So long Leah!

So wonderful to catch up with old friends. It's been over ten years since I had seen Leah! But it didn't feel like it at all. We were able to pick up like no time had been lost. She spent a few days with us, then joined in on a Base tour to Cappadocia for a night before returning here and flying out on Monday morning. Thank you Leah for taking some time to catch up with an old friend. Can't wait to see you more during our time in Turkey.

Leah is here ...

... and my foot is "okay."

While I am still limping quite a bit and my foot is still quite swollen, I can at least gimp around a bit which is a relief! I have dealt with sprains many times and am quite comfortable with how this will heal. I was quite panicked yesterday that this was something more serious. Not only was the pain quite intense but the way it was sprained and swelling had both me and JB concerned about something more serious. PRAISE THE LORD! I am so relieved.

That chapter is now "closed" and my friend Leah has arrived in Turkey.

Leah and I were roommates for a year in college. She was actually there the night JB proposed to me. After college, she moved to Louisville, and I moved to Franklin, and we just sort of lost touch. I haven't talked to her in over a decade. But with the invention of Facebook, we found each other. She is working in Germany now and had to do some work in Istanbul -- so she decided to jump over and see us. She is a world traveller. One of these people who is a professional at flying and traveling. She speaks nearly fluent German and plans on making her life outside of the U.S. now.

We stayed up way too late last night talking. She is only here to Monday and plans to take the trip to Cappadocia this weekend with our Base Tour Group so we only have a few days to catch up. I'll make sure to put a few photos up of our time catching up. But we hope we can continue to catch up when I go to Germany in a few months.

My "second home"

I'm beginning to feel as if Tarsus is my second home. This was my fourth visit. I like to take all of our guests here which has meant a fairly frequent attendance in the town.

I left the boys with Veronica, and Becky and I navigated our way to Tarsus. I was very proud of myself. With Becky's help, I was able to successfully get us to Tarsus and to the sites we wanted to see (Cleopatra's gate, St. Paul's well, St. Paul's church, and the ancient road.) I then managed to take us to the beautiful local waterfall and get us back onto the Interstate for our return to Adana.

The only "mistake" I made was forgetting to fill up with gas before we left Base. We get gas on Base for the same costs at the USA. Off Base, gas is around $10 a gallon I believe! Yikes. Needless to say, I got the minimum amount (even stopped twice to be sure I didn't put too much in.) Wasn't happy about that mistake.

Here are some snaps (courtesy of Becky.)

A typical view on a city street in Tarsus.

The inside of St. Paul's church. This church does not date back to Paul's era. More like the 18th century. (Becky and I find it humorous that we don't consider that very old when traveling around here even though in the USA, that's about as old as you can find.) Either way, it is the only church in Tarsus which still bears his name. I have even heard they have been holding Christian services here (although I can't confirm that.) Very cool! It was gorgeous.

The entrance to St. Paul's church. They didn't have any English brochures so the guy gave me one in French. I almost told him that I'd rather have a Turkish flier than a French one. I can understand more Turkish than French. But apparently, he thought I'd get more of a French flier. Ha!

After that, we headed to St. Paul's well. I love coming here. It does cost money to get in (3TL -- roughly $2 USD) but I gladly pay it to read the Christian scriptures on the signs inside. It's one of the few places in Turkey that I feel a bit of Christ!

Becky at the well. While this well didn't technically belong to Paul, it is generally assumed he would have used this well regularly.

Here we are at the Roman road. This was only discovered in 1993 and dates back to the time of Caesar.

Here's Becky enjoying her first Turkish tea (chai) at the waterfall. I ordered our lunch and was told that I wasn't ordering enough. I am glad I trusted my gut, as yet again, there was more than enough to spare afterwards.

The waterfall.

So far, Becky's visit has gone as follows:

• Thursday evening -- flew in.
• Friday -- hung out at home.
• Saturday & Sunday -- Cappadocia
• Monday -- laid low at home; went to dinner with some friends in the evening
• Tuesday -- Tarsus
• Wednesday -- Dinner at Hatice's house -- yum!!!

What a wonderful time with an old friend. The boys absolutely adore Becky. She plays and interacts with them so well and has been so helpful to Veronica and me in holding down the fort while JB is gone! I am going to miss her terribly when she leaves, but I think the boys will miss her even more.

Tonight Elijah was talking to her about how Mommy "always comes back" after she leaves. He then said, "Beck come back?" What a tough question when you don't know when you will see someone again.

A bit more of Cappadocia

Becky got this picture of a typical Turkish breakfast. Not something we're quite accustomed to in the USA. Funny little story. A Turkish woman who worked at the hotel told Rana (in Turkish) that she planned to start eating Corn Flakes and Coco Puffs (the two things hotels put out to appease Americans at their buffets). She said she was going to start eating these cereals to lose weight. As Rana translated, we both nearly screamed at the same time "NOOOOOO!!!!" The woman thought that all Americans were very fit and trim since those are the ones she had seen at her hotel. I tried to explain that people who travelled to Turkey (or those who were there with the military) were not at all a fair representation of our obese country. Truly, in America, in a typical outing to the mall, I see more obese people in one day that I have seen in all of my time in Turkey thus far. I do not have a recollection of seeing one extremely obese person in all the months I have lived here. (Overweight, yes but extremely? No.) The picture above is probably much more how we should eat. And yet, I greatly miss a good ol' pancake breakfast.

Veronica edited this photo she took of my Isaac. I love this little boy. He has not been feeling so hot AND I think he really, really misses his Daddy. He's been quite snuggly and clingy (which is actually nice since this isn't in his usual character.) But we are ready for his Daddy to get home and him to start feeling better. (Thank you Dr. Linda for checking his ears this morning!)

Our dinner at the hotel was a wonderful affair (both in taste and entertainment.) Veronica watched the boys while Becky and I ate and then we switched so that we could all enjoy dinner uninterrupted. Dancing was on the agenda during dinner. Turkish dancing seems a lot easier to do than American I'll tell you what, and we all had a great time (as you can tell from my photo above.) We did all, however, have to cringe, when a tourist a table over asked the waiter if the guy could please sing in English!! Seriously?!

Another Veronica creation.

If you would like to view the pictures from our trip to Cappadocia, you can do so by clicking here. I really could go on all day with images from our trip. I actually "planned" this trip. We rented a bus from Outdoor Rec on Base and got a total of 20 people to go with us. It was fabulous. Such a great group of travelers and fun time was had. Simply without words for the beauty of God's creation and the depth of struggle Christians went to to live their faith in underground cities. Visit my Facebook album to see for yourself!

Back from Cappadocia!

We are back from Cappadocia. It was a whirlwind two day / one night trip. We are exhausted but so glad we went and Becky and Veronica got to see Cappadocia up-close-and-personal. Here are just a few photos. More details and pics to come, I promise!

View from our hotel.

Cappadocia -- breathtaking.

Becky in the Underground City.

The Open Air Museum in Goreme. Not good points for participation here.

Decorating Becky with stickers while on the bus.

Eating ice cream outside of the underground city

Becky is here!!!

My friend from Eglin, Becky, is here in Turkey!!! It's wonderful to have her here -- and even more wonderful that it just coincidentally timed with JB's trip out-of-town.

It's a very special friend to leave the USA for the very first time and come all the way to the Middle East. She was going to take the military rotator, but when she found out she didn't qualify (her husband had to fly with her for her to be able to take it), she bought a ticket all the way here. So amazingly cool.

She got it late on Thursday night but has handled the jet lag seemingly very well at this point. Today we even took some time to go to the park by the Mosque in Adana. We have other plans too: Cappadocia and Tarsus are at the top of that list.

I'm sure I'll have more pictures and more updates as the trip goes along. But for now, just enjoying some sweet time with a sweet friend in the months before they adopt their little one from South Korea.

More to come!

Snake Castle

Yesterday was a fantastic day. Truly, it may go down as one of my favorite days since moving to Incirlik.

While we have done a lot of "big" travel since we moved here (Germany, Izmir, Istanbul [Ephesus], Cypress, Cappadocia, Mount Ericyes), we haven't done much local traveling. The reason has been two-fold. One is that we were so busy doing bigger trips. And the second was that the intense heat of the summer was followed by me being pregnant and dealing with sickness and surgery. But now that the weather is better and I am feeling as good as I have felt in many months, we thought we need to take advantage of the last few beautiful days/weeks/month before the heat returns and see some of our country in the local sense.

The issue is that it isn't very easy. You can't just google places online. There are castles and ruins everywhere but things aren't well marked. They aren't obvious. The only guide we all really have is a yellow book that in 1996 some wives on Base wrote and put together. They sell it at one of the shops in the Alley.

It was that book that lead us to Snake Castle. The history of this castle is not well-documented. What we do know is that it is only about 30 minutes from Incirlik and that it probably originated in 1200AD. But that is just a guess. The page I have linked to is some joe that wrote this article. No telling what is actually fact or fiction, but it is interesting nonetheless.

Joe is right that this was off-the-beaten path. There were shepherds all over and very few other people. Quite peaceful. Quite beautiful. Quite wonderful.

One of the best things about today's trip is that for the first time since becoming a parent, I felt like the boys were actually enjoying something we were enjoying. Let me explain. When we take them to Disney World or a Park or a carnival, they like that because it is designed for them. However, whenever we take them to something we want them to do, it is usually just them suffering through it with a ring pop and some of their cars. Today however, the boys were loving the climbing! We were all enjoying this family activity as a family.

Isaac kept saying: "I'm a good rock climber. I like to climb rocks. Can we climb another castle?" Elijah kept saying: "Fun. Big rocks. Two rocks. Climb. Snake Cass." They were having the greatest time. It was very steep in parts and verging on dangerous. While Veronica and JB went up higher, the boys and I were fairly limited on how far we could go due to the difficulty for the boys and my "delicate" state. But it was a wonderful day. Gorgeous weather. Gorgeous scenery. And happy boys.

Here are some beautiful snaps of our most beautiful day:

I told Veronica that she can take photos, but I have to get at least one of her on all locations to prove she was there with us!

Here is Isaac telling his Daddy that he wants to keep climbing. Isaac has very good "kinesthetic" skills. He did a fabulous job navigating the rocks. Elijah is more like a rock himself, but Isaac is quite nimble and dexterous.

Veronica said that there was a ladder leading down this whole but she decided against seeing what was in it.

We finished off the afternoon with lunch at "The Purple Restaurant." I am actually not sure of its real name. Most people just call it by that name. As usual, there is no menu. Just a waiter who brings you more food than you can imagine.

Potty training was quite an adventure today. We put the boys in diapers as we didn't know how they would handle the car ride. Isaac stayed dry and while Veronica and JB were climbing, told me he needed to go potty. Obviously the only choice was to go outside on the side of the mountain. The thing was, Isaac had never peed outside or standing up. And I had never helped a little boy pee outside. What to do ... I pulled down his pants, helped him steer, and told him to go. And go he did. I must admit, I had no idea a little boy could shoot pee quite so far. It was quite impressive. And Isaac was very proud of himself.

The boys also got quite a kick out of using the Turkish toilets in the restaurant. Most places have both Turkish and "western toilets." Not this restaurant. Surprisingly, both boys quickly adjusted to the idea of straddling the toilet and going. The only downside was that they were unable to figure out how to do anything more than #1 on these and decided to do #2 in their diapers. I don't blame them. I think I would make the same decision if I were being honest.

Veronica enjoyed the Turkish meal, and we took a ton of food home for leftovers before heading home and taking some great naps. Veronica is definitely struggling with jet lag. Good thing she has a year to make it through!

Cappadocia (Part 2)

In response to some of the questions regarding the history of the area of Cappadocia ... the earliest record of inhabitants goes back to 1700 BC. However, it was around 303-308 AD that the Christians began using the area to hide from the Roman soldiers. The hidden valleys and soft volcanic rock made it the prefect place to create places of worship and to be secure from pagan Roman soldiers. We were able to see many churches with frescos underground (although we weren't allowed to take pictures in these locations.)

Some authorities suggest that the underground cities were created during the earlier period, as storage areas, by the Hittites and were much later extended and brought into use as refuges for Christians persecuted by the Romans.

Some estimate that there are as many as 300 underground "cities" in the Cappadocia region. The dramatic landscape of Cappadocia is formed from rock which is easy to work (and actually gets easier the deeper you go) but which dries to a hard surface resistant enough to allow the excavation of wide rooms with horizontal ceilings. Trees producing wood suitable for building use are scarce in Cappadocia (and apparently always have been).

It is unlikely that the underground cities were ever intended as permanent, or even long stay, settlements, but they were clearly built to withstand attack and could support large numbers of people and their domestic animals, for long periods of time. The urban organization was very complex, and there was probably always work in progress. Extensive networks of passages, tunnels, stepped pits and inclined corridors link family rooms and communal spaces where people would meet, work and worship. The cities were complete with wells, chimneys for air circulation, niches for oil lamps, stores, water tanks, stables and areas where the dead could be placed until such time as conditions on the surface would allow their proper disposal. Most importantly, carefully balanced moving stone doors, resembling mill stones, were devised to quickly block the corridors in the event of an attack. Of course, these doors operated from one side only!

All right. So enough history. On to the rest of our trip!

The view from the top of our hotel to the bottom. Amazingly beautiful!

Hotel.

More pictures of our beautiful hotel.

Eating breakfast on the terrace. I wish I got a picture of the breakfast. So many meats and cheeses -- and even chocolate cake!

Another view of the area surrounding our hotel.

Breakfast at the hotel.

JB really was having a good time -- even though it doesn't look like it here!

Daddy and boy #2.

After we left our hotel, we headed to an underground city for a tour. Elijah fell asleep in the bus so JB opted to stay back and chill with him while we looked around at a ton of underground churches and buildings.

These holes were used for pigeons. They would collect the pigeon poop for fertilizer.

One of the most famous places in the world to take a balloon ride is in Cappadocia. Both Joan and my Mom said that next time we come, they are going to do this!

Isaac chilling with the ladies. He got flocked by one school group right after this picture -- lots of pinching and kissing. Unfortunately they didn't understand him when he said, "No thank you!"

So cool.

Lots of walking with steep hills.

After that stop, we were on to a pottery shop.

And then a jewelery shop.

The boys were incredibly popular at the jewelry shop and really loved the men who worked there. Here they are hearing a story about a turtle from one of the guys who worked there.

They thought this story was incredibly fascinating. Man. Elijah needs a haircut.

Then the jewelers took the boys out to meet their guard dog. This guy standing by the boys was a huge hit with Isaac. Isaac really took to him.

We found lots of rocks in Isaac's pockets (and even one in the washing machine.) They are becoming little boys putting all kinds of things away for later.

A view of our sites on our way to lunch.

After that it was time for the three hour bus ride back home. Stickers and books saved the day (I brought our DVD player but forgot to recharge it at home and you couldn't plug it into a 220 at the hotel.)

Elijah entertaining the bus on the way home.

Silly boy!

While the weekend was exhausting, we had a wonderful time and were so glad we took the time to show this area both to our family and to ourselves! I know we'll visit Cappadocia again during our years in the Middle East.