Well folks, it's been 2 days already and I've barely kept my new promise. But, here is a post to explain the past few days' occurrences.
I'll start with today. Today was our first full day off. It was also laundry day for this laY human being. I woke up at 9:30, talked to Josh for about 10 minutes, and then we both fell back asleep until 11:30 (an unsurprising event for me, but Morning Man Josh himself fell asleep). I woke up, readied myself for the day, and then got to the laundry part of Laundry Day. I washed each piece of clothing in the sink full of detergent water, rinsed them, and wrung them out, and arranged them on the balcony to dry. I did all this myself, with my bare hands (well, a bemused Josh took back one of the pairs of shorts that I had not wrung out properly and told me "you've got to wrong them out dude!"). Now I have clean clothes to wear!
Then it was backgammon with Erin R. and Jamie. After the games we bought some lunch at the bakery across the street (this time it was oj and a Greek cheese "sandwich." it was quite good.)
A that point in the day, I asked someone the time, and I found out it was 4:30. We experimented with some fun swing dance moves (in one of them the girl backflips, and it's prett much amazing).Iron Chef Josh prepared a delicious meal with chicken cooked with tomatoes, fresh lemons, and garlic.
The night had more bumper cars. There are few things as euphoric as smashing into your friends and being smashed into them at high speeds. Oh, and somewhere in there Josh bought me an ice cream cone.
As you can see, the theme I today is "josh is pretty much the best." that's probably because he is :-)
There is a lot more to say, like: I went to a catholic mass yesterday, visited a Greek Orthodox monastery (and got angry at the brilliant wealth and the endless icons), I began reading a book by Peter Singer about world poverty and our response to it, I love my parents and my sister, I swam in the Mediteraenean, realized that I miss friends like Andrew Odell, Luke Wilhelm, and Noah Lewis (among others), and that there is basically no hope of an ultimate frisbee game at any point on this trip.
Well, that's all for today
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Quick Hello
It's late, so this post will be brief.
Today I ate some amazing food. I was introduced to haluka (or something similar to that) cheese a few days ago, and for lunch I had an incredible pita bread sandwich with the cheese and tomotoes inside it. After that was delicious ice cream that tasted more like custard.
We ate Meze style (there are about 15 small courses of food, beginning with appetizers and going through scrumptious meats and topping with desert of strawberries and apples) for dinner. After our meal a band came and played an accordion and a sitar-like instrument. Some of the Cypriots eating nearby began to dance. They got most of us involved, and it was quite fun.
On the way back from our 3 hour meal, we stopped to play a round of bumper cars, European style. Bumper cars here are fast and the time is long. All of us were laughing for the majority of the time. It was incredible. Other than that, we swing danced on the roof of the hotel for a bit to cap off a good day.
Now it's time for bed
Today I ate some amazing food. I was introduced to haluka (or something similar to that) cheese a few days ago, and for lunch I had an incredible pita bread sandwich with the cheese and tomotoes inside it. After that was delicious ice cream that tasted more like custard.
We ate Meze style (there are about 15 small courses of food, beginning with appetizers and going through scrumptious meats and topping with desert of strawberries and apples) for dinner. After our meal a band came and played an accordion and a sitar-like instrument. Some of the Cypriots eating nearby began to dance. They got most of us involved, and it was quite fun.
On the way back from our 3 hour meal, we stopped to play a round of bumper cars, European style. Bumper cars here are fast and the time is long. All of us were laughing for the majority of the time. It was incredible. Other than that, we swing danced on the roof of the hotel for a bit to cap off a good day.
Now it's time for bed
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Backgammon and a Promise
Apologies are essentially meaningless, because I know that in them I will end up making promises that I will have every intention of keeping, but then you'll wait a week and know that I am a liar.
So, I'm sorry for the lack of posts and the breaking of promises. I'll try to post something small each day. So there is my apology and my promise.
Now we're in Cyprus, and our iternirant days are over. In Turkey, we stayed in a hotel for 2 days at the most. Now we'll be at the Petrou Bros Hotel for the remaining days of our trip. The culture in Cyprus is markedly different than the culture in Turkey, from
my very limited experiences in both. Virtually all of the people we interacted with in Turkey were ethnically Turkish, and their main language was Turkish. Yesterday, Ethan, Josh, and I found an amazing bakery across the street from our hotel. We went to buy our bread, and Ethan tried out his Cypriot Greek by saying "thank you" in Greek. I followed suit when I purchased my bread, and then the worker said, "that is not my language." Turns out that she is Romanian. We also learned from Bill, one of the faculty working on the dig that is being headed by Dr. Moore from IUP, that most of the owners of the Mini-Marts are Russian. Larnaka, the capital of Cyprus, has a large immigrant population.
The other story for this post comes from today's experience. We visited Famagusta, the home of a thick Venetian fortress and looming Gothic cathedral. After that Ethan Josh and I tried to find someplace to eat. All the places we saw would have cost us over 10 Euros, and all of them were touristy. We walked a bit further on and saw a kid playing with a backgammon set (I should mention that we were in Northern Cyprus, which is occupied by Turkey, and all of the people we interacted with were Turkish). There was a small shop there with a modest menu. I order a sandwhich, which turns out to have three types of meat, feta cheese and tomotoes and cucumbers on it. As we wait for the order to come, we play backgammon. We started playing on the boat, and now several of us on the trip have sets and we often play. Backgammon has become the unofficial game of the trip. We continue to play as we eat our food. An old, scrubby Turkish man comes out to enjoy a beer. Ethane offers to play him in a
game, and he accepts. The owner of the
shop comes out to tell us that this guy is a "champion. It seems like he barely thinks before he moves, but he has more strategy than any of us. When Ethan makes a move that is not a good as it could be, the man flips Ethan's pieces around for a better postion. It turns out his name is Ahmet, his surname translates into "black eagle," and he served as a surgeon in the Turkish army. He also played competitively in backgammon tournaments. We took pictures with him. This is why we're on the trip.
So, I'm sorry for the lack of posts and the breaking of promises. I'll try to post something small each day. So there is my apology and my promise.
Now we're in Cyprus, and our iternirant days are over. In Turkey, we stayed in a hotel for 2 days at the most. Now we'll be at the Petrou Bros Hotel for the remaining days of our trip. The culture in Cyprus is markedly different than the culture in Turkey, from
my very limited experiences in both. Virtually all of the people we interacted with in Turkey were ethnically Turkish, and their main language was Turkish. Yesterday, Ethan, Josh, and I found an amazing bakery across the street from our hotel. We went to buy our bread, and Ethan tried out his Cypriot Greek by saying "thank you" in Greek. I followed suit when I purchased my bread, and then the worker said, "that is not my language." Turns out that she is Romanian. We also learned from Bill, one of the faculty working on the dig that is being headed by Dr. Moore from IUP, that most of the owners of the Mini-Marts are Russian. Larnaka, the capital of Cyprus, has a large immigrant population.
The other story for this post comes from today's experience. We visited Famagusta, the home of a thick Venetian fortress and looming Gothic cathedral. After that Ethan Josh and I tried to find someplace to eat. All the places we saw would have cost us over 10 Euros, and all of them were touristy. We walked a bit further on and saw a kid playing with a backgammon set (I should mention that we were in Northern Cyprus, which is occupied by Turkey, and all of the people we interacted with were Turkish). There was a small shop there with a modest menu. I order a sandwhich, which turns out to have three types of meat, feta cheese and tomotoes and cucumbers on it. As we wait for the order to come, we play backgammon. We started playing on the boat, and now several of us on the trip have sets and we often play. Backgammon has become the unofficial game of the trip. We continue to play as we eat our food. An old, scrubby Turkish man comes out to enjoy a beer. Ethane offers to play him in a
game, and he accepts. The owner of the
shop comes out to tell us that this guy is a "champion. It seems like he barely thinks before he moves, but he has more strategy than any of us. When Ethan makes a move that is not a good as it could be, the man flips Ethan's pieces around for a better postion. It turns out his name is Ahmet, his surname translates into "black eagle," and he served as a surgeon in the Turkish army. He also played competitively in backgammon tournaments. We took pictures with him. This is why we're on the trip.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Blue
So I´m here at an internet cafe after three and a half days on a yacht on the Mediterraenean. It has been absolutely incredible!
Blue. There is a reason that the Mediterraenean is called "The Wine-Dark Sea." It is not an average blue; it is a deep, all encompassing blue. It seems endless, immortal. There is a great reason that the Greeks loved her, that the Romans called her "Mare Nostrum:" Our Sea. When I ride the Mediterraenean, I feel her immortality. When I burn my shoulders, I feel a taste of her wrath. She is like liquid azure slate.
Up until the Mediterraenean I did not appreciate most of the natural wonders that I saw. I was in Cappodocia, wıth its jutted landscapes carved out by the wind over incredıble time. Think Arizona but wıth vulcanic rock that sculpts like potter`s clay. The wind sculpts the rocks into points, so there are a thousand spears pointıng upward into the sky. The difference in the toughness of the rocks allows the top to be wider than the spear section below.
Ancient peoples carved churches and monasteries, houses and even entire underground cities. They built them because they wanted isolation from the world and because they wanted safety, depending on the time. Some built cavernous cities with elaborate ventillation systems and storerooms, with churches standing side by side with living quarters.
Anyway, I saw these incredible vistas and awe-ful towers that God created as I´ve tried to explain above, but I was not too interested in them. I was interested in how the people had used these wonderful pieces of geography.
Then I came to the Mediterraenean with its impossible salt-watered beauty, with its deep, bluer than eyes look.
Over the past three days on the yacht, called the Arıf Kaptan B, we have seen virtually no ancinet sites, but in the water, watching the water, holding my breath and floating on the salt-bouyant waters, cimbling the summit of the adjacent steep hills with six people of varying climbing abilities, creating mythologies for imagined constellations of an octopus named Seminus, sharing an iPod sining Jason Mraz while climbiming a ladder, gazing at stars impossibly clear shimmering stars, sharing a shooting start with three friends. That is the Mediterraenean, and that is why I don´t mind not seeing as many ancient cultural sites as I had before.
I have realized the difficulty of pictures. It was a lovely farce in thinking that I would be able to post picures, but it was a farce. So, sadly, I will be unable to post pictures for most, if not all, of the trip. My halting words and crappy metaphors will have to do.
I am not sure when I will be able to post again. I have given up any sort of comprehensive catalog of my days or the incredible events that are happening throughout each day, so you are left with whatever my thoughts are on on the day of the post. I apologize that I have neither the time nor the eloquence to document or convey most of the good events of the day, but I think that these little snippets will give you the most complete, if not the most comprehensive, explanatıons of the trip and my thoughts.
Farewell
Chris
Blue. There is a reason that the Mediterraenean is called "The Wine-Dark Sea." It is not an average blue; it is a deep, all encompassing blue. It seems endless, immortal. There is a great reason that the Greeks loved her, that the Romans called her "Mare Nostrum:" Our Sea. When I ride the Mediterraenean, I feel her immortality. When I burn my shoulders, I feel a taste of her wrath. She is like liquid azure slate.
Up until the Mediterraenean I did not appreciate most of the natural wonders that I saw. I was in Cappodocia, wıth its jutted landscapes carved out by the wind over incredıble time. Think Arizona but wıth vulcanic rock that sculpts like potter`s clay. The wind sculpts the rocks into points, so there are a thousand spears pointıng upward into the sky. The difference in the toughness of the rocks allows the top to be wider than the spear section below.
Ancient peoples carved churches and monasteries, houses and even entire underground cities. They built them because they wanted isolation from the world and because they wanted safety, depending on the time. Some built cavernous cities with elaborate ventillation systems and storerooms, with churches standing side by side with living quarters.
Anyway, I saw these incredible vistas and awe-ful towers that God created as I´ve tried to explain above, but I was not too interested in them. I was interested in how the people had used these wonderful pieces of geography.
Then I came to the Mediterraenean with its impossible salt-watered beauty, with its deep, bluer than eyes look.
Over the past three days on the yacht, called the Arıf Kaptan B, we have seen virtually no ancinet sites, but in the water, watching the water, holding my breath and floating on the salt-bouyant waters, cimbling the summit of the adjacent steep hills with six people of varying climbing abilities, creating mythologies for imagined constellations of an octopus named Seminus, sharing an iPod sining Jason Mraz while climbiming a ladder, gazing at stars impossibly clear shimmering stars, sharing a shooting start with three friends. That is the Mediterraenean, and that is why I don´t mind not seeing as many ancient cultural sites as I had before.
I have realized the difficulty of pictures. It was a lovely farce in thinking that I would be able to post picures, but it was a farce. So, sadly, I will be unable to post pictures for most, if not all, of the trip. My halting words and crappy metaphors will have to do.
I am not sure when I will be able to post again. I have given up any sort of comprehensive catalog of my days or the incredible events that are happening throughout each day, so you are left with whatever my thoughts are on on the day of the post. I apologize that I have neither the time nor the eloquence to document or convey most of the good events of the day, but I think that these little snippets will give you the most complete, if not the most comprehensive, explanatıons of the trip and my thoughts.
Farewell
Chris
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Just Words This Time--Oh, and Merhaba from Turkey
Thıs ıs not exactly the fırst chance I´ve had to post, but I have not capıtalızed on the rest. It ıs serıously ıncredıble to be here ın Turkey, and no amount of text (orpıctures) wıll be able to translate my experıences ınto your mınds. I wıll do what I can though. By the way, I am on an ınternet cafe, and so the "ı" ıs a lıttle dıfferent than ın Amerıca, sınce there are two kınds of "ı"s ın Turkey: the short "ı" (whıch ıs where our "i" ıs on the keyboard and whıch ıs pronounced lıke a short "i," and the long "e" sound of the letter we know as "i." Because the short "ı" ıs where our typıcal "ı" ıs, and I fıgure that you are smart people, I wıll sımply type wıth the short "ı" to save tıme.
OK, so now for a bıt of text on the plane rıde (sınce I spent so long on two Turkısh letters on a keyboard). The flıghts were a blend of exhaustıng to borıng, and I spent most of the tıme readıng a book called "Crescent and Star" by a journalıst named Steven Kınzer. Kınzer has spent a great deal of hıs lıfe ın Turkey, and he loves the country dearly. Hıs account was wrıtten mostly to ınform ıgnorant Westerners about theır contınent straddlıng neıghbor and ıts peculıarıtıes and sımılarıtıes. It ıs a fascınatıng read, and ıf you want a perspectıve on the modern outlook of Turkey then you should defınıtely gıve ıt a look. We flew from Dulles to Frankfurt, and then from Frankfurt to Munıch, and then from Munıch to Ankara, the capıtal of Turkey. We left at 5:45 PM and arrıved ın Ankara at 2:00 PM on Tuesday (we left on Monday), ıncludıng the 7 hour tıme dıfference.
Funny story (sınce that´s what makes memorıes) on the plane rıde to Munıch. So all the staff were German, and I had a semester of German ın college, so I fıgured I was basıcally a pro at the language. So I worked up my courage, and when the stewardess rolled her cart of drınky goodness by, and asked for a "kafe, bıtte."
I felt amazıng.
Then she asked me a questıon ın German. I smıled a bıt confusedly at her and saıd "hm?" Then she smıled and asked, "wıth sugar or black?" That language barrıer has consıstently come up, but that was an example of ıt rearıng ıts humorously ugly head.
Whıle the plane to Ankara was landıng, I wrote the followıng about Kınzer´s book ın my journal: "I enjoyed hıs sectıons that dıscuss Turkısh author Orhan Pamuk, because ealıer ın the year ı read Snow, a Turkısh novel by Pamuk. It gave Kınzer more credıblılıty ın my eyes, sınce hıs dıscussıon of Turkısh ıdentıty matched Orhans´s--a man who has lıved and breathed Turkey for much of hıs lıfe." It was also nıce to feel a connectıon of lıterature, journalısm, and later, personal experıence to thıs beautıful country. It has gıven me a lınk of sorts that I can grasp on to whıle I am walkıng and observıng Turkısh lıfe and the cultures that have ınfluenced ıt. Whıle we were landıng, ıt hıt me that Turkey was a dıfferent country.
The fırst nıght we had a meal at an ıncredıble restaurant. The waıters brought out pıta after pıta, and none of you have seen such puffed loaves of ıncredıble lookıng pıta, emergıng on wooden plates and steamıng. And the humus. That was just the meze, whıch ıs a serıes of appetızers that would constıtute almost a full Amerıcan meal.
Then came the maın course, whıch wasıncredıble lamb wıth hot peppers around ıt. I trıed one, and ıt was a lıttle bıt hot, but nothıng too bad. Then my frıend Laura trıed a dıfferent one and warned me that ıt was "absurdly hot." Not heedıng her warnıng, I bıt ınto ıt.
My face turned red, my hands shook, and ıf I weren´t ın such a hıgh class restaurant I would have been much louder and sought a way to escape the paın. I drank, I ate pıta, but nothıng staunched ıt. It eventually dıed down, wıth everyone laughıng at me, and then Laura trıed ıt to see ıf ıt was hotter further up. It was her turn to be laughed at at she downed a glass of wıne to elımınate the horrıfıc taste.
A lıttle whıle later, one of the waıters walked up to me grınnıng and made a cırcular motıon around the rıght sıde of hıs face. Gesturıng at me and then repeatıng the motıon he saıd, "red." We all laughed more.
After that I slept lıke a stone untıl the prayer call woke me up at 4:30 AM. It was a strange way to be awakened, sınce I have lıved ın a prımarıly "Chrıstıan" culture for my entıre lıfe.
There ıs so much more to wrıte, but I wıll have to end ıt wıth the followıng thoughts. I know ıt sounds obvıous, but ıt ıs hard to realıze what boundarıes and lınes defıne your lıfe untıl you hıt them square ın the face. Lıvıng wıthın the borders of Amerıca was that for me ın the sense that I could conceptualıze another country but had never truly experıenced ıt. I thınk that pıctures and words are so useless to convey what I am brushıng agaınst. I can´t even understand, let alone transfer adequately to you, the touch of the Hıttıte wall to my fıngers, or the sıght of Hattusas for the fırst tıme, juttıng out of the ragged Turkısh mountaıns. How can I tell you about the hılarıous "Leonardo dı Caprıo" bar man (whıch I wıll attempt later) or our genuıne, brıllıant tour guıde Ümıt. How can I wrıte what I experıence when I clımb the clıffs and monasterıes and houses and churches carved out of Cappadocıan volcanıc rocks, when I see the sun gleam over the wınd-howled landscape? What am I supposed to do wıth clıches lıke "wınd-swept" and word packages lıke "breathtakıng vısta?" How can I convey the three teenage gırls checkıng the guys out or the bar man whıstlıng and namıng Heather "Shakıra" and the camels and me steppıng ınto dense poop whıle lıstıng through Hattusas´s temple and beıng terrıfıed when I had to grope down a dım clıff ınsıde a gırl´s monastery that only Josh and I were brave enough to clımb? Lıfe here ıs good, and I wısh I could take you here (another clıche). I wıll do my best, through clıches and vagarıes and some prosaıc blunders toward beautıful wrıtıng to show you what my trıp to Turkey ıs lıke.
Thank you for readıng, and I hope thıs was worth your tıme,
Chrıs
PS: Josh´s blog sıte (whıch wıll be far more ınformatıve and ınterestıng than mıne, I assure you). ıs www.joshintc.blogspot.com
OK, so now for a bıt of text on the plane rıde (sınce I spent so long on two Turkısh letters on a keyboard). The flıghts were a blend of exhaustıng to borıng, and I spent most of the tıme readıng a book called "Crescent and Star" by a journalıst named Steven Kınzer. Kınzer has spent a great deal of hıs lıfe ın Turkey, and he loves the country dearly. Hıs account was wrıtten mostly to ınform ıgnorant Westerners about theır contınent straddlıng neıghbor and ıts peculıarıtıes and sımılarıtıes. It ıs a fascınatıng read, and ıf you want a perspectıve on the modern outlook of Turkey then you should defınıtely gıve ıt a look. We flew from Dulles to Frankfurt, and then from Frankfurt to Munıch, and then from Munıch to Ankara, the capıtal of Turkey. We left at 5:45 PM and arrıved ın Ankara at 2:00 PM on Tuesday (we left on Monday), ıncludıng the 7 hour tıme dıfference.
Funny story (sınce that´s what makes memorıes) on the plane rıde to Munıch. So all the staff were German, and I had a semester of German ın college, so I fıgured I was basıcally a pro at the language. So I worked up my courage, and when the stewardess rolled her cart of drınky goodness by, and asked for a "kafe, bıtte."
I felt amazıng.
Then she asked me a questıon ın German. I smıled a bıt confusedly at her and saıd "hm?" Then she smıled and asked, "wıth sugar or black?" That language barrıer has consıstently come up, but that was an example of ıt rearıng ıts humorously ugly head.
Whıle the plane to Ankara was landıng, I wrote the followıng about Kınzer´s book ın my journal: "I enjoyed hıs sectıons that dıscuss Turkısh author Orhan Pamuk, because ealıer ın the year ı read Snow, a Turkısh novel by Pamuk. It gave Kınzer more credıblılıty ın my eyes, sınce hıs dıscussıon of Turkısh ıdentıty matched Orhans´s--a man who has lıved and breathed Turkey for much of hıs lıfe." It was also nıce to feel a connectıon of lıterature, journalısm, and later, personal experıence to thıs beautıful country. It has gıven me a lınk of sorts that I can grasp on to whıle I am walkıng and observıng Turkısh lıfe and the cultures that have ınfluenced ıt. Whıle we were landıng, ıt hıt me that Turkey was a dıfferent country.
The fırst nıght we had a meal at an ıncredıble restaurant. The waıters brought out pıta after pıta, and none of you have seen such puffed loaves of ıncredıble lookıng pıta, emergıng on wooden plates and steamıng. And the humus. That was just the meze, whıch ıs a serıes of appetızers that would constıtute almost a full Amerıcan meal.
Then came the maın course, whıch wasıncredıble lamb wıth hot peppers around ıt. I trıed one, and ıt was a lıttle bıt hot, but nothıng too bad. Then my frıend Laura trıed a dıfferent one and warned me that ıt was "absurdly hot." Not heedıng her warnıng, I bıt ınto ıt.
My face turned red, my hands shook, and ıf I weren´t ın such a hıgh class restaurant I would have been much louder and sought a way to escape the paın. I drank, I ate pıta, but nothıng staunched ıt. It eventually dıed down, wıth everyone laughıng at me, and then Laura trıed ıt to see ıf ıt was hotter further up. It was her turn to be laughed at at she downed a glass of wıne to elımınate the horrıfıc taste.
A lıttle whıle later, one of the waıters walked up to me grınnıng and made a cırcular motıon around the rıght sıde of hıs face. Gesturıng at me and then repeatıng the motıon he saıd, "red." We all laughed more.
After that I slept lıke a stone untıl the prayer call woke me up at 4:30 AM. It was a strange way to be awakened, sınce I have lıved ın a prımarıly "Chrıstıan" culture for my entıre lıfe.
There ıs so much more to wrıte, but I wıll have to end ıt wıth the followıng thoughts. I know ıt sounds obvıous, but ıt ıs hard to realıze what boundarıes and lınes defıne your lıfe untıl you hıt them square ın the face. Lıvıng wıthın the borders of Amerıca was that for me ın the sense that I could conceptualıze another country but had never truly experıenced ıt. I thınk that pıctures and words are so useless to convey what I am brushıng agaınst. I can´t even understand, let alone transfer adequately to you, the touch of the Hıttıte wall to my fıngers, or the sıght of Hattusas for the fırst tıme, juttıng out of the ragged Turkısh mountaıns. How can I tell you about the hılarıous "Leonardo dı Caprıo" bar man (whıch I wıll attempt later) or our genuıne, brıllıant tour guıde Ümıt. How can I wrıte what I experıence when I clımb the clıffs and monasterıes and houses and churches carved out of Cappadocıan volcanıc rocks, when I see the sun gleam over the wınd-howled landscape? What am I supposed to do wıth clıches lıke "wınd-swept" and word packages lıke "breathtakıng vısta?" How can I convey the three teenage gırls checkıng the guys out or the bar man whıstlıng and namıng Heather "Shakıra" and the camels and me steppıng ınto dense poop whıle lıstıng through Hattusas´s temple and beıng terrıfıed when I had to grope down a dım clıff ınsıde a gırl´s monastery that only Josh and I were brave enough to clımb? Lıfe here ıs good, and I wısh I could take you here (another clıche). I wıll do my best, through clıches and vagarıes and some prosaıc blunders toward beautıful wrıtıng to show you what my trıp to Turkey ıs lıke.
Thank you for readıng, and I hope thıs was worth your tıme,
Chrıs
PS: Josh´s blog sıte (whıch wıll be far more ınformatıve and ınterestıng than mıne, I assure you). ıs www.joshintc.blogspot.com
Sunday, May 3, 2009
The First Post (From Lancaster)--In Words Only
Hi Guys,
Just a quick note on the title. It is not meant to be a pun (so don't kill me Luke). The point is that I will be traveling throughout a slice of turkey, getting only a slice of the people and a slice of the things I could be seeing or doing. I suppose that's what life is: God gives us certain slices that we can take and glean from, and that's it.
Well, I am very grateful to Him that I get to experience these slices of Turkey and Cyprus.
So, if you're reading this, you should know the following:
1) If you want to get a postcard from me, then e-mail your mailing address to indyman402@gmail.com --I may or may not be able to send one to you, depending on whether 1 person sends me an address, or 265 people do.
2) If you read a post, do me the favor of commenting, even if all you say is "hi" or "hey, enjoyed the post" or "hated the post" or "so jealous." My point is, I am putting a good bit of time into pictures and entries, and this is my only connection to you guys, so comments are awesome.
3)I will probably post some of my written journal entries that are my thoughts on the main question I am examining as the trip goes on. There are 6, and I don't know which one I want to write on yet, so I will get back to you with what the question is. If you feel the desire to debate my ideas or to think critically alongside with me, great! Comment! If not, read it for something interesting.
Honestly, I can't believe this trip is actually happening. I have been planning and doing things for it since October of last year, and now I am actually leaving the country for the first time!
Thanks to:
1) Mr. Odell, for his advice
2) Rebekah Wilhelm, for her advice
3) My Mom and Sister and Dad, who are letting me go on this trip no matter how much they miss me
I leave tomorrow at 5:45 PM from Dulles Intl airport, and I'll end up in Turkey on Tuesday afternoon, after about 17 hours of flying. There is a seven hour time difference in Turkey (just to give you a perspective).
If you would like to pray, pray for that I and the other Christians on the trip would grow and read the Word throughout the trip and not just be lazy.
Have a great 5 weeks!
Chris
Just a quick note on the title. It is not meant to be a pun (so don't kill me Luke). The point is that I will be traveling throughout a slice of turkey, getting only a slice of the people and a slice of the things I could be seeing or doing. I suppose that's what life is: God gives us certain slices that we can take and glean from, and that's it.
Well, I am very grateful to Him that I get to experience these slices of Turkey and Cyprus.
So, if you're reading this, you should know the following:
1) If you want to get a postcard from me, then e-mail your mailing address to indyman402@gmail.com --I may or may not be able to send one to you, depending on whether 1 person sends me an address, or 265 people do.
2) If you read a post, do me the favor of commenting, even if all you say is "hi" or "hey, enjoyed the post" or "hated the post" or "so jealous." My point is, I am putting a good bit of time into pictures and entries, and this is my only connection to you guys, so comments are awesome.
3)I will probably post some of my written journal entries that are my thoughts on the main question I am examining as the trip goes on. There are 6, and I don't know which one I want to write on yet, so I will get back to you with what the question is. If you feel the desire to debate my ideas or to think critically alongside with me, great! Comment! If not, read it for something interesting.
Honestly, I can't believe this trip is actually happening. I have been planning and doing things for it since October of last year, and now I am actually leaving the country for the first time!
Thanks to:
1) Mr. Odell, for his advice
2) Rebekah Wilhelm, for her advice
3) My Mom and Sister and Dad, who are letting me go on this trip no matter how much they miss me
I leave tomorrow at 5:45 PM from Dulles Intl airport, and I'll end up in Turkey on Tuesday afternoon, after about 17 hours of flying. There is a seven hour time difference in Turkey (just to give you a perspective).
If you would like to pray, pray for that I and the other Christians on the trip would grow and read the Word throughout the trip and not just be lazy.
Have a great 5 weeks!
Chris
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