Emily is creative. The other day, she updated her list of logins and passwords she keeps in hidden files in our backpacks. The old ones needed to be destroyed. She had the idea to rip them up into pieces and flush them down the toilet - which I thought was pretty ingenious.
But a few minutes later, I noticed her tearing half of each page up into tiny fragments and tossing them into a wastebasket. A few minutes later, the toilet flushed. It turns out that she was concerned that somewhere in the sewers of Istanbul, someone would find these tiny, soaked in who-knows-what pieces of paper and reconstruct them in order to steal the passwords of an online university instructor.
So, she tossed one ripped up half of each page in the garbage and one half down the toilet. Because the garbage people and the sewage people are unlikely to collaborate.
Usually, however, she puts her creativity and ingenuity to what I think are better - although less colorful uses. You may have noticed that in the last week, the quality of the photos on the blog have improved substantially. Emily is back behind the camera, running everywhere, grabbing shot after shot of Istanbul from every angle. I think she does great work.
In her long search for a hobby, she has found and decided upon photography. Not only do I love that she has a hobby - it's so useful for this trip. Not as useful as defeating the toilet monster - but useful nonetheless.
The most difficult part of Emily's job is that no matter what she does in photography or I do in writing, we at most capture pieces of our experiences and thoughts. There's nothing either of us can do to accurately convey the feeling of the air, light and beauty of a sunset in Patmos. We can't produce anything that conveys the feeling and mix of people in the Istanbul streets as we make our way through the side streets of Beyoglu. There are textures that just can't be put into two dimensions.
However, I can try to share the prism from which I see the world. For me, among many things, travel is a way to look not just at places - but cultures, people, history and even time. The world is full of so many interesting and varied ideas. We all seem to want similar things out of life - connection, safety, meaning, hope, futures for our children, happiness and love. But people around the world have so many ways of living and approaching these goals.
I like to collect ideas. Sometimes I see things I want to take home and hope one day we can adopt, incorporate or adapt. America is one of the great synthesizers of culture and ideas - so it always seems possible to me to borrow and integrate.
However, as I look at the world, it is always from a platform of being very proud of who I am and where I'm from. I'm Jewish. I never hide it. I'm American and I believe my home offers people whatever life and opportunity they want to have. I believe I come from possibly the most blessed and fortunate background a person could hope to be born into.
A favorite and valued reader recently pointed out that lately, some of my posts have seemed to be negative on America. I was a little shocked because that isn't at all the message I want to convey - although with some of my recent compare and contrast writings, I can look back and see how someone can read it that way.
I wouldn't prefer to be French, Turkish, Greek or anything else. Nor do I think anyone "has it down" better than Americans. If anything, I try to create and bridge gaps of understanding with the foreigners I meet. I feel very proud to help shape a positive image of America and Americans whenever I can.
In my blogs, I sometimes focus on the ideas I see as wonderful, useful and perhaps adoptable from out in the world. Some people nail a great concept or two (turning off the cell phone at night, public transportation, spending regular time with family and friends, more affordable/accessible healthcare, taking time to watch the sunset, baklava...).
In my own life I believe that while we can never have it all and there are difficult choices we unfortunately face - why not try to skim off the top and choose the best of everything we can? Life has such bitterness and sweetness - why not take the sweet whenever you can and cherish it? Why not strive for more? Why not look to the possible? So I feel about ways of living, points of view and opportunities.
From my standpoint, America is fantastic. We have room to improve. But then so does everyone. Except Emily who has figured out how to prevent identity theft in the most foolproof way possible.
But a few minutes later, I noticed her tearing half of each page up into tiny fragments and tossing them into a wastebasket. A few minutes later, the toilet flushed. It turns out that she was concerned that somewhere in the sewers of Istanbul, someone would find these tiny, soaked in who-knows-what pieces of paper and reconstruct them in order to steal the passwords of an online university instructor.
So, she tossed one ripped up half of each page in the garbage and one half down the toilet. Because the garbage people and the sewage people are unlikely to collaborate.
Usually, however, she puts her creativity and ingenuity to what I think are better - although less colorful uses. You may have noticed that in the last week, the quality of the photos on the blog have improved substantially. Emily is back behind the camera, running everywhere, grabbing shot after shot of Istanbul from every angle. I think she does great work.
In her long search for a hobby, she has found and decided upon photography. Not only do I love that she has a hobby - it's so useful for this trip. Not as useful as defeating the toilet monster - but useful nonetheless.
The most difficult part of Emily's job is that no matter what she does in photography or I do in writing, we at most capture pieces of our experiences and thoughts. There's nothing either of us can do to accurately convey the feeling of the air, light and beauty of a sunset in Patmos. We can't produce anything that conveys the feeling and mix of people in the Istanbul streets as we make our way through the side streets of Beyoglu. There are textures that just can't be put into two dimensions.
However, I can try to share the prism from which I see the world. For me, among many things, travel is a way to look not just at places - but cultures, people, history and even time. The world is full of so many interesting and varied ideas. We all seem to want similar things out of life - connection, safety, meaning, hope, futures for our children, happiness and love. But people around the world have so many ways of living and approaching these goals.
I like to collect ideas. Sometimes I see things I want to take home and hope one day we can adopt, incorporate or adapt. America is one of the great synthesizers of culture and ideas - so it always seems possible to me to borrow and integrate.
However, as I look at the world, it is always from a platform of being very proud of who I am and where I'm from. I'm Jewish. I never hide it. I'm American and I believe my home offers people whatever life and opportunity they want to have. I believe I come from possibly the most blessed and fortunate background a person could hope to be born into.
A favorite and valued reader recently pointed out that lately, some of my posts have seemed to be negative on America. I was a little shocked because that isn't at all the message I want to convey - although with some of my recent compare and contrast writings, I can look back and see how someone can read it that way.
I wouldn't prefer to be French, Turkish, Greek or anything else. Nor do I think anyone "has it down" better than Americans. If anything, I try to create and bridge gaps of understanding with the foreigners I meet. I feel very proud to help shape a positive image of America and Americans whenever I can.
In my blogs, I sometimes focus on the ideas I see as wonderful, useful and perhaps adoptable from out in the world. Some people nail a great concept or two (turning off the cell phone at night, public transportation, spending regular time with family and friends, more affordable/accessible healthcare, taking time to watch the sunset, baklava...).
In my own life I believe that while we can never have it all and there are difficult choices we unfortunately face - why not try to skim off the top and choose the best of everything we can? Life has such bitterness and sweetness - why not take the sweet whenever you can and cherish it? Why not strive for more? Why not look to the possible? So I feel about ways of living, points of view and opportunities.
From my standpoint, America is fantastic. We have room to improve. But then so does everyone. Except Emily who has figured out how to prevent identity theft in the most foolproof way possible.
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