Greece/Turkey days 4-8
So I think I left off the last journal entry on Wednesday after visting Delphi.
Thursday was spent in Olympia. Olympia is the site of the first Olympics. We walked the track, visited the ancient ruins of the temple of Hera, and almost died in the scorching heat. Well....kinda. It was hot. :-P Thursday night after tracking the ruins of Olympia and running a race on the actual track, almost all of us went swimming at our hotel which was great fun. :) We played basketball in the pool with life-saving devices as hoops! There were no rules, and all the girls were pretty much climbing on the guys to get the ball. :-P
Friday we went to Sparta. To get there we had to take a 5 hour bus ride over the Peloponneise (sp?) mountains. It was SOOO scary! Seriously, I would look out of my window and see straight down a cliff! Those sharp turns were not meant for a huge travel bus! Many people let out short screams of terror on the especially sharp turns. Also, we stopped by a cave on the way where the Spartans would throw away babies who were not “perfect” and a good fit for their incredibly strong army. Isn’t that terrible?! I shuddered when he graphically explained it to us. I am now inspired to see the movie Troy. The war was between the Spartans and Trojans (Troy is in Turkey and we are going there soon).
Today (Sabbath) we had worship in the morning with Dr. Haloviak, and then head out to see the ruins of the Mycenae people who in ancient times were in constant conflict with the Spartans. The tomb of Mordecai (sp?) was found in one of the caves inside the city. The ruins are much more in tact as compared to the Spartans. There is a mighty stone wall built around the entire city. Inside, we traversed a good 3 miles to see the whole thing. Ruins are starting to look the same to me, though. One of the guys said: “See one rock, see them all.” I thought that was funny. For lunch we stopped in Nafplio, ate, and them went into 3 incredibly elaborate cathedrals.
Sunday we visited Corinth and the Acropolis in Athens. Corinth was the first of the churches that we will visit and was quite in tact! Our tour guide was so knowledgeable and biblical in his approach. He had Dr. Haloviak get our Bible (that has both Greek and English) and had her look up several verses that if read in the Greek, are talking about structures in front of our very eyes! Oh my goodness! For example, the judgement seat mentioned in 1 Corithians is actually referring to the "Bee-mah"-- a tall, stone, podium thing that people would stand on when being judged by the officials and citizens of the city. How interesting! There are also several other words that refer to the same spot, one of them proving to us that Paul stood on that very rock! WOW! Also, our tour guide pointed out the numerous reprimanding Paul gives to the Corinthians in the topic of sexual immorality. WELL....if one looks up from the city into the hills, he/she would see the ancient ruins of the temple of Aphrodite! Kostas told us that the temple prostitutes (little boys and girls) would wander down to the city and seduce the citizens to come up to the temple and "worship" Aphrodite by you know what. It's amazing how much of the Bible needs to be read through the eyes of the ancient people, and not through the eyes of our American 21st century culture.
Later on that day we headed to the Acropolis at Athens. Athens is the biggest city in Greece and houses 1/2 of Greek population!!!!! We visited the Parthenon, the most famous structure in all Greece that is a temple built to Athena (the goddess of wisdom). Also, we saw the Erechtheieon and the temple of Athena Nike. It was HOT. We all took a group picture, meandered for awhile, and then head back down to Mar's hill (Mar is the god of war). Mar's hill is basically a huge rock at the foot of the Acropolis where ancient greek philosophers would come to discuss philosophy and the supernatural. Tradition holds that Paul the apostle came to this hill to share about "the unknown god" and a statue stood there for many years in dedication to "the unknown God".
Oh! Btw, that morning, all three girls in our room slept through the 6 am wake up phone ring in our room, along with 3 guys as well. We were finally awaken at 7:30 am when the bus was loading and people noticed 6 people missing. It was HORRIBLE!!! I couldn't believe that all of us slept through it! I've never gotten ready so fast! 4 minutes!!! I didn't even hold up the bus! Thank goodness I took a shower the night before. I really think that we all just are lacking sleep. I haven't had one excellent night since our arrival--and I've never slept so much during the day in my life! I seem to conk out on EVERY bus ride. lol. I was so overwhelmed by the events that i almost started crying. I have realized that I don't only cry when I'm happy or sad, but also when I'm overwhelmed with a certain emotion. I could be overwhelmed with stress, or even expressing an emotion that overwhelms me and is hard to get out. Tears are just a function of the body when were are overwhelmed with emotion.
Now...the next event I'm going to write about was definitely the most TRYING and STRESSFUL part of the trip thus far: the 11 hour overnight ferry from Athens to the island of Patmos. We loaded the ferry at around 8 pm. Out of nowhere, it started raining, STORMING, and then there was THUNDER and LIGHTNING!! Now this ferry has 3 types of accomodations: cabins, airline seating, and "bring your own mattress and find a corner" seating. :/ We were given airline seats at the last minute and they were NOT together as a group. Our sponsors went in to ask if we could all be together and the attendant told us that the number on the ticket doesn't matter. We all got comfortable. As more people came, a man came to Dr. Bates and said he needed to move because he was in this man's seat. Dr. Bates gave him the information the attendant gave us and wouldn't budge. The man then started yelling in Greek and got a different attendant who made Dr. Bates move. I could tell he didn't want to because then all of us were in danger of being moved...and who knows where the girls could end up sleeping...:/ He grudginly moved. More people came in and I was asked to move. We all decided to get up and go to our assigned seats...which could be in a room completely away from others in our group. SCARY! Now late at night, I wandered with my pillow to my new seat downstairs to find a greek lady in it. I told her that she was in my seat and she responded "seat don't matter." She was almost falling asleep. I tried to tell her what happened and she got mad at me, mostly because she didn't understand what I was saying. She started speaking in Greek and I tried to say "ven catalaveno elenika". She wouldn't budge. What could I do? Sit in another seat and then kicked out? I soon discovered that there was another guy from LSU that came down to be a few seats down from where I was supposed to be. He tried to help me but we had no luck and people were getting mad at the commotion...IN GREEK! I was seriously thinking about finding myself a corner in the moving ship and trying to sleep there. One problem: the hallways were now PACKED! It smelled and felt like a homeless shelter to me. Finally, I found an attendant and he made the lady move. WHAT A NIGHT!
Positive events of the night: I finally got to sleep and slept a solid 6 hours. I woke up at one point at the beginning of the night and Jenny and I walked up to deck (it had stopped raining). It was BEAUTIFUL. There was a full moon that shone across the water. It was windy, but warm. :) I could see the lights of several Greek islands around me. I wonder if one of them was Santornini! Mmmm.... I love inspiring moments. They keep me going. :)
In the morning, we unloaded the ferry and walked onto Patmos. When I used to think of Patmos, I would think of a tiny island that had a prison. I WAS MISTAKEN! It is rather large! Many people live in the city there and it has become a huge tourist attraction. We took a bus up to St. John's Monastery and walked into the cave where tradition says that John wrote the book of Revelation. It has since been transformed into a Greek Orthodox chapel, but is still a cave. There were no pictures allowed, but Dr. Haloviak snuck one. ;-P I was pretty entranced thinking about John in that cave, even on that Island. How cool! So much of what Christianity, especially Adventism, is based on the events that occured in that cave. WOW. Also, Patmos is just like any other Greek island. There are white, flat roof houses, and beautiful, deep, saphire water. It is surrounded by the Aegean Sea. I bet John was inspired by his surroudings. :) I never would have dreamed I would visit Patmos. That was a once in a lifetime activity. :)
After visiting Patmos, we went on a boat ride from Patmos to Turkey, where I am right now. The boat ride was about 5 hours and on a smaller boat where we could be on top with the wind in our faces. The boat only contained LSU students! It was GORGEOUS! It felt like a low-class cruise of the Greek Islands. haha. I loved it. :) I wanted to just jump into the beautiful water. I stayed on top the whole time and am now really dark. My foundation makes me look like a ghost! And I look like I'm wearing white clothes.....when I'm not. haha. j/k. ;P Anways, so now I'm in our hotel in Turkey that has FREE INTERNET!!! YAY!!! (Hence this very long entry which I am NOT paying for) Turkey is a whole different culture from Greece. 99 percent of the population is Muslim. Almost all Christian churches have been turned into Masque's or Museums. yikes! We have been told to dress very modestly. I'm going to get a head shawl for some of the places we visit.
What a journey this has been! I feel so enlightened about other cultures. :)
---------------------------
P.S. To the one I love: I miss you and can't wait to be with you again. I love you. :)
Thursday was spent in Olympia. Olympia is the site of the first Olympics. We walked the track, visited the ancient ruins of the temple of Hera, and almost died in the scorching heat. Well....kinda. It was hot. :-P Thursday night after tracking the ruins of Olympia and running a race on the actual track, almost all of us went swimming at our hotel which was great fun. :) We played basketball in the pool with life-saving devices as hoops! There were no rules, and all the girls were pretty much climbing on the guys to get the ball. :-P
Friday we went to Sparta. To get there we had to take a 5 hour bus ride over the Peloponneise (sp?) mountains. It was SOOO scary! Seriously, I would look out of my window and see straight down a cliff! Those sharp turns were not meant for a huge travel bus! Many people let out short screams of terror on the especially sharp turns. Also, we stopped by a cave on the way where the Spartans would throw away babies who were not “perfect” and a good fit for their incredibly strong army. Isn’t that terrible?! I shuddered when he graphically explained it to us. I am now inspired to see the movie Troy. The war was between the Spartans and Trojans (Troy is in Turkey and we are going there soon).
Today (Sabbath) we had worship in the morning with Dr. Haloviak, and then head out to see the ruins of the Mycenae people who in ancient times were in constant conflict with the Spartans. The tomb of Mordecai (sp?) was found in one of the caves inside the city. The ruins are much more in tact as compared to the Spartans. There is a mighty stone wall built around the entire city. Inside, we traversed a good 3 miles to see the whole thing. Ruins are starting to look the same to me, though. One of the guys said: “See one rock, see them all.” I thought that was funny. For lunch we stopped in Nafplio, ate, and them went into 3 incredibly elaborate cathedrals.
Sunday we visited Corinth and the Acropolis in Athens. Corinth was the first of the churches that we will visit and was quite in tact! Our tour guide was so knowledgeable and biblical in his approach. He had Dr. Haloviak get our Bible (that has both Greek and English) and had her look up several verses that if read in the Greek, are talking about structures in front of our very eyes! Oh my goodness! For example, the judgement seat mentioned in 1 Corithians is actually referring to the "Bee-mah"-- a tall, stone, podium thing that people would stand on when being judged by the officials and citizens of the city. How interesting! There are also several other words that refer to the same spot, one of them proving to us that Paul stood on that very rock! WOW! Also, our tour guide pointed out the numerous reprimanding Paul gives to the Corinthians in the topic of sexual immorality. WELL....if one looks up from the city into the hills, he/she would see the ancient ruins of the temple of Aphrodite! Kostas told us that the temple prostitutes (little boys and girls) would wander down to the city and seduce the citizens to come up to the temple and "worship" Aphrodite by you know what. It's amazing how much of the Bible needs to be read through the eyes of the ancient people, and not through the eyes of our American 21st century culture.
Later on that day we headed to the Acropolis at Athens. Athens is the biggest city in Greece and houses 1/2 of Greek population!!!!! We visited the Parthenon, the most famous structure in all Greece that is a temple built to Athena (the goddess of wisdom). Also, we saw the Erechtheieon and the temple of Athena Nike. It was HOT. We all took a group picture, meandered for awhile, and then head back down to Mar's hill (Mar is the god of war). Mar's hill is basically a huge rock at the foot of the Acropolis where ancient greek philosophers would come to discuss philosophy and the supernatural. Tradition holds that Paul the apostle came to this hill to share about "the unknown god" and a statue stood there for many years in dedication to "the unknown God".
Oh! Btw, that morning, all three girls in our room slept through the 6 am wake up phone ring in our room, along with 3 guys as well. We were finally awaken at 7:30 am when the bus was loading and people noticed 6 people missing. It was HORRIBLE!!! I couldn't believe that all of us slept through it! I've never gotten ready so fast! 4 minutes!!! I didn't even hold up the bus! Thank goodness I took a shower the night before. I really think that we all just are lacking sleep. I haven't had one excellent night since our arrival--and I've never slept so much during the day in my life! I seem to conk out on EVERY bus ride. lol. I was so overwhelmed by the events that i almost started crying. I have realized that I don't only cry when I'm happy or sad, but also when I'm overwhelmed with a certain emotion. I could be overwhelmed with stress, or even expressing an emotion that overwhelms me and is hard to get out. Tears are just a function of the body when were are overwhelmed with emotion.
Now...the next event I'm going to write about was definitely the most TRYING and STRESSFUL part of the trip thus far: the 11 hour overnight ferry from Athens to the island of Patmos. We loaded the ferry at around 8 pm. Out of nowhere, it started raining, STORMING, and then there was THUNDER and LIGHTNING!! Now this ferry has 3 types of accomodations: cabins, airline seating, and "bring your own mattress and find a corner" seating. :/ We were given airline seats at the last minute and they were NOT together as a group. Our sponsors went in to ask if we could all be together and the attendant told us that the number on the ticket doesn't matter. We all got comfortable. As more people came, a man came to Dr. Bates and said he needed to move because he was in this man's seat. Dr. Bates gave him the information the attendant gave us and wouldn't budge. The man then started yelling in Greek and got a different attendant who made Dr. Bates move. I could tell he didn't want to because then all of us were in danger of being moved...and who knows where the girls could end up sleeping...:/ He grudginly moved. More people came in and I was asked to move. We all decided to get up and go to our assigned seats...which could be in a room completely away from others in our group. SCARY! Now late at night, I wandered with my pillow to my new seat downstairs to find a greek lady in it. I told her that she was in my seat and she responded "seat don't matter." She was almost falling asleep. I tried to tell her what happened and she got mad at me, mostly because she didn't understand what I was saying. She started speaking in Greek and I tried to say "ven catalaveno elenika". She wouldn't budge. What could I do? Sit in another seat and then kicked out? I soon discovered that there was another guy from LSU that came down to be a few seats down from where I was supposed to be. He tried to help me but we had no luck and people were getting mad at the commotion...IN GREEK! I was seriously thinking about finding myself a corner in the moving ship and trying to sleep there. One problem: the hallways were now PACKED! It smelled and felt like a homeless shelter to me. Finally, I found an attendant and he made the lady move. WHAT A NIGHT!
Positive events of the night: I finally got to sleep and slept a solid 6 hours. I woke up at one point at the beginning of the night and Jenny and I walked up to deck (it had stopped raining). It was BEAUTIFUL. There was a full moon that shone across the water. It was windy, but warm. :) I could see the lights of several Greek islands around me. I wonder if one of them was Santornini! Mmmm.... I love inspiring moments. They keep me going. :)
In the morning, we unloaded the ferry and walked onto Patmos. When I used to think of Patmos, I would think of a tiny island that had a prison. I WAS MISTAKEN! It is rather large! Many people live in the city there and it has become a huge tourist attraction. We took a bus up to St. John's Monastery and walked into the cave where tradition says that John wrote the book of Revelation. It has since been transformed into a Greek Orthodox chapel, but is still a cave. There were no pictures allowed, but Dr. Haloviak snuck one. ;-P I was pretty entranced thinking about John in that cave, even on that Island. How cool! So much of what Christianity, especially Adventism, is based on the events that occured in that cave. WOW. Also, Patmos is just like any other Greek island. There are white, flat roof houses, and beautiful, deep, saphire water. It is surrounded by the Aegean Sea. I bet John was inspired by his surroudings. :) I never would have dreamed I would visit Patmos. That was a once in a lifetime activity. :)
After visiting Patmos, we went on a boat ride from Patmos to Turkey, where I am right now. The boat ride was about 5 hours and on a smaller boat where we could be on top with the wind in our faces. The boat only contained LSU students! It was GORGEOUS! It felt like a low-class cruise of the Greek Islands. haha. I loved it. :) I wanted to just jump into the beautiful water. I stayed on top the whole time and am now really dark. My foundation makes me look like a ghost! And I look like I'm wearing white clothes.....when I'm not. haha. j/k. ;P Anways, so now I'm in our hotel in Turkey that has FREE INTERNET!!! YAY!!! (Hence this very long entry which I am NOT paying for) Turkey is a whole different culture from Greece. 99 percent of the population is Muslim. Almost all Christian churches have been turned into Masque's or Museums. yikes! We have been told to dress very modestly. I'm going to get a head shawl for some of the places we visit.
What a journey this has been! I feel so enlightened about other cultures. :)
---------------------------
P.S. To the one I love: I miss you and can't wait to be with you again. I love you. :)