Currents of people - Tiles

Currents of people, like currents of water flow over and around stones. Sidewalks in Odessa in the commercial areas often are paved with stone tiles. We are part of the current, so we spend a lot of time on these tiles. We thought we would share some of them.

Some are fancy and relatively new. 

Some are quite old. This picture doesn't begin to convey the unevenness of the road. At first we tried to imagine a wagon wheel rumbling over this lumpy, bumpy surface. Then one day we found ourselves flying over a section of road paved this way in a car. Our imaginations failed to describe the experience: full-body massage. Imagine a horse trying to navigate this road.

The tile layers are artists. Some work with conventional patterns.

Then you get some risk-takers...

Some classicists...

And then some free spirits.

There are also experiments with textures.

Our shoes are getting around a lot. We do not have a car, and our language skills are not up to working things out with a taxi driver, though we have friends who can do that.

We like the walking, though. For one thing, we are shedding pounds. Check it out.

More importantly, we are feeling more and more a part of the people we share the currents with. These are really good people. They are sometimes brutally honest, but when you think about it, who needs to be told "No, those pants don't make you look fat", when you both know they do? The honesty is bracing...if you are braced for it.

We have met people with enormous character and commitment: people who swim upstream and don't mind the hardness of it. Young people here are so desirous for an education, because it is the ticket to a better life, but many find it hard to afford. In one of our assignments, we are associated with an educational program that provides a leg up for those who really want it.

So, walking with them and around them and through the crowds of them over the stones is a pleasure. And if people see us looking at our feet as we walk, then maybe they don't understand what it means to us.