Geography for Dummies

This morning, our teenage daughter and her friend were sitting at the kitchen island eating breakfast.  I was hovering over a couple more pieces of french toast to round out the meal when talk turned to October travel week, winter break in February and spring break in April.  Geez... do these kids ever go to school?


October is all set with our Eastern Mediterranean cruise.  February is still up in the air, but we're talking about Spain or Italy.  April's spring break is two full weeks, so we had originally thought we would head to Africa.  However, the teen is involved in Young Life and she has the opportunity to go with the group on a week-long mission trip to Greece.  That's pretty cool - get in all your service hours in one feel swoop since the school requires 20 hrs for all juniors and seniors.  Plus you have the added attraction of Greece, with the warmer temps and baklava, so it sounds like a winner to me.  However, this means we'll need to travel somewhere with just the younger daughter so that a week of free time isn't wasted.  


As usual, our travel plans get all scrambled up in the teen's head and she became all concerned that we might be traveling someplace "cool" when she's in Greece for the first week of spring break and she was on the cusp of being irritated that she would be missing it.  I let her know that we were considering travel options like Copenhagen or Budapest.  


As soon as I said Budapest, I could see the wheels turning as she tried to recall where it's located on the planet.  Remember, this is my child that's geographically challenged.  She chews and swallows her piece of french toast and asks the following, "So do they worship Buddha there?"  


When I gave her my puzzled look, she then clarified with the following, "You know, the fat Buddha guy you see in statues at Chinese restaurants."  Um, yeah, I got that.  At this point I contemplated prolonging the fun just a bit, but since her friend was in attendance I clarified that it's a city in Hungary.  My daughter, who does indeed have an IQ well above room temperature, took a swig of milk and asked me if that is in Europe.  And how did I answer... by changing the subject!