# scared and confused



## ELENIO (Sep 26, 2008)

Hi there,
Just wanting to hear from anyone who has moved from australia to greece with 2 young children. My biggest fear is for my children. They are 5 and 7 and speak next to no greek. My husband is hell bent on moving to greece, as he has landed a job on oil riggs, which require him to be based in Europe ie greece.
Anyone out there who may have gone through the same process, I would love to hear your thoughts. We would probably be based in Athens or Pireaus.
dazed and confused, and very scared to make the move.::


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## alarholm (Oct 6, 2008)

ELENIO said:


> Hi there,
> Just wanting to hear from anyone who has moved from australia to greece with 2 young children. My biggest fear is for my children. They are 5 and 7 and speak next to no greek. My husband is hell bent on moving to greece, as he has landed a job on oil riggs, which require him to be based in Europe ie greece.
> Anyone out there who may have gone through the same process, I would love to hear your thoughts. We would probably be based in Athens or Pireaus.
> dazed and confused, and very scared to make the move.::


Making a move like this can be daunting. I've done it twice. Once from the UK to Denmark and then again from Denmark to Germany.

Kids adapt so well. Our first move was when my twins were 4, by the age of 5, my son was translating for me! Our second move was when they were 7, and again, they have adapted beautifully 

HOWEVER, you should also consider how you will feel. Being isolated in another country can make you very lonely. When we moved to Denmark, it was great. Work colleagues introduced us to other people and before long, we had a huge social circle. I loved every minute living there. However, moving to Germany has been a different story. The germans don't mix with colleagues and I've been very lonley. In addition, I got pregnant, so have been spending a lot of time alone. It's demoralising. So make sure you have a good support network for while you're there - you will be a long way from home. With a good support network it could end up the best thing you've ever done  Take a chance and don't worry about the kids, they will be fine!

I hope things go well for you 

Aly


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## ELENIO (Sep 26, 2008)

*Thankyou aly !!!*

Thankyou so much for you response to my dilemma.It meant alot to hear from someone who has gone through this type of thing. Your input made a difference, to hear from someone who actually did it as compared to all those around me who fuel my fears. I wont have a network of people as my family live 9 hours north of where i would be living. My husband would be away ie 3 weeks on and 3weeks off. So I guess i will be quite lonely eh hmmm.?
Thank you again for taking the time.
god bless.


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## ELENIO (Sep 26, 2008)

thankyou aly so much for your response to my dilemma.It meant alot to me to hear from someone who has actually done what i fear most at this time in my life. It made a difference to actually hear from someone who knows first hand instead of those around me who fuel my fears. Once again thankyou and god bless.


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## alarholm (Oct 6, 2008)

ELENIO said:


> Thankyou so much for you response to my dilemma.It meant alot to hear from someone who has gone through this type of thing. Your input made a difference, to hear from someone who actually did it as compared to all those around me who fuel my fears. I wont have a network of people as my family live 9 hours north of where i would be living. My husband would be away ie 3 weeks on and 3weeks off. So I guess i will be quite lonely eh hmmm.?
> Thank you again for taking the time.
> god bless.


It was a pleasure  

I wouldn't discount it totally - Investigate the area - see if you can find some other english speaking people etc. Some areas have a big english speaking community which would make living there easier. I've recently found a local book club that I love. It's a start  Also, you can meet people via the children's school etc - unfortunately for me, my kids are at a millitary school and all come by bus - my kids don't qualify but when in denmark, that was a great way to meet other parents. 

I probably wouldn't suggest you do what I did LOL I got pregnant and all of a sudden I was able to befriend other mums to be hahaha but that's a little extreme!

You just need to be a bit more outgoing than maybe normal. If this is not something you feel you can do, then yes, you may find it hard.

If I can be of further help, let me know 

Aly


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## DelawareDeb (Oct 14, 2008)

Elenio, I second what Alarholm said about the kids. My son was 3.5 when we moved to Greece and he quickly picked up the language. He is in third grade now. Also, there is a large expat community in Athens. Check out athensnews.gr. It is an English language newspaper with great information for expats. You might also want to check out something like Bookcrossing. I know some BCers from Athens who are very nice. It would be a nice way to get out and make some friends. I also do not recommend getting pg if you can help it. It is very difficult having a baby in Greece on many different levels. It is no wonder that Greece has such a low birth rate. Oh, I probably should mention that I am not in or near Athens. I'm about 4 hours to the north. 

Good luck.
DD


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## ELENIO (Sep 26, 2008)

Thankyou DD for your imput. By the way where did you migrate to greece from ? My kids are older and i really feel the language will be a problem for a long while. Yes children are quick to adapt as for the older ones ( me ) dont know. It is daunting as you say, its a big move to only turn around and come back. 

Thank you again for your thoughts


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## DelawareDeb (Oct 14, 2008)

I moved here from the USA. In the school that my son happens to attend are a total of three Greek-American kids. My son was 3.5 when we came and didn't know any Greek. My friend's daughter was approximately the same age, perhaps slightly older, she is in second grade now. She is doing fine but she was a bit more immersed in Greek than my son. My son is doing more or less okay. His issues are that he has a bucket load of learning disabilities (dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, ADD-I, etc..) but they have nothing to do with the move to Greece. They are hereditary.

The third kid is actually Greek-Guatemalean but with US citizenship. He was 7 when they came here but they put him in first grade so that it would give him a chance to start at the beginning (so to speak). I haven't had close contact with the family but he seems to be moving along. He is in second grade this year. Originally, the school had said that if he did well enough the first half of first grade they would bump him to second but they never did.

Unless your kids have some sort of issues preventing them from learning a language they should be fine. Oh, I almost forgot, I have British friends who came here when their boys were older than yours and they did very well. They did get a special teacher in for awhile to help them with their Greek but that was it.

Do you speak Greek? I would say that is the far bigger issue. This has posed a major problem for me since I have a type of dyslexia/auditory processing disorder that makes it difficult to learn to speak foreign languages (I can read with reasonable comprehension my son's third grade textbooks). There are free Greek classes available (funded through the EU) which you might want to look into. Personally, the best things about the Greek classes were that a) as a mother with young kids, it gave me a chance to get out of the house by myself and b) I got to meet (mostly) other women who were in the same situation as myself.

What I would be more concerned about is the education system here. It really stinks. And that is for "normal" kids without any issues. For my twice-exceptional (gifted but with LDs) boy, they are totally ill-equipped. They really don't know what to do with him. We are having to start him at a special center where they will be doing therapies with him to try and help him but we'll have to pay for this. Appropriate services are not available through our school.

If you can afford it, I would consider putting them in the international or other alternative schools. Unfortunately, homeschooling is illegal here. There is, however, an on-line virtual school for Greece now with curriculum in English. But again, too pricey for us. I think it was around 5,000 USD per year.

I can't remember, is this to be a long term move or temporary (a couple of years)? If it is temporary, you might be able to manage homeschooling (not sure). I know some folks who were just here for a couple of years who homeschooled. I wish that I had known more about the educational system here before we moved. I would probably have reconsidered the decision to come.

Hope that helps some.

DD



ELENIO said:


> Thankyou DD for your imput. By the way where did you migrate to greece from ? My kids are older and i really feel the language will be a problem for a long while. Yes children are quick to adapt as for the older ones ( me ) dont know. It is daunting as you say, its a big move to only turn around and come back.
> 
> Thank you again for your thoughts


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## DelawareDeb (Oct 14, 2008)

Sorry, that was so long. I didn't notice until I sent it. We can take this to private messages if you want to ask me any more questions.

DD


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