One last side trip...

Before we left Greece, we took a side trip to the southern coast.  Leaving our first location, our bus took us down through winding roads where a few people got car sick from all the turns.

The roads along the southern coast followed the coastline more and were less twisty.

We went to see the ruins of Poseidon's Temple

But it turns out that hiking and exploring were more fun.

You can see the Temple up on the hill.

We hiked down to where a drop off was that led down to the water. 

Doug, Keira and Caleb slowly made their way down to the water (it's further than it looks).

 Shortly after, Kylie decided she'd join in.

Karis and I spent some moments alone, and then we ended up sitting on a rock and talking for about an hour while we waited for everyone else to climb back up.

 Can you see them, way over there on the rock?

Before hiking back up the hill, we took some pictures with the beautiful water backdrop, and then we drove back along the coast watching the sunset.

Yeah for summer adventures!

Dear Greece,

Thanks for the memories!

Love,
The Taylors

A Pretty Decent Locale

We had a week-long conference in Greece during the last week of Ramadan, so I don’t have any amazing stories about the end of Ramadan because we were out of the country. 

It was a nice blessing to actually be able to get out of the country, since the airport had been closed from the end of September to March.

We left on June 10^th at 2:55am after Kylie finished her online school for the year a few hours earlier on June 9^th at around 10pm.  That’s called “cutting it close.”

The conference was refreshing, and we had opportunities to meet some more people who work in our region of the world.  The kids had a great time, too, and since it was such a small gathering, 6^th-12^th graders were all together, so my older three were in one class together.

Check out the size of the feta in this Greek salad!  

 And, of course, we had a serving or two of pork.

On our way to the conference, the bus stopped for a bathroom break at a souvenir shop in Corinth.

We took this picture of the man-made canal there that cuts through the narrow isthmus of Corinth.  The canal is 4 miles in length, but it's very narrow, so most modern ships can't pass through.

It took 12 years to dig and was finished in 1893.  That is a lot of rock cutting done without modern-day tools!

Our first night at the conference, the kids wanted to rush down to the water, so I thought I'd get a picture of Keira's first time to ever touch the ocean.

But within 30 mintues, like all kids, she ended up preferring the sand to the water.

While Kylie and Caleb preferred seeing who could knock each other off the floatie first.

Keira loves the water, however, she has always been a little timid of getting her face wet and trying the pool without floaties.  But she wants you to know that she went swimming with her class at the conference, and when she saw that other kids could swim, she decided she could, too.

Off came the floaties, and down she went.  She taught herself to swim and go underwater in a few hours time.

One day, our schedule allowed us a free afternoon to see some of the local sites.  Many people took a boat or a ferry to neighboring islands, and we did as well.  It was quite beautiful, and it refreshed all of us.

The conference was a few hours north of Athens, and it was nice to be out of a city atmosphere.

The weather was beautiful, and my only complaint was that the week was too short.  It was such a blessing to be with other people who work in our area of the world, share stories and gain encouragement from each other, and the meeting place was in a pretty decent locale, too.

Impromptu Tea Time

I'm always looking for green spaces for Keira to play in.  The park is nice, but it is usually very crowded, and parking is never easy.

One day, I loaded Keira's bike and drove to my friend Dalia's neighborhood.  She told me she wouldn't be home, but I could park at her house.  As we were riding, we came upon this large, green empty space. 

Keira parked her bike and took off running.

There was one older lady sitting way on the other side in a folding chair all by herself, so I wandered over.

She spoke a different dialect of the language I am learning, but we were able to communicate some.  She was very kind, and what I gathered is that she had gone to the market, and when she returned, she had been locked out.  She was patiently waiting for her sister to return.

We sat together for awhile, and then a neighbor she knew pulled up on the other side of the green space.  They greeted across the grass, but soon the lady and her daughter came over for a more appropriate "hello."

The daughter spoke English and help translate for me between her mother and the older lady.  After about 3 minutes, this sweet mother said she was going to make tea and bring it for us.

What I didn't know is that she meant a real tea party!

Her son came out carrying a table!  

He walked it all the way across the field, and while he went back for snacks and a table cloth, his sister went to the older lady's house and brought four chairs from her porch.

Then, while the mother was still making tea, the older lady sat at the table, and the daughter played soccer with Keira.

Tea arrived in fashion!

This kind of hospitality is rare! 

I had never met these ladies before, yet they welcomed me so warmly.

The large box on the table is some special Turkish coffee packets she liked.  We were talking about what she liked, and when she found out I had never heard of her favorite kind, she had her daughter go back to her house and get me not just one packet, but the entire box to take home!

They were all so kind and invited me to come back anytime I wanted.  We exchanged phone numbers, pictures, and I have since run into her and her daughter at the grocery store.

This was such a lovely God-surprise on a beautiful day when I thought we were just going for a bike ride.  I hope we all remember to take notice of how God sometimes chooses to love on us through the people around us.

The End of Things

Government schools and activities here usually run until the end of June.  Thankfully, the schools that my kids went to, ended in May, but dance and soccer continued through Ramadan and into the heat of summer.

The dance studio had end-of-year presentations for each class.  The class that Kylie and Karis taught took place at the exact time that Keira was also in class, so we didn't get to see Kylie and Karis' kids perform.

Here is Keira with Mrs. Natalia.  She is the wonder woman of the dance studio.  She teaches little girls' ballet classes, pilates, yoga, aerial yoga, and ballet pro (Kylie and Karis' class).

Her husband had trouble finding work here, so he had to leave.  Pray for this family as they are currently separated.  We really love having Mrs. Natalia here, but we also know she needs to do what is best for her family.  

When Keira was finished, I went upstairs to the older girls' class where they were posing for all the mothers.  You can see as the summer wears on that fewer and fewer come.  Their class usually had 11-13 girls attending.

I didn't get a picture of Caleb's last soccer practice, but this a handsome snapshot of him and his milkshake on his last day of school :)

Ballet Pro also did an open class performance, but our family was the only one who attended.  Four of the ladies are from out of the country with no family here, and the others say they would rather not invite anyone.

A Village Visit

Shortly after Ramadan, an American friend of mine asked if I would like to go out to the village to see my old neighbor and her family.  Kylie and I jumped at the chance, and we all made plans to block out an evening.

When we got there, we sat and visited with all the kids for awhile because the mom, older daughter, and daughter-in-law were in the kitchen.

We drank Pepsi and ate sunflower seeds, which is pretty typical for many house visits.

In the background below, you can see one of the twins who got married last fall.  I wrote about her three weddings here, here, and here.

I was under the impression that since she and her husband now lived about 40 minutes away from her mother that they would never see her, but I was mistaken.  Apparently, the couple makes the journey several days a week, if not every day to see her mother, and here they sit on their phones...

After Pepsi, we were served hot tea and then some more hot tea.

The sunflower seeds always leave everything looking so nice :)

The vacuum cleaner came out shortly, and when the carpet had been cleaned, we started setting up for dinner.

And it kept coming.

White rice, red rice, cucumbers, tomatoes, beans, chicken, and onions

We finally got a chance to visit with all of the ladies after dinner was cleaned up.   Between my friend and me tag teaming in language, we understood almost everything they said, and we were able to communicate fairly well.

I knew they had been driving back to our neighborhood every day to let their girls finish up the year at the schools where they attended, but I rarely saw them.

The father had sold his fruit stand, and he was now a taxi driver.  He drove them all to town every morning, about a 25 minute drive, and after dropping the girls at school, he dropped his wife at his daughter-in-law's, where the wife would help watch her grandson all day, while her husband drove around the city.

It was so good to see them, but it also made me miss having really good neighbors.  There are sweet people on my street, but I don't feel like I can just drop in on any of them at any time like I could with this family.

Interestingly enough, as soon as this family left, another family on the street started bringing us food often, so I wonder if it was an understood rule that we were already taken care of when the other family lived across the street from us.  I don't know how those things work.

This new family that brings us food usually send their daughter, who is a little older than Keira.  She is so sweet and greets us every time she sees us outside.  I don't know the mother well, but the father is very fond of Doug.  They have exchanged numbers, and they also talk often outside when they see each other.

God is always providing for us.

The Pool Progression

I found the picture!  

I told you in yesterday's post that Doug had put canopies over the swamp coolers.  Here's what that looked like, and now I'll tell you why I'm mentioning it again.

When we first moved here, Keira kept wanting to go swimming, and I just didn't know where to take her.  

Many pools are men only, and the ones that allow women and children are scheduled for different times in different places.

So last summer, we bought a pool for the roof, and Doug scooted it next to the swamp cooler so she could use the canopy covering the swamp cooler to protect her from the brutality of the sun.

Our neighbors liked the idea, so they cleaned up the piles of chicken food and when their bird numbers were down, they also put a pool on their roof.

It was a great idea for a while, but with dust storms and quick evaporation, we couldn't keep water in the pool or the dirt out.  There is VERY LITTLE water pressure on the roof, so the small amount you see in her pool below probably took about 35 minutes or more to trickle in.

So, Keira and I went on the hunt for a hotel pool to use.  We toured 5 hotels, and we found one that worked for a little while.  It was in a basement and warm year-round, but after several months, we started having problems.

Men kept walking in on her in the women's bathroom while I was helping her change, or they would stand at the door and ask us to hurry because they thought theirs was too crowded, and they had a "right" to ours.  

Unfortunately, the hotel let them do this without correcting them.  Even when I said something, the reply to me was basically, "Men can do what they want."  Eventually, the hotel made the women's changing room a "men only," so that they had TWO right next to each other, and women had to go upstairs to change and go to the bathroom.

Then, they raised the prices (which were high already), and we decided that was it.

But she was happy for a while.  

Now, we have to find another hotel, especially since she can swim without floaties now!

"Fun" Fact: swim caps are required in all pools here

New Tactics for Keepin' Cool

Trying to get cool and stay cool in the summer is quite challenging.  

Last summer, we bought new swamp coolers, hoping to get some more air circulating in the house.

I wrote about getting them on the roof here.

The first summer, Doug had set up the ones on the left (covered in a lighter blue tarp), and then covered them with canopies to keep some of the sun off.  You can see two of the folded up canopies in the background.  

I think I told you about the canopies because one day one of them got dislodged during a strong wind storm and flipped over onto the roof of our neighbor's house, but I can't find the blog post, so you'll just have to use your imagination.

That silver square with the "X" on it in the picture below is where one of the swamp coolers sits when it's connected to the house.  Air blows down a shaft, which is connected to four vents on the way down.  The only way it can bring coolish air is because there is a continual dripping of water running in front of a fan; however, if that water is hot (which it is), the cooling effect is minimal.  It's not the ideal way to cool a house.

(As a side note, we didn't even use a water heater this summer.  The sun heats up the water in our tank on the roof, we save electricity, and we get warm showers every day (if someone wants one).  Most of my family prefers cooler showers in the summer.)

This summer, Doug tried a new tactic for keeping our house cool, and he bought these indoor swamp coolers (below).

They don't bring in dust from the outside, you can fill them with water (or blocks of ice) and it blows much cooler air, you can just run it like a fan without the water, and it provides good circulation, and you can move it around to where you need it (like the kitchen when the oven is on).  We bought 4, and along with fans in each room, it was a great solution for keeping the house cooler.


I know I write often about the heat here, but it's been a learning curve as we try to figure out the best way to get cool and stay cool.  It's basically on our minds daily from May until September.

But we're learning.