A report on emigrating from Anna Avramidis

The beauty often lies in simplicity, for example in laying a mandala on the beach, as my son Leander does here.

I clearly remember a Friday evening two months ago when I arrived in the small village of Gialiskari on the Greek island of Ikaria with my husband, our son and dog. Our car and trailer were packed with what we thought were the essentials we needed for our new life. Our goal was to re-experience the simplicity of life on this small, beautiful island. From our quite large house in Germany with all its comforts, we wanted to limit ourselves to two small apartments, each 25 square meters. We were promised that they were fully equipped with everything we needed for life. When we finally arrived after several days of travel, we were timidly informed that only one apartment would be available for the next few weeks and that the equipment such as plates, forks, spoons, etc. would not be available.

So we stood there with our sacks and suitcases, the contents of which were supposed to make us feel at home in a foreign country. The “home” initially remained hidden in the appropriate containers, which didn’t necessarily change our mood for the better. My first impulse was – I want to go home, on my couch in front of my TV, under my blanket!

After the initial shock, we decided to take life proactively into our hands again and bought the essentials for each of us: a plate, a fork, a knife, etc. We also bought a cooking pot. Nothing more was necessary since we only had one stove. So we reduced our lives to what we needed to (survive).

After spending some time like this, it almost felt like a miracle for me, because little by little I realized that there was no need to own anything more. No, on the contrary, life without a dishwasher, washing machine, vacuum cleaner and various other electrical appliances is possible. And not only is it possible, but it’s also very relieving because it’s so easy. I have to say that people here don’t have much in terms of material possessions. But they have each other and nature. And all the pressure that it has put on me in my life so far to work for all the wonderful things that exist in my home country is suddenly a lot off me. Washing three plates is much less work than loading and unloading a whole dishwasher full of dishes.

Now, after two months, we have moved into our second apartment. We now live on an impressive 50 square meters including our office. And it seems really big and comfortable to me. Unbelievable, but we hardly use a room because we’re so used to sleeping all in one bed.

I have been able to experience the principle of “less is more” over the past few weeks. It is so liberating to experience how little we humans can be happy with and what illusions we often follow in our culture of prosperity – perhaps simply because everyone does it that way…

Of course, despite all the joy about the reduction of materialism, too much of the little has a bitter aftertaste. Our son Leander has been going to primary school in Christos Raches for two months now. We experienced and continue to experience great warmth from the teachers, as well as from our classmates, which touches us very much. On the first day of school, when Leander entered his new class, still very unsettled (he didn’t speak a word of Greek), he was greeted with warmth and warmth with the teacher’s words: “We all want to hug Leander.” During breaks, one of the students always sat next to Leander in the schoolyard so that he didn’t feel alone. As Leander tells us, we sing together on the school bus on the way back. One child begins to sing and the others join in. In this way, bullying on the school bus, as I have experienced in many places in Germany, is prevented directly by singing. For me, all of this is humanity in action.

And yet that cannot hide the fact that there is a lot missing in schools. Especially in the two schools in Christos. The damp, cold air up here always causes problems. Significantly more heating oil is consumed in winter than in coastal regions, where the climate is warmer and drier.

Winter is just beginning and the headmistress told me that she doesn’t have the money to buy heating oil. Now our children are sitting in school, deeply masked, which should not be a permanent situation. One day the heating oil tanks filled as if by magic. I found out about Ursula’s “heating oil for school” fundraising campaign and decided to actively support it by telling people about it. Ursula Kastanias collects donations via her website www.ikaria.ch to support the schools in Raches.

Please support this project. The harsh winter months are still ahead of us. We appreciate any donation that we can pass on to the school.

Anna Avramidis

About six years ago, the sounds of the singing bowls lured me to Ikaria. As a musician and lecturer in sound therapy and sound pedagogy at the Peter Hess Institute, I had already heard a lot about this magical island. My sister Emily, who runs the institute together with her husband Peter, came back from Ikaria every year after her seminar there and seemed completely recharged and full of joy for life. Since my husband is Greek and we had been looking for a place in Greece where we wanted to live for a long time (about 30 years) without success, we finally decided to take a look at this island. It was actually immediately clear that we had found the place we had been looking for for so long – complete, emotional and with goosebumps, so to speak. Here we can experience what we want to give people in our work with music and sounds every day, a relaxed being and the feeling that comes from deep within.

Vita: Anna is a trained singer and guitarist, artist, Peter Hess® sound pedagogue (KliK®) and Peter Hess® sound massage practitioner, educator, further training as a women’s coach at the Awakening Woman Institute, among others. Seminar leader (sound pedagogy, sound therapy) at the Peter Hess Institute. Together with Niko Avramidis, head of the Peter Hess Academy in Greece.