We boarded yet another night bus with the sort of enthusiasm typically reserved for a visit to the dentist. As we had come to expect, a clean cut, well dressed man happily served us refreshments upon take-off, and, promptly freshened the air inside the bus as we set off on our trip to Antalya. Meanwhile, the child seated behind us commenced her evening long complaint session, crying at every conceivable opportunity. Her caretakers, seemingly deaf and possessing absolutely zero parenting skills, did nothing to calm her or her flailing appendages which spent most of their time slamming into the back of [View Full Entry]

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Summer in İstanbul - does it get any better than this? I arrived a little over a week ago and have since been buzzing all over town, finding surprises at every turn. Sercan and Jaki have a new flatmate, Lütfiye, a longtime friend of Jaki's from İzmir. I was pleased to discover that her English is virtually non-existent. Hopefully we can learn a lot from each other this summer. Wednesday I wandered down to the quaint center of İstinye in search of an anahtarci (locksmith) who could make me a set of keys for the apartment. I will be coming and [View Full Entry]

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Turkey Introduction We went to Turkey, basically because Turkish Airways was offering cheapest tickets to Dusseldorf at that time and there was an opportunity to take a stopover at Istanbul. Istanbul has always fascinated me ever since I have seen the movie ‘That man in Istanbul’, so first we decided to see the city for 2 days and come back. But then I started reading about Turkey and found to my surprise that there much more to Turkey than Istanbul. Before I stared to ‘read up’, all I knew about Turkey was that it is famous for Turkish baths, Turkish towels, [View Full Entry]

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Turkey (Istanbul Day -1) We were staying in the ‘downtown’, a highly touristy area and so, on the same day that we landed, we went to the Galata bridge by tram from Sultanahmet, to take a ferry boat on the Bosphorus because the ferryboat is a much cheaper, but equally enjoyable alternative to a private cruise. I had planned the cruise carefully. The guidebook had advised to take Turyol boat and so we searched for Turyol docks near the Galata bridge. However ‘left side of the bridge’ is confusing terminology. I mean, ‘left’ when you are standing on the bridge facing [View Full Entry]

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Turkey Gallipoli and Troy We traveled by bus from Istanbul to the Gallipoli Peninsula through such a beautiful countryside, made all the more attractive by the Spring, that it was difficult to believe that it was a regular battlefield. Two major wars and many battles have been fought over that strip of land. Most of the tourists on the bus were from Australia and New Zealand because Gallipoli has a special significance for Australians and New Zealanders. The heavy ‘Allied’ casualties suffered in the Battle of Gallipoli were the Anzac troops from Australia and New Zealand. (I am using the word [View Full Entry]

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I'm only occasionally not clicking "quiet publish" so I don't clog all your inboxes. But I have written A LOT since I sent out a publish notification so if you have missed the past couple weeks of entries and wish to read you can click on previous entries. I arrived in Turkey a few days ago, and have been getting settled. This week I start to work out what I'll be doing here this summer with the special needs population. It is nice to be out of Uzbekistan, and I have really enjoyed re aquainting myself with Antalya! I had forgotten, [View Full Entry]

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6/1/08 Day off Today was a free day to spend with our host families. My family knew that I like the outdoors so they planned a day at a lake that is about one and a half hours East of Istanbul. Ismial (my host father) thought it would be a good idea to invite Laurie to come along. She accepted the invitation and joined us. We went to a hotel that had an outside restaurant and a dock for sunbathing and swimming. There were many tables, lawn chairs, bean bags, and hammocks set up throughout the yard under shade trees. The [View Full Entry]

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The trip is quickly drawing to a close. Finals are upon me, and while I know I should be reading, I can’t help by try to find ways to procrastinate. May has been a time of continuing great experiences. Starting with Spring Break and the exploration of the majesty eastern Turkey, it transitioned into visits by a number of friends, allowing me to share part of my life here with them. Each had a very different experience, and each will take away something very different from their brief stays here. As friends visited, and as school let out in the US, [View Full Entry]

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I can't say I was wildly excited about going to Fethiye before I got there... it was supposed to be just a place to crash for the night before I flew back to England. But it was brilliant! Ended up having an awesome couple of days there. We got in about lunchtime, and after four days on the boat basically wearing the same clothes and not showering an awful lot (ok, you got me, I didn't shower at all. i know, i'm gross, and the fact that i was swimming all the time is no excuse) I was filthy, and probably [View Full Entry]

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May 28th The now familiar bus trip to Antalya from Iskederun was 14 hours long. Along the way, I contacted a hotel that was located within the old walled city, based on a recommendation from our Lonely Planet guide book. The owner of the Frankfurt Hotel spoke very good English and even agreed to let us check in upon our arrival in Antalya. The bus finally pulled into the Otogar at 8:30. As we got off to collect our luggage, the sun was shining brightly and stung our eyes, the way it does when you've been at work all night and [View Full Entry]

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