I am actually writing this on friday Nov 5th because we arrived home at 4:30am after leaving Turkey on thursday afternoon!
The kids were great at getting up and out of their rooms by 9:30am sharp yesterday as we prepared to leave. Just picture the hotel lobby with the suitcases for 93 people! The poor housekeeping staff! We had taken over the entire hotel, so they now had the entire hotel to clean!
As promised, we took the kids back down to the quaint town of Goreme for last minute shopping, some apple tea, and one last bite of chocolate gozleme! They scurried through the shops, successfully bargaining for the items they needed. Then it was back to the hotel for a quick bite of lunch and then off to the airport. We left Kayseri at approximately 5pm, arrived in Istanbul about 6:30pm, then made a quick run to catch our flight back to Abu Dhabi. We touched down just before 3am on friday morning and surprisingly all 93 of us had our bags on the bus by 3:30!! The bus pulled back into the school parking lot a bit after 4am.
I had asked my group on the final part of the journey what their favorite memory of the trip was. I was surprised at their answers. But I guess we have to remember they are 12!
“I enjoyed the night we had chicken wings for dinner”
“I liked when you did room check in the mornings”
“I liked the long bus ride the other day”
“I liked the chocolate gozleme”
What about the hiking?… The pottery place?… The monasteries?…The gorgeous weather?… The cafe in the river?….. Like I said they are 12!!
I know this was a very successful trip and they will remember the new friends they made and some day they will recall the spectacular scenery they witnessed! Even though I was exhausted and was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, I am truly thankful to have been a chaperone on this adventure. I met some great parents, got to befriend most of the 7th grade at ACS, tried something that was way out of my comfort zone, and saw a part of the world that I hadn’t known anything about!
Thank you ACS for this opportunity! I’m looking forward to the 8th grade trip to Thailand next year!
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