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cpblaylock-blog · 2 years

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At The Crossroads of History

Any trip that is worth remembering should include challenges making connections, navigating through international airports, knowing when to ask for help and most importantly a great sense of humor. If these are the benchmarks for the beginning of a great trip, then we most certainly checked those off. Inadvertently booked on separate flights, we parted ways at the Atlanta airport only to meet up in Amsterdam 8.5 hours later. It was an easy flight and we all actually got some sleep. We did not have long in Amsterdam and our short stay was made even shorter when I took us to the wrong gate! My error meant a “brief” cardio workout for the Bullet and as expected, we made it to the gate just before the flight closed.

Our flight into Turkey had us arriving in the new airport in Istanbul. As we deborded the plane, we were amazed at how modern and big the airport was. We then realized we did not have a visa so we had to purchase one before passing passport control. $90 later and we were officially in the country. Unfortunately, only my bag arrived and it took us 2 hours to fill out the proper paperwork and get through customs only to find that our shuttle driver left. No worries, we hired Mario Andretti to take us via taxi to our airport. Julie made the mistake of riding in the back seat and when I turned to check on her she was a lovely shade of green. “Window down, window down, por favor.”……….”Um, I believe that is Spanish and he speaks Turkish”. Luckily, our driver spoke southern sign language and he obliged. As we whizzed through traffic, deeper and deeper into the heart of the city, the culture and history of Istanbul came to life. Honking horns, people on the go, depictions of Ataturk (patriarch of Turkey) and the sound of the call to prayer all came together like a patchwork quilt.

When we arrived at our hotel we were pleasantly surprised with its proximity to The Bosphorus. We were even more pleased when we opened the door to our room. Our reactions were similar to that of Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz when the gates of Oz opened for the first time. Our room was HUGE and half of the entire room was glass and it faced the Bosphorus. Anyone who travels with me knows what a joy it is for me to see the excitement in my travel companions eyes when they experience something for the first time. To see that in the Silver Bullet’s eyes makes it even more meaningful. The bellman pulled the curtains back and made the view even better and she was stunned with amazement. We totally forgot about the challenges of the day as we sat mesmerized by a 30 km straight that not only joined Asia and Europe but has been a significant geographical point for centuries. As we all checked in with people back home, we were able to FaceTime with Ada (the Bullet’s sister). As I came out of the bathroom, I heard the Bullet say “Oh yeah. We are staying right on the Straight of Boris. It’s beautiful”. I took a quick glance at Julie and we both fell out laughing. “What? What did I say?”………”Well, we are staying on the Bosphorus Straight but I’m sure the Straight of Boris is beautiful too!”…..”Y’all are so bad. Ada knew what I meant”. 

Day 2

Our first full day in Istanbul began by meeting our guide, Unal Ayadin, in the lobby a little before 9:00 p.m. I had contracted Unal after reading several positive reviews on Trip Advisor. We found Unal to be a complete delight. Not only was he patient and kind but also empathetic to our request to “take it slow” so the Bullet felt comfortable and rested. Most of the sites we saw on day 2 were within walking distance of each other so our driver took us to the Hippodrome for the first stop. Once the center of Byzantine civic life, the Hippodrome built by Emperor Septimus Severus in 203 AD and has a 3,500 year old obelisk that was brought to Istanbul by Turkey. From the Hippodrome we walked over to the Blue Mosque where we had to cover our heads with scarves and I had to put on a skirt to cover my legs. I had never been into a mosque so it was pretty fascinating to see how open the space was to accommodate the worshipers. Sometimes called the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, the Blue Mosque is easy to pick out in the Istanbul skyline because it has 6 minarets.

A short walk over to Hagia Sophia and our history lesson continued. As we were entering, you can not help but notice the similarities in architectural styles of other iconic churches such as St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London. The doors at the entry were at least 25 feet tall and huge! This mosque has a very compelling history that involves both the christian and muslim faith. The first two churches constructed on this site were actually raised and the current Hagia Sophia was commissioned by Emperor Justinian in 360 AD to “outdo” the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. This church would be the largest Christian church in the world for almost 1,000 years. This is where the story gets interesting. Following the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 AD, Sultan Mehmet declared the Hagia Sophia a mosque. Mehmet did not have the Christian mosaics inside the church destroyed by rather covered with plaster. In the late 1930’s, archeologist discovered the mosaics and have been working to restore them up to today.

After Hagia Sofia we walked over to Topkapi Palace, home to the Ottoman sultans for 400 years. It was commissioned by Mehmet the Conqueror. The palace has 4 courtyards, harem and an Imperial Council room where the Sultan would meet with his viziers. Loaded with incredible tile work and gold fixtures, the palace sits high above the waters edge and the restaurant offers some incredible views.

After lunch we hopped into a cab and went to a private demonstration of carpet weaving where we learned how the yarn is pulled from the silk worms, dyed and woven into incredible works of art. The afternoon took a funny turn when Julie decided to bargain with the salesman and he did not quite know how to deal with a southern woman on a mission. “Lady, lady, please give me calculator back. You don’t know how to use it.”……”Oh yes I do. You can sit right here beside me and call me precious but I AM going to hold this calculator and tell you what I will pay for that rug”. I fell out laughing and just sat back to watch the rest of the show. By the end of the demonstration we had purchased 3 rug and made a new friend. After we took our group picture and began to depart, Julie reminded our friend (pronounced AB - DOO - LAH with a drawl) that he had friends in Georgia, not the country, if he ever made it back to the US.

A short walk through the streets and we were at the Grand Bazaar. I have wanted to go to the Bazaar for a long time and did not really know what to expect. Over the course of history, you read about farmers and merchants traveling from far away places to sell or trade their goods at the Bazaar. On the inside, it’s a bit crazy. Packed with 4,000 shops across 52 streets, you can buy just about anything in there. If I heard “hey lady” once, I heard it 1,000 times. I was reminded of several places I have visited before in some way or another like Chinatown in NYC. We did not stay too long as we were all tired and ready to get off our feet. We picked up a few thing like Turkish delight and a backgammon set before heading back to the hotel. Unal was pretty entertained at our bargaining methods and said we actually did pretty well for first timers. We enjoyed Unal so much that we hired him for a 3rd day.

After we rested for a few hours at the hotel, we met a friend (Belma Hasserbetci) for dinner. We sat and reminisced about Darlington and the experience her daughter Servet had there as a student when I was a Head of House. Belma was a remarkable host and ordered us the most amazing food. We had lamb chops, chicken, ribs, kaftka, and kebabs among assorted sides. We finished with pistachio baklava with vanilla ice cream and were miserably full by the end of the meal. We said our goodbyes and waddled back to the room where we crashed pretty hard.

The next morning we met Unal downstairs and departed for Dolombahce Palace, home of the last six sultans dating from the mid-1800’s to 1924, when the Caliphate was abolished. Power was transferred to the new Turkish Republic and its founder and 1st President (Mustafa Ataturk) moved into the palace. No flash photos were allowed but I did manage to capture a bit of the opulence that is consistent with a sultan’s palace. Beautiful tile, marble Hamam, and incredible views of the water. There is a HUGE hall at the end of the tour with a 4.5 ton chandelier that is enormous. Outside, the gardens are immaculate and are colorful.

After the palace, we walked about 3 blocks over to the pier where we took a boat for a cruise on the Bosphorus. It was quite interesting to see both the Asian and European sides from the water. There were quite a few “summer houses” on the water for the sultans that were no less than 1 mile from each other. We turned around under a huge suspension bridge that connects the two continents and made our way back to the pier where our driver was waiting to pick us up. Unal wanted to show us Taksim Sauare, site of several political protests as well as to take us to one of his favorite spots to eat, Haci Abdullah. As the doors opened, the smell of fresh spices and herbs escaped and we drifted in like cartoon characters. We made our way to the back and found a buffet of entrees and sides that all looked delicious. I chose the lamb shank, Julie had a rice dish and the Bullet chose lamb for the 3rd straight day. It was by far the best meal we had had so far and I did not leave one bite!

After lunch we stopped by a ceramic showroom where we were given a demonstration but didn’t get sucked in to purchasing anything before we made our way to the Egyptian Spice Market. Much like the Grand Bazaar, the spice market is loaded with people and very friendly salesmen. We picked up some nice tea and almost made it out before Julie caught her eye on some nice linen pieces in a store. As we entered, the salesman was quite funny and immediately taken with Julie’s approach to bargaining. She wanted to pick up a few small pieces of jewelry for her nieces and the game began. As the Bullet and I sat and watched the show, we were offered Turkish tea, which generally means “thank you for stopping by. We appreciate your patronage”. As the bargaining would down…….or I should say, as Julie wore him down, the salesman kept repeating “ok lady. But be fair. What is your price?” At this point, Julie grabs the calculator (known as the Southern Death Nail) and says “this is what I’ll pay you”. Head down with a wry smile, the salesman counters with “Ok. How about you give me $200 and I give you 2 kisses?”…….”Um. No. How about I give you $100 and no kisses.”……Completely defeated, the salesman says “you are worse than Turkish lady to bargain with” which I am taking as compliment. Winner!!

20 minutes later and we are in the van headed for the hotel. Unal was completely entertained and complimented us again on the success of our bargaining. As we arrived back at the hotel, we said our goodbyes and offered him a place to stay if he ever made his way to Georgia.

Day 3:

On our last full day in Istanbul, we had some housekeeping items to attend to before we set out to see the sites. We grabbed a cab up to the Apple store to get Julie’s phone repaired which did not take too long but was a success. A showtime later and we were headed south to a percussion store I had looked up to buy a Turkish riq (tambourine) for a friend. As luck would have it, we stumbled onto a super cute neighborhood with several boutique shops as well as music shops. I was able to find the riq and we continued to walk south towards the water. We rounded the corner and dead infant of us was Galata Tower. Built in 1348, this 220 ft. tower was originally built to control the northern end of the sea chain by the Golden Horn. The line to get inside was crazy long so we took our pictures and kept walking. As we defended down the steep streets, I happened to notice a small restaurant with a Trip Advisor sign on the outside. We decided to give it a try for lunch and it ended up being very good. If you are looking for great food in a unique setting, give Bankalar Lokantasi a try. It’s tucked into a side street down by the water and when you enter you’d swear you were entering a wine cellar.

Istanbul to Athens

We had a very pleasant drive to the airport. Our driver and valet spoke very good English and we discussed pre-Trump Turkey and current Turkey and how current politics make it difficult for them to travel to the US. It was an interesting conversation and offered me a perspective I don’t usually have as citizen. Our valet assisted us through security up to passport control where we said our goodbyes and proceed into the nicest airport I have ever been through. Not only is it huge but it has all the high end shops like Hermes, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton. The place was packed with people but extremely clean an incredibly beautiful. We made it to our gate where we met a young missionary from Kentucky who was traveling to Albania to meet his wife. We laughed and fellowship with him for about 30 minutes before we boarded the plane to Athens. Julie gave him 2 of her missionary bracelets to share the Word with others and we parted ways.

Through passport control and customs like nobody’s business, we found our driver and were headed to the airport in under an hour. The drive was only about 35 minutes and our sprinter van was super comfortable. Our hotel, the St. George Lyccabettus was in a great location and offered some pretty amazing views of the Acropolis. We checked in, dropped our bags, made a reservation for a private tour guide for the next day and caught a taxi over to the National Museum of Architecture. The museum has hundreds of artifacts predating Jesus by 9,000 years. I can’t even wrap my mind around that!

After the museum, we caught a cab down to the Acropolis where we found a nice restaurant with a view. We were early so they let us sit on the roof before the dinner rush. We enjoyed a wonderful meal of goat with gruyere cheese, lamb with roasted veggies and calimari. We ate til we were more than full and then ordered dessert. Our server recommenced what he called Milk Pie which turned out to be a fancy Greek Chess Pie in phyla dough but it was very good. A typical of the culinary world in Greece and Turkey, we asked for take away boxes because the food was too good to leave on the table. Our return trip to the hotel with our driver, Chris, took us by the Olympic Stadium where several Greek flags welcomed us to the birthplace of competitive sports. We snapped a few pics and kept making our way to the hotel where we quickly changed and crashed when we arrived.

After the museum, we caught a cab down to the Acropolis where we found a nice restaurant with a view. Our cab driver was a 60 year old spaniard who was slick as owl shit and very loud. “America…….Coke Cola……..I love you guys……”. Somehow he managed to dropped us as a flea market where “his friends” worked which consisted of all kinds cheap trinkets. We dodged the bullet and told him to take us to the restaurant and bid him adieu. We were early so they let us sit on the roof before the dinner rush. We enjoyed a wonderful meal of goat with gruyere cheese, lamb with roasted veggies and calimari. We ate til we were more than full and then ordered dessert. Our server recommenced what he called Milk Pie which turned out to be a fancy Greek Chess Pie in phylo dough but it was very good. A typical of the culinary world in Greece and Turkey, we asked for take away boxes because the food was too good to leave on the table. Our return trip to the hotel with our driver, Chris, took us by the Olympic Stadium where several Greek flags welcomed us to the birthplace of competitive sports. We snapped a few pics and kept making our way to the hotel where we quickly changed and crashed when we arrived.

Athens

Day 1:

Up and out early, we took breakfast on the balcony facing the Acropolis. It was pleasant and the view was pretty spectacular. Off the elevator we were greeted by a woman wearing a flowing purple dress with matching neon purple mascara complimented with red eye glasses. “Helloooooo. I am MEE-SHELL. I will be your tour guide today”. We introduced ourselves and I explained to her our need to take it slow as we waited for our taxi. Almost all of the taxis in Athens are Mercedes sedans so they are pretty nice. Loaded up and ready to go, Michelle began her presentation and BAM!!!! We hit a moped in front of us. Our taxi driver, much like all of the drivers in Athens, drove like a bat out of hell and greeted others with the same passion and enthusiasm as a pissed of New York cabbie at rush hour. Ten minutes later and a small payment of restitution to the moped driver and we were on our way. As we came to the intersection of Zeus’s Temple our driver made the mistake of hitting the breaks hard again and I may or may not have let and expletive slip. At this point, Michelle started giving him what for and there was no need to interpret her Greek. We knew exactly what she said and he was less than thrilled. It was hilarious!

We arrived at the base of the Acropolis around 9:00 a.m. and it was already really hot and crowded. The walk up is pretty steep and slippery at times. We paces ourselves and took breaks so the Bullet was comfortable. As we made our way to the top, we passed the Odeon Theater, site of many famous performances and concerts. It’s and open air amphitheater dating back to ???? Continuing up to the top, you can find the Parthenon, Temple of Athena Nike, Proplyea and Erechtheion. The Parthenon was dedicated to the goddess Athena Parthenos and is considered the birthplace of democracy. At the top, there was quite a bit of restoration going on one side so we made our way around to the opposite side. Further on around we saw the Cariatids, sculpted female statues that support the porch of the Erechtheion. Further on around as we decended the steps we pass by the Areopagus rock where the apostle Paul preached to the Athenians, as mentioned in Acts. 17:16-34.

Further down the Dionysiou Aeropagitou (walkway), the Acropolis Museum was amazing. As we entered the museum, we walked over glass walkways that had entire settlements still intact below. It was a great introduction to the museum and the fantastic exhibits inside. Our tour guide was quite knowledgeable about greek mythology and history which proved to be quite captivating. I was not aware that the Parthenon was the first structure to be built entirely using the pythagorean method of ratios of 4:9. This is why there are 15 columns along the sides and 8 in the front and rear. Other things we learned were:

1. The symbol of the owl is often used when referring to the Acropolis because it denotes wisdom.

2. Minerals were crushed and used as pigment for many of the statues and sculptures. White was actually poisonous.

When we finished at the museum we said goodbye to Michelle and headed over to Plateia Monastiraki to do some shopping. We found some beautiful linen items and picked up a few things for loved ones. Our last stop was at place I had read about called Melissinos Art / Sandals where they will make you a custom pair of sandals on the spot. It took as a bit to find it but this tiny little gem was worth the hunt. Once a few people departed, we wiggled our way in and found a seat next to two delightful women from Ireland. As we made our acquaintances, a family from Jacksonville, Fla. came in and we played 6 degrees of separations only to figure out that we had mutual friends in Burgette Mooney’s daughter. Our Irish friends were super friendly and we exchanged contact information so they can give me some pointers on my upcoming trip to Dublin in March with my students. They were quite taken with the Bullet and even remarked “Oh my God. You are the cutest Blanche DuBuois”. With new sandals on my feet and new friends in my contact list, we stepped out of the store and hailed a cab back to the hotel. None of us were even remotely hungry so dinner was not a topic of conversation. When we arrived back at the hotel it took us about 10 minutes before all of us were fast asleep for a solid nap.

Day 2:

We spent the first half of the day down in the village looking for a roller bag because Julie and I purchased too much stuff! It was a bit of an Easter egg hunt at first but I am happy to say we were successful after we offended some women who said they were from a monastery and tried to shove a cross necklace onto us but when we did not give them money they certainly did not offer us any blessings.

At 1:00 p.m. we boarded the bus to head to the boat. The trip was short down to the dock and we were on board and in our cabin by 2:00 p.m. The ship is intimate and small and we had to be a bit creative in unpacking to get our bags out of the way but we managed. At 5:00 p.m. we set sail for Mykonos and the sunset was amazing.

Day 3: Mykonos

We woke up this morning anchored in the harbor of Mykonos. Know for it’s vibrant nightlife and beautiful beaches, it’s hard not to fall in love with this islands located in the Cyclades. The buildings are all painted bright white, by law, and are accented with doors and windows painted in various shades of blue to represent the Aegean Sea. As we made our way around the village we meandered in and out of some shops of local artists and merchants. We sampled some baked goods that tasted similar to divinity with an almond on top and some baklava. The alleys were narrow and clean and as we passed each shop we were greeted with a very pleasant smile and “Yasas”. One of the most beautiful things we saw all day was the bougainviliea that was tucked into the alley ways. At one point, we turned a corner and both sides of the alley way had one on each side which made for a colorful tunnel to pass through as we shopped. Our tour guide showed us a 300 year old bakery, a church of St. Mary and 16th century windmills.

Later we boarded a bus to see the other side of the island where we toured a vineyard and sampled some authentic Greek wine. Of course, we bought a few bottles to bring back home to share. After our tour of the winery, we hoped back on to the bus where we went into town for a snack of mezze and ouzo. Let me just say that if you don’t like licorice you will not like ouzo. They poured us each a small shot and we all toasted with a loud “OPA”……and then knocked back what looked like a milky white shot. I immediately regretted my participation because there is nothing I dislike more than licorice! The Bullet did not care of it either but was much more diplomatic about her dislike than me. We were serenaded by two gentlemen singing traditional Greek songs playing a guitar and bouzouki. Back on the bus and headed back to town, we decided to walk back through the alley ways of town on our way to the boat tender. Julie made a new friend (shocker) in a merchant who happened to travel to Buckhead quite frequently. After a small snack of fried cheese with fig jam on top we boarded the tender and we’re on the boat in no time.

I can see why people flock to this island for holiday. The views are unbelievable no matter what time of day and the people are very more than friendly. We found the food to be fresh, creative and always presented with great appreciation for our patronage. Julie says if she doesn’t make the flight back to Atlanta, you may want to start looking for her in Mykonos.

Day 4: Kusasai, Turkey

Up and on the tender by 8:30 a.m., our day in Kusadasi, Turkey began with a tour of the ancient city of Ephesus. Recognized as UNESCO’s most famous historical sites, Ephesus is the place the Apostle Paul preached to the Ephesians. As we toured the ruins we saw incredible examples of Roman baths, jewelry merchants, and even the first water closet (bathrooms with crude plumbing). As we made our way down to the Celsius Library, I was struck by the ornate marble work on the columns and entry way complimented with Greek inscriptions. In ancient times, there were three very famous libraries including the one in Athens, the Celcus Library and that of Cleopatra in Alexandria. To the right of the library we walked down a long path lined with pillars that once led to the sea but were now full of beautiful pine trees. Thousands of years of silt have pushed the sea back 5 miles from where it used to sit at the edge of the city. Further down the path we came to the theater that seats 25,000 people. Although not initially quite so large, the theater had seats and rows added by the Romans as time passed. We departed Ephesus and made our way to the museum in town. It was small but laid out well and we were able to see the busts of statues from the site. Additionally, we saw remarkable statures of Artemis and Aphrodite (Goddess of Fertility) at the end of the exhibit. After the museum, we were taken to ta carpet merchant who gave us a presentation about carpet weaving and how they manufacture them by hand. What initially was a very interesting demonstration turned into an over the top sales pitch resulting in us walking outside to get away from all the pushy salesmen. Our tour guide came out to check on us which turned out to be delightful. Our guide, Zachary, was a history teacher in Izmir who taught Greek, French and Spanish as well. He was very knowledgeable about Islam, Christianity and Judaism which made his perspective invaluable. Zachary was quite taken with the Bullet and her blue eyes and called her “Mama” for the remainder of the tour. After about 30 minutes of fellowship with our new friend, we returned to the ship for 3-4 hours before our evening at Ephesus. Because we were sailing with Windstar, we were granted a unique experience to dine at the steps of the Celsius Library at dusk. We arrived to a beautiful set up for white table cloths and floral arrangements with a 3 piece chamber group playing classical music. At 8:00 p.m. the lights came on and it was magic. The ancient ruins took on a completely different look and dinner was fabulous. We sat with our friends, Erica and Wanda, from Dallas and laughed like school girls for the entire evening. Also at our table, was a nice couple from Scottsdale, Steward and Megan, that we met earlier in the day. Around 9:30 p.m., dinner ended and we all meandered back to the bus where we were almost catatonic from such a full day. As walked down the pier to the ship, we were able to capture some pretty cool images accurately depicting our day between two continents. We all said our goodbyes as we boarded the boat and called it a day.

Day 5: Patmos

When we woke up on day 5 anchored in the harbor of Patmos. One of the smaller Greek isles, Patmos is most famous for the Monastery of St. John and the Cave of the Apocalypse, is located in the town of Hora. The place where the Apostle John wrote the book of Revelation while he was exiled from Ephesus. The Cave of the Apocalypse, is located in the town of Hora. As we waited for tickets, we introduced ourselves to a nice couple who were traveling with their daughter. Ivan and Blaine Allen and their daughter Taylor were from Buckhead, Ga. and it did not take long for us to figure out that we had a mutual friend in Harold Wyatt. Blaine snapped a picture of us and sent it to Little H and his response was classic. “The Silver Bullet and Sweet P!!” We then made the realization that this Ivan Allen was the grandson of the former Mayor of Atlanta. Small world!

We began with the cave and then made our way up to the Monastery of St. John. The walk up the hill was hot and steep but the interior was filled with beautiful frescos and works from 1088 AD. The tour continued to other parts of the monastery but the Bullet and I tapped out and opted for a cold beer with a view. We found a beautiful restaurant on the side of the cliff and several of our friends joined us. We ended up with 5-6 people at our table and Jimmie, our new Greek host, told us all about his time as a taxi driver in NYC and Harlem. He was an Iowa Hawkeye and professed to have friends in high places such as the CEO of Coke Cola. Refreshed and back on the bus, our group made our way to the next stop, a local restaurant with greek dancing, We enjoyed a nice selection of traditional greek dishes while the folk dancers twisted and turned their way around the restaurant. It was fun and a good end to a beautiful day.

Day 6: Santorini

The night before we arrived in Santorini I noticed there was a fog rolling in and the air was full of moisture. The next morning when we arrived up on deck the air was thick and the sun was out promising for a steamy day ahead. The village of Fira is located in the center of the island and is also the location of the cable car that takes you to the top of the cliffs. You can elect to ride a burro to the top if you don’t mind the smell and are feeling adventurous. For 6 euro each we opted for the cable car and made our way to the top. Just off the cable car, we met our guide (Dimitria Lola) whom I had contracted a few weeks prior. Dimitria and her husband Thomas were both from Greece and now called Santorini home for 8 months of the year as full time tour guides.

We all loaded up in a nice van and headed north to Oia, the most picturesque part of the island. Known for it’ blue domes and white buildings, Oia, sees approximately 10,000 visitors per day, mostly from the cruise ships that are anchored in the harbor. We spent about 1.5 hours taking pictures, shopping and enjoying the views before we headed south to Akrotiri. Akrotiri is knowns for their acidic grapes and wine vineyards. What is unique about these vineyards is that the plants grow in the shape of a basket protecting the grapes that grow on the inside of the basket of vines and leaves. As we enjoyed our lunch of bruschetta, wine and cheese, we met a nice couple from Montreal, Canada. Andre and Olivia came to Greece every two years and his uncle is quite a famous artists all over Europe. Again, the Bullet’s enthusiasm and charm won over new friends. We spent the next 30 minutes laughing and learning about our families and each other’s love of travel and good food. We hugged, wished each other well and parted ways.

Dimitria and Thomas wanted to show us their little village before taking us back towards the ship so we continued a little further south. Thomas dropped us at the top of the street where we saw more grape vines and pistachio trees. As we continued down into the village, it was obvious that Dimitria has many friends because we could not get past a shop without someone coming out to introduce themselves or to greet us with an endearing “Ya sas”. In the middle of the village, we stopped for a scoop of ice cream before Dimitria showed us where she and Thomas live for 8 months of the year.

We wrapped up our day back in the center of Fire where it seemed like all 10,000 people where trying to catch the cable car back to the bottom of the cliffs. We said goodbye to Dimitria and Thomas and exchanged contact information in case they made it to Georgia or Colorado to return their wonderful hospitality. We opted to sit and enjoy the view after saying goodbye to let the line die down. The wait was not near as bad as we thought and we found ourselves back down the hill and on the boat in less than an hour.

Day 7: Monemvisa

Our day in Monemisa began with an eventful tender where the seas were so choppy it took us two times to get everyone on board. Loaded up and on our way, the passengers on the tender (lifeboat) were less than thrilled about the rough ride but were more than relieved when we made it to shore. We had a large group for the day and all made it onto a 40 passenger bus. We had 2 tour guides due to the large number. As we began making our way to the medieval village, one of our tour guides began her presentation via the microphone on the bus. The Bullett was sitting besides me and it was as if I could read her mind so I just leaned over and said “I just want to let you know that the person speaking on the microphone is a female.” With a completely predictable gasp and a “no way” response, she popped up out of her seat for visible proof. We did not quite catch the tour guides’ name but quickly named her Cigarette due to the melodious bass of her voice. Once we arrived to the village we chose the other tour guide because we would not have behaved and the other tour guide was off the bus and ready to go. As we made our way through the tight streets and alley ways, we ducked into so neat shops and admired the endless splashes of the bougainnvllia and olive trees woven into the landscape. The streets were a combinations of marble and cobblestone which required a sharp eye and keen sense of balance at times. We only spent about 1.5 hours in the village before we boarded the bus again and were headed to a local olive vineyard. It took us about 30 minutes to drive out to the vineyard and the topography reminded me of the western slope of Colorado. Rolling hills of dry and arid land dotted with olive trees and grape vines.

At the vineyard we had a lesson on how to bake fresh bread and also on how to prune, harvest and maintain the olive trees. We had a history lesson on how they continue to harvest and process the olive oil in the same manner they did hundreds of years ago. About 10 minutes in to the lesson the Bullet’s head was bobbing and I could tell she was taking a brief cat nap behind her new knock off Gucci shades. Lesson over and food on the table, the three of us snagged a spot and began sampling the local fare. Tomatoes, cucumbers, feta, and onions with fresh baked bread and olive oil put a little pep in our step to get back to the bus. Since the tour was an afternoon tour, we returned to the tender when we got off the bus. We were hoping the seas had calmed down for the return trip but weren’t that lucky. Julie got caught on the 2nd boat with our friends Wanda and Erica from Dallas. Wanda was sitting at the front of the boat when it hit a huge wave and smashed all over her. In one smooth move, she opened her purse and downed two mini bottles of vodka. When they made it back on to the boat, Wanda was all kind of worked up from the rough ride. I looked in her purse and there were 6 empty mini bottles. “Wanda, they’re all empty.”……..”YOU DAMN RIGHT THEY’RE EMPTY. BLACK PEOPLE DON’T LIKE THE WATER AND THAT RIDE WAS HELL”. Exhausted and ready for a nap, we all headed to our cabins.

Dinner was a challenge to say the least. When we arrived, Wanda and Eric had already been seated and Wanda was torched. The seas had become worse and the boat was rolling with the waves. Our wine glasses were a perfect bell weather for how much we were moving. After an amazing dinner, the Bullet decided to head to the room so I escorted her down. She sent me back up to check on Julie and to make sure Wanda made it to her room. By the time I came back up, it was definitely time for Wanda to retire and Julie read my mind. We wrapped it up and we told Wanda we would help her get down to the 1st deck. After a challenging stop at the ladies room, Wanda made it down the steps and then decided she wanted to run down the hallway. (Wanda is approx. 5’9’ and 220 lbs). Luckily, Erica heard her in the hallway and stepped out with a look like “You better get your ass in this room right now” and we closed the door after she made the turn. A quick high five with Julie and we headed to our room for the night.

Day 8: Nafplio

Completely exhausted from a rough night on the waves, we boarded the bus for Epidarus and the Venetian Fortress. When we arrived, a lot us had motion sickness so we made the tour a little faster than usual. Julie went back to the bus and the Bullet and I did the fly by on the ruins and went straight for the theater. It was really neat to hear the acoustics and to see what would become the model of all major stadiums built out of marble and stone. A few pics and videos later and we were on the bus to the Venetian Fortress in town.

Luckily, the bus took us all the way to the top and dropped us off at the fortress. As we entered, the Greek flag billowed in the wind and welcomed us to a beautiful vista high up on the cliffs. The blues and greens of the ocean were indescribable and thin veil of clouds that hung in the air made the picture complete. We meandered around for a bit and enjoyed being on solid ground but mostly we enjoyed the view from up top. We only stayed for about an hour before we headed back down to town where I got off to check out the local shops and the rest headed back to the boat to rest.

Our last evening on the boat, we had dinner on the deck at sunset. As the sun made its way across the sky, we could not take enough pictures to adequately capture its beauty. The wind picked up so we moved our table slightly under cover and as we finished, our friends Joe and Kathy Peer (Greenville, S.C.) joined us to say their goodbyes. We laughed and promised to visit each other, a scene we repeated with everyone we had met during the cruise. It as a perfect ending to our cruise and a great introduction to people from all over the globe.

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uwumessenger · 4 years

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random headcanons i have for each om! character teehee

hi it's been a while since ive posted some hcs bc uni has been kicking my a$$! luckily i only have a few papers to tidy up and im done. here r some hcs for each obey me character that ive accumulated over the past few months wink wonk

most are random but some constants you'll find are what i think they smell like, languages they can speak (other than their native (demon/angel) and eng/jp), and music tastes !

lucifer

i have a strong feeling that he showers twice a day: in the morning after waking up and at night before going to bed

his cologne is probably the type that will last in an elevator for like a week after he uses it once. i dont think this mf ever smells like anything other than his cologne

has a secret folder on his phone of semi-nudes and other scandalous pics from when he felt sexy at the time omg

aside from demon language/eng/jp he can speak french and knows latin

listens to classical stuff yea but he also listens to diavolos mixtapes (re: diavolo's section)

not a fan of sweets but will eat sweet things when craving

really bland sense of humor...borderline cringey 😭✋🏻

mammon

has gone to google images and searched for "inspirational quotes tumblr" "gold aesthetic tumblr" & "relatable crush post tumblr" then reposts it onto his socials or just taps thru them and giggles bc he relates

his cologne doesnt last as long as lucifers and probably smells common. he has to reapply a lot but it's a people pleasing smell. it's cheaper hence the constant reapplying

he probably does have an expensive bottle but is the type to totally overspray...eek

he is canonically a car guy 🥲 and probably tells the one in his room good morning & good night + kisses the hood every once in a while. has tons of car magazines

he doesnt really speak other languages but has attempted to learn spanish before

listens to whatever is on the radio. doesnt rly stan anyone but he eventually will listen to mc's playlist and mc's playlist ONLY

levi

lurks on mc's socials ALL THE TIMEEEE like he will rewatch ur stories and scroll thru ur feed and overanalyze ur tweets/rts or blog posts. if ur mc isnt the type to use sns much he still googles ur name all the damn time just to find any sites u might be on fjdjdjdjskks

probably streams on whatever youtube or twitch devildom site equivalent there is, but only has like 40 or so followers. which he is okay with!

until he sees someone else who gets more attention than him. then the envy starts kicking in bad. especially if they suck 🧍🏻‍♀️

classic gamer boy smell. you know, sweat, tears, must, and (sometimes) axe deodorant. lucifer has to do a scent check before he goes out to any event & lets him use his cologne. how sweet!

kpop stan!! more girl groups than anything and his ults are probably GIRLS GENERATION, wonder girls, twice, loona, & red velvet

cried when ioi disbanded and refused to leave his room. the only thing u could hear was downpour on loop at full blast

can also speak korean & communicate in echolocation like dolphins 😏

satan

listens to country music you cant change my mind

smells like whatever environment he is in. he doesnt really have a designated smell just throws some deodorant on and goes about his day.

he's sooooo bad at driving...gets road rage way too often so his license has been REVOKED

but hes totally a backseat driver. needs to be sedated on long trips

do not let him watch finding nemo when luke asks to watch it. it's not worth it. he will cause mass destruction.

if he was a human or lived long term in the human world he totally has the ability to be a doctor

is studying as many languages as possible, but he mostly knows latin & french & german etc etc. wants to learn all the dead languages out of curiousity

asmo

dont think this mf has ever held down a relationship. ever

he doesnt compromise much & is not willing to change his lifestyle to fit an s/o into it. you keep up with how he lives or it just isnt meant to be (but dont worry! he'll eventually learn...maybe,,,,)

has the hardest time out of everyone when it comes to breaking bad habits

his smell varies bc he uses a variety of perfumes (whatever is the most popular at the time) but he probably sticks to floral and fresh scents. he never uses generic people pleaser scents like mammon

listens to electropop, mainstream pop, & some alternative rock

as for languages he too knows french, spanish, italian, etc. in general, if it's a romance language he knows it!

opposite of lucifer in the sense where he loves sweets and will refrain from eating too many bitter things

i think we all know that asmo is the biggest rockstar of the group! he's probably been in a boy band at least once, but now he makes his own music

has tried to teach mammon how to sing once. ended up in a broken piano and bleeding ears...

beel

i feel like he is SO SHY

like unless ur close to him he will not start conversations or anything

i think he listens to r&b a lot ! and jazz 😎 maybe rock as well

smells like ur typical athlete with undertones of wet wipes. he carries them around bc he likes to clean his hands before he eats & is prepared for when theres no sink nearby

he can drive and he drives really well. no rough turns, parallel parks perfectly, and never has problems with merging

driving with beel is probably really soothing. left hand is steering the other is gripping ur thigh 😫

dont think hes really fluent in any other language but hes probably semi fluent in korean because levi wanted beel to help him out

definitely know how to order food in practically every language tho HAHAHA

belphie

he reminds me of randall from monsters inc

smells kinda musty IM SORRY but not the way levi does hes more like the kind of musty u feel or smell when it's a shitty morning

but that's only because hes so lazy, when he cleans up hes like satan

has definitely murdered multiple people before. mc is not the first 😐✋🏻

with that being said belphie has been put into prison at least twice when visiting the human world, the mf had such a strong hatred for humans theres no way he never got into trouble before

lucifer probably broke him out and they used the pen thingies from men in black to erase everyones memory of that 🙄

dont think he listens to anything other than music that'll put him to sleep. really likes lazy song by bruno mars but thinks that bruno mars put too much effort into the song. should have been one acapella verse and then finish

similar to beel hes only semi fluent in one language, probably french bc of lucifer. doesnt remember much but knows a couple of lullabies and bedtime stories

the sandman used to be his bff until they drifted. they do, however, like and comment on each other's sns posts.

diavolo

once he found out who nicki minaj was he became her #1 stan

def an ariana grande stan too 😌

choreographs dances when hes stressed...idk just seems like a diavolo thing to do

also makes rly bad soundcloud rap music sometimes. turns to poetry when hes feeling emo but only lucifer knows this. barbatos is suspicious of him but doesnt have enough evidence to confirm.

his dad is like hudson abadeer from adventure time aka marceline's dad? something must have influenced him to want to unite the 3 realms + he would need the approval to do so, so his dad must be more chill than all the others before him 🧍🏻‍♀️ IDK ok anyway

currently going through his hamilton phase bc of mc. whether mc's intent was to get him hooked onto it or just to explain it bc of something he saw online, he tells everyone that he found out abt it bc of mc!

this man cannot drive his skills are only second to jumin han

not too fond of many languages but knows the widely spoken ones like spanish, mandarin, etc. if it's taught in high school he knows it

smells like a las vegas casino. not sure why but i feel like he does. but there's also an interesting & nice smell to him if he embraces you. it's a smell you cant quite identify. but it smells nostalgic, it's mysterious, and it's tempting.

barbatos

very calm demeanor but underneath hes WILD hes probably done everything at least once oof

he just has a lot of control and stability over himself (must be nice!)

on a more angsty note i feel like he might have had his heartbroken sO BAD IDK he is hurting and maybe that's why hes so willing to obey diavolo and not abuse his time lord power thingies bc he learned his lesson the hard way

mans is so smart he knows every language you could switch languages mid conversation with him and he wouldnt be thrown off. he'd probably start speaking it too.

BUT HE SPEAKS VIET P E R F E C T L Y

listens to the same stuff as lucifer but also likes eminem. likes the movie 8 mile but criticized it heavily

have you ever been to a chinese herb shop? naturally, he smells like that. his room probably smells like it too. he doesnt really have a significant smell like some of the others

when he bakes he smells like whatever hes baking tho

one of the few out of everyone listed to have been able to travel to literally everywhere

solomon

was probably on kitchen nightmares once, but only to get feedback from chef gordon ramsay. then he used his magic to prevent the episode from airing...

was in an orchestra, one of the best times of his life. played the violin. asmo watched him in the audience once, but didnt approach him until well after that performance.

he CANNOT sing. he can, however, rap.

doesnt listen to music. he listens to podcasts! but every now and then he turns on background music, but prefers it to be instrumental stuff

never wears sunglasses. also does not have a driver's license. cannot drive a regular car. could maybe fly an airplane.

due to his immortality he has learned almost every language to exist, but finds himself speaking mandarin the most. knows most dialects too

similar smell to barbatos but u can also smell some sunscreen on him too. like, generic beach day suncreen

he has a lot of pact marks, so he once had the idea to match foundation to his skin. it took him two weeks but he eventually perfected a combination. yes he will help u find ur perfect shade if u ask him to

simeon

another country music man. has also made a tiktok or two to that one song that goes "he cant even bait a hook." they are private tho

angel country music exists and simeon invented it

if he visits the human world and wears more causal clothing he probably tucks his shirt into his pants

wears a speedo at the beach i tell u, speedo at the beach

he can speak german...i can feel it

uses his pointer finger to type and holds the phone like 2 inches away from his face so sometimes his nose will push a key hence all his typos

has no signature smell. he simply smells like your favorite scent all the time. if multiple people are around him at once, everyone smells a different smell. it's pretty rad

"what does he smell like to himself?" u may be asking. hmm...a church? 💀

luke

his first pet was a goldfish and a few months before the exchange program happened, he was given a koi pond!

secretly likes hanging out with levi sometimes just to play with henry. makes him miss his pet fish back home

so his favorite movie is probably finding nemo and he threw a fit when nemo touched the butt

luke is probably learning german bc of simeon, though he'd like to learn more of the dead languages just for fun

i dont think he listens to music often or has any preferences, he just listens to whatever is playing on the radio

but he finds himself listening to the music mc listens to

smells like freshly baked goods all the time. or fresh laundry. but like, not combined. just depends on the day

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rosequartzstarswrites · 3 years

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20 Questions for Writers

Thank you @cheesyficwriter for the tag!

How many works do you have on AO3?

What's your total AO3 word count?

351,699

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

As of now, I have only written for Harry Potter; however, in February I began several LOTR/Hobbit WIPs that I have not yet published. The first one is due out at the start of September though!

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

In Another Universe: Hermione Granger is brilliant: she completed her PhD in Linguistics at 25, and is the youngest faculty member at the University. Ron Weasley, an unruly quantum physicist... well, he's getting there. But when Granger gets stacked with a project she hates and has to talk to other scholars at the University, their paths cross and become permanently intertwined in a way neither of them could've ever anticipated. (Slow Burn Multichap Muggle Uni AU) Rated T.

Rosebury Grounds: Lady Hermione Granger has been reared up in society, to marry well and be a good housewife, like any good Edwardian lady, but that's far from what she wants. When a handyman by the name of Ronald Weasley joins the house staff, utterly disarming her from the moment they first meet, he might just be the opportunity she needs to break loose and choose her own destiny.Lord Draco Malfoy has a secret— a secret he knows would cost him everything if it ever saw the light. But it's getting harder and harder to keep it from his father, because Draco keeps bumping into a pair of emerald eyes and a head of lush black hair, and he can't pretend his knees don't buckle at the sight. Which would be quite alright, if not for one small problem: it's not a woman they belong to.Two tales of forbidden love, set in Edwardian England. (Multichap Muggle AU) Rated M.

Something Growing: Hermione’s pregnant— and she’s freaking out. She’s always been good at everything, but she’s not sure that’ll hold for being a mother; however, when Ron gets home earlier than expected, she realizes she doesn’t need to be great at everything so long as she’s got him beside her. (Oneshot) Rated G.

Big in Japan: Harry Potter is a famous rockstar out on a world tour— but when one too many meet-and-greets threatens to drive him insane, he takes an escapade out into the streets of Tokyo, where he ends up at an expat bar with a captivating redhead that seems totally unaware of who he is, or why she should know him at all, for that matter. (Muggle AU oneshot) Rated E.

Teaspoon Vindication: After escaping Malfoy Manor, Ron comes to visit Hermione in her room at Shell Cottage, and does the one thing that may be the hardest for him— talking about his feelings. (Romione oneshot)

Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try my best, though I don’t always get to all of them! My reasoning is that if folks are kind enough to tell me how much they enjoyed my writing, the least I can do is thank them for their lovely words.

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

The Last Farewell! It’s a Wolfstar oneshot, set in canon universe, where Remus comes to Sirius’s grave to ask for his blessing (and forgiveness) to marry Tonks. It was angst central from the start and I even wrote it while listening to an angsty song.

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

I generally write happy, fade-to-black endings, but if I had to choose I’d say Truth or Dare. This is a male!Hermione x Ron summer camp AU born of a game of spin-the-bottle/truth-or-dare that ends with them figuring out their feelings go beyond friendship. I say it is the happiest ending because I think the “boy figuring out he likes boys” scenario has been overdone in angst a bit too much, and the fact that the feelings are reciprocated and they decide to stay in touch would make me giddy if I was their age and in their shoes. Anyway, it’s just a sweet ending.

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you've written?

Not at all— I actually don’t like crossovers at all, so I have never even entertained reading, let alone writing, one. (No hate at all to those with imaginations large and strong enough to conjure up awesome crossovers— I am in awe of you all, they’re just not for me!)

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Never, luckily, since the Romione community is so lovely and supportive! But, though not outright hate, for a while I had an anonymous FFN reviewer who left reviews on every chapter of Rosebury Grounds saying that my title was a porn/sex act...? I was distraught and scoured Google to see if they really were right and this was some obscure euphemism I’d entirely missed, but turns out it wasn’t, and they had gotten confused with a vulgar but similar term. So I ignored those reviews but they kept coming and then eventually one time I found a 500 word very graphic description of the sex act in question in my reviews, so desperate was the reviewer (apparently) to get their (wrong) point across. Yikes.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes! I’ve written a lot and of many kinds— explicit, implied, just foreplay, fade-to-black, referenced... I’ve written both M/F and M/M.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No— I didn’t even know that was something I should worry about!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I speak fluent Spanish, so I’m planning on translating In Another Universe and Rosebury Grounds myself once I’ve finished the latter.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, the most I’ve done is beta from the plot-building stage!

What's your all-time favorite ship?

Gahhhh don’t make me pick! Romione (HP) is first in my heart because I see so much of myself and what I want in it, but Samfro (LOTR) is, to me, the truest depiction of love in all of literature, ever. I will forever come back to it.

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

I hope to finish my Hogwarts Actually series that I started for Romionecom (hi, Discord friends!) inspired by Love Actually. I have it all planned out, translating all the relationships in the movie to HP pairings and friendships, and all I need to do is write— but I think I’ll come back to this periodically and unoften. Hopefully I’ll finish it!

What are your writing strengths?

I like to think that I write good and witty dialogue. I’m a theatre person, so I think my dialogue sounds mostly natural when spoken. I also have a good sense of beginning and ending, so most of my works/chapters start and end with a memorable phrase of some sort. I also have excellent grammar and spelling, so except for a few occasional typos, that makes the job of proofing much easier!

What are your writing weaknesses?

I think I sometimes write sentences that are waaaay too long and convoluted. I use words that are too big sometimes and just take approachability from my writing. Fanfic has been excellent to practice correcting this, though!

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

As a bilingual writer myself— don’t write dialogue in other languages unless you speak it well or get it translated directly through someone who speaks it well. Though I appreciate the effort, I can always tell when something was put through Google Translate, and that kind of dialogue most often ends up lacking the context clues/colloquial familiarity of real language speakers, and ends up sounding stiff and forced.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

I’m not proud of it, but I used to write MCR RPF back when I was 13 or so. It was a very brief stint and I have since deleted the works in their entirety, since my principles have evolved to the place where RPF to me seems disrespectful and invasive. Plus, it was on Wattpad.

What's your favorite fic you've written?

Again, don’t make me pick please!! I truly have had a lot of fun with Rosebury and I think it is a testament to how much I love it that I was able to keep the idea on hold for a full six months before I started writing it. I love the Downton setting and the Edwardian dialogue is a lot of fun to me. But I also have a soft spot for the In Another Universe original oneshot I submitted to the RFF2020— that work awoke my love for Muggle AUs (which I like to think I’m most known for), inspired me to start work on my first multichap fic, and keeps me coming back to it anytime I have doubt in my ability to write swoonworthy scenes. It was the oneshot that started it all.

Tagging: @accio-broom @be11atrixthestrange @folk-melody (and anyone else who would like to!)

#fanfiction #fanfic writer #rosequartzstars #hp fanfic #hp fanfiction #harry potter fanfiction #fanfic author

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luzysabel · 4 years

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|| One Piece x Fem! Reader || Past || Part 1 ||

Memory

Okey, so I started to write a fanfic in wattpad and I want to publish here too. If you want you can read the fanfic here, the fanfic is in Spanish (my first lenguaje) but Google can translate the page to your language if you are using it.

Warnings: Mentions of dead, diseases and anxiety

● ● ●

I like look at the sky. It brings me peace, it makes me happy. Even if it makes me feel nostalgia, even if it makes my heart ache.

It's on nights like this, when the sky is totally clear and minutely adorned by the brightest spheres of light, when I appreciate that I'm not an astronomer. Because that's how I cannot see how different this sky is from mine and I can find comfort in the similarities that I want to believe there are. Allowing me to feel as if I were back home again. Even if I can't help but feel sad afterwards. Even though I know that no matter how much the two skies resemble each other, they will never be the same.

I like to admire the landscape. It brings me peace, it makes me happy.

The island I live on is very beautiful. Wonderful, rather. Makes want to draw it, take a picture, never look away, and everyone who has seen this place will agree with me. I never tire of exploring and strolling through it, it's a delight. It looks like a landscape taken from a book. A fantastic sight, almost unreal. Or at least in my world I have never seen such a place. It is not as if I had lived a long time, 15 years, and my family was not much traveller either. So it's not such a crazy thing. But it also doesn't look like any image I've seen on the Internet. However, I don't want to comment on something I don't know.

Another thing I like is that everyone here sings. Well, not all, but the vast majority yes. It's very rare to see someone who is not good at singing or without any talent related to art. It is the paradise of every artist. Here you find people singing, dancing or performing almost everywhere. Even I sang once (I was forced to do so) with other village children on a holiday. It was nice, I enjoyed it a lot.

I also like how peaceful this place is. The pirates don't attack us and nothing serious happens here, as far as I know. It is a very good place to live. Honestly, it doesn't bother me, I'm a rather calm person and not very adventurous (not to say I have none of that) so I could not be happier. This is all I need, after that the last thing I want is to live a busy life. What's I need is tranquility, a stable place to live. That which I always dreamed of in my previous life.

I'm very afraid of forget. It terrifs me. Every time I think about it my breath is cut off, I feel like crying. It is as if a bucket of frozen water were thrown at me. I feel cold, I don't stop trembling, my skin becomes pale, suddenly I feel bad, I feel sick. I don't like it, I hate it.

A few years ago (shortly after I turned three) I started a diary. There I write everything I remember about my past life. I write a lot, I'm very good at remembering, but lately I have started to forget. It's not something that happened suddenly, in fact, it has happened to me for quite some time. Little by little I've been forgetting more and more things, but it wasn't until not long ago that I started to realize it. It was almost like a stab to the heart. Suddenly I started to breathe through my mouth, the air that entered through my nose was no longer enough. My chest started to hurt, my palms became sweaty and I clung to my own clothes, I didn't stop trembling.

Although the worst time I had was when I tried to draw my mom and grandma.

It was on mother's day, we had just finished a surprise party we had for Adela, my mother of this world. We had spent a lot of time organizing it, we tried hard to make it special. But, I couldn't help but be sad and leave. I tried my best to hide my feelings and pretend I was doing well, I was doing so well...

I just wanted to make a draw of my mom and grandmother... I couldn't see them, I felt very lonely without my family, I couldn't say goodbye the last time I saw them, I couldn't tell them how much I loved them and I didn't want to think that those moment would be the last time I would see them. However, it was. Now I'm here, locked in this huge and dangerous unknown world, where I can die at virtually any time and in any form, yeeeeei. Please notice the sarcasm.

It happened in the night, everyone was sleeping, I couldn't sleep. I kept remembering my family, how we celebrated mother's day, the sad memories didn't leave me alone, I couldn't with it anymore. I cried. I Tried to calm down myself and not to make any noise, in vain, I don't stop of crying, instead, it get worse. I didn't remember my family's faces, everything was blurry, I couldn't see anything clearly. Luckily I sleep alone, so no one could see me. In a desperate attempt to remember, I tried to draw them, to put on paper two of the most important people in my life. I don't know why I thought it was a good idea, it just made it even worse.

While I was crying Adela came. She was worried, she asked me what happened, which was what made me cry. I couldn't answer, I couldn't say words, I was unable to speak. Adela approached me with care, she seemed afraid to scare me. She asked if she could hug me, I said yes, so she gently wrapped her arms around me, while caressing my head with one hand. It wasn't until that moment that I realized how touch starved I was. It's not that I'm not affectionate or something, no, not at all. It's just that is uncomfortable for me to be like that with them. Not that I don't love them, no. On the contrary, I love them very much and they have a special place in my heart, but my memories are a barrier that prevents me from seeing them for who they are, my family.

I don't want them to replace my family, I'm afraid they will, I'm afraid I'll forget them, it feels like a betrayal. It makes me feel guilty, it makes me feel bad.

She held me against her chest while she whispered comforting words to me. She asked me if it was a nightmare, I nodded. It was impossible for me to tell the truth, I doubt she would believe me. I also don't know how they would react. This is a secret I'm going to take to the grave.

She sang a lullaby to calm me down, I listen this song since I practically arrived to this world, it's a very beautiful song, definitely one of my favorites. She offered to sleep with her, in her room (along with my father and my little brothers of this world, obviously) I was too sad to sleep alone that night and I thought I would surely have nightmares, so I agreed. I slept well that night.

I miss been called by my name. I find it strange that they don't. It's uncomfortable, I don't like it. I feel like I'm someone else, like it's not me, it makes me feel false.

My name, now, is a nickname, although it was not my intention that it would be. What happened was this: all my stuff has my name somewhere. I did this for fear of forgetting it, initially everyone was a little bit surprised of me doing this and asked me why, so I lied to them saying it was a nickname given to me by a child I played with a time ago. It was from then on that everyone started calling me by my name and little by little they stopped using the one they put me here.

I really appreciate everything they do for me, they always makes me feel comfortable and happy. They have also endured me since I came into this world, they even helped me with my (I think) phobia of getting sick. After having died of an illness during a pandemic, I am afraid of illness and whenever this is mentioned I feel horrible. Especially when I pass it. It's as if I relive that illness, as if everything happened again. I hate it.

I can't deal with doctors either, I can't even be near to a hospital. So I try to take care of myself as much as I can so I don't get sick again. The few times I did it I felt horribly bad, I thought I was going to die, I almost had an anxiety attack when I noticed the symptoms. But fortunately they were able to calm me down before it all got worse, I am really grateful for that.

Adela and Ulysses are the best parents of the world, they have educated their children very well and they are all very united. They remind me a little of my family. I'm happy I was born here. Sometimes I feel I don't deserve them, but I don't want to think about it. I just enjoy the few moments of peace I have, and I couldn't be happier about it.

I like to be here. I feel well, I'm happy.

#one piece imagines #one piece #one piece x reader #one piece fanfiction #one piece fanfic #one piece imagine #x reader #reader insert #one piece reader insert

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lifewithsehun · 5 years

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Those Eyes I

Note: Ok.. I finally was able to get the Chapter up, hope you all like it!🙂

Characters: Exo, Y/N, Kang Mina

Pairing: Sehun & Y/N

Genre: Fluff (future angst & smut)

"Donde estas? Te dije que no tomaras!" (*Where are you? I told you to not drink!*), you whisper yelled into your phone. Whenever upset you'd speak to her in another language in hope that no one around you knew what you were saying, especially if you were yelling like a crazy person and right now Spanish was what came out. Your life long friend/secretary, Mina, was barely waking up, leaving her 30 minutes to get ready and arrive at a very important meeting with a client. You were an interior designer, who works for an international company and currently working in Korea with a very important company that was redesigning one of their buildings and designing some of their new apartments. Your secretary was supposed to be ready by now and accompanying you to get some coffee before the meeting, but she slept in. "OMG, I'll be ready in 10", she replied with panic. You grunted and hung up. As you were putting away your phone, you walked towards the cafe, but didn't make it far without accidentally bumping into someone's chest, which you assumed belonged to a guy because of how hard it was. You totally hadn't seen him standing there in the middle of the way, why was he blocking the way anyway?!. "I'm sorry", you heard him say in a deep voice. You looked up at him, but only saw his eyes, because he was wearing a face mask. He had nice eyes though and.. wait you've seen these eyes somewhere. You stared and tried to remember, but you heard him cough awkwardly taking you out of your thoughts. "Oh no.. it's my fault, I wasn't looking up, I'm sorry", you said. "It's fine, I was in the way and it seems like you're having a tough morning", he replied with an eye smile. It was cute the way his eyes turned into little moons. "I.. uh yeah.. wait how'd you know", you asked with wide eyes. "I kind of heard you talking, well, yelling on the phone as you were walking over here", he chuckled. "Oh", you replied as you looked somewhere else. "Don't worry, I dont know what you were saying though, what language was that?", he replied immediately. "Spanish", you replied with a small smile. "Oh that's ho.. cool", he responded. "Umm.. well I have to go..", you responded with a tight lipped smile. "Yeah.. me too… hopefully the rest of your day goes better", he replied. "Thanks, uhh…", you started, but realized you didn't even know his name. "Hun, you can call me Hun..", he said and reached to shake your hand. "Y/N", you replied as you shook his hand, wow it was big and soft. "Bye Hun", you said and walked away, while he waved goodbye to you.

You rushed into the cafe and thank God, there was no line, because now you had 20 minutes to get to the location of the meeting, which was luckily only a 5 minute drive away. You got yours and Mina's coffee and headed to the meeting arriving 8 minutes before the start. You were nervous and Mina still wasn't here. "My boss will be running a little late, he's really sorry", you heard Mr. Lee's secretary say as you sat in the conference room. "That's fine don't worry", you responded with a smile. 'It's actually perfect', you thought as you saw Mina rushing into the conference room. "Where's everyone", she said breathlessly. "Gone, you took too long", you said seriously. "What", she whisper yelled. You shrugged your shoulders and she let her head fall onto the table with a grunt. You tried not to laugh, but failed and she looked at you confused. "I'm kidding, they're running a little late", you laughed. "Evil, you evil thing", she pouted. The CEO walked in about ten minutes later and the meeting went smoothly. You felt a big weight lift of your shoulders when Mr. Lee said the design was perfect and that you could start next week. "My day is going well", you whispered as you got into your car with Mina. "What?", she asked with a frown. You shook your head and smiled as you remembered your interaction with Hun. Mina just shrugged and asked what you were both going to eat. "You're always hungry", you chuckled with a roll of your eyes. "I'm hungover", she replied with a pout. "Let's go eat", you said.

The week had passed by quickly and now you were currently standing in front of SM entertainment. You had heard a couple of things about this company and their artists, but you weren't that into them like Mina was. Maybe it's because she's Korean, but honestly right now you were surprised at how calm she looked, although deep down she's probably freaking out. You had decided it was best to work on the building first and one of the apartments and then move onto the rest of the apartments, which were a total of 7 and each idol had different ideas and preferences. You tried to keep their ideas incorporated with your ideas, so that they felt more comfortable in their new homes. Your team had already designed Minseok's apartment with a design that you created, but you hadn't been able to come personally at that time. You had seen pictures and he had emailed you about how happy he was with his new home thanks to you and your team. "Let's get started", you cheered to your crew and Mina. As you were working on the building, you encountered several of idols and wow, now you knew why Mina was so into them, they were beautiful/handsome. They would bow each time they saw you, and you felt kind of weird at first because you knew most were older than you and although you've traveled a lot, most people wouldn't mind you enough to greet you. "They're very respectful", you whispered to Mina as you bowed back. "Yes, they are and so cute", she whispered back. "I wonder where Exo is tho", she pouted. "That's Minseok's group right?.. the one with what's his name… oh um Lay in China and Kyungsoo, who's also enlisting in less than a month?", you questioned. "Yes", she replied with a fake sob. "Right in the wound?", you chuckled. "Yes… thanks a lot..", she pouted causing you to laugh until you saw her eyes freeze at something behind you. "What", you asked as you turned around. Exo was walking up to you both and you felt your self freeze like Mina. "Hello, I'm Kim Junmyeon", you heard one of them say as they all bowed lightly at you. "Hello, I'm Y/N L/N and this is Kang Mina", you replied as you both bowed back. Junmyeon pointed to the other 6 guys and introduced them as they each smiled at you. You smiled back to each of them, but froze once you made eye contact with one of the taller members. He was really handsome, but what caught your attention were his eyes.. they had a familiarity to them that you couldn't pinpoint. He locked eyes with you and you shifted your eyes back to Junmyeon nervously. 'Why am I nervous', you thought. 'What was his name.. Sehun?'.., you continued to think. "Umm well, we just wanted to introduce ourselves because you'll be working on our new homes, you'll actually be working on Kyungsoo's first", Junmyeon spoke up taking you out of your thoughts. You turned to look at a handsome man, with plump lips and big eyes, who apparently was Kyungsoo. You smiled at him and he smiled back as he said, "I look forward to working with you and your team". "Yes, we look forward to working with all of you", you replied with a grin.

They left and you heard Mina take a big breath. "Wow", she whispered. 'Wow indeed', you thought. You kept thinking about Sehun's eyes, they were so similar. They kind of reminded you of Hun's eyes. 'Could it be him and Hun is just short for Sehun? They are the same height and all, but Hun couldn't be Sehun could he? You were in Korea anyways, so there were many other tall Korean males around, it'd be too much of a coincidence. Why would he even talk to you in the first place anyways?', you thought. "Hmm", you hummed. "What", Mina asked. "No, nothing sorry, let's continue our work", you replied. You're team continued to remove all the old materials, hoping you'd get it all out within two days so the painters and flooring installers could start and then your team could continue redesigning with the new items/furniture as soon as possible. After a couple of hours of removing stuff from the bottom and top floors, you told your team that they could continue tomorrow with what was left. As you were barely going to leave, you saw Kyungsoo and Sehun walking towards Mina and you. "Hello again Miss L/N", Kyungsoo greeted with a small bow while Sehun just stared. "Hello Mr. Do, just Y/N is fine", you bowed back. 'Do I always have to bow', you thought and you heard Sehun chuckle. You turned to look at with a questioning look and he shrugged his shoulders while saying, "You don't look very comfortable with the bowing and don't call him Mr. Do, he hates it. Just call us by our first names". You nodded with a small smile. "They informed me that you wanted to look at the apartment tomorrow in person. I'll be available at noon, if you have time.", Kyungsoo spoke up. "Ah yes, that would be perfect Kyungsoo, I'll see you tomorrow at noon. Here's my business card, it has Mine and Mina's work numbers on it, just in case you need something", you responded. You heard someone clear their throat and you turned to Sehun, who was just looking at you and then your business card. "Sehun since I'll be working on your apartment too, you'll need my contact information. Can you actually give these to the rest.", you said as you handed him some extra cards. He frowned slightly, but took them anyways. "Well, we should get going and it seems like you were leaving also. I'll see you both tomorrow", Kyungsoo said and almost bowed but stopped himself and smiled instead. "Bye, I'll see you tomorrow", you smiled back. "Bye Y/N, I'll see you around", Sehun said. "Bye Sehun", you said and walked off with Mina, who was just staring the whole time. "You need to stop staring and talk", you whispered. "They make me nervous and Kyungsoo omg Kyungsoo kills me", she whispered back causing you to laugh out loud. You covered your mouth and turned to look hoping Kyungsoo and Sehun had left already, but they were still standing there. You looked at Sehun, who seemed to be staring at you and he winked at you. You turned away immediately and walked faster, pulling Mina with you. 'What was that… did he wink at me?!', you thought as you walked to your car.

The next day, you stopped by at SM to check up on the work before you headed to Kyungsoo's place and everything was going smoothly. "I can't believe I'm going to Kyungsoo's home", Mina squealed once you were on your way. Apparently Kyungsoo was her favorite and she had this platonic crush on him. "Don't make it obvious", you said with a roll of your eyes. "I can't even talk or breathe when I'm around him, do you think he has noticed?", she questioned with wide eyes. You chuckled and shrugged as you parked the car. Once you were in front of Kyungsoo's door you rang the door bell and you could hear Mina whispering, "Breathe, breathe, breathe..". You were about to tell her to stop when the door opened and you saw Sehun standing there with a smile. "Sehun?… Am I at the wrong place?", you questioned as you looked at the apartment number again. "No.. you're at the right place.. I'm just hanging with Kyungsoo hyung", he chuckled. "Come in", he added. Mina walked in with you following her and Sehun right behind you. You were about to ask where you should go as you saw that the hall split into two areas, but you felt Sehun's hand on your back guiding you as he told Mina to take the left side. His hand felt big and warm on your back, it was actually comforting. The three of you stepped into what was supposed to be the living room area and Sehun let go off you. You almost let out a whine at the loss of his touch, but you bit your tongue. 'What the hell is wrong with me, I don't even know him!', you thought. "Hyung, Mina and Y/N are here", Sehun called out and Kyungsoo came out of the what was probably the bedroom on the other side of the hall with some blankets in hand. He greeted you both and apologized about not having anywhere to sit yet and placed the blankets on the floor. You nodded and sat down. You showed him the plans of your ideas and asked what he thought. He liked most of your plan, with only a couple of changes here and there. He knew what he wanted and you were glad, because it made your job much easier. "Ok, so that's done, I have the appliances and furniture ready, now we just have to look into purchasing the paint for the walls and the extra items that you want. I have some places listed where I prefer to buy from", you said as you looked through your portfolio for the list. "Mina did you take out the list?", you asked when you couldn't find it. "Ah yes, I did, but it should be saved on the work laptop..", she replied. "I have my personal laptop..", you replied with a frown. "I have some in mind, but not the whole list for every item", you looked over at Kyungsoo. "I can go get it at the office", Mina spoke up. "Actually yes that would be best because we need to order them as soon as possible in order to finish everything on time", you replied. "I can take you..that way we can get some food on the way back..", Kyungsoo offered. "Ok.. thank you", Mina answered shyly. They left, leaving Sehun and you alone. You sat there silently as you pretended to do something on your laptop to avoid his intense stare. You felt nervous about being alone with Sehun and he seemed to be enjoying it because when you looked at him, he simply smirked at you. You shifted your eyes back down, but he leaned in to close your laptop. You glared at him and he just laughed. "Why did you do that?", you asked. "I know you're not doing anything darling", he shrugged. "Darling?", you asked with an eyebrow raised. "Can I call you that?", he asked with a small smile. You laughed and rolled your eyes. "You don't even know me,", you responded. "But I want to know you..", he replied as he sat next to you. "We've only seen each other like what 3 times...and I need to use the restroom", you chuckled nervously. He made a bitch face at you, a literal bitch face and pointed to other side of the hall and said,"Second door to the right". You rushed to the restroom in a hurry and locked the door behind you. You didn't even need to use the restroom, but he was making you very nervous with those eyes and his handsome face all close to you. You washed your hands, but couldn't find any towel to dry them, so you walked out to ask for a napkin. As you were walking to the living room, you looked down to get your ringing phone out of your pocket and you bumped into someone's chest. "Again", you heard Sehun chuckle. "What?", you asked as you looked up. "You're distracted by your phone and crashing into me again", he chuckled. You frowned and then it clicked. You dried your hand on your pants and placed it in front of Sehun's face, so that only his eyes were visible.

"Omg… you're Hun?", you said with wide eyes.

"Yes I am", he replied with a smile.

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filipeteimuraz · 6 years

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Less is More: Why I Wish I Never Wrote 4,784 Blog Posts

Can you guess how many blog posts I have on NeilPatel.com?

Well, if you guessed 4,784 you’re wrong. 😉

Technically I just published this blog post, which makes it 4,785.

That’s a lot of content! Especially considering that the blog has been around for roughly 4 years. That means that I am publishing an average of 3.27 blog posts per day.

I know what you are thinking… seems a bit too much content for one person to write.

Well, let’s first go over how I published 4,784 blog posts in 4 years.

Did you really write all 4,784 posts?

Just look at the screenshot below:

As you can see there really are 4,784 blog posts published on NeilPatel.com.

But here’s the thing: If you look closely at the image you’ll notice that some of the posts are in different languages.

There’s content in German, Spanish, Portuguese, and English. And no, I don’t know how to fluently speak all of those languages.

Which means I only wrote the English posts.

In other words, I paid people to manually translate my content into multiple languages.

In addition to that, I acquired the KISSmetrics blog and their 1,313 blog posts got merged into NeilPatel.com.

So, I only wrote 862 blog posts myself. The rest are from the KISSmetrics blog and translations (not all of the content has been translated).

Considering that I didn’t have to write all of the 4,784 blog posts, you are probably wondering why I regret it.

Why wouldn’t you write all that content?

More content doesn’t mean more traffic. It’s really that simple.

Sure, if you blog 100 times a day like those news sites your traffic should go up. But there is no guarantee because there are 199 other factors that Google is looking at.

Plus, it would be really expensive to produce 100 pieces a day!

Let’s look at the traffic on NeilPatel.com:

As you can see from the image above, my blog generated 1,701,486 unique visitors and 5,948,818 page views. Now let’s look at what pages are generating the visitors.

You’ll notice that my homepage generates a lot of page views. A large portion of that is bot traffic that is coming from Turkey. Don’t ask me why!

So, let’s look at the “unique page views” number as that number excludes most of the bot traffic.

The top 10 pages account for 29.23% of the traffic. But what’s crazy is that 5 of the 10 most popular pages are tools. (That’s why I switched my SEO strategy to spend more time and money on technology.)

But I love blogging, so I wouldn’t just stop writing.

Now, let’s look at the top 50 pages:

The top 50 pages make up 45.75% of my traffic. As you can see, each post starts driving a lot less traffic when you go past the top 10 pages.

And the numbers get smaller as you keep going down the list. The top 250 pages make up 64.49% of my traffic. The top 500 pages make up 72.96% of the traffic. And the top 1000 pages make up 80.99% of the traffic.

In other words, most of the content doesn’t even generate that much traffic. More than half of my content doesn’t even generate 83 visits a month.

Read that again:

More than half of my content doesn’t even generate 83 visits a month!!

There are a few popular posts and pages that do extremely well and then there is a huge long tail, in which the rest of the content barely generates any traffic.

And I am the unique case because I know SEO, social media marketing, and content marketing better than most people. I am able to generate more traffic to my unpopular posts than most blogs.

To prove it, I analyzed data from 11 blogs that generate anywhere from 1,301,492 to 24,502,503 unique visitors a month. And these blogs have anywhere from 5,592 to 29,095 blog posts.

Let’s look at what portion of their traffic comes from their top 10, 50, 250, 500, and top 1,000 pages.

You’ll notice that their top 10 and even top 50 pages don’t make up as high of a percentage of their total traffic compared to NeilPatel.com, but you have to keep in mind that none of these blogs have tools. People love tools.

But their top 250 pages make up 68.97% of their total traffic, their top 500 pages make up 81.45%, and their top 1,000 pages make up 86.88%.

Assuming your blog is large, you’ll find that it is hard to generate traffic outside the top 10% of your content. If you know SEO well, you can make those numbers a bit better like I have, but it isn’t easy.

So why would you want to write tons of content people won’t read?

So, what would you do instead?

As I mentioned above, I love blogging. So, no matter what, I wouldn’t stop. It’s not only about the traffic, it’s not only about the revenue, blogging is just fun for me.

But I would have adjusted my strategy earlier on.

I would use tools like Ubersuggest and Ahrefs to see the top pages of my competitors (the screenshot below is from the new Ubersuggest tool, which is not out yet).

Then I would dig in and see what keywords are driving their traffic.

From there I would double check to make sure that that the page also is loved by people and not just search engines. I would do this by looking at the social share count, which you can also see in the screenshot above.

In other words, if people are sharing content heavily on social sites like Facebook, it means that they enjoyed reading the content.

Once you have a list of blog posts that do really well for your competition, from both a human and search engine perspective, you’ll want to create better versions of it.

That means you will want to make your content more in-depth, with better screenshots, maybe even include video tutorials, infographics, or whatever else you can think of that will make your post better than the competitions.

This way you are ONLY writing content that has a good chance of getting tons of traffic versus cranking out hundreds if not thousands of content pieces that very few people will ever read.

So, would you still translate your content?

Similar to how I would still blog, but just not write 4,784 posts, I would translate my content, but just not all of it.

When I started translating my content, I made a huge mistake.

Can you guess what it is?

It’s that I was translating my content.

Here’s what I mean…

Even if you hire smart people who know your industry to translate your content, it doesn’t guarantee success. What’s popular in one country isn’t always popular in another country.

For that reason, you have to use keyword research tools like Ubersuggest to see what keywords are popular in each country.

My traffic in regions like Brazil didn’t start growing fast until we started to transcribe the content and adapt it to the region. And now I can generate over 209,949 unique visitors a month from Brazil.

Even if you focus on only writing content people love and if you ever decide to expand internationally there is one big issue that you are going to face.