Before I go on a trip I always stress out a little in my head and become a little OCD. Sometimes I make lists, sometimes I start thinking about packing the week before...or maybe weeks before if it is a long "trip" (say to Hungary for example). I put things in piles, I count and recount how many days I will be gone for, I pack, and sometimes I repack. I need to be at the train station, bus station, or airport early. I need to look at my ticket a thousand times. Check and recheck for where it is. Check and recheck where my wallet is. All while trying to remain "komoly" (serious) and calm to everyone else and even trying to convince myself that I am calm. (I have also realized that drinking coffee before traveling, especially before getting on an airplane is a bad idea for me—the strong caffeine just makes me that much more “excited” aka nervous!)
Recently I had the chance to do a little traveling up to Presov, Slovakia to visit with some other volunteers. As I traveled on my way to Budapest and then to Presov I thought about my intense packing routines. I am always concerned about overpacking (a very Swensoni problem). But as I was sitting on the train I began to think that packing is a joke. Whether I overpack or underpack (which may be impossible considering my genes) I realized how important people are to me and how unimportant the stuff actually is. When I travel, I think about the people I'm leaving--what they'll do when I am away, what stories they will have for me when I get back; I think about the people I am going to see--I think about how excited I am to meet them, to do new things, to see new places, and have a chance to be with others to converse, talk about experiences, life, and to joke around. When I think about these intangible expressions of life I think about how silly I can be when I go through my crazy packing routines and how unnecessary a lot of stuff is (easy to say now that I know I haven't forgotten my tooth brush...or duct tape...).
Thinking about this recent trip to Slovakia and trips of the past I am reminded of a poem that we first heard at our orientation in Chicago called "Passover Remembered" by Alla Bozarth-Campbell. It begins, "Pack nothing." Funny how these things come to you. I hadn't really thought about that poem since orientation, but here it is back in my mind and I realize how true it is. While I have been very glad that I was prepared in terms of having “stuff” on my travels, I have found that the people make all the difference—finding understanding, making new connections, having interesting conversations, joking around, and seeing new ways of thinking. The “stuff” just seems to fade away.
On the train I was reading a book about the Camino de Santiago (a pilgrimage route in northern Spain), written by a woman who did the entire walk (the book is Walk in a Relaxed Manner by Joyce Rupp). Her stories and advice have made me think about my experiences here in Hungary so far--as this is about the halfway mark. Thinking about first impressions, things that are different, the new community with whom I now live, the music that is playing on my iPod, the people I talk to, the things I do on a daily basis, and the things that I have come to love. She talks a lot about journey and adventure and pilgrimage and while I feel that her experience as a wandering pilgrim was much different than my more stationary life in Hungary, I think her basic premises of living in the moment, absorbing the environment surrounding you, the people, the culture, and all the richness of life, whether good or bad also speaks to my own adventures here in central Europe. As I was reflecting on packing, traveling, people, and being I laughed a little to myself as I read her words. She says regarding a conversation with her friend, with whom she did the pilgrimage with,
We agreed that probably some of our values and beliefs might have deepened a bit but nothing seemed “life changing” for us. What we did not realize, of course, was that we were still living the experience.
I laughed because in my head I jumped to the future—what will I think in August, September, October, next February about this experience. My reflections now are one way—as I am “still living in the experience” and I wonder to the future. But as I wonder to what will come, I also look around to what is, struggle to absorb everything, to remember words, to enjoy what I have here, and to be. Which brings me back to Bozarth-Campbell’s poem. It continues later on,
Set out in the dark.
I will send fire to warm and encourage you.
I will be with you in the fire, and I will be with you in the cloud.
You will learn to eat new food
and find refuge in new places.
I will give you dreams in the desert
to guide you safely to that place you have not yet seen.
The stories you tell one another around the fires in the dark
will make you strong and wise.
Through my travels so far, from the people I have met, the places I have seen, I have always been strengthened by stories. With or without stuff—my lists of things and bags of clothes (or roll of duct tape), I meet people and have been able to enjoy what life brings in good or in bad conditions. Everywhere I have been, the children still play, people still tell stories, laugh, and love, and life still goes on, whether it is in a big beautiful house or the poorest of slums. For this I have been grateful.
So I take this opportunity to share some pictures from travels near and far in these first six months of my time in Hungary. Each experience was quite different!
My first trip to Slovakia. October 2009. Visited Emily who is serving in the small village of Rankovce. (Southeastern Slovakia) My first solo travel experience this year--a bit nerveracking and I was amazed that I got there! Took three buses and then a train to get to Kosice. The train was delayed about an hour or more and I didn't have a cell phone to tell Emily it would be late. Luckily she waited for me. I can't even express how happy I was to see her! Got to experience some of her daily life and share in good conversation about our first few months in our new homes.
The view from Emily's room in Rankovce
Halloween masks and some of the Roma children of her village at an after school program, just steps away from where Emily lives. Was definitely an interesting experience being immersed in Slovak, but I learned a few words and Emily told them that I could draw, so I spent a lot of time drawing for the kids (and found that there are a few words that are the same in Slovak and Hungarian!).
We got to ride in an ambulance as we went with Frana, a community health worker to different sites around Kosice, Slovakia as she checked up on families to make sure children had gotten their vaccines.
Emily and I in the stairwell of a block apartment building. There were either no windows or broken windows in the stairwell. Hundreds of people (Roma) live in these run down buildings. An eye opening experience to the poverty of Roma in Slovakia. Surprisingly though when we went into one of the apartments it was really nice, cozy, and warm--very different from the outside appearance.
A slum on the outskirts of Kosice. About 1,000 Roma live here. We heard when we visited that the people were there illegally because it is privately owned land. Many have inhabited that site for years, but the land owner has now decided that he wants to use the land, so these people will all be displaced. It is uncertain to where they will go or what they will do.
Beautiful cathedral in Kosice.
Emily, me, Lisa. (Emily and Lisa are both YAGMs serving in Slovakia)
Kosice. From what I saw of the city center, it is a beautiful little city. In this part it was hard to imagine that the slums we had just seen existed.
Vienna, Austria. December 2009. Livia, Simon, and I went with some of the teachers from the school in Magyarmecske to the Lindt chocolate factory and then to stroll around the Christmas markets of Vienna. (A whirlwind journey that lasted about 20 hours.)
That's me!
With an elephant in Maria Theresien Platz, outside the history museum (I think).
Christmas market. The windows of the building were like an advent calendar.
The biggest window was the 24th.
Giant advent wreath!
Seminar in Berekfurdo, Hungary. January 2010. (Northeastern Hungary) Spent 5 days with the other volunteers who are working in Hungary and the surrounding areas of Carpathia and Romania. It was a really good time to refesh, talk with the other volunteers, and think about our year so far. Also good to get to know the Hungarian speaking volunteers a bit better. When we first met in September we weren't able to communicate, but now as we've learned some Hungarian we could all have a good time together! There was a thermal bath (outdoors) that we also got to enjoy! The last night it snowed a lot and on Sunday as we were leaving...
The little travant got stuck! But we pushed it out.
Julia and I drove from Magyarmecske to Berekfurdo and back again (a six hour trip one way).
(Julia on the left and Livia "crying" on the right.)
Winter wonderland in the fields around Berekfurdo!
(Where is the sky and where is the ground!)
Stuck.
That's me! The car only had about 670,000km on it...
Presov, Slovakia. February 2010. Spent three days visiting Lisa, bookended by stays in Budapest. Celebrated her birthday with her host family, colleagues, as well as fellow YAGMs Emily and Kristy (who serves in another small village in Hungary). A really nice time to get a glimpse of her life, see Presov (another nice little city) and enjoy some conversation and cake (and Olympics)! (Her host father also speaks Hungarian, so it was nice to be able to communicate with him via this new language!)
Presov from atop a hill
YAGM ladies (Emily, Kristy, and Lisa).
Beautiful designs on a church.
Presov. Really nice colorful buildings--red, green, blue, yellow.
And if anyone was wondering. Yes, Remax is an international brand! (I was working for a Remax office in Arlington, MA before this year so I always notice Remax things. Also an office in Pecs, Hungary, and for sale signs near Lake Balaton!)
