Looking out over Cappadochia by the castle

      What a delight to visit Cappadochia and Goreme!  It felt like going back in time, what with the trip down to the underground city, the castle sprouting out of the earth, hot air balloons suspended in the distance, and then to Pigeon Valley, where again, so many cave-like dwellings just populate the place providing a shelter for the pigeons that swoop about.

In front of the castle

Coming into Goreme with a hot air balloon in the background.

       Goreme, there are dozens of these cave-like stone hotels that hug the hillside and seem as if they've been there forever.  Goreme is a lovely little tourist town where most of the people speak English, and there are many wonderful shops selling gorgeous rugs, mosaic lamps, handpainted pottery, beautiful jewelry, etc.  We enjoyed the shopping, great Turkish food, and the hamam, of course.  I don't know how I lived before without getting scrubbed and soaped down! There's almost nothing better!

Our group in the underground city. The rock we're on was a door for one of the tunnels.

The Whirling Dervishes in Goreme. Six of them spun with their eyes closed during the performance....just amazing and very beautiful. One hand up to receive God, the other pointed to the earth for grounding.

One of the trees laden with protection from the evil eye in Pigeon Valley.

Kneeling on the rug that I finally bought from the Sultan's rug shop in Goreme after two plus hours trying to decide!

View from the boat as we sailed in to Fethiye.  Gorgeous, isn't it??

        Hi all--Hard to believe that it's mid-November here in Southern Turkey where we are still enjoying the sun and about 70 degree days. It did pour down rain last weekend when we went to the Blues fest in Adana (which was thankfully inside at the Adana Hilton) but otherwise I haven't needed my purple rain boots yet! Nicole and I enjoyed great blues music, a 5 star hotel with a spa and hamam, and also hit up the huge outlet mall. (Such great bargains in Turkey!)
I played in the tennis tournament this past weekend at the club, and hosted a rooftop happy hour at our apartment on Saturday evening with a golden crescent moon shining and stars abounding. Such is the life here!

Posing with our tennis coach, Bedi after a grueling lesson.

Here are a few more pics from the cruise, and from the Halloween celebration that the English department organized as it is not something that is normally celebrated in Turkey.

Can you believe skiing on the Mediterranean?? It took a few tries, but I finally made it up!

At sunset in the bay our last night on the boat. 

In Fethiye with Sunny, our captain, at the end of the cruise. So hard to say goodbye!

Two of my 1st grade princesses all dressed up on Halloween!

My teaching partner in full cardboard-knight costume.

Well, it's not all fun and cruising here, and teaching continues to be challenging at times.  Yet, as Thanksgiving approaches, and foreign teachers plan to get together for an elaborate dinner, I feel that I have much to be thankful for!
Listening to the call to prayer as I walk across campus in the sunshine with my tulip cup of tea, I reflect on where I was a year ago and how far I've come. Hope to see you all in this beautiful, sacred place in the near future!

At Olympos ruins before the cruise with Nicole and Kerry

Our boat, the Babaveli that housed 22 of us including crew!

Our captain, Sunny, hard at work. He navigated and cooked for us!

         Well, I'm back from the Bayram holiday and what a fantastic holiday it was!! A group of us cruised from Olympos to Fethiye for several days....sunning, swimming, snorkeling and eating great food on the Mediterranean.  We visited several small towns....Kas, Kekova and Kalkan, saw ancient ruins, hiked in Butterfly Valley and enjoyed the hamam (Turkish Bath) in Fethiye. Here are a few pics to give you an idea of why this is called the Turquoise coast.

A typical Turkish meal on the boat

Hanging out with Nicole in the bay before a swim

In the lovely harbor town of Kalkan 

Fethiye, our final stop....lots of little restaurants and bars and a wonderful Turkish hamam where we were scrubbed and massaged

In the bay at Butterfly Valley where we jumped off the boat for a swim, and also went ashore to hike up the waterfall

   

Yaprakli Koy

View from the balcony

      We ventured off to the beach--Yaprakli Koy-- last weekend thinking we would get some end of the season sun, but instead it was pretty stormy and actually hailed!  Still, we swam in the mediterranean and had a wonderful lunch of fresh seafood at a little place overlooking the sea in Kiskalesi...very beautiful and the best calamari I've ever had. It was also great to get out of Tarsus for a bit and be on the water despite the weather.

     

The girls with our department head after lunch

Happy on wine and seafood

The rainy season has started here, which has finally cooled things off a bit, though we've experienced power outages all over the city as a result. Tuesday was Canadian Thanksgiving so we celebrated at the apartment of one of our Canadian staff with the traditional meal.  When we were ready to head back to our apartment, a thunderstorm rolled in with torrential rain and then the power went out, which made for an extra fun evening!

Steph and Cody--our Canadians

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Amidst all the socializing, we really are working hard too.  The kinder and first graders celebrated Animal day last week over on the elementary school campus and sang some Turkish songs.

First graders with their ears on

Getting ready to sing....

Ancient city remains near Karatepe....

     We had another spectacular excursion yesterday to Karatepe where there is a group of women who operate a rug-making cooperative.  After a very long bus ride whose last leg was down windy, dusty roads we arrived at a small compound where long tables were set up outside ready to serve us a traditional Turkish lunch under the trees.  Our guide picked fresh peppers for us to eat with our stew, bulgar and salad, and a rooster kept crowing nearby.  Inside one of the buildings, rugs were stacked everywhere, draped over benches and hanging on the walls.  An adjacent building held the big looms and then yarn dying was in another area.  We shopped and then got back on the bus to drive up to walk in the through the woods overlooking a gorgeous lake and check out the lion's heads and other stones that were discovered in the 1940s and excavated.

Ogling rugs in the rug room with Nicole

Up the hill at Karatepe Park

More gorgeous rugs

Cody, Athena and Nicole at the top of the trail.

Snake Castle--look closely for the Turkish flag at the top

One of the Lion's Heads


Lots of sweating and walking later we were back on the bus headed for the ancient city and remains of Snake Castle.
Anyway, it was quite the epic trip.  Extremely hot and humid and our first experience at just about every stop with the not quite so lovely Turkish-style bathrooms.  Even at the rest stop along the highway we had to squat and make it work! Now another week of teaching and then it's off to the beach next weekend.  Peace and love from Turkey!

The remains of a 2,000 yr. old amphitheater...mostly in tact.

     A group of us went out and let off some steam at Oktoberfest in Adana on Saturday night.  Wonderful variety of German food, a band playing German music (and then some recorded American music thrown in) plus Becks beer in addition to the local Efes.  We danced and sweated in the very humid night and I even drank some raki, the strong, local anise-seed liquor, with our headmaster, Mr. Hanna.

Stacey, Anissa, Mira and Kerry

   





School continues to be a whirlwind as I try to teach the very cute and highly energetic Turkish kids who are gradually picking up some English words.  I've taught the first graders to say "Good Morning, Ms. Proffit!" and they also sing along to the "Greeting Song" and some can say "Nice to meet you".  Many know how to ask to use the bathroom in English, but otherwise chat away in Turkish to me, while I look perplexed.  Here are a couple of the charmers from first grade.

Baran

Ekin

I continue to take Turkish lessons each week and we now are learning the names of different vegetables and fruits.  Luckily one can get along with just pointing at things, asking how much and saying thank you!

The basketball stadium in Tarsus with a mosque in the distance.  Scooters are common--often with entire families riding!

View of a Castle 

The Cisterns

Hi All--Here are some pictures of our tour of Istanbul and dinner cruise on the Bosphorus that I neglected to post earlier.  Can't believe it was only a few weeks ago!

New foreign teachers in front of the Ayasofia

Inside the Ayasofia

Well, I made it through the first week of school and the parent meeting, so am thankful!  Lots of singing, coloring (by students) and teaching of expectations, colors and learning names. They are definitely going to keep me on my toes!  Had two tennis lessons at the Tarsus Tennis Club, which was both a great de-stresser and a great workout.  Finally figured out how to get a bus card, and how to take the bus despite lack of schedules or regular bus stops.  One just waits and flags down the bus needed!

On the Bosphorus dinner cruise

The Hagia Sofia or Ayasofia in Turkish