In Favor of Real Connection.

Not that I haven't threatened to do this before. But this time I actually did it.

I deactivated my facebook account.

I'm tired of the endless hours of useless information. Like what car my coworker bought. Or a photo of friends dressed up on vacation in Mexico. Or an anti-vaccine muse. Or anything really. Does it add any substance to my life? It seems no different than spending hours watching TV reruns.

We kid ourselves that this is real connection.

On Sunday morning, I had breakfast with one of my old friends who I haven't seen in about six months. Both of us encumbered by work and other personal dramas led to the big gap in connection.

I rolled out of bed early, slipped into my rainpants and rainjacket and rolled down the streets. Which on a Sunday morning were silent as the night. The light drizzle was enough to warrant the rain gear but not enought to be any sort of problem. I thought, "This is my church."

We met up at a small wooody Scandinavian place in North Portland. I was a little anxious about the possibility of feeding a vegetarian in Northern European cuisine. I remember Norway as one of the least vegetarian friendly countries in the world. But I ended up with a traditional Finnish porridge with homemade applesauce and potato pancake. Both perfect. And filling enough.

We sat for hours talking over our breakfasts.

I was worried they would kick us out of our table. But no one said a word.

The in person connection doesn't resemble social media in the least.

We left feeling filled up. And joyous at our breakfast together. Saying, "We have to do this in a month again."

I thought of all the times I felt like I was too busy to meet with someone. How I needed to stay home and have time to myself.

I think what we really need- what we really crave- is true connection.

So, I hereby start my social media hiatus. In favor of life with real people in real time.

Train compartment connections

Last Sunday, I spent the day alone, wandering aimlessly through Prague, sitting for an hour on sunshine-lit steps, cheering the marathoners, subwaying to a modern art place... thoroughly wearing myself out before heading to the train station.

Whilst I sat on the bench watching for my train track number to be assigned, I noticed a tall guy with a Kelty backpack and Teva sandals. I decided he was Canadian. Kelty was something my Canadian friends had owned and he was decked out in travel attire.

My train finally appeared on the lightboard. I stood up and headed to track five. The Canadian guy was there also. I asked him, "Are you Canadian?" He said, "No, I'm from California." Damn, I was wrong. We chatted and I discovered Kelty was from Colorado.

Next, we hopped the train and sat in the same compartment with a red-headed 15 year-old Czech boy and were joined by a red-headed Czech girl.

We all started talking (minus the shy 15 year-old). Discovered the girl was a pharmacist and the guy from California was a college student doing a double major in Film and the Bible, an interesting combination.

Conversation topics covered everything from our living arrangements, to school required to get certain degrees (6 years for pharmacy in Czech), to the question of whether life is directed by fate or chance. We shared photos and did a sound check for the California guy, who was making a documentary in Ghana.

The Czech girl was living with her parents in a small village outside of Plzen. She'd returned home after getting her pharmacy degree because she didn't want to live alone and she was single. The college student was attending school in Arkansas, but had just come off a three month study in Greece and was on his way to Ghana after a three week European train interlude.

She was the first to get off, along with the Czech boy in Plzen. Just before she left, I wrote my email on a receipt that I had in my purse. I asked, "Do you ever go to Germany?" She said, "I have not had much reason to." I said, "If you do, let me know," and wrote down where I live there, and my name, thinking she might think I was crazy, but who cares. Life is living, right?

The rest of the train ride I spent talking to the California guy whose last name was Ruecker. As I got off, he wished me a good life, and I wished him safe travels.

It was an experience. I decided I need to hop a train at least twice a month. Alone.

Just now, I opened my email and there was one from someone I didn't know. Ivana.

It was the Czech girl, writing the sweetest letter in her broken English. Inviting me to join her and her friends when they go on weekend trips in Czech. She also said that she had never met anyone from USA personally before, and then two in one day! :)

The world is small. Friends are everywhere. I hope to remember this next time I look at a "stranger."

Two angels arrived yesterday at dawn

Yesterday, I had my first official visitors from Portland, Oregon arrive- Shanta and Brian.

They were treated to challenging weather, but were troopers as we walked through the streets of Auckland in more than a mist of rain, which never let up the ENTIRE day.

Our morning started out with a walk to my coffee shop then through the Domain park. They got to experience my commute to and from work. We wandered through K' Road, which is the part of Auckland where I love to hang out. It's full of hippies, tattoo parlors, second hand stores, vegan/organic cafes, prostitution shops, coffee, ethnic food... etc. I go there to feel at home. Or to feel like Portland. (They agreed.)

We followed the city park to downtown, in search of the art gallery. Being chilled to the bone, we stopped for hot wonton soup and a sandwich in the gallery cafe, all shared three ways before wandering through the art. The display theme was something about nature, but one room was filled with pictures of dead whales. :( Is that art? We couldn't look at it.

Though we're all hard-core Oregonians, we opted to ride the bus home. On the way back, we stopped in St. Stephen's Cathedral. Brian was a little uncertain whether he wanted to go into a church, but the architecture, stained glasses and Shanta's guided tour won him over. The little ladies were quite concerned that we were freezing to death. (We were.)

Once home, I broke down and asked my landlords for a space heater (remember, no central heating or insulation in NZ), which worked thankfully - though we were a little overzealous in the controls and ended up so hot that we contemplated opening a window.

After a stop at the grocery store, Shanta and I went to Evensong at the cathedral, which I thought was just choral singing, but it actually turned out to be an evening prayer service. (Oh well.) Brian stayed home and monitored the heater.

Later in the minikitchen, I whipped up a spinach salad and toast with feta and mushrooms for the three of us, which we washed down with wine. Those two kept offering to help, but I barely fit in my kitchen myself... let alone two of us! Or three! I could just see the headlines, "Three Americans found wedged in Auckland loft."

Shanta and Brian managed to stay up til 8:00PM before they crashed (Brian first, even with about 5 cups of coffee yesterday). We had our slumber party in my little space.

This morning we walked for coffee again before they headed off to pick up the campervan and loop the north island. Can't wait to hear back on their adventures!

So wonderful to have my good friends here... little angels from home they are!