7:23 am
We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto!
That’s all I could think of this whole half-night. I cannot believe it – I’m in
Germany! I don’t even know where Frankfurt is, yet somehow I’m here! I’m all
alone, I’m waiting for my connecting flight to Munich which is delayed because
of technical problems. I don’t understand German. Thankfully almost everything
is in English. (German bathrooms are different too!) Not only am I in
Frankfurt: I have two more planes to catch, then I’ll be reunited with everyone
in Albania! Then, once I leave Albania in two weeks, I’m on my own. I am truly,
officially, crazy! I spent the night over the Atlantic Ocean. Is this actually
happening? I’m in Europe!!
I still can’t believe it’s
tomorrow! Why is the sun up? My body’s telling me it’s 1:30 am but here I am –
it’s a bright and sunny morning in Germany! I slept a little bit on the plane.
It was a mistake to eat dinner. I was really tired at 4:30 pm when we boarded –
ready to go to sleep for a nice seven hours and wake up at 5:30 am when we
land, right? Minimize jetlag that way? No. I decided to wait till after
they served dinner to go to sleep. After I ate I couldn’t sleep. I tried. I
ended up reading another chapter of Archbishop Anastasios’s Facing the World, homework for this
class/practicum that I haven’t finished. Several hours later I slept for a
couple hours. I feel fine now – just incredulous and a little disoriented. I
know, though, when noon hits, and later when it’s late afternoon on Monday but
still feels like one continuous day with Sunday, then I’ll be tired. I’m dreading it. Traveling internationally is
like a time warp. I love going places, but I hate time changes! The worst parts
about I.V. four years ago were the plane rides there and back. Everything else
I loved.
I can’t believe I’m not going to
see my parents until December! I really miss my friends from school, too. I spoke with one of them before I went through
security last night (“last night” was only a few hours ago!). I plan on staying
in touch with everyone via Skype. It’s even better than telephone because you
can see each other. :) Oh, and get this – two other really good friends
(who I also miss) I will see in Greece! I spoke with someone from Pittsburgh on Friday and God
willing we will see each other in the Thessaloniki area in August. The even
weirder thing is my wombat! She lives in New Zealand. I live in America.
Somehow, it looks like we’re going to see each other in Athens in December! I
skyped her Saturday night. Why do we each have to go 1/3 around the world to
see each other in a place that neither of us live in?!?!
Great. My flight was just canceled.
I am on the next flight at 8:15. Well, I’ll blog later – hopefully – when I get
to Munich and then to Tirana. Γεια!
(or however you say bye in German!) ;)
10:22 am
The 8:15
flight would have gotten me to Munich too late to catch my connector to Tirana.
So I was re-routed to Vienna on Austrian Airlines. I’m on the plane now waiting
for takeoff. Everything here is so confusing! Probably because I don’t know
German. I tried to use a payphone to call the three numbers that Fr. Luke gave
us – two missionaries’ cell phones and the number of the Archdiocese – but
since I know nothing about international calls I don’t know what is the country
code and what is not. I asked about five or six employees who all didn’t know
how to call Albania from a payphone. I explained my problem and they weren’t
able to help. I tried to get Wifi but I needed a PIN number which they could text
to my telephone. Too bad my telephone doesn’t work here (if it did I could have
called Albania!). So I logged into a pay computer to get 12 minutes of internet
for 2 euro (did it twice – so 24 minutes for 4 euro). I emailed Fr. Luke and
the whole class and told them basically if anyone gets this email, FYI I’ll be
later to Albania than you guys and I tried calling Albania but didn’t work
(kept getting error messages in German). I also forwarded to my mom and to
my godsister who had asked for confirmation on landing. I ordered "Frankfurt Sausage
with bread" for 4.95 euro (sounded exotic) – it’s basically two plain hotdogs
and what looked like two thin half slices of Mt. Athos fire bread from
Mediterra in Pittsburgh…kind of disappointing :\
For the
most part the people here are really nice…sometimes unhelpful (like calling
Albania) but still nice, smiley, pleasant, etc. My only fear is that everyone
will be worried about me when they get to Tirana before I do. Kind of worried
about my parents too – getting an email at 4am saying I’m stranded in the
middle of Europe with no way to get in touch with anybody… I’m fine but I hope
they will be. :)
Other than that I have no worries or anxieties or fears about anything. I’m in
Germany – how much more exotic can it get? I guess we’ll find out in Austria!
I’ll blog later in Vienna – kind of exciting :)
4:20 pm
Well my
computer is old and doesn’t hold a charge, and there was no time anyway to turn
it on in Vienna because I had to run from flight to flight. Austrian Airlines
was very nice and the stewardess looked at me like I was crazy – which I am –
when I told her that I came from Boston and all my hassles.
I wasn’t able to call anyone from
any pay phones – I kept getting error messages in German and I don’t know how
to call internationally. Anyway, I got here. And one of the professors got the email I sent
so he gave Yianni my flight information – Yianni is a guy who works here.
Yianni and another Albanian guy picked me up from the airport and brought me to
the Tabor Center where we are staying. I feel like I’m home. This is so
relaxing. It feels like a monastery. (It feels really Greek – but in a totally
Albanian way!) The landscape reminds me a bit of the landscape around St.
Innocent Orphanage and Project Mexico. It is wonderful to be here. We’re going
to get a tour of the city now with Bishop Asti. When I got here they had food
for me – everyone else had already eaten. It was mushroom soup, salad, bread,
feta, french fries and as much olive oil as I wanted – all AMAZING! I didn’t
realize I was that hungry. I can’t get over how good the food was!! TTFN :) (ta ta for now)
9:12 pm
Just
finished a wonderful day! After I last blogged we took a private bus into the
city to see things. Our tour guide was Bishop Asti who has been a bishop for
two months. He was one of Fr. Luke’s students. From the moment I met him I
could tell there was something special about him. He speaks English but not
very well, from what I could gather. He told me “welcome” and I got his
blessing just because it was a guy in a cassock who was hanging out. When I
asked Yianni who the other priest was who was talking to Fr. Luke he told me that he’s
a bishop. Oops. I asked Yianni his name and he told me it’s Bishop Asti. I had heard
of him last week in class. Even before I asked Yianni, for the few minutes I
was around His Grace I could sense something “special” about him. Bishop Asti and Fr. Luke were chit-chating in Albanian and
I didn’t understand a word of it but didn’t want to leave because his presence
was so powerful!
We were
dropped off in the center of Tirana. It’s such an interesting place – almost like
a wanna-be megalopolis, coupled with a society which hasn’t outgrown its
laid-back old worldliness. It’s very nice. A lot of bars and restaurants with
outside seating (a lot of casinos too). The first thing we did was see the new
Cathedral of the Resurrection which hasn’t been finished yet. It was supposed
to be open on Palm Sunday last month but it got pushed back to His Beatitude’s
anniversary celebration on June 24, and from what I hear it won’t even be ready
then. Who knows when it’ll open for real? Next year some time probably.
I have
mixed feelings about the architecture. The way His Grace described it was His
Beatitude’s vision for a structure that looked both backwards and forwards. It
looks kind of modern, but the modernity is in a way superimposed on a
traditional Byzantine style church. It reminded me a little bit of St. Andrew’s
Cathedral in Patras, Greece. The inside is completely empty, except for the Altar table
and the shell of an iconostasis. The mosaic Pantocrator is exquisitely
magnificent, and the carved Royal Doors are amazing! We took pictures galore. I want
to be a deacon now, just so that I can stand next to those Royal Doors during a
poly-hierarchical Divine Liturgy and say “O Lord, save the faithful and hearken
unto us.” The Synthronon/High Place behind the Altar is magnificent, and there’s
a secret passage behind it so Altar Boys, etc. can cross the Altar without being
seen. I’ve seen that in other churches and that
is awesome!
I’ve discovered that most people
here (including His Grace and Yianni) speak Greek very well so I’ve been able
to practice my Greek – that’s how I asked His Grace questions on the tour.
From the Cathedral we went
downstairs and saw the 500-700-seat amphitheatre, as well as a small outdoor
amphitheatre, and what will be the new administrative center of the
Archdiocese, including a low-ceilinged library (a friend hit his head and I
almost did too!) and a small chapel with an exquisitely-carved iconostasis (no
icons yet) by the same Albanians who did the Royal Doors in the Cathedral. The
little chapel reminded me of the many monasteries that I like to go to :)
His Grace also showed us the
mosaic-making room which was pretty cool, and the adult baptistry beneath the
small Paraklisi (chapel) next to the
Cathedral. The Paraklisi is going to
be dedicated to the Nativity; Christo, the iconographer from Greece, is
currently working on the dome and the front wall. Christ in the manger, with
His Mother, are directly behind the Altar in the apse, while peripheral scenes
from the Nativity icon (the magi with an angel
leading them(!!), the shepherds, St. Joseph, the bathing of Christ) fill the rest of the wall. There’s scaffolding
everywhere and it’s a pretty small church.
Everything in this complex amazed
us – we never stopped saying wow! I will eventually share pictures but they
will not do it justice.
Bishop Asti then took off, and Fr.
Luke showed us around the city a bit and bought us all ice cream :)
We saw the former house of Enver Hoxha, the former Communist dictator of
Albania; we passed a Catholic and a Protestant church; and we ended at the
current Cathedral of the Annunciation. It reminded me of a typical church in
Greece – beatiful, wood carvings all over the place, chairs instead of pews,
and wonderful iconography. We said some prayers and sang some hymns there and
departed for the Tabor Center.
The Tabor Center is like an oasis –
it’s such a comfortable and friendly environment. We ate dinner and it truly
felt like a monastery with everything except the reading during the meal. We
were so tired that we didn’t talk much anyway :)
Now I’m tired. TTFN :)
No comments:
Post a Comment