February 7

So now I am in Assos, Turkey and am diligently trekking through The Iliad. We are holed up in this small town and are basically reading 100+ pages per day, in hopes of finishing it before we head to Troy in a few days.
I’ll recap what has happened since my last post.
I did get to the movie in Greece and thought it was very, very good. I recommend the movie, but also warn you not to expect to leave the theater in high spirits. It definitely makes you think and question. Here are my personal reflections on the movie: My main concern about the relationship between the two characters is that they were looking for fulfillment in each other and in their dreams. Both of which were ultimately disappointing. Neither one expressed any sort of belief system or sought fulfillment beyond what this life can provide. I find that to be the futile aspect of the movie. I think because it ends so soberly, the movie causes you to question what you are seeking from this life, if you are seeking anything at all. I then question, can what you ultimately seek be provided in this life? For me, that is where faith steps in. There can be hope when everything in this life fails to live up to your dreams. There is a promise to us, that no matter what we accomplish or how terribly we fail, we can have hope that we will be taken care of by a God who loves us. I guess that’s why I didn’t get depressed from the movie. I fear falling into the trap that the characters found themselves in – depending on other people (and their choices) to fulfill you – but then again, I am encouraged by this movie because it went full out into a relationship which depends on that foundation, and it wasn’t a pretty picture.
If you haven’t seen the movie, you may not fully be able to follow my train of thought, but do go see the movie, because it is very challenging.
Okay, so after the movie I headed back to pack up my stuff so that at, surprise, surprise, we could leave at 8:30 in the morning. That takes us to yesterday.
So, we hopped on the bus to head to the Turkish border, where we would meet our new bus. This new bus is not nearly as cool or comfortable as Spiros’ bus. It is a single level bus, and the roads in Turkey are horrible so the bus ride is bumpy. We got through the border with our new visas and drove to meet our new guide, Gulin, who will accompany us for the next three weeks. She took us to this WWI museum, which commemorates this battle between the Ottoman troops and the Australian and New Zealand troops. Apparently, all the battle succeeded in doing was killing thousands of soldiers. Though Turkey won the battle, they ultimately lost the war. The Australians still come to this site to honor those who died at this site (Anzac Cove) and to keep in mind the terrible consequences of war. The memorial next to the museum is very moving. There are commemorative stone inscriptions with the names of the men who died there, many of whom were my age. Turkey has much to be proud of for how they handled the matter because the leader at the time, Ataturk, recognized that these soldiers died thousands of miles away from home, and basically assured the families that their efforts and lives would be honored.
This site didn’t have much to do with the curriculum, but it was still worth visiting. We had lunch at a little place near the ferry docks and ferried across the straight to mainland Turkey (about 2 or 3 percent of Turkey is actually connected to Greece).
We go to the hotel around 6:45 and had dinner an hour later. I am so sick of travelling right now and am very grateful for the chance to rest in one place for a while. The hotel provides breakfast and dinner (both of which are pretty good – last night we had fresh mackerel). We stopped at a supermarket on the way into town so that we could have lunch here as well.
So far I am one of the few people who I staying on top of the readings, only because I really want to finish The Yacoubian Building, which I’ll only read once I finish The Iliad. Today we spent 2 hours this morning and 1 hour this afternoon discussing the reading and our opinions about the purpose behind Homer’s characterizations and descriptions. It’s all very interesting. I read sections of the Iliad for one of my classes last year, but I’ve never read the entire book. At some point we’ll be reading a few of the sections aloud (the original means of taking in the story).