I'm really sorry for this post. but I have to share it with you.

I heard on the radio today that in Greek schools students are fainting because of hunger....

With unemployment rates up to 20% (in some areas they reach 80%), with salaries dropping to 800 euros per month (they were 1200), with 5% (at least) inflation, and with politicians saying "we have to take new financial measures", I don't know what the future holds for us Greeks.............

My thoughts are very much with Greece, it's a horrible time and although I feel up against it I know I'm not suffering to that great extent. I'm not sure how the global economy got into such a mess...Difficult times for many, many, many people:-(

Oh dear. That sounds dreadful. Things aren't great here in Italy but not that bad thank goodness.

The situation is going to be even worse during the winter...

Personally, after paying rent, heating, bills and gas for the car (which I cannot stop using, as my work is not close to my house), I end up with 10 euros left for food and other expenses....

After 10 years of work and of being financially independent from my family, I will have to ask for their help.... (And I am lucky because they can help up to a point as they are both pensioners....)

Hard and sad times for Greece. I don't like talk politics, but what is happening, as you as you say, you have to share, because it's like right in your face, no escape. It is sad even to watch and hear about it on the news from abroad, how the whole country is going down the drain with a roller coaster speed, and all these politicians and money people are just observing this turmoil and not helping much. I can't imagine what it takes for common people to live through this. Keep the hope for your country though, like Phoenix it will come back to life, but it will be a different Greece though.

Emmaki, I'm so sorry to hear about the situation in your home country - and your difficult personal circumstamces too.

I makes me angry that hard working peole and children can suffer such deprivation when there is enough for all in the world. I am sure Greece will find its way again, but I just hope we can learn from this and change our economic systems - because they just do not work at present.

My thoughts are with you. x

 Keep the hope for your country though, like Phoenix it will come back to life, but it will be a different Greece though.
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Yes, some optimism always helps people to cope with a situation as difficult and merciless as present-day Greece. Frankly, I believe that Greece is by all accounts clinically dead - writing from the perspective of a young scholar who has returned to Greece along with a PhD from a prestigious UK institution. All these negotiations going on at a European level are nothing but a course in Anatomy, where students and researchers do their practice on how a surgeon should respond to situations of emergency, as those expected for bigger European economies experiencing similar difficulties. Perhaps this might sound a bit cruel, yet I wonder whether one could make a priority list of suffering and injustice. People have invested in higher education, and many of us are extremely well qualified; such people cannot be thrown out of the boat.