Sawyers Around the World

 By Eve: We were driving back from the Highlands and we got to ride the real Hogwarts Express train! There was a souvenir shop and they bring it to you on a "trolley". I got jelly slugs, my brother Christian got Bertie Bott's every flavored-jelly beans and there was a vomit-flavored one! My brother Soren got Scottish fudge and he ate it all in one day. After two hours on the train, we got to a fishing village and we had lunch there. I got a stuffy of Dobby, the house elf from Harry Potter. I have been wanting him all month.  On the train, we sat by an American girl who became our friend. She had a really cool Harry Potter tattoo. We saw lots of cool things on our ride; like I saw a bird that looked like a dead owl.  The end.

      Click  here  for the document version of this essay or read right here: The Crazy Travel Day Introduction       In this essay I’m going to tell you all about how we got to Scotland from Ecuador. In total with all the flights and stops it took twenty seven (27) hours to get all the way from Ecuador to Scotland. So yes, it was basically more than one (1) day. Quito to Madrid      On our last day in Ecuador, we had a flight to Edinburgh which is a city in Scotland. Our flight was at 06:00 PM so we had almost all day to pack. We left at about 03:00 so we had 3 hours to get through security and everything. When we got to the airport we checked our bags and went through security. Also when we got to our gate we still had like an hour and a half so I read a little bit and played games and then it was time to get on the plane. In the plane we got some pasta and beef for dinner and a little cake for dessert. And then since this was an ...

  By Monique: The month of March felt like an absolute whirlwind. Our days were filled with either socializing, learning Spanish, tagging along on a missions trip around Ecuador, exploring the incredible Galapagos, or trying to maintain some sense of normalcy with homeschool and sabbatical project work. Now that we've been getting settled in Scotland over the last 4 days, my brain is finally starting to slow down enough to begin processing all that I've been learning since we left California on February 2. Here are just a few snippets of what I've been reflecting on over the last 2 months... It has been so good (and humbling) for me to suddenly not  be the expert in anything. I didn't realize until being on this trip that I am so used to being an expert in my life - I am confident in the language and culture of my home, I am competent in my profession, I mostly feel confident in navigating social situations, and I have a general sense of mastery over my daily life and e...