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| Sylvester and Pinky and I enjoy the sunset |
I'm writing to you from lovely green Kefalonia, Greece. I came here in October for a writing retreat with a bunch of Berlin writers that had been postponed from May
(due to the pandemic). Back in January 2020 when I first signed up for
this retreat, I envisioned taking a month off and writing for a week
then going on holiday and "island hopping" for a month before returning
to Berlin and my work as a consultant.
Little did I know how much things would change for me.
This
is probably the year I've done the least amount of travel since I got
my passport in 1997 to go on a study tour/vacation to Jamaica! The year
started off with a bang - new year's eve in the village in NYC with my
friend Alec from my days in DC, visiting old friends in NYC and
shopping and eating. I then went to DC on the 3rd of January for my
first vacation trip there for a few years and caught a terrible flu
around the 6th. I recovered but I remember the weeks of fatigue
afterwards and the wheezing and difficulty breathing. I look back now
and wonder if it was COVID although the virus had not yet arrived in the
USA at the time. Magical thinking to hope that I'm immune is more
probable.
I flew back to Berlin after
recuperating with my friend Cat in Pennsylvania and my sister in South
Carolina and almost immediately went to Bulgaria for a training of one
of my favorite projects last year, developing a curricula for
interpreters and cultural mediators on how to respond to GBV survivors
and provide psychological support for them, as well as addressing
vicarious traumatization and burnout for themselves. Interpreters and
cultural mediators are the front line workers - particularly in Europe -
and it was a very meaningful and lovely project. I met amazing people
that really gave me a lot of energy to do this work.
And
then I went on a quick holiday jaunt to Dubai to see a friend
(thinking, well, I don't love Dubai but its just for a few days!) I had
the idea that I would then go from there to a conference in Bangkok and
visit friends there, visit my friends in Maldives, and then go to Fiji
to see friends there - possibly spending some time getting to know the
Pacific before returning to Europe for spring. Boy how those plans
changed! As I traveled back on February 11 on the terrible Pegasus
Airlines from the budget terminal in Dubai and had a 3 hour layover in
the "third" airport of Istanbul from 2am to 5am, the stories of the
virus in Asia had spread and one by one, all the events in Asia were
being canceled. "Good," I thought, "I could use a rest. These last few
flights have been horrible! I am tired of traveling." Little did I know
what that meant!
So I stayed at home.
February in Berlin is not a pretty month - dark, grey, cold, and rainy.
But i was happy to be in my apartment for a while. We had an amazing
spring and I had a small balcony where I could sit in the sun and plant
flowers. But it was not restful and the fear of contracting COVID,
spreading COVID, or learning that my loved ones had COVID was ever
present. At the same time, the humanitarian world was coming to terms
that GBV was the shadow pandemic coming alongside the lockdowns and
quarantines. Never have I wished more that I had a cat. Simon Le Bon,
the Siamese would have reminded me to sit, nap, breathe, eat, and purr
to stay calm.
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| Dancing with Lukas in Templehof |
Berlin was a strange place
to be in - we seemed to have the most beautiful spring in a long time
and the summer saw the sidewalks and outdoor cafes packed with people
outside, not a mask to be seen. And the noise from my neighborhood
became unbearable. I hated being in my apartment (although its lovely). I
couldn't get away from the stomping neighbors upstairs, the chattering
coked up people at the restaurant downstairs under my bedroom, or the
drunken mobs coming home from dancing and partying in the park near my
house at 4am. I felt miserable and angry all the time. We did have some bright spots, all social activities moved to the parks so we had a few birthday parties in the outdoors. So in October, I
came to Kefalonia for the writing retreat... and just stayed.
And
- its March and I'm still here! I wake up and look at the Ionian sea
and a grove of olive trees. 5 cats (Pinky Tuscadero, Cutie Pie,
Sylvester, Filos, and Jenny) come onto my balcony and stare at me until I
feed them. We discuss the seasons. I check them for ticks. They fight
with each other and sometimes they curl up in the sun with each other
and clean each other. We've been on lockdown since November which means
there's a 6pm curfew and you have to get permission from the police to
go out. So I go out once a week to buy groceries. I go downstairs to
talk to my Greek neighbors and cook with them. And I walk around in the
olive groves to the sea and listen to Stephen Fry reading Greek
mythology to me on an audio book. Thanks to zoom and the internet and a
kindle, I can still talk to friends, work full-time, and read books and
watch movies. Its a very different existence than February 2020! But a
good one.
So forgive my tardiness in
sending you holiday greets and instead accept this as Saint Patrick Day
or Ides of March greetings! A few photos of Kefalonia, cats, and COVID
outdoor party in Berlin
Much love,
Sarah
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