After a turbulent 12 hours in Heraklio, I finally arrive in Rethymno. My dear friend Sofia is waiting for me at the bus terminal in Rethymno
with her elegant, soft, kind presence. We have been planning
this project for such a long time: When the Fulbright Scholar Specialist
program matched us, especially around two projects, one in Athens and the other
in Crete, we were ecstatic. And now we both are looking forward to our teaching
activities as well as strengthening our friendship as
I spend two weeks in Crete. She announces right away that I will have
lunch with them every day, which will turn out to be the best part of my stay
in Rethymno, little do I know at the point.
My friend Sofia and her husband preparing lunch for our first mesimeriyano
She knows, being of Cretan origin, I love
hortas (the wild greens picked by natives from the nature in Crete, boiled and
treated with olive oil, salt, and lemon juice into delicious and healthy
salads) and fish. She very kindly made fish and horta for me for our first
lunch. I am grateful. Sofia is a Professor of
Psychology and the vice-chair at the Department of Psychology at the University
of Crete, Rethymno campus. She is a very knowledgeable researcher, whose
specialty is prevention and that is how we got connected in the first place in 2010.
Fresh produce stands and stores are all over Crete and Rethymno
Her husband Michaeli is a retired
architect and a very competent farmer as well as a patriotic Cretan just like
my grandparents were: “No place has it better than in ‘Crete mou’” is something
I heard until my grandparents died and this is
Micaheli's rhetoric at every turn, too. As the days go by, I will discover that Michaeli is a "larger than life" type of a man, and his heart is his best treasure that he has. I am pleasantly surprised that their 22 year-old son Manoli, who is
already a world citizen and has freed himself of all patriotic ownership issues
is also in Crete.
Manoli, Sofia's son with his friend in his father's village: we will pick apricots!
Ever since I had heard in 2010 that his position about the Aegean Sea ownership fights between Greece and
Turkey was “Aegean belongs to nobody but its fish”, I had “fallen in love” with
the boy, without even having seen him. Our lunch conversations will prove
that this is a young man who has a brilliant head
over his shoulders, who sees Greece and Greek history as it is just as I want
to believe that I see Turkey and Turkish history in all their objectivity. He
wants to do good for the entire world not only for Crete, not only for Greece.
His kind of young people, I still trust and hope will
save the world from all the ugliness of global capitalist system and its
atrocities in some parts of the world.
Aegean belongs to nobody but its fish: I like that idea!
Every day, our lunch get-togethers turn into pleasant community
gatherings, which will become the time of the day that I will await most
excitedly with Sofia’s delicious cooking, my desire to learn Greek better,
Michali’s desire to continue learning English beyond his 28 years of efforts,
and Manoli’s efforts invited by me to help me understand the contemporary Greek history putting everything into class struggle
context, which resonates very well with me. Michali is also very well versed on
ancient Greek history and philosophy. I can check with Michaeli, whether I interpreted what I learned in the last
several months by reading lots of books on Greek
history and philosophy in compliance with the actual facts and truths. We
certainly also will share with one another personal experiences and how Crete
and Cretan culture played a role in who we all became.
Philosophers are Michaeli's domain, contemporary politic Manoli's at Sofia's house
Sofia and Michaeli are two of the warmest people I am lucky to
have in my life. Michaeli will soon become a brother
to me with his Cretan protective male attitude and generosity. Sofia with her
American-Cretan combination persona is a woman after my own heart, as a
woman, as a friend, as an intellectual, and a world citizen caring about the disadvantaged in the world exactly the way I do. No wonder
it was a “love at first sight” when I first met her in 2010 over a collegiate
collaboration that I had sought in Crete. Crete will have multiple new
influences on me as the days unfold. Living, be it partially, a few hours a day with my dear friend's family in Crete is such a gift for me and even a bigger eye opener than what I had felt in 2010 during my first encounter with Crete regarding my roots out of Crete.
We haven't gotten into the Trojan Horse in our discussions yet in Sofia's house.
Not only Crete but overall
Greece have changed my entire time orientation. Before coming here, I
thought I could never stay up beyond midnight, let alone have a siesta in the
middle of the day! My experience brings back to mind the Turkish saying
"Big bite of food is OK, big claims are
not". Here I am in Crete, exhausted from the marathon of the last three
months and especially the last week of training activities in Athens, getting
up at 6 and not going to bed until 1 am lately. On the day of my arrival to Rethymno,
with the emotional exhaustion of the last 24 hours, I
fall asleep for couple of hours before flowing into the evening excitement of
Rethymno over a stroll into the old town. I take it as an outlier, the
assumption will turn out to be wrong.
Café Hellinica metrio, mono, is a great delight after lunch (Medium sugar, single shot Greek Coffee)
After our lovely visits over lunch, Michaeli
excuses himself for his daily siesta. That is, I think, what has triggered my
attempt at the same. Being exhausted for such a long time, the attempt
turns out to be successful. First day 2.5 hours of siesta feels exceptionally refreshing, and since then my average daily sleep
including siestas is 10-12 hours. This rest gives me the strength to take a
long walk through the old town, along the waterfront, on top of the breaks on
the Aegean every evening until 10-11. One evening, having
walked across town, looking for gluten free bread without success, I find
myself at the western end of old town by the Venetian fortress (Fortezza) at a
mini-cafe on top of the cliff looking down at the rocky shore, my face toward
the beautiful sunset.
One of many spectacular sunsets I will savor in Rethymno every evening...
The silhouettes of the people
right below the fortress half a km away from where I am are becoming one with
the cliff as small protrusions against the beautiful pink-orange background of
the sky gradually losing its previous fire into the night. The rocks below piercing the Aegean with intent and confidence
create a sharp contrast as they turn black with the still blue of the sea,
which will soon also turn into black. I know where I will be the next
day at sunset: Right on top of the cliff below the fortress to share with my anonymous peers what they have
enjoyed tonight...
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| Infamous Light Tower of Rethymno at dusk |
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