November 2015 – robinchartier

The end or the beginning?

This week I’ve been packing for our Christmas trip to Budapest and Germany, but this photo is from the trip we took 5 years ago. Anyone recognize this haul of luggage?

December 1st, 2010 at the San Francisco airport. We were headed out for our one year adventure in the Middle East. Destination: Cairo, Egypt. Today, five years later, the wonder, mystery, and excitement of our overseas life lives on. We never could have imagined we would still be able to call this region home and that we’d be jumping at any opportunity to extend our experience even longer.

This group of babyfaced boys is ready for adventure. The world was waiting for them.

I can barely remember this chub.

And when did she change from this baby

to this coffee drinking girl?!

Delayed at the freezing Frankfurt airport — our first of many opportunities to adapt and improvise.

Early days in Cairo, exploring our town

I still miss these streets of Maadi (Cairo suburb where we lived), but if we hadn’t been forced to leave, we wouldn’t be where we are now and wouldn’t have been able to live in two additional Middle Eastern countries. It’s been a great lesson in seeing how God hasn’t given us what we’ve wanted, but he has provided in more abundant ways than we could ever have imagined.

We never made it to Tunisia or Morocco (our trip was cancelled due to the Arab Spring uprising), but who can complain when we’ve experienced Egypt, Oman, UAE, Turkey, Austria, Jordan, Germany, Crete, Poland, Bahrain, Israel, Uganda, India, and France? And in 2 weeks we’ll be able to add Hungary to the list.

5 years later and I’m still blogging. Not as often as in the early days, but I’m still working at it. It’s the kind of discipline that grows even more valuable with time. How much fun did I have this evening looking back at all of these old photos and reading about our early days in Egypt? Those hours of writing and editing have and will continue to pay dividends into the future.

Camille was only 5 months when we left the US. She’s now 5 and a 1/2. She’s spent essentially her entire life outside the US.

From our first Christmas — for our 5th Christmas we’ll be in Germany, hopefully enjoying a day on the ski/snowboard slopes.

Our newbie Middle East family. Such babies, all of us.

And present day — enjoying a few drops of rain the other day. Gotta take whatever the skies give. No taking it for granted.

We couldn’t do all of this without the support of our family who thankfully gives us the freedom to go where God leads us. Or stay where God has put us. And at the 5 year mark, we have no idea where he will send us next. Will we stay and finish Calvin’s senior year here? Will we move elsewhere in the Middle East? Will we get assigned to Europe or will we come full circle and head back to the US? We are hoping to find out in Feb 2016, but until then, we’ll continue to soak up as much of this as we can get.

If you want to start at the beginning, December 2010 is where our story begins (choose from the archive on the right). Some of my finest work hails from those days. Good times. These two linked posts covers our travel from the US to Egypt. I’m hoping the story continues . . .

Flashback to the past

Our first time in Germany

Arrival in Sougia (more Crete)

Paleochora was one of our favorite places. I loved the tiny peninsula that was only a few blocks wide, surrounded by waterfront — rocky beach or sandy beach, we had our pick. Our last morning in town we ate pastries from the shop across the street, walked across town to the corniche and picked up a few souvenirs along the way. The boys found a 1 Euro shop that they were sure held all sorts of treasures . . . but no.

We would come to this side of town to eat dinner at night with its gorgeous view of the Mediterranean.

Our last stop before we headed into the mountains to our next vacation destination was a final meal at our favorite restaurant, the schoolhouse cafe in Anidri Village. The boys brought cards, Josh and I brought our books and we sat for several hours in the sunshine, relaxing, eating and enjoying a lazy lunch.

Our lunchtime view

Always making friends. This baby was at the table next to us and he loved Carter. The two younger boys followed him all over the grounds while we were waiting for our food.

Fresh salads with olives and feta (yes, that’s pickled seaweed on top — delicious!)

Camille wanted escargot today

and she loved it. Caleb wasn’t a fan. He said it tasted good, but couldn’t get past the texture. No matter, Camille ate it all.

I can’t remember what else we ate, but I can guarantee that it was excellent. Every meal has been perfection. Every tomato perfectly red, ripe and with the tomatoey sweet/tart/acic balance that sets them apart. I realized I haven’t had a good tomato since moving overseas. Even the beautiful tomatoes that we had in Turkey weren’t nearly as vibrant in taste as the ones we are getting in Crete. Cretan food is now my #2 favorite cuisine after Mexican (guacamole and salsa are hard to beat).

In order to get to Sougia, a remote spot on the southern coast, we had to drive north to get around a set of mountains and then back down to the water’s edge.

More winding roads through the mountains with zero traffic.

Josh kept teasing me and pretending that we were going to have to drive on roads like this one headed up and to the right. I still hadn’t quite recovered from our harrowing ride to Elafonisi beach. I don’t know who lives on those roads less traveled, but I certainly wouldn’t!

The winding back and forth put her to sleep.

Driving through paradise with the breeze in our hair, spotting goats, sheep and dogs snoozing in patches of sunshine along the sides of the road (and sometimes in the road!) Have I mentioned that we spent our drives thinking of career moves that would enable us to move to Crete?

We arrived in our one road town in time to get unpacked, walk down to the beach and explore before dinner.

He’s reading. A shocking sight.

A rocky beach made up entirely of rounded stones. Easy on the feet, but lots of slipping and sliding and sinking in as we walked.

Rock skipping ammunition for days!

The setting sun signaled it was time to find a place to eat dinner.

More great food, steps away from where we were staying.

Dinner outside on a clear night

We’ve tried the local village wine everywhere we’ve stayed. It’s usually a brownish color rather than red or white. It’s cheap and goes perfectly with all the feta, olives and grilled seafood that we’ve been eating.

You can even buy it in unlabeled bottles at the local grocery store or mini mart. It’s a crazy contrast to the US where everything sold in stores has to be carefully labeled and compared to Bahrain where alcohol can only be sold in special stores. Crete = freedom.

Detour (Elafonisi beach)

Crete is magical. Relaxed, easy pace — though part of that is self-designed. You could definitely overdo it here. One of the things about travel planning on the fly is that at night when I’d normally be blogging about our day, I’m busy figuring out what we are going to do tomorrow or trying to make arrangements for the next hotel/apartment.

The black netting is strung out under the olive trees to catch the fallen fruit

So there is this legendary pink sand beach that is one of the most famous beaches in the world. It’s tucked away on the southwest corner of Crete so we figured it would be a good day trip when we are staying on the southern coast. Except it turns out that the shortest way to the beach is over a rock and dirt road requiring 4 wheel drive, which we don’t have. Oh well, it’s still only about an hour the long way around.

Where are we going?! Through someone’s backyard?

Following our map and GPS we start out on some of the narrowest and most winding roads I’ve ever travelled on. Beautiful views off the sides of the cliffs, but also plenty of shrines, reminding us of those who hadn’t been as lucky on these roads. Things were looking good until we hit dirt. Thanks a lot GPS lady! We had thwarted her first attempts to take us to the “shortcut,” but she was slick and persistent and brought us back around to another pass through the mountains (instead of around).

hmm, looking a little rough . . .

uh, oh . . . where did the pavement go?

The road went on and on and got worse and worse.

According to our dumb paper map it was an “improved” road, but I don’t know what it looked like previously to make this series of holes, ruts, and boulders the improved version. We tried to drive it for a stretch, especially since we were so close, but finally called it quits and Josh did a 42 point turn on the side of the mountain to get us turned around and headed back to find a paved road.

We backtracked and eventually found a place where we could meet up with the main road that would take us all the way to the beach.

I was not thrilled about taking this super-sharp blind turn.

A pretty drive, but a roundabout one.

Sheep in the road!

random goat on a cliff

lots of goats!

chilling in the road

goats at church

finally a glimpse of the ocean!

The legends of pink sand are true, but not in the way that Carmel is a white sand beach. Elafonisi beach was similar to our beach day further north on the same coast, the edges of the surf tinged pink with sand made of red coral. Beautiful and indeed pink, but the majority of the sand is beautiful plain golden/tan beach sand.

Turquoise water as far as the eye can see and we planted our towels on an island sandbar for the afternoon. Warm water, little fish swimming among the rocks, and because it’s October, this very popular beach isn’t overrun with people like it would be at the height of summer. Worth every extra mile.

Checking out the pink sand

Hiking around our sandbar island

On the far side we found the black and pink sand beach

pretty, Mama!

Crystal clear water — warm enough to swim

Trying to sort the pink grains from the black . . .

Building an “aquarium” for the fish they are going to catch.

the inland side of our sandbar

Crossing over — the tide is coming in, so it’s getting deeper

fishing!

Sun-kissed and happy, heading home.

The correct way through the mountains this time.

Dinner of grilled anchovies

and moussaka (Greek lasagna-type dish. So delicious!)

And then we stopped at an outdoor cafe for crepes and honey raki

A perfect nightcap

A beautiful full moon over the Mediterranean.

End of the Road (Crete revisited)

Feeling like escaping reality today so I’m focusing on my happy place (anywhere in Crete). I found my notebook with some blog posts that I wrote while traveling so I’m adding photos and revising and FINALLY posting them.

Nothing like cruising along the coastline of the southern Mediterranean on a ferryboat listening to old 80’s classics playing over the speakers. Rocky cliffs on one side, endless blue water on the other, and Billy Idol’s White Wedding in my ears.

Our last day of touring on this wing and a prayer vacation. Tomorrow we head back north, stopping at a few places along the way before ending at the base for the last night with my safety reservation in case the plane schedule shifted. (And hallelujah it did! An extra day in Crete!)

Today Josh and the boys are going to hike the longest gorge in Europe — Samaria Gorge, but not all 18k of it. Typically people will catch a very early bus in the morning (6 or 7am), arrive at the top of the gorge by 9 am and spend about 6 hours hiking down it. Then, because there is no car access, everyone waits at the bottom, on the coast, for the ferry to shuttle people back to civilization at the end of the day.

We are doing the hike the “lazy way,” starting at the bottom. (That’s actually how it’s referred to on Trip Advisor.) Wake up at 8am, catch the 9am ferry, walk up the gorge as far as they want and then hike down and take the ferry home. Meanwhile, Meels and I are doing it the truly lazy way as we camp out on the beach for the day under an umbrella, drinking fresh juice and reading a book. It’s my gift to all of us because as much as I’d like to hike and see the gorge and Camille is a surprisingly nimble hiker, she is unpredictable in her stamina.This way the boys can go as fast as they want and cover more ground and the only tears will be about whether she can have another fresh squeezed orange juice with her lunch.

It’s lovely sitting on the top deck of the ferry — only the slightest breeze in my hair, listening to the rumble of the engine below. It’s ironic since an hour ago my stomach was in knots and I was planning potential escape routes in case the boat started to sink. That wasn’t an actual fear, but figuring out all the “what ifs” keeps my brain busy and distracts it from focusing on the idea that I’m trapped on public transportation with no way out. Just residual issues that I will have to work at for life. I think it must be a bit like being an alcoholic — totally better and functioning fine, but the potential to crack is always there. Of course as soon as we backed away from the dock I was fine because it changed from “can I do this?” to “I’m actually doing this and it’s no big deal.” My brain is a devilish thing, always looking for a way out until the last second when it resigns itself to the fact that I’m not going to fall for its tricks this time. I’m glad I didn’t let it win.

Up and out to catch the ferry.

The “dock” at the end of the beach

good morning, sunshine!

Gorgeous cove on the Sougia coast

Here’s the ferry!

Lovely family photo — just happy to be underway. No turning back now!

It’s peaceful and beautiful

Perfect blue water

Pulling in to shore — ready to to hike

They are off!

This is the life

food and drinks make for a happy girl

We had the place to ourselves from 10 am until after 2 or 3pm when the hikers all made their way to the beach.

beautiful black pebbly sand

We had our pick of chairs

I had a book, a notebook and pen, and my girl. A perfect day at the beach.

Walking the coast. I’m happy I didn’t miss this day by playing it safe and staying at home.

They made it back from the gorge and cooled off in the water. The restaurant had kayaks that we were able to borrow.

I would do this every day if I could.

I think the hike wore them out

Time to head home. I can definitely recommend the gorge hike “the lazy way.”

A walk back to our hotel and then down the road for dinner. The town of Sougia is 1 main road and a waterfront.

Another excellent dinner to end our adventure. Tomorrow we head back to civilization and prepare to fly home.

Fancy Dress

We have a friend here with a beautiful British accent who we often laugh with about the differences between British and American English. One of the strangest terms is if you are invited to a “fancy dress party” in the UK, you better put on a costume as if it were Halloween. Not a costume party — “fancy dress.” Add in the news that what we call a swimsuit they call a “swimming costume” and I’m guessing that the Brits don’t understand what a costume is? Oh, and when they say “pants,” it actually means underwear and a “vest” is one of our white undershirt tank tops. Things get confusing pretty quickly.

Anyway, in the US when we say fancy dress we mean formalwear so I teased Ashley that we were going to our version of a fancy dress party when we went to the Marine Corps ball last week. I was in a costume kind of mood so I went with a Downton Abby inspired headband to go with my short black dress.

She loves it when I dress up and she can put makeup on too.

Almost 20 years in and I still struggle with the fastener at the neck of his uniform.

Caleb told me that my headband looked like headgear. Really, kid? I don’t look like I have braces. Then he clarified: “Not that kind of headgear. The tape that rugby players wrap around their heads to protect their ears.” Oh, awesome. Thanks. No more Rugby World Cup for you!

Then he told me that I looked funny because I was all dressed up, but have a big bruise on my shin (from CrossFit). Josh tried to explain to him that someday when he has a girlfriend or a wife he will need to choose his words carefully and be complementary. He asked, “So I shouldn’t tell the truth?” Oh goodness. Yes, lie like a rug. It will make your wife (and life) much happier.

We had a fun night out. It’s hard to believe that next year might be our last ball since Josh intends to retire October of 2017.

A week later, it was Calvin’s turn to dress up for the Homecoming dance.

Girlie is enamored with the idea that Calvin has a girlfriend and goes on dates.

While we were waiting for his date to arrive, she was dancing around the living room with the corsage.

Off to the dance!

Since Josh and I were driving home at the end of the night we decided to go have dinner at the hotel where the dance was being held. They have a Thursday night version of Friday brunch — a 4 hour buffet with fancy food, drink and entertainment.

The theme was Hollywood night so the background music was movie soundtracks. The food was divine. This was just from the first pass: Ceviche, shrimp cocktail, lobster salad, and corn chowder. Between the sushi, peking duck, ribeye steak, grilled fennel, fancy cheese, and prosciutto we were stuffed, but still had to explore the dessert table.

A little creme brûlée, cheesecake with chocolate crust, and why not have Baked Alaska with a firework exploding out of the top? Calvin had a great time at Homecoming and we lived it up while waiting to drive him home. Win. Win.