Eryn’s Notes

On Friday morning, the four of us woke up at varying times but all before 4:40 am, which was when we left our house and cat for the airport. Ethan drove us. Our first flight was from Eugene to San Francisco. In San Francisco, we went to the United lounge for a few minutes, where I had a banana, a boiled egg with capers, and yogurt with granola and strawberries. (I'm a fast eater.) Soon, we were flying across the United States with lots to do (watch The Martian and do homework) only a Stroopwaffel to eat. (Those are United's new ...
I'm glad you asked. Since Christmas Eve, we've been quite busy. Let's start at the beginning. On Wednesday, January 1, we piled into the car for an eleven-hour ride to Schweitzer Ski Resort, where we spent four nights with my aunt, uncle, and cousins. Five of the nine of us skied on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Saturday was by far the best day, as it was sunny and clear. Meanwhile, back in the cabin, my dad cooked all day. On Greek night (Saturday night), he made everything from tzatziki and pita bread to stuffed peppers and white and milk chocolate mousse ...
I meant to write a post four days ago (December 20, 2013). I really did. I wanted to point out that we've been home a whopping six months. I wanted to remember how a year ago we thought we were tough because we'd passed the halfway mark. I wanted to say how good it is to have a real, 12-foot Noble fir Christmas tree instead of a plastic tree my height. But I didn't. And I'm sorry. So I'll do one now. We're at home, not in Cape Town. The view out our dining room window is of our dying ...
Springfield is my home, but I love Bend, Oregon. Two hours' drive from our house lies the city of Bend, which we visit annually. Usually, this visit falls in the lovely month of October (only the best month), but this time it was in December. We are staying (as usual) in the Seventh Mountain Resort, which features an ice skating rink, multiple pools and hot tubs, a basketball court, a spider web, and wi-fi-- saving the best for last. While these are certainly perks, one of my favorite parts of Bend is Zydeco, a restaurant in downtown that serves amazing ...
Well, it's been a considerable time since any of us have written posts. I may as well do the first for August 2013. Since returning to the US, we have seen no fewer than seven family members, a dozen deer (including five new fawns), and a black bear. The black bear was up in the mountains, and it ran across the road right in front of our car shortly after we found several bear bones on the side of the road. Last week, my parents saw a bobcat and have photographic evidence. Right now, my cousin and aunt from Texas ...
I'm not sure if we're technically 'back to normal' yet. It is a normal Oregon summer, though: rainy in June, with hope for sun in July and August. Naturally, it was quite warm until school got out. We've unpacked and unpacked and unpacked some more. As a result, we have piles of things to take to Goodwill and to sell at a used bookstore. Also, my room is completely unpacked, and only a few items remain in my suitcase. Mom is just outside my room, in the hall, putting away boxes and boxes of Christmas lights, ornaments, and decorations. And ...
What shall we do today? Oh, let's unpack! And unpack. And unpack. And unpack some more. Last night it was too late to post, as we had done a lot of unpacking to make the house livable, but right now it's a bright, sunny, Friday afternoon in Oregon. Dishes, linens, and clothes have been completely brought down from upstairs (I think). We came home yesterday afternoon after stopping by Costco, our grandparents' house, and Safeway to piles of mail, Amazon boxes, and our own belongings. Everything's still totally disorganized, but I think that everything will start to settle down by ...
Call the press, someone: I have found a way to comfortably sit in Economy class on an airplane. It only works if you're small, flexible, and comfortable on airplanes. It involves sitting with your legs crossed and your head down on one knee. In this way, I slept well for a grand total of three hours on our two flights today. So I was awake for... drum roll... twenty-five hours today. We are deadxhausted. Our first flight, from Athens to Frankfurt, was only about three hours. We were shocked when we were not put through another security clearance to get ...
Just nineteen minutes into tomorrow marks the 31,536,000th second, the 525,600th minute, the 8,760th hour, the 52nd week, the 12th month, and the first year away from our house. That’s over 31-and-a-half million seconds. And I still can’t believe it. My first of two posts on June 18, 2012, began, ‘Today we leave the house. Tomorrow we go to the airport. Wednesday we fly.’  So, if I were to write this thirteen hours ago: today we go to the airport. Tomorrow we fly. Thursday we reenter the house. In those thirteen hours, we have flown for less than an hour ...
We only have three days left on our trip—one in Crete, one in Athens, and one in an airplane and Washington. In honor of this, here are my three favorite places on this trip: 1: Crete has been good to us. So good, in fact, that I am rather reluctant to leave—this seems odd since home is at the other end of this 12-hour journey. No matter; I’ll just stay on Crete and enjoy the summer warmth and the pool that comes with it. Not. I would enjoy staying just for the food, though. Especially the tzatziki, chocolate-coated baklava, grape ...
Today being our last full day in Crete, we naturally spent it packing our suitcases and duffle bag (yes, we are adding another bag). We polished off yesterday’s chocolate cake, and after two rehearsals Ethan and I performed our whole E&E Electric Eels routine. It came off, for the most part, without a hitch. It had lots of flips, tricks, and English-accented commentary. Dinner was at Taverna Fantastico, which is where we ate supper way back on May 25, our second Cretan day (and our first restaurant-made Cretan meal). We’ve eaten there twice since and have enjoyed the view, good ...
Today was our last beach day. I have mixed feelings about this. (Well, not really.) I’m not a beach person. The sunscreen I have to wear is sticky, the water is too cold to swim, the sand is to… well… sandy, it’s too windy to keep an umbrella up and a towel down, and it’s hot as anything. So it was with some relief that I pulled on my striped dress and purple flip-flops, grabbed my green bag, and headed back to the car. Today being our last beach day also means that we’re nearing the end of our time ...
To keep out from under Thalia’s feet as she cleaned our villa today, we escaped to the seashore and talked about Ethan’s social life. It was a long drive for just that one entertaining conversation and salty breeze, but we had to do something and couldn’t find anything better. Back home, at 2 pm I jumped (well, sort of slid) into the pool and doggy-paddled laps to avoid getting my hair wet. Ethan joined me at around the fourth lap. After we got out, Mom decided she wanted to swim, so Ethan and I read on the sidelines as she ...
June 14, 2012: Title: School’s Almost Out! Content: For our mother, at least… Today is her last teaching day, Friday is a grading day, and then… no school for more than a year! Well, she has to homeschool us, but still… I don’t think we’re as bad as those high-schoolers. Ciao! June 14, 2013: Title: Trip’s Almost Done! Content: As far as our plans are concerned… We can only hope that today is our sixth-to-last-day abroad, Tuesday is our last day on Crete, and Wednesday is our first day in the USA, and then… nothing big for more than a ...
With only one week left on our trip (if there isn’t a strike at the Athens airport), here is my Week Worth Wanting list of seven things for Europe (France, Switzerland, and Greece). THE PASTRIES. In all three countries we’ve visited, the pastries have been to die for. From the chocolate chip twists in Semur-en-Auxois to the chocolate-coated baklava in Rethymno, and everything in between (including pain au chocolat, giant cinnamon rolls, apple pastries, Chocolate Kiss Brownies, chocolate porcupines, and a giant pretzel), we’ve enjoyed just about every mouthful of pastry that we’ve swallowed. THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING-NESS. Although the language barrier ...

9 thoughts on “Eryn’s Notes

  1. Wow Eryn! you really are going all around the world!!!! LUCKY!!!! I’ll miss you @ school though 🙁

  2. Eryn! Have a safe trip! I miss you already. And post a lot of things, cause I’ll be checking;) Love you TONS!

  3. Good Morning Miss Eryn, Did you like bowling? Did you put the ball down the lane or were they gutter balls like I manage? I’m glad y’ll made it safely to the country of Siam. I’m assuming you have gotten warm, thaughed out or otherwise melted? You’ll get used to it as the days go by. Enjoy everything to the fullest. Laters, Love Grandma

  4. Bowling was okay. Not my favorite … “sport”. (Honestly, I prefer minigolf.) Umm… it seems like half-and-half, but I think it was 1/3 gutter balls and 2/3 “good” balls. Oh, yes, we’re very thawed, and we’re melting through the back of our shirts. 🙂 I love you! Tell Grandpa and Zoie “hi” for me, and tell Grandpa I send my love!

  5. Good Morning Sweetie, Well guess what…its raining. should be in the mid 60’s today. Did u get my reply from yesterday? when I pushed the Post Comment button it said the server was down or some such nonsence!
    I’m getting ready to go to Curves. Today is the Garage Sale and its raining. Should have it on a different weekend.
    Have fun today. Love you

  6. Good Morning, Ethan!
    The things and places you have already seen and enjoyed are very interesting and will be remembered for your life. But even more interesting to me is what you see when compared to the other scribes’ reports on this ADVENTURE. Keep up the good work!
    Your discription of the Buddhist shrine/Temple leave me wondering how odd Christians must look to Buddhists.
    I am really enjoying your notes.
    Love, Gramps

  7. Hi Eryn,

    Wow! Is what I have to say! You have a great writing style, informative and entertaining 🙂 I look forward to your continuing sagas.

    Happy trails!

  8. Eryn.. it most certainly seems like you and your family are having a wonderful time
    (so Jealous!) Love your stories, especially about your mom ! Thanks for keeping us posted.

  9. Yes… but I tone down the stories of my mom a lot. 🙂 And, yes, we’re having a good time here in South Africa.

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