Wednesday, November 18, 2009 - The Lycian Way

So you probably dıd not know but İ am in Turkey. That means the keyboard is different so forgive the mistakes as İ am having a bit of fun navigating ıt.

Jon and İ are hiking a trail called the Lycian Way which runs right along the Turkish Coast through ancient Lycia. We are four days ınto what ıs a 310 mıle walk. The amount of mıles we get done each day depends on many things but we are hopeful to fınısh ıt as we are flying back to Cairo on Dec. 8th and would lıke at least one day in Istanbul before we go. Anyway the trekking ıs beautıful and we pass through several small towns a day. Then every few days we hit a town like this where we get internet and some other wonderful things lıke ıce cream!

We have really had a great hike thus far. The weather as well as the views have been wonderful. The trail has a lot of elevation gain and loss so we are workıng pretty hard each day. But the soar muscles are satısfying as they signal all the hard work we have done.

Our fırst day was mostly spent breakıng ın our legs and figuring out how much weight to carry in each pack as we have one large one and one day backpack. We camped on a hıll that nıght and woke up always having to move back up hıll. However after the 15 hour bus rıde from Istanbul to get to the start of the trail I slept just fıne. Day two we walked all mornıng and met a group of Turks who ınvıted us to lunch wıth them made by a woman ın a home they knew. We sat outsıde eatıng yogurt wıth fresh honey (bee keeping ıs bıg ın this area) as well as eggs wıth onıon and tomato and flatbread called eckmeck wıth peppers and pıckles. It was SO wonderful to have a meal like this wıth such friendly guys! We also happened along three Australıans our age who we have seen on and off again ever since. We have shared a fıre the past two nights and are really enjoyıng getting to know them a bit.

I wıll leave ıt at that for now as we would lıke to get back on the trail having been ın town for about two hours.

Friday, November 13, 2009 - Language

Over the past week I have gotten much more comfortable going out in the city on my own. I'm getting to know Jon's neighborhood now, and where things are. Usually, I love to go out and explore a city on my own, enjoying the feeling of not knowing exactly where I am. It is a bit different here though. I find the biggest problem I run into is not only am I unable to speak the language, but I am unable to read it.

Street signs, shop fronts, periodicals...they are all in Arabic script. And why would they be any different? The difference in spoken word is something I thought about a lot before coming go Egypt. The difference in the written word is something which didn't enter my mind near as much. This has big implications to how much of the city is accessible to me. For instance, if I am in a German speaking country and go out to a restaurant by myself I can still order food. More than likely I will destroy the pronunciation of what I am trying to say, but I am familiar with the alphabet. Here, it is a totally different story. The first time I went to get food by myself, there was not a single letter in the place I could read. As a result, I must completely rely on my memory of the Arabic foods I have learned, or hope someone speaks at least some English. There is one place near Jon's apartment that I really like to go, as I love the falafel. The first few days here I was eating a lot of falafel, partly because I enjoy it and partly because it was one of the only foods whose name I could remember (tamaya). Then two days ago I decided to try to order some rice pudding with my meal of falafel. Only knowing the English, I tried to explain what I wanted with my hands. Instead of rice pudding I walked out of the place with a bag of fries. It became obvious after this that I was really going to have to learn some Arabic if I wanted to diversify my meal options. I've set a goal of learning 50 Arabic words by the time I leave Egypt.

Yesterday I went to the Citadel with a friend of Jon's and on the way home was proud of myself for communicating with the cab driver where we wanted to go (in Arabic) and negotiating the price without a problem. The trip to Alexandria didn't happen, but that's no big deal. Tomorrow morning Jon and I will be at the airport as we have decided to go to Turkey for a couple of weeks. Our plan is to spend a few days in Istanbul and then take the bus to the southern coast to hike a trail called the Lycian Way. It is about 300 miles and we are hoping to spend a couple of weeks walking the whole thing. We will be back in Cairo by Dec. 8th.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 - Egypt, Week One

There certainly has been a lot that has happened over the past week. My flight on Turkish Airlines left on time from Chicago, and my layover in Istanbul ended up being a couple hours longer than I originally thought. It's hard to stay busy in an airport terminal for eight hours. The four dollar cup of Starbucks coffee helped a bit, but it really did get a bit boring. You can only look at the Duty Free store so long before realizing you would never go to the liquor store just to window shop, which is what it felt like.

My flight into Cairo got in about an hour late, so Jon and I didn't meet up and get headed toward his house until 3AM local time. As much as I would have loved to stay up and visit with him, I was just too exhausted after such a long trip. I fell asleep that night to the pre-sunrise call to prayer and slept until late afternoon the next day.

I really like staying at Jon's place. He lives right in the heart of downtown Cairo on the roof of an apartment building. Yes, I literally am living on a roof right now. It has a building on top which is about the size of an efficiency back home. His fridge broke down right before I came, so the landlord got him a convenience store Pepsi cooler until he can get another one. Jon has a pet turtle that has free reign over his place, and there is an absolutely great view of the city. We sit outside most mornings reading and drinking instant coffee, and most nights talking well into the early morning.

I've met a lot of people here so far, mostly through ultimate frisbee (I have played three different times since arriving five days ago). The competition is just at the level I prefer, and the exercise is very welcome. We may even play in a tournament out in the Sinai in several weeks.

Yesterday I toured the Egyptian Museum, which was overwhelming both in the amount of artifacts presented as well as the lack of labeling. Tour groups abound, and if you are a people watcher you are in for a treat. On Sunday (which is the start of their work week here) I went with two other friends to the Pyramids at Gize, Daschur, and Saqqara. What an amazing thing to see in person so many things that I have read about in the history books since being a little kid!

Tomorrow I hope to be going up to Alexandria with the two I went to the Pyramids with. It's right on the sea, and I've heard is beautiful.

Thursday, October 08, 2009 - Colorado!

It's great to be back in Colorado!

I arrived in Glenwood Springs last Thursday after a wonderful stay with my good friend Erin and her husband Nate in Eugene, OR. Let me tell you, if you like to sample free wine, then Eugene is the place for you! There are tons of wineries in the area, all with some delicious selections.

The drive from Eugene to Glenwood took a couple of days. I spent 14 hours in the car on the first, plowing through all of Oregon and Idaho and coming within about 30 minutes of Salt Lake City. My hope had been to camp that night to save a bit of money, but I found that the only state in the area I didn't have a map of was Idaho. Not knowing how far off the interstate I would have to drive to come upon any of the advertised state parks, I decided to just keep driving into the night. Besides, I wasn't that tired to start with when the sun started to set.

After consuming a rather disappointing breakfast the next morning courtesy Super 8, I hit on the road. There were several things I wanted to see in Utah. Golden Spike National Monument was high on that list. Golden Spike is where the railroad came together back in the mid 1800's. Unfortunately, I had made enough headway the night before that it would take 50 miles of backtracking to get there. There was another major attraction which was much more accessible though. When Dave and I came through in June, we didn't catch a glimpse of the Great Salt Lake. Using the wireless in the motel, I knew that there was an island in the middle of the lake which was designated state park. Antelope Islands was only a 15 minutes drive from where I was staying in Ogden, so the choice to go was easy. The view was spectacular from the point I hiked to and I'd love to go back and take my bike for a spin around the island.

By 7:00 that night I made Glenwood. This is the sort of town I could really see myself living in! We have the great outdoors at our fingertips, and I have been taking full advantage of it. My bike has gotten more use in the past week than it did for all of my time in Seattle. We've been hiking several times so far, and even went rock climbing with Katie's uncle and cousin this past Sunday. Katie is an ELL teacher, and I have been going to school to volunteer with her the past few mornings, which I also enjoy doing. In one week I'll be heading out to the front range for a few days before making my way back to South Dakota. Who knows what all we will cram in over the next week?

Thursday, September 17, 2009 - The Last Weekend

Well, I have less than one week left here in Seattle. As it stands right now I will be leaving this coming Monday, the 21st. I'll spend a night in Portland and a day in Eugene, OR with my friends Erin and Nate before making the long drive on to Glenwood Spring, CO. Looking back, my time here has gone so fast!

Our friend Jamie flew in around 8pm last Thursday and was with us until Wednesday morning. Jamie is a class behind Dave and I, and we all met at Valpo. She now lives in Los Angeles and is pursuing acting. She tells us that things are going really well, and she is loving her life down there. It is always great to be around Valpo people, because we have so many common experiences that the conversation is never boring.

If a vacation is measured in how many things one does, then I would say that Jamie had a very successful vacation indeed. Dave worked on Friday, but had gotten two free tickets to the Woodland Park Zoo from our friend Heather, so Jamie and I went to visit the animals. The zoo here is pretty well put together, and we got an extremely close up view of an orangutan which was sweet! After that we went back to West Seattle and walked around on Alki Beach for a bit.

Saturday was the big trip as we headed down south to hike at Mt. St. Helen. On our way we stopped in Tacoma to pick up Jon who is now back in school, as well as another friend of ours from Valpo, Holly, who now lives in Washington. I had been out to visit Helen last summer while in Portland and was anxious to be back. After eating the lunches we had brought we set out on an eight mile round trip hike which afforded us a view of both Helen and Mt. Adams. The trail was named after Harry Truman (no, not that Harry Truman) but a man who lived at the base of the mountain when it blew in 1980. Though repeatedly warned, he refused to leave because his wife was buried on the property. He was killed in the flow. There is a lake in the area on which hundreds and hundreds of dead logs still float from this natural disaster.

I ended up working on Sunday afternoon for a friend's uncle, but was glad that Dave and Jamie made it out to see some waterfalls, as that was something which Jamie was really anxious to view. Monday and Tuesday Dave had to work, but Jamie and I were able to occupy ourselves. We made it up to walk around the University of Washington campus on Monday. Tuesday was a really great day. Along with our friend JoVon, we drove up to Woodinville where both the Chateau St. Michelle Winery and the Redhook Brewery are located. It was a great day of both touring and tasting, and it only cost us $1 to do it all! We wrapped up the day bay racing goldfish that night.

Now I'm looking ahead to the last few days here. Saturday I'll help a friend's dad do some work. I'm working on getting Kranich's house ready for painting, so I hope that the weather will stay clear for a few more days. As I look back on it, I have gotten to do every single thing I was hoping to do before getting out here in June save one: I have not gone to the art museum. However, it's best to leave a reason to come back to such a beautiful place!

Tuesday, September 08, 2009 - Labor Day Weekend

The major news since my last post is that I quit my job! After weeks of poor communication and much fewer working hours than I was promised, enough was enough. Last Wednesday I was three days into the week and sitting on 6.5 hours. My boss said that he would keep me up to date on if I would be working or not that day, and never called me (which was a regular thing from this guy). Several people I talked with that day told me that I should quit and just enjoy my last couple of weeks in Seattle. While out running that evening, I realized just how much hating what I was doing was consuming my thoughts. After returning home, I called a guy I had done some work for here several weeks ago and he said he could use me over the next couple of weeks. That settled it: I called my boss and quit. It felt great!

The weather here is definitely marching toward fall as is apparent from all of the rain which we have been having. This past weekend, my good friend Megan came up from Portland to a few days with us. Friday night was "fry-night". All of Dave's brothers, his sister, along with Megan and I, got together at Dave's sister's house to deep fat fry anything we had ever dreamed of eating that way. Here's a list of what we ate:

Spam
Turkey gizzards
Mushrooms
Green Tomatoes
Cheese
Twix candy bar
Twinkie
Ho-Ho
Dill pickles
Strawberry Pop-Tart
Onion
Mac&Cheese
Sweet Potato
Hot Dogs wrapped in Crescent rolls
Plantains

Some tasted much better than others, and the beer batter held together more than the other two we were working with. Quantity-wise, we didn't consume all that much food. But we all shaved a year or two off our lives with how much oil we put in our bodies. I don't' think anyone left feeling good that night. Our next fry-night will be in twenty years.

Saturday afternoon we headed out to Snohomish, where are friend Laura lives. We ended up staying until Monday afternoon. The plan was to have a game weekend. We played ladder golf, frisbee golf (both on the Nintendo Wii and outdoors) as well as the longest game of Phase 10 I ever hope to experience. For our ego's sake we made ribbons to give to the winners. However, we ended up making about 50 of them, so we just started giving out awards for random things which people did, like being courteous to each other or looking good on that day. Sunday night we went to the fair. I had not been to one of those in a really long time. If you are looking to save money during this recession, I would not take your family to the fair. Better to send your kids to college than to spend all that money at the fair for one night.

Tonight our friend Jamie comes in from Los Angeles and will be here until Wednesday morning. I'll be leaving Seattle on Monday, Sept. 21st to go out to Colorado for a couple of weeks before heading home to prepare for Egypt. This weekend will be my last hoorah of sorts.

Monday, August 31, 2009 - So I Finally Stayed in Seattle for a Weekend

It's a really foggy morning here in West Seattle, and it reminds me as we start September tomorrow that the weather is going to begin to change over the next month. Last Saturday it rained for the first time in a couple of weeks, and Dave was telling me how during September it will most likely rain one day a week, then the next week rain for two days, and so on until it is gray all the time round mid-October. I've been very blessed with the great weather this summer, and cannot recall it spoiling any of our plans!

As the title of this blog states, we stayed in Seattle this weekend, at least for the most part. I woke up Saturday morning with the intent of driving back up to Snohomish and riding the Centennial Trail again. Like I said earlier, it was raining, but luckily it stopped by nine and never started again. As I unloaded my bike from my car, the air felt considerably warmer, and five or six miles in the sun started to shine. I rode 30 miles, and was glad to have judged the weather correctly.

My friend Tamara is a fabulous singer/songwriter. She is working on making her own CD, and on Saturday night Dave and I went to hear her play a show to raise money to help with the studio fees. I ran into a few other people that I had met through Tamara either this trip or when I was here last summer. It felt great to be able to contribute support to someone who is so talented!

Sunday fulfilled the last big thing on my list of what I wanted to do in Seattle: a Mariners baseball game. I must say however that it was sort of a sad game. The Mariners only had one hit, the game was barely over two hours, and they lost 3-0 to Kansas City. On top of it all, Ichiro and Griffey did not play. But the ballpark is really nice, and we had clear skies above us. Since I'm not tied to either of these teams, it ended up being alright. Lots of fun, actually!

This coming weekend my friend Megan is coming up from Portland, and the following one our friend Jamie comes from Los Angeles...still lots to look forward to in my fleeting few weeks left here!