I know it has been a long time since I posted, so I will try to do my best to catch up. I left Alaska on Sept. 14th, after a really amazing visit. I got to spend lots of time with friends and family, as well as do a couple small adventures that reminded my Alaska is such a phenomenal place to live. Nevertheless, by the end I could feel that it was time to go. As much as I love my friends, family, and the land I used to call home, it simply is not home anymore...
A couple night before I left we got a road kill moose, and I made sure I got some pictures. All my friends in Lebanon respond to the idea (and the pictures) with a mix of confusion and disgust. They just don't get why a big dead animal could be such an important part of life...I piety them, I really do haha
Also, here is a picture of the three women I love most in my life. I miss you mom, Hannah, and Devynn
The Journey
On my way back to Lebanon, I had a 12 hour lay-over in Istanbul, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity. I knew I was coming before I left Lebanon, so a friend of mine gave me a list of places I should go see and maps of how to get there. Istanbul, aka Constantinople, is considered one of the most majestic and important cities in the world. It was very interesting, especially with all the history behind it. It was also very pretty, but I still think Prague was more majestic. Anyway, here are some pictures (as promised :)
One of the coolest things about Istanbul is that it sits right on the Med. Half of the city is in Asia, the other half of it is in Europe.
Istanbul is famous for it's mosques. This one is called the Blue Mosque, and it is absolutely huge, though not the biggest in the city. 
The history of the city, as a major city at least, dates way back to the days of the early Romans. You can see anciet aqueducts and roman ruins, in addition to this ancient underground cistern. It is huge, and really quite incredible. There is still water in the cistern, though it is home to a population of fish (also very cool).Back Again
It has been an exceedingly fast couple of weeks back in the Middle East. I got back to Lebanon, and things were more of less how I left them. I spent the first few days taking care of necessary evils like getting car insurance as well as trying to readjust to the time and climate difference. My sleep schedule finally got back on track after about four days...I guess these things happen when you have been traveling for almost 3 full days (I had some really long lay-overs/connections). After getting life back to normal (as though there is such a thing in this part of the world) I went up and spent a few hours with the kids from the orphanage. When I arrived there they were eating lunch, and as soon as they saw me a couple of the smaller kids jumped out of their seats ran, jumped, and latched onto neck. It was really sweet to see them again. After that I spent a couple days down in Tyre and some of the southern villages of Lebanon. One of the villages we were in was a border village with Israel. We were about 15 feet away at one point...it is still crazy for me to think that invisible lines like that are so important. That is an Alaskan's point of view on world politics.
Well, until next time, as my niece would say, Peace Out
