WEEK 1: 
And the "our weekly project" venture start!! Since this a hobby rather than a homework, I start this idea pationately but I definately excuse myself if I am not be able to follow a project EACH week (holidays, unexpected events just appear). However, I will do my best to have something posted each week! :-) So happy to begin!

PROJECT WEEK 1: 

Walk in neighbourhood and identify something that needs to be changed. Do something to change it (at least try!). 

Very close to my house (a couple of blocks away) in a very central location, there is a park well known as "Naval Base park". Strangely, even though I moved to my house almost 2 years ago I never visited this park so far, even though I knew it was so close. Last week in late afternoon traditional live music was playing very loud. I realised that there should be a kind of traditional event and the music was coming from that park. I decided to go for a night walk and have the chance to visit this park and see what's going on over there. 

It was evident that the live band music was definately not my favorite, but I was hoping to at least enjoy my night walk in the park. What I faced was a completely abandoned park....distroyed sitting benches, broken hydrants, green like a jungle, trash, dirty lake full of lilies and frogs among discarted trash). Ιt was evident that a lot of money was spent to build it (green, paths, swings and constructions for kids, a small lake, lighting, etc.). My dissapointment was so great that I immediately realised that I had something to do about it. Either to write a letter to the municipal mayor or το find a way to highlight the problem to the public and (if possible) try to fix it. I remembered that in a magazine I had seen that there is an open competition of MTV Greece & Nescafe that was encouraging everyone to suggest an idea in 5 areas, one of which was "How to make my neighbourhood a Greek island". This is it!!! I immediately prepared my idea on how this park could be re-builded, with the private sponsorship of the competition and can be thematically changed to be transformed into a Greek island. 

Competition of MTV Greece and NESCAFE
"Where there is aν inspiration, there is a solution" 

I wrote to the competition organisers: "This park can be easily transformed into a jewel not only of the region but also all of Athens, a beautiful Greek island in the city, a place that will make you dream that you are really in the coutryside, that the sea may be away from here, however, we are already there! Everything is done where there is passion and desire to work. I'm sure that this will find many volunteers. I am the first!

How? The infrastructure exists (swings, walkways, fountains, benches, lighting, table, ping pong, etc.) but many things need to be corrected / repaired.

I suggest:

1) All to be painted in white and blue (fences, walls, etc.)

2) Artists will support to put the finishing touches that will transform the space into something unique - artistic workshops offer, sculptures, paintings (boats, sun, surf, sand illusion, etc.)

3) The green should be highlighted, with grass, with lots of plants, flowers, trees, building and maintenance of existing green, so that people can lie down in green lap with a book in the summer and / or at the earliest opportunity when the weather allows.

4) Small houses in blue and white can be made and used as function rooms for parties and cultural events (summer as small cafes, libraries, function rooms which will accommodate exhibitions, cultural events).

So I sent it. And now I am a candidate and maybe I will win! Winner or not, I am happy and satisfied for the moment that I managed at least to present in a way the problem. At least I wrote about it and writing sometimes makes you feel so good. 

Ok, to tell you the truth, the traditional live band was crap and when I returned back home I enjoyed a glass of wine listening to my favorite CD "Alegria - Cirque du Soleil"...! This is music! (Btw, I had the chance to attend the show last week in Athens and it was amazing!! Probably the best show I've ever seen! Don't miss it if you have the chance!). 

Why I started this?

I was thinking about creating a blog a long time ago. Today I decided that it is time to start it. As simple as that. Most of the time we never decide to start something that we can postpone until tomorrow. We are always feeling bored and relaxed in our routine, without doing something special, something that we will be really proud of at the end of the week. Small things create our reality and push ourselves in creating and feeling useful and happy. 

The last year I was working like crazy in my work without no real time to enjoy my free time, create, share and enjoy my life with small but significant things, either for myself or for the others. I decided it is time to act. This is how the WEEKLY PROJECT came off my mind. 

Every week, I am planning to publish my idea and implement it. I am talking about small, nice and useful things that I am planning to share with you. My target is to inspire each one of you to stand up, create and also share the same or similar projects with the same theme. 

I am sure it will have a lot of fun and we will have the time to enjoy and get to know each other. Do you want to join me??? More than happy to share my WEEKLY PROJECTS with all of you.