{"id":40,"date":"2012-04-25T16:52:51","date_gmt":"2012-04-25T23:52:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rtw4four.com\/RTW4Four\/?page_id=40"},"modified":"2020-08-26T11:29:21","modified_gmt":"2020-08-26T18:29:21","slug":"eryns-notes","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/rtw4four.com\/RTW4Four\/eryns-notes\/","title":{"rendered":"Eryn’s Notes"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\r\n \r\n\t\tOl\u00e1, Lisboa\t<\/a>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n
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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)\u00a0only a Stroopwaffel to eat. (Those are United's new ...
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\r\n \r\n\t\tWhat’s New?\t<\/a>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n
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I'm glad you asked. Since Christmas Eve, we've been quite busy. Let's start at the beginning. On Wednesday,\u00a0January 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 ...
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\r\n \r\n\t\tAn Open Apology\t<\/a>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n
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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 ...
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\r\n \r\n\t\tBendy\t<\/a>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n
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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 ...
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\r\n \r\n\t\tHappy Campers\t<\/a>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n
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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 ...
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\r\n \r\n\t\tBack to Normal?\t<\/a>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n
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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 ...
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\r\n \r\n\t\tWhat Shall We Do Today?\t<\/a>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n
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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 ...
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\r\n \r\n\t\tParty in the USA\t<\/a>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n
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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 ...
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\r\n \r\n\t\tNo Fun Allowed\t<\/a>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n
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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\u2019s over 31-and-a-half million seconds. And I still can\u2019t believe it. My first of two posts on June 18, 2012, began, \u2018Today we leave the house. Tomorrow we go to the airport. Wednesday we fly.\u2019 \u00a0So, 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 ...
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\r\n \r\n\t\tTriple Threat\t<\/a>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n
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We only have three days left on our trip\u2014one 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\u2014this seems odd since home is at the other end of this 12-hour journey. No matter; I\u2019ll 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 ...
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\r\n \r\n\t\tE&E Electric Eels\t<\/a>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n
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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\u2019s 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\u2019ve eaten there twice since and have enjoyed the view, good ...
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\r\n \r\n\t\tBye-Bye Beach\t<\/a>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n
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Today was our last beach day. I have mixed feelings about this. (Well, not really.) I\u2019m not a beach person. The sunscreen I have to wear is sticky, the water is too cold to swim, the sand is to\u2026 well\u2026 sandy, it\u2019s too windy to keep an umbrella up and a towel down, and it\u2019s 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\u2019re nearing the end of our time ...
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\r\n \r\n\t\tCostas on the Coast\t<\/a>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n
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To keep out from under Thalia\u2019s feet as she cleaned our villa today, we escaped to the seashore and talked about Ethan\u2019s social life. It was a long drive for just that one entertaining conversation and salty breeze, but we had to do something and couldn\u2019t 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 ...
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June 14, 2012: Title: School\u2019s Almost Out! Content: For our mother, at least\u2026 Today is her last teaching day, Friday is a grading day, and then\u2026 no school for more than a year! Well, she has to homeschool us, but still\u2026 I don\u2019t think we\u2019re as bad as those high-schoolers. Ciao! June 14, 2013: Title: Trip\u2019s Almost Done! Content: As far as our plans are concerned\u2026 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\u2026 nothing big for more than a ...
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\r\n \r\n\t\tA Week Worth Wanting\t<\/a>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n
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With only one week left on our trip (if there isn\u2019t 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\u2019ve 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\u2019ve enjoyed just about every mouthful of pastry that we\u2019ve swallowed. THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING-NESS. Although the language barrier ...
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