TOP 10 QUESTIONS: (for 1st Month)

FIRST MONTH - March 19 - April 19

1. What do you typically eat for breakfast and lunch each day? Breakfast: Muesli (oats, corn flakes, and various dried fruits) with plain yogurt Lunch: Whole wheat bread with seeds, cheese, carrots, red peppers (they are so inexpensive), and an apple

2. How do you do laundry? After several days wearing the same thing, we will wash it out in the sink with the Woolite that we brought. Then we hang it up wherever we can - usually on a special rack everyone seems to have. Alla, in Turkey, is the only one we've met that had a clothes dryer.
3. Does most everyone speak some English? Yes! We do find that generally the young people speak more English whereas hardly any of the older people do. In the more remote areas, there are fewer that speak English.
4. How have your CS experiences been? Fantastic! We have made so many friends and it's amazing that in just 2 – 3 days, we end up crying as we depart. There are many who open up their homes, trust us with their key, some give up their own bed, and they ALWAYS feed us at least one meal, usually more. They are interested in coming to the USA, but chances are most of them will never have that opportunity. Most of them live with very limited finances and have so very little, but offer everything. They all LOVE to hear about America, however, and enjoy talking with pride about their country, their people, their language, and their heritage.
5. What is your favorite place so far (for the first month)? It is quite difficult to choose, but both of us agree that Rhodos was an amazing experience! The Sandu family went out of their way for us. From the moment they picked us up from our late ferry and fed us after I had been very sick to the excursions they drove us on, to the music we shared, to the fantastic meals, to the great conversation of which we all could communicate even though 3 of them could speak very little English. The old towne had so much history, the weather was perfect, and there were few tourists. Nafplio was wonderful for the scenic surroundings, the sea, the castle, the romantic food and walks, and having our room in a pension. EVERY experience has been memorable!!
6. How many miles of walking do you average per day? Between walking from our host's home to catch our next bus, metro, train, or plane and walking everywhere to the sites (sometimes with our 22 lb. backpacks on), we probably average between 5 – 6 miles a day.
7. What do you miss the most? MY CHILDREN and GRANDCHILDREN!! Rich doesn't miss ANYTHING! Well....he does confess that he misses his exercise bike because he has gained a little weight. Oh – it's true that I miss my swim classes and being able to stretch each morning. Everyone has tile or wood floors, so stretching each morning is impossible. Sometimes we do it in our beds in the morning for a few minutes.
8. Are you tired of wearing the same clothes? Rich says no, I say yes! I would think our blog followers would also get tired of seeing the same 4 – 5 shirts in all of the pictures. HA!
9. What are the beds like that you sleep in each night? We have both slept well every night that we've been gone. It's amazing how the body adapts from a very hard mattress on the floor, to an over-sized single bed, to a super soft couch with no support. Luckily, we both brought our Down pillows, which has made all the difference!
10. Do you find things in general more or less expensive than Idaho? Turkey was quite inexpensive for most everything. The touristic sites were more than we hoped, so we had to limit what we saw. In Greece, the fuel was very expensive, so bus fares were, also. Food, however, in both countries were very affordable, especially, fresh produce and yogurt. Cheese and meat was more than in Idaho, which we eat very little anyway.