Living and Loving Lithuania!

"Lithuania, huh? I think I had a friend who lived there... or maybe it was Latvia."

Around April of this year, I had a friend recommend to me the Lithuanian State Scholarship Program. Essentially, this program pays for you to stay a month in Lithuania and learn language classes while enjoying cultural outings. I applied, I got in, and I had an experience I will never forget!

I encourage all interested parties to apply for this scholarship! http://www.smpf.lt/en/statescholarships 

The beautiful summer balloons in Vilnius's "Uzupio Republic" August 6, 2014. 

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A scavenger hunt across Vilnius with students from Armenia, Georgia, Poland, and the USA on August 7th, 2014.

 At the Lithuanian capital building August 9th.

 Lithuanian Traditional Circle Dancing.

 Taking a weekend side-trip in Riga, Latvia with my friend Irene from Ukraine.

Another side trip to Talinn Estonia with Irene and Nadia.

The Great Turkey Adventure, Part I

“Why are you going to Turkey?” was a question I was asked about a dozen times before I left, almost with a sense of bewilderment that someone would go for vacation. Answering this question was hard to do, because my explanation is manifold. 

First, I planned this trip because I had two friends and former classmates are living in Istanbul and Bursa, respectively. They are working as English professors at universities in both of their cities. Second, I had been obsessed with history as a kid and used to spend hours pouring over encyclopedias which led to a love of many cultures, Turkey included. I read historical fiction on the Byzantine empire and had a slight obsession with Empress Theodora. I have wanted to see the Hagia Sophia since then. Third, I have developed, like many other Americans, a deep admiration of Rumi's philosophy any poetry. When I was eleven, my family and I went to see the whirling dervishes of Rumi, which partially inspired my religious studies minor in undergraduate. Then of course, I study world dance and wanted to learn folk dance and hear live street musicians. I actually got so many reasons that I wanted to go that I began to worry that it couldn't possibly live up to my heavily romanticized expectations.

I chose Turkey, “Just because.” This was a trip for me.

Suffice it to say my trip was AMAZING. YOU should go, and YOU should go, and everyone should go! I fumbled my way through the streets of Istanbul, cultural goofs and indecency in smaller towns like Bursa and Iznik, and managed to find myself lost only a small handful of times on the behemoth of options that encompass Turkish transportation (metros, ferries, buses, domestic planes, taxis, and shared trams aka “dolmas”). My trip spanned 12 days for seven cities in four countries with layovers: Washington D.C. → Munich, → Istanbul → Cesme → Chios → Efes → Iznik → Bursa → Istanbul → Washington D.C. → Home. The initial layovers in Washington and Munich were quite intentionally, because I'd never been to either city.

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zZG_qG1ba0c8.kwZZPLvQkZe4



Washington D.C.
Somehow, I missed the requisite field trip that every other grade schooler took to Washinton D.C. As such, our nation's capital was a bold new world full of free museums, impending monuments, and fancy government employees in suits wearing name-tags. I won't go into too many details because everyone went on that field trip, but I will say that seeing the cherry blossoms on the Memory Mall had me awestruck. Best of all, I was able to meet with an amazing dance friend and we shared delightful Ethiopian noms and stories.



Munich
Next, I went to Munich. Given the constraints of a layover, I was able to explore Marienplatz and see many of the old cathedrals, the clock square, the bartering square, and the Forever 21. However, my primary objective was the Munchen Hobrauhaus. Of course, the beer was delicious, and so was the food. Going to Oktoberfest will continue to be one of my life goals.



Arrival in Istanbul
At this point I had been on planes and layovers for 48-hours and was both sleep-deprived and severely unshowered. BUT, I was set for Istanbul! My arrival was shaky at best, terrifying at worst. I landed at 2:00 in the morning and had to wait for a shuttle at 4:00. During that time I befriended a janitor who helped me plug in my phone and spoke exactly two words of English ("hello” and “selfie”) and then a shuttle driver who began a conversation with me about Stephen King after seeing the book I was reading. I arrived at Taqsim Square at 4:00 in the morning and was told by the hostel proprietor where I made a reservation that they were full and had no rooms for the night. He directed me to another hotel, which I still didn't find through a ten-minute search. After garnering attention, shouts and whistles from men who were lumbering through the alleys of Istikal (there are a LOT of alleys) I ran into a hotel and was able to mime and Turklish my way a place to stay. I got a tiny, dank room with a bed fit for one of the seven dwarves, put my jacket over the pillow, used a scarf instead of a sheet and fell asleep until noon the next day. Honestly, it wasn't a great introduction to the city.

Hostel and Sultanamet Square

Luckily, this rough arrival was in no way indicative of the day that followed. Wednesday, I woke up and found another hostel (The Chambers of the Boheme, which I highly recommend!) nearby using a wifi signal where the owner made me a Turkish breakfast. I also met a fellow traveler at the hostel, a young woman from Germany pursuing graduate studies in Brussels, who journeyed with me through the tourist attractions of Sultanamet.

 The Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, the Grand Bazaar, delicious food, and incredible company. These main attractions are all within walking distance of each other, and are staggeringly beautiful architecturally.

Istikal

We were staying on Istikal, which is a street brimming with life at all hours of the night, including a number of street musicians who play guitar, oud, clarinet, and darbuka. The night life lasts well into the early morning hours, as indicated by the noise which continued outside our hostel window until 4:00am or so.

Galata Tower, Tokepi Palace, Cistern

Thursday was my fullest day. One of the amazing things about being an ESL teacher has been the connections it has given me around the world. I met with a woman whom I had never met, but mutually communicated with through a co-hort in my M.A. program! We had mostly talked about Doctor Who and Sherlock, but we met in Istanbul to see Galata Tower and eat at the Istanbul Shake Shack. (Yes, there is an Istanbul Shake Shack.) Later that day, I sadly had to separate from my travel partner, and explored Tokepi Palace, the Archaeology Museum, and the Cistern Basilica on my own. Also, incredible! The Sultan's rooms at Tokepi palace were overwhelming!

Hodjapasha Dance and Galata Bridge

That evening I chatted with the hostel proprietor and a Swiss woman who had taken a multi-country train ride to Istanbul, before I left to watch Turkish folk dance downtown. The name of the theater was "Hodjapasha Dance Theater" and it was a converted mosque turned into an amazing display. (I gave them a good review on TripAdvisor.) Afterward, I met with my friend Alex (also from my M.A. Program) who is a teacher at a university in Istanbul. We walked over Galata Bridge and through the city at night which provided a completely different perspective of the staggering levels of complexity that comprise Istanbul.

Friday was full of planes and buses, aiming for the southwestern coastal city of Cesme. For these rides, I had finished the only book I brought with me and had no wifi, which led to fill nearly thirty journal pages full of thoughts and plans. I wandered throughout Cesme and slept until my friend Ame (you guessed it, another friend from my M.A. Program!) arrived at 4:30am the next morning. Bum part was that our ferry was at 7:00am...

I will write about my trip through Greece, Ephesos, Iznik, and Bursa soon.

Experiencing Ancient Maya

In sixth grade, I had a pretty awesome ancient history teacher. We learned about geography, agriculture, anthropology, and the development of ancient civilizations in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Her room was filled with posters and pictures of different civilizations, and a giant set of encyclopedias in the back that I used to thumb through. I remember going above and beyond on all of the projects she assigned: dioramas, posters, presentations from the point of view of Empress Theodora. We also learned a great deal about the ancient civilizations of the Maya, the Aztec, and the Inca in South America.

Just so happens, my teacher was also my mom. Having such a cool lady in my life has clearly had quite an effect. :)

Anyway, in this class we also learned about the Ancient Mayan culture. Mom always loved Mayan culture, and I remember watching "The Voyage of the Mimi" an old PBS educational program dramatized. It also starred an 11-year-old Ben Affleck. (I just found it on Youtube, but I really don't want to rewatch it for fear that it hasn't held up.) The point of the show was that these relics are important to preserve because they give us a snip into the past, of a highly advanced culture that flourished outside of Europe.

So, in December, we got to visit the same places from "The Voyage of the Mimi" in Mexico: Coba, Tulum, and Chichen Itza. We had an amazing Mayan guide, Juan Murux Gonzales aka "Juan King Cole", who is a 2nd generation archaeologist who was part of the excavations that took place during the 1970s. He guided us through the ruins and gave us insights into the carvings, stories from the Popul Vuh, and even gave me some Mayan berry "lipstick" to put on (it didn't poison me.) Seriously, this guy was amazing. Our trip wouldn't have been half as wonderful without him.

We also saw the giant courtyard at Chichen Itza where the Maya used to play the ball game, the liminal place between life and death where the myth of the twins Hunapu and Xbalanque played  ball. The full implications of such a game lost on tourists (like me) who wander through the ruins snapping pictures. All the same, walking into the court with its immense width and height is staggering to see.

Seeing these places without being an anthropologist or historian is somewhat vapid. I feel like it is magic to be able to fly and visit, despite being separated by a large body of water and a thousand miles. The ruins are certainly beautiful, fascinating, and breathtaking. The best part of our trip was when our guide, who was Mayan, took us to the outer woods surrounding Coba. We got to make tortillas with a family who lived there. This family spoke only Mayan and no Spanish. I still feel slightly strange having been invited into their house as tourists, but it seemed like they were accustomed to the practice and it was enlightening for my mother and I.

What I took from this trip to Mexico is thus. I was absolutely delighted to spend this trip with my mom (and former history teacher.) Seeing these relics was for us, more about the bond we share than the relics themselves. All forms of tourism only provide a limited snapshot of history or culture which the tourist visit. Ultimately, I feel incredibly blessed to have these places preserved for all people live out their dreams that began in a sixth grade history book.