Pictures of church in Antioch

A few things to remember...

Well, I am back in Casa now and Taci and Polly are probably in Paris. There are some random things about Turkish culture that caught our attention this summer:
* the man purse, almost all men have one
* guard your plate when you eat out or you will lose it to the server who will wisk it away before your finished
* crosswalks are important, use them!
* "Belly dancing wasn't invented in Turkey, but it was perfected here."

Thanks for reading along as we experienced a taste of Turkey this summer!

Big Wheels Keep on Turning

On our way back to Istanbul our "express" bus blew not only one but two tires, causing a 4 1/2 hour delay. The second tire was completely mutilated with the rubber in strands and the metal wire underneath showing. Men took turns hammering at the lugnuts to get them off. Considering that despite the blowout of two tires the bus never even swerved, I'd have to say - thanks to all you folks out there praying for our safe travel! Turkish word of day: mucize, miracle

Preach it Peter

Antakya (Antioch) or Haytay is by far the most Arab-feeling city we've visited. Claimed both by Syria and Turkey, but belonging to Turkey, it has a mix of Syrian culture and language. Harbiye was one very Arab village we visited on the mountain side. Our friend, Keith, graciously showed us around the city and took us to the oldest known church...inside a cave. Paul and Baranabas worked in Antioch for a year and were sent out from there (see Acts 11). Peter also spent some time preaching there, which is where the church earned its name (I think): St. Pierre. Turkish word of the day: abla, abi - sister, brother

Family Finale

We said goodbye to our new adopted Elaziğ family and headed south for Hatay (Antioch) on Thursday night. The day was full of last minute errands, packing, learning how to make mantı (one of the best foods here hands down), and playing with Tacı's nephew. At about 10:15 we all crowded into the car (except Tacı's dad who drove his motorcycle) to catch the 10:30 night bus. It was sad to say goodbye for all of us.

Pool Party

Or something like that. Taci's dad drains the pool about once a week to water the orchard and get rid of the water since the nonchlorinated well-water is pretty gross after a few days. We scrubbed the bottom of the pool and Taci pressure washed it. Wanting to be helpful we offered to repaint the pool. Dimensions of the pool - my best guess is 30 by 60 by 7 feet. So...Polly painted 2 walls, I painted 1, and Taci's dad worked really hard painting all the rest, including the bottom. All together it took a little over one day. As a thank you (undeserved thank you) we woke up to see that Taci's dad had painted our names very largely on one of the pool walls for us. I love it! Another random side note, today was the first day Taci's dad correctly identified who was Tasha and who was Polly. His trick, Polly always says 'evet tabii.' Tasha's the other one. Turkish test - what does the phrase that Polly always says mean?

Frost Bite in August

In Elaziğ we have visited 2 caves that are natural freezers in the summer but warm in the winter. The second cave we actually were able to climb down into about 30 feet or so. Brrrrr. Turkish word - soğuk or cold

1827 years old

Can you believe there is a church right here in Elazığ that is 1827 years old? It is in the side of the Harput mountain and is Armenian Orthodox. Part of the church interior is exposed cave or mountain. We actually missed the doorway at first because it is small (Taci-size really... about 5 ft.). The name of the church is the Virgin Mary Church. It seemed like it was still holding services, but the people we spoke to said that it really isn't active. There is, however, an active Armenian church in a different part of the city. Turkish word - kilise or church

So how close is Eden to Turkey?

Well, I'm not sure but we did visit a branch of the Euphrates the other day. 'And the 4th river is the Euphrates' Genesis 2:14 Who knows? It was beautiful but a little on the icy side. (pictures to come...as usual)

Alternate blog entry: Just stop the dam jokes
We also visited a dam and some restaurants around the Euphrates branch. Lots of dam jokes broke through about the dam pictures and pretty much any other dam thing we could think of. Turkish word of the day *baraj or dam! Please note that the baraj jokes did not translate well.

100%

I'm better! Thanks for the concern! Turkish phrase - evet, tabii = yes, of course! Polly and Taci's dad's favorite opposite language phrases

Just Give Me that Milk...Moo Moo Moo Moo

Despite the fact that there are no cows on the orchard, Polly somehow managed to get us an appointment (via Taci of course) with the neighbor to MILK A COW! And she did. About a cups worth. I on the other hand was only able to squeeze out about a teaspoon. Enough adventure for one day. Word for the day = inek sağmak, to milk a cow

Notice that Polly is being reprimanded by the cow for inappropriate form in one picture!

Working hard or hardly working?

Although *lazy* could describe most days, we have done some neat things like…
Climb trees to pick fruit
Cut vegetables to be pickled
Sort and bind parsley into bundles to be sold
Household chores, well at least twice
Picked blackberries, grapes, plums, peaches, summer apples

But more often than not you could find us reading on one of the bed-swings Taci’s dad made or playing Nerts (card game) with Taci’s family. Turkish word of the day: kara erik, or black plum…mmm mmm good (pictures to come)

Turkey Flu

Somehow I got a mild flu a few days after arriving at the orchard. Since that first day, I have had 3 Turkish remedies, 1 yucky antibiotic (if I swallowed pills easily it wouldn't be yucky), advil, another Turkish med called Afren, and my all time favorite * Tylohot! I was told it would make me sweat and thus rid my body of the illness (side note, 'sick' is a bad word in Turkish according to Polly). Well, I don't know that I really sweated any more last night than normal, but Polly had sympathy sweating going on across the room (of course that was really due to the fact that it was so stinking hot that night). Anyway, I'm an earache and mild cough away from being 100 percent. Turkish word of the day *sicak (pronounced sijak), or hot.

The Orchard

We finally made it to Elazığ Friday night (July 28th). Taci's family stays at their orchard during the summer months. So far I've learned what a walnut looks like still on the tree, that the fruit containing walnuts stains, and that you can eat some apricot seeds. Taci's family has hosted other families every day except today. Polly and I have successfully taught many new Turkish friends how to play spoons (or lira) and b.s. (or liar). We learned a game from Taci's friend called 3-5-8 (3 person spades) and another called Dirty 7 (similar to uno). Turkish phrase of the day - bana bir bardak su verirmisin. Please give me a glass of water.

Calling all Climbers to Cappadocia

If you're looking for a place to climb with a rich religious history, then Cappadocia *or Nevşehir* is a great place to visit. We were a little pressed for time, so we just spent the morning in the Open Air Museum. Some early Christian communities fled to this rocky area and lived in caves to escape persecution. We visited multiple churches inside these rock dwellings. Frescos of church tradition, Bible stories, and the life of Christ were painted on the walls and ceilings. Turkish word of the day *dağ, or mountain. (pictures to come)

Konya

No whirling dervish sightings, but I did see a few Korans dated back to the 9th century. We covered with scarves in order to enter the interesting, beautiful, and historical mosques. Convincing, huh?

Ephesus

In case you didn't know, Ephesus was in Turkey. Now it is a small area of Roman ruins in Selçuk and Efes. It was very interesting to tour the archeological wonder, but I have to confess, I really needed something to read that explained things while observing. Turkish word - tamam, or okay.

Agean Sea

Things just happened to work out so that we spent Wed. in Didim visiting a family with a house near the Agean Sea. We swam and played during the early afternoon, and then dragged our luggage back to the beach where we were picked up by a minibus and dropped off at the nearest bus station. Our next stop - Konya, home of Rumi - founder of Suffism. Turkish word of the day- deniz, or sea.

Night Buses

Night buses are the best way to travel comfortably and cheaply in Turkey, once you get used to it of course. On my first night bus experience I awoke to find it boarding a ferry. Not wanting to miss out on a night-time boat ride, I got off the bus and watched as we sailed across the Mamara Sea. My bus attendant (we were served water, snack cakes, and tea) came and signaled for me to get back on before we docked. The ferry ride was probably the smoothest part of the trip - buses are very tall and seem to rock a little as they're driven. On our second night bus, Taci rushed us in to a rest stop at 4am to eat lentil soup. Because we were running out of time I decided to grab some cups off our bus for our soup. The passengers already on the bus stared at me as I searched the attendant's shelf for the cups, and I understood why as we boarded the bus next to it! In other words, the bus where I had just taken the cups was not our bus.

Talking Turkey on Turkish TV

Have you ever seen the news and wondered how reporters always seem to find the most ignorant sounding person of the group to interview and broadcast over national television? Yeah, so that was me! I saw the reporter walking near us and was hoping she wouldn’t stop, but she did, at my seat. So, she asked me some questions and I answered despite being the most ignorant of Turkish history, geography, and culture in our group of 5. This all happened on a relaxing, inexpensive boat ride down the Bosphorus around 1pm. At 8ish I got a phone call from Taci’s friend telling me she had seen me on television. Apparently the station is one of the most popular in Turkey and is broadcasted throughout the entire country. The other girls were also shown, including a clip of Polly talking a picture – probably of the fortress, picture provided.

First few days

We have seen so many amazing things here so far. Yesterday we went to an underground cistern built by the Romans that people didn't even know about until the mid 1500's. It had massive columns supporting it that have survived something like 20 earthquakes. Today, though, we're hoping to rest and take things slow. Word of the day: mashallah - what to say to ward away envy and the evil eye after you give a compliment

Comparing Countries

I can't help but to compare cultures and countries when I travel. I guess it's a matter of understanding the world through our past experiences. With that said, Istanbul feels very European. We've been traveling via ferry between the European and Asian sides of Istanbul. Tonight we had tea on a pier overlooking the Marmara Sea on the Asian (or Anaatolian) side. Spending time with so many friends from Auburn has been great too.