Sunday, September 26, 2010

Întrebări

Aseară ne-am uitat la "A Map for Saturday" un documentar făcut de un tip care a mers în jurul lumii (pentru el) și a intervievat pe cei cu care s-a întalnit, care si ei mergeau in jurul lumii, despre ce inseamna pentru ei sa treci printr-o astfel de experienta. Foarte bine facut documentarul (autorul lucrase in televiziune ca producator de emisiuni sportive). Ne-a spus despre faptul că s-a hotărât să plece, despre reacțiile celor cărora le-a comunicat decizia (variind de la șoc la încurajare), despre euforia care te cuprinde când îți începi călătoria, de senzația de sâmbătă permanentă, de relațiile pe care le faci, la început te legi foarte tare, apoi pe măsură ce înaintezi în timp, te bucuri de relație în prezent, apoi realizezi ca viața fiecăruia a mers mai departe și comunicarea devine superficială; de locurile și civilizațiile pe care le întâlnești, de curiozitate, de oameni, de progresele pe care le faci în a te descurca în această viață de nomad, de zidul de care te lovești, când cea mai frumoasă cascadă ți se pare obișnuită, pentru că ai mai văzut încă douăzeci, și cumva toate ți-au ajuns, de siguranța și sentimentul deosebit pe care îl ai când depășești zidul, de faptul că nu vrei să te mai întorci acasă și totuși o faci, te bucuri că ești acasă si ești trist, pentru că deși te întreabă cum a fost, nu sunt interesați de răspuns, pentru că n-ai cu cine să împarți experiența prin care ai trecut. O vreme continui să comunici cu cei pe care i-ai cunoscut in călătorie, apoi din ce în ce mai puțin, pentru că ești din nou preocupat de o viață sedentară și un serviciu cu program regulat.
Ne-a prezentat și faptul că nu avea un răspuns potrivit pe care să-l dea celor care câștigă aproximativ 300$ pe an cum a renunțat la un serviciu de zeci de mii de dolari pe an doar ca să se dea prin lume. Și imediat mi-am pus întrebarea: eu ce aș răspunde?...
Motivul inițial să fim împreună cu copiii, acum avem timpul, suntem sănătoși și cred că aș putea să mai lungesc lista. Dar pe măsură ce ne apropiem și mă gândesc cum voi face față, găsesc răspunsurile personale. Plec ca să învăț despre lume, dar de fapt ca să mă cunosc pe mine și ca un exercițiu de creștinism.
Viața mea de zi cu zi este protejată. Am un program pe care mi-l fac singură, sunt propriul meu șef. Am mai multe tichii: de soție, de mamă, de profesoara a propriilor copii, de bucătăreasă, de studentă (învăț chineza în vederea acestei călătorii și corespondez în italiană doar pentru a face efortul de a mă exprima într-o limbă străină)și de directoare la școala de duminică (tichie proaspăt achiziționată în această săptămână). Contactul meu cu oamenii este limitat și dacă ceva nu-mi convine, am timp să întorc pe toate părțile evenimentul, până fac pace cu el, dar nu înseamnă că am ajuns la concluzia corectă. Vezi lumea așa cum ești! Eu vreau să ajung să o percep așa cum este, fără prejudecăți, făra așteptări, să iau ceea ce este în prezent, să dau ceea ce am pe loc, un zâmbet, o mână de ajutor, un sfat bun, să mă bucur de toate ca și cum ar fi ale mele, știind tot timpul că nimic nu-mi aparține. Vreau să fiu mai bună, să nu mai judec lumea și pe ceilalți după măsura mea, să învăț să ascult, să mă interesez de alte persoane, să văd din punctul lor de vedere, să nu mai fiu egoistă. E cam greu să fac toate astea când stau acasă și mă ocup doar de familie.
Am luat hotărârea că vom avea doar bagajul de cabină. Asta înseamnă un total de 3 schimburi de haine, inclusiv cele groase si de ploaie! Lucrurile de toaleta vor fi doar în bagajele adulților, pentru situația în care vom dormi pe sexe (trusa de toaletă este încă în procesul de proiectare: vreau să fie ușoară și să conțină toate lucrurile de care ai nevoie când te duci să te speli, va fi special pentru familia noastră)
M-am gândit ce am putea să luăm cu noi să oferim celor care ne oferă ospitalitate. La ce ar putea folosi cineva o monedă de 50 centi cu chipul lui Kennedy pe ea sau o vedere cu New York? Sau cum poți să ajuți pe cineva care te-a impresionat cu povestea lui?
Nu am răspunsurile la aceste întrebări, dar sper să le aflu. Sper ca în drumurile noastre să ne întâlnim cu acele situații în care să fim buni, să vedem și din punctul celuilalt de vedere.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Shakira and us in Montreal

We are in Montreal on a 4-5 day vacation. Staying in a hotel on Rue St. Denis, I am typing this as Ileana, Ioan and Maria are playing a cards game. We left home yesterday morning and made it here 10 hours later after a pleasant drive, a couple of stops and one hour in traffic for the last 20 km. We wanted to come here for some time but never had the chance. Several things happened. Shakira announced her first concert of the new world tour. Ileana and the kids only cared about their two-week camp, initially they didn't see a need for another vacation. Then they had the camp and came back exhausted and begging for a trip. I used their time away to work more and I needed a break. We didn't buy tickets for the concert at the beginning, even thought of not buying at all, or just trying to get one at the door at the last moment. Anyhow, they had a good deal online and we got cheap tickets.

So here we are in Montreal, the concert last night was fantastic. We stayed up on the 6th floor but we saw the scene from the side, we could guess her form on the scene and we could see two of the giant screens. We all had a good time. She is the best. A good mixture of new and old songs, the same fascinating artist and entertainer. Using our previous experience we planned to arrive at 9 or 9.30 pm for the concert scheduled to begin at 8. We started walking the streets looking for some food and ended up paying $50 at the show stands were a beer was $8 and a small slice of pizza was $5. We got in our seats a few minutes after 9, the concert started and ended up shortly thereafter. By the clock it was maybe 100 minutes but it seemed so short.

Today we walked the old city, visiting an eskimo store and a small coffee shop that had a maple syrup museum in the basement. Walking somewhere by the river and ending in the Chinese village, we bought tickets for a light show in the Notre Dame Cathedral, ate lunch at a chinese buffet and spent the last 3 hours in the hotel room. It turns out that somehow I lost 60 dollars, no idea how. A tough one to accept. But as always -it could be worse. Getting ready for church, outside is raining cats...

We went to the Notre Dame light show. It was easy to get there by car, we found a parking spot next to the entrance and got there with plenty of time to spare. A very good show, not much more expensive then the regular church visit and allowing a brief 15 minutes to visit at the end. Next we ate chicken in the pizza place downstairs and went to bed after another couple hours of reading. 

Friday was a wonderful day. Perfect weather, we spent the morning in the Olympic park, first in the Montreal observation tower, the biggest leaning tower in the world and then in the Botanical garden. It was late in the afternoon when we got back in the middle of the town and after looking for a few minutes for a restaurant we found the new Montreal market place. A bright new shining building but desolate and disappointing in some way. We bought baguettes and cheese (Morbiér!), pâté and ham and focaccias and had a picnic in front of the market. We spent $50, but we still have some food left. Then we went on the Mont-Royal mountain for a few minutes and some pictures and the kids saw somebody feeding raccoons. This was a first, amazing how they stood up and took their bread with their front paws, they took turns and left after a while.

We returned to the hotel at 6 pm and I left with Ileana to get a stamp. In the first 5 minutes we saw ten people lying on the side walk, part of a dance performance, a couple young ladies dressed with underwear over their clothes, a guy climbing a tree on his bicycle. We ended up back home after a couple of hours and after spending $250 on RTW boots. We entered a sporting goods store, looked at coats for a while then Ileana went to the guy in the shoe department and explained that she needs some shoes to live in. "Sorry?" said the guy with a thick French accent. Ileana explained that she plans to go round the world and she needs some shoes. The first pair she tried she liked, the guy probably knew his job. He understood what we wanted, something soft but firm plus water repellant but breathable and of course nice looking for the city and sporty for the mountains in the same time. There is no such thing you might say and I would totally agree. The company that makes them seems to be well known and present throughout the world. Looking on their website I didn't see anything that I would ever buy and we couldn't find our shoes. Our shoes, of course, because we ended up getting identical models paying several times more then the most expensive pair of shoes I ever bought. Why? For a couple of reasons. We have a year until we leave but we only have so much time and spending it on finding shoes and gear is not necessarily the best use for it, we live in a small village and it takes time to get to a big specialized store. And we go to Galapagos soon so we can try them there. Funny - people come to WG from all over the world to buy shoes and coats, but we never found anything decent. 

This was the last night in Canada. We gave up the initial plan of going to Quebec, too long drive for too little time. Saturday we woke up early and left by 8 toward the border. We crossed the big bridge twice to admire the empty city, got lost on the way out but finally made it. I was expecting the gas to last until back in US but it was getting a really close call. After we decided to refuel we got on a stretch of highway were they were repairing and no gas station was working. We made it to the first gas pump in US with the last drops of fuel. Before leaving Canada we finished the French cheese and all the other food, but nobody asked about food at the border.

We went to Alexandria Bay to visit the Thousand Islands region, an amazing display of water and land on the mighty St. Lawrence river. We took a good 2 1/2 hour cruise on a big 3 level boat. We stayed on the top level in the front row, by the guide and the boat captain. Our daughter Ileana was the only one of the 200 people that got soaked at some point. She got everybody's attention a few minutes later when she went to get some pink lemonade and the wind blew off the dollars in her hand. Her sister was there to help and support her. Ioan was the first child to try his hand at maneuvering the boat and getting a captain certificate. We ended the trip with the supposedly top attraction: Boldt Castle. A disappointment not because it was a ruin that they are trying to restore, but mostly because it lacked any taste and any originality. Apparently Mr. Boldt was a very rich man and he wanted the best, but he started as a dish washing boy in America and his taste was influenced by his education. Or maybe because we saw other things build in the same time like the Romanian Pelisor Castle? Anyhow, not worth even a first visit, we'll never go there again. It wasn't bad enough to spoil another beautiful day. 

We got home in the early evening, it's a nice 3 hour ride to the Thousand Islands, exactly as to the Niagara Falls but in the opposite direction. After 4 days of fun and travel we feel refreshed and enlightened... And as it became usual for the two of us and for our kids, it's all done with the thought of our round the world trip somewhere on our mind. Navigating a new subway system, trying to find a parking spot or figuring out breakfast. Making the schedule or deciding where to have lunch. We're getting closer to the target and we are getting better. The kids participate full time and we learn to take and use their opinions. More to come...