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Published: April 24th 2006
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Old Town square
this square is actually within a museum so it is somewhat preserved from the past So things are going well here in Rhodes. It's insane to think I've only been here for a handful of days. I feel like I've already experienced a ton and I haven't really left a 2 mile area yet. I will attempt to entertain you and fill you in along the way.
My first night I arrived back to Mike's just in time to catch his live music. I hadn't ate so I was going to grab some food but before doing so I ran into Mike on his bike. He insisted I go back and eat with him, so indeed I did. After a vegetarian meal of pasta with feta and dolmates, out came the guitar and the rocking began! As it turns out, he has written 47 songs in his lifetime. He had the lyrics all handwritten in a single book, a lone copy I imagine. 3 of them have English lyrics and several other have Turkish but the majority have Greek lyrics. He is quite a talented musician and one can tell that he's been entertaining people with his talents for years and years. The pictures on the walls of the place verify this showing him with
my office
where I've been eating breakfast and prepping my slides! scores of happy travelers and musicians alike. With respect to music, you can tell he has a vision. With each song, he'd stop and say "this is where the flute comes in" or "this is where the accompanying guitart goes... but not a guitar like this; one from Peru or Chile". He intends to eventually recording his works in Athens and then visiting his old friends in NYC to sell these 3 albums. We'll see what becomes of this dream.
Through the bonding experience with Mike, one can tell he's quite passionate and emotional towards what he does and what he believes. Being honest and truthful is something he values deeply, although he tells the stories as if he's been taken advantage of and hurt a lot so his own honesty is starting to frustrate himself, it seems. Sometimes this is to the point where his emotions get the better of him and a "conversation" becomes more a spiel. But listening and nodding is actually resulting several lessons learned with what he has done with his life and where he is now. I could write a book about Mike, I feel. One example was after the songs, he showed
Easter lamb
here are 3 people cooking the lamb for Easter in the Old Town me one couple who was from Chicago and stayed here for a summer with him. He has a strong relationship with them, to the degree where 3 minutes after being introduced to them, I was on the phone with Kelly and Jake to wish them a happy easter. Not much was established because Mike was screaming "I MISS YOU" in the background but from what I established, they were just moving to Kansas City and they also love Mike dearly and intend on visiting soon. Jake offered some travel tips for Turkey including staying in the treehouses near the ruins there.
Easter in Greece is one week later than at least in Canada or the US. This was cool because I was exposed to some of their own traditions. An important part to the holiday is clearly opening the museums for free the day prior. This just meant I was able to get some killer snapshots of the Old Town, where I'm staying, and save 12 Euro in the process. And I've even learned how to put them onto my entries. So feel free to enjoy what I saw and even revisit some of the older entries since I've
looking NW from Rhodes
that's Turkey in the distance. No one is swimming because it's pretty cold actually. put some pictures there. One tradition is to have a full lamb on the day with a spike through its head, entire body and out it's butt (pictured!). This is then used to make soup as well. I had some of the soup and it was pretty good (a lot of dill in it). In Turkey, the same day coincides with a day celebrating the children, so I hear.
The next night I walked around a lot and eventually ended up back at the place to meet Yuksel who had lived in Marmaris but was en route to a permanent move to Stockholm to be with his Swedish wife. He was a very calm clever man who had a love of Turkey and the beach particularly powerboats; he had just sold his business in fact with his move. He brought some lokumn (Turkish delights) and another perspective. Mike, of course, busted out the "sas" a Turkish instrument and sang his Turkish hits. Very entertaining. Yuksel eventually recorded some of the videos of his performance and intends on emailing them to me so hopefully you'll get to see Mike in action.
That night I went out for the first
random scene from the old town
bikes and laundry and history and arches and sandstone time. I had been chilling in the room most of the time reading my presentation and stuff but this night was the time to drink. Unfortunately the only beer are varients of piss lager. And people make fun of the US... I scoff at them. At least we have a choice when it comes to beer. PLEASE give me an ale! But fortunately I didn't care because I got to watch Chelsea lose to Liverpool in the FA Cup. Later I went to another bar and ordered a liter of piss. 3 dudes heard me speaking English so invited me over since I was solo. They were awesome and that's who I hung out with the rest of that night.
These guys were from Albania but all were living here. One had lived in England and he was the only one that spoke English. He was a 23 year old cook and now he wants to move to Canada after I sold it to him. His friends, the painter and the carpenter, unfortunately I couldn't communicate with but one could tell they were harmless and overall good spirited. They all offered some interesting accounts of being a foriegner living in Greece, especially the cook since he constrasted it with England. He claimed that Greeks were all racist and yearn for the day he could move to an English speaking country, where we're all foriegners :-). They made fun of me because I had 2 Liters while they had 2 330 mL bottles. But I was fine and knew I was going home early instead of to the Colorado club with them (3 dance clubs in 1!, says the sign). I didn't go but am going to meet the cook at his pizza restaurant Wednesday night to hang out again.
Today is the last day before my presentation. I will surely be ready. Once the conference starts, I won't be at the hostel much but that's fine by me. I've learned a lot about Mike and as much as I respect tremendously in some ways (and even see some parallels), I'm ready to move on. I think it's overexposure to him because he actually is quite nice. It's actually quite a slow season so I haven't really met too many other people in the hostel itself. Only couples have passed through and they generally suck. But today a Canadian girl named Sara is at the hostel so I showed her to the netcafe. She's going towards Crete and was just in Turkey so gave me some hints. She said that people were very polite and warm there and she felt less threatened there than in France plus it's pretty cheap. She verified the tree house hostels being in existance. I must see them, I feel.
The point is, it will be nice to be at the conference to do something different from Tuesday to Saturday; I'm becoming anxious and don't sit still well (as my roommate can verify, when a commercial comes on during the rare times I watch TV, I go to my room and check my email and fold my laundry and....).
I'm going to buy a ticket to Turkey leaving Saturday afternoon. I'll probably write once more before then to say how the presentations went (in case that matters!).
I hope you all are well and thank you for the emails and comments! Keep me updated too! I'm probably forgetting something but that just means you have to read the next installment!
brad
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good luck
Yo - good luck with the conference dude. if you get nervous picture everone doing "the brain". i recommend teaching mike some raps you picked up while being raised in the ghetto... GOTTA CHANGE EM!