Reflection Eternal

Posted by Jonathan Leach on Jul 9, 2011 | 0 comments

So as I begin writing this final blog I am sitting here in Frankfort, Germany.  I originally intended my final blog to be about out group meze, but then I realize that though that was the focus of our documentary that didn’t become the main focus of my trip.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved learned about the Cypriot cuisines and camera work, but that doesn’t compare to the friends I made and my discovery of a world larger than I knew before.

I will touch base on the meze for uniformity in my blogs though and to fill everyone in on the uniqueness of the meal.  A meze is a large selection of small dishes served in the Mediterranean and Middle East.  Because there are often an upwards of ten dishes, you can never leave the table feeling hungry.  Besides traditional dishes like the ones made at the shoots we visited, we were able to try new and sometimes strange things like snails and lamb liver.  Though I was not a fan of either of these dishes, I can at least say I have tried them now.  Besides that, all the food at the meze was fantastic and our hosts, an older couple that owned the family business, were once again some of the nicest people in the world.  Whit and Dr. Legg did a fantastic job of recording and directing this final piece that will become the integral segment in our documentary.

Now, as I write this next part I am sitting in Charlotte, North Carolina.  I have been back in the United States only a few hours but already I feel like I am in a whole new world.  In Cyprus, even in the airport I had a conversation with some Cypriots at a snack shop about my trip and what brought me to the island. The Cypriot people were a lot slower paced and interested in your daily life.  Back here in America, I am just another American, pulled back into the fast paced way of life.  I do have to admit though that I was eager for the plane to touch down this afternoon and the ability to see my friends and family.  But then, once I actually got to the airport, I missed Cyprus.  I missed the new friends I made in our group that was quickly disbanding, going to their separate terminals to fly home.  I had the desire for us all to go home, visit family for a few days to get the need out of our systems and fly back to the Mediterranean.  I wanted the beaches with their picturesque landscapes that have been permanently etched into my mind.  I wanted to talk to local Cypriots who made treated me like family after only knowing each other a few minutes.

Now, as I write this final part I sit in Smyrna, Tennessee.  I have been home a few days now and haven’t had much rest from adapting to a new sleep schedule.  I look outside when it is dark and expect

daylight and vice versa.  I go to a restaurant and I am just another American fulfilling my need for nutrients and lining somebody’s wallet.  They rush me in and rush me out, the American way.  Fast food restaurants line the streets and big businesses are everywhere, unlike Cyprus where I was getting used to small business and cafes.  I saw rain for the first time in a month and a half and that too was an interesting feeling.  I have seen my family and friends.  It has been great seeing them and telling them my new love for the island.  One thing I missed the most about home though was the fountain drinks with free refills, which I have utilized at every meal since I have arrived, often asking them to just leave the pitcher.  Another thing I missed was the American food.  Because Cyprus is a small majority Greek island, it mostly just caters Greek food.  Don’t get me wrong I loved the food, but in America we are so vast and so diverse that we have endless varieties of food.  I missed this and only thirty minutes after touching down I was munching on baby back ribs and steak.  It is two days later though and I wouldn’t mind a gyro, but of course I can have that after my Japanese sushi.

But most of all, what I got from the trip was a sense of pride.  I have grown fond of the Greek Cypriots and feel their hardships.  The day we left Cyprus I met a restaurant owner that was once a freedom fighter, a fighter who fought the Turks during the invasion.  He was shot twice in his hometown of Famagusta and was forced to flee to the south.  His home was occupied and bulldozed.  Now, years later, he is still sad about the events.  Since I have returned, I have thought about this man and appreciate my own life and my country where there hasn’t been a home turf battle since the Civil War.  At the same time I feel for him as if what was done to him was done to my country.  Living in Cyprus has made me see things from another cultures point of view and sense their hardships with feelings I wouldn’t have gotten just from history books.  I now feel like yes I am American, but because of my journey I am a small piece Greek Cypriot as well.