Countries and capitals

Trivia night! Question one: what is the capital of Turkey? Ankara, not Istanbul! Everybody gets it wrong.

Question two: which country is in Europe and in Asia? Turkey again! It's my night. Question three: how many continents are there? Seven? Six? My team yells "Seven!" Nobody is sure. We lose, but the pizza is free.

My cousin Deniz is so lucky. This month: Paris on Monday, Rome on Wednesday, Madrid on Friday. Berlin next week, and then home to Istanbul to see her mom.

She texts me a picture from every city. All of them are food. Paris: bread. Rome: pizza. Madrid: ham. I'm not jealous. I'm hungry.

Dream vacation: a small island. No cars. A blue sea. One mountain behind the beach. And a very big ocean to look at.

My brother's dream: the same island, with Wi-Fi. My sister's dream: the same island, with stores. Mine: the same island, with no brother and no sister. Just kidding. Kind of.

On our road trip we cross a desert. It's hot, hot, hot. There's nothing here except sand and one very sad bush.

Then we cross the border into the next country. We stop for gas. Then we find a lake! My dad jumps in with his shoes on. The water is cold. Dad is sad. The bush is happier.

Let's plan! I'd like to visit Japan. It's far away, so we fly to Tokyo first.

Or we go on vacation to Greece. It's closer. We sit on the beach and eat olives all week. Hmm. Japan? Greece? Let's ask Mom. She says, "Why not Ohio?"

Grandpa has a big old globe. I spin it and stop it with my finger. Africa! Grandpa says, "Nice. Big sun, big animals."

I spin it again. Australia! "What's the capital?" he asks. "Sydney!" "Nope, it's Canberra." Everybody says Sydney.

Third spin: blue, blue, blue. It's the ocean. Grandpa says, "Good. No capital, no problem."