Still Priviledged

I hadn't realized how sheltered and priviledged I am still. I knew about my priviledge in the States. After all, how many Black women get to retire at 55 and move to Europe?

But because we live on the Pelopponese, as opposed to Athens with the rest of the expatriate Americans, I hadn't realized that visa-less immigrants fight against all the odds to get to this part of Greece as well.

Then I read a story in today's Athens News. That's where I learned that Katakalo, that sleepy little port town that disgorges thousands of cruise ship passengers and loads them on to buses headed for Olympia, is also a stop on the visa-less immigrants tour of the world.

I am calling them "visa-less" because I don't believe that "illegal" correctly describes their plight and they may carry passports and other documentation from their originating countries, but they don't have a visa for Greece or anywhere else in Europe.

I know that part of this shelter and isolation is because I haven't had to learn the language and being basically lazy, I haven't. I don't need to work at a job where I would be communicating daily with other people. While Mr. Scorpio's family doesn't speak Greek, they also love me enough to be patient and make out what I'm trying to say. I can communicate enough to know I won't starve, get lost or not get the correct change.

Learning the language might be a goal for the next year. But for now, I'll just try to keep my eyes open and see what's going on.