Kefalonia

Today is our last day in Kefalonia. Today was also our last day of class. It's a little bit surprising how fast time flies, and I cannot believe how near I am to the end of this chapter. But, it's not over yet...

We had to read Louis deBernieres' Corelli's Mandolin for class. It's already supposed to be read, and yet I'm still trucking through it. If I can take a moment to recommend something, I defnintely suggest you pick this book up. It's a moving stroy about a few interchanging characters and their lives on this island during World War II. Anyways, there was also a movie made based on this book which was shot, no surprise, here in Kafalonia. It's amazing to walk down the streets here and see how much pride the people take in the fact that this movie was filmed here. Picutres from the film, a diner that is actually called Captain Corelli's (which by the way has some amazing bugers), getting on a taxi and having our driver point out Nicholas Cage's villa and areas where the film were shot...Reading this book and seeing this movie, has somehow in a weird way, connected me to the locals here.

Besides that though, this island is rich in it's history - especially in the WWII eras. Our class drove to Argostoli, and from there saw the exectuion sites on the sides of the road where German soliders killled off thousands of Italian soldiers, after Moussilini's surrender. Memorials made by the Greeks for them... It pains me to come to the realization that here I am, relaxing.... When only a few decade ago, this island was filled with such atrosity and violence. It's always different when you know the history behind a place you visit, rather than just blindly going. For most of this trip, I realize that I truly apprecaite the education behind it... I feel like I can connect.

On a lighter note, yesterday our class took a day cruise around the island of Ithaca. It was a lot of fun, of course, seeing as we did nothing productive of the sort. I feel like Greece now is more than just a destination for me. It's the place that has given me this journey that I am now living. It has presented me with so many oppotunities to grow and develop (as I've said before). So to me, it's more than the mere beauty of this country and all fo it's breathtaking islands. It's more than the anient ruins, the history, the souvalki and pita, etc. etc. It is the context in which I have had the opportunity to cultivate and encourage some discoverey. Knowledge wise, personally, and spiritually. On that note, yesterday Ithaca presented me with the opportunity to break a little phobia of mine. Drowning when you're 3 years old does not erase itself easily from a person's memory Up until yesterday it's scarred me with a phobia of deep water. And yes, I can swim, but of course I never did in anything where my foot could not touch the bottom. But the water was pristine, and one would be foolish to not jump in. So, I figure at some point I've got to break this fear... Why not in Greece? So I get off the boat and plnuge myself into the beautiful water - my feet far from the ground. Then I realized what I've missed out on all this time. As I let the ocean carry me, it was a rush of freedom and peace all together, that I had never expireienced iin water until now. And for Greece, I am thankful.

So, the growth here... I've never appreciated God's work in nature so much in my life. I guess I was pretty ignorant to it. I never cared, and now I realize, through everything I've seen in Greece, that nature is one way that God expresses His love for us. Sorrounding us in beauty that has an innate ability to awe us and inspire us. To escape from the destruction that we ourselves have created in this world, and really look at the natural beauty of it - it can speak wonders to our lives. If only we let it.

Until the next time.
With love from Sami, Kefalonia,

Carla