Day Two: More Cousins, More Martyrs, and Clubbing with Elisavet

Today we went to a church built in memorial of the people missing from the war with North Cyprus. I have to say I am getting well and truly brain washed about this whole Cyprus-Turkey thing. If I had gone to Turkey after this I don’t think I would have enjoyed myself quite as much. There was a whole wall in the church with pictures of the missing people and there was another building with murals of scenes from the war – a family sitting down for dinner with an extra plate set for a son who would not return; protesters marching with pictures of missing people; even a scene from a Turkish prison where Greek Cypriots are being held. Like I said before, the people of Cyprus are not going to soon forget what happened.

For lunch we went to a sea side town where Evangelia’s childhood friend’s (who was a priest) son had a taverna. The atmosphere was great and we talked for a long time with the son and his parents. I found it amusing that the priest, when he first walked up, did not look very priestly. He was wearing old sweatpants and an old sweat shirt and he was covered in leaves and grass. He had obviously just come from some sort of gardening. He came into the open air terrace where we were eating and greeted the group of tourists next to us – as a sort of ‘welcome to my son’s restaurant’ kind of thing – who all shrank back in their seats like he was some sort of vagrant.

We ate very well at the restaurant – I don’t think, after Cyprus, I will ever be hungry again – and drove along the shore to a farmer’s market (and in Cyprus, the term is a lot more literal than in America) to get vegetables.

For dinner, I was handed off to another set of cousins, Elisavet and her father George and Mother Vana. We had dinner (just had lunch!) at a very popular restaurant that was just right next to the Green Line. The shops around the restaurant were all broken down and empty, but the place was clearly hoppin’.

After this Elisavet took me out for a night on the town. She wanted to show me that there was more to Cyprus for the younger crowds. We had some nice conversations traveling in between bars and clubs and I got to meet a lot of her friends. I was pretty underdressed (jeans, sneakers) but I decided not to worry about it because there was really nothing to be done. I would really like to go back (during the summer, as Elisavet and all her friends kept telling me) with some friends to do the thing properly.

I also found out that the grudge against the Turkish is not just for the younger generations. Elisavet pointed out to me the Turkish flag up on the hill, which, by the way, lights up. Elisavet’s grandfather, my grandfather’s first cousin (or maybe he was an uncle? Unclear on that one), was killed by the Turks back in the 1950’s and it still is a source of much resentment.

We ended the night late and I crawled back home with the key Evangelia gave me.

Of Imperialistic Churches, Cosmologies and Strange Coincidences

I was invited to go to church with one of my co-workers. Well, she's actually a student at the school but she also helps out with lunch and that sort of thing so I consider her one of my co-workers. She spent the last three years in Jordon with her Uncle and speaks English very well because she went to the international school there. Her deepest desire is to get the hell out of Korea.

So, we went to her church and they started off with a lot of rock-esque hymns sung by an American girl. When the pastor (Pastor Bob) got up to speak, it was more like a battle plan than a sermon. The pastor gave us all these statistics about the 10-40 window (ten percent of landmass that houses 40 percent of the world's population). He had diagrams first about how most of the people in this window were not Christians (or as he said, 'unevangelized'. sort of like 'un-immunized'). He didn't overtly diss other religions so I was okay until the next slide that was the same map except with GNP per capita superimposed over it.

He didn't come out and say it but it was clear that he was making a connection between people's religion and their economic status. This was when the sermon turned for me from interesting to annoying. Pastor Bob went on to explain how Korea's reason for being in this 10-40 window (as the sole 'evangelized' country) was to convert the rest of Asia and North Africa. He told us how to identify a non-believer and how to go about getting them to talk to Jesus - i.e. ask them to coffee then start preaching the word of god to them.

I can't figure out if this Mandate of Heaven notion about Korea being in the 10-40 window for a reason comes from Western ideals or if its a homegrown thing. I haven't ever been to an English speaking church in America so I can't judge if the same attitude is common there. As far as Greek Orthodoxy is concerned, its more of a tradition than a religion - its a solid, everyday part of life and people don't go around trying to convert people who don't want to be converted. Its sort of like an semi-exclusive club in that way - you wanna be Greek Orthodox? Okay, but first you have to learn the secret handshake.

There are so many things I could say about this sermon - that correlation doesn't mean causation; that the reason most of these countries are poor and underdeveloped is because of people trying to tell them what's best for them and then taking advantage of them; that, generally, people don't appreciate finding out that an overture of friendship was actually a cheap ploy to get them to come to church; and that adopting a doctrine of live and let live is closer to the spirit of the Bible than this imperialistic religious colonization.

I'm not against religions in general. On the contrary, I think they serve a very important Anthropological purpose.

In my environmental Ethics class in college we talked a lot about religion as it applies to the environment and our current energy problems and one theory stuck with me. It says that when people don't have a cosmology (mostly, this just means a religion) they are less able to fit themselves in the world as a whole. They don't know why they are here, they don't understand what they should be doing. Some people say that there is no such thing as a moral code without a religion (which I think is complete ridiculousness, but none the less furthers the theory).

People who don't have a cosmology (refers more exactly to knowing where you come from, what is waiting for you at the end of life, and what you should be doing with your life) feel their life is useless, or that there is something missing. To fill this whole they consume. They fill their lives with things that they think will make it better - iPhones, 13 cars, countless amazon purchases, etc. That's why so many people have such credit card debt: because they consume pathologically. This is not to say that people who have iPhones, credit card debt, or buy things from amazon are all without cosmology, just that it could explain why there is so much of this sort of thing in America.

And in this instance, I suppose cosmology can mean any number of things. If you believe your purpose in life is to work for this company that you feel strongly is doing good things, or that you are raising kids to be productive members of society and well-adjusted individuals - separate from some divine force - that, too, is a kind of cosmology.

It's just a theory, but its an interesting one.

It just occurred to me that there is a tie in there with online games. When you don't have the means to buy these kinds of things, you can go online to places like World of Warcraft and spend all your time obtaining special items and outfits - swords, armor, potions, spells, etc - and completing quests. This fills your need to consume while giving you a sense of achievement without actually spending anything but time. You achieve status and wealth in a way that is visible and tangible to not only you but others in your online society.

Ne-Hyeung, my friend who took me to church, and I spent a while after the service talking about it (she said she almost fell asleep) and her mom dropped me off at my apartment, with a lot of baked goods she bought me and a whole bag of kumquats. I'm not sure where that came from but it was a nice gesture anyway.

On a rather strange note, I found out that my music teacher from first grade (in Nairobi) goes to this church. This is beyond weird. My only conclusion is that the world is a very very very small place.

EDIT: This is way too awesome not to share. They're plotting their revolution. I can feel it. Whose side are you on?