Too busy I suppose....

Trent and I are happily making our way around Sweden. We drove up to meet my distant relatives in the North and ended up staying a couple extra days there. My life is changed. There is no way to really blog about it.

On patrol

My last day in Odessa I went out on social patrol with the organization. Essentially you get in a van with some workers and usually a couple of kids who live at the shelter come to help. When I went a reporter for canada's NPR came as well. The pastor who started this child here was also a photographer and helping journalists document these kids is important to him. We then drive to places kids are known to be living, tell them we have food and medicine and wait for them to come get it. Some can hardly walk from nerve damage from drugs, others are on drugs at the time. They are all dirty. Some sport obvious injuries... Part of a foot is gone or their face looks like a mashed up stretch Armstrong.

They get soup and bread and random tablets. Workers talk to them. We all smoke. I say little more than hi and how are you, but I let them pull cigarettes put of my pack with there muddied hands and light them for those who are shaking. I gave a lip gloss i never use to the one girl we found who was living on the streets after losing a boyfriend to prison, a baby from the womb, and her apartment in the wake. Many of them choose the streets because they are scared of cops and somehow that makes sense to them. Many are from other countries like moldova. Many aren't ready to get clean. The ones that are true orphans would have to go to real orphanages which is apparently an undesirable place to go. Most basically a normal life with strict rules and school and no drugs or booze is too much for them. But when they decide to change, these organizations are here to help.

It's hard to express how I feel from those moments. I was reminded of my life goals and my immense love of helping others. I didn't feel depressed about it at all. I felt great because I am someone who will help a lot of people.


-- Post From My iPod

I will not spend $200 on shoes.... I will not spend $200 on shoes.

Okay I know its a little cruel, the pictureless posts... but deal with it. I'll update later.

I just spent 3 days in Rome with Teresa. Well, sort of with Teresa... she had a lot of work to do so most of my touring was done alone.

I have to admit I didn't think I would care about Rome. I went because I was tired of Odessa, knew someone in Rome, and felt somehow obligated to see it. One of those places you are supposed to go. But I couldnt escape the power that city has over people. Everything there was beautiful and alive. It was big and busy but still, somehow, felt cozy and safe. The streets are skinny alleys mostly, packed with scooters and smart cars (the Back to the Future had it all wrong. We are all going to be driving micro cars). It is easy to get completely lost in a matter of minutes, because the streets have no rhyme or reason directionally speaking, and yet somehow I felt like I could never be lost as long as I kept my head up and acted like this random square was exactly where I had intended to end up. I felt sexy and beautiful in the city, although I have often heard the opposite from girls intimidated by the confidence of italian women. For me, I felt like they were just like any other women, yes some gorgeous and thin, but there were normal shaped women as well. The key was the walk and the steady facial expression. It is serious, yet not hard, poised on the edge of a smile. A constant Mona Lisa, if you will. Once you have this down (and walking on cobblestones with grace) you are good to go. Plus style, but I got it!

I saw the Colleseum and the Roman stuff first. Not one for history, I wasn't that excited to go, but couldn't help but be in awe once I was there. Old shit is cool. But true to form by the end of the day I was in my usual, "yeah, yeah, yeah... old stuff, old stuff, old stuff" mode. The next day I did the Vatican city, being sure to go to the Sistine Chapel first so I could use my excitement there, and only reach "yeah, yeah, yeah" in St. Peters. Catholics are silly and thats all I'll say. There is a lot to be said for touring major tourist attractions alone. The cigarette becomes your best friend, but its much easier to wade through rivers of tourist groups. You can wear sunglasses and headphones and the street vendors generally leave you be assuming you are a local who just needs to get through this part of the city. You don't need to debate what to see, when to eat, how long to stay... I am actually really glad I saw Rome alone. I was so happy to be there. So filled with the city, I didn't need to stand out as one of the many outsiders invading the place, like V's of geese filling the Ohio parks and skys heading down from Canada each fall.

Now I'm Vienna looking more to hang out with my friend whose spent his whole life here than to sight see. Tonight we go to his University party. The poster looks promising for sure.