When you spend a few days on the beach, you also see people who, like us, spend more time on the beach. for a few days the same people sat next to us, we first thought they were French but they turned out to be Belgian. we had a mutual friend, George, George is an employee of the hotel who takes very good care of everything that happens on the beach.
When we arrive at the beach in the morning we always receive a friendly 'Kalimera' from George. He is also always up for a chat and always asks how things are going. George looks like a real adventurer, a gray ponytail, deep brown from the sun all day and a real Greek appearance.
he makes sure that people lack nothing, cleans the sunbeds, collects the empty cups and cleans up the mess that people leave behind. I'm always used to cleaning up my mess myself and, when I get drinks, to neatly return my own cups, but George doesn't allow that. That's what he's there for, he says.
we talked to people from Belgium and we had a nice click. we talked about anything and everything
unfortunately it was the last day, they went home the next day.
At one point they said that in the evening they went with George to his hometown, Nea Moudania, to buy souvenirs and have a nice dinner. They thought it would be nice if we came along too, if George agreed. We thought it would be a lot of fun too and George was fine with it.
We agreed to meet at 7:30 PM, a bit away from the resort. George did not want his employer to see that he was taking people from the resort on a 'private excursion'. Of course we understood
The town where George lives is quite large, with many shops and restaurants and looked very pleasant. When the ladies had bought the souvenirs we went to a restaurant that George recommended, along the water. a great atmosphere.
The food was delicious, incomparable to the food at the resort (which was also fine). I had grilled mushrooms beforehand and a rare steak as a main course. It was delicious.
During dinner we talked about everything. George was very curious about how different things were arranged in the Netherlands and Belgium, such as school, health insurance, etc. At one point we came to his work and whether he only works at the resort during the season, he does not. He works there all year round, but after the season, when the resort is closed, he does the maintenance. Painting, repairs etc.
George is a hard worker, and it is sad to see that he (and his colleagues) are so exploited by our standards. He earns a measly 850 euros per month and works 6 days. Every day, and that is his own choice, by the way, 2 extra hours to ensure that the beach is clean again the next day, he does not get paid for those hours. The management, and I have also heard this from the bartender, has no regard for the hard work of the staff and makes no effort to keep them on board by rewarding them properly. Still a bad thing.
George has two children who, in addition to their school, receive extra lessons in English and mathematics, purely because the lessons at regular schools are poor, and that costs his family a lot of extra money.
Of course the cost of living is probably a lot cheaper than ours, but they are having a hard time, sad to see.
We ended the evening with a nice Greek Cognac and George took us back to the resort. Together with the Belgians we gave George a nice gift that already covers a good part of his salary for this month ;) just because he is such a nice guy and we would like to help him out. He was very grateful to us (which we did not think was necessary).
We've made some new friends,
Have a great day,
Peter