Showing posts with label hotels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hotels. Show all posts

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Ephesus and Rhodes

Goodbye Turkey...




Well, we've made it over to Greece... and we're loving it! I'm seeing the island mentality of "take it easy and enjoy some sun" and it is niiiice...

Turkey was a great place, but it's true that we like to walk down the street without people getting in our faces selling stuff.

It also feels ultra forward to actually wear short pants, and I'm shocked at the amount of skin we're seeing again now that we've left modest Turkey...and there are way more women in public now too.

Let's see, what have we been up to the last couple of weeks?

*Visited the burial place of the Apostle John in Selchuk, Turkey
*Visited Ephesus, the best preserved ancient Roman city...and absolutely overrun with tourists. This is where Paul preached and got thrown in jail for telling people to stop making miniature idols of the gods.
*Jacob played some ball with some Turkish youth
*We stayed at Tom and Ali's hostel and Tom really literally fell in love with Jacob despite his girlfriend of 3 years...kissed him right on the cheek and told me not to be jealous...Jacob would pretend to be Tom's boss in front of other customers and ask him to go vaccuum and Tom thought that was the best joke ever...I also almost left my computer at this hostel and remembered before the dolmus left to go to Marmaris...close call.
*We rode on a "Blue Dolphin" to get to Rhodes. It only took an hour on this super fast boat. The water is soo blue here, it is really beautiful.
*Jacob went snorkeling for the first time and feels it will now be a lifetime hobby. I did not go but opted instead to float on my inflatable ring while Jacob pushed me around looking for fish.
*We stayed in a reallllly nice place in Pefkos, for 20 euros a night. It had a kitchen and Jacob made us some yummy meals, including fish, spaghetti, and fish spaghetti.
*We went couch surfing for the first time, with a guy who generously picked us up, bought us lunch, dropped us off in the city, and left us at his house while he went to another island. He is really cool!
*The old city of Rhodes is where the Crusader Knights had their base, and it is like Jerusalem, without the intense religious and political undertones.
*We will be visiting Santorini tomorrow, and meeting up with Perry a few days later. That will be fun!
*Jacob and I are having weekly meetings now where we discuss our business, how to improve it, and set goals. It is really a blast! It is really motivating to work together, and to tell the truth, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine this work situation for myself when we first set out for Heiligenhaus, Germany. But it just shows God knows what's better for us than we do! Recently, I started focusing more on marketing The Jump Manual, and it's been really fun. I LOVE having no boss, choosing what time to get up in the morning, and setting my own goals for improving the business. It definitely helps that Jacob is an idea machine, and is so business savvy. A learning curve so high with starting an internet business would be so difficult to not have him around. Fortunately, he's made it past the hard part and I get to participate in the fun part, which is helping it grow. It also helps that The Jump Manual really is the best vertical jump program available, so finding ways to make it visible and promotable is easy.
*And last but not least, Mom made a beautiful wedding album for us! It's one of my greatest regrets to have no photo album from our wedding. If any of you, by the way, have photos of Jacob and I PLEASE send them to us. Our photographer lost all of our photos but two...But anyways Mom has made a really lovely collection of the photos we do have, and I'll post it here. Thanks Mom! It's made from a company that my cousin Andrea participates in, so I'll put in a plug for her that if you are interested you can find out more about HeritageMakers from her.




















Because the connection isn't working so well, look for more photos on Facebook...

And, HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MUM AND MOM!!!! We love y'all so much!
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Friday, December 5, 2008

Getting spoiled...

I had just learned that Kalli would no longer be working with the school, which was clearly the best thing for her. But the timing of this and what happened next is fairly remarkable.

First of all we were literally moments, wallet in hand kind of thing, away from committing to 3 months rent. Also I was about an hour away from purchasing a motorcycle. I waited for Kalli to have a very long conversation with her work and waited with the real estate agent to sign the papers.

Kalli came down and said we would have to wait and then explained what was going on.

I took a walk down main street, knowing we would want to find a temporary place but realizing that EVERYWHERE is at least a 3 month commitment. No furnished temporary havens for us. I was still just feeling very good, realizing that this was really best. The growing pains at the school make it not a very good place to be. But I happened upon a hotel and inquired as to prices. The gentleman and I spoke at length as he gave me a tour. I quickly realized that this place was over our head... It was a 4 star hotel and usually rented by businessmen. The rates were around $200/day. As we chatted a just felt good about what was happening but he asked me how much I expected to pay for a month. I explained that there was no way I could do a room here for a month justice, it was just too good for what we were looking for. He said he would make me a special deal he never made anyone. I told him we were trying to find a place for 400 - 500 euros a month but I realized, once again, that this was much more than we were looking for. I told him I could also help optimize his hotel website for visitors.

He then told me we could have the studio, a 2 bedroom suite with entertainment system, fridge, completely furnished with nice leather couches, a beautiful view, access to the sauna and hot tub, and 2 small packs of delicious haribo gummy bears all for 500 euros for a month. It was one of the most delightful and ridiculous things I have ever heard. I left the place literally laughing with joy for about a half mile down main street.

The same night we moved in. On a full stomach of gummy bears we slept on a bed that was actually meant for 2.

This same day I had thought already so much about how much we have to rely on people and how that need makes it somehow easier to make friends.


A video of our new place.


Here are some more pictures.


And more up to the new suite.

Up to the new suite.



OUR old roomate... Very very cool guy.

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