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final day

On Wednesday, we had an all-day tour of "old town" Istanbul - saw the columns in the former Hippodrome area, the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sofia, and the Topkapi Palace. I think we all agree that the Hagia Sofia was the highlight of the day. (The picture is of the inside.)

In the evening, we were able to stop by Ali's carpet shop, and spend sometime getting caught up with him (friend of the guys' from last year). Several made a few last-minute souvenir purchases, but no carpets. Pretty sure none of us had room! :)

Late that night we went to the airport to camp out for our early-morning flight on Thursday. Was a great time for us to re-cap, drink a lot of coffee, catch up in our journals, and maybe sleep for an hour or so.

Thank you all for keeping up with us while we were gone! The trip truly was amazing, and has given each of us a lot to think about. Now that we're home, we can tell you the rest of the stories in person. =)

-Randa

Istanbul

We got home last night, but I wanted to write a bit more for anyone who may be still reading the blog. :)

Our time in Istanbul was packed! Hard to see such a huge city in only a few days, but we managed to get to most of the important things . . .

On Sunday, we saw the archaeology museum, took a nap in the park, and watched the whirling dervishes. Monday was the boat tour of the Bosporus, and a hike up to a castle overlooking the mouth of the Black Sea. In the evening, we headed over to Uskudar for ice cream.

Abigail and I were also able to spend some wonderful time with Sena and her friend from work. Was pretty hard to say goodbye again.

Tuesday had us touring the Dolmabace Palace, hopping the bus to Ortakoy for what should be world-famous waffles, and spending the evening on Freedom Street.

-Randa

Saying Goodbyes

So sorry we haven't written about everything this past week. I returned to Antalya on Tuesday night, and we've been quite busy ever since! We all have made some excellent friends, and it is hard to realize we're leaving them in a few hours.

 

On Thursday, Mike, Abigail, & I stopped by the English school we've been helping this past month. We thought it would be the last time to see our teacher-colleagues, but we were happy they planned another time for us to meet - breakfast on Friday. One in particular is very dear, and we loved having the extra time with her. That has actually happened a few times (not the breakfast part, but an additional good-bye). Many have asked us to return next summer to see them again, and each of us wishes we could answer with a definite "yes!"

 

Today (Saturday), the whole group got to meet with our Turkish-language teacher one more time. Even though I was only able to attend one class, she and I are still good friends. Her skill in teaching and her love for her students are so evident. Wish I could have gotten to know her better! I think someone else has the group picture we have, but I can share one that Abigail and I took with her.

 

Besides catching up with the friends, one highlight for me this week was getting to see the opera Aida. It was performed at the theater in Aspendos, which is the most complete of all ancient theaters in the world.

 

Early in the morning we head to Istanbul for the final days of sight-seeing! I hope we are able to update you more during that time. :)

 

-Randa

Yes, we are still here! :)

So, our group is officially pathetic at keeping up with the blog.  :)  That's ok- it means that we have been busy!  Before I forget, I must say that I had an awesome experience this past week.  I got to visit Turkish hospitals!  One day, my Turkish friend took me to visit a government hospital where her mother works as an OR nurse.  It was such a neat experience!  Another day, I spent 4 hours in a private hospital.  I got to tour the entire hospital, which was pretty cool, as well as shadow some nurses on a floor for a couple hours.  On top of that, I got to teach some of them more English while they taught me more Turkish.  :)  It was a very good experience, and I am hoping to go back this week.   

 

Goodness, there is so much I could write, but not enough time to share.  Wednesday morning, our Turkish teacher, Gul, invited us over to her house again for our lesson.  Then, on Friday we spent the entire day with her again.  This time we visited Myra, which is also Lycia.  We got to see the tombs engraved in the mountains, plus the whole city surrounding it.  St. Nicholas was also the bishop in a church there.  After that, we drove to Demri where we got on a boat.  We then sailed to see the "Sinking City" which was pretty cool.  It was a tremendous day with Gul.  We are officially finished with our Turkish lessons now, but she has taught us so much!  She calls us her children.  :)  We are definitely going to miss her.  

 

Another neat experience was that Noah, Mike, & I got to teach the English class this past Wednesday night.  We had such a fun time with the students, and they all did really well!  Every day we have been visiting our different Turkish friends, and it has been so much fun!  I can't believe that we only have 1 more week here in Antalya.  Time is going way too fast...     

by Abigail

Awesome day

Hi all,
I am sitting in a Starbucks waiting for an email from my English teach
letting me know whether or not I am going to class tonight. I had both
a Turkish and an English class today. I had great talks at both. I am
learning a lot about Turkey. After class Rusty and I went to one of or
friends and talk to him for about 2 hours. We talk about Turkish
culture, government, religion, and language. Our friends are so
patient as we practice our Turkish. Well I have to go. Hoscakal (bye)

By Jonathan

Weekend Adventures!

     The past few days have been very busy!  We have been continuing our Turkish lessons with Gul.  I am definitely not one of the fastest learners of our team, but we have had a great time learning.  On Friday, Gul invited our class over to her house for our lesson.  She also wanted to serve us some traditional Turkish food.  Our lesson went well, but I have to admit, I think our brains are becoming overloaded- at least mine is.  :)  I now appreciate even more what it takes to learn a 2nd language.  After our lesson, Gul served "manti" which is a dough that is boiled, then sauce is put over it.  The sauce is a very different taste than any American food, but it is really good!  We also had another Turksih dish, watermelon, and baklava.  Baklava is amazing!  I think our entire team likes it way too much.  I won't mention names but some of the male members have polished off a half pound of baklava 4 days in a row!  Anyway, we all had a very good time with Gul, and she has been wonderful with answering all of our questions about Turkish culture.  Not only did she invite our team over to her house on Friday, but as president of the Women's International Club, she also invited us to their tour trip today.  We got to enjoy an afternoon on a boat in the Mediterranean.  Our trip took us to Side, another ancient city of Turkey.  Again, it was amazing to see the architecture and imagine what it would have been like to live back then. 

     Another exciting adventure for us last night was that we got to watch a Turkish club futbol game: Anatalyaspor vs. Ankara.  Anl & Coray, some of our friends from English school, invited us to come to the match with them.  The game was incredible!  Antalyaspor won 1-0, and we all had a great time together.  It was so much fun watching the Turkish fans- they are incredibly loyal!  We all joined in on the Turkish cheers and ate lots of sunflower seeds.  Afterwards we took our Turkish friends out for icecream.  Overall, it has been a great weekend!

 

By Abigail 

ali the backgammon player

this morning awakened us to a refreshing breakfast of scrambled eggs, juice, fruit and bread. we caught the bus to our language school, where our lesson flew by. we have been covering everything there in fast forward; today's main topic was present progressive tense verbs. afterward, jon, nate, and i (rusty) went to an english lesson where we were able to interact with the students there. we talked for quite some time about sports, differences in culture, and many other random topics. later in the day, noah and i were able to spend time talking to and playing backgammon with ali. we have had many opportunities to talk to him in the past few weeks, but today we were able to learn the most. i think he is the only person i have ever met with 165 cousins. he has also taught us how to play backgammon well, which is a very loved Turkish favorite.
our day ended well as the five of us guys were able to help a local man in bailing out his boat. it was entirely filled with water and we we able to tilt it far enough to get the water out and then we shoved it up on shore. they were very thankful and we were able to learn a little bit about some other Turks who were helping. three of threm were univeristy students; they were studying journalism, public relations, and i do not remember the third's major. we are appreciative of any chance we get to practice out limited knowledge of Turkish though.

the first picture is of the barber that cut both mike and my hair, the latter is of Ali.