Arrival...

Most days the pilgrims will be doing this but all of them were really tired tonight (and I couldn't get the wifi to work on the Mac- and it did on the iPhone- go figure...) We traveled for upwards of 24 hours on our way to Izmir. We are here.

I was struck on the way here by the free-flowing conversation. We were talking a lot about things that we had just finished up with at home: AP exams, papers, projects, internships... I wonder today about how long it will take for us all to "descend" into the labyrinth of this pilgrim journey. When will our conversations be about what is in front of us in the moment? When will we stop dwelling on who and what we left behind and begin seeing God in these "old stones" that surround us?

When we landed today something about being here just felt right to us all. We looked at each other and smiled - there was a feeling among many of us , I believe, that we had arrived at the place where we should be on pilgrimage.

Today we went up to "the velvet castle"- an ancient ruin that dates back to a ruler named lysomachus. There was a complex system of aqueducts that ran down from this citadel and sent water to the city. Pretty impressive , really. 

All around us was old and new.. a woman sat making killim bags.. a little girl fed her goats that took care of weed control for the park.. .. 

Our guide, Cengis, bought us all "apple tea" at a rooftop cafe' where we watched dusk begin to set in. 

Cengis is really great and is taking great care of us all. Our hotel is right next to the waterfront in Izmir.

We ate a simple dinner and said evening prayer together on the deck above the pool. Just wow... Amen

Tim

Airports, airports, airports.

Before any great journey can begin, you have to get there first. So, as guessed, for the first leg of our journey we tour through airports. Shortly before rushing off to Charlotte, several of the pilgrims pointed out that Bridget, one of the pilgrims had not arrived yet. After games phone tag, cards, and trips for water our entire group was united. As we kissed our families good-bye for a second time we started our journey.

On our first trip from Atlanta to Charlotte some passengers figured that this whole airplane thing was going to be very hard. Several were convinced otherwise on the EIGHT HOUR flight from Charlotte to Munich. With all sorts of shenanigans occurring from system reboots to fly aerobics (not to be confused with pew aerobics) to crying babies little sleep was had by all. Despite the lack of sleep one of the virtues of the trip was being able to look outside the window and see the effects of a sunrise from above the clouds. It was a beautiful deep red glow filling the clouds with the smudge of Earth's horizon in the distance. This was described in the moment eloquently with phrases such as "Whoa, that's cool man" and "It looks all glowey."

Now that we have arrived in Munich, pilgrims and chaperones alike have gone on mad hunts for food, taken to sprawling out across chairs and playing games of hackey sack. As Tim practices yoga by the window, and Whit goes for a run through the airport several sleepy pilgrims are confused by the amount of energy that could possibly be had. So, now we wait to board our flight to Izmir and hop on the Turkey leg of our pilgrimage to begin.

Catherine Laseter