Well it's been a week since the whole shebang went down. I had to wait it out in Athens for 5 days longer then we wanted to be in Athens. Chelsea was a trooper and stayed there with me. Although we lost a lot of our adventurous spirits after that we stuck pretty close to home...home at the time being our couchsurf hosts.
I found I was afraid to venture out on my own in Athens and living in a state of fear is not fun nor in anyway healthy as then you simply attract more of it into your life. So "I put on my big girl panties" as my mom would say and did what I had to do. I walked half an hour to the Canadian Embassy when I had to for all the logistics and back again. It was tough but I did it and am all the stronger for it. I went out when I had to and stayed in when I could.
The day my visa card arrived in Athens and my passport replacement request had been sent out was a relief....it meant that everything I could do for now was done and we could get the heck out of dodge.
By the time I got home from the Embassy, ate dinner, headed for the mall to restock on some of my stolen items and got home again it was 11:30pm. We decided we wanted out of here ASAP and were bound and determined to be on the next ferry....at 7:25 am which meant being at the docks to buy a ticket at 6:25. It took an hour to get there from where we were staying so after sleeping for only 3 hours we made the trek and arrived on time to be on that boat.
Ahhhh we could breathe, we were on our way out. Out of Athens, out of chaos and out of fear.
I have since learned this is all pretty new for the Greek people as they too are taken by surprise of all the thieves. It's all come about since Greece was made to join the European Union which they entered into already in debt. They covered it up as not to look bad but in doing so their bad situation turned worse. People who were already poor now had nothing and with the increase of immigrants coming into Greece from Romainia, Albaina and Pakistan things were looking grim. Even people who had Government jobs were not getting paid their wages so thing like garbage men just stopped working and the garbage piled up. They called it a white strike....people weren't actually striking but they weren't working or doing anything for that matter. It's all very sad really.
For me this is just a bad experience, one I will carry on from and return back home and be away. But for the people here this is everyday life and what they have to live with.
It's so easy to ramble on here as I have so much to say but this is not at all where I intended to go with this entry.
My reflections.....as stated in one of my most favorite quotes "Not all who wander are lost" While traveling, getting lost is part of the adventure and as my friend Chelsea commented....I have now been lost in every country I've stepped foot in. And in turn lost myself along the way. It takes courage, strength, and desire to step out of your comfort zone and face the world on your own. You have to be willing to see the world as it is and not as you want it to be or imagined it to be.
Learning to watch yourself and your actions becomes much more apparent when you have someone else who is able to hold that mirror up to look back at yourself. Going at this alone I felt strong, capable, independent and I still do though through it all I've learned just how much I appreciate good company and good friends. Without a friend this easily couldve taken me out of the game as I was rocked to the core and ready to throw it all away and come home. Traveling means you are out of your element ALL the time. Nothing is familiar. Every morning you wake up in a different place your forced to start over and when that's something you've never been faced with its an interesting challenge. I'm starting to understand now why they say traveling changes people. It's not so much the act of travel but the experience and growth you achieve during those times, both good and not so good. Either way it's stil
An experience to be had.
Being robbed wasn't just about losing my material possessions, it was about being violated and broken open. Yes in the big scheme of things it was all just stuff and important documents that although inconvenient can all be replaced with time and money. I am safe, I am still here and I'm carrying on. I have the power of choice....I can choose to let this break me or I can pick up the pieces and keep going. There's were days it was tough but thanks to my mom for being so supportive both emotionally and financially even though I'd have to wake her up in the middle of the night her time to talk, for Chelsea, my new friend who became my "sugar momma" while I had nothing to my name and listening to my countless renditions of what could have been and what I'm gonna do about it, for all the people who wrote me messages of strength and encouragement....you are the ones behind me who helped me get throught it. So for that I send thanks to each and everyone one of you, you will never really understand just how much of an impact you made on me.
Setting foot on Santorini is just what I needed. It's given me time to sleep, breathe, take time out from the world and FEEL everything that's going on. Up until now I'd really had to be frozen in time just to survive. I am so sensitive to the world so although this would be traumatic for any person, for me this was mind blowing. Just being in big cities is overwhelming so this adventure has been mountainous....if that's a word haha. So being here has allowed me to open again, let go of the fear that was surrounding me, drop the attitude towards strangers for fear they might hurt me and I'm in the process of returning to myself.
Well....I've now lost count to all the times I've been lost and lost myself....but not all that wander are lost...and here I am!
No comments:
Post a Comment