Blogs from Middle East - page 913

A few really busy weeks, nice weather, and a headful of thoughts too personal to blog about are collectively responsible for postponing this entry. Life is full of all types of surprises. Three weekends ago, Bahar Şenlikleri, Hacettepe Üniversitesi's annual Spring Festival, took place. It was also my first visit to our large, handsome stone amphitheater - probably the nicest thing ever built on this campus. It seems to be halfway between a modern amphitheater and some of the ancient ones that are on many tourist itineraries in this country. There are even two rows of columns lining the road on the walk in, as if they supported an imposing structure during ancient times... but they didn't. It was a weekend of live music, festival food and other festivities. The türkü (one type of traditional Turkish ... read more

Ederine Day 2: 5/14/08 I met the father of my host family, Ismet Acikoz, first thing this morning. He was held up in customs last night when coming home from Greece. I met the wives of the Rotarians in the newer part of town. Much to my surprise my host mother didn’t join us for breakfast. (This was very different from my first host family because they were with me all day every day ) My day started with breakfast in the woods at a small café. We had the norm… cheese, cucumber, tomatoes, salami, a boiled egg, and tea. From there we leisurely worked our way over to the Selimiye Mosque to have coffee. After we finished drinking coffee, we went inside the Mosque. Before entering the Mosque you must take your shoes off and ... read more

Border Crossing After the previous day’s disappointment and a poor night’s sleep we were up early; 7.30am saw us at a modern bus office, awaiting our bus to Oromiyhe. Come 9.00am and three different bus offices later (each one progressively more dingy) we finally boarded the bus. The journey through south east Turkey and into Iran was a joy; winding through stunningly beautiful mountains and over high, snow covered passes. It’s a Kurdish area and whilst we felt safe, apparently local people will not use the route other than during the day, thus explaining the number of military checkpoints we had to pass through for the tourists’ protection. Later we heard that there had been some trouble in the area sadly resulting in deaths on both sides but every effort is made to keep tourists ... read more

Last night I arrived in Jordan around 7pm. The process of getting into the country was easier than it was to get into Cairo for my layover! We arrived and got our visas, then our bags, and then headed to security. After we went through security, we found our taxi which was waiting for us with a sign in a sea of taxi drivers! We drove through Amman to arrive at ACOR (American Center of Research) where students and archeologist from American can stay at a cheap rate. Upon arriving, we unpacked and met up with other members of our group. I am staying in an apartment with 3 other girls. We got lucky for we got one of the larger apartment suites. We have a living room, dining room, a kitchenette, bathroom, and 2 bedrooms. ... read more

May 12th or is it the 13th My morning started with the traditional Turkish breakfast: cucumber, tomato, many cheeses, toast, boiled eggs, olives, and tea. The Turkish people drink A LOT of tea and coffee. After breakfast I met up with the team at the VW dealership. The owner let us borrow a van for the day. Did I mention that Turkish people drive CRAZY! There is no speed limit, they don’t wear seat belts, and will pull out in front of anyone. Our first stop was at a private school PreK-8. It was SO NICE. The Kindergarteners have their own floor of the school. Each subject has its own room: centers, art, music, nap, Movie Theater, gym, and a room for normal subjects. Each student has an actual bed to sleep in for nap time. ... read more