We made our boat after a few frustrating encounters with Greek taxidrivers, checked in, lost our luggage, found our luggage, and are now headed to Egypt! The water is beautiful, the staff is great, and we're meeting lots of people from different places. We're learning lots of Greek, and eating lots of Greek food, all of which is delicious. Holly loves feta cheese, so she really cant go wrong here- and I cant help but think of my Mom as I eat my weight in the best olives Ive ever had! (she used to eat olives by the jar-and then drink the juice when she was pregnant with me)
We've been at sea all day, and while we dont love the cruise atmosphere ( 3 euro for a bottle of water? carpet darts- who plays that?) we do enjoy being on the water and reading the books we brought for the trip. We've got a book on Biblical sites in Turkey and Greece, Greek travel book, a few fiction titles, and I'm reading the Odyssey- figure you can't help but get the spirit of it while youre on the Mediteranean!
Tomorrow we get up early and head to the pyramids, the national museum of Cairo, and a papyrus museum. Here's hoping we dont bring back any mummy's curse with us...
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Grecia
After some sad goodbyes and several frantic weeks of wrapping up everything in the Dominican... we finally left for our trip!
We drove out from Bobita at 8am on Tuesday, in the middle of Hurricane Gustav. No problem flying out- and we headed to NYC, where we got lost in an airport weve been through ten thousand times. We hang out for a while, get on a flight to London overnight, which arrives at Heathrow a bit late... so late that we missed our flight to Greece!
Sooo... we waited and took another overnight flight, getting us into Greece at 3am on Thursday. This morning, we slept at the airport until the trains started running, took a two hour bus to the plain of Marathon (an extremely important battlesite - ask TJ about it), realized that the battlesite was basically a big field with not much more information, took the bus back to Athens, took a cab to two different bus stations (one wrong, one right), hopped a three hour bus to Delfi (a famous ancient oracle and hillside ruins complex) and checked into a cute little hotel for cheapiecheapie (which in Euros... is not that cheap.)
We hustled over to the ruins site, but were too late to see them before they closed, BUT we were able to look through the museum which was wonderful. We had dinner at a great Greek restaurant (roasted lamb, souvlaki, moussaka...mmm...) and are now typing on the blog before we crash into bed. This will be our first shower, change of clothes & rest in a bed in 3 or 4 days. Or something like that. We've lost track. We'll wake up early enough to see the ruins site, hop a bus back to Athens, where we will (hopefully) board a boat for two weeks in the Great Green (the Mediterreanean- again, ask TJ).
Thanks for all your prayers and well-wishes! TJ says its the best (and longest-and shortest) birthday he's ever had. Figure that out!
We drove out from Bobita at 8am on Tuesday, in the middle of Hurricane Gustav. No problem flying out- and we headed to NYC, where we got lost in an airport weve been through ten thousand times. We hang out for a while, get on a flight to London overnight, which arrives at Heathrow a bit late... so late that we missed our flight to Greece!
Sooo... we waited and took another overnight flight, getting us into Greece at 3am on Thursday. This morning, we slept at the airport until the trains started running, took a two hour bus to the plain of Marathon (an extremely important battlesite - ask TJ about it), realized that the battlesite was basically a big field with not much more information, took the bus back to Athens, took a cab to two different bus stations (one wrong, one right), hopped a three hour bus to Delfi (a famous ancient oracle and hillside ruins complex) and checked into a cute little hotel for cheapiecheapie (which in Euros... is not that cheap.)
We hustled over to the ruins site, but were too late to see them before they closed, BUT we were able to look through the museum which was wonderful. We had dinner at a great Greek restaurant (roasted lamb, souvlaki, moussaka...mmm...) and are now typing on the blog before we crash into bed. This will be our first shower, change of clothes & rest in a bed in 3 or 4 days. Or something like that. We've lost track. We'll wake up early enough to see the ruins site, hop a bus back to Athens, where we will (hopefully) board a boat for two weeks in the Great Green (the Mediterreanean- again, ask TJ).
Thanks for all your prayers and well-wishes! TJ says its the best (and longest-and shortest) birthday he's ever had. Figure that out!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Booked it.
Our 5th anniversary trip to Europe... Which sort of turned into our 5th anniversary trip to Europe/Asia/Africa. We've been saving and dreaming and talking since our first year of marriage.
5 years... haven't they gone by in a blink?!
Here's where we headed - we would love any suggestions, favorite places to eat, etc.
Two weeks around the Mediterranean
(Greece, Turkey, Egypt & Israel):
10 Days eating our way across Italy:
We fly back to the US via Rome - London (12 hour layover, sweet!) - NYC. Our tickets end in NYC - after that, who knows?! Maybe we'll become Manhattanites... Or get lost in Venice...
5 years... haven't they gone by in a blink?!
Here's where we headed - we would love any suggestions, favorite places to eat, etc.
Two weeks around the Mediterranean
(Greece, Turkey, Egypt & Israel):
10 Days eating our way across Italy:
We fly back to the US via Rome - London (12 hour layover, sweet!) - NYC. Our tickets end in NYC - after that, who knows?! Maybe we'll become Manhattanites... Or get lost in Venice...
Thursday, August 14, 2008
The Grahams: They're GREAT.
You might even say... Golden.
Kyle and Vicki Graham will move to Rio San Juan in January to serve as the new directors of the Outreach Center.
That's right, when we leave in September, Kyle and Vicki will already be in language school, preparing for their work here.
We have come to know and love the Grahams dearly. They are highly skilled in working with youth (Kyle was a youth minister at Park Plaza and Vicki teaches at-risk teens), full of fun and a faithful spirit.
They are in the process of raising half of their monthly support and one-time set-up costs. If you or your church would like to continue helping these kids, let us know, and we'll get you the details.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Our Local BLOCKBUSTER
Would you believe you can't buy or rent an actual DVD in this country?
Only bootleg, all the time.
Movies usually appear in Rio San Juan before they even hit the theaters in the US. Of course, the quality is atrocious and it's highly illegal. At this little podunk stand, I could purchase Batman: The Dark Night, Made of Honor, or any of the summer theater releases.
How do you begin to fight an underground industry that is so widespread and accepted? Most people in Latin America (and I'm assuming, Africa and Asia) have no idea that there's a difference between the "real" and bootleg versions.
Friday, August 08, 2008
We've been...
At a wedding. In Winfield. (That's in Kansas, folks.)
Holly's baby cousin, Kyle, and his beautiful bride, Lauren.
Impossible to say what we enjoyed most about the weekend... Fabulous company, fantastic food, fun with family.
But we will say, we couldn't get enough of this little guy:
Holly's baby cousin, Kyle, and his beautiful bride, Lauren.
Impossible to say what we enjoyed most about the weekend... Fabulous company, fantastic food, fun with family.
But we will say, we couldn't get enough of this little guy:
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