Bulgaria. Not a great post.

To be quite frank, Bulgaria just didn't do it for me. I hate to say this knowing that my friend, Vlady ( old friend from my Ambassadorial Scholar days who is from Bulgaria), will most likely read this. So, for her sake, I should clarify, that the moments with her were fantastic and totally culturally relevant, but outside of those, Bulgaria/Varna really didn't entice me with it's Bulgarian ways. All that said, it was a great 4 days of mostly R & R with a smattering of sight-seeing and cultural jaunts.

The first day I went to a Human
Trafficking talk, held by the
local government officials.
This topic is ubber interesting to me! Bulgaria, being a major intersection of trafficked persons (mainly women & children), is a prime spot to really nail down the issue.

I spent one night with Vlady & her sister, Gaby, learning about Bulgarian cuisine, and drinking totally girlie drinks in a beachside cabana (not too shaby).








The next day, I headed north in a car to a monastery and palace, which were both nice. Vlady seemed to make so much of the country come alive for me, teaching me about the history, wars, events, and cuisine! Thank you so much, Vlady!

I'm currently finishing up this blog from Egypt! The countries are coming too fast (what a complaint, huh?). Thanks for reading.

Casey's Istanbul video

Another video pirated by yours truly. See Istanbul through Casey's eyes...and kind of mine, since we saw much of the same.

http://vimeo.com/5727429

Istanbul, Turkey.

After years of hearing about the magical land called Istanbul, I finally made it there. Slowly, but surely, now I can officially say I understand a bit about the magic of the place.

Turkish baths, whirling dervishes, doner kebabs, backgammon, hookah, hot-as Turkish tea, mosques, minarets, 5x/day call-to-prayer, Ottoman empire influence, chilled yogurt sauce, baklavah, pistachios, apricots, spices.....all have been a part of my reality for the past couple of days. awesome! (interesting that I would list mostly food. see below for cooking class)

We had a 5 day stop-over in Istanbul, literally docked right in the middle of the city, under the main bridge that spanned the Bosphorus Strait. It was heavily suggested to the entire shipboard community that we wake up early on the morning we were coming into Istanbul to see the skyline. Literally, I was told, it would be one of the most memorable of the entire trip. Massive, beautiful, magnificent mosques could be seen from afar. It truly was a sight that I'll never forget.

I hit all the big sights early on in the trip, spending extra money on a tour guide through the Haiga Sophia - an interesting place that has been used as a church and a mosque in it's lifetime.

It was interesting having to cover my head to go into the mosques, along with not wearing shoes, respecting the call-to-prayer times, and having areas that only men were allowed into. There is definitely a large Muslim inflence that is felt in daily activities within the city. This was a foreign reality for me, but one that I learned to appreciate and relish--actually falling in love w/ the loud incantations during the prayer times. A sound that I can't repeat and will never forget.

A big part of the culture that I really enjoyed were all the hookah bars where large groups of friends gathered all hours of the day to enjoy backgammon and tea. It is a cool aspect of the culture that I found myself wishing that we could replicateat home. Smoking a hookah, chilling out with friends, playing a simple, yet captivating board-game and just hanging out. Some bars served beer to buy, but if it was anywhere near a mosque, alcohol could not be served. This, however, didn't seem to deter large groups from gathering at these spots. I loved it. And love that I'm now a semi-proficient backgammon player. (resume?)

The turkish bath that I went to was the coolest thing. Imagine a centuries old stone, cylindrical building. Seperate men/women spaces. Steamy & hot once you enter the bathing space. 4-5 women working all day, wearing only black bray & panties - they must literally scrub 100's of women a day. A full on loofah scrub, sudsing that was unparalleled. they wash your hair, clean behind your ears and massage the heck out of you. Gentle?, no. Awesome, yes. Then you lay on the huge, hot marble stone w/ 15 other naked women and just float away to never-never land. I loved it! Many people didn't because of the utter lack of modesty or gentleness. These two were actually part of why I loved it.

On my final morning, I took a Turkish cooking class with 5 other women from the ship. We cooked a 5 course meal and then stuffed ourselves with all the goodness, plus wine. I literally rolled myself out after it was done, but I learned alot and it was fun. score. I hope to do another cooking class (Morocco?) b/c it seems such an authentic way to learn about the history and culture of a place.

Next up tom. is Bulgaria! Things are going really fast, and I still feel incredibly blessed to have had this opportunity given to me.

Some Sayings that Say Alot...

Herodotus: "The most painful thing in life is to know so much and have control over nothing."
Kurt Vonnegut. "Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God."
A student on the ship:
Women are like cake,
sweet, and flaky
hiding the contents
that otherwise
unnoticeable, to the
taste buds and the flow of
dopamine to the brain
disguising gluttony
with an insatiable appetite
until the
sugar crash.

Men are like
asparagus,
fine
feathery
foliage
unable to be
digested
by my
flowery
fragile
female
internal
organs

Greece.

Greece. Ah, Greece. All the crystal clear blue waters, solid white buildings, beaches everywhere....yea, didn't see them.
Greece for me was Athens. And Athens is a big city, albeit with cute areas, but a big city in its mildest description. Big cities really aren't a favorite for this country girl.

I spent an entire, very hot, sweaty day walking around the city seeing all the major sights. It was worth it, if I'm keeping a checklist, (which I'm not) but exhausting to say the least. I wandered with a group of friends during the day, which led into a restaurant crawl that night (Yes, Elizabeth, I've brought our tradition to Greece!). Unfortunately, we only made it to two places before most of the group wanted to go back to the ship. Oh well, "2's fun and 3's a crowd" has become my mantra these days, so we happily waved good-bye to the group and headed out for a night of fun in Athens.

This night of fun was lots of fun--people watching, aimlessly wandering, drinking--and this is when the night stopped. I tried to amalgamate with the locals as much as possible, gravitating towards local cuisine and liquor, but I was too much of a light-weight. I was ouzo'ed by Ouzo!, or so I so eloquently like to recall my hang-over from hell. Dad, you'd have been so proud. (right)
Yea, it was definitely a night to remember ... or rather, a night I can't remember the end of. Moral of the story, don't drink ouzo. It tastes like black licorice, which is shit anyway.

The next day I literally stayed in bed all day nursing my hang-over, but eventually made it out the next night w/ 2 girls on board to a beautiful outdoor movie cinema. It was directly under the Acropolis, all lit up at night. Fireflies dancing around. Nice breeze. So memorable. I loved it. We went to a wine/ouzo bar, met some nice Greek folk, and had dinner at 1:00 in the morning. Tazaiki. Souvlaki. Feta. Olives. Bread. Oil. My kind of meal.

During the majority of this port, I was on call so I had to be fairly close to the ship, or at least checking in and out, on top of holding 7 a.m. clinic every morning myself. Nice. but, I made it and on the 3rd day got to jet away to an island for the afternoon w/ some friends. We relaxed on the beaches, rode scooters along the waterway and up & around the island, and I ended the day under a tiki umbrella, in the shade, wind blowing, mesmerized by the clear, blue waters. Drunk, I tell you. Sober, but drunk on the beauty of the moment. 3 x 5 photo of it will always be in my head.

I ended Greece by hanging out in Athens again on the final day trying to do all the 'last minute' Athens things. I started out by tagging along w/ the Art History teacher onboard to the New Acropolis Museum, where he was my own tour guide & made the museum come alive to me. We took a break to have a coffee in the cafe on top of the museum & this is where I met Katerina. Her table was near ours and I simply complimented her on all of her artsy funky jewelry that I liked .... and we were off to chatting like old friends. She suggested that I try (what I thought) was a special type of 'Greek tea', but in fact what she ordered for me was this amazing 'Greek cheese'. (tea & cheese get me every time!) I was without liquid of my own, but happy to know of this amazingly, simply stupendous dish.

She offered to take me to the shop in Athens where she bought some of her cool jewelery, so we planned to meet an hour later outside of the museum. Katerina was born and raised, and now lived in the same house, near the Acropolis and knew everything about the area. She was so very kind, offering all kinds of history, commentary, and suggestions for our travel. I ended up buying 3 pieces of 'evil eye' jewelry from this shop--all of which are my favorite purchases so far!

To sum up Athens for me: "ok". Parthenon--"amazingly old, and therefore important". Next trip back: "the islands for the majority of the time/back-road country living".

Next up tom. morning is Istanbul! I'm ecstatic and can't wait!

The Gradiation of the Sunset & all it's 50 colors.

I had the best night on the top deck the other night. An art student onboard, Charisse, & I met to pastel the sunset at 2100. Check out her website! It was my first art venture while on board & I must say "it felt good". Pasteling is a new thing to me (thanks so much JC for your generous pastel set) but I want to learn. .... then again, I'm just as happy w/ all my paints.

She is the student who asked me "What is your bliss?" I still think that is the best question I've been asked in a long time.

The night led into another interesting discussion w/ the theater director onboard and her new screenplay. "What's it about?", I ask (in my most naive theater-ish way), "It's about soul-gardening." I was hooked. We talked alot about what that meant to her and instead of finishing the sunset, I began to draw the words SOUL GARDENING across my paper. I love how the best convos. are the unexpected ones.

She also reminded me that only 10% of language is verbal. That's a good thing, I guess, b/c sometimes I talk alot.

"Being born is messy", she says. Interesting lady w/ lots that I was left with to think about.

I'm off to a Greek Island for the day about an hour from Athens. Yea, tough life, I know. :)

Bliss

I was asked today: "What is your bliss?" and somehow just the cadence & ring of such a simple question stuck with me. I ask you: "What is your bliss?"

A Croatian Video that isn't mine...

http://vimeo.com/5543470

These videos are an awesome way to show alot & try to capture the feel of my trip & the place. Thanks, Casey, for being such a documenter!

My latest random thoughts

If I spoke Croatian, I might better understand if there are as many words in their language for the blue-greencolor of the water here, as the Inuit's have for snow.

Bees are the most fascinating animals! and brilliant to boot. Whenever I look at my friend Casey and say "Tell me something interesting" (Which I feel like I do alot more than what is kosher), 9/10 times he tells me something he learned while beekeeping.
Did you know that if being attacked by bees, it is advised to run in a zig-zag to escape the bees b/c they tend to only fly in straight lines. "a beeline"--get it?

The Blue Water of Croatia!

Croatia: beautiful! or at least the small part of the coastline that I've been able to experience the last 4 days. We arrived into Dubrovnik, Croatia with only 1 day between Italy and Croatia...it was a fast turn around of mind, body, and soul. But, somehow 1,000 of us poured out of the ship and were able to manage it w/out a hitch.

Being here so relatively soon after the war (1991-1995) was something that I was really looking forward to. Not remembering much about a war that occurred while I was in high school, it was all essentially new knowledge to me. One of the most visible things about the war on Dubrovnik is all of the red rooftops that were replaced after the rest were bombed out. There are very few yellow/brown rooftops in the city, which signifies all the damage that the city endured.

The city itself is really charming to look at. Everything is completely revitalized post-war and it is a cruise ship destination now. Apparently about 700 cruise ships dock at this port per year! The old part of the city is surrounded by a fortress/wall that people can climb on and walk around to get the best view of the historical part of Dubrovnik. There are alleyways upon alleyways in this part of the city, connecting cafes, shops, and homes. Very quaint and very cute. I wandered and wandered, looking, viewing and seeing the old part of the city, trying my damnedest to respect and understand all of the history that has happened on the very stones I was walking on. Maybe I should have hired a tour guide.

Nevertheless, this port has been amazing fun! Islands and beautiful, BEAUTIFUL crystal clear green-blue water is their biggest tourism draw. (There is no industry here--tourism being the main income.) I rented jet-ski's the first day and island hopped for 8 hours, climbing in and out of coves to snorkel, swim, hike and finding great tiki bars to watch the world go by. It was awesome! and I day that I will never forget. I was exhausted by the end of it, but so very happy.

I also took a ferry to an island with an established National Park on it and rented bikes all day, which allowed for multiple stops to swim and covering much of the park via 2 wheels. The day ended w/ the best octopus salad that I've ever had in my life!

Also, I went and visited a humanitarian organization in Dubrovnik that really impacted on me. It was started after the war to help women transition from a socialized system to a capitalist, mainly with jobs, skills and mental health (loosing brothers, fathers, husbands & sons in the war). One of the most heartbreaking things that I learned was about the ethnic cleansing that happened to the Croatians by the Serbs. The men would be killed and all of the women & girls were captured and put in essentially "rape camps" where they would be gang raped daily to impregnate the women with serbian blood. Needless to say, the PTSD that followed is still present today. This organization offers/offered services such as counseling for this, along with needs they identify at the time.

We had a long chat with a Croatian woman working for the organization about how she fled Dubrovnik and passed by the coastline on a boat watching the bombing and smoke from a distance. Her family was still left here and she knew they would die. It was a very emotional discussion for her and our group, as tears were shed by both parties as she imparted her story on us. The war suddenly came alive for me.

On a lighter note, I had my first 2 days of port call towards the end and it was .... interesting. I am continually amazed by what these kids think is an emergency and how much they depend on 'Mom' at home. Calling home for stumping a toe & splitting toe-nails, crying hysterically over a scraped knee b/c a scar would be there, to coming to the clinic for anything imaginable that tylenol & neosporin would handle just fine! I'm learning alot--mostly to keep my mouth shut!

For another view of some of the same stuff, you can read Casey's commentary on our time in Croatia at
http://hudetz.tumblr.com/

More pics that make me smile