Last one. I swear.

          I made it home*. Everyone I traveled with was pretty neat, and I am still amazed at how we got such a great group. Turkey constantly exceed my expectations, especially the people. Our Turkish friends were great, without them I don't know how we would have made it through our classes, learned so much about Turkey, or had so much fun on Bar Street. Look forward to seeing you guys in America!


Some quick random blurbs and a photo bomb to wrap up this blog, more for my own thoughts. These are heavily influenced by my opinion and stuff told to me at the bar, so take it with a grain of salt.

The man himself. Everywhere.

Hookah bars where pretty popular. (I cannot French inhale and I was introduced to Twitter in Turkey #addicted)

• Stray cats an dogs everywhere in Eskişehir. They are very friendly (only the dogs thou not the cats) and people always leave out food and water for them. Most of the dogs have "squatters rights." They are picked up, neutered, taged, and put back where they came from. Many times I would wake up to a viscous cat fight going on outside my window, smiled every time.  The litimus test for being really inebriated is if you pet them. Wash your hands!

How many cats can you spot?

• Traditional ice cream is a little different here, more like gellato then traditional ice cream. Some Turkish people don't like to eat cold stuff without something hot. It has something to do with the idea that the coldness in your throat area makes you more susceptible to getting sick. So they grab a cup of tea after ice cream to warm up.

• Prayer call is five times a day. A water truck blares bares bad ice cream truck music when it drives around town. 
• Turkish wedding are a blast. Each region has a traditional dance they do and guests give gold or silver to the couple. This cake is lit up with flames and is being cut with a sword. Nuff said. 

• I gained a lot of respect for all international students. I was the wide eyed, weird looking, "taking of picture of seemingly common things" student always asking for help. Help out International students. 
• Backgammon is popular. Its played in between classes, at cafes, bars, etc. 

• Turkish girls are hot. çok taş.  They are always well dressed and I never saw anyone wearing sweatpants or running shorts to class. I've thought about it and perused the thesaurus to describe them. Dapper.
• School was not as rigorous as I expected it to be. We usually started class late and finished early. At MSU summer classes are fast paced as there is a large amount of material to cover, and this wasn't the case in Turkey. There wasn't much homework and the grading was tough. A lot of students are scoring at or below 50%. Passing is  around 35%. Lastly just becasue they say the class is taught in English dosen't mean its true.

Turkish prof. explaining a transportation issue. 

1TL lunches. 

• Bread is really inexpensive and delicious here. Bakeries line the streets selling different types of bread and sweet deserts, such as backlava. I will miss this a lot as good bakeries back home are expensive and sparse. The food was great and different. Bread was featured in most dishes and served with most meals, while meat wasn't consumed in as large portions as it is back here. Every Monday there was a massive farmers market were we bought a wide assortment of fruit and vegetables on the cheap. 

Farmers market with so many fruits, vegetables, herbs I had never seen.

Fruit from our  next door neighbor while he practices English and Ross and Caroline  learn some Turkish words.

Soooo good! Ice cream on bakalva.

         TLDR: A once in a lifetime trip. Thanks everyone for making it so great. 

          *Qiangian and I got off on the wrong foot by getting on the wrong bus,  but then the right bus showed up an hour late anyways.  We finally made it to the Istanbul airport and argued with a guy who wanted a huge tip for loading our luggage. In the airport I blindly reached into my suitcase and cut the very tip off my finger clean off on a broken coffee mug I haphazardly packed. When I couldn't get it to stop bleeding I went to find the first aid station. It wasn't all bad as I got to use the Turkish word for scary, korkutucu, I had been practicing all week when the nurse was purging the hypodermic needle. The nurse and doctor both laughed and said that was an usual word for a foreigner to know ( I blushed) and then he stuck my raw fingertip with a needle filled with something to constrict the blood vessels and stop the bleeding. Piç! The bandaged me up and I had to pay 22TL.

           I had some time after leaving O'hare and stopped to take in Lake Michigan with Tyrion Lannister. Megabus was great with its wifi, outlets, roomy seats, $9 tickets, and I made it to Grand Rapids in just under 3 hours. I have some great friends and sisters who were waiting for me with flowers, balloons, and a sign (that said WELCOME HOMO!). It was a great surprise on coming home and I needed it. Lucky guy. 

        

Cappadocia

We saw a real live camel in Cappadocia. My blog is a complete farce. A fake. A "flog." (credit Vince).

          For our last weekend trip we traveled to picturesque Cappadocia. Located in central Turkey, Cappadocia refers to a region filled with underground cities, ancient ruins, volcanic formed landscapes, and a tourist hotspot and hot air balloon mecca.

A pic Mehemet provided us. 

  We saw the famous fairy chimneys of Cappadocia which are the conical formations formed by the erosion of the volcanic material by wind, water, and freeze/thaw action. We have these fairy chimneys in Colorado and Utah.

Fairy Chimney

Houses and places of worship were carved into the soft rock by monks. 

oooo nice artsy photo Mike!

Winery. You stump on the grapes and it decants into the circular pit. 

Good tasting lunch time food where they used bread to seal the hot cookware. I do that to seal the column to the pot!

           Cappadocians began carving into these soft rocks and building houses and churches as Christianity began to gain a foothold in the region. If I had to guess I think we toured 1000 churches during our visit, and at the moment I never want to see another church again. Our guide mentioned the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey that involved the Cappadocian Greeks. Population exchanges are fascinating to read about, I am surprised that they still occurred in the the 20th century as an official means to conflict resolution.
           We also visited a winery and a onyx, pottery, and jewelry shop. We took a short hike to end our weekend, stopping for tea at the bottom of the ravine and relaxing in a bungalow in the river.

Purtty pottery plate design. The plates and designs are all done by hand. 

The onyx stone craftsman at work.

Nature shot of the valley and stream which we hiked during our last hours in Cappadocia. 

A seating area in the river. So cool!

Speaking Turkish

          The NYT's just published two (1, 2) articles reviewing apps for language learning. It really is true on how having even a little language proficiency can make time abroad more pleasant. Not only is it nice to be able to say please, thank you, and more beer, but knowing some language is also a necessity. Otherwise you will be hungry, thirsty, and have to wear the same boxers for days. At times it is extremely frustrating, tiring, and a little embarrassing not being to communicate what you want (used to that!). All you can do is smile, shake your head, and say Turk ja bilmiyorum!
        But it is so fun to learn a language! Our Turkish friends and classmates like practicing english with us and help us with the meaning and pronunciation of Turkish words. According to one info-graphic learning Turkish is of medium difficulty, taking 44 weeks (Spanish is 23). I have a couple free Turkish-English apps and a pocket dictionary, but mostly I try to write words in my Notes App so I can quickly reference it anytime. It is fun to go thru the dictionary during a boring lecture or try to pick out words during a Turkish conversation or on a public sign. But hands down the most fun is to interject into Turkish or English conversations with Turkish one liners. çok bario! 

Always have that Turkish-English dictionary. Although playing menu roulette is exciting too. 

        So here is a list of the words I know, forget, and try to remember again. Inappropriate (the most fun to learn) words have been omitted at the request of my mother. Pronunciation is important (Sorry Mrs. Roberts, I just realized this.), you learn fastest when you practice in the "real" world, and as the saying goes "if you don't use it you lose it" in regards to memorization. Word order is subject-object-verb. *Guaranteed words are spelled wrong.

English	Turkish	*note
yes	evet
no	hayır
thanks	teşekkürler
thank you	teşekkür ederim
hi	merhaba
1	bir
2	iki
3	üç
4	dört
5	beş
6	altı
7	yedi
8	sekiz
9	dokus
10	on	on bir, on icki…
20	yirmi
30	otuz
69	altmış dokus
water	su
vodka	votka
beer	bira
good morning	günaydin
bill	asop	?
please	lütfen
I do not speak Turkish	Turk ja bilmiyorum
I don't understand	anlamadım
tea	çay
coffee	kahve
plain	sade	?
chocolate	çikolata
ice cream	dondurma
goodbye	hoçjakow	?leaving
goodbye	güle güle	staying
apple	elma
bannana	muz
airplane	uçak
concrete	beton
whats up	naber
liter beer	baviera	spanish for a place in Germany where beers are served in liters.
separately	ayrı ayrı
half	buçok	sign at farmers market is pointer finger curling over
very	çok
ok	tamam
how are you?	nasılsın?
where?	nerede?
how much?	ne kadar?
what about you?	ya sen?
broke	kırdı	thanks Hande.
milk	süt
chicken	tavuk
bread	ekmek
good, I'm good	iyi iyiyim
bad	kötü
good	iyi
hard	zor
easy	kolay
stone	taş	slang!
island	ada
man	adam
dice	zar
more	daha
room	oda
chick	haltön	?
bus	otobüs
bus station	otogar
tani	now
welcome	hoşgeldiniz
good evening	İyi akşamlar
good evening	iyi geceler
thanks	sow	?
easy tiger	ya başol	?
I	ben
you	sen
he/she	o
expensive	pahalı
flower	çiçek
beautiful	güzel
watermelon	karpuz
loud	bario	use for telling people to be quiet
excuse me	pardon
please to meet you	memnön el döm	?
bay	gentleman
bayan	lady
scary	korkutucu
appointment	randevu	for the gym.
busy	meşgul	seen on elevator.
	orospu
	piç
	bok
	göt
	ot
	sik tir git
	kezban	?

Reading in Turkish would really speed up learning. I would have to start with children's books and work my way up to David Sedaris.

Ephesus

     Took an 8 hr. bus ride to the ancient city of Ephesus this past weekend. Located on the western coast of Turkey along the Aegean Sea, Ephesus was once a thriving Greek then Roman city before the sea retreated from its commercial harbor, severely crippling its relevance. Excavations of 5000 yr. old Ephesus have been ongoing for over 100 years to remove the overburden that eventually covered the city. According to our guide 75% remains to be uncovered which is mind blowing as there was a lot to see. After viewing the ruins I am sure being an archeologist is cool only in name. Painstakingly unearthing each broken piece of ruin (and by ruin I mean a chunk of rock) and then trying to put the giant puzzle together (where each piece looks about the same and there is no picture) does not sound like Indiana Jones fun. Nevertheless what we saw of the city was impressive and our knowledgeable guide was able to relate the city's background and significance as we explored. 

Amphitheater on entrance to the city.

Library, one of the largest in the world during its time. You could check out scrolls upon scrolls.

Certified! Maybe Katie will make this the cover to the next reunion book. #fingerscrossed

The sea came right up to the entrance of the city at one time. It has retreated approximately 5 km and all that remains is the marshy land seen in the background.

Temple of Artemis remains. Monumental and prodigious before a mob of Christians destroyed it during the end of paganism, all that remains today is a reconstructed column for perspective.  

View from the rooftop of our all inclusive hotel! I stole this picture from Ross's blog, which is a quite enjoyable read  and far superior account of what we are up to here in Turkey. He seeks my advice when he blogs. Just kidding he doesn't.

      We also visited an exhausting, but really cool, number of other sites on this trip. These include the House of the Virgin Mary, St. Johns Basilica, St. John the Baptist's church, site of the Seven Sleepers,an archeological museum, Isa Bey Mosque, a wine village, a Turkish rug production shop, and were given a private runway show. I wish I payed more attention during Sunday school. 

Drainage tile. How long has this stuff been around!? Looks like it hasn't changed much. 

Prayer candles being lit after tourist make it through the House of the Virgin Mary. Don't worry Grandma K I put a few in my pocket for ya.

Prayer wall filled with requests in all languages. 

Baptismal pool. Interestingly our guide explained that Mary is one major link between Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. 

An American Model.

Turkish rug weaver turning caterpillar cocoons into silk before our eyes. Amazing! She is paid 4TL/hr and it can take her months or in some cases years to finish ONE rug. 

Refreshments while our generous host explains the in's and out's of Turkish rugs. The effort that goes into making them is impressive and it would be really cool to have one one day. 

View of mosque from St. John's ruins (I think).

Learning the finer points of Mosque architecture. 

Steep descent after the wine testing was a challenge. The disorientation you feel looking at this improperly imported picture is kinda how I felt as I attempted a buzzed descent. Made it!

We made a detour on the way home to Pamukkale, a world heritage site that pops up on StumbleUpon and Pinterest. I am so glad we did! Pamukkale means "cotton castle" and is a famous site that consists of hot spring pools formed into a hillside of carbonate mineral deposits. Heres what happens from what I gather on Wikipedia: Flowing water, heavy with calcium carbonate and heated by volcanic activity, leaves the hillside and is exposed to the air. Carbon dioxide in the water leaves the solution and attempts to reach equilibrium with  the surrounding air, depositing CaCO3 as it does. The deposit eventually hardens and forms the beautiful snow white hillside  with these pools that are continually overflowing with clear water and tourists. Maxed out the memory card here.

Lots of people.

The deposit is said to be a beauty treatment. I tried some. Still waiting. 

Asics in the formations!