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Sunday, August 22, 2021AD
~10 days left of the trip
We went to Liturgy again today; the church became very crowded. About halfway through I put on a mask because of the volume of people. I knew what was going on for the most part. The bread and goodies brought for the memorial after surprised me, as each item (or stack of store-bought cakes) had a candle stuck through it, even if it was wrapped in plastic. The candles burned down pretty low but someone always put it out before it got too dangerous.
I had a scary moment at communion as it seemed like some had fallen from the spoon onto the floor by way of the cloth in front of me. I think I ate it before it it the floor as we couldn’t find it, but man it was scary (and a little humiliating). Then someone else knocked over a candlestand, shattering the glass wax catcher and distracting everyone. Honestly I don’t know if anyone even noticed in the first place but it made me feel a little less exposed. After liturgy we had some festive lunch and were anointed by a very joyous monk who said “it’s nard from Greece” and greeted us with “Christ is Risen!”
After lunch we made some coffee around 1pm and rested a bit. At 6pm there was a vigil and paraklesis. We ate dinner with a nice Romanian family who talked about their son who went to America on a student visa right as the pandemic shut everything down.
I’m still kinda homesick. I’m using my phone’s flight-tracking apps to count down the days left on the trip. I have no mobile data connection, so I can’t use WhatsApp to text home. I could use regular SMS, but that’s $10 a day and not required all the time. I’ve got my phone set up to get new information for my apps when it connects to WiFi, but there’s no WiFi to connect to, which makes me feel isolated (insulated?)
I guess that raises the question: are we too dependent on a constant connection to the Internet? You, dear reader, are probably reading this on the Internet, but I’m writing it with no way to put it up there until later. That makes me feel like this entry won’t be finished until it’s all up online. I’m also unable to get to any knowledge sources outside of what’s in my head, on my phone, or printed on paper. I’ve left Trantor and gone somewhere else (slightly) outside the Empire.
I like it here, but I want to go home. I miss the cat.