Friday, July 13, 2007

Quick update

Hey folks, just a quick update as we haven't been online for a while. Anyone that has been diligently checking our Flickr page will know that we have not been in Turkey for a while. About 6 weeks ago, we decided that we would extend our travels in the Middle East so that we could meet up with Anth's wonderful friends Kate and Andy (who have just embarked on a similar length jaunt) in Turkey and with Anth's parents (who will be hitting Europe in August). All of this has meant that we have been able to "upsize" our itinerary to include Syria and Jordan (both places that Anth has been before but was very happy to re-visit).

I won't bore everyone with an Iran size treatise on having one's expectations completely countered in an "Axis of Evil" country. Suffice to say the week we spent there was great - we ambled a lot in the very charming Old Town in Aleppo, we woke up at 5am to see the stunning Roman ruins at Palmyra, we ate a lot of cheap and fantastic street food, and we met some very interesting young Syrians.

We are currently in Jordan enjoying the wonderful hospitality of a former co-worker of mine from Pact - Dianne - and her son Gabriel. We've been a few great trips out of Amman - including the ruins in Petra and Jerash - but most of all we have LOVED been able to be in a house for the first time in months. The side benefits have included cereal (god I've missed it), access to a washing machine, and television (we watched half of the final season of the West Wing - which has been with us since Islamabad - in one sitting).

Our novel period of relative inertia will be ending in a few days when we head back to Syria and then Turkey. It certainly feels like the next phase of our journey through Europe and North America is much more imminent - as is the need to find gainful employment when we finish up in South America!

5 comments:

Kratzy said...

... sigh ...

Here I am trying my hardest to write an annual report to the Federal government and I slip into your blog for 5 mins brain relief. I see stories of amazing places and adventures. I am excited and energised by your travels. I go a lovely shade of green (envy not illness). I leave and return to my existence of statistics, reporting and policy writing. I get sad and my feet - almost immediately - get very itchy...

Anonymous said...

and a parent says, "#$@!%$#@!!, 'bout time you though bout the next phase", and kratzy, are you in that phase between youth and middle age?

Kratzy said...

Good morning Benoy parents... Yes I am indeed in that "tween" stage. I think I will be there for a few more years yet. In so mmany ways it is more awful that that "tween stage" of high school - child and youth. It comes with a bucket load of responsibility!

I think it may all stem from the fact that I've agreed to marry an incredibly wonderful young man and it is doing strange things to my head. Some days I'm over the moon and other days I'm simply, as Mark put it very well last night, overwhelmed. I've always been very judgemental on the whole "cold feet" thing, but I can see it is really scary. No matter how much you love the person...

Anonymous said...

dear kratzy, (we are at risk of testing the patience of A-squared) but wait 'till kid(s) come along. They'll straighten out all the kinks. Ref. marriage, it's the world's greatest institution when it's working, and akin to a Stalinist gulag when not.... keep smiling.

Andrew Dempster said...

Can't wait to see you guys tomorrow. Not sure though how you'll react to my need to locate a wireless internet signal every 12 hours...