Well, the new year has started of reasonably well. Certainly better than the last couple. I’ll take that as a good omen, and hope I don’t grey too badly by year’s end!
Archive for My Photos
Some pics for April 28, 2012
I felt well enough to get dressed up for a friend’s wedding today. In the last two shots, my niece, Abbie, decided she wanted to horn in on my action. Enjoy!
Me, 4/21/2012
After a busy weekend, I managed to have fun with family for my cousin’s birthday. A couple glasses of wine, some good coffee and cake, and I was able to finally unwind a bit. While preparing my iPad for my uncle, who is now interested in buying one, my mother took an opportunity to snap a pic of me. So, here I am in all my candid glory.
Convalescing in California for now…
I’ve returned from Italy for the time being. I left a bit earlier than I needed to, and I have to pay a price for rushing. I’ll rest in Los Angeles for the time being, and I’ll get used to using an iPad in the meantime. Here’s the view of where I unwind:
Me, today
My rest in Skopje has done me some good. For the first time in ages, I feel like the color is really coming back to my skin. Between this and my time with family in Los Angeles, I feel like I’m ready for a busy, but fun, year.
Back in Skopje
The first part of my semi-permanent move to Europe began on February 15, 2012. After a long (and absolutely wonderful) stay with family and friends in Southern California, I began my sojourn back ‘home’ at around 5:30 in the morning. My father drove me to the airport, and made sure to see me off in good order.
Once the trip began, I steeled myself for 30+ hours of airports and a bit of discomfort. I had surgery in January, and though I healed incredibly quickly, I still feel touches of rawness every time I move. Still, considering my condition (which is not bad at all, to be honest), the trip was a lot more than bearable. I flew to Chicago, spent a few hours there in relative comfort, and then headed off to London, where I milled around Heathrow Airport for about 2 1/2 hours before heading off to Sofia, Bulgaria. For those of you who know me well, you know I’m a big fan of the country generally, but not of its capital city. Still, even here, things went smoothly. I found the correct taxi to jump into, rather than getting shanghaied by some dirtbag pirate whose life is spent preying on tourists who don’t know the area so well. Once I went from the airport to the bus station, I took a bus ride to Skopje, and have been here since, waiting one more week before I head off to Naples, Italy, where life begins anew (or so I hope). The picture above is of me freezing a bit at my friend Igor’s apartment, but other than me forgetting to close the window, I’ve been in good hands here. Unless something interesting or out-of-the-ordinary happens, I won’t be posting here again until I’m settled in bella Napoli.
Healing Nicely
A lot of you knew I had a rather long surgery a few days ago. I’m fine from it, but recovery will be long and annoying. Still, this is how I’m looking these days. Yes, I need a shave, and I look like a combination between Grizzly Adams and Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. Yuck. Anyway, all’s well, and I’ll shave eventually.
Sergo
I travel a lot, and will probably spend the rest of my life doing so, barring some lovely woman saddling me down with children and whatnot. During most of December of this year, I spent a good deal of time in airports, visiting as many as three a day. On December 5, I had a rather strange, but remarkably pleasant event occur.
I had just left Naples, Italy, after a week-long vacation visiting my good friend, Paolo. The trip was bittersweet for me, as, though I love the city of Naples, it has a rather painful history for me as well. I wasn’t in the best of moods when I went from Naples to Munich, knowing that I would have to wait seven hours to fly to Bulgaria and then spend 16 hours waiting for yet another flight, this time to London, on the way back to the United States to visit my family before moving back to Europe again early next year. Though I had eaten well, had a wonderful sendoff thanks to Paolo’s family, and was excited to go home, the nagging emotional pains didn’t quite go away.
About three hours into my trip, I saw a man walking around with what looked like a skullcap worn by Sinti gypsies. After taking a good glance, I noticed that the man’s cap had Orthodox Christian crosses on it in a style that reminded me of Georgian Orthodox patterns. The man asked if he minded if he took a nap, and I said, “No.” He rested for a few minutes, and he must have noticed my flightiness because he started chatting with me. As it turns out, the man was from Georgia, and was working in Italy as a boat operator.
With my interest piqued, he introduced himself as Sergo. We ended up talking about everything from Orthodoxy to Hamlet Gonashvili, perhaps the finest singer to ever come out of that country. This is one of the few times I will toot my own horn, as I take pride in being able to share the knowledge I’ve accumulated over the years easily with fellow travelers!
When all was said and done, we said our goodbyes, and I was left with the feeling that I had made a friend for life (at least by Sergo’s words).
Meeting new people while traveling is a wonderful thing.
