Blogs from Middle East - page 984

IT RAINED TODAY!!! That's right. IT RAINED. Chelle was going out to the doctors and so she put the roof down on the car and drove out of the carpark building, only to look up in great puzzlement when she felt something tapping her on the head. The taps turned out to be rain drops. Which greatly confused her for a little while. ... read more

Let's begin wıth the positives. If someone had asked me, on leaving Europe, who were the most endearing people we have come across this year, it would be a close contest. The Argentinians came out of the blocks, the Greeks were competitive, Albanian police got a guernsey. The gold medalists for me were gererally the French, particularly while the women who work ın boulangeries maintain that almost ıntangible demeanour I found so engaging. Now, sorry France, it's time to stand aside and hand the yellow shirt over to the Turks. These people extend the welcome mat way above and beyond the call of duty. The food? An absolute treat - baclava desserts delivered on pushbike my personal favourite, gözleme - savoury turkısh pancake, a close second. The sights? Heading south from Selçuk, we first hit a ... read more

After a late night and a couple of bad nights sleep in a row I opted to stay in bed whilst Rob went to breakfast. I didn't sleep much but when Rob came back we took our time getting up and ready. Once up, we strolled down the road to see one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. Ok, well it used to be one of the wonders but now all that is left is a pillar and plenty of stones. Anyway we had a look and took the obligatory photos and then climbed up to the top of the site. As we were climbing up, Rob caught sight of a tortoise just walking up the hill to the top of the ruins. We followed it around for a while until it seemed panicked ... read more

This is a response I wrote to a middle school student who wrote me as part of a school project. Her project was to write a letter to a person whom she felt was an example of a good citizen. In her letter she asked me to give her my definition of citizenship. After I wrote this I realized that I should have just pointed her to Teddy Roosevelt's speech "Citizenship in a Republic," which is much more eloquent and thorough, but this is what came from the heart. Dear Miss S..., Thank you for your kind correspondence of September 17. I am honored that you chose to write me and am challenged to live of the the weight of your respect. Thank you for your kind words. You asked me to give you my definition ... read more

We both woke and dressed for breakfast even though Turkish breakfasts seem to leave a lot to be desired. We were both pleasantly surprised with the feast that was laid out in front of us. We sat on the roof terrace with a view of the castle and ate breads, spreads, eggs and fruit. Jimmy the owner of the place told us that his dad could take us on a tour of the sights if we liked. We weren't planning to see Ephesus till tomorrow but this was a one day offer so we took it. Jimmy kept on talking about Visionary house which neither of us had a clue about and it took us a while to figure out that he said Virgin Mary's house. Anyway we paid 10ytl to get in the precinct which ... read more