Thinking about what's next
Plus, a homecoming to Ancient Greece and exploring one of my favorite corners of Germany
Before we get to the main course, I’ve got two new travel videos for ya.
A Homecoming of Sorts
Izmir. It’s the gateway to the ancient world you didn’t know about, home to Ephesus and its ruins dating back to the 10th Century BCE, including the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
This is a place of pilgrimage for Christians who believe John the Baptist hid the Virgin Mary here following the crucifixion of Jesus. (Sorry, spoiler alert…) And it’s home to the Ephesus Ultra Marathon, taking runners across the rolling hills and farmlands that surround this Ancient Greek city for up to 120 kilometers.
But for my wife, Melanie, it’s a homecoming of sorts. In 1922, her great-grandmother Vasilea Antoniadis fled Smyrna, as it was known back then, following the Great Fire at the end of the Greco-Turkish War.
Saxon Switzerland National Park | Germany's Outdoor Paradise
Saxon Switzerland National Park. It’s hands down one of my favorite places in all of Germany for hiking and trail running along the 116-kilometer Malerweg with views of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains and the Bastei along the way. And it’s where we’re heading for the long holiday weekend in this unusually vloggy style edition of Joe runs around and eats things.
Berlin is our home. But I’m not so sure it’s our future. At least, not permanently.
Don’t get me wrong! I love, love, love Berlin. It’s tattooed onto my right calf, for Christ’s sake. But longterm, I know Melanie and I are looking for a level of flexibility that allows us to spend more time with our families in the US, namely our nieces and nephews. (How else are they supposed to know that we’re the cool aunt and uncle?)
But I do know I’ll always want one foot in Europe, which is why I applied for German citizenship a month ago and Melanie is busy studying for her German language exam. That said, anecdotally, Berlin seems to be slipping into some of the qualities about the U.S. I’ve spent my late 20s and almost all of my 30s avoiding –– obsessive work culture.
I’m thinking back to the CEO who complained to a colleague that everyone left the office right at the end of the work day. This colleague had to remind him that people have lives outside of work and that what we were working on was his baby, not ours. Or there was another company that desperately tried to find ways to make young colleagues feel like “family” by installing foosball tables and giving out free, cheap beer in hopes people would stay at the office longer.
Increasingly, it seems holding a mirror up to these charades is translated by the powers that be as “laziness.” These are the same ones who, not coincidentally, are more motivated by fattening the weight of their bank accounts than others. The rules of life in Berlin are starting to be defined by this “grind-’til-you-drop” mindset that plagues the US.
I’m wildly fortunate that my experience with this is mostly observational. I’ve had run-ins, but rarely has my life been governed by it. Still, I see it seeping ever so terrifyingly into Berlin life. So much so, it doesn’t feel like it’ll be home forever. Then again, I don’t know where home will be. But I have a clue.
Reading
’ recent piece on slowly moving her life to Italy struck a chord. For her, it’s the US work culture that’s sending her packing. In Italy, she’s found a more relaxed way of life surrounded by a community that talks to one another instead of quickly passing by on the street.Now that definitely appeals to me. Stress, after all, is the silent killer that eventually comes for us all if not managed properly. Rarely do you find centenarians who made it to their age because they lived a bitter, stressful life full of work, anxiety-riddled employer reviews, and tight deadlines.
I don’t know where in the world this peaceful, community-focused existence lies for us. Maybe it’s on a quiet Greek island or in the Spanish countryside. We’re still trying to figure it all out –– and we’re taking steps to find the answer.
On that note, I hope to have something to share very shortly.
Writing
I’m a bit behind on sharing my writing, so here’s a quick catchup with more to come in the coming weeks.