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Greek Festival

Yesterday, I went with my mother to a Greek Festival at the local Orthodox church. The first surprising thing was there were any Greeks who lived in this part of the US. The second surprise was that they had retained so much of their culture. My mother was primed for the event since she had recently seen the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding!" I was primed because I had lived in Greece for several months and was already familiar with many of the things I saw there. There was traditional dancing, Greek food, etc. but the best part was the church tour. The priest asked us what we first noticed when we entered the church. One person said a lot of lighting and another said a lot of gold coloring. I wanted to say the church was very 'iconic' but decided not to draw any atttention to myself. Fortunately, I refrained from this because the priest went on and on explaining the purpose of all the icons. Had I said what I wanted to, I would have felt I had put him on the defensive...

Off to West Virginia

I'm off to West Virginia to visit my family for a week. I'll try to take some pictures for posting. Please keep checking in.

Thailand '97 (2)

Here are some more pictures of my '97 trip to Thailand. I have to resort to pictures taken 11 years ago since I'm currently NOT traveling. I hope to rectify this in the next few months. Anyway, these pictures include shots of the Burmese railroad, the Bridge over the River Kwai (Remember the movie?), and a cemetery containing prisoners who died building these structures. It was a very informative tour. http://picasaweb.google.com/mccoy4984/Thailand972 #

Trip Recap

It's Monday morning and I'm still a bit jetlagged although I slept well last night. The return trip was tiring but also satisfying in a way. On the flight, there was a certain cameraderie that existed between myself and the military guys because of our shared experience. Everywhere we stopped, people expressed appreciation for what we had done. At the Baltimore airport, people were actually waiting at the exits to applaud us upon our return. It was a good feeling and I imagine very different from that experienced by Vietnam vets. It shows our country has matured in some ways. Or, perhaps those who might protest us were still in their respective opium dens!

Back Home!

Well, I'm in Baltimore and will fly to San Antonio today. It's good to be back. I'll give more details once I get settled in.