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Christopher Deliso is an American freelance travel writer with a master's degree in Byzantine Studies from Oxford.  Deliso has lived abroad in Ireland, England, Turkey and Greece.  Most of his experiences in Greece came to him on the island of Crete. This is Christopher Deliso's second article for Escape from America Magazine. Additional Resources Teaching English Abroad  Resources on Greece  More Deliso Articles

We ran out of  gas somewhere near Amari, in the olive-gripped mountain folds of central Crete, in  the middle of nowhere, on a listless, steamy afternoon in  late summer.  There were neither  houses nor  a gas station  anywhere in sight. "Now what?" I  fumed at my Greek girlfriend Anastasia, who had gotten us into  this mess by refusing  to get gas at  the previous village. She had claimed to  ‘know the road’ and had calculated, erroneously, that we'd make it easily to the next town. "We’ll just have to  walk to find someone," she laughed. I  was dubious; darkness was  not far away, and  we were miles from anywhere. The surrounding woods and olive groves were perfectly still, save for the  buzz of the evening  crickets. We marched on up the now-dirt road.

Fortunately for us, after  about fifteen minutes of aimless trudging we were scooped up by a mustachioed old Cretan farmer, putting along on his tractor. He had seen our  car back aways on the side of the  road, and his broad grin indicated he  knew the source of our misfortune. He  offered to take us back to his farmhouse, where we could wait till the gas was retrieved. After a few minutes of driving we  got to the farmer’s home, where he conferred with his wife, a sturdy, stern-looking  old woman, and a young fellow who we surmised to be his son. Within two minutes the young, bearded man had jumped into his pickup and wheeled off in a cloud of dust.  Anastasia had  overheard the conversation, and reported back that the man was not the farmer’s son, but rather his son-in-law: "That’s why he rushed off so fast; if he was just his son, he  would be too lazy, and he wouldn’t go," she said knowingly. "All Greek men are that way."

We were invited into the old stone farmhouse, and were instantly plied with wine.  The famous  Cretan  hospitality was  in full  effect. The old farmer rumbled around,  hauling huge tanks of feta  cheese, while his  wife rushed around gathering whatever snacks  she could find. Soon there was a full meal set  before us, of  tasty Greek  tyropites (cheese  pies), Greek salad, and kokkinisto arni  (red lamb). But it was the wine  that really took the cake. It was  a strong  wine, a rich  wine- one could  even say it  was a venomous wine- and it was  clearly a point of pride for the hosts. Gesturing with his gnarled walking stick at the bursting trellises outside, the farmer attested that the  wine before us was from the very  grapes clustered there. "It’s my wine,"  he said  brashly, "It is the best in all of Kriti."

Evening grew  and we  waited for the  dutiful son-in-law to  return with the gas. In true Greek fashion, the old farmer regaled us with stories about the old days and how the current crop of politicians were messing everything up, while his  wife thrust food at  us as if we had  been on a three-week hunger strike. The warmth  of the wine set in, and with the  glow of the lights and resonant strains of Cretan  folk music singing out  from the  beat-up old record player,  we really  started  to  enjoy  ourselves in  our  new  and entertaining  company.  "They  are  the perfect  Cretan couple,"  Anastasia whispered happily. Even after an hour had passed and the son-in-law returned successful, they wouldn’t let us leave, insisting that we eat more and relax for the journey ahead. Finally, and only after accepting a handsome jug of the farmer’s potent elixir, were we allowed to go. With our tank replenished we made it past Amari and up to the coastal  town of Rethymnon, three hours late but well pleased with our adventure.

When I  came to Crete to live I had no idea how  different it would be from the rest of Greece.  While I had  traveled widely in Greece, and had many Greek  friends, I had  never met a  Cretan. I  was warned by  the mainlander Greeks  that  Cretans  were a  little  bit  dangerous- ornery,  quarrelsome, vindictive  and boorish.  Happily,  these stereotypes  weren’t true at all -- rather, the  people I met during  the course of a  year were, like my kindly hosts near Amari, very friendly, curious, and hospitable. The relaxed Cretan lifestyle  is  well-geared towards  those  who  enjoy sipping  coffee in  an outdoor café  as the hours lazily  pass, or sleeping in  the shade of a palm beach.  For most  of the year,  one does  everything outdoors- there  are no rainy days between May and September, and the summer temperature averages 80 degrees. Winters are balmy,  in the fifties, with occasional rainstorms, and snow only in the highest mountains. In short, Crete is a paradise for people who love  the outdoors; it is  a huge landmass (taking  about seven hours to drive across, on the  best roads), which is covered with eucalyptus, cypress and  plane trees,  as well  as olive  trees- all  25 million of  them. Crete boasts  excellent hiking  (in both  the mountains  and the longest  gorge in Europe, the  16 KM  Samaria Gorge), and  of course superb  beaches, like the pink-sand shores  of Elafonisi  in the south. Nightlife  and cultural events dominate  the northern  beach towns,  but at  the same time  quiet, isolated areas still  exist where one can just get away from  it all. Crete, in other words, has it all.

This is why Crete  is such a great place in which to teach English. Since it is such a large  and diverse island, it’s hard to get bored; there is always something  going on, and  opportunities to  learn more about  Greek history, archaeology and language abound.  The students are great, as long as you can handle  lively  and  inquisitive  kids  with  a penchant  for  mischief!  My students, who  had somehow been taught  that it was correct  to call me "Mr. Chris," kept me laughing the whole time with their inconceivable grammatical mistakes and  bizarre imaginative homework. From  eight-year old Maria, who earnestly wrote that both  her parents were dentists, and so she would marry a dentist and be  a dentist herself someday, to sixteen-year-old Costas, who penned a few riotous scenes for an imagined James Bond film, Cretan kids are forthright  and  full of  humor.  Even in  modern  Crete, where  all of  the teenagers sport  mobile phones and ride  mopeds to school, there  is still a simple and  fresh attitude found here,  one that is not  present in the more sophisticated, duller mainland metropolitan centers.

Teaching in  Crete was a very  rich experience for me.  I was exposed to all aspects of  life on the island,  from the intricacies of  Greek state health care to the  routines and habits  of the  village elders, with  their worry beads and backgammon. I was helped by the fact that I could speak Greek, but you’ll be  okay even if you can’t, since the Cretans are very warmhearted, and no matter what the kids will look up to you tremendously. They are very interested in  the latest  trends in Western popular culture, especially as far as sports and music go (somewhat surprisingly, basketball and rap music are huge in Greece). My advanced class even made me a birthday cake and gave me roses on my birthday.

Looking back, I regret only that I didn’t stay longer. Crete, with its fairy tale castles and ponderous ruins, its gorges and mountains, and above all, its outspoken and great-hearted  people, is  truly  a great  place to go, whether to live or just to visit.
 

Tips on Getting Housing

Youth  hostels  are found  in  several  Cretan cities  and towns  (Heraklio, Rethymno, Plakias and Siteia),  and can give you a base while you’re looking for  an  apartment. When  you  get  to Crete,  buy  one of  the daily  Greek newspapers for advertisements (Nees Angelies,  Pankritikes Angelies, etc.). This is where available flats are listed. Get someone to help you translate, if you  don’t speak Greek. Of course, your boss at  the school might be able to help  you find  a place also.  Most listings are  for the  main cities of Heraklio, Rethymno  and Chania. If you  choose to go further  afield you may just have to ask  around where you go. You should be looking at roughly $160 a month  for a studio, slightly  less per person if  you’re sharing a house.

And Unfortunately, the Bureaucracy

When it  comes to the Greeks, cutting through the red  tape can be more like sawing in half the  Gordian knot. As long as you are prepared to be patient, and do  some of the legwork before you leave, it  should be fairly easy. All in all, you will  need a teaching permit, residence permit, and work permit. These are  all doled out gradually; the school you  will be working for must do part of the application process for you. If you have only a U.S. passport you should visit the  Greek consulate closest to you and they can get you on your way.  It is  a good idea  to get in  contact with  a potential employer before leaving- but in the worst case scenario, you can always just show up, and  if you  are  smart and  qualified, can  usually find  a spot.  For U.S. citizens, regular  tourist visas  last for 3  months. To renew  it, you must leave the country for  24 hours and return, giving you another three months. If you  overstay your visa- for anywhere from one day  to one year- you must pay a fine of  50,000 GDX upon your next return to Greece. Bear in mind that if you  persevere through  the paperwork, you  will not have  to worry about visas for  a year, and you  are covered under the  national health system of Greece as well.

Tips for Teachers

It is  a very good idea  to get yourself a  TEFL teaching certificate. While the full-course  degree is most useful, an  abridged "intro" course can also be good enough (as it was for me). You’ll stand a better chance of getting a good job  with a strong college degree. Although Greece  is now a EU country and, as such, a  relatively tough market for teachers, things are not nearly so dire  as those  pessimists at Lonely  Planet/Rough Guides would  have you believe. Clearly, there are many language teaching jobs available for native English speakers in Greece, and if you are reasonably qualified you will get one.

All language schools in  Crete are regulated and organized through a central agency of school owners  called PALSO. Get in touch with these folks to find out what schools are  hiring; they will even take your resume and send it on to interested schools, saving you a lot of legwork!