In times of unknowns, we question, we think, we seek knowledge, and this edition of the XpatAthens newsletter is more like a 'keep coming back to' resource that is full of content to keep you pondering, interested, and hopeful for a greater tomorrow. As we all adjust to the daily realities of staying home, so too does the entire world collectively. No one is alone in this one.

We welcome you to share this newsletter with friends and family around the globe, and thank you for keeping Greece's international community connected and active digitally! From all of us to all of you, #StayStrong #StayPositive #StayHome!

In a period when Greece and many other countries in the world are in great distress, a Facebook group comes to offer a helping hand. Owners of empty Airbnb apartments around the country have been called to the rescue as there is a growing need for free housing.

Many members of the group willingly provide free housing to relocated medical staff and patients who need to self-isolate away from their families. If you own a vacant flat or house anywhere in Greece that you wish to offer for free during the coronavirus pandemic, please visit the "I offer my AIRBNB home for FREE during Covid-19 Crisis" Facebook group.

At the same time, the "Sino-Hellenic Investors' Confederation" is also calling apartment owners in Greece to contribute their vacant houses to front-line medical staff for free, during this challenging time. Offering accommodation to medics will allow them to rest near the hospitals, at the end of their shift. More importantly, this will significantly reduce the risk of infecting their family members. The "Sino-Hellenic Investors' Confederation" has already sourced 5 houses that have been granted to 5 medical staff members. However, there is still a need for at least 150 residences.

Please contribute to the cause by sharing this article. Let's protect the health of Covid-19 patients and their families; let's show our appreciation to doctors and medical staff by allowing them to rest safely without risking the health of their own families.

Stay home, stay safe, stay united!

This content has been sourced and prepared by Codico Lab.

The Museum of Cycladic Art invites guests to explore a series of online activities by visiting the museum's website.

 

Here visitors can gain in-depth insight into the Cycladic, Ancient Greek, and Cypriot cultures. Remember some of the museum's greatest temporary exhibitions through images, videos, and exclusive backstage material. Explore the museum's entire collection. Watch interesting lectures and choose from a variety of e-books to read online. 

 

 

At this time, the museum has a special digital exhibition focused on how therapeutic practices have changed and developed over time. From the dawn of its existence, humanity has struggled to maintain health and searched for the causes of the diseases afflicting us, attributing them sometimes to external factors, such as magic and divine wrath, and sometimes to internal causes, such as an imbalance of the elements of our constitution until we finally established the medical model. Guests can get acquainted with ancient Greek medicine from the comfort of their home and discover medical practices and methods, some of which are still used today, through fascinating documents, artifacts, images, and other great historical sources. See the exhibition here.

 

Below is an Orphic Hymn to Hygieia from the emblematic exhibition Health, Illness, Treatment from Homer to Galen that was presented in 2014, today the Museum of Cycladic Art invites guests to explore the exhibition digitally.

Mobile phone owners in Greece were startled to hear multiple loud beeps on their mobile phones last week. It was a notification message from the Greek Civil Protection Service to warn citizens about the measures and precautions they should take against the virus. The SMS messages were written in Greek and English.

 

To date, the Greek Civil Protection Service has sent 3 alert messages prompting people to stay at home on the first sign of infection, to abide by the government regulations to avoid putting themselves and others at risk. However, the Civil Protection Service has confirmed that 10% of mobile phone owners did not receive the alerts. Here is how to activate this functionality and begin receiving these messages.

 

 

If you haven't been receiving the alert messages on your smartphone, all you need to do is upgrade to the latest version of its operating system and make sure your device is set to receive CB alerts.

 

 

If you don't have a smartphone, you can register here or by dialing 112 to receive alerts via one of the 3 following channels:

Although it may feel like our days are all full of depressing events and statistics, that’s not the only picture. There are a lot of pretty amazing things happening in the world too and our friend and contributor Lynn Roulo has shared this list below to give us a wonderful reason to smile on today's special March 25th Greek holiday.

• The Goo Goo Dolls’ lead singer held a porch concert to help local small businesses impacted by the coronavirus.

• Formula 1 race car teams work with UK authorities to repurpose their expertise to build ventilators, which are required and in short supply for those with serious cases of COVID-19.

• Fashion designer Christian Siriano and Dov Charney repurpose their workshops to make face masks and medical gowns.

• 300 Chinese doctors and 31 tons of medical supplies arrived in Italy from China to help the Italians battle the coronavirus.

• Spanish police sing to families in lockdown in Mallorca.

• L’Oreal starts a solidarity initiative and is arming health care, pharmacy, and food distribution workers with hand sanitizer to help fight the coronavirus.

• Tesla CEO Elon Musk is gearing up to donate 250,000 N95 face masks for hospitals and to begin production of ventilators with the goal of having 1,000 ready by next week. 

To read this article in full, please visit Lynn's website. 

Lynn is an American Kundalini yoga and Enneagram instructor teaching a unique combination of the two systems, combining the physical benefits of Kundalini yoga with the psychological growth tools of the Enneagram.

Most of her adult life has been as a Certified Public Accountant (US CPA) working in the Silicon Valley/San Francisco technology start up and venture capital industries. In 2012, she decided to move to Athens, Greece for purely intuitive reasons. She's not Greek by heritage, she did not have a job here, she didn’t speak any Greek (at the time), and there wasn't a Greek man in the picture either! She simply had a really clear feeling that she should go to Greece. And so she did.

We're thrilled to collaborate with Lynn as an official XpatAthens Content Contributor! To learn more about her and all the great things she does in Athens please click here.

There's so much information circulating regarding the Coronavirus disease that it's imperative to be able to distinguish what's true and what's not.

The senior director of infection prevention at Johns Hopkins puts things straight to keep you and your family can stay healthy and well.

FALSE. Right now, there is no vaccine for the new coronavirus. Even though scientists have already started working on one, developing safe vaccine will take many months.

 

 

FALSE. None of these practices will protect you from COVID-19; in fact, some of them can be very dangerous. CLICK HERE to find out how to stay protected.

FALSE. It is a known fact that viruses can change over time. Occasionally, a disease outbreak happens when a virus that is common in an animal undergoes changes and passes to humans, which is likely how the new coronavirus came to be.

 

FALSE. Researchers are still studying to find out more about how the coronavirus infects people. Scientists have noted that most viruses like this one do not stay alive on surfaces for very long. Consequently, it is not likely to contract the virus from a package that was in transit for days or weeks.

FALSE. Specific models of professional, tight-fitting respirators can protect medic as they care for infected patients. For the general public wearing disposable surgical masks is not recommended. However, people with a respiratory illness can wear these masks to lessen their chance of infecting others.

There's no better time to give your immune system a boost; with vitamin and nutrient-packed food that will help you stay healthy and strong!

These 4 recipes from BBC Good Food are easy, delicious, and super healthy. See below for detailed instuctions.

 

 

• 100g coconut yogurt
• 3 tbsp milk of your choice
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 3cm piece of fresh ginger peeled
• 1 small ripe banana
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tbsp oats
• juice of ½ a lemon

 

 

 

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and diced
• 200g diced carrot
• 1 tbsp curry powder containing turmeric
• 100g red lentils
• 700ml low-sodium vegetable stock
• 1 can reduced-fat coconut milk
• coriander and naan bread, to serve

 

 

 

• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 340g of chicken breast fillet cut into thick strips (goujons)
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 200g tender stem broccoli stems halved if very long
• 200ml chicken stock
• 1 heaped tsp cornflour
• 1 tbsp clear honey or 2 tsp golden caster sugar
• the zest of half a lemon
• juice of a whole lemon
• a large handful of roasted cashews

 

 

 

 

• 4 small fresh beetroots, about 200g
• 1½ tbsp rapeseed oil
• 1 tsp coriander seeds, lightly crushed
• 2 skinless salmon or trout fillets
• 2½ small oranges, plus the zest of 1 and juice of half
• 3 tbsp pumpkin seeds
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 4 handfuls baby spinach leaves
• 1 avocado, thickly sliced

 

 

 

To find these and even more immune friendly recipes, please visit: BBC Good Food

What are you watching tonight? This seems to be a very common question these days and in the weeks to come, parents will have to get really creative about keeping their children entertained! 

How about some family-friendly documentaries!? They can be just as exciting and entertaining as narrative films but at the same time they're educational and powerful. This list of documentaries for kids will entertain, teach, captivate, and hopefully generate a lasting interest on the subject matter. Happy watching!

1. Planet Earth, Ages: 6+

Narrated by David Attenborough, each 50-minute episode in this 11-part, Emmy-winning series features a dazzling portrait of a geographical region or wildlife habitat. The far-flung locations and impossible moments with some of the world’s most astonishing creatures can help inspire respect for our planet and the desire to preserve our fragile ecosystem.

2. March of the Penguins, Ages: 6+

Narrated by Morgan Freeman, this blockbuster documentary tells the story of the emperor penguins in the South Pole, and their yearly mating ritual and harsh journeys to build a family. The imagery is stunning, the penguins adorable, and the story will help children understand animal behavior. Expect to cry, expect to feel deeply moved, and expect to hold your own family close.

3. Bears, Ages: 6+

This breathtaking documentary follows a mama bear and her three cubs as she teaches them how to survive in the Alaskan wilderness. What’s incredible about this film is that cameras go inside the bears’ den, allowing us to witness her cubs’ first moments. This is a great film for kids because it reinforces the mother-child bond in a way they’ve likely never seen. 

4. Spellbound, Ages 8+

This documentary follows eight competitors participating in the 1999 Scripps National Spelling Bee, showing how much kids train to compete, and how much families sacrifice for their wunderkind spellers. 

5. Mad Hot Ballroom, Ages: 8+

Mad Hot Ballroom documents the lives of a few New York City students who are in a dancing competition sponsored by the American Ballroom Theatre. The kids learn how to dance and share their lives with the viewer. The film won a few awards and is funny, heartwarming, and legitimately dazzling. 

6. The Last Lions, Ages: 8+

This African nature documentary film follows a story of survival, as a lioness faces an arduous battle to preserve the lives of herself and her three cubs. Emotional, eye-gripping, and magnificent it focuses on the burdens of parenthood in a lion family.

7. In the Shadow of the Moon, Ages: 9+

Join David Attenborough on his ground-breaking exploration into a spectacular miniature universe never normally seen, but teeming all around us. Open your eyes to the bizarre, ferocious, and surprisingly beautiful world of the invertebrates and get acquainted with incredible life-forms and startling behaviors!

How It's Made is a documentary television series explaining how common, everyday items including clothing, accessories, food, industrial products, musical instruments, and sporting goods are manufactured. Curious kids and adults will learn a lot from the show, and some segments can really broaden their perspective. 

This five-part documentary series tells the incredible story of how humans left Africa to colonize the world. The fascinating series undertakes five epic journeys across the globe, tracing the ancient routes of our early ancestors to reveal the extraordinary and brutal challenges they faced. Using the latest genetic and archaeological evidence, it shows how humans gradually adapted, culturally and physiologically, in response to their environment.

Originally posted in Greek on InfoKids.gr

With school closures across the country because of the coronavirus pandemic, children's stuck indoors means boredom is inevitably knocking at the door (constantly)!

Although finding creative activities to keep kids entertained proves to be a rather challenging task, luckily there are numerous fun online programs to fill your time while in family house quarantine! 

Drawing Programs

Lunch Doodles: Author and artist Mo Williams, invites kids into his studio and shows them how to draw some of his iconic characters, which translates to 30 minutes of your kid quietly drawing. Learners worldwide can draw, doodle and explore new ways of writing by visiting Mo’s studio virtually once a day for the next few weeks. Watch the first episode here

Quick Draw: Can Google guess your drawing? Quick Draw is an online game developed by Google that challenges players to draw a picture of an object or idea and then uses a neural network artificial intelligence to guess what the drawings represent. The AI learns from each drawing, increasing its ability to guess correctly in the future. You can start playing here

Tux Paint is a free, award-winning software for children ages 3 to 12. It combines an easy-to-use interface, fun sound effects, and an encouraging cartoon mascot who guides children as they use the program. Kids are presented with a blank canvas and a variety of drawing tools to help them be creative. You can download it here

 

Educational Programs

Met Kids: The Metropolitan Museum of Art gives children across the globe the opportunity to explore The Met using an interactive map, travel through more than 5,000 years of art, discover fun facts about works of art, and try out creative projects. Start learning from a kid-friendly explanation!

Crossword Labs: Crossword Labs is a simple way to build, print, share and solve crossword puzzles online for free. It is ideal both for younger and older kids and helps them enhance their linguistic skills. Create your first crossword puzzle here!

Jigsaw Planet: If puzzles are your thing, this is the ultimate website for you. Not only kids can solve numerous puzzles but they can also create puzzles and compete with other users. Start your puzzle-solving journey here!

Plastelina Logic Games: You can find numerous challenging games including classic constrained "crossing" problems, pattern-matching puzzles, and memory games that will help kids keep their brains sharp. Start playing now!

Brain Pop: This educational website features more than 1,000 short animated movies for students in grades K-12, together with quizzes and related materials covering the subjects of science, social studies, English, math, engineering and technology, health, and arts and music. Get free access now!

 

Computer Science & Programs

Code: While schools are closed, Code makes it possible to continue learning at home. Children of all ages can try out fun computer science tutorials, watch videos about computer science concepts, and even build their projects. Let the learning begin!

ScratchJr: With ScratchJr, young children (ages 5-7) can program their own interactive stories and games. In the process, they learn to solve problems, design projects, and express themselves creatively on the computer. Download it here!

 

Fitness Programs

Cosmic Kids Yoga: Cosmic Kids Yoga provides healthy screentime for 21st-century kids by uploading brilliantly fun videos that teach kids how to do yoga. Parents and teachers report significant improvements in self-regulation, focus, and empathy. Discover interactive adventures that build strength, balance, and confidence! 

GoNoodle: GoNoodle helps kids stay active, focused, and calm through yoga, mindfulness videos, and downloadable curricular activities. Get kids moving now! 

Kids Workout: YouTuber Moe Jones teaches children how to get in shape through fun and healthy exercises. Join in now! 

Family Fun Cardio Workout: Get your heart rate up in your living room with this fun workout from Class FitSugar host Anna Renderer. Featuring cardio moves that feel like games and challenges where the winner gets prizes this workout is the perfect way for the family to get active together. Let the fun begin!

Concert halls and music venues in Greece and all across Europe are remaining closed as part of the collective efforts to contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

 

Music and art will always find their way into our hearts and lives; it's our fellow Italians singing in their balconies or famous artists performing live from their homes to bring comfort and joy to all of who need it during these trying times. As a member of the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO), Megaron – The Athens Concert Hall has joined the collective effort to bring enchanting music, from some of Europe's best concert halls, right to your home!

 

Megaron – The Athens Concert Hall invites you to travel virtually to some of the most historic concert venues in Europe, through a series of exceptional performances that will be streamed via Facebook from March 23 to March 27 at 21:00. All you need to do is sit back, relax, and enjoy the music!