Where have I been?

I spent the last month, more-or-less, traveling with St. Olaf students in Greece and Turkey.  We were studying "sacred place," which is a great theme for these countries.  We began with the acropolis of Athens and ended being allowed to sit in the gallery during noon prayers at Rustem Pascha mosque in Istanbul and then talk with the imam.  In between: lots of ruins, sunrises, museums, icons, monasteries, temples, cats and dogs and goats and even a caged peacock at a truck stop.

We witnessed epiphany and the blessing of the water at the main harbor of Athens.  When the bells of the church rang, a flock of birds rose into the air.  A military guard and brass band were part of the procession from the church to the water.  As the guards made way for a diplomatic party to get through the gates for a good view of the cross being thrown into and retrieved from the sea, one woman was heard to ask: "Aren't I a Christian?  Why can't I go in."  Along the street union protesters making their views on the economy known.  (A strike by museum employees caused us to make some adjustments in our schedule.)  All this in the city we might regard as one of the birth places of democracy.

As you might expect I did think about American topics now and then.  An AmCon student from a previous cohort used the wild-card spaces on her bus bingo game to take note of "American things I did not expect to see."  Next time I might add "motor-bike delivery for an American fast food franchise" to the general list of things to look for as we travel.  Imagine ordering your McTurco for delivery!

I admit that after a long bus day, in a huge shopping mall in Ankara, where we were using the few hours until our train departure investigating the globalized consumer culture, I collapsed in Starbucks simply because it was sort of quiet in comparison to the food court.  In my defense: I had an Americano coffee and a borek Turkish pastry filled with something rather spicy.  I ate something made with egg-plant almost everyday for the whole month as well as Greek yogurt for breakfast with thick honey.  yum.  I came home with a lovely pair of red shoes purchased in Athens.

Every student picked a day to NOT take any photos.  Their reflections on that experience were wise and insightful noting, among other things, the way all their sense went to work when their eye was not framing photos and the differences between their own photos and those available on postcards.

We landed in JFK airport where one notices how much more difficult it is for visitors to enter the USA than it was for us to enter the EU or Turkey.  I'm glad to say that I also noticed how cheerful and helpful all the government workers were as we dashed through the various thresholds to catch our last flight back to MSP.