John and Ann Kemp visit Egehan
Posted by Chantelle Meriam on Nov 07, 2016
Rotarian, John Kemp, with wife, Ann Kemp, and past inbound Rotary Exchange Student, Egehan Solak, from Turkey
Update from Ann Kemp regarding her and John's meeting with Egehan and his family:
We were docked in the Port of Izmir for 24hours. Egehan’s parents met us off our ship at 9.30am and for the next 12 1/2hrs they showed as many of the sights as possible. Izmir is a beautiful city with a large harbour and a very long and wide promenade. From the top of a cable car ride we had a magnificent view of the city and the harbour. A few other things we visited included the Archeological Museum, a large vibrant outdoor market, with lots of walking and stops for Turkish tea, coffee, lunch and all accompanied by a variety of different foods. After 5pm we met up with Egehan when he finished school. It was nice to see him again and his English is still as good as when he left Summerland. Later in the evening we were taken out to a fish restaurant by the sea, where we had a delicious fish dinner. Egehan’s brother joined us there a little later when he finished his day at university. We found all the food to be very fresh and tasty. With no bus to take Egehan home we wondered how he would get home. No problem, the 6 of us snuggled up in the smallish Toyota and away we went! We were delivered back to our ship, fortunately before she sailed around 10.30pm. We were tired and happy having had an amazing day with a lovely family who certainly went out of their way to give us a wonderful day. A day to remember.
Egehan with parents and brother in Izmir, Turkey
At the meeting last week, I was remiss in not passing along a “hello” to everyone from Egehan. He misses you, but at the same time he is happy to be home but will never forget his wonderful year in Summerland. He hopes to come back for a visit one day.