Serbian sobriety and The Greek AA Convention…

Johnnyboy

The week I spent in Belgrade was an eye-opener.  The AA program there is extremely small but on the right track.  NA is a little more popular, but not by much.  In th sense that people are staying clean and sober, then both are a success.  They are in a unique position that they need to rely on each other to get the job done for the small cadre of sober people.  Anyway…It is working out for them and they are treating the Traditions as flexible entities rather than the draconian set of guides so many AA folk do in the USA.  The result for me is that for the week I stayed clean and sober and 100% grateful for both fellowships.

Yesterday I boarded a plane at Nikola Tesla Aerodrome in Belgrade and flew to Athens, Greece.  It took about an hour and a half.  Then I took the local bus to the port of Piraeus, and from there a ferry to the little coastal island of Poros.  It is lovely here, and the port is full of pleasure sailors in small flotillas.  They are currently docked due to windy weather, but it has been a fun and sober time for me.  Excellent fish, great coffee, and everyone speaks English.  On top of that they are not offended if you speak English to them.  Ah yes…Greece.  They have been doing this longer than I have.  Tomorrow I head off to Ermioni on a Flying Cat high speed ferry and the 15th Annual International AA Convention in Greece!  Hooray!

Travel-wise, so far it has been a wonderful time and I will be back home in a little over three weeks.  I hope that I will be bringing some warm weather back to Somewheresville as the reports I have seen have the highs somewhere in the mid-60’s.  Right now it is that temperature outside, and it is 10PM.  Today hit 90.

Balkan Sobriety, 2009

Johnnyboy

After leaving the US, the first news from abroad I heard was in regards to the swine flu…The thought that I might be stranded in Europe was exciting and also a little dismaying.  Anyway, no real chance of that now.  The flight to Vienna was uneventful and I found a really
great AA meeting the night that I arrived. I will be in Vienna for a few days at the end of the trip, so I’ll check out more of the recovery scene while I scope out the museums and cafes.  On the flight over I watched ‘Frost and Nixon’.  There is a great quote about Vienna…’ It’s just like Paris, but without the French! ‘

The Croatian Convention was heartfelt and small.  Only 67 AAs were there, overshadowed by the youthful boisterousness of the NA group upstairs in the hotel. Many AAs did not come because they felt that the combination of the two groups at a convention was a violation of the Traditions, which it is.  Next year the two conventions will be separate, I think, but don’t hold your breath globetrotters.

I went to Bosnia after that and am still here, currently in Sarajevo.  I will be traveling on to Belgrade on Sunday and connect with my sober/clean friends in that city.  I will be there for about a week of meetings and museums and then I am off to Greece and the Greek Convention.  I have been invited to qualify while I am there and I am very nervous about it.

My school work is going well…I am through with last semester and am currently working on the summer session while on the road.

My CBE/PLA submissions have been shot through with annoying bullets by the evaluator, and while I will not appeal the findings and take the 8 credits she is offering me, I was shocked by the tone and language she used to describe my involvement in both the process and the years I worked in the food business.  I think it is best to focus on the Now and Future instead of the Past from now on.

Johnnyboy