Religion Week: Pakistan

Continuing on with religion week, and our second day of learning about Islam, we moved on to Pakistan, the place where Indian and Asia culture meets. 

Sadly, Pakistan is ravaged with terrorism, and their government continues to enforce blasphemy laws. The State Department warns against all non-essential travel to Pakistan. According to the Institute for Economics & Peace annual index, Pakistan is identified as one of the five worst countries for terrorism, along with Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Nigeria. ISIS and the Pakistani Taliban have caused much unrest. So why might Pakistan not be on the last list of  countries who need 'extreme vetting'? Well, they are a nuclear power, and even with a rocky relationship (we have launched some uni-lateral actions, like the operation to kill Osama Bin Laden), Pakistan is considered an important ally in an area where we really need one. But, if India wants to be that ally, things could change with Pakistan and America relations. 

Someday maybe Pakistan will be safe to visit once again, and then tourists can once again relish in all the country has to offer. 

And Pakistan does have a lot to offer with all of it's  fascinating tribal cultures, old ruined cities, and gorgeous Himalayan scenery. It's also home to the second tallest mountain in the world, K2. 

Mohenjo Daro might just be an archaeological site now, but 4,000 years ago it was home to one of the largest human populations of the time. It's the first example of a city built in a grid pattern that is used all over the world today. 

Cricket is a popular sport in Pakistan, but don't let that take away from Polo! The name itself was invented in Pakistan; it translates to 'ball'. Pakistan is also home to the worlds highest polo field! Located up in the Hindu Kush mountains, you can only play at 'Shander Top'  if you get chosen by a panel of judges to take part in the local polo match of the year. 

Pakistan's national animal is one I can get behind, the goat! Markhor's have two corkscrew horns and a massive beard, making them one sweet looking goat. 

Our landmark in Pakistan is a famous road, the Karakoram Highway, known informally as the KKH. It's said to be the highest paved international road in the world. (Though to be fair at it's peak at the China-Pakistan border, it is only paved on the Chinese side). 

The KKH, and all of it's 800 miles offers awesome views, especially of  K2, and has a rich history as it traces one of the many paths of the Silk Road. 

But, it's also kind of crazy, and dangerous. It's known as one of the scariest jeep trips in the world, and is one of the hardest alpine climbs. Avalanches, heavy snowfalls, and landslides can occur at any time and block the road. At over 15,000 feet above sea level, it's a nightmare for people with altitude sickness. The road has absolutely no barrier on one side, and a rock wall on the other. The margin of driver error is slim to none. 

It's not just dangerous to drive on, but building it was no easy feat either. Nearly 900 workers lost their lives during the construction of it, in landslides and in falls. In total it took them 27 years to complete the highway. 

I want no part in the KKH, but I wouldn't mind checking out the jingle trucks and buses that drive around Pakistan. These vehicles are decked out with bright patterns, portraits and depictions of historical scenes. Chains are attached to make them 'jingle'. The more the truck jingles, the wealthier the owner. The custom was born out of drivers bringing reminders of home with them on long journeys. 

We finished up talking about Islam with some celebrations, some notable people, and places, and some things to know about life as a Muslim. 

Ramadan is the 9th month of the Muslim year and a time when Muslims fast from dawn until dusk (One of the five pillars of Islam; fasting).  Kids aren't expected to fast- you just go a little bit longer between eating each year until you are an adult and observe the dawn until dusk rule. It's believed that the Quran was first reveled to Muhammad (the greatest of all prophets in Islam) during the month of Ramadan. It ends with the Festival of Fast Breaking, complete with prayers, gifts, and giving to the poor. 

Lanterns have become a symbol of Ramadan, and in some countries they are hung on city streets, so we made some lanterns of our own with a little mod podge, tissue paper and a glass jar. 

We put a candle in them and lit them  for dinner. 

Ok, so dinner... We've been having a lot of food that is sort of similar. And that wasn't the point of this project at all, so I'm going to try my best to mix it up more. 

I present to you, a popular street food, the Pakistani Bun Kabab. We might refer to it as a burger, but bun kabab is way more fun to say, and the patty wasn't just lamb- it had lentils and all kinds of crazy stuff pureed into it. We also had some lentil puffs from Trader Joes, Pakistani fruit Chaat (salad), and Pakistani Spicy Chickpeas. 

Now the bun kababs call for this date chutney type stuff, but we couldn't find that, and I wasn't so sure about it anyway (given how much people here are not a fan of dates and raisins). But, we did come across this ginger mango chutney at the Publix on Collier (which as the BEST international section of any Publix ever). The bun kabab called for ginger on top anyway, and I know mangoes fit in, since the fruit salad called for them. And let me tell you, it was a good choice. 

This meal earned five spoons up.

After the disaster that was Indonesia's dinner, this was needed. We all loved it (Ok, mostly, Peyton did make me swap out his top bun with a plain one as he hated the chutney), but it was so good. I would eat this again, and again. The chickpeas were also surprisingly awesome. Hayden was the only one who didn't eat all of those. 

But besides a few stray lentil puffs, and a little bun left at the end of burgers, we had clean plates at the end of this one. 

Oh, and the boy's postcards were kind of awesome. Peyton's (in the middle there), is probably my favorite postcard I've seen so far. I voted for his, but everyone got at least one quarter (if the boys all do a REALLY good job, we've been giving out quarters instead of dimes.) 

We scratched off Pakistan, and colored it in right there next to Afghanistan. 

28 countries down, 165 to go! 

Next Up: We're on to Hinduism and Nepal! 

Olympics Day 17: Closing Ceremonies & Zimbabwe

I've been putting off my last blog, from the Olympics and from the countries, shockingly enough. It's been nearly a week since we finished up, and let me tell you- dinner time is just sheer disaster without the countries. Nobody can decide on anything, and then it's like 7 pm and we're all complaining. It's just not great. I have thought about going to states and doing one per week (with a few double ups to account for the two months we're already into the year.) 

But, until we decide on our next project, I have to wrap up our last one, and that means ONE. LAST. BLOG! And, I can't really put it off any longer, since tomorrow Peyton and I are headed to Ohio to help my mom with my grandma's house. 

So, here we are. At Zimbabwe. From Afghanistan  to Zimbabwe, you can now google my last name and any country in the world, and up comes the blog. That's bananas! 

 Olympic Athletes from Russia won the gold in hockey, putting Peyton three points ahead over night. It virtually clinched the gold medal for him, but we were holding two events, so there was a chance he could lose, or Peyton and Hayden could tie. All Calib could do was play spoiler. 

When they woke up, they had one last package from the Home Office, a big thank you for helping keep the world's landmarks safe over the last two and a half weeks. 

For lunch we had all kinds of leftovers for a mini around the world charcuterie. 

But our main dish was a visit back to Yemen for their scrambled version of Shakshuka. We picked that particular meal, because out of all 196 countries, Yemen was the ONLY one I forgot to take a picture of. Making it again, I got my picture in! 

After lunch the boys went through their best of the best postcards to find their four very favorite postcards they had made over the course of the project. 

Calib went with Ireland, Tanzania, Seychelles, Saint Kitts & Nevis. 

Peyton picked Nepal, and found his Pakistan one he didn't have for 'The Best of Asia' day, Lesotho, and Equatorial Guinea. 

And Hayden picked out Laos, Cuba, Taiwan, and Australia. 

Then, it was time for our very last country, Zimbabwe, chosen for no other reason than it comes last alphabetically. 

Our landmark here was easy, since about three quarters of Victoria Falls sits within Zimbabwe's boarders. Victoria Falls, or Mosi-oa-Tunya 'The Smoke that Thunders'  is considered the largest in the world. That's not to be confused with the highest (that's Angel Falls in Venezuela), but it does hold the record for the world's largest falling sheet of water. 

It's one mile wide and 360 feet high, and is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The Victoria Falls National Park also sits on the Zimbabwe side of the Falls. Tourists can wander through the well-laid out footpaths through the rain forest, and out onto a cliff for one of the best view points of the falls. 

The backdrop to the falls is the mighty Zambezi River, a great (if not rather dangerous) place for whitewater rafting. It's said there are over 22 types of 'dangerous, fast-flowing rapids with twists and turns that are the biggest in the world'. They include several class 5 rapids, which are the most dangerous. (They also have fun names like 'The Devil's Toilet Bowl', 'Oblivion' and 'Stairway to Heaven'.) 

While the falls are the most popular tourist destination, the Balancing Rocks, found in many parts of Zimbabwe are also a site 'not to be missed'. The formations are a natural occurrence, and perfectly balanced without any other support than the rocks below them. 

They became even more popular when the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe featured them on the last of the Zimbabwean banknotes, which is a story itself. Only 20 years ago, Zimbabwe was the richest country in Africa. But, the country had a financial crisis, and dealt with the hyperinflation of their currency. 

To deal with this, the government of Zimbabwe printed 100-trillion dollar banknote. The banknote was abandoned in 2009, and now you can buy a 100 trillion dollar bill on ebay!  While visitors can no longer legally spend Zimbabwe dollars, they can use nine other currencies- including the American dollar. So, if you want to visit, you won't even have to exchange your money. 

Zimbabwe may be full of treasures and a fantastic place to travel for all it has to offer- but the economic woes and the political strife have kept people away for the past couple decades. Look no further than President Robert Mugaby. This guy has basically been running the country since I was born- first as Prime Minister- and then for the past 30 years, as president (basically since they got their independence from the United Kingdom) And he's probably been shady even longer than that, but that all depends on who you ask. 

If that name sounds familiar, it's because he's been in the news a lot. Because he was maybe going to step down and resign before he was impeached- then he wasn't-  then he was almost certainly going to get impeached, so then he said he'd resign if he wasn't prosecuted. 

At 93, he was the world's oldest leader. It's also said he was the world's most educated leader. He was infamous in Africa, and now Zimbabwe must find it's new footing with some fair and free elections. 

Zimbabwe of course, is home to it's fair share of animals, too. 

There's not only the "big five" – buffalo, elephant, leopard, lion and rhino – but also antelopes, zebras, giraffes and hyenas, known for their distinct laughter. 

The flag even features the stone carved 'Zimbabwe Bird' that probably represents the bateleur eagle or the African fish eagle.

But perhaps the most famous animal in Zimbabwe is 'Cecil the Lion'. Cecil called Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe home. He was a major attraction at the park and was being studied and tracked by the University of Oxford as part of a larger study, until he was killed by a U.S hunter/dentist in 2015, causing world-wide outrage. 

The boys made their very last postcards. I've got to figure the best way to bound them together so they can keep them all together. 

Peyton took the longest on his, and it was really cool. See that sheep up on a hill on the right side of the postcard? That was a nod to his very first postcard in Afghanistan. 

He put it up with the others, and with that, the boys had done 196 postcards. 

The last postcards. 

Calib's featured the rocks, and Angel Falls with 'moon bows', because of the vapors, rainbows are not only visible during the day, but also at night. 

Peyton's featured laughing hyenas and the falls. 

And Hayden's featured Victoria Falls and the Balancing Rocks. 

After postcards, we did one last Jeopardy. I pulled out 100 questions from our previous Jeopardy. It was either two points for getting the question right at the landmark, or one point for the capital. They did pretty good. 

Jeopardy was not only for money in their jars, but also for one of our two medal events. 

The second medal event was for all the world flags. I will never get back the 34 minutes it took Calib to get through them. It was agony. He refused to focus, sweated a lot, and complained when I marked him wrong because he 'knew it' and I supposedly knew he knew it. 

The boys also got me and Asa in on the action. It was hard to do flags for me, because I never get to see them, I just see the back. But, only four wrong in ten minutes, I thought was pretty good. Check out Peyton though, he deserved that gold! Zero wrong in under 8 minutes. That's impressive. (And yes, Asa's says 170 wrong, that's correct- he didn't really join in on our lessons). 

That was our last medal event, besides the final tally medals. Peyton was firmly in first place at that point. But, I thought Etta was funny, because it looked like she wanted to be on the podium too. 

The final medal tallies. 

And our final country medals. Calib and Peyton had the exact same points from medals from their country, so they had no advantage there. Hayden killed everyone in medals from his country. 

Our final count. That put Peyton with the overall gold medal, Hayden with the silver, Calib with the bronze, Asa in fourth place, and me in fifth. 

For dinner we wanted to have a celebratory cookout in addition to our Zimbabwe food. 

Enter Zimbabwe Newspaper Chicken. 

And, as a celebration for our final country, Zimbabwe Candy Cake!  It basically tasted like a sugar cookie in cake form. We would totally eat this one again! 

While we had our cookout outside, we did our postcards around the table while we had our candy cake for dessert. One last postcard presentation and vote. 

Then, it was time to color in our VERY. LAST. COUNTRY! (Is this over kill? You probably get it by now, it was our last everything). Everyone decided that we should color Zimbabwe in the same color we did Afghanistan in way back on January 7, 2017. 

Also, everyone agreed to let me color it in, which I thought was really nice. 

That meant Africa, and the whole map was all colored in. 

So there you have it- from no countries colored in- to EVERY COUNTRY COLORED IN! 

You know, when we started this whole thing, I was like 'I'm just going to paint the table, since I want to get rid of it soon anyway', and now I'm like 'I can't get rid of this table!!!' 

Then it was time for Closing Ceremonies. We watched a quick video montage Asa and I put together real quick of the last two and a half weeks, and then we opened up the jars and counted all the boys money. 

They haven't been allowed to touch it since they emptied them right before Hawaii. So, it's been awhile. Worth noting: Calib and Hayden both put some money they had gotten from other things in their jars, but despite that, Peyton held his own. 

Then it was time for the medal presentations, for the final tallies. 

The boys got their official medals for the 2018 Winter Games. 

And they also got baskets full of a few goodies for them. The bronze basket was full of orange items/packaging, the silver basket was mostly blue (silver is hard to find), and the gold basket was full of yellow. 

Our final medalists. 

And then it was time to extinguish the Olympic flame, which was Peyton's job, since he was the winner of the Olympics. I call on the Waterstrauts of the world to assemble in the kitchen four years from now, for the 2022 Winter Games. Which, I realize is a big ask, since Calib will be 21 and Peyton will be 19. But, you know, whatever Waterstraut's still live at home. 

We did watch the Closing Ceremonies that night, and Peyton just would not let go of the fact that he wanted to go to the Tokyo games in 2020. I told him he might be able to get a passport before he's 18 without any parental consent. Turns out at 16, only one parent needs to sign your passport paper! Looks like Peyton will be able to leave the country before he's 18! 

The next day we did go out and about to the mall and out to lunch so the boys could spend some jar money. It's been nicer weather here, though still a bit warm. I hear we're getting a cold front, but I'll be gone for it. 

And I also took one last picture of the board before it came down. So long Olympics, and so long country project! 

I'm back to having quiet morning coffee time without Home Office/Olympic/Country stuff to do! And Etta is a good morning coffee buddy. 

That's it my friends. 196 countries down, ZERO to go! 

Not only was it a huge feat to complete 196 country lessons, a few less meals than that (we went out and combined some), but to write 196 country blogs- my gosh, I can't even believe I made it through that. They weren't all perfect, but they are all done. 

Next Up: We're headed up north. Melt that snow, STAT! 

Also, anyone have ideas for a new project?!