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Sellers Round-the-World Trip

декабря 2022 - мая 2023
148-дневное приключение от Heather, Brian, Katie & Maddie Читать далее
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  • Sellers Round-the-World Trip
    День 80

    Everybody was Muay Thai Fighting…

    19 марта 2023 г., Таиланд ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F

    Every morning around 6 am I have been waking up to the sound of yelling over at the Muay Thai studio down the road from us. What better way to spend our time …or have the girls spend their time than learning some Muay Thai while we’re here in Thailand!

    I grew up doing judo so while it’s always been really important to me to have that sense of self / with knowing how to protect myself…and I’ve always wanted to have the girls learn to defend themselves as well. However we just haven’t really made that happen yet. So why not start in Thailand.

    One hour of training - it was hot! The coach did not go easy on either of them and they rocked it - again! The cool thing about it was how happy everyone was - it was serious but happy at the same time.

    We head out tomorrow and they’re going to practice for another hour with the same coach before we check out in the AM.

    Otherwise we’ve had fun seeing a different part of Thailand. Girls have continued to do homeschool.We’ve had some crazy cheap massages. And we’ve had some AMAZING Thai food!

    Tomorrow we’re off to Bangkok for the night and then Nepal. We’ll be in Kathmandu for several days, Pokhara for 4-5 days and then a 5 day trek into the Himalayas! Can’t wait!

    See you in the next country!!    Читать далее

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  • Sellers Round-the-World Trip
    4
    День 83

    Returning to Kathmandu

    22 марта 2023 г., Непал ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F

    In 2000, I spent several months backpacking through Southeast Asia, including about 3 weeks in Nepal and Tibet. I had gotten a respiratory infection while in Nepal, so couldn’t go trekking like I had hoped to. Somehow I ended up spending most of my time near a place previously unknown to me - Bouddhanath Stupa, the largest Buddhist prayer Kora in all of Nepal. It became precious to me - I spent hours there, watching the Tibetan Buddhists pray and walk clockwise around the prayer circuit, spinning prayer wheels clockwise, quietly saying mantras, with colorful prayer flags flapping gently in the wind overhead with the smell of incense in the air. It became my happy place and since that time, I’ve always considered it my favorite place on the other side of the world. ❤️

    More than 20 year later I have finally returned with Brian and the kiddos - and the second I saw it again, my breath stopped. It is magnificent. No amount of pictures or video can do it justice. As a proud hospice nurse who believes deeply in the work I do, I don’t always understand what makes me tick but I do know it’s based on a spiritual connection to my work. That said, I feel as strongly and spiritually connected to Bouddhanath even 20 years later as I do in being a hospice nurse. So glad to be back…

    For us as a family, this has been yet another eye opening part of this adventure: seeing the “monkey temple,” homeless dogs, Hindu cremations on an outdoor funeral pyre (yes we saw this), learning about the Sherpa, meeting monks, lots of cars and chaotic traffic, a crazy ride in a Rickshaw, and having the most wonderful guide that we ended up having dinner with the following night along with her family. We have been blessed with this.

    Tomorrow we head to Pokhara and then trekking…

    You’ll probably hear from us after the trek is done / not sure about wifi up in the Himalayas as it’s already terrible in Kathmandu!

    Love and light!    Читать далее

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  • Sellers Round-the-World Trip
    1
    День 90

    Nepal Trekking Awesomeness!

    29 марта 2023 г., Непал ⋅ ☀️ 37 °F

    When I read about this trek before we left on the trip, articles considered this one of the “easiest” treks in Nepal that a 6 year old could do. Well - that 6 year old better be in some crazy good shape because we just spent 4 nights and 5 days getting crushed (in a good way though) by the Himalayas!

    The Ghorepani-Poon Hill trek was an amazing and truly remarkable experience that I will forever cherish. We had a guide, Santosh, and two porters (each one carried a backpack - one with clothes and supplies and the other camera gear!). These 3 men made the trip for us - helped us every literal step of the way, helped us with finding delicious and authentic food, lodging, and were crazy patient with us as we walked usuallly up hill around 5-6 miles per day. We spent so much time together: ate together and laughed together - and they watched some of cry together.

    This “tour” is not a luxury tour by western standards - we trekked during the day, stopped at open air guest/tea houses that served lunch, usually filtered our own water using our grayl water bottle, then trekked a couple more hours before we spent the night in a tea house which is a combined hostal/restaurant (all menus the same at each tea house in the region)- that have no heat other than furnace on the main level that everyone sits around getting warmed up by the heat and warm masala or lemon ginger honey tea. It was rough, cold and challenging — but that is part of what makes this so amazing and so worth it.

    The food was amazing (lots of Dal bhat and veggie curry with rice and chapatis and Tibetan bread). The tea was divine. The duvets were super warm as long as an extremity didn’t poke out by accident in the middle of the night- even having my jacket covered shoulder exposed sent shivers through my whole body. Showers only happened once in 4 nights…

    But we did it!

    On day 3- we woke up at 430 am to hike in the dark to the summit of Poon Hill - if you can imagine walking up stairs non stop for an hour up the side of a large mountain in the dark- that’s what we did. The views were stunning the whole way up as the rising sun decided to slowly display ever changing colors across the sky. Brian and Maddie went up first and katie and I a bit slower - the views were stunning and we did it!!

    We had our share of experiences with critters- between dogs and cats that jumped into the girls laps to their delight to Maddie and I separately finding ENORMOuS spiders (no joke - 5-6 inches across) in our bathrooms within 20 minutes apart at night, resulting in multiple frantic yelling out to our guide and having him laugh after lifting up and proudly showing us the very large dead bodies of the gargantuan spiders that are apparently common in this part of the country. We did not sleep well that night!

    Anyhow were back in Pokhara now, got a deliciously warm shower, are back to school work, and will head back to Kathmandu tomorrow - overland rather than fly -because after our last flight we learned that the same airline (Yeti) AND route we flew on last week crashed 2 months prior to our trip. We hadn’t known that when we booked it, so decided to be on the safer side! So tomorrow we’ll drive between 6-8 hours to get back to Kathmandu.

    We hope you are all doing well and hopefully enjoying the beginning or end of spring break back home!!

    Next Stop: Cape Town, South Africa!! We leave on Monday.

    Below is the overview of our trek- feel free to read or not but I wanted to remember some of the details for myself and the book I’m going to create from FindPenguins…

    ————————-
    overview of our trip:

    Day 1: we drove an hour and a half from Pokhara to our trekking starting point (funny we thought those views were amazing at the beginning - little did we know!). Santosh had us drive a bit further up the trail than they would normally for adults since we had kids. It was appreciated!! We still walked uphill several hours. We stayed in Ulleri at night at a simple tea house with delicious food and masala tea. We taught Santosh Uno and had a woman from Spain join us - we got to practice our Spanish! We had our own bathroom in our room. It was cold! First time girls spent the night in a separate room from us.

    Day 2: all day trek from Ulleri to Ghorepani and stayed at another tea house with stunning views of multiple snow capped enormous mountains. Basic room was freezing at night but very warm duvets!! Girls had to change clothes under the covers! 🤪 it worked well. We got to meet some fluffy sweet dogs and a very cute kitten that jumped on both girls laps - made their day. We also met some really nice people from Ireland that night who were super sweet in listening to a lot of kid dog and gerbil stories about back home! Kids had pizza - B and I ate some veggie thali- so so good!

    Day 3: ugh - woke up at 430 am - could see our breath in the room. We got our head lamps out and began the early 5 am trek to Poon Hill. - an hour or so trek up - hard but amazing! Santosh got us some warm tea at the top and had helped encourage Katie the whole way up! Then we came back to the tea house for breakfast (delicious), warmed up near their large furnace and trekked the rest of the day (5-6 hours) to Tadapani. Santosh recommended a pony for the first hour of significant up hill trekking for Katie toward Tadapani - which ended up being a great idea because she was so exhausted and loved being on the horse! Tadapani ended up being awesome because even though we ended up at a tea house with a shared toilet for 20ish people, we met two French families living in Dubai - there were lots of kids and they got to play!!

    Day 4: tadapani to Gandruk - girls said goodbye to their friends and we finally got some downhill but then realized our muscles got more sore from downhill than uphill! 3 hour trek to Gangdruk.

    That night in Gandruk - my least favorite - I saw the biggest spider of life. So did Maddie - not cool but at least they weren’t poisonous!

    Day 5: Gandruk to Pokhara - we trekked downhill only for over an hour and then car brought us back to our hotel (2 more hours). Long warm showers followed just about the second we walked back in here and we haven’t left the room since other than to get food downstairs !

    It’s been an adventure!!    Читать далее

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  • Sellers Round-the-World Trip
    11
    День 98

    Capetown - Family and Penguins!

    6 апреля 2023 г., Южная Африка ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F

    I woke up this morning and experienced something that is occurring more frequently - I truly couldn’t remember where I was! I thought “definitely not Nepal - where am I?” Finally realized as I looked around and saw I’m in a huge beautiful tent that I’m in South Africa - in Kruger National Park. (I’m a bit behind in writing)

    There are such stark differences between Nepal and South Africa- both so beautiful in their own way. Both with such unique histories, landscapes, cultures and religions. Different food. We’ve quickly become accustomed to Load shedding (daily scheduled power outages) here. And while Nepal is home to one of my favorite sites (Bouddhanath) in the world, South Africa tugs at my heart in particular as it’s where my father was born…and where my Aunt Amanda lives that I only got to know recently. A large part of my family’s history is here…and It has been remarkable. ❤️

    Capetown is at the south-western most tip of Africa. It is surrounded by uniquely lined and stacked mountains on multiple sides, including Table mountain, which we visited via a large, high tech revolving cable car. We stayed at a beautiful bed and breakfast a block from my aunt so we could have some good family time. We went Aunt Amanda and Aunt Penny’s house with their lovely cats. We had a beautiful family picnic at the local botanical gardens. We had a braai (traditional South Africa grill/BBQ) with distant cousins which was also so special. We also drove along beach towns on the coast, made friends with a local kite surfing family, and Maddie became close friends with the daughter and had her first sleepover since being on this trip. She even got to try kite surfing.

    We also got to go to Boulders Beach and were surprised to see hundreds of penguins nesting. We even got to go in the water near them - freezing water - so only Brian went swimming! Shocker 😂. We also got see an animal we had never heard of called a Dassie. Super cute combo looks like a mini bear and Guinea pig that hang out in and on the bushes near the Cape.

    I have travelled quite extensively in the past but still get caught off guard by how many things (places, ideas, and animals) I didnt know existed. For some reason I love learning about how much I don’t know. I love that reality check in life - there is so much out there. There is always something new. There is always something to be explored. So much beauty in that. I feel that constantly here. It’s beautiful.

    And more than anything I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to get to know my Aunt - we are so blessed to have such a beautiful human being as part of our family. Beyond grateful…❤️

    Anyhow long post - hope you’re all well! I’ll write soon about Kruger National Park then we’ll be off to Egypt and Morocco!

    —————————————————-

    “Life is a daring adventure towards an unknown future. Its beauty depends on how much you enjoy the journey.”

    Debasish Mridha    Читать далее

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  • Sellers Round-the-World Trip
    121121
    День 105

    Kruger National Park Splendor

    13 апреля 2023 г., Южная Африка ⋅ 🌙 59 °F

    I hadn’t given Kruger National Park much thought before going this past week. Part of that is due to the sheer volume of planning involved in this trip and the other part is due to…naïveté, ignorance maybe, lack of understanding of how this type of natural environment can wallop and overwhelm your senses in its vastness and beauty…but it got me. I was mesmerized each and every time I went out into the park.

    We spent almost a week - 6 hours east of Johannesburg at a lodge inside of the Numbi Gate of Kruger National Park. Our lodge was without a doubt glamping - and I’m ok with that. We ate delicious meals on campus and then Either went out on game drives with the lodge or did our own “self drive”. When I say we did a self drive, I mean Brian drove (amazingly well on the Left side of the road - and steering wheel on right side of the car). He was a champ! There is NO way you would get me to drive - I do enough back seat or passenger seat driving for all of us when I don’t drive on the opposite side of the road!

    He would drive us on these bumpy dirt roads past zebras, enormous giraffes, curious hyenas, one of my favorite - the mystical Kudu, lions, elephants, baboons and even rhinos!

    The complexity, adaptability and interdependence within each group/pack of animals, plants, and birds were remarkable. Every time I went out - I learned something new and loved every second of it. I went on some sort of game drive daily and just let the wind blow in my hair , watching the landscape change, animals come out of hiding from the hot sun to get water, and experience animal life awaken as the sun went down.

    Whether it was learning what type of leaves “bush” locals use if they don’t have toilet paper! Don’t accidentally use the similar looking leaf with hidden spikes!

    Or learning first hand about puff adders (highly venomous snake) because Katie almost stepped on one near our tent!

    Or seeing hippos up close at sunset, learning
    About their territorial behavior in the water and soon after seeing the hyena mom, on the side of the road, who was breast feeding a bunch of hyena pups. Hearing our guide yell at said pups and then explaining to us “don’t let the hyena pups bite our tires - they’ll pop them and then those pups won’t seem so cute anymore because we’ll be their snack!”

    Or seeing the myriad of colors in the sky at sunset. I didn’t know that many colors were possible!

    Kruger - you won over my heart. We’re forever grateful and we’ll definitely see you again!

    Next stop: quick stop in Cairo and then Morocco!    Читать далее

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  • Sellers Round-the-World Trip
    День 111

    Cairo - pyramids and cattle?

    19 апреля 2023 г., Египет ⋅ ☁️ 91 °F

    Egypt was originally just supposed to be a layover from South Africa to Morocco but we decided early on to extend it for a few days just to see Cairo and Giza. It was a bit more than we bargained for and my least favorite place so far (more due to the nature of the tours)- but still definitely worth the stop.

    Our hotel, located in Giza in a non touristy neighborhood off a dirt road, was very unique. It has narrow stairs and hallways was located up on just the 13-15 floors of a large building. This hotel happened to have a spectacular view of the pyramids on its rooftop and we were served traditional Egyptian breakfast each morning - with cooked eggplant, fruit slices, egg and bread.

    Our trip happened to coincide with the tail-end of Ramadan and as you can imagine not many restaurants were open during the day. We were lucky we got the breakfast! We had to survive on thai chili Cheetos and way too many cashews and dried apricots for our digestive tracks during the day. In addition, the owner of the hotel was extremely kind in inviting all of us to break fast with them on the last night of Ramadan - so we had a fabulous Egyptian meal while overlooking the pyramids.

    However, the tours felt different here. I felt for the first time since a zip lining tour in Costa Rica in January, like we were cattle getting pushed along all day. In Costa Rica, there were tons of people zip lining so while it was super fun, we got pushed on each zip line quickly. There was no rest. Here in Egypt it was the sites - “Go see this quickly and we got the best seat just for you!” “Then let’s go across town and we chose this best thing for you…” “Oh and my manager said that if you want, after this whole day tour, to hop on an overnight bus (12 hours!!) to do another tour tomorrow in Luxor and then another overnight bus back - we can help you pack and go in 2 hours” - ah heck no!! I just want to rest.

    While I am surprised frequently by our experiences in new countries, I’m usually happy to encounter these surprises - things that are different from our expectation. Why? Because I like when my preconceived notions are incorrect! If they’re positive or negative - I’m constantly learning and adjusting my way of thinking.

    That said, Cairo has 30 million people and it’s massive highways don’t have ANY markings to separate individual lanes - basically their highway reminded me of a bumper car ride where the track starts and cars basically go in which and all merge and sway - except in this case - miraculously no bumping! My eyes were wide open in the back watching this phenomenon / kids asleep on my shoulders. (They have become seasoned travelers for sure)
    ——————-
    Anyhow we just completed ANOTHER overnight flight and have landed safely in Morocco.

    Many of you may not know but Brian is cutting his trip short to help out with some things at home…so we are all parting ways on Tuesday April 25th to start making his way home.

    The girls and I will continue on for another month and then will head home a bit early as well!    Читать далее

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  • Sellers Round-the-World Trip
    3
    1
    День 115

    Marrakech- Time to Say Goodbye

    23 апреля 2023 г., Марокко ⋅ ☀️ 86 °F

    Brian and I have always wanted to come to Morocco - and Brian in particular has always wanted to go to the Sahara - so we’re bummed about him heading home a bit early and missing the desert portion of Morocco - that said it’s been an AMAZING trip together and it’s time to start preparing to come home.

    We all spent 3 days all together in Casablanca and Marrakech before Brian headed home (via Istanbul) and us girls headed to the Sahara. Brian got to see the outside of Ricks Cafe, homage to one of his favorite movies Casablanca. We got to watch sunrise from the rooftop of our riad together, having Moroccan mint tea tour and watching things come to life in the old Medina. We also got explore some Berber villages with the girls before taking Brian to the airport and say goodbye for the next month. It’s a strange thing to have literally been staying in the same room or being side by side 24/7 for 4 months and then to part ways - will take some adjusting for sure.

    If you were to ask the girls their favorite part of Marrakech - they would say the cats. Oh the cats! On the small walkway to our riad/hotel, 3 separate cats gave birth in a 24 hour period. While the cats are feral, many people make an effort to care for them so the cats are quite friendly! We saw lots of little kittens and cats kept trying to get the kids’ attention.

    If you were to ask me my favorite part- it’s the winding pathways along ochre colored walls, colorful clothing the Muslim and Berber women wear, along with the all of the beautifully decorated mosques and frequent prayers over the loudspeakers. It’s the sunrise from the rooftop of our riad. It’s been watching the kids connect with the animals.. Another lovely jolt to the senses…

    ————-
    As I write this, Brian has just made it home safely — and is girls are currently in Fes, just having finished our time in the Sahara.

    We’ll be touring the city tomorrow and then have one more night before we head to Western Europe. Venice—Munich—Paris—Barcelona. Some flights - lots of train time and then will be time to come home.

    Ill do another post at the end of Morocco - pics here will reflect time in Marrakech and maybe a teaser from the Sahara 🙂

    Hope you are all well - lots of love to all of you. ❤️    Читать далее

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  • Sellers Round-the-World Trip
    13
    День 119

    Morocco - Sellers Girls Explore

    27 апреля 2023 г., Марокко ⋅ ⛅ 82 °F

    Our time in Morocco is one of the first official “tours” we have done on this entire trip. The company is amazing - the places we have stayed are very unique and wonderful - but after traveling for so long and so quickly - this pace is a bit grueling and we’re tired.

    Our guide said that some people will do a similar trip in 3 weeks to a month. We are doing this in a 10 day trip…did I know this beforehand? No of course not - my planning of things has had to be more basic and hasty. Without that we wouldn’t have made it out our front door last December. Given our quite expedited schedule, I’m getting a lot of sighs from the kiddos. Our conversations go about like this:

    Kid 1: how long are we driving today?
    Me: I don’t know - as long as i takes. Just go with it.
    Guide: about 8 hours.
    Kid 1 and 2: muffled complaints and sighs from back seat.
    Me (inside my brain): well (bleep bleep) …that’s longer than I thought. oh well at least I get to look out the window and relax!
    Kid 1: ok I guess I’ll go to sleep…lays head down and falls asleep immediately in back seat.
    Kid 2: will there be wifi? I still don’t understand why I have full bars and the wifi doesn’t work.
    Me: cause we’re in the middle of the Sahara.
    Kid 2: but I have full bars
    Me: desert - Morocco - lots of sand dunes - bad wifi. Just look out the window! It’s beautiful!
    Kid 2: UGH and lays head against window begrudgingly…

    8 hours later
    Kid 1: wakes up and says “oh that wasn’t so bad”
    Kid 2: yah not so bad - it’s pretty here - can I call my friends once we get to the riad? I hope the wifi works!

    🙂

    Anyhow we spent two days in the Sahara - in a camp that we accessed over sand dunes by camel and then stayed at a Berber camp. We then went quad biking in the dunes (probably one of my favorite activities of this entire trip - which I was very surprised by). Maddie and I rode individual quad bikes and katie hopped on back with a guide. We felt alone out in the dunes and I got to watch Maddie sprout her wings as she rode up and along high dunes in the sunset. I then got to ride on the back of her quad bike with her driving which made me flash forward a few years to thinking about her driving. She did a great job!!

    Then we spent time in Fes, a large city with meandering pathways only understood by someone that is from the city. It’s very easy to get lost and some of the pathways were so skinny we almost had to tuck our arms in to get through!

    My favorite city other than Marrakech was Chefchaoun, a small city nestled in the mountains, with predominantly blue colored buildings here in the north. We spent the afternoon “getting lost” in various narrow walkways through town and amazingly ended up coming out at an ice cream shop. Delicious. Then while the kids stayed happily in our room, I got a traditional hammam, a cleansing of the skin in a steam room. The woman was amazing, scrubbed so much horribly dead skin off and sang in Arabic. It sounds cheesy but it was this beautiful connection and while I was having my body cleansed, I feel a bit of my soul was as well.

    While we’re happy to move on to Venice today - all day travels once again - and will be happy to explore on our own rather than on a tour I’ll miss some things:

    - tagine
    - the hammam (I’m not great at taking care of myself but loved this)
    -being so surprised by the varying landscape - some of the country felt like wine country - some like Virginia - other like you would expect sand dunes.
    - the beautiful mosaics on every wall/building/mosque
    -prayers over the loud speakers
    - pathways where each time, you don’t know what you’ll experience around the next turn
    -watching the girls yell out “another kitty” around just about every corner in every town. Their love for animals is special.

    So we are leaving the continent of Africa now after 4 weeks…we have experienced so much here…but I’m ready to wander along canals with the girls.

    We’ve been FaceTiming Brian multiple times a day and while he’s missed so much, we are so happy he’s back home with our pups - and we’re just about ready to be back too!

    We’ll write more soon! ❤️    Читать далее

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  • Sellers Round-the-World Trip
    11
    День 127

    Ciao Bella -Exploring Venice!

    5 мая 2023 г., Италия ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F

    Venice has been amazing. We rented an apartment for the week and it’s been so nice to have our own rooms, make delicious Italian coffee in the morning, having an actual refrigerator requiring us going to a local grocery store, hang laundry to dry outside our window on the 2nd floor, walking along the myriad of canals and seeing 100s of gelaterias (we have tried many so far! - Suso is my favorite!!).

    I have been so excited to be back here - last time I was here was during my junior year abroad in Switzerland. Late 90s had felt unreal to me - we would “ditch” school to hop on an overnight train to have an extra day in Italy over a weekend. Let’s just say it’s been awhile - and a lot has changed. A lot more people everywhere…a lot more shops…a lot more gondolas - but still the same allure…

    …The same wonder hearing people speak in Italian with such an expressiveness in their hands and faces…

    …The deliciousness of the pizzas (definitely the most delicious crusts I’ve get had) and they are the cheapest thing on the menu usually!!!

    …The creaminess and delicious flavors of gelato!

    …The feeling of not knowing what you will see as you cross over yet another small bridge over a lovely small canal and turn the corner…

    …the feeling of questioning your mothering skills when the girls say they know how to get home from the grocery store…and letting them go alone(!). (Then realizing they got back to the apartment way more easily than I did!!)

    …and getting a much needed haircut felt good too!

    We’ve been here almost one week already - I can’t believe it. Time is going by so fast …and we are coming home in 2 1/2 weeks.

    We’re going to watch the 90s version of Romeo and Juliet tonight (which I’ve never seen) and hop on a train tomorrow morning to visit fair Verona for a day.

    On Tuesday AM, we’ll then take a 4 am water taxi and then Flight to Munich. We’ll be there for a week and Maddie will take her long awaited German lessons (she LOVES the German language!).

    We’ll also begin studying a bit of a world War 2 for the last couple of weeks we are here, including reading the Diary of Anne Frank and visiting some WWII sites along the way.

    Hope you are all doing well! ❤️

    Next stop:

    Munich and then Paris a week later - via train (I got a eurail pass for us!)    Читать далее

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  • Sellers Round-the-World Trip
    День 133

    What in the World is “Worldschooling?”

    11 мая 2023 г., Германия ⋅ 🌧 52 °F

    —As I write this, I just found there will be a strike throughout Germany at the end of this week into next week, which means our train to France is probably going to be cancelled — so worldschooling will include navigating that now as well!—

    During Covid I pulled the kids to homeschool for the 2020-2021 school year - it was a challenging shift for all of us. While I love educating in a nursing setting,I had no idea what I was doing with the kids in terms of education. Both of our amazing kiddos have dyslexia; both have various super cool skills, beautiful talents and also challenges. How do I teach? I Dunno but I had to figure it out somehow - the best I could at the time.

    Jump forward to 2022 - I was thinking about this trip for our family after the mamas died and while googling, i saw the term “worldschooling”: Learning through experiencing different cultures, languages, histories, music, arts - perfect. I learned how to homeschool due to necessity the previous couple of years- why not learn to “worldschool”.

    So here we’re are…about 5 months in to this trip and about to come home. We have the world as our teacher, so the learning just happens by “being”. We are also very fortunate to have an amazing online weekly tutor, Alex, that helped us during Covid as well. She helps the kids with math and English. Maddie has been working on research papers, OpEds; katie has been improving her skills as a budding writer. We’re starting the Diary of Anne Frank and are learning about World War 2. The kids have had to learn to be more independent in their work habits and overall thinking. They have had to push through challenging topics, fears, new cultures and foods, and they are growing before our eyes - mentally and physically. While I’m constantly helping throughout the day- they are the ones doing it and Brian and I are so proud of them!! ❤️❤️

    As a beautiful friend reminded me recently that I should step back and look at what they’ve done in the last month or so…

    In the past month:
    - one month ago today: we were visiting my amazing aunts in Capetown and meeting family we hadn’t known about. We learned about life in South Africa, had delicious braai, learned some of the history of apartheid and Nelson Mandela, load shedding and met family.
    - we saw so many amazing animals in Kruger National Park and learned about the intricate and complex ecosystem amongst animal species and the landscape in this amazing park.

    - we traveled to Egypt - learned about Ramadan, hearing prayers over loud speakers, learned basic words in Arabic, saw the pyramids of Giza, rode camels, ate new foods.

    - we travelled through Morocco, went into the 3rd largest mosque in the world, ate tagine and drank mint tea, learned about the Berber, the royal family, and saw beautiful architecture in the narrow pathways of Fes.

    -spent a week living in an apartment in Venice, walking the canals, learned the history of Venetian masks, hearing church bells, and eating more delicious pizza and gelato than we could handle. (I also have a new favorite drink - Aperol Spritz! So good!)

    - now we’re in Munich, Germany - we have walked through the Marienplatz, visited the local market and are currently studying in a cafe; Maddie is also taking a few German lessons at a school across town 2 hours a day (per her request) so we have quickly learned to take the metro here (somehow a fear of mine that is now overcome!) to turn a rainy 30 minute walk to school into a 5 minute walk and 2 minute metro train ride.

    That is worldschooling. It’s been marvelous (!!) ❤️❤️ and challenging. Lots of laughter and tears! New sights and smells. Interesting sounds and unique ways of living life. What a beautiful world.

    I wouldn’t have it any other way!    Читать далее

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