October 30 - The Least, Last, and Lost Reflections

Andrea wrote a wonderful description of our time in Meina and Rome – and she actually lessoned a little of the drama and frustration of being lost in Meina! Here are just a few more thoughts and reflections that surfaced during our time in these places.

I keep looking for good news in our wanderings. I keep looking for the least, the last, the lost and what good news there might be for them. This is what our friend Kris Rocke does as he leads the Center for Transforming Mission. CTM's goal is to come along side those who are working in hard places – especially among youth to bring them true good news, training, and encouragement that they are not alone. I was surprised by the thought and realization that for the last seven years I have been doing hard work in a hard place. Kris and CTM have always been life giving for me and I have participated in many of their gatherings and trainings, but usually I didn't think of myself being and working in a hard place. I've realized that it was a very hard place. While I loved Sound Youth Counseling especially working with the staff and clients, I still am working out my time in Tacoma. Perhaps more on this later.

Our time in Meina however served to focus like a laser what it is like to be in the position of the marginalized. Meina is on the shores of Lago (Lake) Maggiore, which is very similar to Lake Como. Beautiful homes and villas on the water extending up into the hills but without a doubt the most pedestrian unfriendly place I have ever been in my life. If you had a car, it would be great – and you would be like everyone else who lives there, able to get places, able to purchase food, able to fit in. But without a car, it like Andrea suggested was a difficult, unsafe and somewhat life threatening place. This is no place for someone without a car, no place for someone poor – and while we are far from poor compared to most of the world, our time their (even with a lovely B&B) let us experience what it is like to be an outsider and not fit in, not understand.

I kept thinking of all the verses about taking in the stranger and looking after the foreigner and have a very different perspective than I did before and it's not like I hadn't thought about things like this before either! Andrea also mentioned that our experience of being in Meina is very similar to the third culture kid experience, when you are plopped down somewhere completely unknown and it's hard, yet you figure it out and keep on going. Although TCK's do this with their lives often over and over again!

The other experience that made real the least, last and lost to me took place on our first night in Rome. Andrea and I were a little tired and grumpy at each other, needing some sleep and a little space after being continually on the go. We went back to the central Rome train station which in addition to trains also has many restaurants and stores. We were getting in line to check out of the grocery store when we noticed a girl ahead of us in line whose face was so covered in piercings it floored me and made my petty complaints just vanish. It wasn't just that she was a human pin cushion, she was obviously in a bad way, drugged and slumped over. She was standing in line with a man but was literally falling asleep standing up. He would shake her every now and again when she started to slump more towards the ground. I wanted to take a picture but it would have been so violating to her and everyone was already violating her with their stares. I don't know what we could have done. Andrea and I walked back to where we were staying in silence. I quickly scribbled down these words on the back of a receipt.

I'm sorry it took you

I'm sorry it took you
to wake me from my stupor
break me out of my funk
shock me out of my shallow selfishness

Right in front of me
at the check out stand
with a man, cigarette hanging from his lips, buying cheap wine,
steadying you so wouldn't fall down

If your eyes had been open
you would have known the stares of everyone in the store
perhaps you already felt them
perhaps that's why your eyes were closed

Under 20, maybe 15 – barely holding on, barely human
Drugged, high, swaying
Dirty, baggy clothes covering most of you
But what was visible...

Hands, scarred; nails, blackened nubs
mostly shaved head except for a few magenta strands
piercings covering your face
Ears, lips eyes, nose, cheeks – far, far too many to count

Grotesque
Spectacle
Awful
Stunning
Sad
Beauty – horribly scarred
God's image
Maybe Jesus
in the flesh
wrapped in your own stupor to break me from mine
But I'm sorry it took you.

Isaiah 53

Duncan

October 27-29, The Travesties of Our Time in Rome Part II

Fifth travesty of our time in Rome – I was wearing dirty socks when I saw the Pope. Our friend, Julie had told me before we left, about the papal audiences on Wednesdays at the Vatican and when we arrived in Rome we trotted over to Santa Sussanna church to get (free) tickets. Incidentally the priest who gave us our tickets and we chatted with (Father Greg) we had seen on the Today show several years earlier doing an interview with Matt Lauer in front of St. Peter's on The Da Vinci Code. He of course didn't tell us this, but there was a little write up on Fr. Greg in some literature we picked up and then we both remembered seeing him. He had a good sense of humor about the whole thing while still towing the party line.

So Wednesday morning we catch the metro at 8:30, even though we were told to be at St. Peter's at 8:30 (two hours ahead) to get a good seat. The Metro was packed and it literally took three trains coming and going before our part of the crowd could push ourselves on. Fortunately being as tall as I am I do not have to have my face in someone else's armpit, unfortunately the reverse is true and someone else's nose is in my armpit. I also had momentary panic when I thought the police officer behind me was getting fresh with me but this was relieved when I realized that the perpetrator was a woman's handbag.

We arrived at St. Peter's around 9 am to an already large gathered crowd, waited in line for security, and then entered the grounds and selected a seat. The square was full of chairs and an awning was set up on the stairs on St. Peter's. The Pope arrived at 10:30 in his pope mobile, surrounded by Swiss guards and made several laps waving to the crowd. We all stood on our chairs in order to see which had the affect of making everyone only see the pope's head magically and swiftly move around the square. The pope mobile then rolled up to the awning and dropped the Pope off and then disappeared. The reading from 1 Corinthians was read in 6 different languages by six different cardinals (Italian, French, English, German, Spanish, Russian). The Pope then gave a message in Italian. The six different cardinals then each read the names of those groups, or churches gathered, in their countries respective languages. Every time a large group's name was read they erupted in shouts of joy, some even singing a verse of a song or playing instruments, which became even louder when the Pope did a special greeting in each of the six languages and would mention some of the groups that He was particularly pleased were there.

And the dirty socks you ask? Well this happens often when you only have 2 pairs of black socks and you're walking around in the black sock/shoe nations of Europe everyday. So while I'm used to this, it just didn't feel right to see the Pope in my dirty socks. :)

After the audience we thought that the crowd would probably head into St. Peter's so we decided to walk to the Pantheon instead. For some reason this is one of my favorite sites in Rome. The grand scale of this 2,000 year old building takes my breath away, especially the oculus which is 30 feet across. I would have loved to see what happened to all that water that came pouring through the ceiling in the storm, because the drainage system for the Pantheon is probably a better design than our modern version.

On our walk to and from the Pantheon we passed through Piazza Navona and noticed a huge police presence and some destruction in the piazza. We had seen a protest the day before at the Colosseum by students who were protesting school reform so we knew it was the same thing, but the police were gathered around a particular building in their riot gear and had a do not cross line. We stopped at a nearby tourist information booth and asked what was going on. The Senate, in the protected building had voted that morning to accept the school reform. The crowd completely protested and it ended in some property destruction and tear gas. The government is trying to cut education budgets across the board from elementary education to graduate research. One Italian citizen explained to us that part of the problem is that Berlusconi didn't and won't tax property (which dramatically decreases revenue especially from the upper class) and because of this the government has run out of money and has to cut things - education being the target. The particularly interesting thing is that the Italian government is trying to sell the reforms as good because they will be like the US education system. The Education Minister has even said that these reforms are very similar to Obama's education plan. The problem as Italian citizens see it is that they currently have the best public education system in Europe and it is no comfort to be told they're going to be like the US.

After being informed we went on our way back to St. Peter's to see the church. After some debate because the line was still incredibly long we decided to bite the bullet and go in. Big mistake!!! I have never been anywhere more crowded. It felt like we were back on the subway. There were soo many tour groups and they would just stop in front of something the guide was describing and block the entire route. They all looked incredibly bored. I wondered why they were there. Because it was so crowded the guards were ushering anyone not in a group to move along, essentially making it impossible to stop and look at anything. We were so frustrated and we just got out which is disappointing when you are in the largest most magnificent church in all of christendom. We did manage to make our way to the less crowded crypt but again because it was busy we were simply ushered through without being able to stop and look at anything.

We left and went home. The redeeming part of night was having a great smoothie and apple crisp back at the Beehive's cafe with some great conversation about the protests with Valentina the chef for the night. We also were able to hang out and talk with Damien, a fellow dormer on a year long trip from Australia. He was in Thailand a short while ago and plans to go back in January so we will hopefully meet up with him again. He was especially kind to us and took pity on our lack of a card reader and downloaded our pictures for us – thus the reason our blog suddenly has pictures. We plan on buying our own card reader in South Africa next week.

On our last morning in Rome before we were to catch our train, I was inspired to try to see Bernini's St. Teresa in Ecstasy statue in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, a short 15 minute walk from the Beehive. I left Duncan to finish packing and headed out only to realize a few blocks later that there were massive protests about the school reform decision going on. I made it through the crowd to Piazza d. Repubblica, only three blocks from the church but simply couldn't go any further. The square and all of the surrounding blocks were completely filled with people. The protest was well organized. There were many banners and huge amounts of balloons that spelled out the people's disgust with the school reform decision. Having been inside the Beehive most of the morning with no clue what was going on I felt a bit like Emperor Nero playing the violin while Rome burned. I went back to the Beehive to tell Duncan to go check it out. We heard that the people's disgust with the decision made the union(s) call for a strike which would mean that the metro would only run in the morning to get people to work and then in the evening to get them home again (however we were unable to confirm this). No strikes or protests affected our train travel out of Rome.

Andrea

October 27-29, The Travesties of Our Time in Rome Part I

Rome just might be my favorite city ever. I love the life of the city and that around every corner is another piece of incredible history. I also love that the city is a real city – overcrowded, graffitied, smelly and generally inhospitable until you learn its ways. But once you learn its ways the city is glorious.

We hopped on the train in Arona and arrived in Rome in the afternoon.

The first travesty of Rome is not Rome's fault – we did not have much time budgeted for this magnificent city – only 3 nights. We tried to get 4 nights but our hotel was full and we couldn't manage (mentally) finding another hotel for just one night.

The second travesty of our time in Rome (this is Rome's fault) – accommodation is EXPENSIVE. We thought this was even more true about Rome than it was about Paris. Because we couldn't find any doubles in our price range, Rome became our first experiment with the dorm. Fortunately for us we found (through Rick Steves book) The Beehive which advertised their dorms as quiet – with quiet hours. We booked it and were very pleasantly surprised that it was great (for a dorm). Duncan had some trouble sleeping the first night but was exhausted enough the next two to sleep well. I, surprisingly slept like a baby all nights.

Third travesty of our time in Rome – to the Wilson's, the Colosseum is overrated – the true gems are the Forum and Palatine Hill. This travesty really stems from both our dislike of huge, disrespectful, unmanageable crowds and paying a lot of money. I had been here once before and had some fuzzy memories, mostly of being annoyed that I couldn't hear the tour guide. The Colosseum is interesting and makes for a great picture, but because its image is so accessible and identifiable, if you know its history it (to me) does not add much to my image to physically be there fighting through crowds. The interesting part of being at the Colosseum for Duncan and I was following around a Thai group and Duncan eavesdropping on their tour.

What was incredibly interesting and made the ticket to the Colosseum worth it was the Forum and Palatine Hill. It's incredible to stroll the streets of the Forum and imagine Caesar walking the same route. One particularly impressive building was the HUGE basilica that Constantine had built. The scale was also impressive on Palatine hill. You can completely imagine the gardens and flowing fountains from the palatial ruins in front of you. On one hilltop we were able to see Circus Maximus below us, a oval shaped track for chariot races, that could hold up to 250,000 spectators!!!

Fourth travesty of our time in Rome – open bus tour in the biggest rain storm in 15 years. To get the lay of the land we bought tickets for the hop-on-hop-off bus tour around Rome. We hopped off at the Colosseum and did our tour. When we hopped back on and began our way back to Termini train station we encountered torrential rain. Because it had been raining earlier in the day, I bought a cheap umbrella from one of the many men (mostly if not all immigrants) trying to make some money to live. I bargained him down to a 'special price' especially for me – right. . . :) Of course by the time its pouring my special price umbrella already has one part of its fabric cover detached from the frame. We were soaked!!! Being good citizens of whatever country we happen to be in, we dutifully took home as much water as we could carry in our shoes, socks, and pant legs. Who knew that jeans have capillary action and suck up water like a straw? :) Apparently it rained 3 inches and areas of Rome were completely flooded and some roads impassable.


Andrea