MAYER

September 3, 2007

Today is so challenging I think maybe I’m being overly hormonal/emotional but there are many times when I almost started crying today. I traveled for 6 hours by train this morning to Bridisi Italy, when I arrived the town was dead – I guess it’s Siesta time. I was lucky to have found a restaurant – but the food was shitty. I almost cried there on the spot. Then it turns out that the ferry only leaves to Igomenitsa once a day at 7pm – which means I would arrive there at 2am. There are no hostels even listed in that city and I would be alone at night where I should not be. Called Mara – nobody home. I decided that the best thing would be for me to hop on a ferry to a different location in Greece near Athens – it would drop me off at 10:00am. That way I am getting to where I want to go (not necessarily Mara’s house) but I would also have a place to stay for the night. Maybe there is a bus going from Athens to Kalambaka or something. My only Savior was a good Gelato place. I must be gaining a lot of weight with all this gelato but it temporarily eased my stress.

Decided to explore a little bit – I feel completely unsafe in Italy – due to the men who are like annoying predators. I am unsure as to what means they will use to get what they want. A man honked at me in his car. He turned around and honked at me again – I didn’t think anything of it – Then he kept blatantly following me around stopping the car to talk with me. The Italians know about 10 words in English which gives them the perception that they have something in Common with me – and I know about 8 words in Italian – so together we can speak 18 words to each other which is enough to start a short-term relationship. Because the time did not seem privy to a short term relationship, I used the small amount of Hebrew I can speak to completely restrict communication. The poor Italian did not know what to do and he quickly lost interest. Thank God – but I still felt unsafe so I’ve hid myself well in a peaceful quiet place at the top of some steps behind a wall near some Roman columns. I will have to take a ferry to Greece in a couple hours overnight and I don’t think I even have a bed. Oh I want things to become better, please.

After 20 minutes of writing this – things indeed did get better. I met 2 Argentinean boys who speak English and are traveling on the same ferry as me. They are so cute. I feel a little selfish for taking them both for myself – but very very happy. Because they were with me it was really easy to find the ferry which is like a shitty version of a cruise ship, but I was excited because I had two cute escorts to go with. We all had payed for the cheapest fare – which means that you do not even get a proper seat or place to put your bags – but there are outdoor showers if you like. So the three of us lounged I sewed up a couple holes in my pants. The three of us fell asleep on the floor of the cinema room – where a couple dozen other people were sleeping too. It was really fun to sleep on the floor I actually slept really well –