My New Iranian Friends

Can I take your picture he asked? Hmm...(inner thoughts) think Lissa, think...why does this strange man want to take my picture...if being Black and traveling hadn't had it's ups and downs over the past month already....will I be on his facebook page...hasn't he seen a Black person before, he's not that light himself..it took courage to ask me I guess...at least he asked and didn't assume I was entertainment for the day...hmm...He don't do a drive by photo snap which had been done earlier that day...hmmm. I asked him, "Why, why do you want my picture?" He said, "I like American." I asked, "What's your name?" and he responded. I introduced myself and Matt. I asked him where he was from and he said Iran. He then introduced me to his entire family (sister, brother, kids, nephews, etc.). I finally responded with sure, you can take my picture, if you are in the picture with me. After I walked away, I decided I wanted a picture of him and his family. I ran back and asked him. His family quickly got into position and posed. I was then welcomed into the family picture that you see above. After walking around for a minute or two, my new friend found me again and asked from my email in which we both exchanged. It is interesting how God allows things and interactions to happen. How different that situation could have gone given my response. There have been many odd, strange, and down right rude encounters with some locals and Black members of our community on ship, but you have to put it all in perspective, and breathe through the challenge. It won't stop me from traveling, so the world will just have to adjust!! This previous situation was weird and awkward, yes, but maybe this is a future bridge for understanding and human connection that was made. With our country at war for things most of us don't understand, I found some peace in this unusual serendipitous moment in life. We have to ask questions. We have to enage with people that are different than us. If we don't ask, we'll never know. To my new friend from Iran, I am you and you are me. A relationship of dialogue and understanding will last longer than a picture, so I hope we connect soon.

A Special Time in Turkey

Have you ever felt privileged to be in someone's or something's presence....well that's how we feel about Turkey. We've never in our lives been in a place so different than our home. Interestingly enough, this is not a scary feeling (though I, Lissa, have inhaled more pop than ever before to connect to a since of home). Culturally and spirituality our world is different. There are women walking around with head scarves and covered from to their toes on extremely hot days. The call to prayer happens 5 times a day on a communal speaker. The mosques here are large and majestic. The Turkish people are diverse in their religious practices, but labeled as a Islamic country. The country is constantly struggling with the thin line between state (secular) and reformist (religious) communities' ways of life which you notice through people's street demonstrations, how people chose to dress, conversations locals have, and the dialogue we had one night with locals at a hookah bar down the street. We have had more conversations around issues of racism, sexism, global issues, history, and politics than anywhere else. We have had the opportunity to engage in real ways, with real people in which we have been very blessed. It is interesting how kindness works. About 20 years ago, Matt's family (The Sams and friends) took care of a foreign exchange student from Turkey. Now many years later, that same family has taken care of us. We have had an unreal experience because it was personal and off the beaten path. We ate at amazing restaurants, tried Turkish food, learned about unspoken history and tradition, and engaged in a real exchange of cultures. We want to thank Elif for all her help in connecting us with her family and Emrah for showing us around and being more than generous with his time and energy.Thank you also to Ertugrul and Azade for an amazing dinner and great convesation. Turkey has been an remarkable place on our summer journey.. one in which we will never forgot!

So as we reflective over our time in Turkey, the question that keeps us up at night thinking and talking is "What does it really mean to be a global citizen?" When does it mean to tap in, connect, find meaning, establish common ground, build international relationships? Our journey of this question seems to be a long one, but one we have stated here in Turkey over a cup of Turkish tea, a view of the Bosphorus (a body of water that separates the Europe and Asian side of Turkey), and a open heart and mind...What about you..what do you think?

P.S We are having a hard time loading photos, so stay tuned for more to come

Greece..hmm..interesting place. Thank God we didn't stay in Athens!

"> (Matt drinking his McBeer at McDonalds)

So Matt and I have been waiting forever to get to Greece. We decided to spend a little more money travel independently in Greece verse Italy (we gotta go back there and hit up Venice, etc.). We were thinking this was a good choice since there were so many things we wanted to see in Italy. It just made sense to travel with a Semester at Sea on an organized trip. So the day finally came and we arrived in Greece. We must say that the Piraeus Port was nothing of what we thought Greece would be. As Matt said..It had a smell and taste of Washington D.C (graffiti, a lot of people, traffic, etc.). We spent one day at Athena and the Acropolis. It was okay, but we are "Ruins out." No more old stuff that is barely standing. The ruins trips are always in the middle of the day, at the hottest times, not enough water, and a lot of people. Don't get us wrong...It was very cool (that's why we added a pic), but we were ready to go in about 1 hours after arriving. So our first day went by fast, and we were off to our second!!! We took a plane (after walking 20 minutes to the bus stop and a 1 hour bus ride) to Santorini Island. This is the same island that Mama Mia and Sisterhood of the traveling were filmed. So we had 2 1/2 days and 2 nights to live it up in Santorini. We wanted a little culture, down time, and amazing sunsets so....we did the following


1. Stayed at a really nice hostel- Pension George (we highly recommend in Karterados)
2. Walked around Fira (capital) and did a little shopping
3. Watched the sunset while having dessert in Fira
4. Got a gyro and sat and people watched
5. Stood outside on our balcony and watched the stars for a bit
6. Road a bus to the highest point (Prophet Elias Monastery) on the island (I wore my fancy handmade shoes from Spain)
7. Climbed up to the highest village (Pirgos) on the island and got great pics
8. Sailed on a boat to the active volcano (Island Nea Kameni), and walked to the top of it (the guide dug up soil and you could feel the heat of the lava below us)
9. Sailed to the Hot Spring (Matt got in and said the ground felt like a hair, muddy tongue..gross)
10. Sailed to Thirassia, where we rode donkeys up the mountain to a little cafe (my donkey was crazy. The donkeys aren't guided. They just go straight to the top without stopping or waiting their turn. Check out the donkey's going downhill in the video
11. We saw the sunset in Oia (most popular part of the island with the white houses and blue tops)
12. We had the best dessert at a little crepe place
13. We took a tour bus back to our side of the island
14. We met some new friends from England and chatted over a glass of wine
15. Finally, went back to our room to get ready for a 5:30am wake up call for our 7:25am plane back to Athens.

Okay.. I can finally breathe.....We are so sleepy, but IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!!

We can't believe our trip is half way over. We are headed to Turkey in 1 day!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MA!!! (OLIVE JUICE) SMOOCHES from Matt and I

GREAT Bday, but no Sea Olympics Victory..so sad

So I had amazing birthday, I would have to say it was in the top 3 best bdays in my life time. I'm not sure how I'm going to top it for 30. You really can't beat being off work, a day at sea, huge bbq, midday nap, lots of bday wishes from online to over our loud PA, ice cream 3 times, cake, gummy bears, new thing of chapstick (from Phil..much needed..haha), fun card that sings to me, but I can't read it because it's in Croatian, and more. We ended the day with a games night which was fun. We also had our Sea Olympics. There were about 8 different games. This was a very big day because the winning sea gets to get off the ship first in VA (No line for them) Matt was over the dodgeball competition, and I was over the paper boat race. The lip sync competition and synchronized swimming (a pic of our team above)were by far the funniest things we had ever seen. Unfortunately, the RED sea (our floor) fought long and hard, but did not win. They finished third to last, but that's okay (the yellow sea won). We'll be having an ice cream social for their efforts. Oh...our adopted Place family is doing well. We spend a lot of time with Tara, Lindsay and Rasheda because we see them the most and they are always open to telling us about their travels both good and bad. Bronson, Amanda, Carter, Paoline, and Sarah are good as well. We are happy say they all got good grades on their papers and aced their Global Studies midterm. We are quite proud parents. Matt was also successful at convincing Lindsay not to get a random tattoo in Croatia. We had a family movie night, and will hopefully, post a family pic soon. There is always something happening with such a large family. We off to explore GREECE and more specifically SANTORINI!!!!

It's My Birthday!

So it is 2am, and yes, we are still awake. The sky is beautiful. The stars are out, and the moon is a bright orange color. We are sitting on the deck listening to one of the student play the guitar. It's a good night. We have one more time change (1 hour a head.. now a 7 hour time difference from Ohio and a 10 hour difference from Cali). We have the Sea Olympics tomorrow, which is the same as field day. It will be interesting to see students play dodge ball on a moving ship and synchronize swim in a 15 by 10 pool (3 feet only). It is a free day, so there are no classes, and students are looking forward to sleeping in. It's going to be a good day....of course it is my bday!!! I hope they serve French fries for lunch.. or maybe there wonderful little brownies...if not BBQ for dinner...oh yea! Well, we are off to bed..good night and Happy Birthday to my other July 12th amigos…Tim and Reka : )

Undiscovered beauty behind the Dubrovnik Walls of Croatia

Matt woke up at 6am to watch the ship pull into Dubrovnik, Croatia. The Master Captain is from Croatia. As we pulled past the city chapel, the captain blew the ship horn once, and the chapel replied with the sound of their bell three times. As we pulled pass his house, he blow the ship horn three times and the town harbor responded with three horns. At that moment, the captain's wife waved a white flag while standing on top of a stone wall. It was one of the most touching and romantic moments ever.

Croatia is amazing. It is a beautiful country with a very recent sad past. This country was heavily impacted by war, death, and destruction about 17 years ago. We had the opportunity to go to the War Photo Museum. There were photos of the war in Croatia, Columbia, and of wounded soldiers from the US. It was quite profound and moving. We had the opportunity to talk to several locals who survived the Croatian war and their stories were overwhelming. They showed us all the places where the city had been bomb and rebuilt. There is a great deal of pride and love from the people towards their country. We feel very blessed to have been able to be visitors and not just tourist to their beautiful country.

We have had the opportunity to really relax these past couple of days. We spend a whole day at the beach on the island of Lopud. It was a beautiful place, but extremely hot. We walked throughout the Old Town, walked 1,715 steps around the Wall (the video above; it is the largest fortress in the world), and tried great Croatian food. Are time here has gone by slowly which is nice...We will be talking off and headed towards Greece tomorrow night. So, one last day to enjoy this breathtakingly beautiful country. We hope you enjoy the pics above.