Peter Spyros Goudas, Livia, Sofiatranscribed by Bernadette Scott

a tripback home

a tripback home

Just like a dream

Dear Friends!

This booklet has been designed to appeal to immigrants .

The contents of the article below are dedicated specifically to people who were born and raised in their native land, underwent education and even army training (if their country had one),

before their immigration to Canada. Regardless of what reasons and

circumstances were behind the immigration, some of these immigrants were not able to go back home in years.

When they finally do go back home, for one reason or another, like a marriage, baptism, sickness, or the passing of a friend or relative, they realize that what they used to call “home” is now a totally

different world. What these persons remember from

their homeland does not change. Memories remain in our minds, engraved

and timeless. Things back home, however, undergo

changes every single day; changes we are not aware of, or familiar with.

With a sudden trip back home after many years have gone, these immigrants face a new world, one they do not recognize and one that does not match

the memories they have retained. To some, this could be a pleasant

experience, to find out that their country is progressing. To others, this becomes an unsettling experience due to the disorientation and initial shock they feel. It is almost like all the memories they have had and their whole idea of what “home” looks like, has been erased in a

blink of an eye. Just like the teacher wipes out all the

content written on the blackboard, these memories seem to vanish similarly.

The story below refers to Mr. Goudas’ trip to his hometown, Kalamaki, Athens Greece. However, the content can relate to any immigrant’s trip back home, if the name “Kalamaki” is replaced with that

of their own hometown. This particular story was incorporated

in the English version of Mr. Goudas’ Biography titled “The Immigrant”. However, when the book was translated in Greek, Mr. Goudas incorporated at least 100 names of his personal friends and neighbours, that he remembered

from his childhood.

When the book finally made its round back home, many people found their names in the book and this created a

major excitement. Everyone wanted to have a copy, and

so he sent a book for everyone.

So let’s read this personal story of Mr. Goudas. This is a bittersweet story filled with emotional moments along with

some happy occurrences. You may find yourself touched while

reading, because if something like this ever happened to you, every sentence of

this story will come to life. You may smile or have tears in your

eyes, but nonetheless, you will become part of the story.

Just like a dream.

It was Monday, 20 June 2005; Suddenly the office became still, employees were whispering among themselves, should they or should they not tell him what happened, when is the right time to convey such news…

Finally, the group entered his office and informed him that his brother, Nikos, had just passed away.

Peter Spyros Goudas had to drop everything and make arrangements to immediately fly to Kalamaki,Athens, Greece, to be an integral part of the preparations for his beloved brother’s burial.

It had been many years since he last visited his homeland. The occasion enabled him to meet many people, old

friends, schoolmates, family members and new additions to the family.

The circumstances were not ideal. He was attending his brother’s funeral and there were contradictory feeling occurring;

there were moments of intense sadness, contrasted with flickering moments of happiness upon meeting familiar faces. Most of them were related to Nikos, who was quite popular and well-liked, and

who for years had been a permanent fixture in Kalamaki.

The occasion seemed to be a reunion, with only one person missing...

With all the preparations and arrangements, Peter did not realize that Nikos was gone forever. The sadness in his heart after the burial was unimaginable.

Spyros recalls that his sister-in-law gave him the key to the house that night because he had mentioned that since he could not sleep, he would like to take a walk around the town of Kalamaki.

However, nothing was the same any more. The small familiar homes and roads no longer existed; they were replaced with high rise apartment buildings and modern roads.

Consequently, Spyros Peter Goudas felt an even deeper sense of loss in addition to the loss of his brother.

He remembered that he once played an important role in the construction of buildings in Athens, more than half a century ago. Now this small town off Kalamaki overlooking the Saronikos, a little “Peyton Place”, had become a part of Athens.

He took a taxicab to the next town of Old Faliro. It was now 1:00 a.m. In former years the “Town Square” was always full of people eating ice cream, or sitting in the cafeteria in the square, socializing. But today, there was no one. He then asked the taxi driver to take him to the next town of Glifada. The results were the same there also.

He stopped at a kiosk to have an ice cream and out of curiosity asked the vendor where everyone was.

He was told that since the airport had been relocated to another town, the businesses in the area lost the “tourist attraction factor”, and the loss of business forced hotels and similarly related businesses to become senior citizen’s homes and private residences.

Spyros took the opportunity (since the taxi driver was very willing) to go back to Kalamaki. He asked the driver to stop at his old school.

Upon arrival there, he was surprise to see that the school was the only building that never change over the years. He exited the taxi and went up to the metal bars facing the schoolyard.

He held onto two of these bars and suddenly, in his imagination, he heard children’s voices coming up from everywhere, he visualized children playing and the names he had forgotten for years came to his mind.

It was as if he had gone back in time. He was surprised at himself that he could still remember so many names and faces of his old classmates.

(the names refered in the intro was placed in this section of the story)

Suddenly, Miss Aphasia, Mrs Sofia and Mr. Hagioannou rang the school bell and all the children ran into the schoolhouse. That was a very happy memory. Even Nikos was there in his school uniform. Spyros’ eyes were filled with tears. He stood there for sometime until the driver came to him and enquired as to whether he was okay.

He returned to the taxi and he asked the driver to chauffeur him around until the late morning.

In fact the driver was very happy to accept the offer of chauffeuring him around for the next few days.

During the next days Spyros decided to visit the coffee shops and enquired as to whether there were any old timers present. Someone responded “yes” but upon further discussion, Spyros found out that this individual became a Kalamaki resident in 1990, not long enough to be considered an old timer.

Another individual was from 1970, and therefore did not qualify either. Spyros went to another coffee shop and shouted if there were any residents of Kalamaki from the 1940’s and 1950’s.

To his surprise someone suggested: “Don’t look here, go to the cemetery, and shout there, you will probably get a better response!”

Spyros, however, did not give up! At another coffee shop, he was finally

able to find some people from the same time period. He sat down with them

and began to remember the old days with great nostalgia.

They subsequently ended up calling their friends and before he knew it, it was 3:30 a.m.

He certainly enjoyed this moment, speaking and spending time with some people he went to school with, or had known from the air force.

Among them were:

Spyros Delilambros,

Kostas Lintis,

Raimondos Papamanolis,

Αlekos Pisiridis,

and Takis Kalitzeris.

His friend Raimondos Papamanolisknows Kalamaki very well and he

actually wrote a book about the old Kalamaki and how things used to be.

He gave copy of the book to Spyros as a present and upon scanning the pages, Spyros was humbled.

He congratulated him for the research and documentation within the pages

of his book including old pictues which portray Kalamaki up

to three centuries ago.

When the time had come to leave Kalamaki and eventually Greece,

Spyros upon entering the aircraft and settling in, broke down emotionally and collapsed into tears…the realization that Nikos was gone forever finally sunk in.

One of the flight attendants noticed his demise and offered him the opportunity to move to the back of the aircraft and confide to them. He was comforted and supported by the whole crew.

(A special “Thank You is extended to the crew of Olympic Airlines for their kindness).

Upon his return to the office in Canada, he revealed to us that in his mind everything happened so suddenly and so quickly, he felt as if the whole thing

was:

Just like a dream.

Publication Information Spyros Peter Goudas, reserves the right, without prior notice, to revise this information.

No part of this publication, images, likenesses, slogans, names, trademarks, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2009

If you have any comment about this booklet please sent it to cnn@cnnads.com

www.goudasfoods.comwww.flyermall.com

OLD

NEI

GH

BO

UR

HO

OD S

PRIN

G 1

955