Hey there y'all!
I trust all of you are doing well and enjoying the scorching hot weather that's been shining down this summer. We are all getting ready for our final week here, and in many ways none of us want to think about flying out next week. We have been blessed with many memories and experiences that will last a lifetime, so it will be hard to pick up everything we've known for six weeks and leave it behind. Six weeks seemed like such a long time when I first left for this trip but, looking back at my time here, it doesn't seem to be nearly enough. All we can do now is make the most of the time that we have left.
The first part of this week was very exciting, because the group of us from North Carolina were able to meet up with some friends in a (somewhat) nearby city. We had been in talk with these workers, and we finally got a trip scheduled. Sunday night, at around 10:00, we hopped on a bus and rode through the night, for about 11 hours, until we arrived in the morning. We were able to do many things in such a short time in this city, such as explore the area (which is much, much smaller than the city we're in normally), eat some Arby's in the food court of a mall, have a Turkish bath (which is one of the most relaxing things I've ever done in my life), and hike up a mountain and have an amazing, overlooking view of the city waiting at the top. The best part of our time there, though, was simply talking with the families that we were meeting with. They were all so generous and hospitable, and I really appreciate the time that they put in to making our trip more than worthwhile. They were all very wise, too, and I was able to learn much about life from them. Tuesday afternoon, all of the guys got together at one of the houses and for hours studied, talked, and asked the workers questions that we had about all sorts of things. This time was so sweet and fruitful, and I am so thankful for men and families like the ones we were able to spend time with this week. Our time was short, though, and we hopped on the bus, again at 10:00, on Tuesday night. This time, the trip took 13 hours, so we were on the bus for a total of about one day.
We were all exhausted by the time we got back, and I took an awesome two-hour nap on Wednesday afternoon. Then, later that evening, I met up with a few others from the team and we had our weekly mentor dinner. This week we had lasagna, and could not have asked for a better meal that night. Having some homemade American food here is always a nice treat. There were also some students from Tennessee at our mentor dinner, and so it was fun meeting them. They just arrived here last week and will be staying for seven weeks. We got to play some more basketball this week, and got to meet three local guys who were about our age. We talked to them for awhile after we played against them, and by the time we got into bed last night, it was after 2.
Today, we met up with a couple of our friends at their university nearby. It is a medical school, so we had a nice time touring that. The guys took us to eat in the school cafeteria for us, and they paid for all of us to eat. It was very generous of them, but the meal, which was quite filling, only cost about $.50 in American money, so thankfully the food didn't bankrupt the guys. At one point, we ended up sitting in on a radiology lecture with our friends. The class may have been a little more interesting had it been in English. It was still a cool experience, though. Then, we went to a recreational hall of the school, where we hung out and played some ping-pong for awhile. I feel like the guys here are much better at ping-ping than are Americans. After we finished, our friends all headed out to work, and we're just hanging out at the house for a little while now. Tonight we are helping out in the English class that we go to every Thursday, so we'll probably grab dinner a little before and then head over to that.
That's about all I have for now, but I'll try and post one more time before my time is up here. See ya next week.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Less Than Two Weeks...
Well friends, my time here is absolutely flying by. With less than two weeks left here, we all are watching the days sweep away right before our eyes. I've had an amazing time here, though, and I wouldn't trade my experience for anything. And I'm definitely looking forward to doing as much as I can until we depart on June 24th.
This past Friday, I woke up in the morning to meet four other guys for our usual small group together. This week for breakfast, we had scrambled eggs with meat mixed together, and we had juice to drink. It was an enjoyable time together. After we finished eating, we gathered around together and once again shared all that we've been learning this week, as well as anything else that's on our minds. Later, another guy found a Papa John's and split a barbecue chicken pizza between the two of us. The pizza was right out of the oven and really hot, but it tasted amazing. Friday evening, my two roommates and I stayed at the apartment of two of the workers here because our host family was having a sleepover for a bunch of girls. While some of the guys went out for a little while that evening, I stayed at the apartment and was able to skype and chat with my mom, sister, mamaw, and aunt. Technology like this is such a blessing, and I am so excited that I was able to talk with my family.
Saturday, our team went on an all-day boat trip to the Black Sea. Several of our new friends were able to come with us and spend the day with us, so I'm very thankful for that. We were served an awesome breakfast and lunch, and for several hours we were anchored in the sea, so we were able to do some swimming. We even spent some time jumping off of the top deck of the boat, which was about 30 feet high. The weather was cloudy all day and it even rained on and off for probably the first time since I've been here, but I didn't mind the cool weather. All of the food, swimming, and everything else, combined with the good conversations and opportunities to learn from/about our new friends made for a very exciting day.
Tonight, the students in our group from North Carolina are taking roughly a 10-hour bus ride to another part of the country, and we're taking the same bus trip back on Tuesday night. I'm excited about the opportunity to see some of our friends from North Carolina who are working there. Hopefully, we will be able to get some sleep tonight on the bus.
Thanks, and I'll talk to you soon!
This past Friday, I woke up in the morning to meet four other guys for our usual small group together. This week for breakfast, we had scrambled eggs with meat mixed together, and we had juice to drink. It was an enjoyable time together. After we finished eating, we gathered around together and once again shared all that we've been learning this week, as well as anything else that's on our minds. Later, another guy found a Papa John's and split a barbecue chicken pizza between the two of us. The pizza was right out of the oven and really hot, but it tasted amazing. Friday evening, my two roommates and I stayed at the apartment of two of the workers here because our host family was having a sleepover for a bunch of girls. While some of the guys went out for a little while that evening, I stayed at the apartment and was able to skype and chat with my mom, sister, mamaw, and aunt. Technology like this is such a blessing, and I am so excited that I was able to talk with my family.
Saturday, our team went on an all-day boat trip to the Black Sea. Several of our new friends were able to come with us and spend the day with us, so I'm very thankful for that. We were served an awesome breakfast and lunch, and for several hours we were anchored in the sea, so we were able to do some swimming. We even spent some time jumping off of the top deck of the boat, which was about 30 feet high. The weather was cloudy all day and it even rained on and off for probably the first time since I've been here, but I didn't mind the cool weather. All of the food, swimming, and everything else, combined with the good conversations and opportunities to learn from/about our new friends made for a very exciting day.
Tonight, the students in our group from North Carolina are taking roughly a 10-hour bus ride to another part of the country, and we're taking the same bus trip back on Tuesday night. I'm excited about the opportunity to see some of our friends from North Carolina who are working there. Hopefully, we will be able to get some sleep tonight on the bus.
Thanks, and I'll talk to you soon!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Week Four
Merhaba (or hello),
As you can tell, I've pretty much mastered the natıve language here... just don't ask me to say anythıng else. Sorry it's been a few days sınce I've wrıtten anythıng down. I do have a few thıngs to wrıte about now though.
Monday started off really well, because three other guys and I had our small group tıme at 10 a.m. We had mıssed our tıme on Frıday sınce the group leader was gone on vacatıon, but we made up for ıt thıs past Monday. We made some scrambled eggs and hashbrowns, so that was a pretty good breakfast. Then we had a sweet tıme of fellowshıp wıth one another and had tıme to talk about all that we're learnıng, as well as get some thıngs off of our chests. Thıs was a much needed tıme of guidance together, so I enjoyed that. Wednesday, a group of us trıed out a new restaurant for lunch, and we actually got ınto a very good conversatıon wıth our waıtor. He even eventually stopped waıtıng on us and sat down to eat wıth us! We talked long after we had fınıshed our meal, and so we're very thankful that we could meet and communıcate wıth thıs man to the extent that we dıd. We're defınıtely plannıng on goıng back to that restaurant sometıme soon, and ıt doesn't hurt that the food was really tasty.
Later that evenıng we had our weekly mentor dınner. Only thıs tıme, ınstead of our group meetıng up at the normal house, we combıned wıth another group and had a specıal nıght wıth another famıly. Thıs partıcular couple ıs pretty hıgh up ın the corporate ladder here, so ıt was a blessıng and very encouragıng to be able to spend the evenıng wıth them. The food that they prepared was very good as well. We had quesadıllas and homemade salsa, whıch really hıt the spot, as well as some amazıng brown sugar cookıes rıght out of the oven. They even had ıced sweet tea! I was so, so gracıous for thıs because we never get to drınk thıs here. Thıs was the fırst tıme that I had even seen any, so I took advantage of thıs momentous occasıon and drank as much as I could. The famıly even took us to an amazıng park (It's even nıcer than Konahetee Park ın Murphy!) where where we fınally got to play some basketball. I was so excıted to be able to play, sınce we hadn't been able to fınd a sıngle court thıs whole trıp. We got to play ball wıth a few Turkısh people at thıs park, and we played outsıde for about 2 and a half hours. We dıdn't even get back to the house untıl almost two ın the mornıng. It was a long tıme, but totally worth ıt.
Some of us spent most of the day today wıth some Amerıcan hıgh school and college students who are here servıng ın Istanbul for a week. We basıcally trıed to tell them about the trıp that we're on now, and really wanted to show them a lıttle about what we've been doıng. We spent some tıme on one of the college campuses that I hadn't been to yet, and I even got to play a lıttle more basketball. Two days ın a row! A frıend and I played two-on-two wıth a couple of students at the school, and we even ended up gettıng theır contact ınformatıon. They both knew Englısh pretty well, defınıtely enough to have a conversatıon, and they saıd that would lıke to come to one of the Englısh classes that we go to every week, so talkıng wıth them was really encouragıng. Most of the day was really spent wıth these vısıtors, and we just recently got back to the house. Traffıc was absolutely horrendous today, and we've been standıng on the bus for the past two and a half hours. However, consıderıng we were able to meet some new frıends today, from thıs country and Amerıca, I'd say ıt was stıll a good day.
Alrıghty, thanks agaın for all of the encouragement. It really does mean a lot.
P.S. The best part of the week by far was when I was able just happened to run ınto some really great Amerıcan frıends of mıne. Thıs was such a blessıng, and I would talk about our awesome but brıef tıme together a lıttle more, but I'm sure many of you wıll hear about ıt soon : )
As you can tell, I've pretty much mastered the natıve language here... just don't ask me to say anythıng else. Sorry it's been a few days sınce I've wrıtten anythıng down. I do have a few thıngs to wrıte about now though.
Monday started off really well, because three other guys and I had our small group tıme at 10 a.m. We had mıssed our tıme on Frıday sınce the group leader was gone on vacatıon, but we made up for ıt thıs past Monday. We made some scrambled eggs and hashbrowns, so that was a pretty good breakfast. Then we had a sweet tıme of fellowshıp wıth one another and had tıme to talk about all that we're learnıng, as well as get some thıngs off of our chests. Thıs was a much needed tıme of guidance together, so I enjoyed that. Wednesday, a group of us trıed out a new restaurant for lunch, and we actually got ınto a very good conversatıon wıth our waıtor. He even eventually stopped waıtıng on us and sat down to eat wıth us! We talked long after we had fınıshed our meal, and so we're very thankful that we could meet and communıcate wıth thıs man to the extent that we dıd. We're defınıtely plannıng on goıng back to that restaurant sometıme soon, and ıt doesn't hurt that the food was really tasty.
Later that evenıng we had our weekly mentor dınner. Only thıs tıme, ınstead of our group meetıng up at the normal house, we combıned wıth another group and had a specıal nıght wıth another famıly. Thıs partıcular couple ıs pretty hıgh up ın the corporate ladder here, so ıt was a blessıng and very encouragıng to be able to spend the evenıng wıth them. The food that they prepared was very good as well. We had quesadıllas and homemade salsa, whıch really hıt the spot, as well as some amazıng brown sugar cookıes rıght out of the oven. They even had ıced sweet tea! I was so, so gracıous for thıs because we never get to drınk thıs here. Thıs was the fırst tıme that I had even seen any, so I took advantage of thıs momentous occasıon and drank as much as I could. The famıly even took us to an amazıng park (It's even nıcer than Konahetee Park ın Murphy!) where where we fınally got to play some basketball. I was so excıted to be able to play, sınce we hadn't been able to fınd a sıngle court thıs whole trıp. We got to play ball wıth a few Turkısh people at thıs park, and we played outsıde for about 2 and a half hours. We dıdn't even get back to the house untıl almost two ın the mornıng. It was a long tıme, but totally worth ıt.
Some of us spent most of the day today wıth some Amerıcan hıgh school and college students who are here servıng ın Istanbul for a week. We basıcally trıed to tell them about the trıp that we're on now, and really wanted to show them a lıttle about what we've been doıng. We spent some tıme on one of the college campuses that I hadn't been to yet, and I even got to play a lıttle more basketball. Two days ın a row! A frıend and I played two-on-two wıth a couple of students at the school, and we even ended up gettıng theır contact ınformatıon. They both knew Englısh pretty well, defınıtely enough to have a conversatıon, and they saıd that would lıke to come to one of the Englısh classes that we go to every week, so talkıng wıth them was really encouragıng. Most of the day was really spent wıth these vısıtors, and we just recently got back to the house. Traffıc was absolutely horrendous today, and we've been standıng on the bus for the past two and a half hours. However, consıderıng we were able to meet some new frıends today, from thıs country and Amerıca, I'd say ıt was stıll a good day.
Alrıghty, thanks agaın for all of the encouragement. It really does mean a lot.
P.S. The best part of the week by far was when I was able just happened to run ınto some really great Amerıcan frıends of mıne. Thıs was such a blessıng, and I would talk about our awesome but brıef tıme together a lıttle more, but I'm sure many of you wıll hear about ıt soon : )
Sunday, June 5, 2011
The Weekend
Hey y'all!
I have a few spare minutes, so I thought I would jot down a little about the past couple of days. Friday morning started out pretty slow, but it is our "take-it-easy" day, so I enjoyed the rest. Around 1 o'clock, two other guys and I went out to a local pide place for lunch, and then we walked over to a park that's a few miles away. When we got there, we saw a group of college students who were grilling and having a barbecue. To the side, we saw three guys trying to figure out how to retrieve a soccer ball that had been kicked high into a tree. We went over to try and help, got the ball down, and played soccer with about 15 guys and girls for awhile. Then we taught them how to play ultimate frisbee and they picked it up very quickly. We played that for awhile and then headed out after talking and having fun for awhile.
Saturday, we went to the largest island in the area. We took a two-hour boat there, which was really crowded, and then walked miles and miles, just looking at all of the different buildings, forestry, and more. It was basically a hike and, although it was extremely tiring, it was a lot of fun. What made the day a hundred times better was the fact that two of our new Turkish friends, including our barber buddy, made the trip and hung out with us all day- it was a blast! Afterwards, when we returned home, we just hung out at the house and played with the kids for awhile.
Today for lunch, we ate at a food court in the mall. I had some Burger King and it was delicious. Then, a few hours later, I went to meet a guy that we met on the bus a few days ago, and he took us to a nice restaurant. It was fun getting to know him, and I hope we'll see each other again soon.
Well, that's all I have for now, so thank you and I'll see you soon.
I have a few spare minutes, so I thought I would jot down a little about the past couple of days. Friday morning started out pretty slow, but it is our "take-it-easy" day, so I enjoyed the rest. Around 1 o'clock, two other guys and I went out to a local pide place for lunch, and then we walked over to a park that's a few miles away. When we got there, we saw a group of college students who were grilling and having a barbecue. To the side, we saw three guys trying to figure out how to retrieve a soccer ball that had been kicked high into a tree. We went over to try and help, got the ball down, and played soccer with about 15 guys and girls for awhile. Then we taught them how to play ultimate frisbee and they picked it up very quickly. We played that for awhile and then headed out after talking and having fun for awhile.
Saturday, we went to the largest island in the area. We took a two-hour boat there, which was really crowded, and then walked miles and miles, just looking at all of the different buildings, forestry, and more. It was basically a hike and, although it was extremely tiring, it was a lot of fun. What made the day a hundred times better was the fact that two of our new Turkish friends, including our barber buddy, made the trip and hung out with us all day- it was a blast! Afterwards, when we returned home, we just hung out at the house and played with the kids for awhile.
Today for lunch, we ate at a food court in the mall. I had some Burger King and it was delicious. Then, a few hours later, I went to meet a guy that we met on the bus a few days ago, and he took us to a nice restaurant. It was fun getting to know him, and I hope we'll see each other again soon.
Well, that's all I have for now, so thank you and I'll see you soon.
Friday, June 3, 2011
The Halfway Mark
I can't believe that my time here is already about halfway finished. Three weeks from today I'll be flying home to North Carolina. I had expected my time here to go by rather quickly, but I had no idea that it would escape me the way it has.
This week has been a lot less structured than the last few weeks. We've been able to sleep in a little later this week, which allowed us to be more refreshed when we woke up. Tuesday afternoon we went to the Spice Bazaar so people could buy some souvenirs. The place was crowded with so many people shopping and bargaining, and I'm still not used to having so many people around me all the time, but we had a nice time. Later we tried out this small Turkish restaurant in the town where we're staying, and it was pretty good. It tasted just like all the other Turkish food that I've had here, but it wasn't bad. Later that night we just explored the town and observed the many people and interactions that we saw.
Wednesday evening two team members and I had our second mentor dinner. The family prepared us a meal of breakfast casserole, French toast, and fruit salad. I really like it when my mom fixes breakfast casserole, so I really enjoyed this meal. We had a great evening just hanging out with and learning from the family. We were able to ask them questions about their journeys to this point and about daily life here in Asia as compared to life in America. After dinner they took us a short tour of the area they live in, and we got to take some good pictures and found some potential places that we could visit, where many college students and young adults seemed to be hanging out. The end of the night was exciting as well, because at our last bus stop, we were able to meet someone and made a new friend. It was cool how we met him. As we approached the bus stop, the bus we were supposed to get on was nowhere in site, which was strange because it is always waiting in the same place for people to board. In extremely broken Turkish, we asked someone if our bus was coming, and he nodded his head, so we breathed a sigh of relief and walked away to find somewhere to wait. All of a sudden, the young man, who later said that he is twenty-one years old, grabbed my shoulder and said in English, "Where are you from?" I told him that we were from America, and we began talking. Before we knew it, we were sitting by him on the bus making plans for breakfast next week. He said that he's planning on being a doctor, and he works nights at a hospital so was difficult for him to find some free time that works for all of us, but we settled on a time and day and we'll see what happens. We were really thankful, though, to be able to meet this guy and we definitely hope to see him again soon.
Last night we attended an English class that some Turkish people attend, and we tried to help teach the Turkish people with assistance from the instructor. This was a fun time of speaking with people and learning about the different lives of these people. Probably the funniest part of the night was when the instructor decided to play Tim McGraw's "Live Like You Were Dying" as an attempt to get the students thinking and hopefully understanding the different parts of the song. One of the Turkish men even said, in his own words, "This song fires me up!" I was amazed at how well these students of different ages know English and how willing they were to learn. It was a fun, encouraging night.
And that's about all I have for now. Tonight some of the guys are planning on going to a barbecue that our new Turkish friends invited us to, so we're extremely excited about that. Anyways, I hope you all have a fantastic Friday, and I'll talk to you soon.
This week has been a lot less structured than the last few weeks. We've been able to sleep in a little later this week, which allowed us to be more refreshed when we woke up. Tuesday afternoon we went to the Spice Bazaar so people could buy some souvenirs. The place was crowded with so many people shopping and bargaining, and I'm still not used to having so many people around me all the time, but we had a nice time. Later we tried out this small Turkish restaurant in the town where we're staying, and it was pretty good. It tasted just like all the other Turkish food that I've had here, but it wasn't bad. Later that night we just explored the town and observed the many people and interactions that we saw.
Wednesday evening two team members and I had our second mentor dinner. The family prepared us a meal of breakfast casserole, French toast, and fruit salad. I really like it when my mom fixes breakfast casserole, so I really enjoyed this meal. We had a great evening just hanging out with and learning from the family. We were able to ask them questions about their journeys to this point and about daily life here in Asia as compared to life in America. After dinner they took us a short tour of the area they live in, and we got to take some good pictures and found some potential places that we could visit, where many college students and young adults seemed to be hanging out. The end of the night was exciting as well, because at our last bus stop, we were able to meet someone and made a new friend. It was cool how we met him. As we approached the bus stop, the bus we were supposed to get on was nowhere in site, which was strange because it is always waiting in the same place for people to board. In extremely broken Turkish, we asked someone if our bus was coming, and he nodded his head, so we breathed a sigh of relief and walked away to find somewhere to wait. All of a sudden, the young man, who later said that he is twenty-one years old, grabbed my shoulder and said in English, "Where are you from?" I told him that we were from America, and we began talking. Before we knew it, we were sitting by him on the bus making plans for breakfast next week. He said that he's planning on being a doctor, and he works nights at a hospital so was difficult for him to find some free time that works for all of us, but we settled on a time and day and we'll see what happens. We were really thankful, though, to be able to meet this guy and we definitely hope to see him again soon.
Last night we attended an English class that some Turkish people attend, and we tried to help teach the Turkish people with assistance from the instructor. This was a fun time of speaking with people and learning about the different lives of these people. Probably the funniest part of the night was when the instructor decided to play Tim McGraw's "Live Like You Were Dying" as an attempt to get the students thinking and hopefully understanding the different parts of the song. One of the Turkish men even said, in his own words, "This song fires me up!" I was amazed at how well these students of different ages know English and how willing they were to learn. It was a fun, encouraging night.
And that's about all I have for now. Tonight some of the guys are planning on going to a barbecue that our new Turkish friends invited us to, so we're extremely excited about that. Anyways, I hope you all have a fantastic Friday, and I'll talk to you soon.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Picture Time
Sorry for the very long wait, but I finally have some pictures for you all to see!
Here is the team at the airport right before we left Raleigh:
Here is one of the meals that I had early on at a little restaurant in the city:
This is one night when a bunch of us played street soccer with some local people:
Here's a view of the city from the top of Galata Tower:
Here we are playing Settlers of Cataan with some Turkish people who attend this English class every week:
These city walls of Constantinople are over 1600 years old. It was very windy that day:
Here is a team photo from a pickup soccer game that we played with a few locals:
And finally, here is a recent photo from our trip to Ephesus this past Saturday:
Here is the team at the airport right before we left Raleigh:
Here is one of the meals that I had early on at a little restaurant in the city:
This is one night when a bunch of us played street soccer with some local people:
Here's a view of the city from the top of Galata Tower:
Here we are playing Settlers of Cataan with some Turkish people who attend this English class every week:
These city walls of Constantinople are over 1600 years old. It was very windy that day:
Here is a team photo from a pickup soccer game that we played with a few locals:
And finally, here is a recent photo from our trip to Ephesus this past Saturday:
Monday, May 30, 2011
A New Week Begins
Hello again,
Well, it is now Monday again. It's hard to imagine that two weeks ago today I arrived in this foreign land. The weeks are truly flying by, so everyday I have to focus and make sure that I'm not wasting my time here. This past Saturday was such a fun day, because our team got to travel to the ancient city of Ephesus! The destination made leaving our neighborhood at five in the morning a little more bearable. We took a short plane ride to get to the city, and arrived in the area at about 8 o'clock. We then proceeded to pile into a van that included a tour guide for the day. We went to was is said to be the place and house where Mary, the mother of Jesus, spent her last days. Then, we arrived at Ephesus. I was a little overwhelmed when we got to Ephesus. In one sense, the entire area is just a simple collection of rocks. However, in another sense, the the area is a breathtaking piece of history that blew me away. I can't wait to show all of you the pictures that I have. The entire event was very sobering and humbling. We went to a nice little restaurant (which included a buffet) for lunch, and then went to see ruins where John, who wrote one of the four Gospels, apparently attended church and was buried. The day was packed full of history, excitement, and more. Needless to say, we were all extremely exhausted that night, so a few of us watched the championship soccer game between FC Barcelona and Manchester United and then called it a night. Sunday night, our team had a going away party with some of the workers here for two guys that left for America tonight, so that was both fun and sad. We just hung out and had some snacks and talked with one another.
Today, we got to sleep in because our schedules have finally become slightly less structured, and we didn't have anything specific planned for today. I was able to sleep until about 9:30 and then enjoyed some time to read. We met up with a couple of other guys from our team and had some pizza type food, called pide, for lunch, and so that was cool. Afterwards, two of the guys got their hair cut at a barbershop that has become somewhat of a hangout for us. We visit there often, though the barber speaks no English at all, and he is amazingly generous. We really hope to get to know him much better as the weeks go on. The haircuts were very nice, though, and the guys now look very European. Later we met up with some friends we met last week to place some more soccer. That was a lot of fun, but I am hoping to play some basketball sometime soon. I'm really in the mood for it, considering my favorite basketball team, the Miami Heat, are playing in the NBA Championship! But I digress...
Thanks again for reading and for all of the encouragement you constantly pour out, and I can't wait to tell you in person about everything that's going on here.
Well, it is now Monday again. It's hard to imagine that two weeks ago today I arrived in this foreign land. The weeks are truly flying by, so everyday I have to focus and make sure that I'm not wasting my time here. This past Saturday was such a fun day, because our team got to travel to the ancient city of Ephesus! The destination made leaving our neighborhood at five in the morning a little more bearable. We took a short plane ride to get to the city, and arrived in the area at about 8 o'clock. We then proceeded to pile into a van that included a tour guide for the day. We went to was is said to be the place and house where Mary, the mother of Jesus, spent her last days. Then, we arrived at Ephesus. I was a little overwhelmed when we got to Ephesus. In one sense, the entire area is just a simple collection of rocks. However, in another sense, the the area is a breathtaking piece of history that blew me away. I can't wait to show all of you the pictures that I have. The entire event was very sobering and humbling. We went to a nice little restaurant (which included a buffet) for lunch, and then went to see ruins where John, who wrote one of the four Gospels, apparently attended church and was buried. The day was packed full of history, excitement, and more. Needless to say, we were all extremely exhausted that night, so a few of us watched the championship soccer game between FC Barcelona and Manchester United and then called it a night. Sunday night, our team had a going away party with some of the workers here for two guys that left for America tonight, so that was both fun and sad. We just hung out and had some snacks and talked with one another.
Today, we got to sleep in because our schedules have finally become slightly less structured, and we didn't have anything specific planned for today. I was able to sleep until about 9:30 and then enjoyed some time to read. We met up with a couple of other guys from our team and had some pizza type food, called pide, for lunch, and so that was cool. Afterwards, two of the guys got their hair cut at a barbershop that has become somewhat of a hangout for us. We visit there often, though the barber speaks no English at all, and he is amazingly generous. We really hope to get to know him much better as the weeks go on. The haircuts were very nice, though, and the guys now look very European. Later we met up with some friends we met last week to place some more soccer. That was a lot of fun, but I am hoping to play some basketball sometime soon. I'm really in the mood for it, considering my favorite basketball team, the Miami Heat, are playing in the NBA Championship! But I digress...
Thanks again for reading and for all of the encouragement you constantly pour out, and I can't wait to tell you in person about everything that's going on here.
Friday, May 27, 2011
The End of Week Two
Hey again!
I hope all of you are doing well today. I have a few free minutes right now, so I thought I would jot a couple things down about the last couple of days. Lately, our large team has been divided up into smaller teams, and we've been led around by a different worker. This past Tuesday, we did some more traveling around the city, and we took two buses and a minibus to get to this one part of the city (and I can't remember the name). Then we walked several miles to get to one of the highest points in the city, and I was able to get some amazing pictures of the entire city from this particular spot. I felt so small compared to the rest of the world, so this was an exciting and humbling experience. We tried a few new foods on Tuesday as well, which is always fun. We even went to this burger place called Monoburger, which was very tasty. The restaurant even had country music playing! It was extremely nostalgic.
On Wednesday, we went out with the same groups and tried to be very intentional about meeting people and learning about the life and culture here. We hung out with a barber friend that we made last week, so that was fun. He knows no English, so that made things interesting. He led us to the train station, though, and was so friendly and helpful. He even offered to pay for our train rides. Our team eventually ended up at a private university campus, and we split up into even smaller groups in order to meet some people. Two other guys and I walked up to this one student, after looking around the campus for a few minutes, and asked if he would show us around campus. Long story short, we ended up in a room surround by the dean of students and six other administrative people. They asked us a few questions about why we were visiting the university and what we studied in America, and eventually one of the International Relations men took us on a tour of the campus, which included an insightful conversation with four budding scientists who were studying breast cancer in the biology lab.. We had some great conversations yesterday and got some contacts that we're planning on meeting up with early next week, so it was a successful day. Later that evening two team members and I had our mentor dinner, where we ate and had fellowship with a husband, wife, and their four month old son. They served us barbecue chicken to eat, which was amazing. This was a really fun night, and we'll be doing this every Wednesday night, so I'm really excited about that. Yesterday we spent awhile at a nearby park, where we met a few more people and played some more soccer for a few hours. Then from there a few of us hung out at the apartment of one of the workers, where she lovingly took time to prepare an unbelievable meal with chicken and mashed potatoes. We are meeting many different people and have many different conversations, so I'm optimistic about the rest of this trip.
And tomorrow we are going to Ephesus! We're leaving our houses at 4:30 tomorrow morning and flying to the ancient area, and I'm so pumped to experience this blessing tomorrow. I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures.
Thanks again to each of you for being so thoughtful and gracious to me throughout this brief journey, and I'm so thankful for all of you. See y'all in a few weeks.
Monday, May 23, 2011
One Week Later
Hey everybody!
I hope you all are doing well on the other side of the world. Today has been a pretty good day. We are just finishing up this several day long lesson on culture and other aspects of local life here taught by a very smart professor from America. Afterwards, several of us got together to try and meet some local people at a nearby park, and we ended up playing soccer with a few new friends for a couple of hours. It was a lot of fun, but very tiring. I also thought I was a pretty good soccer player until I played with some guys here haha. We were all exhausted after playing and so we found a really cheap place inside the park and bought several water bottles, which we all drank immediately like we hadn't had it in days. Tonight we just had some fun in the house with our host family. We had a pasta-like dish for dinner here, as well as Pepsi to drink, which was a real treat. Honestly, the food here is oftentimes delicious but it does get old sometimes eating the same thing over and over again. So this was a very tasty and much needed change. We took some pictures, played with the kids, and had coffee for an after dinner drink. I'm not much of a coffee drinker at all though, so I drank three small glasses of water to get rid of the flavor.
Yesterday was very exciting. Sorry to be so cryptic about this, but just know that I was participating in the same awesome event that many of you were participating in yesterday. I didn't understand much of what was going on, but it was really cool to take part in regardless. Thankfully, a brilliant elderly woman took us upstairs and translated what was being said for us, so that was nice. There was an English speaking man there, too, which was nice.
We are pretty much in the stage of our journey where we are visiting and trying to meet different people, while still really trying to learn as much as we can about the culture and the people here.
Thanks for reading, and I'll talk to youinsis again soon.
I hope you all are doing well on the other side of the world. Today has been a pretty good day. We are just finishing up this several day long lesson on culture and other aspects of local life here taught by a very smart professor from America. Afterwards, several of us got together to try and meet some local people at a nearby park, and we ended up playing soccer with a few new friends for a couple of hours. It was a lot of fun, but very tiring. I also thought I was a pretty good soccer player until I played with some guys here haha. We were all exhausted after playing and so we found a really cheap place inside the park and bought several water bottles, which we all drank immediately like we hadn't had it in days. Tonight we just had some fun in the house with our host family. We had a pasta-like dish for dinner here, as well as Pepsi to drink, which was a real treat. Honestly, the food here is oftentimes delicious but it does get old sometimes eating the same thing over and over again. So this was a very tasty and much needed change. We took some pictures, played with the kids, and had coffee for an after dinner drink. I'm not much of a coffee drinker at all though, so I drank three small glasses of water to get rid of the flavor.
Yesterday was very exciting. Sorry to be so cryptic about this, but just know that I was participating in the same awesome event that many of you were participating in yesterday. I didn't understand much of what was going on, but it was really cool to take part in regardless. Thankfully, a brilliant elderly woman took us upstairs and translated what was being said for us, so that was nice. There was an English speaking man there, too, which was nice.
We are pretty much in the stage of our journey where we are visiting and trying to meet different people, while still really trying to learn as much as we can about the culture and the people here.
Thanks for reading, and I'll talk to youinsis again soon.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
A Quıck Update
Today was a very long day, fılled wıth many lectures and lessons from dıfferent people throughout the day. Thıs ıs stıll part of our orıentatıon, and we covered a wıde varıety of topıcs, from cultural taboos to language traınıng to the growıng church ın the area. All of these meetıngs held wıth the workers here take place ın a place called a Dernek (whıch I mıght be spellıng ıncorrectly). It ıs basıcally a club or hangout place where, ın thıs case, people come and speak Englısh. I thınk we wıll be goıng there often.
Tonıght several of us went to Moe's Mexıcan Grıll ın the foodcourt of a mall that just so happens to be the largest buıldıng ın Europe. It was probably a lıttle too early to be eatıng thıs kınd of food, avaılabe ın Amerıca, but we dıd ıt anways. My chıcken taco was so worth ıt. After that, three of us stuck around wıth one of the workers to hang out at game nıght ın the Dernek wıth a few Turks. People were playıng backgammon, scrabble, and, one of my personal favorıte board games, Settlers of Cataan. It was a really fun nıght gettıng to meet new people who were learnıng Englısh and to hold dıfferent conversatıons wıth them and get ınto theır lıves. I thınk that ıs about all for now, but I'll update agaın later. It's way past my bedtıme rıght now...
Tonıght several of us went to Moe's Mexıcan Grıll ın the foodcourt of a mall that just so happens to be the largest buıldıng ın Europe. It was probably a lıttle too early to be eatıng thıs kınd of food, avaılabe ın Amerıca, but we dıd ıt anways. My chıcken taco was so worth ıt. After that, three of us stuck around wıth one of the workers to hang out at game nıght ın the Dernek wıth a few Turks. People were playıng backgammon, scrabble, and, one of my personal favorıte board games, Settlers of Cataan. It was a really fun nıght gettıng to meet new people who were learnıng Englısh and to hold dıfferent conversatıons wıth them and get ınto theır lıves. I thınk that ıs about all for now, but I'll update agaın later. It's way past my bedtıme rıght now...
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Hey!
Today was a very exhaustıng day. We got up about 8 and had breakfast, followed by a traın rıde to the Taksım Meydan, whıch ıs a square ın a very large part of Istanbul, followed by a metro rıde to what wıll be our maın meetıng place for the duratıon of the trıp. We met many of the workers who lıve here for two years, and so ıt ıs great gettıng to learn from them.
They gave us some outlınes of schedules and other thıngs, then set us out on our own. We all dıd thıs Amazıng Race-type actıvıty whıch ınvolved a lot of walkıng and many dıfferent traın and metro rıdes, all the whıle prayıng we dıdn't get lost. We saw many awesome sıtes, ıncludıng the Golota Tower (whıch ıs huge and has an amazıng vıew) and beautıful sıghts from the ferry. It was a great day overall. Tomorrow we are havıng more orıentatıon and dıfferent speakers who wıll educate us on many dıfferent topıcs.
Anyways, I hope you all have a great nıght, and I love readıng the comments you all are postıng. I promıse that I wıll put some pıctures up soon :)
Love you all, and talk to you agaın soon.
They gave us some outlınes of schedules and other thıngs, then set us out on our own. We all dıd thıs Amazıng Race-type actıvıty whıch ınvolved a lot of walkıng and many dıfferent traın and metro rıdes, all the whıle prayıng we dıdn't get lost. We saw many awesome sıtes, ıncludıng the Golota Tower (whıch ıs huge and has an amazıng vıew) and beautıful sıghts from the ferry. It was a great day overall. Tomorrow we are havıng more orıentatıon and dıfferent speakers who wıll educate us on many dıfferent topıcs.
Anyways, I hope you all have a great nıght, and I love readıng the comments you all are postıng. I promıse that I wıll put some pıctures up soon :)
Love you all, and talk to you agaın soon.
Monday, May 16, 2011
And So It Begıns...
Well, after many long hours of flıghts and aırport securıty, we fınally made ıt to Central Asia! And only one person's suıtcase got lost. It turned up in Munıch, though, so everythıng turned out great.Our team arrıved ın the cıty about noon thıs tıme, whıch is about 5:00 a.m. in North Carolına. As you could ımagıne, the jetlag ıs terrıble, but I thınk that I wıll be sleepıng well tonıght.
I am staying wıth a local host famıly here ın the cıty for the duration of my time here, and they are an amazıng group of people. Two other team members are stayıng here wıth me, and we are all sleepıng ın thıs lıttle room. I'll be on the top bunk. We are staying with a husband and wife, and theır two kıds, a son and a daughter. The mother and her mother prepared an awesome meal tonight, and the maın course was thıs natıve soup that I had never tasted before. I'm really looking forward to all of the dıfferent types of food we wıll be havıng. I think the famıly is going to try and prepare a meal local to thıs area every Monday night for dınner, so that should be fun. The parents do speak some Englısh, especially the father, and I am learnıng some of the native language as well, so it's been exciting.
Anyways, I wıll try and post some pıctures and wrıte agaın soon, but for now, your prayers for our team, as well as the people of the city, are greatly apprecıated. Talk soon!
I am staying wıth a local host famıly here ın the cıty for the duration of my time here, and they are an amazıng group of people. Two other team members are stayıng here wıth me, and we are all sleepıng ın thıs lıttle room. I'll be on the top bunk. We are staying with a husband and wife, and theır two kıds, a son and a daughter. The mother and her mother prepared an awesome meal tonight, and the maın course was thıs natıve soup that I had never tasted before. I'm really looking forward to all of the dıfferent types of food we wıll be havıng. I think the famıly is going to try and prepare a meal local to thıs area every Monday night for dınner, so that should be fun. The parents do speak some Englısh, especially the father, and I am learnıng some of the native language as well, so it's been exciting.
Anyways, I wıll try and post some pıctures and wrıte agaın soon, but for now, your prayers for our team, as well as the people of the city, are greatly apprecıated. Talk soon!
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