More Camp Activities...

Each day, there was some kind of outing. One day they went sea kayaking in Mission Bay...

...and, another day, they went boogie boarding at La Jolla Shores.

On their last full day, they went to Sea World. Ashlynn felt bad that they have orcas in captivity, but had a great time there with her new friends.

Whale Watching...

In the 13 years that I lived in San Diego, I never went whale watching. How cool that Ashlynn got to go seeing not only whales, but hundreds of dolphins. They saw four pods of dolphins, each with 100s of dolphins surrounding the boat and playing in the wake.

 Thar she blows!

They saw about a dozen blue whales, the largest animal to ever roam the planet.

Ashlynn said, “It was amazing!”

Snorkeling in La Jolla Cove...

It was so cool that Ashlynn got to go to the beach at La Jolla Shores and snorkeling at La Jolla Cove. I’ve never gone snorkeling there, but Jimmy went with his brothers a few days before our wedding. 

Ashlynn had a lot of fun snorkeling. She especially loved seeing sea lions swimming just two feet away and leopard sharks mere inches away.

That’s Ashlynn in the blue next to the girl with an abalone. Unfortunately, there’s no photo of when she licked a sea slug for good luck.

Their wetsuits were so buoyant that they could just float effortlessly after they finished snorkeling.

Ashlynn Goes to Camp...

Dan, Nancy and Julius dropped off Ashlynn on Fiesta Island at the campus of Seacamp. Nancy reported to us that she was very impressed with the facilities, which was great to hear especially since Ashlynn wasn’t allowed to contact us at all during the five days.

Ashlynn quickly made friends with a group of older girls from all over the country. She thought all the boys were total nerds, so no camp romances.

She really loved the five-night marine science camp. Each evening there were lab sessions with lectures and hands-on activities.

Here is Ashlynn dissecting a squid; they later drew with the squid ink. They also dissected a mackerel, in which they found a partially digested baby fish.

I was happy to hear that this camp made Ashlynn more interested in general marine biology; for instance, she’s gained some interest in plankton and fish
instead of just marine mammals.

Off to San Diego...

After just one night with Grandma and Grandpa, Ashlynn caught a flight to San Diego, where she’d be going to summer camp for the first time. She was picked up at the airport by Dan, Nancy and Julius, who she’d be spending the night with. They enjoyed showing off their beautiful city including this stop at Cabrillo Monument.

They had dinner in the Gaslamp District, which has been completely rejuvenated since we moved away in 1996. There were huge crowds because Comic Con was that weekend.

The next morning they got up early to go do an intense group workout and eight-mile cross country run at Mission Bay. Ashlynn loved it!

Off to California...

On July 23, I dropped off Ashlynn at Schiphol for her first solo flight. Since she’s still under 15, she had to fly unaccompanied minor. Once the plane pushed back from the terminal, I hopped on a train for Brussels. Little did I know that her plane had a mechanical problem and went back to the gate. Poor little Ashlynn was stuck alone in a room for over three hours without any food while the rest of the passengers were given food vouchers.

She was a good sport about it and couldn’t wait to see her grandparents.

Hiking in the Himalayas...

The goal of going to Nepal was for the entire team to earn their Gold International Awards. They were each responsible for completing months of a skill (Veronica takes singing lessons), a sport (she runs) and community service (and she’s the co-chair of the school’s Environmental Committee). The time in Mainapokhari qualified as their one-week residential stay. The final requirement was the Gold Expedition, a four-day trek that they were lucky enough to complete in the foothills of the Himalayas. This was the longest bridge that they crossed; strangely, on the far side it wasn’t even finished as it still needed railings installed.

They travelled with a guide from Himalayan Leaders and brought along their own cook. They slept each night in a different guesthouse, where they drank a lot of tea and ate a lot of rice with lentil soup. The first day, Veronica had a difficult time breathing because it was stifling hot while climbing up 2,625 feet (800 meters) with a heavy pack at a much higher elevation than she’s used to. She described it as “complete hell and yet at the same time incredible.”

That first day she also had her first experience with leeches, “my socks were drenched in blood, despite the bites actually being very tiny.” She had the distinction of getting more bites than anyone with a total of eleven.

Day two was still painful. They hiked to a yak cheese factory at 10,150 feet (3,100 meters), the highest elevation Veronica has ever experienced. The following day, the hardest of the trip, they saw these yaks on the hillside. Poor kid’s hips were bleeding from her pack rubbing. Despite it being too cloudy to ever spot Mount Everest, she thought the scenery was “postcard perfect.” The final day was rather short; she drank her first Coke afterwards to help replenish her sugar levels.

Veronica had a hard time choosing which photos to include when she wrote an article sharing her adventures in Going Dutch, so she made this collage. She also made this short video showing the highlights of the trip. I’m so thrilled that she could have such an incredible experience!

A Mountain Village...

Veronica really enjoyed the ten days in Mainapokhari, where they taught workshops at three schools and did odd jobs at the medical clinic including helping to build a retention wall. Ironically, my favorite story was how Veronica was kidnapped. A group of about ten seven-year-olds surrounded her, dragged her into their classroom and held the door closed demanding that she teach them. Luc, the other Project Nepal supervisor had to rescue her by physically dragging her away from the little hands trying to hold her back.   

Veronica jumped at the opportunity to organize and teach the recycling workshop along with a teammate. They taught classes with around 70 students about the importance of burning waste away from houses. She was saddened by seeing children dancing in front of burning plastic and throwing trash into the river.

On the last day in the village, they had a “Cultural Exchange” at one of the larger schools. After traditional Nepalese dances were performed by the students, the group performed the Klompendans (a traditional Dutch dance), the Cup Song, YMCA and Macarena.

The girls in the group proudly wore the traditional outfits that they bought in the village. Veronica, Michelle and Kelly also promised to wear their outfits on the first day back to school in September. 

The accommodations in the village were actually much nicer than Veronica had expected with running water and proper showers. The girls shared one room and the boys another. They worked in pairs to prepare meals which included going into the market to buy the food.

Public Transportation in Nepal...

After their hike down from the monastery, it was time to catch a public bus the 125 miles (200 kilometers) to Mainapokhari, the mountain village where they would be spending the next 10 days volunteering on a variety of projects. They were on this express bus, so the outbound journey took six hours; the return took eight hours.

This was definitely the part of the trip that had me the most nervous. Marieke assured us that they had reservations, so there was no risk that the kids would have to sit on top of the bus.

Veronica actually had no idea if there were people and/or goats on top of their bus, but enjoyed taking photos of buses she saw during the trip.

Their backpacks were kept inside the bus for the outbound journey, so there was no worry that the bags would fall off a mountain, but were piled on top of the bus for the return. We found out afterwards that there was an avalanche in Jiri that killed several people just hours after they returned there from their expedition.

Outside Kathmandu...

After their first two nights in Kathmandu, they travelled by private minibus to the Kavre Deaf School, which was their most challenging teaching day. Veronica helped run the English workshop, in which they taught grammar. They put exercises on the chalkboard and the students filled in the missing words in the correct tense. The Project Nepal Team had learned some basic sign language and the school teachers acted as interpreters. As you can see, the students were intrigued by her camera.

That night they stayed in a guesthouse at the Namo Buddha Monastery, one of the most important Buddhist sites in the world. Veronica survived eating the spiciest meal of her life before witnessing the Monks “debating,” which is their way of memorizing ancient religious texts. The next morning they watched the monks chant their morning prayers in a breathtakingly beautiful hall; they later ate breakfast with the monks, which was one of her favorite meals of the trip. Afterwards they hiked down from the monastery, which she thinks was the most stunning hike she’d ever been on.

Kathmandu...

Veronica’s trip began and ended in the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu, which she said was “beautifully chaotic” and surprisingly colorful (she’d expected it would be dusty and dirty). Here they are in front of the Great Buddha Stupa.

The first day, they visited three UNESCO World Heritage sites: one Hindu and two Buddhist temples. Of course, there was no shortage of photo ops during the entire trip.

The group spent their last day in Nepal in Kathmandu’s tourist area shopping for souvenirs in an attempt to use up the rest of their Nepalese rupees.

Off to Nepal...

On the evening of July 21, it was finally time for Veronica to head to Nepal. She looked like quite the adventurer as we left for the train station.

We met up with Kelly at the station. She was also all smiles.

Marieke, the team leader, had everything under control to check in the entire group.

The Project Nepal Team just before going through passport control.

We were very excited for her, but it was hard to say goodbye knowing that she’d be away for three weeks with no communication.

Who’s Walking Kati?

While we were away, Kati spent the weekend at Veronica’s singing teacher’s home. They have a rather large Bernese Mountain Dog named Hall-e. Kati was a bit shocked to be dropped off and whined at first, but eventually warmed up.

Apparently, Hall-e was quite good at walking Kati.