Small town hospitality...

One of our new little friends in Afyon...


















We were on our way to Alanya and stopped off in Afyon to take some photos and stretch our legs. All five of us were equipped with cameras and smiles. We started exploring the old part of the city with it's intimate colorful alleys. We all were stalking a mother hen and her three different colored chicks for a photo...so cute. We stumbled upon two little boys running up and down this stairwell. I was tired just watching them. There was also a little covered woman sticking her head out the window. She was getting some sun and hanging a rug on her clothesline. She offered us tea and we accepted. She brought us pillows to sit on. The little boys were wrestling and showing off for the camera. They were so sweet and ran up the hill to pick us girls little yellow daisies. A few other women came out of their houses to meet us, Yobancı orencı(foriegn students). We all felt so welcomed by these total strangers. It was a beautiful day of sipping sweet tea and meeting new friends.

Spring is in the air...

Deniz(Sea) and Güneş(Sun) are very sweet. Especially when you are sharing them with good people. I took this photo in Didim. It is a small spring Iris popping through the rocks and sand along the Aegean Sea. Çok Güzel(very beautiful)...

Sweet fruits of my labor????

Here is a little taste of the painting room at school. Paint everywhere but that means there is work going on! I like it a little dirty! Charcoal and oil pastels are fun. Cay(tea) and ciggarettes all over the room (yes you can smoke in the classrooms...a little different than cali). Below is my first painting done in Turkey...


















I believe I will call it "Sitting in Your Eyes." The name is inspired by the book Honeymoon in Purdah, An Iranian Journey by Alison Wearing. I highly recommend the book. It is about a Canadian girl's travels and the people she meets throughout Iran. A friend gave it to me before I left and it was amazing to read while becoming acclimatted to the Turkish life. The quote that inspired me is this...

"At the top of the stairs, he pauses before opening the door to his house. 'I invite you to our home where I live with my family. I do not ask to you if you are good person. Already I see it: your heart it is sitting in your eyes'."

They had just met this man who invited them into thier home. I find Turkish people doing this all the time. Here have some tea...let me feed you... and we will talk with our eyes, our hands and small words since my Turkish is so awesome(haha). Also the small pocket dictionary is my new good friend! Do American people do this? I feel like many of us are scared of strangers? What will they do to me...blah blah blah??? Or is it I am more aware of talking with eyes and communicating in other ways because I can't speak the language? Sometimes it is nice to just see and feel peoples actions rather than listening to a bullshit story round and round in circles...Words can be a beautiful, beautiful thing as long as they are backed with action. What do you think? Talk to me...(haha)

Sweeter than sugar...

These children are much sweeter than sugar cubes. Since being in Turkey I have been completely enamoured with the Turkish children who run around in their little blue school uniforms. Each child has a different hand embroidered white collar. At our University there is a hot lunch program they offer for one lira per day(about 75 cents). Surprisingly it isn't too bad and obviously you can't beat the price. They also bus in elementary school children to feed. The kids are always zipping and zooming around us during lunch. On this day Spring was in the air and oranges(portokal) were on the lunch menu. All these kids were outside in the sun eating these huge, sweet, juicy oranges in their blue complimentary color uniforms. I thought they were so beautiful and asked if I could take a photo of a few of them. At first there was three, then seven, ten and all of a sudden my photo was swarming with twenty-five orange and sun kissed children. I felt kinda bad cropping the photo because each was posing in their own cute way.

"I love technology...

But not as much as you you see"...Thank you Kip from Napoleon Dynamite. That is a line from the song he sings to Lafawnduh on their wedding day...so cute. Oh yes...Happy Easter and I really do love technology. The wonderful Internet allows me to talk to friends and family when I am miles and miles and miles away. It was so good to see your beautiful faces and hear your voices today (you know who you are). In this photo my cubes are a little fuzzy but I like it anyways. I can still know via the Internet what is going on in my friends lives...like getting engaged,surfing in Hawaii, also "Jesus Christ"...how quick you are at cleaning up the garage door remnants. I miss surfing and the sea. Good to see a glimpse of San Diego today. I will head to the west coast of Turkey next weekend though. So I almost forgot it was Easter today (Tara where am I going?) because I am in a Muslim country. I tried to tell my friends about the Easter Bunny. It was so fun to hunt for your basket or eggs. Like a buried treasure map...arghghhgh(my pirate noise?????????)

Almond Joy

What brings you joy? Something that brightened my day was when my mother sent me this email about my adorable grandparents...Lennie and Phemie. My mother wrote, "It's so cute, they have a new ritual at night. Dad eats the two nuts out of the Almond Joy and Mom gets the rest. (she can't eat nuts) then it's two kisses and I love you and off to bed. Such simple things like you said are often the best. I just always feel good after I leave there. Believe me I know what mothers mean to daughters." Yes mother...I know too. I love traveling but sometimes it is hard being away from my family. They are my root system and they keep me strong. Even though my family isn't right by my side I have meet some good friends here in Turkey. This photo makes me laugh. I went to a friend's late at night after dancing. He insisted on making tea even though it was around five a.m. and we should be going to bed...He didn't have any tea so he rushed down to the store. He came back with a pack of cigarettes, some tea, nescafe packets(just in case I wanted that instead), and sugar cubes wrapped in newspaper. Tesekkur ederim...Thank you to my friends and family

sugar sugar...dunna nanananana...

oh hunny hunny...dunna nanananana...you are my candy girlll and you got me wanting you...So The Archies sang that song back in 1969(thank you google...I did not know that fact). This photo is just a portion from the gigantic sugar cube bowl in the fine arts faculty canteen. For 65 kurus(the s has line through bottom and makes sh noise), I have a lovely cup of nescafe in the morning. I agree Kloe...I really miss fresh ground, strong ass, french roast...just cream and no sugar. Delicious! Let's see... today my cali girl(not candy girl) and I went to the bazaar. We bought fresh strawberries(cilek-the c has line through bottom also and makes ch noise), green apples (elma in turkish) and cagla (again the ch noise and a thin over g which makes g silent and draws out the a)...yes! I am learning turkish!!! Cagla is this strange fruit that I have never seen before. It grows in March and April. It is this green,fuzzy seed/fruit like thing. It is a little bitter yet crisp and refreshing like cucumber...interesting? I had glass blowing today. We made small animals;fish, seals,etc...dunna nananana...Who is your candy girl...or boy? sweet boys...

Again the tea...

Warm, warm tea...and people. This is a tea dish. There are always suger cubes on it with a tiny spoon or stir stick. Tea is always served in a small glass that is curvy like a woman, small waist in the middle. I still find it interesting that there is no handle. I had to learn to drink it with out burning my fingers off...find the balance. Tea is always warm as are most of the people I have met here. Discussing it with other Turkish people they agree that Turkish people are warm(kind and open) unless you are not. If you are cold to them they will be very, very cold back. Let's be warm...shall we?