Wrapping Up… Part Five

Oh my.

Where to start?

These have been the best sixteen months ever.  The places we’ve seen, the time we’ve shared, the people we’ve met, the experiences we’ve had, the food we’ve eaten, the coffee we’ve consumed…the coffee we’ve consumed… It is impossible to express the enormous value and all we’ve learned and gained from our time abroad.

So I will just list some of my favorite places/memories/experiences…. This is long but not exhaustive 🙂

Dingle Peninsula / Ring of Kerry (Ireland)
— such ruggedly beautiful scenery

Tanzania
— we loved seeing so many wild animals up close while on safari and learning so much from our safari guide, Peter, who was such a kind and gentle man. Getting to know him was such a gift and it was touching to see him with tears in his eyes when he was saying goodbye to our boys.  
— watching the staff at the Tortilis Serengeti Camp sing, dance, and toast in celebration of a couple on honeymoon was so meaningful and unforgettable.  The kindness and sincerity of the Tanzanian people was something we will always remember. 

Poland 
— the amazing museums in Warsaw, including The Warsaw Rising Museum; POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews; Copernicus Science Centre; and The Fryderyk Chopin Museum… the Polish people’s resilience shown throughout the centuries is awe-inspiring
— visiting Auschwitz with William on a private tour from Krakow and hearing the Peter, the driver, share about growing up during the horrific time of communism

Greece
— we did a lot of hiking during our time abroad and our hike from Fira to Oia was one of my very favorites!!
— relaxing at a resort in Parga for Michael’s birthday
— We arrived in Kalampaka very late at night and the owners, who spoke no English, were so incredibly sweet and happy.   They’d made apple cake as a welcome gift for us and brought us moussaka for dinner one evening.  Hiking to the six monasteries built on giant rock pillars was amazing and the views were stunning.

Serbia
— Professor Doctor Zoran Stajcic and his kindness, compassion, and flexibiliity in operating on Keegan’s tongue

Bosnia
— Our time in Sarajevo was incredibly moving.  Standing in the freezing weather, hearing our apartment owner recount his experience during the Siege of Sarajevo, from 1992-1996, years I remember so clearly which makes it seem impossible to have been such a horrific time in European history, when his city was surrounded and shelled daily (~300 shells/day), killing nearly 14,000 people including 1,500 children… was heartbreaking to say the least.
— visiting the abandoned bobsleigh and luge track as well as the abandoned hotel… built for the 1984 Winter Olympics; later a front line in the Bosnian “War”; now abandoned and displaying the scars of that terrible and recent time in Bosnia’s history

Croatia
— Krka National Park, an unexpectedly breathtaking stop during our drive from Split to Zadar (Croatia)
— getting totally totally totally drenched with Michael when we ran home from coffee one morning in Dubrovnik in the strongest rain we’ve ever experienced

Thailand
— I am sad that we will never again get to experience for the first time the incredible chaos that is Bangkok.  The first impressions of the city… between the smells (the most delicious and the most putrid), sounds, sights… I can’t wait to go back and would happily live there
— my first, second, and third time rock climbing… in Krabi… I had no idea I would love rock climbing so much!
— the lantern festival in Chiang Mai… I can’t imagine a New Years Eve that will beat this one
— hearing the Thai women in Chiang Mai politely end their sentences with “ka” (a polite ending to a sentence in the Thai language) even when announcing my harshly-named favorite drink, “Satan Latte, kaaaah”

Laos
— the two day slow boat ride down the Mekong, stopping at hill tribe villages and watching Tate take polaroid pictures of the villagers and gift them to the women and children
— teaching English in Luang Prabang and watching our boys come alive in front of a classroom full of young adult learners… priceless!!!

Cambodia
— visiting the heroRATS, specially-trained African giant pouched rats from Tanzania who are trained to detect landmines so that the landmines can be safely cleared.  WOW!  This is such important work —  landmines kill 15,000-20,000 people every year, with children as the most affected age group

Vietnam
— soaking in mineral and mud baths in Nha Trang
— Hoi An, city of lanterns… one of my very favorite cities we visited
— riding bikes three days in a row with different friends (the Moes and the Browns) in Hoi An
— the motorbike tour with Moes and Mr Cox… a couple of the adults in our group wondered if this was such a good idea… by the end, they were assured that it most definitely was!
— standing on the corners in Hanoi trying to make sense of the crazy traffic… becoming pros at crossing the street
— Trevor bravely taking a bite out of a $0.22 shelf-stable hotdog purchased from a convenience store… a thoughtful gift from William 🙂

Indonesia
— surfing, mountain climbing, white water rafting, canyon trekking, amazing-food-eating… Bali was a vacation!  
— We reminisce and laugh often about the servers who were impressed (or horrified?) by our boys’ love for extremely spicy food.  
— Yung, our driver who we hired for multiple days, became a friend and was such a delight to get to know

Scotland
— We stayed in Edinburgh during covid lockdown and enjoyed nearly three months of going for walks, visiting Innverleith Park, and becoming friends with Peter, the Waitrose grocer…  Keegan and I did math together 79 (out of the 83 possible) mornings, skipping only three birthdays and Mother’s Day… We made dinner together, read, watched shows and movies, and our boys did a lot of a capella singing!  It was an unexpected time in our year but deeply rejuvenating and we wouldn’t trade it for anything.

The Alps
— Hiking and visiting the Alps in Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, and France (and a brief stop in Liechtenstein) was unforgettable.  The mountains have such different looks and feels in the different countries.  We loved the scenery and the amazing water we could find everywhere (as well as the chocolate in Switzerland!).

Portugal
— a 23.5 mile bike ride around Porto, a beautiful city in northern Portugal… I found the tiled buildings so pretty and fascinating
— Pena Palace in Sintra, near Lisbon… unlike anything we’d ever seen!
— hiking near Lagos along the cliffs along the coastline… so beautiful and another one of my favorite hikes of our time abroad

Gibraltar-not-Gibraltar
— trying to sneak into the British Overseas Territory through the Gibraltar Harbour on a stranger-turned-new-friend’s dinghy after we were turned away at the border

We found things to love about every place we were and are so grateful for every memory we have.

Some other favorite memories of mine that are less specific to location:

— We loved watching our boys become even more comfortable and confident talking to people of all backgrounds.  They are all totally fearless approaching and confidently attempting to communicate with someone without any idea of whether that person speaks any English, how old s/he is, or what they plan to be communicating.  They also had a lot of fun trying to “win” people over who started out seeming really grouchy.  It was satisfying for all of us to see grouchy people soften up through experiencing our boys’ outgoing friendliness and warm smiles.

— I have many memories of laughing to the point of tears at my family’s humor as well as funny language miscommunications or unusual experiences with people we encountered.  In Saigon, when we were storing our luggage at the apartment where we’d stayed before our night train to Nha Trang, the female security guard at reception was rather gruff and not very interested in helping us.  She didn’t speak any English (or maybe just didn’t want to admit to it or be bothered) and we didn’t speak any Vietnamese aside from some very basic things such as requesting a bowl of pho or wishing someone a happy new year… so William and I were communicating with her through Google Translate.  The guard showed me her phone screen, which read, “Come play or go home.” …which I found to be such a hilariously direct command coming from such a serious and stiff person (later I realized she was attempting to figure out whether we were coming or going).  I tried my best to hold in my laughter but it came out in bursts and I communicated back that “I am sorry but that does not make any sense and it is really funny.”  And then she smiled!

— my morning coffee hunt with Michael was another highlight… I will miss that so much!  It was also fun when we started rotating through our boys, bringing one with us every few days.

— we loved seeing friends who came to visit us or who we happened to be in the same place at the same time!   We got to see Michael’s parents on the cruise; Mr Cox, the Barretts, and the Tardifs in Iceland; the Drewers in London; Mr Cox in Tanzania; the Getchells in Italy; Mr Cox in the Balkans; the Browns in Vietnam after originally meeting them in Laos; the Gouldings in Vietnam and Malaysia after meeting them in Thailand/Laos; the Moes and Mr Cox (trip #4!) in Vietnam!  We had more lined up to visit us but unfortunately those plans unravelled with travel restrictions… Not cancelled, though; just postponed!  (Davises: we’ll meet you in New Zealand as soon as the borders open!)

— we also loved making friends along the way and met SO many wonderful people!

— another one of my favorite things from our time abroad was reading together as a family in the evenings… We read Cloud and Wallfish (Anne Nesbet); When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit (Judith Kerr); Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden (Karina Yan Glaser); Vanderbeekers to the Rescue (Glaser); Inside Out and Back Again (Thanhha Lai); Listen, Slowly (Lai);  Fish in a Tree (Lynda Mullaly. Hunt); Out of My Mind (Sharon M Draper); and The Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett)… We read some great books!  

— I also LOVED reading individually with our boys… William and I read and discussed Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens), To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee), Great Gatsby (F Scott Fitzgerald), Great Expectations (Dickens), This Tender Land (William Kent Krueger), and Tale of Two Cities (Dickens). Findlay and I read and discussed The Princess Bride (William Goldman) and Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen). Tate and I read the first Harry Potter book (JK Rowling) and Counting by 7s (Holly Goldberg Sloan).  I loved this time with them!

— I also loved our evening routine of watching family-friendly shows together after reading and before bedtime.  Our younger boys are still very cuddly and I loved ending our days relaxing together.

A couple other unexpected traditions that were really fun:
— finding Lindt shops everywhere we could! We kind of stumbled into this tradition, but then made it a point to visit as many as possible (we visited Lindt shops in 17 cities!)
— riding luges… we loved finding luges to ride in Nha Trang at Vinpearl (Vietnam), Singapore, Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany), and Lake Bled (Slovenia)

Thank you for following along! This was the scariest yet absolute best decision we’ve ever made.  I would recommend it to anyone and picture doing another lap around the world–hopefully before long 🙂  I love that our boys were taken from their comfort zone of Redmond and learned to be comfortable anywhere in the world.  I can’t wait to see where they decide to study abroad during college and know they are planning to do long-term travel with their future families as well.  Michael and I can’t wait to meet up with them!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past 16 months.