Noah has been thinking back on some of the adventures he has had on this trip and decided to dedicate some blog time to writing about these events. Here he recalls a great evening on the town in Addis Ababa with our dear friend from Seattle, Kidane Ayele. Unfortunately, there are no pictures from this evening, but Noah has done a good job of describing his memorable evening.

By Noah

During my time in Ethiopia one big adjustment I had to make was having limited access to meat as we were there during the fasting season. This was challenging and occasionally made me crabby and cranky. One day our friend from Seattle, Kidane, who happened to be in Addis the same time as us, was at our apartment and heard me talk about my frustration with the lack of good meaty meals. Not wanting me to have a bad memory of the food in Ethiopia he insisted that he take Caleb and me out on the town for a memorable night of feasting. That was when the adventure started.

That evening I was very tired and when Kidane told me where we were going it went in one ear and out the other. All I knew was I was  going to have a meal that included meat. Leaving Romi and my parents behind we hopped into Kidane’s jeep and drove off into the heart of busy and chaotic Addis.

Our first stop on the meat adventure was to pick up another passenger at a jewelry store who I later learned was Kidane’s niece. Next we headed down an alley to a restaurant to feast on chicken tibs. As we dug into the incredible, juicy tibs we were joined by a little boy who walked into the restaurant and sat down with us to eat. He and Kidane’s niece did not speak English so at the time Caleb and I were very confused as to what was happening. After a good half hour of eating we hopped back into the jeep and drove off to a little neighborhood where we dropped off this boy (who I still do not know who he is) and continued on our way.

At this point I was confused as to what would happen next, but I knew two things: Kidane was trustworthy, and we were having a great time. Our next stop was down a glitzy street in downtown Addis were we left the Jeep and hopped into another car belonging to Kidane’s friend. At this point Caleb and I gave up on trying to figure out what was happening and just decided to go with the flow.

By this time it was 7:30 and pitch dark outside. The car which now contained, myself, Caleb, Kidane, Kidane’s niece, and the car driver started to drive back towards our apartment building. When we began to get near our home we kept driving past leaving Caleb and I in complete bewilderment and wondering, “where are we going now”?

Next we went to a restaurant a few kilometers from our apartment where we ate the most delicious beef tibs I have ever had and our third Coca-Cola of the night. After another good 30 minutes of solid feasting we all got back into the van and Kidane drove us back to our house with a full tummy and an extra order of tibs to share with Romi and my parents!

I can easily say this was one of my favorite nights in Ethiopia. An adventure through the streets of Addis Ababa where we had no idea where we were going or who we were with – just the kind of adventure Caleb and I were craving. By the end of the night it became less about the meat and more about the journey to reach it. The adventure and unknown destinations are what really made that night memorable. Kidane – if you are reading this, thank you for a great night!

Caleb has been working on a piece to submit to a blog on how he is learning during our trip.   Here is a shortened version of his initial submission.  He is working on a revised version that better suits the blog’s requirements.  We are proud of the hard work he is putting into this endeavor.

By Caleb

My “classroom” in Kas, Turkey

Being away from school for six months means I must find alternative ways to learn on the road. While overseas I am using a number of different approaches to learn. I use Khan Academy to learn math, Duo Lingo for Turkish, I write for our family blog, and I experience the world.

Khan Academy (Khan Academy) is a big factor in helping me learn math. Up till now, I have used Khan Academy to learn quadratic equations and factoring polynomials. I like Khan Academy because it makes learning math easy by combining instructional videos with practice lessons. I also like that this program allows me to learn at my own pace. My parents also like the fact that it is free.

I started out on this trip thinking I would continue learning Chinese (I completed one semester before we left). After a few weeks I realized that I didn’t have the necessary resources available to me to learn Chinese. I looked for other languages to learn and I found a website called Duo Lingo (DuoLIngo). At that time we were in Turkey so I decided to learn Turkish. It was such an interesting language that I kept learning it.

To improve my writing skills I am writing for our family’s travel blog. Writing for our blog is a nice way for me to write about what I am experiencing and it forces me to learn and research a bit more about what I am seeing. Publishing for an audience, even a small one, has helped me get better at revising my work.

The last way I have been learning is through experiencing the world. I have seen and learned about major religions as well as a number of political systems and issues. For example, I observed first hand a lot of development in Ethiopia including roads, buildings, and even a light rail. But while they are doing all of this building, many people are concerned that the quality is not good enough. I also learned that much of this development is done by Chinese contractors who seem to be profiting from lower quality work. While this is happening China is also being accused of importing very poor quality everyday products.

Another contentious issue I observed was the tension between Jews and Muslims over the Dome of the Rock/Temple Mount section of the Old City in Jerusalem. After experiencing this first hand I then read an article about this situation in the NY Times and was fully able to envision the whole story. Through my travels in Ethiopia, Jordan, Israel and Turkey, I am learning a lot about Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

So far it has really been exciting for me to learn in so many ways that are different from how I learn in school. I have been seeing and learning about things rather then just reading about them. This is a much more fun and hands-on way to learn. It has also been cool for me to try out a new language then apply it directly to my surroundings.

At the International Leadership Academy of Ethiopia (ILAE) in Addis

By Noah

“Is there something you really want to do while we are in Kas?”my parents asked me our first day in the little beach town located in southern Turkey. After hearing from a Dutch couple on the Lycian Way about their experience sea kayaking, I knew it was something that I had to do.

Our very first day in Kas (pronounced “kahsh” in Turkish) we headed over to Dragoman tour company to make a reservation. The woman there wasn’t sure the winds would cooperate so we had to check back with them each day. Luckily, we got the message that we could join a group on Wednesday, our last full day in Kas.

We woke up early on Wednesday to reach the marina by 7:00 am where we met our tour guide and the other people on the tour. They included two women from Germany and England and a family of four from France. The father works for the Laughing Cow company and filled us in on how they make Baby Bell cheese.

From there we hopped in a van and drove for 45 minutes to this little town where we launched the kayaks out into the sea. Kayaking across a bay over clear, blue water, we reached our first stop. It was a small cove on the island of Kekova surrounded by ruins where we went snorkeling and ate snacks on the beach.

Geared up and ready to go!

Romi can’t wait to get started

Our first stop, Kelkova Island

Getting ready to snorkel off of Kelkova

Because the coast guard comes at 11am to kick people off the beach, we had to hop back into the kayak and make our way to the next destination: a sunken Lycian city that slid into the water after a huge earthquake in 146 A.D. The water was crystal clear so as we kayaked over the ruins we could see really far down to former structures and foundations of this ancient city.

Out across the clear, blue water

Over the Lycian ruins

From there we proceeded back across the bay to my favorite part of the tour: a seafood lunch in the town of Kaleköy surrounded by an ancient castle, Lycian ruins, and a great beach where we went swimming and snorkleing. After a good 2 hours of eating, swimming, and relaxing we kayaked back to the van for the return trip to Kas. We were so tired afterwards we could barely walk home and it was only 3:00 pm!

Approaching Kalekoy

A great place for more swimming and snorkeling

Max and Romi – Check out their form!

By Romi

Today was a special day because we went to Pamukkale to see the calcium cliffs and the thermal pools. Pamukkale is a small town in western Turkey.  The town is famous for enormous chalky white cliffs and volcanic spring water. Pamukkale in Turkish means “cotton castle”.

The cliffs look like snow

First we walked up a steep hill with warm water running down it. At different points on the hill, the water forms into warm pools. Some people were wading in the water. We did too.

Wading in the pools

When we got to the top, we sat down on some steps and ate snacks. At the top there are some ruins and a museum, but we did not go see those things. We went straight to the thermal pools. Before we went in the water, we had to give someone our ticket. Then we swam under a bridge and into the big pool where we swam over ancient ruins. We were there for about two hours.

Snack time

Swimming in the thermal pool among the ruins

With Griffin and Elizabeth

On our way down the hill to get back to our hotel, the weather got very cold. You must go barefoot up and down the hill so right when we stepped on the ground our feet were freezing. Every few minutes I had to put my feet in the warm water then get back up to walk some more and so on. It was funny! Going down the hill I heard water rushing down the cliff. I felt warm water on my feet. When we were walking down the hill at some points it was smooth and at some points it was rough on my feet. If you have not been to Pamukkale, I would recommend that you visit.

We are doing catch up on our blog posts so the last post by Max on Istanbul, this one by Noah, and a forthcoming post by Romi will be out of order.

By Noah

Today in Istanbul we did something that has been one of my favorite things on the whole trip:  a cruise up the Bosphorus Strait from Istanbul to the mouth of the Black Sea. The cruise which was a six hour round trip journey started at a dock next to the Galata Bridge at 10:30 am so we had to get up and out the door.

The ferry boat

On our way to the Black Sea our ferry sailed passed mountains, forests, castles, ruins, fishing boats, little towns built into the cliffs, and military ships. The other awesome thing about the ride was all the people from all over the world that we got to meet. We even met a Syrian family that worked as doctors and lived in Seattle for a year!

Great views along the way

View of a castle from our ferry

Passing under a bridge

The best surprise of the cruise was when after one and a half hours we docked at this little seaside town and passengers started to stream off. We thought the cruise was 6 hours on the boat so it was a really fun surprise to explore this place we didn’t know where we were or even what it was called. In the town we got to eat a nice lunch on the water before hiking up a mountain to an ancient crusader castle with great views of the Black Sea and surrounding area.

A view of the town – we still don’t know the name!

Making our way up to the castle

At the top with the entrance to the Black Sea in the background

When we got back to Istanbul it was about five at night and as we were heading home the coolest thing happened. As we were walking over the Galata bridge we looked down and a pod of dolphins were leaping through the air and playing in the water below us. The perfect end to a perfect day.