This is Jaimi and I thought that I would share some culture that I was able to experience on what was our first free day of the trip when we were in Denizli. My host, Zuhal explained to me that her mother’s friend’s son would be getting married and that the night before the wedding there is a traditional party for the bride and all of the women. I asked what to wear and made sure that I got approval from not just Zuhal, but also her mom before we left so I didn’t think much more about it. It turns out that there were probably over 300 women there and all but Zuhal and a couple of others were completely covered – head, long sleeves, skirts to their ankles. I don’t think that it was an issue, that I wasn’t, but I did hear them telling people that I was American a few times so it is hard to know for sure what else they said.

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Turkey is a proud country whose culture and historic treasures combined wıth its friendliness and grand hospitality have made this trip an unforgettable experience for me.

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Today is Jaimi`s Bırthday!  Happy Birthday Jaimi!!!!  May your year unfold to find you surrounded by new adventures, new friends, and happy memories!  Enjoy!!!

I won!  Today we arrived in the beautiful town of Gocek near the sea.  It is Jaimi`s birthday so today so we attended a fabulous BBQ tonight.  As usual, there was plenty of delicious Turkish food.  Jaimi scouted out a very tasty treat for Scott and I to try….Grilled Lamb Heart….I ate my portion but Scott did not.  Lamb Heart is very very tough and chewy.  I do not need to try this yummy treat again… 

Okay, so I’ll definitely admit that I thought that I would have a bit more free time to devote to this blog while I am in Turkey. I was told that we would be busy but never thought I would be *this* busy! We usually wake up at 8am, have breakfast with our host families, and are out the door by 9 or 9:30. From there it’s a full day of sight-seeing, eating, meeting people, eating, presentations, eating, tours, eating, eating, and eating (yes, we are eating a lot, but we love it!)! We often get home around midnight and are so tired that we haven’t the strength to do much besides crawl into bed. The drinks imbibed with dinner every night only serve to aggravate our exhausted-ness.

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Hi There.  Angıe here again.  I know!  I know!  You have not heard from me at all and now 2 blogs ın a row.  This is a direct result of a rare combınatıon of free time AND computer access!!  Scott and I have an eating challenge going on.  Our entire team loves the Turkish food here and we cannot seem to stop eating. However, Scott and I have commıtted to tryıng EVERYTHING.  In Istanbul, we both ate an entıre fısh, head, spıne and entıre body with one drop into the mouth.  A few days ago, Jaimi found a delicious intestine soup for us to eat.  Appartantly you eat thiıs after you have been drınkıng to prevent a hangover.  It was horrible and now I understand why one must drink alot before eatiıng this soup! Jaimi was also kind enough to find some Turkish liver for us to try too.  Yummy!!  At least I got the smaller of the 2 pieces!  I cannot wait to see what she finds for us today….  

As many of you know, I broke my foot  2 weeks prior to leaving for thıs amazing trip on April 1…April fool`s Day! It has turned out to be a blessing for me.  At home I normally run around at 120mph and here I am forced to slow down a bit to absorb all of the beautiful things around me.  I actually have the patience on this trıp to listen to the very educated tour guides explain the history behind all of the ancient ruins and museums that we have visited instead of runnıng through the sights quickly just to get to the next.  Yes, I have over analyed the irony that I am broken and so is everythıng around me….hmmm.  And pretty much everything I seem to touch is breakıng. Tucan and Irem were so patient and forgiving of me when I stayed wıth them in theiır beautiful home ın Bursa and my electrical converter broke and as a result blew up my blow dryer…and almost burnt down their home.  (I`m really sorry about that!)  After that, our group went to Iznik to see the kilns and ceramics where I tried my luck at creatıng my own pottery…but it broke.  So I bought a beautiful hand painted ring from Iznik instead to remind me of all the love and care that the Turkısh people have in creating jewerly here.  Later that day….it broke.  I am very grateful for these experience because I truely beleive that everything happens for a reason.  I have learned how to ask for help.  Which I have not had to do very often in Turkey because Turkısh people are the friendliest, most cariıng loving people I have ever known.  My cast comes of the day that I returned home to the USA and I am glad to be able to heal here ın Turkey.  As far as the blow dryer….who needs ıt…my hair ıs healthier as a result!  Sometimes it must be broke to be fixed. 

Cats and dogs roam freely here. They are everywhere and don’t belong to anyone. They seem to be friendly (not scary like the roaming dogs in Southwest Detroit), but maybe too friendly as the cats will come right up to us as we are sitting at outdoor cafes. Nusret told me that Cunda, the island she lives on just off of Ayvalik, is famous for all of the cats that live there. She says that the legend is that people who didn’t want their pet cats anymore used to take them by boat and drop them on the island and leave them. We have even watched some “cat porn” as a male cat was obviously trying to mount a female and also protect his territory (and prospective mate).

Today, in Pumakkale, we saw a cat window shopping at a jewery store - I think that Scott got a picture of it. But overall, it was a dog day more than a cat day today.

We feel like all we are doing here is eating. Not only are we getting three meals a day – each with several courses, we are also having tea (and often a snack) mid-day and lunch and dinner always seems to have dessert attached to them - often more than one kind of dessert. We all want to try everything – most of it has been very good, but we are also realizing that we are eating way more than we usually do. It’s a good thing that we are doing so much walking when we go site seeingJ I brought a bunch of snacks from home that I haven’t broken into yet – including a jar of peanut butter – thinking that I might be hungry at some point or want to eat something that reminds me of home, but now I am thinking that I might be giving a host family a jar of “American Peanut Butter” as a gift so that I don’t have to keep carrying it with me.

I’m not sure if I have mentioned it yet, but driving here is crazy! At first I thought that they were terrible drivers, now I realize that they are actually very good drivers – weaving in and out the way they do without hitting anyone, squeezing in between cars or a car and a building, taking curves in the road without slowing down – or even thinking about slowing down… I often find myself sucking in as if holding my breath will make the car narrower. Then, there are the times that I think it would be best if I just closed my eyes, well, that may actually be most of the time, but I keep on watching and being amazed that things come out as well as they do.