Pictures from Paris

Here's a preview of what I did...
Christmas in Paris

Sri Lanka Day #4, part 2 to the end

I think I was saying something about our train ride back to Colombo...

The train takes about 4 hours, and when we got back to the city, my husband graciously agreed to stay in a nice hotel for the last evening. I threw my backpack on the floor, grabbed my toothbrush, and headed for the only real hot shower I would have that week. Oh, Ramada, thank you again.

We headed out in search of a good local place to eat, only to end up walking for 5km and in about the same spot as our hotel. Fortunately, I read something about a weekend activity that takes place on the oceanfront lawn of a nearby hotel. When we came to the place, it was full of locals flying kites, fishing, eating food, and having fun with their families, so we searched for something good to eat. We picked out some tasty-looking samosas, and after a bit of haggling, sat down to enjoy them. Much to my surprise, I soon felt an intense burning sensation on my lips and throat, forgetting that Sri Lankan food can be spicy! In Kuwait, we are used to pretty bland samosas, filled with either cheese, ground meat, or vegetables, so I was expecting the same. This was the only time I ever really thought my face could be on fire.

After trying to douse "the fire," with lots of water and another type of snack, we went to a nearby pub and ordered some English fare. Of course, I decided to leave my camera at the hotel that day, so I don't have any pictures of this little adventure.

The next day we woke up really early in order to make our flight, something like 4:45am. We packed everything, checked out, hailed a took-took to the bus station, caught a bus to the airport station (which took forever, by the way), took ANOTHER bus from there to the actual airport (through security and what-not), and finally got there. I am one for allowing extra time when flying, while Chris is not so adamant. In fact, he likes minimize airport waiting time as much as possible, so on the last several trips, we have cut it quite close. On this very occasion, we made it just in time again, and were the last passengers of our flight to go through customs, security, and board. Is this a guy thing?

Needless to say, we made it back safely and taught a few weeks of school before my next trip. We are incredibly blessed that we're able to see so many parts of the world while living in Kuwait, mostly because we can cut out the exorbitant expense of flying across the Atlantic Ocean. Since we've been here, I think we've traveled to 9 or 10 different countries together and few others separately. We thank God that he provides for us, and that he allows us these opportunities.

Bells in Kuwait

Okay. I am still catching up with entries and pictures from events past, so here is the link from when our friends Mike and Destiny came to visit. They were only here for a few days before they trekked back to the US for Christmas, but the time was sweet. We had lots of good Arabic food, went to church, visited the Scientific Center and Aquarium, barbequed on the beach, and generally wreaked havoc across the State of Kuwait. Sort of.
Bells in Kuwait

We miss you guys, and all of our friends and family scattered over the Earth during this time! We're glad for the good year-end reports we've heard so far, and hope that everyone was able to spend time reflecting on the birth of Jesus, the real reason for celebrating the Christmas season.

Christmas '09

I'm back from vacation in Paris and I have plenty of posting to do. For now, I'm off to spend some time with Chris. "Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!"

Sri Lanka day # 4, part 1

Yikes- it's already December 18th and I haven't finished posting about Sri Lanka. Sitting here in the Istanbul airport, waiting on a delayed flight for the next trip, I decided it would be best to work on it before I forget the juicy details. So, here it goes:

After a good, mosquito-free sleep, we awoke to the amazing sound of crashing waves. We gathered all of our things and headed down for a quick breakfast, again, prepared by the establishment's owner/operator and his wife. The tea on this side of the world is nothing short of spectacular, so we were sure to take full advantage of drinking it with from-the-cane sugar. Then, to the main road we went, waiting for another bus to take us to Matara. There, we would catch the train and head back to Colombo.

In lots of third world countries, there is a local price and a non-local, "white" price. When we caught the bus, among other instances, the guys in charge of collecting money always charged Chris and I the "white" price. We literally saw people paying 10 rupees for the bus, while we were asked to pay 40 a piece. Generally speaking, Chris is good at bargaining and haggling a price. At this point though, the idea of that was relatively futile, so he coughed up the whole dollar or two and we were on our way.

When we got to Matara, we hailed our final took-took and made it to the train station. Once there, we got second class seats and boarded for the 4-hour ride back to Colombo. We sat across from a nice family of which only the father spoke English. We traded cookies and local treats back and forth, and tried to make conversation. Mostly, we just slept, and Chris' arm is still peeling from the sunburn of hanging it out the window.

After the long ride, we arrived at the hustle and bustle of Colombo Fort Station.
To Be Continued...

Day #3: Mirissa

After we walked out to the main road, we waited for the bus to take to Mirissa. The trouble with catching a bus in Sri Lanka is that they only slow down long enough for 1 or 2 people to get on it. After being passed by two of the right bus that we wanted to catch (once we were sure which one it was), we took the third and headed for Mirissa. With our trusty Lonely Planet book, we scouted out a beach hotel that was cheap and included half board, but didn't have A/C. We decided to go for the true "beach" stay and enjoyed the 40 minute ride along the coast.

When we arrived, we chose a 2nd story room as Chris didn't think he could do the bungalow experience; with the idea of already having to use a mosquito net while we sleep, he didn't want to be any more exposed than necessary. The view was awesome because we could look down on the grass courtyard-type area with mago and coconut trees, and the water was just 50 meters away. We don't have too many pictures from Mirissa, because we spent most of our day playing in the waves, which were much better and had less seaweed than in Unawatuna. The weather was amazing!

In the evening, we went down to the hotel's dining room, where we were served a freshly caught and freshly cooked fish, rice w/ curry, french fries, and the most amazing citrus salad I ever tasted! We met the couple staying next to us, who were from Germany, and also spoke with an Eglishman who is currently working in Dubai. It's funny being an expatriate and swapping stories with people from other countries, especially when one encounters a language barrier; it can allow for some embarassing moments. The German girl I was talking to was a part-time flight attendant for Lufthansa, but could not possibly remember where Kuwait was. Apparently, my English really is slipping from teaching these kiddos, because she understood what Chris said the first time he said something about Kuwait. "Oh, KuwAAAAit," she said. Bother.

That night, Chris and I sat out by the tide in a couple of beach chairs at a cafe, just laughing about different things we've said and done. When it started to sprinkle rain, the beach waiter brought an umbrella out and put it over us, presumably so we'd stay longer.

Day 2: Unawatuna, Sri Lanka

Yes, Unawatuna. That's Sinhalese for you.

On the second day of our travels, we got up and ate a regular Sri Lankan breakfast: coffee and tea; fish, potato, and dahl (bean) curries; hoppers (fried eggs in some tape of pastry bowl); stringy hoppers (some sort of rice/vermicelli/noddle-like carbohydrate); and juice.

We then took a 15 minute took-took ride to Unawatuna, a small bay town that is also on the southern coast of Sri Lanka. We stayed at a place called the Full Moon Resort, but don't be fooled by the "resort" in the title. The hotel and restaurant were owned by Italian management, allowing me to eat a quite tasty eggplant parmigiana, and our room was complete with A/C and mosquito net. The water here was the clearest that I've ever seen, and not too rough for swimming, but we spent a lot of time sitting on the beach. Our room was literally 20 feet from the water's edge! At one or two points, I'm sure I feel asleep...so, we spent most of our day just lounging.

After dusk, we went for a walk to admire the hotel lights. Because we were right on the bay, all of the hotels/bungalows' outdoor cafe lights were reflected by the water. Pretty cool. The only undesirable part of that was the incredibly loud music being blared from the bar next door to our hotel, not exactly romantic.

The following morning, we awoke again to move on. After a quick breakfast with real pork products (just for measure), we walked out to the main road. On our way, we saw the typical stray dogs and a gigantic scorpion in a 1-foot deep drainage gutter. Maybe six inches is not exactly gigantic, but it was a SCORPION! Kind of awesome.

More Sri Lankan Fauna

The goats were roaming around, and the crabs were all along the rocks at any point on the sea. We saw the scorpion in a drainage gutter on a walk, and the cows and monkey were pictures from the train ride from Matara to Colombo.

Here are the photos. No tags or descriptions on them yet, but I'm working on it.
http://picasaweb.google.com/thecsfreemans/SriLanka#

Sri Lanka: Day1

In the morning, we slept in because of the late night the evening before. We woke up around 9 or 9:30 and went out to the balcony for breakfast. Our hostess brought us tea and coffee in a cute service set, and we had a filling, mostly American style breakfast with fresh pineapple juice to boot.

After a quick shower and organizing our stuff, we took a walk around Galle Fort (pronounced Gawl). The town and its limits are actually much bigger than the Fort itself, but because our hotel was inside the Fort, it was a much quieter stay with quaint, small streets. We started on the lighthouse end and worked our way around the ramparts, watching roaming goats and talking with people who tried to sell us odds and ends and give us information about the area. One or two guys were trying to sell us old coins found from ship wreckage, while another was asking us to dare him to dive in the shallow waters. The things they do for tourists' money...

We moved on and sat down at the edge of a high wall, with our feet dangling over the sea water- a beautiful view. As the waves crashed against the rocks that broke the tide, we watched schools of fish and crabs fighting for rock space. Crazy. When we started to walk back to the hotel, we saw this gigantic (ok, maybe 3 feet long) lizard, birds, and stray dogs, as well as other young couples out for an afternoon stroll. We didn't linger because the rain clouds were coming, and in Sri Lanka, you don't mess with rain clouds. The night before, we witnessed a torrential downpour as soon as we left the airport.

We got back to the hotel, rested, read, and headed out of the Fort into the more modern area for a Thanksgiving dinner, Indian style. We had chicken biryani, rice with fried vegetables, chicken and egg soup, and sweet and sour chicken- not Indian, but it was good; there's nothing like mom's turkey. After a brisk walk through streets that were too dark, we made it to the hotel, read some more, and rested for the next day in our A/C room. We were totally on vacation!

Back from Sri Lanka

It's back to Kuwait today. I must say, I'm glad to be back and in the cooler weather. I know that's not something typical one hears in Kuwait, but it's a cheery 19C degrees here. We are tired from our trip and I am in need of writing some lesson plans, so I will definitely get more pictures and stories up here toward the end of the week. Tomorrow is a school day!

Getting to Sri Lanka

We arrived to a hotel late late Wednesday night after a whole day of traveling:
We left our place after 3am to get to the airport for our 5am flight. When we got there, the Qatar Airways agent said they only had one seat left because they overbooked the flight to Doha (where our connection was). Thankfully, we checked in the night before and since we didn't have any bags to check (we're backpacking it), it wasn't a problem for us. We had to wait forever though, because a local and his 10 family members and 2 servants were on the same flight, and we were stuck behind him in line complaining about how the seats weren't all together. At this point in a week of craziness, we contemplated finding a same-day flight back to the US for good and just leaving all of our stuff at our apartment, but reason struck us.

After we made the flight and the short layover in Doha, we had a 4 hour flight to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Upon our arrival , it started to POUR, so that was interesting experience. We had to hop a series of buses to make it to the train station and catch the 7:30pm train out of Colombo to head south toward Galle. Due to the kindness of an upstanding gentleman, who told us which buses we needed (and even paid our 7 Rupees fare!), we made the train and took the 4 hour ride to arrive in Galle around 11pm. We rode in third class, but we got seats because we made it to the train station about an hour early, and were able to enjoy the cool night breeze coming in the windows.

We headed into the sleepy town in a took-took, a motorized three-wheeled covered bike of sorts, and stopped at the hotel where we planned to stay. All the lights were out and no one came to the door (these are small, 3 to 4 room family-run hotels mind you). Our driver took us down the street to another one of the same sort, and after ringing the bell and rousing the couple from sleep, we got a room. There was no A/C, so that made it a little muggy and inconvenient, but we were glad to have beds with sheets and a hot shower...today we moved to a room with A/C. God is so good to take care of us in each step and generally make things happen when we don't have a clue! The young couple that runs our hotel is super sweet and really helpful.

More about today coming soon after we do a little adventuring. Happy Thanksgiving and love to everyone at home.

Finishing the Year

In about an hour, I have my first round of parent/teacher conferences for the year. I enjoy being able to speak with the parents that usually come, although it's most often parents who are involved in their children's education at home and don't really need to be there. Tonight, we go for two hours, and then tomorrow we are at the school from 9am-3pm. NO Kuwaiti parents would think about showing up before 10 or 10:30, so I'm going to take a book and work on my lesson plans for next week, and I've made sweet potato casserole and apple/raisin crisp for our teacher lunch.

Starting next Wednesday, we have a six day holiday (sweet, huh?). The kids don't come tomorrow because of conferences, Sunday is a test review day, Monday a test on MacBeth, and then Tuesday we watch the movie. It should be a relatively easy week, except for the test marking. Then, Chris and I are headed to Sri Lanka on Wednesday morning. We will be there until the following Monday afternoon, enjoying the only real vacation time that we have off together this year. Because he teaches at a university, the breaks are between trimesters, and we don't get a winter vacation together. *sigh* But, we are going to take advantage of the quality time we'll have near the Indian Ocean in just seven days!

After that, it's back to work for a few weeks, and then we have the immense pleasure of hosting our friends, Mike and Destiny, for four days. They've won the race to visit us, although it does help that they live in India right now. (See what they're up to on their blog.) After their brief visit, my friend Darlene and I are going to Paris for a week, then it's back to Kuwait to enjoy the last week of winter break before we finish off the semester.

I feel like I'm experiencing "planning pains" already...but it will all be awesome.

Dubai '09

Check out the new pictures that I finally have up in the "through photos" section.

Vacation

15 days



photo from Beauty of Sri Lanka

Istanbul Lights

From our most recent trip to Istanbul. Well, through Istanbul.

So sleepy

I've been writing Midterm exams this week and working non-stop, so I am extra sleepy. I'd much rather be reading one of my current fluff books, "A Common Life," which I haven't found time for yet. It's been raining off and on and humid/hazy for the last three or four days, so that adds to the sleepiness.

More of Friends

Somewhat recently, we were able to visit our friends Mike, Destiny, Bethany, and Dan in the UAE. I always put off editing my pictures, so this is what I have for now; I don't seem to have any pictures of Dan, who lives in Dubai/Sharjah, because he had been sick for most of the week.

M, D, and B are currently living in Mumbai, India while Mike is working on his International MBA program, so we decided we'd meet somewhere in-between. For us, it's only a 1.5 hour flight, so it's easy to do in two days. For them, I think it's three hours, so they took a longer stay during one of their holidays.

We enjoyed the company of our long-time friends, and hope to see them again sometime this winter in Kuwait. If anyone else wants to join us...

Wait, Just One Minute!

How did that happen?

Canadian Thanksgiving

This past weekend, we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving with my friends from school. It's probably the biggest one that I've celebrated in a long time, but certainly not the "home-iest." We pitched in to order the bird, stuffing, and accompanying gravy from a local grocer, and then everyone signed up to bring a specialty. Though I wouldn't necessarily say buffalo chicken dip is my specialty, it certainly is easy to make and doesn't take long once everything is thrown in the crock-pot. (Special thanks to Erin W., who I think is the first person to bring this culinary masterpiece to my attention. Whenever I make it, I feel like I should be at your family's watching a Steeler game with the Holutas.)

I don't think that we'll go crazy for American Thanksgiving, as it falls around the same time as a Muslim holiday- vacation time for us. Chris and I are batting around the idea of going to Sri Lanka for four or five days, but that has yet to be officially decided. Once we decide, I will be sure to post the result.

Along the same lines of vacation, I am planning on going with one of my friends to Paris around Christmastime. Chris and I do not have the same vacations during that time of year, so I figured that I would spend five or six days somewhere that at least resembles the Christmas I know. White lights, cold weather, and people actually celebrating Jesus' birth are all things I'm looking forward to. A bonus is that I should be able to get back for the Christmas Day service at our church here, which we missed while in Egypt last year. Friends who have traveled there, I would appreciate your travel input and suggestions via email!

Enjoy the snow that's already fallen in our families' states of Massachusetts, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. There's still a high of 100 here.

Marketing Genius

A stroke of marketing genius: Even though the name "Seven up" is written right to left in Arabic script, it still looks like the 7-up logo. Amazing.

A new album

Here is a new album that I'm going to be adding pictures to for odds and ends of what our life is like in Kuwait.

Oh, where has the time gone?

I know I've been missing from the blog-o-sphere for awhile, but it has just been so busy! I am into my second week of a full schedule with students, and let me tell you, I forgot what block scheduling is like. I have three classes every day, and each class for 90 minutes. That extra half hour may not look like much in print, but it feels SO SLOW sometimes. I've adjusted all of my lessons plans accordingly, but my brain is still in need of adjustment. No comments needed from the peanut gallery.

There's more on the life of the Freemans to come this week, but I thought I'd leave an update that we're alive and well.

Q8

"When you're ready to revise a draft of your writing, ask yourself whether you've expressed yourself in the best possible way."

Do people really do this?
Usually when I write something, I throw down whatever comes through my brain and hit SEND or close my journal. End of story. These days, no one is terribly concerned with grammar, punctuation, spelling, or even any resemblance to English with MSN and other chat languages. With the commencement of the new school year, I have been reflecting on my experiences over the past few years of teaching; I now have a new found respect for every Language Arts teacher I've ever had, not to mention those who are currently helping mold the minds of little ones as we speak.

My 11th graders seem to be eager learners, but face the challenge of having English as a second language. Though most of them have attended private schools for their entire educational career, there are still aspects of English that remain tough for those whose first language is Arabic. I am a huge supporter of being bilingual (obviously), so I post these quotations from a recent homework assignment with a light heart. I am in no way making fun of my students' intelligence (I have some bright ones!), but find that the mid-brain translations can often be funny.

My all-time favorite is from last year, when a student found something to be too difficult: "Miss, why you make for me like this?"

1. My wish in this world is to become an engineering person.
2. I want to be skinny thin.
3. This is a huge different year for me.
4. I am half American, half Kuwaiti. My father is half American, half Egyptian, and my mother is Kuwaiti.
5. We need to open the lights.
6. My wish is to be a great architecture and design amazing buildings.
7. My color is not so good today.

Opening quote from Revising English with Style, Glencoe Language Arts,

Friday Night

Today was a typical Friday. We went to church in the morning, came home to relax, and then I started working on my year plan and lesson plans for the week. This evening, I went out with the other new teachers from my school to a restaurant called the Palm Palace, so named for the many trees and glass walls looking onto the courtyard. Even though I'd seen and heard about it, I had never been there. It's pretty close to home and has lovely Lebanese food, so Chris and I will definitely be returning for a date some time.

In more exciting news, Chris and I received our paperwork signed by our previous employer so that we can legally work at our new jobs here. We are totally amazed at how God has brought us through so many hoops, and *I think* there is just one left to go. Living long term in a foreign country is not really as difficult as we seem to make it, as long as you don't decide to switch jobs half-way through your contract. Apparently, people don't like that.

On a different note, we figured out why there are so many pigeons outside the kitchen and bathroom windows; one of the neighbors throws birdseed out for them. Twice a day, around the same hours, we hear this light trickle of matter cascading down over the side of the building. I don't know what floor it's coming from, but it's kind of funny to be able to tell the time by the sound of the birdseed. There's no hanging laundry out on the line...

The hot, hot weather is starting to subside, which means the beginning of the school year is right around the corner. I have Open House with parents from 9-12 on Sunday, and then the students come Monday. I'm not exactly ready, but I still have two days!

For those of you to whom I've promised pictures, there is a new album on my "Through Photos" link that include the last few weeks of summer. Be sure to check them out!

Love from Arabia,
Steph

Freezing at 20 degrees

I found a minute to collect my thoughts and type an entry, so I am sitting here with a cup of hot tea and in my favorite fleece pullover. "Stephanie," you may say, "Isn't it REALLY hot there?" Why, yes. Right now it's about 44 degrees Celsius outside, so about 110 Fahrenheit; however, our apartment is set at 20C (about 68F). Chris likes to keep it brisk, so I adjust accordingly :)

Though it took a few extra days than planned to arrive, we are in our Middle Eastern home and settling. While we had a two-day stay in Istanbul, we were able to experience some of the Ramadan festivities in the evenings. While we did get to eat things like falafel and hommos in the States, it just doesn't hold a candle to how the Turks and Arabs make it fresh.

We are in our new apartment and mostly organized, and this week was my first week back to school. For the time being, we are doing a lot of preparation for when the students start next Monday. We'll continue to have shortened days until Ramadan is over (9am-1pm with students), and then we'll resume the regular class schedule of 7:30am-3pm. When Chris and I first returned, we woke up at weird hours of the night due to jet lag, but I think we'll be adjusted to our regular sleeping schedule when by the time Eid comes, too.

So far, it has been pretty pleasant to be back. All of our paperwork to transfer to our new jobs seems to be in order and getting processed, for which we're very thankful. I have had the opportunity to talk with a lot of the new teachers that I'll be working with, who have all been extremely welcoming and interested in helping me with every dumb question I ask. There is a lot more diversity of teachers' nationalities at my new school, so I have some native Spanish speakers to practice with in my spare time! I think I've spent some part of each of the last five days with my best friend here, too, which definitely helps with the adjustment back to desert/city life.

I think it's going to be a good year.

Cooking Lobsters Made Easy

Cooking Lobsters made easy...


Step #1: Pick your lobster.


Step #2: Give it a good stare down.


Step #3: Stick it in the freezer to make it sleepy until your salted water comes to a rolling boil. Then, pretend your eating it when you take it out.


Step #4: Cut off the claw bands. Keep all fingers OUT OF REACH!
Step #5: Throw it in a pot really dramatically (like you have a cooking show) for 5-6 min.


Step #6: Eat.

Please pray for our friends, the Murphys.
http://www.prayforian.com/

The Last Days of Summer

So, we're down to our last days in the free world. Though there's much to leave behind, I am definitely ready to head back. I know sleeping in until 10am everyday SEEMS luxurious, but it's not all it's cracked up to be. Chris and I are excited to get into our teaching routine again, and I'm happier when I'm busy. We're looking forward to what lies ahead in our Middle Eastern home, though not exactly sure what that will look like this year. I'm thinking that Round #2 can only be better than the first.

Right now, we're back in Mass. enjoying a few last days with Chris' family, and then we'll leave from Boston on the 24th of August.

At last

During the week of Gabe and Emily's wedding, Chris and I didn't get to see much of each other because of the guy/girl time and doing preparative tasks during the day. I guess we were excited to spend some time on the dance floor, which was great because Chris prefers not to dance. He's gracious to indulge my whims every now and again...

Photo: courtesy of Dan Kearns

Texas Waffles...literally

Texas

This week, I've had the privilege of staying with great friends in SE Texas. Chris and I met them in Kuwait and really just forged an amazing friendship. They are definitely like family now, but they were transferred back to the Katy, TX area for the time being. We're having a lot of fun and some frustrations with painting, buying furniture, and doing all those other things that buyers of new homes do, but I leave it all for Pennsylvania again tomorrow.

Texas has become a favorite state of mine simply because they make state-shaped waffle irons. Picture to follow.

Another bachelor down.

This past week, we spent time visiting friends of ours in eastern PA, and we had the honor of being a part of their wedding extravaganza. Chris was one of the groomsmen, and as always, we had an amazing time. Though many involved had a little more work than expected because of the rain throughout the week, I THINK everyone came out generally unscathed. Congratulations Gabe and Emily.



We also got to spend a lot of time with our friends who are leaving for India on Monday. They expect to be there for 5 months, so we are trying to schedule a visit once we go back to the Middle East. We'll actually be closer to them there! Praying for you, Mike and Destiny.

The Zoo

It seems like everyone in town has gone to the Pittsburgh Zoo recently. (Okay, not everyone. Maybe 4 families that I know.) On our recent trip there, we caught a glimpse of some crazy animals, acted like a bunch of kids, and ate some sub-par ice cream. I don't know why I bother eating anything but The Meadows. I'm usually disappointed.

a month in

We are a month into our vacation, with just another month to go. Time really flies! I have been so busy with trying to catch up with people and paperwork that I haven't had time to post. It's vacation, right? So I think that's okay.

We have some side trips to take here and there, but generally speaking, we'll be at home until the end of August. Get in touch with us for a visit!



After talking with some folks at home, I've heard that there have been difficulties in leaving comments on the blog. If that's the case for you, try to leave a comment on this post. I have comment moderation enabled, meaning your comment will not show up until I approve it. We'll see if my technological genius works...

A Little Excitement at Home

We've been making our rounds visiting and having a great time at home. No matter how long we've been gone though, our town seems to remain the same. As friends have said, Indiana is like a snow globe.

We're currently enjoying the company of my sister and her family. An unexpected surprise was revealed when they came in last night, though I had sneaking suspicions...


Vacation is tough. Among other activities we've been:
- laying pool-side
- reading lots of books
- blueberry picking
- grilling with friends
- taking naps

This week should include more of the same, with maybe a movie and a trip to the zoo thrown in the mix.

Paul Revere Rides Again

Well, if only in an iron-cast form.

We are driving to (the hopefully sunny) Indiana, PA today.
We'll see everyone soon!

A few more

I forgot to post a few photos that were left on the camera from our last night in Istanbul. We took a stroll through a beautiful section of the city, from Taxim to Bayolu, and stopped for some appetizers at a quaint restaurant. We got to sit on the upstairs terrace, so we could watch the hundreds of people bustling by. It kind of reminded me of somewhere in NYC. You can see the last 10 or 15 pictures and captions in the "Istanbul" album.