Non fiction

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

When the Easter holidays came, I went on a trip to Greece. When I arrived at Athens airport I felt warmth and lovely sunny weather; very nice compared to England! While heading to the hotel, sat on a bus, I asked several questions about my trip to Greek people and they kindly responded to my questions and helped me. They were so kind that my heart was brimming with anticipation for Greece.

Part of the appeal of travelling is to enjoy the reality of the country. And this includes the good, the bad, and everything in between.

I really had an amazing time there: I saw the ancient monuments, had nice Greek foods like moussaka, but I’m sure it’s not enough to say I saw the ‘real Greece.’ I have to show the real Greece from now on. Greece has two sides: one is a good culture like kindness and a proud history and another side is poorness derived from serious economic problems.

For example; the place I stayed was in the central part of Athens. In a park there I saw a dog sleeping on the grass. He did not seem to be scared of the people around. Soon I found another dog bravely sleeping on the stairs. These dogs on the roads look as if they have no energy. The reason is clear. That’s because they are all stray dogs. Later I found that stray dogs like them are everywhere in Greece, even in the world heritage area. But this was just the beginning of the story of the ‘real Greece’.

When I got on the train, I heard, somewhere, the sound of an accordion being played. I listened to the music as if in a trance. The accordion player seemed to be walking through the train. But when I saw the player coming near I couldn't believe my own eyes; the player could not have been more than seven. His face was sad and he looked to be holding back tears. Next to him there was a younger girl holding a cup, asking people on the train for money. The people put small change into the cup for them. It was too sorry a scene for me to look straight at. These children have to play musical instruments to be for money, not for fun. I met children doing the same things twice in the same day on the train.

And I have to mention how the train was, because it was different from the UK too. From the outside of the train, I saw it was deluged with graffiti. Graffiti like this can be seen everywhere, on the walls and even on the plants.

On the road, near gift shops, children begged money from tourists. At night it is dangerous to walk outside alone.

Greece was basically a good country and I liked the people there but the economic crisis has cast a heavy shadow over everyday life for them. This taught me about the economic problem directly without using words.

Reflection

Greece is one of the countries with the worst economic situations compared to the UK. You know the saying, "A picture's worth a thousand words."? I wanted to write about it as a direct experience. So the setting of the story is that one student from England went on a trip to Greece and saw the poorness there.

Ai Nozaki