Shooting a Video in Haiti

The final chapter in my summer has begun.  I am in Port Au Prince, Haiti, making a video for James, a missionary working in Deschapelle, Haiti.  The movie is a narrative of a fictional man’s conflict over God, money, security, and eternal life.  The movie is in Creole, something that is rare, for most media that makes its way to Haiti is in French or English,  with subtitles if they are lucky.

The trip here was a little crazy.  We left Harrisonburg at 2 am, and after a uncomfortable ride to the airport (we were in a SUV approximately work 100,000 dollars, 80,000 in equipment, 20,000 in car), we arrived at 4 am, checked in, and after a lot of waiting made it to Miami.  We waited, and waited, and waited some more, and after a 4 hour delay, a small riot at our terminal (a lot of Haitian people were going crazy because we were delayed, 1 was detained and another arrested), a bunch of airport food, half of which wasn’t all that great, we made it onto our plane to Port Au Prince.  We made it into the airport in PAP, and after an amazingly quick tour through the customs and such we loaded into a truck as quick as we could and took off.  Theft is a big problem there, and we are all blan (white guy in Creole, pronounce blahn with the n barely said) and thus targets.  With 80,000 dollars of equipment, we were all a little nervous.

We made it to the house at which we were going to begin our movie production, unpacked, ate some supper, and went to bed.

Our next morning we began our shooting, and didn’t finish until 12 at night.  After that crazy day, we were wiped out.  Today, we finished about 45 minutes ago, and hopefully our days are more like today than yesterday.  The movie seems to be going well, and we found out a day before leaving that whatever we do turn out will most likely make it onto Haitian national television because they have next to no material for their network.  That was really cool to find out.

It is amazingly hot here, just as expected but it still hits hard.  We are so dehydrated, and I’m drinking tons and tons of water.  I have avoided being severely burned thus far, and hopefully I can keep it that way.  The other thing to avoid is getting sick, and hopefully that pans out as well.

Well thats basically all that is new.  Expect more posts later.

Mark

Finally after almost 10 weeks of traveling, I am preparing to finally go back to the States.  It’s a welcome feeling, and I am looking forward to clean clothes, people speaking English everywhere, and my friends. 

The last week has been very eventful.  After leaving Freiburg, Germany, we took the train up to Offenburg and then a bus to Ortenburg, where our next hostel, which just also happened to be a castle (huzzah!), was located.  The difficult part of this arrangement was that the castle, in perfect castle form, was situated on the  side of a mountain.  So we got to walk a few miles up steep and winding roads with our packs.  We were pretty much drenched with sweat when finally arrived at the hostel.  After a 30 minute check in process (who does that?) where we had to fill out cards, get a speach in broken English about our stay and about the Youth Hostelling International organization, we finally made it up to our corner room facing towards the west and the sunset.  Gorgeous, to say the least.

The next day, we decided to go hiking in the famous Black Forest, for the castle also just happened to be situated right on the edge of it, and we couldn’t pass such a thing up.  After hiking a few hours, we just happened to run into a family from Goshen, IN that was good friends with Nathan, which was crazy.  It’s a small world I guess.  After talking a while, we were invited to supper at their house, which safe say, was amazing.  We had homemade lasagna and salad, and basically we were ecstatic. 

The next day we went with the same family to listen to some delightful organ music in Offenburg that was being played by the George, bother in law and uncle to the family that had fed us.  It was great fun.  We spent the rest of the day wandering around Offenburg trying to find food for that night and the next day, which was actually quite difficult, because on Saturdays in Europe everything shuts down on Saturday afternoon and evenings.  It was a bit annoying.

The next morning we had to get up at 4 am to get to Offenburg and a 4:50 am train to Mainz, where we caught a boat for a river cruise up the Rhine River.  The scenery was beautiful, and despite the chilly weather it was a great day.  There were a lot of castles more than I can remember, and I couldn’t possibly take pictures of all of them, because after waking up at 4 am, I had to have a nap, and I had several.

It was a great day, and the river cruise ended in Koln (pronounced Cologne) where we stayed in hostel for the night.  We had just happened to arrive at the end of a large festival of some sorts, and safe to say there were tons of colorful people around.  I use the term colorful loosly.

The next day we made our way to Berlin, which is one of my favorite cities to date on this trip.  We arrived in mid afternoon, and with our host traveled to a number of really cool sights in the city.  We started with the east wall gallery, which is the largest section of the Berlin wall still standing.  The east side of it has been turned into an art gallery of street artists, and every few years the wall is re painted.  It was a really cool experience to see, to say the least.  After the wall, we walked to Berlin’s TV tower, which was constructed by the Soviets and was at one point the tallest structure in Europe.  We toured a few parks and walked to the Parliment building, passing incredible buildings which ranged from museums to embassies.  Berlin, as well as being a relatively cheap city to live in, is quite beautiful. 

We finished our evening by celebrating Jasmine’s birthday and eating out (for only the third time on the this trip) at a great Indian restuarant.  The food was amazing!  I had some eggplant dish, which everybody else turned their nose at, but was quite delicious.  The next day we slept in a little, and went back out into the city for lunch and then we spent the afternoon walking through a few parks and touring the monument dedicated to the Jews killed in World War II.  It was definately a beautiful monument.  That took up the rest of our time in Berlin, and so we made our way back to where we were staying, packed up, and headed to the train station to catch a night train to Brussles, Belgium. 

After arriving in Belgium at 6 am, one of the worst days of the trip began.  Our plan was to catch a train to Callias (pronounced cuh-lay) and from there a ferry across the English Channel to Dover, and see the Cliffs of Dover and whatever else the city had to offer.  Our troubles started with missing our first train because we thought that a random number on our tickets was the platform number, which in reality wasn’t, so finally after catching another train we arrived in Callias too late to get on the 1:30 pm ferry, and so we caught the next one, which was at 2:40.  This meant we had to get off the ferry in Dover and then right back on the ferry back to Callais if we were to catch a train back to Brussles where our hostel and all of our stuff was.  This failed for several reasons.  The weather was rainy and windy, and generally miserable, cutting back on our enjoyment of the ferry ride and causing delays in the ferrys.  Despite me pointing it out to people, we missed the fact that we had to be at our return ferry 45 minutes early to check in or they wouldn’t let us on.  So we decided to find a grocery store and get supper becaus we thought we had an hour to do so, which we did technically, but thus we missed our check in time by 30 minutes.  The ferry we had desired to get on was 30 minutes late, and the one we were forced to get on was 40 minutes late.  This put us beyond the point of catching a bus from the port to the train station and beyond any hope of getting a train to anywhere but maybe one station away from Callais, which would have been a better station to sleep in than Callais.  So we were left with the option of sleeping in a train station or begging a ride from someone to Brussles or even Paris where we would have been able to sleep in a train station much more comfortably and caught a train to Brussles in the morning in time to get our stuff and head on to Amsterdam. 

We ended up finding a German guy who agreed to take us to a gas station just outside of Brussles, becausee it was on his way.  Elated, we hopped in this guy’s Chevy SUV, and took off.  Well, we really took off, because the guy was averaging 180 kilometers an hour, which is definately over 100 miles an hour, and he approached 120 mph several times, I’m sure.  On top of this, the guy was tired, as we all were, and was blaring horrible rap music.  I was the guy in the front passenger seat, so I had to make awkward conversation with this guy every once in a while, while the other 3 in our group slept in the back.  Talk about getting the short end of the stick.  The guy was a decent driver, but we were still going over 100 mph most of the time.  We were glad to be done with that ride.  From the gas station, we had to call a taxi into the city to our hostel.  At this point, I wanted the guy to just deliver us to the hostel, I didn’t want to talk to him, didn’t want him to be nice, I just wanted my bed.  But this taxi driver insisted on being our own personal DJ while at the same time being our taxi driver.  I was again the front seat passenger, so he was trying to talk to me the whole time about classic American rock that I knew very little about, and through his broken English I figured out that this guy knew more than me.  Nathan should have been in the front on that one.  I was getting pretty annoyed by the end of the ride.  This guy was also woken up from sleeping to give us this ride.  So we had some more crazy driving.  When we finally arrived at the hostel, I was done.  I wanted my bed.  After 10 minutes of paper work and instructions we finally got our room.  This was a horrible day, with tons of time and money wasted.  100 euros or so down the pot.

The next day was better, but it was till raining and depressing weather.  We took a train from Brussles to Amsterdam where we toured the city, walking zombies from lack of sleep and being wet and weary of traveling.  Amsterdam was a cool city, but I wasn’t quite in the mood to enjoy it.  We departed from Amsterdam at 7pmish and took a 2 hour train ride to the northern part of the Netherlands where we were hosted by a 30ish year old woman Nathan found on couchsurfering.com.  It was free, but awkward, and the next morning we woke up to a clogged up bathroom, with the toilet running back into the tub, and it was gross.  We made our exit quickly (we were coming back for the night again after a day in the Netherlands, we weren’t just running out leaving our host with a clogged bathroom) and began our trip to the other side of the Netherlands to visit my cousin for the day.  We again had some troubles as Nathan forgot his eurail pass and was kicked off the train and had to buy a ticket before we could meet up again.  After losing an hour or so to this fiasco, we made it to my cousin’s office where he worked and where we had agreed to meet.  We took the bus to his apartment where we saddled up on some bicycles and took off on an afternoon ride to the dunes and the coast.  It was a beautiful day.

After our day was done, we made our way back to Amsterdam to try and reserve our night train for tonight, but there was a good 100 people in line, so we decided to split up so our host wasn’t freaked out because we weren’t getting in when we said we would.  Nathan and I went back, and the train took forever, much longer than before because it was late and turned into a stop train, which stopped at every station on the trip.  It was really annoying.  Rhoda and Jasmine, after waiting for almost 2 hours in line, only to find out that the train we wanted was already full, barely made the last trains back to where we were staying.  It was a little bit stressful. 

After a poor nights sleep, I woke up with the rest of the group still asleep with nothing to do but pack and write this enourmous post. 

With only 2 days and nights left in Europe, I am ready to go home, even though it has been an amazing time.  Our last few days being less successful than most of our trip has put a downer on things, but all in all it has been a great experience.  Hopefully our last 2 days work out okay.  Our plan for today is to see a little more of the northern part of the Netherlands, and hopefully make it to Witmarsum where Menno Simons lived for a while.  Tonight, since we can’t book a night train, we still have to figure out where we are staying, and then depening on that we have a long train ride to Copenhagen and a night in the airport before our departure back to the US.  Its been a fun ride.

Mark

I am quickly running out of time on the internet, so I will have to make this breif.  I encourage all readers to read my fellow traveler’s blogs at the following links.

http://nathankauffman.wordpress.com

http://rhodashirk.blogspot.com

 Our days in Austria and Switzerland were amazing.  The Alps are so beautiful, and I hope to return someday.  We spent a few days in Salzburg, Austria, where we saw a little bit of the town the first evening, Mozarts birthplace, some really old buildings, and in general a really beautiful city.  The next day we went up to The Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s alpine getaway, and spent more time hiking in the mountains than at the Eagles Nest.  It was a great place for hiking, but the house itself was a tourist trap, kind of disgusting to me that something involving Hitler would become something that people are making money off of.  I don’t quite know how I feel about that. 

Anyways, I have a lot of amazing photos from that day in the alps, and it was a lot of fun.  Then next day we went to Munich to see the Dachau Concentration camp.  Again, it was a horrible place that was a little too touristy for my liking.  Disappointing.  It was interesting, but I couldn’t get over the tourstiness.  After the concentration camp we went back to Salzburg and watched the Eurocup Football final, which was cool.

Then the next day we made our way to Zurich, and then the next day Bern, which was 2 beautiful days in Switzerland.  Read on my compatriots blogs for more info, but we basically met a lot really nice people and saw a lot of really beautiful sights. 

Yesterday, we came to Germany to visit one of Rhoda’s friends in Freiburg, which is where I currently am.  Today we hope to make our way to a castle where we will spend the next few days, but our reservation isn’t set for today, due to changes in schedule, so we will see what happens. 

Sorry for the lack of details, but I am tired of computers and typing and out of time.

Till later days,

 

Mark

 

It’s Been Crazy

So a lot of crazy things have happened since I last posted.  I’ll first list the places, and then tell a few stories.

Rome, Pisa, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Venice, Salzburg, The Eagle’s Nest (Hitlers Alpine Getaway)

So, to start things off, we decided to take an extra stop on our way to Venice in Pisa and see the leaning tower during a train layover.  This, however was slightly disasterous.  As we rolled in on the train to Pisa, we stopped at the first train station.  Another American looked out the window, saw the Tower, and said hey, its close, why don’t we get off here and walk?  We then decided last minute to do the same, but the problem was that the line was huge to get off the train and by the time i got my pack on, and was a little too polite for my own good, Rhoda, Nathan, and Jasmine had gotten off the train and the doors closed before i could get off.  I was stuck on the train heading to the other station in Pisa, seperated from the other 3 with no way of communicating with them.  Once at the other station in Pisa, I proceeded to get off the train and then make my way to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, for my train of logic led me to believe that the other 3 would go there looking for me, and if not, they would go there after looking first at the train station where I got off.  This did not happen.

Rhoda, Nathan, and Jasmine first decided to wait for me to come back to them at the train station where they were at, and after I didn’t (I’m not sure how many trains they saw come in, but it was a few) they made their way to the station where I got off, which was the central train station for Pisa.  Meanwhile, I was waiting at the tower.  They then waited at the central train station for the rest of the evening, and after realizing that we weren’t going to be able to catch the last train  of the evening to Venice (which left at 7pm), booked a hostel for us that night.  During all this, I was freaking out at the tower, wondering where the hell they were and why the (insert random cursing) they weren’t at the tower.  I didn’t like the idea of having to find a hostel, for I did not have any information about Pisa (or any other place for that matter, Rhoda had all the guide book stuff) no map of the city, and a very tight budget which did not allow for extravogant hotels, which would have been the most readily available place to sleep besides the train station or a park somewhere (I was considering the very soft lawn in piazza where the tower was).  Three hours after arriving at the park, approximately 7:45 pm, I decided to make my way back to the central station where hopefully my compatriots were waiting, and hopefully we would still be able to make our way to Venice, despite the late hour.  I hopped on a bus, got back to the station, and as soon as I set foot on the street I hear Nathan scream my name, only to find out that they had been waiting there the whole time.  So after being more freaked out than I care to ever be again losing an evening and most of the next day we had originally planned to spend in Venice, we met up and went to our hostel, where we chilled out for an hour or so before hitting the sack. 

The next day was slightly less stressful, until the whole sprinting through the streets of Venice part.  We had made our way via train to Venice, arriving by 5pm (the train schedule didn’t cooperate very well this time, and we got in way later than we had hoped), and checked in to our hostel.  From there we made our way into Venice (we got there by 7:45pm, and the last cheap way out of Venice to our hostel left at 10pm), where we enjoyed our very small time there taking a boat taxi (the giant ones that carry somewhere around 50 people) from the train station through the whole city via the grand canal to the San Marcos plaza.  By the time we got to the plaza (there was a lot of stopping and going on the taxi) we had enough time for a few photos, a souvenier, and some amazing gelato before we had to go back through the city on foot to try and catch our 10pm bus.  We started off, got lost a few times, hit a few dead ends, and realized we were dangerously close to missing our bus and being forced to take a taxi back to our hostel which we were told would have cost us 60 euros at least ($90!!!).  We started speed walking and running, desperately trying to read our crappy map and ask people where to go.  We made it with 2 minutes to spare, drenched in sweat, only to wait another 10 minutes for our bus to show up late.  Great fun! After that extravaganza, we shared some crappy wine, a very late supper (which we had originally intended to eat in the beautiful atmosphere of Venice, but couldn’t due to lack of time), and went to bed.

I am out of time, but yesterday evening and today in Salzburg have been amazing.  Some of my best photos so far have come in these two days, and the scenery and atmosphere of the alps are unbelievable.  I’ll write more soon. 

Mark

The World Traveler Sweats Through T-Shirts

So here I am, sweating at a computer in Rome, Italy.  What an experience.  I have 20 minutes to finish up a post, so I will try to be as precise and concise and quick as humanly fathomable.  Oops. 

Part One-London

The group left from Lithuania Christian College at 5am for a 7am flight, after which we arrived in Copenhagen airport.  Rhoda and myself had to seperate from the group as we were getting a flight with a different airline and had to retrieve and re check our bags.  We then found out that we were not going to be able to reunite with the group to say goodbye, so we depressingly lugged our packs to a suitable spot to spend the 10 hour layover.  After the layover and the flight, we made our way to the hostel we thought we had booked in London, The Birds Nest, only to find that our reservation had been screwed up.  It turned out that there were 2 beds open so Rhoda and Jasmine got beds while Nathan and I spent the night in the common room.  I was so tired that i didnt really even need a bed.  The hostel was great, and we had free breakfast in the bar downstairs, so all in all that hostel was a hit.

We spent the next 2 days wandering around London, hitting the most appealing spots, like the British Museum, Buckingham Palace, an angry looking guard in a red suit with a tall furry black hat, the Globe Theater, the Tower of London, the tower bridge, and probably something else i am forgetting.  Its been a blur.  After our final day was over, we made our way to Luton Airport where we would spend a cold hard night on the floor of the airport before our flight to Rome.

Part 2-Rome

After arriving in Rome yesterday, we spent the afternoon walking around near our hostel and found the Colloseum, The Peter in Chains Cathedral (not sure about the name there, but its close), and just enjoying the streets.  Oh and did i mention, its HOT.  There are scooters everywhere, the pavement is scortching, and everything is just hot and fast.  Oh and when we finally got back to the hostel, I discovered that we had bed bugs.  Jasmine and I both have beds with bed bugs, and Nathan has a crappy bed that hurts his back, and Rhoda has a bed without either problem.  Lucky.

We got up this morning with a day at the Vatican in mind.  It was pure bliss.  Amazing art everywhere, cool temperatures in all the climate controlled buildings, and fun photos.  How much better could it get?  We even got to go to the top of St. Pauls Basilica from which I took a 150 photo panorama of Rome that i hope to stitch together when i get back.  I might have to borrow Jerry’s computer

So now, after a long but satisfying day, we are going to have some pizza and some wine.  mmm mmm.  I don’t know when I will next be able to update, but it probably will not be in Rome.  It costs 2 euros for an hour of internet, and Venice will probably not have free internet where we are staying.  So it might be 3 or 5 days before i have internet access again.  Well, until then i guess, whenever that is.

Ciau from Rome!

Mark

Reflections: The New Roman Empire

This post is a journal entry that I wrote earlier this afternoon.

June 10

Instead of starting on my paper and artist’s statement like a good little student, I decided to drink some tea and do a little bit of reading.  On this trip so far I have read some C.S. Lewis, but have recently returned again to my postponed reading of Jesus For President by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw.

This book goes along very well with my travels this summer, as it is helping me gain a better perspective of my views of my nation.  Up to this point my theology collided with my nation inasmuch that I would participate in and shape my politics around my theology.  This trip and this book are beginning to divorce my beliefs from the U.S. even further.  It is a great read, especially for young people like myself who have spent our whole lives saturated with the modern political scene.  Claiborne and Haw have spent a lot of time in this book building the statement and connection that the U.S., was NOT founded on Christian or any religion, contrary to popular belief, and that the U.S. is, among many other modern imperialistic nations (Russia, China, Belgium, Rwanda…), very like the Roman Empire.  The U.S. has disguised its empire (there really is no debating the use of this term, among other arguments the U.S. has a $450 billion defense budget, larger than the next 15 countries combined defense budgets) by taking on the guise of democracy, with leaders elected by SOME of the population, a majority of which are misinformed, brainwashed by propaganda, or otherwise uneducated about who to elect.  I am thoroughly not able to be happy about being a U.S. citizen.  Regardless of the benefits of being a U.S. citizen (all of which are gifts from God, not George W. or Clinton, or Regan or any other of the great gods of the U.S. that the populace worships), I cannot enjoy being a citizen of my nation.  My only allegiance left is to the Kingdom of God.

I was discussing the fact that certain members of our group will return home unchanged, and made the statement that I most likely won’t have a night and day change occur in my life upon arrival back in the U.S.  I hope now that this is not the case.  Instead, I hope my life takes a dramatic turn toa  life apart from the horrors of the U.S. or any other worldly empire and totally focused on the Kingdom of God.

————————————————————

The text that inspired this entry are pages 156 through 182 of Jesus For President, and especially the following footnote on the bottom of page 182.

The words of Claiborne and Haw, the authors Jesus For President~

“The essence of our book is not dependent on whether the United States is truly a prideful empire.  Christianity proclaims an alternate allegiance even to citizens of humble nations.  And the point is certainly not that only the United States is one of the beastly powers.  Among Russia, China, Rwanda, Belgium and countless others, it would be quite a competition as to which dictatorship tops the list of most bloodshed and worst publicly legitimated insanity.  But to see the bad fruits of power is an important connection to make for those who have a white-knuckle grip on both the cross and the flag.  When we take a good look at the history of the United States, we must face the reality that the U.S. is not, as Barak Obama (and countless others) said, “the last great hope for humanity.”  This not only is false according to the standards of secular history but also is heretical for us in the church.  This is the kind of stuff that made John of Patmos seethe (not to mention God).  And in the scope of history, the United States is a young project that doubtlessly will fall-whether in a few or in many years.”

 

And with that, I will say that my youth and lack of wisdom may be apparent in my journal entry, but I whole heartedly permanently announce my immdediate and permanent divorce from any fondness for the United States.  This statement has been certainly 6 or more years in the making, but it is about time I stop making allowances and consessions to people with whom I have discussions with.  The United States has done nothing for me, and anything that anyone can claim it has done can and should be attributed to the gifts tha God has bestowed upon me, for which I am eternally in debt and thankful to God for, not to the United States, not to Mr. Bush and his wars, nor to any other worldly power.  My only allegiance is the Kingdom of God.

Mark

Finally

Well I’m finally updating, sorry about the wait.  The last week has been really hard to process and put in words.  The group traveled to the 3 capital cities of the Baltic States, Riga, Tallin, and Vilnius.  We spend most of our time in the old section of each city, walking and learning about the history of the region.  The biggest thing that I got from the trip (so far, I’m still processing and thinking about the experience) was learning about the history of the people here, and how they have been walked all over by world powers for the past few centuries, from Swedes, Germans, Napoleon, Russia (pre Bulshevic Revolution), Nazis, USSR, and then finally a freedom that came from remarkably little blood.  The people rose up and united in their cry for independence, forming independent identities of each state, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.  The horror of the Nazis and Soviets became so much more real on this trip.  We visited in Riga a museum devoted to telling the years of occupation that the Baltics went through, a KGB museum, and 2 holocaust sites.  The museum gave me a look at the history, which was powerful, but when we visited the KGB museum, the realities of the torture and injustice became real to me.  Though of course I cannot even begin to claim to really understand what went on, I now can at least appreciate my inability to understand and grasp the ungraspable horror that took place over the many years of unlawful occupation. 

When the group went to the first Holocaust site, we were instructed to walk around in silence, try to absorb our surroundings, and then work on making 4 photographic images that try and grasp the place.  The camp, Paneriai, was a complex consisting of a number of grown over pits, where massacred Jews were first buried, then dug up and burned to cover up the evidence of the atrocity.  As I walked around, I was in awe of the terrifying nature the camp had, a silent cry of terror that hadn’t left the place in over 50 years.  Birds chirped, ants crawled, nature went on, but the horror was still there.  I made a few feeble attempts at some photography, and then the group left.

The second place we went to was the IX Fort, outside Kaunus in Lithuania.  This was a Fort built by the Soviets in light of the oncoming assualt of Nazi Germany, but the fort never entered the battle because the Red Army fleed the Baltics before the fort ever entered combat.  The Nazis then turned the fort into what they did best, a death camp.  Over 70,000 Jews were killed there, most shot (some estimate more than 70,000).  We were given a very extensive tour of the fort and it was very disturbing how efficient and technological war and death had become, even 50 years ago.  I again attempted photography, with a little more success, but not a lot.

The lighter side of the trip was traveling the cities, exploring the cobblestone streets at night, and enjoying amazing food and friends.  I shot tons of photos, I may give a count if I remember to figure out in the future.  I have fallen in love with the Baltics, these countries, now freed and independant, are doing amazing things and have grown an amazing amount in the 17 years of independance.  I hope that maybe someday I can come back.

Mark

 

enjoy!

Hopefully a new update will happen during the week, but no guarantees.

 

Mark

Baltic Bound

So this is probably my last post before we hit the rest of the Baltic states on our 8 day trip to Riga, Tallin, and Vilnius.  We will be hitting a lot of historical sites, and getting a large dose of the culture.  I estimate somewhere around 3000 photos, maybe more in the next 8 days.  I’ll give a final count in a week and a half.  maybe i should be getting a summer long count going.  I’ll work on it.

I am extremely excited to immerse myself in as much history and culture in the next days as I can, so I hope that I can translate that into writing and photography.  I’ll try to get thoughts and events down in my journal so that I type it up here for people to see what I’ve been up to.  So for now, I’ll get some photos up soon from the past few days, and then I’ll for sure update again in 10 days, but hopefully get an update or 2 while traveling. 

till later days,

Mark

Time, Full Moon, and a Final (the good kind)

Our second week in Lithuania has almost turned into our third, and time seems to be going a little too fast.  I’m just getting used to being here, and I’m not quite ready for time to fly by just yet.  Things are well, my roommates are great, my classes are going well, not perfect, but well.  My photography is doing okay, and hopefully my photo essay idea will pan out.  I plan to shoot some graffiti, and possibly a graffitier, and explore the culture behind underground art and expression.  Klaipeda is full of graffiti and it should be a fun project should it work out.

Tonight a few of us are going out to do a late night photoshoot in old town and other places, taking advantage of the full moon.  We will do this after making a second stop at the jazz club, which is a lot of fun to go to.  Maybe Dr Jerry will break it down and dance a little. 

Wednesday we are hoping to watch the Champions League Final (the real football, for those of you unaware) between Chelsea and Manchester United.  Maybe we’ll hit up a pub to get the real local atmosphere around football.  Either that or we will force Jerry to stay up late watching the game with us in his suite. 

Well thats all the news for now, the class will be heading up to Latvia and Estonia soon, so stay tooned for photos from tonight, maybe tomorrow night, and posts and photos from the adventures further north.

 

Mark