Athens

I needed this short break after another job rejection after the interview stage. Tough to get into this journalism profession and I am always questioning whether I am tough enough . . .

Anyways, enough of that for now, my flight to Athens involved me getting up at 3am due to my early takeoff but a pre-takeoff beer calmed the senses! I flew with Easyjet and everything was spot on.

Arrived in Greece on time before finding my way to the Metro, and after trying to pay in English money, I was on my way to Ministeriaki and past the aptly name Doukissis Plakentias station.

Found my hotel fine, dropped off the backage and off I went to explore. The three nights and four days took in the City bus tour for around two hours, Athens walking tour, Piraeus port, Olypiakos stadium, the Athens Olympic games site and the local cuisine and ale.

I got around a bit and even bought a T-Shirt with Greek phrases on to fill the tourist mould. Athens and its history is breaktaking - if you haven't seen it you should put it on the to do list.

But Athens and its present isn't always so pretty. My hotel was fine but the surronding area was a little sketchy, most folks don't bother you or at least you can turn away from their "damn, tourist" stares but some aren't so happy to have travelling-alone tourists in their neighbourhood.

As long as you don't flaunt things there is no major danger. I got into a few minor "situations", one of them was my fault or should I say the local ale's fault! But no serious harm done and the cooling off period in my hotel room resulted in me becoming acquainted with CNN's news coverage - so a happy ending.

Overall, I would go back but it is only a city break type of place. If you went for a week you would need to go and see other islands or branch out more than I did.

As amazing as the historical sites are, once you have seen them, you have seen them, but it is still a break I won't forget, even if my camera broke on the walking tour, resulting in me having no pictures of the Acropolis site which you could see from the hotel. A thorougly enjoyable experience of a totally different culture.

Sesame Square

I am late on this so apologies if you already know about "Sesame Square" but if you think the above title is a typo then you are in for a shock.

I am English and I am sure most Americans of my generation are also familiar with "Sesame Street". Big Bird and the Cookie Monster etc.

Well, "Sesame Square" is the Nigerian version of the show. And it features a HIV-positive Muppet called Kami (the yellow one) and Kobi (the blue one) that champions Nigerian's food of choice - Yams - among other traits.
According to this report from CNN the show will address issues such as AIDS, malaria, gender inequality, religious differences and positive aspects of Nigeria.

Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organization behind "Sesame Street," received a $3.3 million grant to produce the show for five years, from the U.S., Agency for International Development (USAID) and President Barack Obama's Emergency Plan for AIDS relief

A serious message conducted in a fun way. I loved "Sesame Street" and I hope it can be just as successful in Nigeria. I know very little about the country, minimal amounts about the football team and the rest from perceptions, which I am sure are mostly untrue, picked up from hearing the odd snippet of news from varying sources coming out of the region.

I may be ignorant of world events but I'm not stupid. This won't solve every problem anywhere but mixing fun with learning is certainly a step in the right direction.

Hopefully, enough Nigerian children can get access to this show and get as much laughter/learning out of it as I did and am sure so many other UK and US viewers did. Is the best way to deal with such issues when targeted at this particular demographic? I am nowhere close to this but you have to try to fail and I hope it works out.