Limassol
From 0 to 4:00 in "The Dishwasher"
“You were staying with your cousin?”
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“I stayed in the restaurant. I slept on the table. I took a blanket, and I slept there. Everyday. The next day, I would get up, and I would start working in there. For two years I was working there to learn the trade. On the start of the third year, I tell him (his cousin, Kyriakos) ‘Hey, I wanna get paid.’ And we agree, one piastre a day (one hundreth of a pound). He says ok. Then I start working for another year. I start counting the days. Then at the end of the year, he didn’t want to pay me. I said, ‘I’m not coming to work no more. I’m gonna quit’. And he didn’t believe me. Then, I didn’t go to work.
The next day, I went there and looked for him to pay me. His brother was there. He told me that Kyriakos was not there. Come back at 6 o’clock, he said. Then I come back, 6 o’clock and he (Kyriakos) was there. So I said, ’Pay me.’ Then he gets up from the chair, and he said ‘Why do you come here and make problems?’ ‘No, I just want you to pay me.’ And Kyriakos turned around, and he got upset. And he had his hands like this in his pocket.
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And he slapped me in the face. And again. I was a kid.
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Then, I grab the chair to hit him. But then my other cousin, he told me, you better leave before you get in trouble. Then I opened the door and I left.”
One Piastre
Papou’s cousin, Kyriakos, the restaurant owner, had a younger brother who was one year away from finishing high school. Kyriakos, though, didn’t offer to pay the rest of the school for his younger brother.
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“I got a job, in another restaurant. But me and my cousin (Kyriakos' younger brother) didn’t have any place to stay. Then we stayed in the streets, under the bridge, for a long time. In the meantime, I said, OK, we’re going to save our money. I work here, you work there, and we’re going to put our money together we’re going to go to the mayor.
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I said, 'You’re gonna finish school'. Then, we had half of the money for school. We went to the mayor, and you know what, he put the other half and my cousin finished school.
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Anyways, in the meantime, we rented a room next to the electric company. We used to sleep there on the ground, on the ceramic tile. One guy slept here in this corner, and the other guy slept over here (in the other corner).”
Limassol, 1940s
For 5 years Papou worked on his own in Limassol. No correspondence or letters from back home at all. Then one day, his father came to bring him back to the village.
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"I start making money there (at the hotel restaurant), my cousin started going to school… and then one day, my father came back, after 5 years. After 5 years, he came. The waiter, he said, ‘Somebody he wants to see you’. I said ok, when I finish I’ll come out and see him. Then I go, and it’s my father. I said, just give him anything he wants to eat and everything. I told him as soon as I finish, I’ll come out."
Running Away, and Standing Your Ground
Self-portrait of Chris McCandless at age 24, just as he began a summer alone in the Alaskan bush
I read a book by Jon Krakauer, “Into the Wild”, recently. The work of non-fiction reads like a fantasy, as the protagonist Chris McCandless runs away from everything he owns, donates the 20 grand his parents gave him to charity, and lives life on the run — with no money or possessions for over two years until his ultimate death in the Alaskan bush.
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The story is fascinating to me because of the possibility of it. A recent college graduate packs up an old family car and drives West with his dog, a bike, and only a few bucks in his pocket. He didn’t think to tell anyone of his plans — leaving his parents, sister and every friend he ever had completely in the dark.
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When my Papou ran away from his family, he didn’t tell his mother or father he was leaving. With just 5 schillings in his pocket, (which he ingeniously stole from his sister Chrisa), like Chris — he just left.
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In terms of more obvious connections between these two stories, it pretty much ends there.
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Chris took on an alias and ditched his family for good, while my Papou used his name and family connections from the village to obtain jobs; make friends; and ultimately make it to the United States. Chris’ family searched and searched for him for years, to no avail. On the other hand, my great-grandparents knew where young Nick Zingas had gone, yet didn’t go make an effort to bring him back, until after five full years with no correspondence. And Chris seemed to be running with no direction, running just to run — while Papou had a vision, a destination, a goal in mind.
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But, on second thought, maybe the two young pathfinders are more connected than upon first inspection. I find that connection could be, ironically, in the way both runaways stood their ground. They dug in for what they believed in, no matter the conditions of survival. Both made the less obvious (and more difficult) choice, taking the path less traveled, because it was something they believed in fiercely.
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Chris had a cozy home in the DC suburbs to turn back to. Instead, though, he had made up his mind that he wanted something more. That something was adventure, wilderness, independence. He became intensely passionate about this independence. No person; no environment; no amount of grief, hunger, or distress could stand in his way. After two years of living off the land — and no shortage of adversity — his pursuit drove him to enter the Alaskan wilderness. He became obsessed with the idea of surviving a summer on his own, with nothing but a Remington semi-automatic rifle, a 10 lb bag of rice, and whatever else could fit into his backpack. Many before him have tried going solo, living off the wild in pursuit of adventure, but turned back when the going got tough. Not Chris.
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As Chris’ situation deteriorated, he dug in his heels and relentlessly pursued his passion.
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Though young Nick’s village living conditions were not ideal (see “clothes” section), in the village he still had a family to feed him, siblings to support him, and a reliable place to lie his head every night. Like Chris, he chose to leave because he wanted something more. When his father denied him the ability to go to school, or to learn a trade, he decided to rely on himself (at just 10 years old) to make something of his life.
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Walking barefoot on the 70-mile journey to Limassol, young Nick was encouraged several times to return home. Upon arrival in Limassol, the other two kids Nick had traveled with went back to the village to be with their families. Instead, Nick chose to work as a dishwasher, and sleep on the kitchen table of a restaurant for three years (see: “The Dishwasher”). When he asked for his pay, 13-year old Nick was struck down (literally) and beaten by his own first cousin. After that, maybe it would have been easier to give up and go home. The policeman Papou spoke with said he’d send Papou back to the village to be with his family. But even after all the hardship he’d been through in the big city, Papou said no. He continued on in search of the skills he needed to succeed.
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Papou was not running away from responsibility. He was running towards a life he desired, one where he could envision meaning, and ultimately a better life for his kids. Chris McCandless was the same way. Although Chris’ story did not end happily, the premise is still the same. Standing your ground, rooting yourself in your passions — even if that means running away — is one of the many lessons that I take from these two stories.
Papou at 906 Euclid, Detroit as an 18 year-old
A Letter by Chris McCandless, addressed to "Ron", from Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
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“I’d like to repeat the advice that I gave you before, in that I think you really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.
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If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty”
This audio is what Papou has to say about how he dealt with adversity in his life.