Day Two
Trip Start
Unknown
1
29
149
Trip End
Ongoing
Corfu, Ionian Islands, Greece
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Next, we went up to this amazing pasture at the top of the estate that has tons of trees and ocean views. I met Iraklis (Hercules), a beautiful black horse, and a giant Shire horse named Captain. We raked in the track at the arena next to them, fixed the fence, trimmed some bushes, etc.
On a break, I got talking to this guy named D. who came yesterday from Israel. Honestly, I didn't know what to think of him when we first met. He was wearing skinny jeans and no shoes (on a farm!) and had long brown hair. He smoked five cigarettes in the time I was watching him, which wasn’t often, and when he talked, his words all tumbled together in one long, low line.
Today, I decided that I really like him. First, he made me laugh by saying, "When I think of going back to Israel, it makes me want to vomit," then proceeded to explain why he hates it there. Basically, it boils down to the fact that he’s a Bohemian who was born in the wrong place at the wrong time. He has a tattoo on his stomach that says, “Give peace a chance” and he hates the violence where he lives.
D. escaped Israel’s obligatory three-year military service (two for girls) by pretending to be crazy. He screamed across the recruiter’s office that they could all go f*** themselves and that he’d kill all of the Israeli soldiers the second they gave him a gun. This earned him a free ticket to the psych department, which excused him for reasons of insanity. Now, that label follows him whenever he applies for jobs.
D. said that when the bombs come, he puts on his Ipod and takes his dog for a walk. With the music in, he can’t hear them. In his mind, if he dies, he’ll at least have been living his life when it happened. He refuses to hide in his house or to waste a minute living in fear.
Although he feels people in his part of the world are hard-headed and conceited, he won’t move because he loves his friends. Really interesting guy.
I finished my day by cuddling the baby Skyrians. Five of them were born in June, and they are still so soft. It was really nice to experience their sweet personalities firsthand. Up until now, I’ve basically seen them as poop machines since most of my day are spent mucking. Today, they let me pet and even hug them for a really long time and suddenly, I didn’t mind the poop so much. Mrs. Steen says she’s counting on the Skyrian’s friendly personalities to make humans care about them and support her rescue efforts.
