for new infrastructure projects.

Many changesand life goes on. The 2010 Greek Festival (www.greekfestival.gr) opened the beginning of June and offers a variety of artistic expressions. The festival spans from June to mid August with old and new venues hosting the events, such as the Herodus Attikus theatre, the Benaki Museum (www.benaki.gr) , and the Building H at the Peiraios 260 complex. 3. News from Greece : The Non Governmental Organisation ELIX organises new summer voluntary work camps in Greece between June and September 2010. They are also available online. (www.elix.org.gr) The main activity of ELIX is the launch of several international programmes involving voluntary work for adults and youth exchange. ELIX organises international voluntary work camps of short, medium and long duration in Greece and abroad, aiming to protect the environment, preserve cultural heritage and promote cooperation between young people. If you have some of your precious time left, taking part in such a program offers you the opportunity to make friends from all the world, see different areas in Greece, practice your Greek every day with the locals, and experience different ways of living. Greece would be an ideal destination for walking holidays, but lacks a lot of organisation and most trails are difficult to find or not marked. Some of those summer camps, f.ex. on the islands of Andros and Tinos, also clean up and mark the walking trails. We are very grateful for that! Greece to ban smoking in all indoor public places Since Greece belongs to the EU, there is no other way than also follow the smoking ban in indoor places. Not an easy thing, in a country where more than 40% of the population smoke, making them the heaviest smokers in Europe. Also, nearly as many are exposed to smoking at work, according to a European Union poll. There is a lot of discussion about smoking the last 2 years, and now once more......Greece will ban smoking in all indoor public places from September 1st. After the failure of a partial ban last July, the Government will do an effort again to stop the habit of smoking in public areas. Last year's ban was largely ignored because of exemptions for small bars and restaurants, complex rules and the failure to crack down on offenders. Lets see what will happen next! Bar and restaurant owners had complained last year's law was too complicated and was hurting business. Some restaurant owners who had originally implemented the law put ashtrays back on the table after losing customers. Smoking is also becoming more expensive in Greece. The government agreed in talks with the EU and the IMF earlier this month to increase excise tax on cigarettes by 10%. (as well as on alcohol) In the meantime, summer started, with temperatures between 25 and 35C day and night.... for smokers there is really no problem in Greece to simply sit outside or on a balcony... (in the summer!)

4. Letters, stories and experiences from OMILO students a new section for the Newsletter, started in May 2010! Anybody wishing to participate in this section, you are very welcome! Write down your Greek experiences, whether you are living in Greece/Cyprus or you are spending your holidays there. Comedies, tragedies or just your thoughts about Greece , the Greek language or culture why not share it with other Greek students? You can write in English, German, French, Dutch, Spanish or Greek. (the languages of our Omilo web-page). (The stories will not be translated to Greek/English by OMILO.) Erik and Anne-Marie of Belgium (ardennen@skynet.be ) are the Number 2 to continue this section! We hope many of you will follow. They are living permanently in Belgium where they follow Greek lessons for many years, as well as Greek dance seminars. This summer they will attend their 4th summer course with OMILO. Enjoy their story, written in excellent Greek (OMILO only did very minor corrections). Subject : The island Gavdos (south of Crete), where they have spent many holidays and made a lot of friendships. ( ) , , . , , , . . . , . . , , . , , . , , ( ), , , . . (2000 2005), , , . , , , . , . . , . , , , . , , ,

 , , . . . , . , , . . ---------------------------------------------------------------------After this very positive note about this small island in Greece and Greek life, we are now full motivation to welcome all the participants in our Syros summer courses. Also Syros is a great island, still very Greek, with a lot of culture as well. For those staying some days in Athens this summer, do not forget to visit a performance in one of the many local festivals, or visit an outdoor summer movie-theatre! We wish you a very nice summer , KALO KALOKAIRI The OMILO team.

OMILO, PO Box 61070, 15101 MAROUSSI, ATHENS Tel. (0030)210-612.28.96 email: info@omilo.com