New Glasses to See Greek Culture

Rather than do an overview of all of the amazing sites I saw in Greece or all of the history we talked about or even the conversations I had with some of the most incredible men the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity hand-selected, I’m going to talk to you about losing my glasses in the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea and the adventures that ensued.

For those of you that don’t know, without my glasses, I might as well be considered blind. If you were coming toward me, I wouldn’t be able to tell who you are until you are within approximately 6 feet (2 meters) of me. I can’t wear my contacts for long periods of time anymore because I am apparently allergic to the residue that builds up on the lenses (if it didn’t cause me incredible headaches, I wouldn’t believe me either). So when I made the incredibly intelligent decision to jump into the Mediterranean Sea with my glasses on to just “cool off” –“knowing” that I would be careful about my glasses, I was clearly overestimating my capabilities.

Long story short, I lost them. A bunch of guys on the trip spent a lot of time looking for them. More than I was hoping for. A young Greek boy even let us borrow his goggles even though we couldn’t communicate with him aside from making fake goggles on our faces with our hands. No luck, but I genuinely appreciate everyone taking the time to help look for them.

I wore my contacts for a few hours before the headaches ensued, and then I just participated in conversations essentially blind. A new (and awesome) friend, Patrick, let me borrow his glasses during the day because his prescription was close enough so that I could at least see most things. I made due borrowing his glasses during the day and wearing contacts or being severely limited at night.

In each new city, I asked Matina (our tour guide) if there was a place where I could get new glasses. If I couldn’t find a new pair in Greece, I would be faced with a true “grown-up” dilemma in that I have no insurance in the United States, currently (until school starts), and I would have to see the eye doctor in Germany. Matina is not only a great tour guide, she is a wonderful person, and she tried to help me in each city we stopped in for the next two days.

Many cities required you to visit an eye doctor’s office in order to get prescription glasses (much like in the US). However, in trying to find stores that might sell them, I met many fantastic people willing to struggle through language barriers to help me find stores that may sell prescription lenses. At this point, we were touring many small cities where English is not exactly prevalent, which made things exponentially more difficult. Four cities over two days and all hope seemed lost. Even if I could find a place that sells glasses, I wouldn’t be able to get them the next day since we traveled to a new location nearly every day.

My best chance was in Delphi. We would be there for two days, and I could give them the evening to hopefully get my new glasses ready. Unfortunately, if you live in Delphi and need glasses, you have to go to one of the nearby towns… Crap…

Not yet ready to throw in the towel, I made an effort in a small town down the hill from Delphi known as Itea. This trip wasn’t even on the original schedule, but thanks to a few crazy Albanian and Greek prison escapees/murderers, we couldn’t go on our four hour hike. It seemed almost like these things all aligned on purpose. Prison escapees and murderers aside, I was still grasping at the last glimpses of hope I had.

Matina asked the owner of the restaurant if and where I could get a new pair of glasses. He responded saying something along the lines of, “there is a place, but he will never be able to find it with just directions. I’ll take him there.” SAY WHAT?! You want me to get into this man’s car and let him take me to the “glasses store”? Yeah right, Matina! She assured me that it would be fine and that he was a trustworthy person, so I went. The fact that I was a little bit desperate at this point probably had an influence on my decision as well.

This is the car I got in

This is the restaurant the guy owned

Anyway, he drives me to the glasses store, which wasn’t far, but I probably could not have found on my own (okay, maybe I can trust this guy). We get to the store, and nobody is there… Now I’m not going to get new glasses, and I just wasted this guy’s time. He says to me, “Don’t worry! I’ll just call him and ask him to come in.” And that is exactly what he did. Granted that I don’t understand Greek, but I imagine the conversation went like this, “Hey, I have this kid from the United States who needs a new pair of glasses. Can you come in and help him out?” To which the shop owner replied, “Sure! I’ll be right there.”

He was there within 10 minutes and was basically throwing new frames at me faster than I could try them all on. I didn’t really care at this point what they looked at, and I felt bad that the restaurant owner was waiting on me, so I asked him which ones he liked the best. Funny enough, a Greek restaurant owner picked out the glasses that I am currently wearing. I told the shop owner my selection, and he had me do the archaic vision test of putting interchangeable lenses in an obscure setup and having me read off of a chart on the wall from 10 feet away. Maybe this wasn’t the best decision…

He writes down my prescription and tells me that he will have them ready by 7 o’clock that night. It’s now 3:15pm, and as impressive as a nearly 4 hour turnaround is, we were leaving at 5pm. Honestly, what hope did I really have that he could get them done in time…? At that moment, I realized the ridiculousness of my venture. A second after that though crossed my mind, he told me that he would have them ready by 4 o’clock.

So now the tables have turned. I’m no longer questioning the legitimacy of this shop owner or whether or not my endeavor would fall short. I’m wondering why in the world it takes my doctor’s office several days to get me my new glasses when this guy can do it in less than an hour. Granted, I helped him out by knowing my prescription, but still…that’s quite impressive!

Ecstatic, I’m ready to pay this guy whatever he wants for these new glasses! He’s my buddy; he’s bailing me out in astounding fashion. He starts writing down prices, and I notice that he crosses them out and writes prices that are lower than what is marked on the frames and the lenses. I’m a bit confused, but I’m not going to argue with him.

As the restaurant owner and I are walking out to his car to head back to the restaurant while my glasses are prepared, he says to me, “Do you feel like you got a good deal?” Of course I do! I just got new glasses and he dropped the prices lower than I was expecting. “I told him that you ate at my restaurant, and you were one of my good friends so he should give you a good deal on the glasses.” Are you kidding me?! This guy had barely known me for 30 minutes, and he was already vouching for me.

He asked me, “Do you like it here? In a smaller city?” I told him that it was amazing and incredibly beautiful. I asked him if he liked it or if he would rather be in one of the bigger cities. His response summed up everything that I now know and admire about the Greeks: “This is a small city, and people here care for one another. We all know each other and ask for favors from one another. We help each other out. That’s why I can call the store owner in to help you and ask him for a discount.”

Mind blown. I’m visiting a country that has a downtrodden economy. Poverty and grief are supposed to be affecting these people's daily lives. Instead, I’m meeting people who love life and want to support one another. I met people who are willing to go out of their way to help each other through this tough time; people who didn't have much to their own names and will make sacrifices to help out their fellow people. In that moment, I felt like I was part of something incredible, and the best part is that I actually was.

New glasses through which I can see the world differently

One of our trip mentors, Brian, claims that I will eventually move to Greece, meet a girl, and settle down there. I don’t know that I’m ready to go that far just yet, but I do know that the people that I met in Itea (and all over Greece) are the kind of people that I want to be surrounded with for the rest of my life: people who look out for one another regardless of their own circumstances. I guess it’s time to see if Greece needs TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) educators or Math/Science/Physics/Engineering educators.