Cyprus was incredible. My friend Patty had a traditional Greek Orthodox wedding, which of course, was all in Greek. I followed as best I could. The part that really stuck out to me was the reception. It appeared, at first, to be a normal wedding reception. However, when the music started everyone got up to dance - not the Macarena or the Chicken Dance.. Not even the electric slide. No. When people got up to dance they did the circle dance and then, later on, they began the individual dancing. It is the dance to show everyone the person's strength. The part that got me was when both Patty's father and her husband's father got up and danced together. I am getting the chills just thinking about it now. It was a very touching moment.
I'm in Athens. It's humbling, to say the least. I mean, here I am standing, little John, all of 33 years old and in front of me is something that was built by men 2500 years ago. Ugh. Words fail me.
While I was in Cyprus, I met my friend Patty's family, most of whom are my age and most of whom live here in Athens. This morning I met up with them and they gave me the insiders tour of the city. We went and did all the "touristy" things, but in addition, I was able to see and hear things that the regular tourists wouldn't. Like, for example, the Communist and Anarchist propaganda graffiti that is spray-painted all over the walls near the University. My friends translated what they could for me (some of the phrases don't translate from Greek to English very well, if at all), and to be honest, it was very intelliget and often quite witty. Seeing the graffiti led to a very deep political conversation with my new friends - having a political conversation with the Greeks. Not only are they well-informed about their country's history and politics, they are very passionate about it as well. It was a nice, refreshing change from the usual, "don't know, don't care" attitude that I often run into at home.
Other than that, things here are going well. I am checked into my hostel for the tonight and I'm planning on leaving for Thessalonaki, Greece tomorrow night, staying there a few hours and then hopping the train to Sofia, Bulgaria. That should be interesting. I am checking in to a highly recommended hostel called HostelMostel..
I'm off for now. Meeting my friend Marina, her boyfriend, and Marina's sister for a drink. I leave you with a few pictures until my next update..
2 comments:
awesome update.
can't wait to hear about bulgaria.
there was this dude who lived on my floor during my freshman year of college. this guy must've been like 24 years old and he was well over 7 feet tall. his name was sascha and he was playing for our basketball team. he was originally from bulgaria and he used to walk around with this t-shirt that read "sunny beach, bulgaria." we all laughed about it because bulgaria seemed -- to our ill-informed 18 year-old minds -- to be a place where there wouldn't be sun. it's stupid, but i think about it from time to time. once, he was trying to tell me that the coach was trying to get him to grow a beard and wear goggles, elbow pads, and knee pads; he said that the coach thought he would look more intimidating.
suerte!
alan
"I am checked into my hostel for the tonight and I'm planning on leaving for Thessalonaki, Greece tomorrow night, staying there a few hours and then hopping the train to Sofia, Bulgaria. " see anything spelled wrong? LMAO It's Hotel not hostel.... u always correct me... lol
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