It's a very wierd thing to celebrate your birthday in the future. The teacher's knew about it but it was pretty quiet, since for everybody back in the States the 29th for me was still the 28th for them. I went to a museum with one of the teacher's and then at night I went to an Italian restaurant with another friend. The next day, when I was officially 23, everybody back home figures out it's my birthday and all day long I was getting facebook messages and emails. It was very nice. (cough, cough, NONE OF WHICH WERE FROM MY PARENTS!)
The same guy whom I went to the Italian restaurant with took me to the soccer game. A friend of his had a friend who knew someone who worked at the stadium and got us 3 free tickets. I'm not sure exactly how it worked. But basically a very nice Korean man who worked at the World Cup Stadium (named, aptly so, for the World Cup South Korea hosted in 2002.) came and walked us up to fantastic seats in the first row of the second section. And we didn't have to pay for any of it. It was the semifinals of the K-League (Korean League) and was a really intense game. We had 30 minutes of overtime with the final score being 4-2 (6 goals scored in a professional soccer game? That's unheard of!) including a header goal set up by the only black man in South Korea (well, thats not true, the baseball team has one African-American).
PS- I changed my profile picture to the official banner of FC Seoul where the motto is "Impossible is Nothing." I haven't gotten to show you all too many pictures of mistranslated English in Seoul (of which there are MANY) but I thought this was a good example.
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8 comments:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Megan - we did not forget your birthday . . . we were stuck without internet connection the last day on the ship, and then we were in transit home for 24 hours. We thought of you constantly, and called Kelli as soon as we landed in New York (we were still on the plane we were in such a rush to get a message to you) so she could wish you a happy birthday via e-mail for us until we got home.
We are now home! I will send pictures of the fire we received from neighbors. Scary! After two weeks the air here still smells terrible! Dad and I are going to run a little later today nonetheless, to help shake out the cobwebs so to speak and adjust to the new time zone.
We also know of Skype and will try and establish an account later today.
Photos of trip to follow soon by e-mail. Egypt was amazing - aside from the obvious historical monuments, an overwhelming culture and our first time in what is considered a third world country. Much more to follow later once we unpack.
Love, hugs and kisses,
Mom and Dad
Welcome Home, Mom and Dad!!!!
I can't wait to see pictures from the trip and hear about it. What did you eat? Were people in Egypt as touchy and as careless about personal space as they were in Tunisia? What was Turkey like? Any tensions because of the bombings and hostage situation in India?
You should definitely download skype. As long as we stick to calling eachother's computers it's completely free. The time difference will still be an issue, but it would be nice to hear everybody's voices once in a while!
PS- once you do install skype, hit the add contact button and type in my username which is nutmeg876541 (sorry it's random, but it's what I use for all my online usernames...)
Then all you have to worry about is making sure I'm not sleeping when you call (not that that was ever a concern before...)
Megs - am still struggling trying to get into this blog. Will try again.
Love,
dad
I finally figured it out! Not to worry - I won't forget this time!! Again, I was successful at setting up Skype. My name is michael.reddy4.
Love,
Dad
Turkey and Egypt have very interesting cultures as we observed them. In Turkey, first off the country prides themselves as being very tolerant of all religions, not just Islam. There were no issues or tensions that we observed, only a sincere interest in our presence in the two small towns we visited (Dikili to visit Pergamon and then Ephesus to see where John the Baptist was buried, and where Mary is believed to have lived out her last days after the death of Christ). In Istanbul, the main issue was avoiding prolonged conversation with store vendors and rug salesman, all of whom would follow you down the street attempting to initiate conversation on any topic. We had read that all attempts should be ignored with a polite "No Thank You" in order to traverse the city. We were also advised to ignore all comments in response to our refusal to engage in conversation no matter what. It made us feel unpleasant to do so, but any other response would have resulted in our being hounded incessantly.
Istanbul was amazing . . . so ancient, so historic and so populated! Twenty million or so. Dad and I took the tram in for $1.00 and got to rub shoulders with the locals, which was actually very pleasant and interesting. The Blue Mosque was magnificent, and we learned so much about the Islam religion and its traditions over the course of the day. I have to say though, we were relieved to leave the choas of the city at days end and return to the calmness of the ship. NYC is calm compared to Istanbul if that is a helpful point of reference. So, we left Turkey with a sense of the friendliness of the merchants countered by their relentlessness.
Cairo was very different. The country is very poor of course, and has a system of providing help and assistance, whether or not you ask for it, and then expecting to be compensated as a result. This is perceived as being acceptable and completely different from simply asking for handouts. There was no begging, only an onslaught of "assistance" attempts. As an example, ask for directions and they will be given, followed by a request for $1.00. Tour a sight and you will pick up a "tour guide" who simply begins gesturing unsolicited, followed by a request for $1.00. Want to take a photo of a police officer? No problem for $1.00. Use the restroom? $1.00. Need a towel to dry off your hands? $1.00. Cross a roped off line to get a better picture? $1.00 to the Tourist Police. You get the picture. Again, the unfortunate result was that we began to shy away from any contact with the locals because we grew so weary of the constant efforts to "service us."
We also spent much time observing and discussing the various Islam sects (Sunni vs Shia) and the political implications of a country being run by one vs the other since there is no separation of Religion and State in Turkey and Egypt.
And yes, we followed very closely the Mumbai and Bankok stories. After 5 days in Turkey and Egypt, we were most appreciative of returning to the calmness and stability of Malta and then Italy. Returning to the U.S. was even sweeter as a result.
I could go on forever, but hopefully this will do for now!
Love Mom
Oops - about what we ate . . .
In Greece we ate hummus, red wine, lamb kebobs, spinach spanakopita, baklava and gelato. Delicious!
In Turkey we had lunch in a small family run cafe. Gyros layered over pita bread, with a scoop of fresh, non-pasturized yogurt. We then had Turkish coffee delivered by a young boy who carried it in off the street on a tray. We drank it down to the mud! We then went down the street to a bakery for some Baklava. It was delicious and ended a perfect Turkish meal.
In Egypt we ate at hotels, so I think the food was Americanized somewhat. I don't remember anything tremendously special, which is unfortunate and an inevitable result of "touring" vs. getting out independently to explore a city. From what I saw though, Egypt has a tremendously fertile agricultural yield as we say beautiful fruit and produce of every possible variety, as well as eggs and sheep a plenty.
In Naples we had a Pizza Margherita for $4.00 euro and also stepped into a cafe for two expressos which we drank at the bar for a bargain .60 euro each.
Hi Megan Teacher,
I am finally moved and have forwarded you on to my new place as well. THere was a little box I could check for family unit so anything you want sent here, send to:
Kelli (or Megan) Reddy
4668 Ingram Ct.
Boulder, CO 80305
Sounds like you had a nice birthday going to a restaurant and all. Boris is doing soooooooo much better in his new digs. The boys are back from break and he is in 7th heaven. He is now sleeping around at night and I barely see him at all. He did hide in my closet all afternoon today so I still get a little love. The dogs are good, been walking lots with them. They walk to get coffee with me in the mornings. Although Hurley didn't eat dinner tonight, a little worried cuz normally they gobble their foods down. Oh and Vince caught Haydn eating cat poop today so we are having to keep a close watch on the dogs coming downstairs. Hey, when should I cash your check btw? Luv ya!
Kelli
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