Pandemic life is insane. Trying to be in a different country during pandemic life is even more insane...and stressful....and basically impossible. (Written June 25, 2021)
As I said in an earlier post, I received my first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine before I left Canada (quite the ordeal and mental battle for me) for my three month stint in Greece. I can't get a travel visa as it is considered none essential travel to try to be with your loved ones...go figure. So once Greece opened its boarders for the summer months I booked a flight and went with the intent to stay for 90 days. This is the allotted time a Canadian can be in a EU country without any form of visas. Just need your trusty passport, and multiple COVID tests, and vaccine documents, and 10 packs of masks but c’est la vie. That's french not Greek. Side note: Bless my family for dealing with my needle phobia through all this. To say its out of control would be an understatement.
Travel Restrictions
Canada during this pandemic has had extremely strict travel restrictions and without vaccine doses the country has virtually made it impossible to leave or re-enter without costly (and in my opinion) unnecessary hotel quarantine bills. Along with multiple COVID tests, recently the federal government announced that fully vaccinated Canadians will be able to skip the hotel quarantine when they arrive into Canada. I was only able to get my first dose before I left. Que the "DUU -DUU- DUUUU" sound effect.
Now in order to avoid paying thousands of dollars to stay in a hotel for no reason when I go home, I must find a way to get my second dose here. This thought comes with a lot of anxiety for me. Not only do I have an extreme fear of needles and the medical field as a whole, now I must face it in a foreign country where I don’t have my family to go with me and be my advocate. I have discussed this with his sister who is the most kind and loving person I have ever known. She reassured me that she would go with me no problem and catch me when I faint. So now the question is; where can a Canadian in Greece get a COVID vaccine and how much Ativan am I going to take?
AMKA
I have learned that a AMKA number is the Greeks golden ticket to doing anything here. It is there version of a social security number/health care number. Basically you need it to do anything related to the system here. After multiple calls and him and his sister yelling at people in greek at citizen offices, getting a temporary AMKA number is my only hope for a second dose. If there is one thing I know for sure about this country besides that they have the best calamari in the world...is that the bureaucracy is out of control. So getting this number would be like winning the lottery. Stay tuned if I win the AMKA lottery.
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