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I've uploaded a random sampling of pics. I'll leave them unmarked and you can fill in the blanks and the stories yourselves. There are more to come and I will order, annotate, and tag them later, but for those of you who would like a visual for some of our adventures they're here.
I think I've already started the process of filing away this trip rather than forming many new memories. I've begun translating the snippits in my brain into stories for lj and with the pics now some of thoes stories will be linked with images and further canonized. It is always such an imperfect process, things with pictures get prioritized, but each picture can refer to so many stories, so many moments of sensation, and some may become markers for things that are not recorded, or are pics for things I was not actually there for, but yet become memories that I never really experienced but with time will carry the same weight. People will become charicatures shaped by the generalizations we repeated and colored by my feelings toward them.
( I think this might get long )
Today kind of sucked.
I left the dorm around 11am for a short run/walk. I easily found the main road, had a great jog down to the sea, walked around the little point and then back up the main road. (I think this is probably a mile or two, not sure and I did not have my watch.) I only had my key and my map, which is small but has the dorm's location clearly circled.
Or not. Actually the program director had circled the wrong place so I spent several hours wandering around, met several locals including a girl who literally stopped traffic (the breaks screetched so that she could cross the street), and an old woman who told me her entire life story (I think, she didn't speak any English) and then after 30 minutes of getting nowhere showed me her cataracts (she had on sunglasses).
After four hours I was getting desperate, not to mention dehydrated, and gross in my sweaty running clothes. I parked in front of the bank where the prof. had met us yesterday hoping someone would come looking for me. They did not so after much screwing up of courage I asked a stranger, a very nice man who was waiting to use the ATM for his cell phone. I then called Denis in America (I didn't tell the guy it was long distance, but I talked for less than a minute) because it was the only number I could remember. Luckily Denis had not left for work yet, but I talked too fast and he didn't quite get where I was. So he alerted the program director who tried to find me but to no avail.
After another hour I asked a young woman if I could use her phone, she actually added money to it so I could, I called Denis, he gave me the director's phone number, then the woman and the director discussed where we were (no street signs) and he came and got me. I got in 10 minutes before class which started at 5 30 today for whatever reason. I took the shortest shower ever and grabbed some water for class (no food yet).
I just sent the other grad. student to the store for potatoes, and I'm going to make roast chicken with rosemary and massage my sore legs. Then I have homework for class which starts on a regular schedule (9am) tomorrow. Less than awesome. At least everyone I talked to was supernice, and helped as much as they could, even if that sometimes wasn't really effective. Go Zadarians(?)/people who live in Zadar.
Morals of the story:
-double check your map
-always bring your cell phone
-if a stranger asks to use your phone let them, I'm sure it's good karma.
