A broad, abroad.

It didn't seem real until now. →

kaylasheehan:

Since i’m so far removed from my family, nothing really hits quite like it should. 

It was the right time, and i know that. I just wish i’d gotten to say goodbye in person. 

It’s fine now. No more pain, no more haziness. 
Just lots of Skip-Bo in the sky.  

Western Wall. Wailing Wall. Kotel.

A few days ago while staying in Jerusalem, we spent some time at the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. Where the Jews pray for the destruction of the Dome of the Rock, which covers the holiest place known to their religion. Women praying and rocking back and forth, some even actually wailing.
Such a foreign concept.

“The Devine presence never leaves the wall.”
Is written on a sign by the entrance.

I cannot even imagine living that way. Waiting for the messiah. Praying for destruction of your oppressors.

(more detailed Israel post to come once we get home to Greece, tomorrow.)

Typed in a note

Starting to utilize my phone without the 3G or Wifi! Wahoo!

:

Sitting on the metro, not talking, looking silently at my shoes, listening to a beautifully dolled-up woman speak in the harsh but loving tones of the Greek language. She hangs up the phone. And all is silence except the distant murmur of friends riding together, joking with one another in a language i cannot speak or decipher (but that guy’s jokes must be HILARIOUS (I think I’d like to have a funny Greek friend)). And then I realize and appreciate. The metro is a place to ponder, collect, reflect, drift in and out of consciousness. A beautiful, much needed quiet time for people living in this busy, bustling city.

That’s all from my note.

But I’ve got some more thoughts and stuff from right now.

- I procrastinate just as much here, if not more, as I do in Arkansas (right now my method is writing a tumblr post…).
- We still don’t sleep enough.
- These people are my family (some still maybe feel a little like that distant cousin who you feel a little awkward starting a conversation without much common ground but quickly regain footing and press on towards weird, quirky story telling episodes, all for the next time to still be just as awkward to begin but with less doubt that it will end awkward.)

Okay, homework now (Fofi just put out chocolate covered raisins, that’s really why I have to go).

=]

Ps I bought some slippers (Greek ones with pompoms on the toes).

(Pps sorry about all the parenthetical statements)

Today

I spent with beautiful friends
In a beautiful place

With a mixture of sadness and love and remembrance in my heart.

And wonder in my soul.
The majesty of my Lord revealing itself daily in this new land.

Thanks, God.
I can’t wait for what’s to come.

Ps the adjustment bureau is good. I’m eating popcorn.

Update and Stuff

Helloooo, from Greece! Well, here’s a scatterbrained update from the P. Raft (how us locals refer to Porto Rafti):

We’ve officially booked a roundtrip flight to Madrid for our short (5 day) free travel. EEEEEEK. 

(A fellow HUGger just said: “My only interaction with large sea mammals is being bitten by a dolphin at sea world.” Uhhhh..)

The weather here resembles you’re average February in antarctica. Cold cold cold. Snowing today, but it’s not so bad.

        I love the people i’m stuck inside with. The couches are comfy, the people are cozy, the conversation is great, the naps are plenty, the movie is Dead Poet’s Society. 

     fun fact: it hasn’t been this cold/snowing in Athens on feb. 1 in 27 years. Errwhere we go we settin records. 

    The windows rattle with the wind and the old building creaks, the marble echoes the cold.

   Our trip to Marathon was scheduled for tomorrow but is now set for later in the february. So, class tomorrow, nice inside times now, 

learning and thinking and watching and loving and getting to know eachother

  and inside adventures today.

  Big outside adventure later.