Goodbye "Black Box"

Turkey was a terrible place. Just look at these pictures! Doesn't it look like a horrible place to visit?

I arrived on August 2nd and got on board the M/S Piccolo. After that is was day after day of hoping from cove to cove, eating a multi-course breakfast lunch and dinner (not to mention tea time), then jumping the a sea with water so clear and warm it was like jumping into a fish tank, hiking through ancient ruins, exploring small towns, then finding a quite cove to spend the night on the deck of the boat, falling asleep under the Milky Way counting shooting stars. It was a ghastly time (If you're not picking up on my sarcasm, please do so now...)

If there is such thing as a vacation from a vacation, this was it. We all spoiled and indulged for a week. Here are a few new friends I made along the way:

I spent the majority of the week in my swim suit, drinking Cappy Juice and Ruki, and the food... Turkish food is amazing. Before this week, I'd never heard so many vegetable compliments. At lunch and dinner, we were constantly saying "Pass me some more broccoli," and "That cauliflower is amazing," and "I think I'll polish off those beans," and "send over some of that Melony Goodness" (I capitalize "Melony Goodness" because she became a reoccurring character at our table, along with her little brother "Figgy Goodness"). Yes there was plenty of meat and salad too along with lots of olives (for breakfast), but how often do you encounter a cuisine that features vegetables so well.

When I started my trip towards Turkey, I have to admit I was a little nervous. Part of it was that everywhere I went people were mention on the embassy bombing in broken English or the universal and unofficial sign language splaying their fingers out and making a"bhoosh" sound. Then meeting Mario in Greece didn't help. I had heard a little bit about the Greeks not getting along well with the Turkish, but I didn't realize the full extent of "not getting along" until after I talked to some people from Greece. It was my American tour guide in Athens that mentioned that a lot of the Greek historical sites have stories involving the British steeling from them, The Italians bombing them and the Turkish burning them. The Greeks have some understandable grudges.

I was visiting my mom's cousin Nikki in Pescara when I told her about the "Black Box" of my trip, which was my travel through Greece and Turkey because I didn't have much of a travel plan. Being a seasoned traveller herself, she cautioned me against thinking of my trip as a "Black Box" because black implies ominous and a box implies a confining space. It was at this point that I decided to rename this part of my trip "The unwritten book". Then I wrote it, and what a story it turned out to be! You don't really need a plan, just a destination and a good attitude, and things work themselves out.

The only thing I would caution a single female travel to watch out for in Turkey are the guys "selling rugs". Men in the southern Mediterranean tend to be a bit aggressive and often confuse lust and love (and selling rugs). They're also very smooth. They'll take you out for tea, compliment your hair and eyes, offer to take you to dinner if you let them... and before you know it, they're "selling you rugs" if you know what I mean... well sometimes they actually do end up selling a real rug. The men are generally respectful and will treat you well, but the do expect you to instantly fall in love with the attention and compliments. This can get old, but if you're only around for an afternoon and upfront about you the fact that you're not going to "buy his rugs" (if you know what I mean) like I was, you can have a pretty good time. Fesih taught me the (literal, not euphemistic) difference between Turkish and Persian rugs (while serving me tea in his store and gazing longingly into my eyes and introducing me to his father, another rug seller. Come on! they had to know I wasn't falling for it! Introducing me to his FATHER?!). Turkish rugs are made with double knots and Persians are single knotted. Fesih also took me out for a couple of cups of tea, a tour of the Mosque and we played a few games of backgammon, a popular game in Turkey.

Mario and the Cell Phone

I'm in Turkey now and I don't have my cell phone. I actually feel quıte lıberated. My "I" won't have dots because I'm not goıng to spend tıme adjustıng my typıng for 1 letter on a Turkısh keyboard, where ıt's hard enough to fınd punctuatıon.

Anyway, no pıctures here, just a good story.

I left my cell phone charger somewhere and when I got to Athens, ıt was nowhere to be found. Beıng a cıtızen of the 21st century, I really wanted to be able to use my phone when I got here to Turkey to get ın touch wıth Elıf and her famıly, so when I got to the beautıfy Greek Island of Rhodes, I made a poınt of tryıng to fınd a new charger. Thıs ıs when I learned quıte a few thıngs.

I checked ınto a Youth Hostel ın Rhodes. Thıs was ın the mıddle of a fortress buılt ın the 7th century AD. It was extrodınarıly hard to fınd my way ın and out. It was lıke a tourıst shoppıng mall maze. The staff at the hostel was very frıendly, but everyone ın Rhodes was dısappoınted that I could only stay 1 nıght. It was a great deal, 10 euros for a bed. I explaıned my sıtuatıon to my roommate, Ella from Parıs, a 52 year old woman on her annual vacatıon who desprately mıssed her husband. Ella ıntroduced me to Marıo, one of the staff at the hostel. Marıo was from Albanıa, but had be lıvıng ın Rhodes for 12 years. Hıs Eglısh wasn't very good, but he spoke Greek and was wıllıng to help me out wıth my cell phone charger problem.

Insıde the fortress ın Rhodes was called the Old town, and outsıde the fortress ıs the New Town, whıch ıs lıke any other cıty. We had to go to the new town to fınd a new charger for my phone. Thıs ıs where I learned somethıng I already kınd of knew. My phone was crap! It was so old that we had to go to 3 dıfferent stores to fınally fınd a charger, and at each place Marıo explaıned my sıtuatıon ın Greek to the customer representatıves. A new phone would have cost about 30 euros, and my charger cost 17 euros. Needless to say, not a good deal.

After I found my charger, I told Marıo that I wanted to go to an ınternet cafe to check emaıl. He walked me to the cafe, I thanked hım, and he went back to the hostel. I emaıled Elıf and Sıla (Elıf's sıster) and told them that I fınally had a workıng phone and they could call me thıs mornıng. Then I headed back to the hostel, plannıng to plug ın my phone and then go explore Rhodes town at nıght.

There was no outlet ın my room. Marıo was ın the courtyard and asked the hostel owner ıf we could plug ın my phone ın the Hostel Offıce. I told the owner that I'd grab my phone a lıttle later. Marıo offered me a beer and after all hıs help the least I could do was sıt wıth hım and have a beer. Communıcatıon was a bıt dıffıcult, but there was a lıttle gırl, not more than 12 years old named Zoe, who spoke Englısh quıte well and helped translate to Greek.

At the end of my beer, Zoe passed the message along that Marıo wanted to take me out for a drınk at a bar. I saıd yes. It turns out that Marıo ıs a dancer, and used to dance ın Albanıa and a lıttle ın Italy. Hıs Italıan was slıghtly better than mıne. He took me to a restaraunt on the water called Ellı. It had a bıg round dance floor and a lıve band that sang ın all languages. Marıo bought me wıne and we danced, and he was amazıng as a dancer. My 2 left feet knew exactly where to go. At the end of the nıght there was a show wıth tradıtıonal Greek Dancers ın costumes and we all joıned ın dancıng. It was a wonderful nıght. Even though verbal communıcatıon was dıffıcult (we ended up speakıng a combınatıon of Englısh, Spanısh, Albanıan, Italıan and Greek... and sıgn language), we actually had excellent communıcatıon on the dance floor.

I was havıng a wonderful tıme and by the end of the nıght, Marıo was proclaımıng hıs love to me and beggıng me not to go to Turkey. He saıd Tukesa ıs very bad. Greece good. He saıd he would come to Amerıca... He was very smooth... He kept sayıng "I love you" and I kept sayıng "Marıo ıs frıend" and I ended up havıng to break a heart.

We got back to the hostel quıte late and the offıce where my phone was chargıng was all locked up for the nıght. Wıth no means of keepıng tıme and an 8AM ferry to Turkey, I could barely sleep. I left the hostel just before 7AM and the offıce stıll wasn't open. There was a voıce ın my head that saıd "screw ıt!" Last nıght was worth the cell phone and the brand new charger. It was una dıa de la vıda! I wıll never forget Rhodes.

I dıd get to Turkey and fınd my boat. I haven't gotten ın touch wıth Elıf and famıly yet, but they don't even get here for another 1.5 hours. I know where the boat ıs and my luggage ıs on ıt and I'm happy to just wander around town. I wıll see them on the boat.

That's all for now, I'm off to saıl the coast of Turkey!

The Ferry

I'm in Greece. I got here by boat from Bari. It was fun. Slept on Deck. Saw sunset and sunrise. No time to write... want to, but I'll be tight on time for the next week+ some, so more pics & writing later. =)

Pescara was fun too. Festival of St. Andrew was happening. Lots of big fireworks! People riding mechanical cows.

If you are what you eat...

Then I have to be one big hunk of cheese - well I am this week. I really came to Italy for 3 reasons. (1) I wanted to see the Colleseum because that was my first library research project ever, (2) To visit some family members I've never met, and (3) to eat yummy Italian food.

I CAME

1. I found another bike rental place in park near Rome. I only rented it for an hour because it was 5€. I explored the city mostly on foot and by rail.
   

I found a rental bike in a park in Rome

I SAW

Here's the Colleseum from the street. It was impressive when I first saw it. Apparently everyone wants to see it.

Here's a close up

Here's my out of focus self portrait close up to prove that I was actually inside this establishment. BTW, the reason Rome is full of holes is because the Romans figured out how to recycle - they used pieces of the Colleseum and other obselete structures to build newer establishments... Go figure, the same people who figured out flushing toilets centuries before we did also knew how to recycle. That's why so much of the Colleseum is "ruined" so to speak.
Here's another self portrait from the Davinci Museum. It's in an octagonal room full of mirrors. I snuck this picture before getting in trouble for taking pictures, which the museum didn't allow. Bummer!

Another picture from the park. I guess this horse really had to go. I don't understand fountains. Do they try to be suggestive, or just end up that way?

It's always fun to watch coy and turtles playing together.

I ATE

I got this meal at the local grocery store near my hostel in Rome. That huge piece of bread is actually hollow in the center, great for spreading hazelnut spread or slapping on a big piece of aged mozzerella.I remember every meal I've had so far, written it in my journal. The pizza here is amazing! And people eat ice cream all the time.

I LEFT

Here are shots from my train on the way to Pescara, IT. That's where I am now and I have to go. Later all.

The Hole-y Roman Empire

Rome is full of holes... Impressive and very old holes, but they're still holes. See what I mean:

OK, I haven't seen that much of Rome in a day. These are pictures from my walk through the Palitino Ruins, which is basically what I wandered into today. I was looking for the Coliseum, which I did find, but there was a huge line for the bigliettos (tickets) and it was late in the day. I discovered I could get a ticket that was good for 24 hours that included an entrance into the Coliseum, so I get to go in the short line tomorrow.

Even though I've actually met quite a few nice Americans and others at this hostel who are sharing a room with me tonight, this particular leg of my trip is destined to be pretty solitary. I think deep down, I wanted it that way, however now I don't have much of a choice. As much as I love the UK, it is cold and wet, which I didn't expect. I've spent a lot of time having fun and travelling in public places, and even though I was good about my vitamin C, I've come down with a mild throat bug... The throat bug isn't draining any of my energy and I'm still having fun running around, but I have no voice. It's actually kind of ironic. I have 3 books pocket books with me for learning Italian, Greek and Thai. I've been so excited to try to speak Italian that I haven't even picked up the other books. Now I find myself saying the same things over and over again "Mi dispiace, no voce. No parlo italiano. Parla inglese?" which means "I'm sorry, no voice, I don't speak Italian. Do you speak English?" Usually I stop after"no voce". Ok, that may be a little exageration. I do find it funny though, that my voice completely went today when it could have gone on any other day because these bugs are pretty random. I love exploring on my own and it's a very different experience being in the shoes of a mute foriegner.

Speaking of being in people's shoes, check out these shoes! They're pretty massive compared to my foot. I have more toes though.

Ruins do tend to be kind of ruined. This guy's missing a head, and what do you think might have been on top of the stick he was holding?

I just discovered that spell check here is in Italian (as are many other things) so everyone finally gets to see how bad my English spelling really is!


The weather's quite differt here than in the UK. I don't think it's rained for a while and it's pretty dusty. The high temperature was probably about 80F and it's not that humid. Good conditions for dirt to stick to feet in sandles. I took a good long shower after walking around.

OK, until next time - if anyone's thinking of calling me, I'd hold off for a couple of days (because I won't answer because I'm a temporary mute!)

Watlington

This is a blog I've been meaning to write for a relatively long time, but I haven't gotten to it. In a way, this blog is one of the most important ones I'm writing. It's about an amazing family that lives in Watlington, a small village with a population of about 2000, located about 16 miles outside of Oxford (and yes, thatched roof cottages actually DO exist. They're pretty cool.). I stayed Davina (Davy) and Geoff Bannister and their 2 children, Laura and Stevie, for 2 nights while I was visiting Oxford.

This is Laura, and she's 7 years old. She loves to read and play on the computer. Her favorite book is "Eat Your Peas." Her mom, Davy, thinks that she's going to grow up and become a thief because she has a very subtle way of snatching food off the grocery store shelves and from the counters at home.

This is Stevie, and he's 5 years old. He enjoys running around chasing soccer balls (footballs), and helping his mom unload the dishwasher. In this picture he's standing in a pair of his mom's shoes. He likes to try on everybody's shoes.

Both Laura and Stevie have a disease that is becoming more and more prevalent in today's society. They are both autistic. I learned a lot about autism in the 2 days that I spent with the Banister family. Autism is a sensory perception disorder that affects all senses. Sight, sound, smell, touch and taste all get jumbled in the brain. This makes it very hard for the children to learn how to communicate with other people and for people to communicate with them. This means that the house has to be extraordinarily child proof because the kids might not understand the phrase "Don't put that in your mouth".

One theory about why autism is so prevalent now is that it is cause by long term use of antibiotics and birth control by the mother. These prescription drugs can leave toxins in the mother's digestive track for years. During pregnancy, the toxins are transmitted to the unborn child through the umbilical cord and enter the child's digestive track. The intestines pass the toxins into the child's blood stream and this causes damage to the brain as well as the digestive system. Laura and Stevie have very sensitive digestive systems and are on special diets and supplements to detoxify their digestive track.

I don't have any picture of Davy and Geoff because both of them are constantly on the move, either working, taking care of the kids, cooking or cleaning. It's a lot of work, but they manage it all with amazing grace and perseverance. Through all of this, they were wonderful hosts for me for the 2 nights I spent with them. They are a busy, but happy family, which is amazing given that the divorce rate for parents of autistic children is 80%. I think this is because they found the right method of raising their autistic children. They are home schooled using a program called Son-Rise, which is a parent-led, play focused, home schooling program, which is managed by having a number of facilitators that come in to play with the kids 7 days a week. There are a lot of autism treatment programs, but Davy and Geoff chose this one because it didn't have the words "coping with your autistic child". They were looking for a program that valued the child and celebrated the unique abilities of autistic children. The program is based on building social skills first with the expectation that the cognitive skills will follow. Children can recover from autism and grow into unique and well funtioning adults, but it is a long and tedious process. Laura and Stevie are well on their way. Both of them are very sweet and loving, but they are a handful right now.

If you want to learn more about Laura and Stevie and the Bannister family, you can click here to view their website.

Biking on the Left

Everyone looks for different things in new places. I find myself searching for 3 things most of the time: Science Museums, pick up soccer (football) games, and places to rent (hire) a bike. I've been to London, Oxford, Liverpool and Edinburgh and I've been able to find plenty of Science museums with differing levels of interactivity, and some amazing building architecture. I've been having trouble finding the other 2. In Oxford, I found Punting, which is basically pushing a special type of boat (called a punt) along a river with a very long wooden pole. Punting is hard. Pushing a boat with a pole, doesn't sound hard, but it is. You have to push the boat at the right angle so it goes straight, then us the pole as a rutter after you take it off the ground. Carla, my punting instructor said I picked it up quickly, but we still did quite a few "S's" down the Thames River. I managed to avoid falling in. It's a good thing I opted out of the bottle of wine, which typically comes with the price of renting a punt.

At the Boston Museum of Science, we have a model T rex with skin, and he's even dressed with a scarf for winter. In Oxford, they have real T rex bones.



Plenty of people in Oxford bike... and in fact there were bikes everywhere. I found a bike shop in town, but when I asked to hire a bike they said that they didn't do that. There was nowhere in London to hire a bike either. I was beginning to get frustrated.

I finally found a place that would hire me a bike in Liverpool. My cousin Derek has 15 bikes in his garage and offered me a bike for free. Can't beat that price. Derek and I have gone on a couple of bike rides around the Liverpool countryside. It was refreshing. There's something about biking in beautiful places that's quite peaceful.

Liverpool has recently won the award of European City of Culture, which to most locals means that the city has received money to do a bunch of construction. It also means that there are all sorts of cultural events taking place. Derek's wife, Julia and I went to a John Lennon tribute, then followed that with a trip to the Penny Lane Wine Bar. The Tall Ships race was beginning in Liverpool the weekend I arrived, so Derek and I went down to see the ships. They were quite pretty. The Princess was even in town for this event. There were so many people in town that they started herding us one way through the viewing area. When we tried going against traffic we were turned around. It was at this point that I decided to go to the museums instead of fight the crowds.
So I went to the World Museum and the Walker Art Gallery. At the art gallery, there was a Superlamb Banana, which happen to be appearing all over town for charity.
At the World museum I found a BIG piece of my favorite rock - Hematite, which is basically iron ore. It differs from rust by 1 oxygen molecule (per molecular unit). Anyway it's cool stuff and this is the biggest hunk of it I've ever seen.

Next I went up to Edinburgh for a couple of days. I got off the train in Edinburgh, and started to make my way towards the Hostel, and for the 2nd time in a brand new city, I encountered US culture before local culture. I ran into a street show being performed by Arizona Jones, a pretty cute guy from the US being Indiana circus style. He juggled flaming batons from 16 feet in the air, and extinguished a flaming bullwhip from up there for his grand finale.

I instantly fell in love with the city of Edinburgh because just beyond Indie's performance on my way to my Hostel, was a beautiful green wide open park called the Quartermile, with bike lanes a playing fields. This is the first place in the UK that I spotted some pick up soccer, so I dropped my stuff at the Hostel (which conveniently happened to be right next to the park), and went out to play. I joined a game with both men and women about my age playing. They all turned out to be Polish (with the exception of 1 person, I think). In the picture below we have (back row) Me, I foget her name, Anya, Johnathan, Bala (front row) Lucus, flat soccer ball, and another Anya. We had a bunch of other people join us too (including the guy playing the drums for money along the path in the park), but they left before this picture. Bala and I ended up having dinner together. He explained to me that even though the weather isn't as good in Scotland, the economy is much better. We also had interesting conversations about living life without a plan. I once had a plan for life, and I didn't stick to it, and that got me down, but then I realized that the life I have now IS a ton of fun, and it's the unexpected that's the most fun. That's kind of what I've aimed for on this trip. Diving into places without a plan and seeing what turns up. So far it's great! I highly recommend it.

I didn't have too much time in Scotland, so I decided to see as much of the country as possible in 1 day. Yup, I took a lap around Scotland. I went on a 370 mile bus tour, mostly because I really wanted to see if I could see the Loch Ness Monster. Apparently, this is what a lot of tourist do, so there are several companies selling such tour tickets. They were mostly booked by the time I got to Edinburgh, but I was lucky enough to get on a Scotline Tour (and got the student discount). The tour left Edinburgh at 8AM and went through the weeping Glen of Glencoe, where we met Hamish, the cow. We had breakfast with Hamish and some people got to feed Hamish. I definitely put this rest stop up there with the fishing stop on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.
After visiting with Hamish, we went past Fort Williams, Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Scotland (Ben mean mountain in Gaelic, and I think Nevis means steep, but I'm not sure. The driver was trying to teach us Gaelic, but not too much of it stuck with me.)

Here's a picture of me in the Scottish highlands standing next to "the worst bagpipe player in all of Scotland" according to my bus driver. The bus driver said that strangled cats make a more pleasant noise. I couldn't tell the difference.
We finally got to Loch Ness at about 2:30PM, and we stopped at some Urquhart Castle Ruins over looking over Loch Ness. Then I got on a boat to try and spot the monster... No luck of course, but the day was pristine and I got to hear all the monster stories. They even referred to the spot as a "real life X-file" and references to Scully and Mulder.
Did you know that Macdonald's serves high tea? This is the little town of Pitlochry, in Scotland. There are no national food chains here... That's so refreshing. I've hated MacDonalds almost all my life - mostly because when I was young and liked hamburgers they put those little chopped up onions on every burger that are impossible to remove, and if you ask for no onions it takes forever to get your burger. Now I'm older and don't like hamburgers all that much. I like high tea, so I might actually like this Macdonalds of Pitlochry. I'll try it if I come back someday.

We ended up getting back to Edinburgh at 8:30PM, a 12.5 hour tour. Most of the people on the bus were sleeping the majority of the way back, but we all had our shot at spotting the Loch Ness monster, so we were happy. Not as happy as we would have been had we actually seen it, but the tour guide pointed out a broken figure of Nessie at a gas station outside the city of Inverness and told us that we'd all now had our chance at spotting Nessie.