Collection of thoughts, ideas. No sequitors, please.

I don't have many cohesive thoughts and I wanted to post a bunch of pictures... so I decided to start with something I can articulate and post pictures from there.

After a light dinner at an Italian restaurant with the fam today, it was decided that we would grab some beers at a pub. It was around seven or eight and I didn't want to spend the waning daylight hours inside a pub (delicious as the food may be), so I opted to walk around by myself for a bit. I crossed some streets that I recognized and was a little disappointed when I realized I was around a very touristy shopping area. I veered myself off to a side street to take some pictures (the lighting was awesome) and heard opera singing floating down the streets. I walked towards it, and discovered that an opera was playing outside at the Staatsoper (State Opera). In the summer, the opera is projected onto a huge screen so people can sit outside and watch.

It was so incredibly beautiful, it almost hurt. It was the second time on this trip that I really felt I could soak in where I was at one particular moment. For me, that's huge. Staying present, in the moment has always been a struggle for me and I felt so blessed that I was able to feel one moment so acutely. It also made me realize that I'm feeling blue that I leave Wien tomorrow (or today, rather.) Salzburg will rock my world (I hear the train ride there is beautiful) but I really do love this city... and I will miss seeing me family when I leave. There's so much history here but the city also feels really young too. Sigh...I just don't like goodbyes- but then again, who does?

Some of my "awesome lighting" outdoor photos:

Stephansdome (St. Stephen's Cathedral.) This place was incredible inside. We went there before the restaurant and pub.

I LOVE this picture. Blurry photos are always so interesting to me and I'm really pleased with how this one came out.

OK...I should be off to bed. Have a travel day tomorrow and I don't really want to be a a tired wreck...

Not quite at post-surrealism yet...

Getting off the plane in Vienna was so surreal (that's my word of choice for most of this trip.) I couldn't believe I finally made it to Europe. Growing up, I thumbed through the pages of National Geographic and knew that I wanted to spend my life traveling. The little girl I was would point and say "I want to go there, and there, and there...and there." Now, I'm here. And it's...incredible and sad and wonderful and painful and....everything else that is contradictory but also true.

Tyler, my cousin, met me at the subway stop near his place and even carried my uber heavy bag for me. I'm still amazed at his and his girlfriend's generosity towards me, considering I haven't seen him in a couple of years-at least. They took me in, fed me, let me use their computers, and gave me a key to come and go as I please (Tyler even came and rescued me when I got lost trying to find my way to meet up with him!) I am overwhelmed by the incredible people I have in my life right now. It's the best birthday gift I could have. Truly.

Wandering around Vienna yesterday and today, I try to take the city in. I'm kinda in a haze, like I was when I first got to Jerusalem. It's a bit of a culture shock, things here are newer and well, more European (duh, I know) than in the Old City. It's the architecture that I'm most familiar with and what I considered most beautiful when I was growing up. But being here, after being in a city thousands of years old, I feel...strange. Like there is some sort of dissonance between being here and where I just came. I think it's a mild, mild form of culture shock. Don't get me wrong, I love it here. The people all look super put-together, and many girls have short hair- like me! And there are cafes/pubs/bars EVERYWHERE. I'm still processing through so much and I think I'll continue to do so until I get back to the States.

Yesterday, I stumbled upon the Naschtmarkt, a large outdoor market. Walking past the stalls, I caught the smell of spices, (not sure what mixture) and it reminded me of the smells inside the Old City. It was really comforting. I felt so grateful to have found a place that felt safe and familiar. Aaaand, I found out that there's chocolate muesli, "schoko-müsli." It's DELICIOUS (Kate, I finally found you a legit breakfast cereal.) They're no squares (more on this later) but definitely up there.



Clearly, I love schoko-müsli.


Lastly, a poem. (y'all will have to bear with my ee cummings-ness for awhile):

east to west

I am here
(now).
and everything that was, that used to mean some(thing)
has changed.
not to say that it isn't meaningful,
oh no, but somehow the emotions
are lost in translation.
no BABELfish here.
still,
that is to be expected
when one cannot communicate emotions
in a universal language,
no one word, one thought
for love, fear, hate, joy.
only a shifting perception
and the heart
trying to read the lips
of others'
hearts.

Poems from Seven Hours Ahead

Posted thems on facebook but I know not everyone has an account.

Them Rocks

you cannot build
build
buillllld
on people.
you must have rocks.
yes, yes, rocks.
and more rocks.
houses from them rocks.
villages from them houses.
cities from them villages.
and then, of course,
walls from them rocks.
walls between them
cities,
between them
villages,
between them
houses,
between
them
rocks.


The Subject Of

conflict resolution is not
on the agenda today.
Instead we'll be relearning the quadratic equation.
Because, lord knows, after the revolution
numbers will be all we have left.
Numbers and perhaps,
one or two
pieces of broken glass.

here (now)

OK. So I have this NEW blog to detail my travels and whatnot. If ya like it and wanna read it, that's cool. If not, that's cool too. I FINALLY can post pictures so I'll have some up too (of Jerusalem at this point; Europe may be a wee bit trickier.)

So to dive in...

I'm processing so much information/ history/ emotions right now. Things here are intense but really, REALLY good. I love it here. I love the languages, the smells, the colors, the FOOD, the crazy delicious Arabic coffee, THE GRAFFITI!!!!

I love how arid it is...and how there can be desert in one paart of the country and ten minutes later mountains with greenery on the other side.

I love this place. I want to embrace it even more but I feel like there is so much swirling around in my head. It's just....surreal, to say the least.

Anyhow, while I continue processing; I thought I'd share a poem I wrote the first day we arrived. Basically, the graduate student assisting our professor was deatined right when we entered Israel. She had some stamps from Arab countries on her passport and is a Palestinian-American and is married to a Palestinian man. It was my first experience seeing a situation that seemed so unjust...she was detained because she was a "suspicious" person. And to boot, when they finally gave her back her passport and we could leave, she was lectured about not telling them that she was married to a Palestinian, even though she was NEVER ASKED. So here it is:

Detainee

detained

because

shecouldbeasuspiciousperson

and youncanneverbetoocareful.

because of some stamps

on her pass(port).

where her husband was born.

(he'll never be able to visit, by the way.)

the fact that she didn't mention everything-

never mind she wasn't asked.

because of something about her.

unnamed but clearer than water.

because of, well,

youcanneverbetoocareful.

So there's a bit of the swirling mess in my head...maybe not a mess, just- hmmm...the birth of a new solar system way of thinking.