Greece, Epilogue

Well, my profoundest apologies for waiting so very long to send an update, but it's been a very busy time of it ever since I returned from Greece. I write to you now from Camp Wawona, where I am currently working in the kitchen, and at last have a break to tell you how I got here perfectly safe and sound, even having quite a bit of fun along the way.

I finally met Mary, my friend Mrs. White's Greek cousin, Wednesday of last week. She was kind enough to take me out for orange juice to rival the best of Florida or California and dinner. This meal was wonderfully filling after I had started to starve on the hotel's food, which was low on vegetarian options. When I asked her where I could get a ticket to a bus to the airport, she immediately volunteered to take me herself. I was incredibly grateful for this kindness, as I had not savored the idea of finding my way to the airport in the middle of the night.

So, after taking the exam and learning I had earned a high B (very respectable, that, nothing wrong with it if worked for) and being celebrated by some of my classmates, she picked me up and took me to her house. There, her husband, godmother, and daughter had prepared a wonderful meal of their own. I enjoyed spending time with actual Greeks, not just hotel staff, and wished that I'd thought to get in touch with them sooner. Mary's daughter was my own age and had taken English in school, so we had fun exchanging words back and forth. She even gave up her room for the night to give me a place to stay. I was touched by this family's generosity to a near stranger, connected to them only by a relatively they rarely see all the way back in the States. They asked, too, that I come back to Greece, to see them again--I hope someday I will be able to do so.

After many hours of flight in which Iberia somehow managed not to lose me for a change, I landed in Dulles to be greeted by Katie and Aunt Faith again. Now was the time for the visit we had actually planned on, and I enjoyed meeting Katie's boyfriend Paul and seeing KJ (or rather, Kenny) in church the next day. They always were my second family, and it was good to be with them. On Sabbath afternoon, Faith took Katie, Paul and I to be tourists in our nation's capital, and I was blown away by everything I saw.

It took me 16 pages in my journal to talk about the National Mall with its gleaming monuments, the White House, the Capital building, the Library of Congress, Arlington Cemetery, and much more. . . it was like walking through the entire history of the US in one action-packed afternoon. I will not trouble you with all the details, but give highlights. The two monuments that moved me the most deeply were actually not on the Mall, but a little off the beaten track--Jefferson and FDR. Both represent leaders who stood up for the rights of the people in a dramatically changing world, Jefferson with his words and FDR with his many acts of reform throughout his long presidency. The new World War II monument on the Mall does a great job of honoring the men who served and the unity of the states during that time, but the FDR monument tells the story. It is beautifully narrative, not quite like anything else there.

As for the White House, don't let the pictures fool you. I had to stand on the fence like any self-respecting tourist, stick my camera through the bars, and use zoom to get them. Between that experience and seeing how lavish the Capital really is, I couldn't help but think that it's no wonder that sometimes our leaders in Washington seem a little out of touch with the outside world. We finished the day at Arlington, watching the changing of the guard at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier--wow, what precision to their steps, and care to each movement!

I almost didn't want to say goodbye to Faith, Ken, and everyone else so soon, but it was time to go home. I actually cried as I saw the hills of Oakland come into view through the scratchy window of the plane. I hugged my mother tightly when she picked me up, and we went to the movies while we waited for my dad's plane to come in later. I cried at the film Wall-E, of all things--just seeing the Pixar logos to remind myself that I was in California was all it took. I loved the big silly grin on Dad's face when he saw me as we picked him up from the airport; I had missed him, too. I cried, too, when I saw my room--my parents had selflessly worked hard on assembling new furniture for me, and it looked so. . . peaceful.

After a mere two days, just long enough to see a large portion of my family at a little get-together at our house (and what a joy it was to see them!) and to run some errands, I left home again to come here, to Camp Wawona. Here I will work for the remainder of the summer, and I'm so glad to be back! Many remember me from last year, and my boss, Theresa, is particularly glad to have me working again. It's been hard getting back into the swing of things again, particularly as jetlag rears its ugly head, but I'm happy just to be in California, doing something fairly productive-feeling again. I wish you all well, and hope that you are having times as happy as this, my homecoming was. Thank you for all your prayers and support while I was gone; without that, I don't think I would have made it back here so safely and satisfactorily.