Traveler

It has been a long while, and I apologize. I would say my New Year's Resolution would be to write more often, but then I probably wouldn't and be disappointed in myself and eat way to much chocolate in self-pity. So I'll just say I will try to be more present, and share more about the thoughts and experiences I've had in my few days.

I went on a cruise! And it was incredible and life-changing. I won't give a day-by-day account, but rather compose a couple of posts about the highlights of the trip, and my overall thoughts and feelings. I didn't take any pictures, but Liz and Dad did, so hopefully when they share what they took I will add some to these posts.

There was some strange family tension throughout, but we managed to survive, and it was a small piece in the larger puzzle that was our adventure. And we're all so delightfully quirky. We checked into the ship at about noon on 12/12/12, so at 12:12pm and 12 seconds, we did a 12 second dance to celebrate our forthcoming vacation. It was delightful.

It was also nice to be on vacation, to not have to worry about work or any sort of responsibility, but to take time to go exploring or just read. Ah, the time to read! We had several days at sea, and I would find a quiet place on the ship to read or write, and stare out over the rolling waters. The ship itself was wonderful. There were so many fun things to do: arcade games (mainly air hockey and Guitar Hero), karaoke, dancing, shows in the theatre, swimming. It was also fun to just wander around the ship, and see the land and sea sliding by from different vantage points. I loved it, and though one day the rocking of the ship nearly made me sick, I managed to not become fully sick (that came later).

Our first two stops were Olympia and Athens, where we had an amazing tour guide named Niki, who was fun and interesting and funny, and who treated us like friends and not tourists. She took us to out of the way places to sample fresh olive oil and gyros, and was a wealth of information about the sites we visited, like the home of the Olympic Games and the Acropolis. It was wonderful to be in places where there is so much history, and from which so much modern culture comes from. In Olympia I imagined the ghosts that were unearthed with the excavation of the site, and that they were watching us from beneath the shadows of the olive trees. We had fun and it was incredibly interesting, and it was hard to believe it was real and not a reconstruction. It was all so strange and beautiful.

It is hard to say how I felt in many of these places, because I'm not sure I felt much but a numb kind of awe. I have no sense of the kind of history that those people do. It was very strange to walk on the very marble the ancient Greeks walked upon. It's also interesting to see how patriotic each nation is, having hundreds of years of occupancy and liberation, and the fierce feelings it brings up. Going from Greece to Turkey, where the Turks occupied Greece for so long, we didn't even mention it. We were almost afraid to bring it up. The United States is such a young nation, and although we have had our own passionate liberation, our situation is much different. Though of course there are many Americans today who are aggressively patriotic. I've just never felt so young and out of place.

Our first stop in Turkey was Ephesus, which was extraordinary. You enter the site, and there isn't much to see, but you walk a few minutes and all of a sudden the city spreads out in front of you, falling with the hills down into the valley. There is so much history and it's so strange and familiar, I honestly didn't know what to think. There is also a very strange phenomenon at the site of Ephesus, which is the presence of hundreds of cats. There are cats all over the ruins. Everywhere. Some are skinny and sickly but most look clean and well-fed, and some of them have part of their fur shaved, and they have small wounds and stitches, almost all on the left hip. It was inexplicable. Where they there before, or did they come when the site was excavated? It was very strange. Almost as if they were ghosts or gods come to protect the exposed city.

You will see, I believe strongly in ghosts and spirits inhabiting animal forms, and this is a theme that recurs again and again for me on this trip.

One more tidbit, then I'll save the rest (and the best) for the next chapter. After our day in Ephesus, Melissa and I and the parents went to the show on board, which was called "Roberto and Dorota." I had no idea what it was about really, but it had something to do with acrobatics and aerial artistry, and I cannot resist that. It turned out to be incredible, and one of the most amazing parts of the trip. Roberto and Dorota were a married couple from Poland, whose background was in ballet from the Warsaw School of Ballet, and then they lived and studied aerial artistry in France. They began the show with a balancing act (that woman was so strong and graceful), then she did the hoop, he did straps, he did the Spanish web and she joined him, then they closed with an aerial silks routine. They were fun and funny, and they always looked like they were having so much fun, especially together. Dorota always had this little smile on her face, like she knew something about gravity we didn't, a look of pure joy and serenity. I want to see her as Peter Pan. The show was well-produced and designed, particularly the lighting. The show started more simply with the balancing act, then became more dramatic and intense, then ended on a fun and whimsical note. We were so astounded we convinced Liz and Jacob to go to the second show, and I liked it so much I went too. I think I liked it even more after seeing it again. A fantastic show, beautiful and powerful. Here is a link to a trailer of some of their work to get a taste of what I'm talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pvk3C8Y_Hk But seeing it in person was simply breathtaking.

I will leave that for now. I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures, and more will come soon! Shalom, dear friends.