Yesterday I was in Greece. At least it felt like Greece. I really was in Tarpon Springs, Florida, which is home to a Greek sponge diving community. Beginning in 1905 experienced sponge divers were brought over from the Greek Islands to work the substantial sponge beds of the Gulf. They stayed, started families and built a strong Greek community. You will still hear a lot of Greek spoken in the restaurants and shops of the sponge dock area.
I might as well be in Greece because I am disoriented. After traveling for two weeks I have landed in my final winter destination: Homosassa, Florida. I am at a new campground in a part of Central Florida that I visited only briefly in the past. So everything is new.
When I am traveling I am not disoriented because no orientation is necessary. I am always on the move and everything is temporary. But now I am in a location for three months and I have to figure out how to do life here for three months.
Where is the grocery store? Where can I get propane for the motorhome? Is there a library and can I use it? How am I going to blog from here? Are there good restaurants near by? Where is the beach? Where is the golf course?
I like to know the local weather so I carry with me a small weather station that relays the local weather by satellite. Although I am near Tampa, the weather station thinks I am near Pensacola, Mobile or Birmingham. If the satellite can’t find me, how am I supposed to find me?
Maybe that’s what it’s all about: finding me. How do I find me when all the people, places and things around me are strange? Am I still me?
I think that I will grab a sponge and go looking.
2 comments:
Hey SpongeBoy; begin with the library, that's a place where you can find a book on how to speak Greek and then get down there with those divers and their families and have some great ethnic food..And remember the people who run the Ipswich House of Pizza are Greek, their food is Greek, - I'll have a Kabob sandwich, thank you, - so you know the drill, learn those one or two phrases that will get you in the front door, and pretty soon you'll be dancing like Zorba.
Dear not so hot tub boy - all that dry, itchy, skaley skin, deprived of water for so long, must be making you mad. I went for the souvlaki gyro and it was almost as good as Leo's.
Opa!
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