PINCH -- Vis, Croatia

I'm pinching myself. I've been pinching myself all day.

It doesn't help. I still think this is a fabulous dream from which I'll wake at any moment.

PINCH. 

Nope. It's all still here. Fabulousness remains. 

I'm starting this post from the second kitchen of a retreat on Vis island, Croatia. Milda and Mario sit at their computer behind me, discussing retreat logistics in Croatian. Jurate packs up her electronics and seems to be telling Milda that she's off to bed (in Lithuanian).

I always assume that people are speaking about me when I can't understand what they're saying. Which is excessively egocentric and I should probably grow up a little.

Just because they're speaking Lithuanian doesn't mean they're discussing how I'm not what they expected or how they wish they'd chosen someone else or -- 

"lithuanianlithuanianlithuanian-CHOCOLATE-CHIP-COOKIES-lithuanianlithuanianlith -- "

-- yes. Cool your freaking jets, Bourget. They're talking about cookies. 

 Flight 380 arrived in Split at 15:45 yesterday afternoon -- a mere ten minutes after its scheduled arrival. I grabbed my carry-on and breezed into the small terminal station, thrilled to pieces that there were only three baggage belts in baggage claim.

This is my kind of airport. I can walk from one end to the other in five minutes. 

I spotted Milda and Jurate waiting for me just behind the luggage belt. 

Goodness... I'd forgotten how comforting it feels to be greeted by a (somewhat) familiar face at an airport. 

I watched the belt belch out bags, plop, plop, PLOP, until my plum colored Osprey burst onto the scene. I squatted down and pulled it onto my knees and then huffed, heaved it onto my back the way Michael had showed me in Devon.

I have people waiting for me. I don't have to find a bus or take a metro or avoid pushy taxi drivers... I have people who came to the airport for the sole purpose of picking me up. How absolutely marvelous. 

"Milda!"

"Aimee!"

We half-hugged, half-kissed in that awkward "I'M NOT SURE WHAT YOUR COUNTRY DOES" kind of way.

Lithuanians seem to kiss twice. Just so you know.

Milda introduced me to Jurate, a friend from Lithuania who would be leading two hours of meditation every day as well as directing the odd art therapy session. The pint-sized, clear-eyed woman kissed me twice. It was about half as awkward.

Two things I will never get used to in Europe: kissing as a form of "hello" and the rarity of toilets. I should just learn how to pee in the brush and start kissing everyone. Problem solved. 

I was then introduced to Mario, Milda's hilarious Croatian boyfriend.

We shook hands.

I just... man. Why can't I get the hang of this? KISS EVERYONE. 

The drive into Split was as informative as it was short. Mario and Milda have many money-making endeavors and are skilled wedding planners, retreat organizers and tour guides. Jurate and I oohed and aahed over the jagged grey rocks sticking out of the mountain like spikes on a stegosaurus, but Milda informed us that this was the "unattractive" bit.

"If you like this, wait until you see Vis!"

I love this. I don't see  how it could get much better. 

"Yes, and we can take you to this place and this -- "

How did I land here? I get to teach yoga on a retreat for five weeks and feel supported and cared for by people like this? People who want to show me their country, who appreciate yoga, who seem so easy-going and cheerful and -- I just... man. No. Words. This is as much my cup of tea as Istanbul wasn't. 
 
Jurate and I bonded over our mutual love of moving slowly and carrying little. Milda and Mario (who make just as fantastic a couple as their names suggest) tossed back travel tips, historical tidbits and a few more "we can take you there"s as we trundled along.

I was at that strange place between completely exhilarated and utterly exhausted by the time we'd finished stumbling up the "gazillion" stairs to the friendly Mario/Milda flat. Mario carefully leaned my Osprey against the wall,

"I think you put your sister in there."

"You should have seen it before," I defended my backpack. "It's much lighter than it was."

"Are you saying your sister is heavy?"

 Our hosts left to finish some final shopping and Jurate and I discussed the schedule for the upcoming weeks. Between this initial discussion and another the following afternoon, I found myself looking at a schedule like this:

6:30-7:30 = Morning Meditation (Jurate)
7:30-8:00 = Morning Tea
 8:00-9:30 = Morning Yoga (Intermediate yoga led by Aimee, beginner yoga led by Kristine)
9:30-11:00 = Breakfast (Milda makes awesome breakfast)
11:00-14:30 = Tour! (Mario)
15:00-16:30 = Lunch (Milda makes delicious lunch)
16:30-18:00 = Afternoon yoga (Intermediate yoga led by Aimee, beginner yoga led by Kristine)
18:00-19:00 = Afternoon Meditation (Jurate)
19:00-20:00 = Dinner (Milda makes gorgeous dinner)
20:00-22:00 = Film/massage/tea

This is my schedule for the next three weeks. Mario and Milda cancelled the fourth week and will use that time to show Jurate and me around their beautiful Croatia. Then we have one more week of retreat before I start my volunteer work in Solin and they resume their wedding planning.

I will go on as many of Mario's tours as possible and if Milda can spare me in the kitchen (I'll probably chop a few vegetables now and then), I'll sit in on all of Jurate's afternoon meditation classes.

Three hours of teaching yoga each day. One hour of meditation. Three+ hours of exploring breathtaking places. 

PINCH. 

Yup, it's all still here. Fabulousness remains. 

I ate fine Croatian cheese and prosciutto for dinner that night. It was the best manner of surprise (after my experience in Devon) to see that these people didn't care what I wanted to eat. Meat? Cheese? Wine? Chocolate? Have at it and afiyet olsen.

I woke early the next morning, ate some yogurt and tidied up the kitchen. When Milda saw the dishes drying in the rack, she turned to me and said,

"Did you clean the kitchen?"

"Yes, I've been up for a while."

"Thank-you! But you didn't have to do that."

At which point Mario meandered in.

"We should have left other dirty things out as well. Clothes that need washing and -- "

Milda, Jurate and I boarded the bus to the ferry (stopping at the daily market to purchase fresh fruits and veggies on the way) and Mario drove off the luggage laden car. We met at ten o'clock and clamored onto the ferry for our two and a half hour trip to Vis Island.

Vis was the first Croatian island settled by the Greeks and is the farthest inhabited island off the coast of Croatia. Dionysus the Elder established a colony in the 4th century BC, but after a brief dabble in independence and a fling with the Liburnians, Vis settled into a long-haul with the Romans and was ruled by the Republic of Venice until 1797. Austrians got dibs in 1814 and then Yugoslavia snatched up the 90 square km in 1920.

And now it is Croatia. With fingerprints of Greece, Austria and Italy.

We arrived at the retreat in the early afternoon. Jurate and I were astonished.

"Most places have photos that are better than the actual thing. But with this it is the opposite!" Jurate exclaimed. I agreed. Emphatically. 

 As we walked through the grounds, we also noted the considerable amount of cleaning up that needed to be done before the guests arrived Saturday evening. Dead butterflies and flies decorated the windowsills, beds were unmade, floors dirty and bathrooms hardly tolerable.

bellies up.

 I loved how not stressed out Milda was by the workload ahead of us.

"It will be easy," she surveyed the rooms, unfazed. "We'll divide the tasks and take care of it."

We spent the rest of the day unpacking, reading guest questionnaires, eating an impromptu lunch prepared for us by some of the retreat's gardeners and researching what beach yoga could look like.

Rosemary, lavender and mint grow wild here.

Jurate. I will learn a lot from this woman.

Mario

Milda

The retreat hammock. I will be spending a lot of time here.

Tomorrow will be full of cleaning, meeting new people and editing my yoga playlists. The first class of the first retreat will commence Sunday morning at 6:30. Let the five weeks of yoga, meditation, sunshine and island exploration begin.

PINCH.