A Walk in the Wild

Friday, May 27, 2011

May 26th

I started the day by going to a ladies study. We discussed Esther and did other things you do at these studies :-). After the study Mrs. Eldred suggested that Tressa and I go hang out. We decided to go to the swimming hole. It took us about two hours to walk to both our places and get swimming suits. But it was worth it! The Mediterranean is beautiful. There must be a lot of salt in the water because we were quite buoyant.

The swimming hole is on the back side of a big resort and on the way back we took their outside elevator instead of walking up all the stairs. I started to drop my towel, went to adjust it, and the house keys that were around my finger fell off. As I mentioned a few posts ago there is no inner door in these elevators. You can drag your finger along the wall, so there is an inch gap between the elevator and the wall. The keys fell through this gap.

We went back to the bottom and discovered a way to get under the elevator. I tried asking a gentleman that worked there to help get the keys, but he did not understand my English and I don’t speak Turkish. A gentleman that was a guest at the resort interpreted for me, he asked if I was from Europe. When I said, "America," he said, “that explains the funny accent, he (Turkish man) could not understand your accent.”

Tressa headed back to my place to meet Talya when she got home from school and let her know what was going on, she does not keep house keys on her. While I waited, I think the first Turkish gentleman was hoping I would leave. Eventually he telephoned for help and told me to come with him. I followed and through signs showed him the problem. I had to explain it was not a room key to the resort but a house key.

When we went to go up in the elevator it locked us in and would not go up. After about a minute he got it to let us out, we tried again with the same results. After another couple of attempts we got it to work and made it to the top. He indicated I was to wait with another Turkish gentleman for the technician. When the technician arrived we all got back in the elevator and eventually made it to the ground floor again. He was able to get my keys back, but the elevator was still not working. After many thank you’s I left and took the stairs…

Something else that made these whole scenario even more interesting is you are not suppose to make eye contact or smile at people here. It would be like saying you're available. Tressa and I had been trying really hard all day not to smile and make eye contact. It was rather difficult not to smile at the irony of being locked in the elevator while trying to get my keys that were stuck at the bottom. Also have you every tried not to make eye contact while stuck in a small place and trying to communicate through gestures? Then I was in a bathing suit and towel! Mom our bathing suit plan works great and I was glad for the extra modesty.

The rest of the evening was less eventful.

I have been reading about Solomon and it has been making me wonder how a man that was so wise could be so foolish. I am thinking he must have thought it was okay he could control that one sin and not let it turn his heart. But he was wrong.

May 25th

Today was a laid back day. Renata, James, and James left for Eastern Turkey to complete the tour with the people from Denver. Talya and I have been holding down the fort. I went and purchased cards and postcards. Apparently these things, especially the postcards, are not common in Turkish culture.

I went to orientation with the Eldred’s and Tressa, an intern from Wisconsin who will be here all summer with us. They taught us the dos and don’ts of working in the Turkish culture.

Something of interest that came out of this orientation was the respect with which you are suppose to treat your Holy Book. If you do not show respect to the Holy Book, then how can you respect the God behind the Holy Book? This is a different way of thinking and I think it is true that we should treat our Holy Book with much more respect.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

May 24th

So yesterday was busy!

The couple I am staying with, along with everything else they do, James leads Biblical tours which is a growing source of tourism for Turkey. He has been leading a tour from Denver Seminar the past week or so. Yesterday they were here, so I was able to meet James he had been out of town with the tour group. But the tour was also having lunch at the St. Paul Cultural Center. So we, Renata, Talya (their daughter), James (a friend of the family that was in town from the states), umm Turkish friend (I cant spell the name and I dont want to try), and myself made the lunch.

We made sandwiches or I would call them wraps. They had Leban, it is kind of like a sour cream yogurt mixture, spread throughout then a pepper paste with some cucumbers, green olives, and peppers all wrapped in a tortilla. There was also a carrot salad which the amazing Turkish lady made. It had carrots, yogurt, garlic, and mint it tasted really good. Then there were these really big chocolate chip oatmeal cookies that had been prepared the day before, they are good cookies but not as sweet as the ones I'm used to.

After we served the people there food and ate some food ourselves. Rambosan (this is not correct spelling) shared his journey of faith. This was interesting and he had a lot of insight. One of the things he said that was thought provoking was an analogy, about how weird the thought of Jesus could be. He said it would be like someone growing up knowing someone as your uncle and then later in life that uncle telling you he is really your father. He shared a lot more and I will try to pass the information along through more private channels.

Then a Imam came, he was an important imam in the city an imam of imam. He did not speak English so James and Rambosan interpreted what he shared with the group. It was interesting to hear what he had to say as well. He shared about Abraham and his almost sacrificing Ishmael and how Allah provided a ram. I did not have anyway to take notes which was unfortunate.

When everything at the center was done, Renata, Talya, and I headed home to prepare for a good bye bbq. One of the couples that has been on staff here is moving to Wales. Talya and I swept off the balcony which meant spraying water all over the balcony then using these fan like brooms, between 2 and 3 feet tall, that have about a six inch built in handle to then scrub and sweep the dirty water into the drain. All the while we could not let any water splash over the edge, there apartment is on the thirteenth floor. We had a good time and somehow managed to not let a drop go over the edge, aren't you all so proud!

We then finished all other type preparations for the dinner. The bbq went well, one of the families that came was Russian, the wife and kids did not speak English, the little girl could speak Turkish though. It was fun to watch how all the other little kids would switch into Turkish to talk to her(Jasmine). I played go fish with some of the kids it was fun, I had to use one of the kids to interpret for me so Jasmine could also play. One of the other mothers also joined us for a while and acted as interpreter.

I had a good time and was able to meet the local team here. There are people from all over the world. All the accents were fantastic to listen to.

Something I have been meaning to comment on is the call to Prayer. I am sure most of you are aware that Muslims pray five times a day. So five times a day there is someone that chants verses from the Koran over an intercom system so the whole city can hear and know it is time to pray. This devotion to prayer is something to be admired.

One last random piece of info. I have learned how to break an apple in half with my hands! Yes I know you are all jealous and will go out and work on learning right away ;-)

Monday, May 23, 2011

May 20th and 21st

Sorry these are a little out of order.

hmm I am going to tell these adventures with pictures since I still had my battery for these days.

Actually it is taking forever to load and I am ready for bed so I will give a quick recap and finish loading them later.

Friday we finished orientation in the early afternoon. April and I really wanted to go to Chick-Fil-A and we had discovered there was one about 6 miles away. So we asked people if they wanted to join us. Nick said yes everyone else for some reason did not want to... We were actually allowed to use some bikes and it was only 4.5 miles not 6. The milk shake was well worth the ride.

The next morning April and I went to the Wade Center on Wheaton's Campus. They have the desk of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkein as well as the wardrobe that inspired the Lion Witch and the Wardrobe. They had a lot of other fun things by different authors as well. Pictures to follow when I can get it to work better.

May 23rd

My first day is almost done...

I was suppose to sleep in this morning because of jet lag. Who wants to bet how that went? If you guessed, "not well," you would be right. I was wide awake and up by 7:30.

I went with Renata and got some TL, so the fun of trying to manage a budget with two currencies has begun! The exchange rate today was really good, at least that is what I was told. We went to the bank and the market. Renata pointed out landmarks and routes to help get around in our area.

The place I am at is very nice and safe. I can see the ocean and the mountains from the window as well as the balconies. Today was really clear and the view was breathtaking, it made me think of you know who!

I looked at and circled two different location on twenty maps for people coming in tonight from Denver Seminary for a tour. So if nothing else I know where the hotel and the St. Paul Cultural Center are on the map.

Renata and I then worked on some paper work related to the upcoming camps.

I am going to be helping with the barracudas elective, which means the swimming and hiking for the children. I am thrilled!

I then went on my first solo adventure to go put minutes on the phone I will be using. Renata gave me directions and instructions and then set me loose. Watch out Antalya, I'm free! I walked down to the mall which is an easy five minutes and found Turkey Cell and through hand gestures and some English on my part and Turkish on their part we managed to get 20TL worth of minutes on my phone. That done I looked around the rest of the mall, it was smaller so this was not hard to do. A few discoveries are that it is a lot easier to find a one piece in Turkey, I can get an adapter for my plug at the grocery store, they seem to like earth tones more for clothing, and you can buy converse at the grocery store. Yes the last one surprised me, I had noticed that a lot of people were wearing them so I guessed they were popular but finding them at the grocery store was odd. They say "All Star" on the heel in English and then the circle emblem is in Turkish.

I then had some more time so I walked the remaining few blocks to the ocean. I discovered where I could go swimming when with someone else, as well as many beautiful places to look at.

Oh something that I found interesting is the elevators. You pull a normal swinging door open step in, close it, and then push one of the highlighted buttons this button is then no longer highlighted and that is the floor you go to. But when the elevator moves there is no inner door so the wall with all the other outer doors goes by and you could drag your hand along it if you wanted. The last thing is the ground floor is zero not number one and they do have a thirteenth floor.

So yes throw in some food, conversations, and God time and that was my day.

Arrival

I started my journey Saturday evening at 7:15 ish and arrived around 9PM Sunday...

I am ten hours ahead of Oregon so it is 11 AM here on the 23rd and 1 AM there (i think the 23rd). Everyone else can figure it out from there ;-)

The flights were mostly uneventful. My domestic flight from Istanbul to Antayla was delayed. I'm still not sure why since all explanation was in Turkish. A gentleman got into a rather loud altercation with the flight attendant. It seemed acceptable to everyone for him to be bellowing. Then when we did board the flight attendant was strongly reprimanding a gentleman for hitting his wife, which is not allowed on the flight. The wife was not mentally all there and the gentleman was being rather rough with her. They seemed to be of European descent.

Something different about flying in Turkey is that everyone claps when the plane lands...

I am staying with the Bultema's for the next couple of weeks. Eventually, Christine will join me here. Tressa is staying at the house Christine and I will move to after camp. The apartment has a beautiful view of the city, the ocean, and the mountains.

The food I have had so far has been quite good, a lot of vegetables but taste. For those that were concerned about this.

I have a confession! I forgot my camera battery in Chicago, so it will be a little while before I have pictures to share :-(

That about sums up my last couple of days