Everything in ruins, in a good way! The waterfall and Side

(me at the temple of Apollo)

     A few weekends ago Ebru and I ventured off to the south of Turkey to visit her friend Suna. The part that I live in is considered Aegean Turkey; the part we went to is the Mediterranean part of Turkey. Her friend lived in a small city named Manavgat, which is approximately one hour by bus from a more popular tourist spot, Antalya. I was lucky to find out that not only was it close to Antalya, but some other amazing cities, which had some of the coolest roman ruins I have ever seen. We were not sure where to go exactly to start out with; the trip meant two overnight bus rides, the second one putting Ebru back in Izmir with just enough time to get to work on Monday morning. As you know, or those of you who have traveled overnight, it is not the most comfortable thing ever, turns out that was the least of our troubles, but I will get into that later!

 

(View from the theater)

We left Izmir on Friday night around 8:00. We first met at the bus company port near Ebru's house to take a small bus to the bus station. Once we got to the bus station we hopped on what turned out to be one of the coolest busses of all times, and headed off to Antalya. You may be wondering "how cool can a bus be?" the answer is freakin cool. This bus, aside from being relatively comfortable, had a TV where you could watch live TV, a list of movies you could watch (even some in English) and had a USB port where you could plug in and charge various electronics in the back of every seat. I used it to keep my ITouch charged. This bus, among all these other great features, had free wireless internet! This was pretty great, I even chatted with some of you probably reading this on Skype from the bus, so if you are one of them, congratulations. The ride there was fine. We were tired still upon arrival because for one, it was around 7:00 am, and two, you can only sleep so much on a bus. Suna met us and we headed back to her house to catch a quick nap then off to see some tourist spots.

(flooded walkway at the waterfall)

Our first day included a "waterfall" and another small town named Side. To start out the story of this day I will explain why I put the waterfall in quotation marks. First reason is that it was only maybe six feet high at most, so not really what I think of when I think waterfall, and two, and the biggest reason, is that the rain and melting snow from the mountains changed it from a waterfall into a rapid! I will post a picture of this to give you a visual of what I mean, but a quick description is that there was so much more water than usual trying to go over the waterfall that instead of falling from one level to another, it created more of a hill of water, or rapid. This excessive amount of water also meant that the entire area around the waterfall was completely flooded. There is a viewing area by the river that you go to see the waterfall, it was sadly under water, and however, you could not get anywhere near even the viewing area because the water came so far up. We had to stand approximately 150 feet away from the river because it was flooded that far back, included all viewing areas, and tourist gift shops. We went up into the restaurant which was on stilts (finally some architectural foresight) to get the only real view of the river possible. It was pretty cool just because it was all flooded, I may have been less interested if it was normal.

After this we headed to Side. The great thing about where we were was it was so close to travel between these various locations, so getting there took us only 20 minutes. The ride there was great also. Along the way you already got to see ruins along the sides of the road, buried under some dirt, in someone’s backyard, or anywhere else around you. This area has so many that they are just there, not part of a tourist attraction, not owned by the state necessarily, just part of the scenery. For me it was really cool. Once we got to Side I had some surprises. One was the great amount of ruins around to see, and two the long sand area leading up to the beach. One thing that made this area unique was that many of the ruins were in the sand leading up to the beach, which made for an interesting sight. The ruins and the ocean came together in a way that you could imagine how it may have looked when it was inhabited.

We started out by just walking along and looking at the first area of ruins, some random parts of what used to be a city. First some city wall, then a town square, then a market area. We made our way up the sand bank there you had a nice view of the various ruins, the old theater, and the ocean. We decided first we would walk down to the coastline and enjoy the view of the Mediterranean. Along the way we encountered some old buildings half buried in the sand, including what seemed to be an old church, and an ancient hospital (according to the signs). From the coastline itself you could not see too much because the sand bank dropped down again the regular beach area, but it was still a nice view of the sea.

We now decided to make our way towards the first big attraction, the theater. Along the way we found what I think was an old market area, if I remember correctly. This area was really cool because the facade of the old market was relatively well intact and you could find columns and old sculptures half buried in the sand and lying around. It was like something from a movie. It looked very untouched since the day it was still used. If something had fallen down, there it would lie, if the wind blew, the sand covered it. It was a great sight.

From there we got to the theater. This theater overlooked an old market square which still had many of its columns around the square still standing. The whole area was still together enough that you could understand a little bit about its old organization. The theater was not what it used to be, but from the first level down, it was still nearly perfect. The second level had been destroyed by the elements, and various earthquakes, which left parts of it, but not too much. The bottom half was great though, down to the ground. The backdrop was only half there anymore, most of it had fallen down, but still there was maybe 20 feet tall’s worth of it. When you looked closely you could see the various bits of art carved into the walls. I was lucky there; I was the only one in the theater and had a great view. It was all mine to enjoy. Ebru didn’t come in because she is a jive turkey, and is not as interested in that kind of stuff as me. haha. Either way, to stand in somewhere like that alone, is really a wild experience. From the top of the first level you also have a great view out across the ruins and the sea. This view was one of the coolest views of all the places I have been.

(The temple of Apollo)

Next we walked through the current market streets past all the fake purse, lacost, and genuine fake watch shops. We were heading to the most popular attraction of Side, the Temple of Apollo. Not too much of the temple is left these days but there is one side of it where the four columns are all still standing with the roof area all together. You get a good feel how the rest looked from this part, and the type of artwork that surrounded the top of the temple. It is surrounded by ruins all over the ground, ruins of another in fact larger temple, a church, and some other various things. This all sits right beside the sea, giving yet again, an amazing view of the ruins along the coast. We spent the remainder of the day watching the sunset over the water, and the mountain range that curled around into the Mediterranean, off in the distance. It was a great day of sightseeing! From there we walked back to the bus stop and met Suna for a drink or two then to sleep, so we could get up the next day and head to Antalya

(sunset over the Mediterranean)

Every kind of ham, except one actually made from a pig

So I am a bit more settled in these days. I finally have my flat all settled down. I have a new bed, it’s just on the floor with a carpet under it, but I really feel cozy at home. You can buy these cool wardrobes that are just a frame and some cloth over them very cheap, so I got one for myself and am finally moved out of my suitcases!!! I live in a part of town called Bornova now, it is a very student oriented part of town, where a big university called Ege University (where Ebru graduated:) that creates the student atmosphere here. I am really lucky that my good friend Oktay lives right across the road from me, and I have a bus back to Buca, where Ebru lives, and a bus to the area I work, Alsancak!

So Indeed I have started work. I work at a very cool place called British Culture. I am teaching what they call lower intermediate English to approximately four to nine students. I am only working 12 hours on the weekends right now, but it should increase. My students range from 15 years old up to 41 years old, which is difficult to cater to, but provides a great variety of stories, thoughts and abilities. They all seem like they want to learn and are having a good time with me in class; I am having a great time with them! The view from my classroom is really wonderful; you can see the sea and all around the city. On the days we are lucky we can go through the classroom beside us onto the balcony on the roof and spend our break enjoying the view!

The animals around here are really great. There are stray dogs and cats absolutely everywhere, as I may have mentioned before. They are all super friendly, at least the dogs anyways, and are always happy to have a quick scratch behind the ears or a stomach rub. There is one puppy who lives near Ebru's house which I like to think of as my adopted puppy! He is always excited to see me and me him. Even some of the cats here are nice! usually they hate everyone. If you sit near them, they will jump into your lap and curl up.

I am starting to find some favorite places around town, which include a restaurant named Mandolin Cafe, which is right on the sea and serves the best roast beef sandwich I have ever had! There is a waiter there who speaks really good English and always has time to come talk for a few minutes with me when I am there. Ebru and I spent a very nice valentine’s day there last night having some wonderful Turkish wine and food.

Unfortunately my Turkish has not improved very much so far. I am always with people who speak both English and Turkish so I am rarely forced to speak Turkish. One fun experience I had recently was searching out real pork in Izmir. We searched all over and finally found some salami and deli sliced ham.... unfortunately it cost 125 lira for one kilo! That translates to approximately 70 cents per slice! The reason I decided to put "every kind of ham, except one actually made from a pig" is that you can buy turkey pork, beef pork, chicken pork, and anything else you can think of, just not pork pork! It is pretty amusing. After when we went to buy bread we found bacon! We all went back to Oktay's house and I cooked the bacon up and made some turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese sandwiches. They really loved them! There first experience with bacon was a good one. Maybe next time I will make bacon egg and cheese biscuits for them!

Ebru's family, and especially Ebru have taken really good care of me here. I have an open invitation at their house for any meals, and a place to stay any night I want. I taught them how to play dominoes, which is a favorite of my family back in the US. Her mom is a great player. She will pick up a tile, if it is too high of a number, she will show you and say something like "too much" in Turkish, put it back, and pick something else up! haha.

Ebru took me to a really cool hotel where they have a big, heated, outdoor pool where you can go at night a pay around 6 dollars and swim as long as you want! It’s a really relaxing place where you can spend a few hours under the stars in a nice warm pool. You have to go through a crazy "car wash" when you leave the changing rooms. It is just a small passage way with a bunch of water sprayers in every direction that you have to walk through to get to the pool. It really feels like u are walking through a car wash! I think we will go again tomorrow night!

I have found a new bakery that I can spend less than 1 lira on breakfast and have some really amazing pastries. My favorite is called pogaca, filled with cheese. It is relatively sweet bread with cheese of other fillings and it is really amazing when it is hot!

My favorite Turkish food here is still Manti, it is similar to a tortellini, but filled with meet. You cover it with a plain yogurt (essentially something like sour cream) and a tomatoes sauce. It is really really delicious.

One thing that is very odd is that in a tree on my way to Kucuk park (the street with all the cafes) there are around 12 bright green parakeets. I do not think they are native to turkey, or are natural, so I am curious where they came from. I thought they could have escaped from a house close to there, but that many? They have a home in the tree and live there. Maybe I can research and find out from Google if they are native. They are too far away for a picture as of now, so maybe I can add one next time.

I took a trip to a city called Didim with the lovely Ebru, and our friends Cagin and Hakan. Hakan’s parents live there now in a nice little town home. We stopped in some beautiful beach and port towns along the way to take pictures, and buy some fish for dinner. We ended up with an entire sword fish and an octopus. We got to Didim and walked along the beach, then went to prepare dinner. We had a huge dinner of the fish, an octopus salad (Ebru's favorite) and some vegetables. It was a nice meal. His parents smoked more than any other people I have met in my life though! Didim is a beautiful city, with beautiful beaches and some great historical places, sadly it was pouring down rain the next day and we could not really do anything but drive home. I think we will return in the summer when we can see more. I already knew Didim from house hunters international when my mom, dad, and I watched that episode before I came.

The weather here is warming up a little bit already and Spring is on the horizon. My next post I will update everyone on my trip to Antalya with Ebru and our adventures there(including awesome pictures)!

I still miss everyone back home alot and hope you will come for a visit!

The first few weeks in Izmir

The first few weeks here in Izmir have been a blur! They have gone by very very quickly.

I arrived and celebrated new years with Ebru, Cagin, and Hakan... sorry for any misspellings, I also do not have any of the extra keys that Turkish keyboards have. Anyways, one new tradition I learned is that in Turkey it is good luck to wear red underwear on New Years eve! haha. So luckily my friends were nice enough to have bought me a pair for that day! I have one year of good luck coming my way!

Pretty quickly after I got here i began my job search. I am mostly looking for jobs with English teaching schools... they generally work with young adults, seems like the average is 25-40 years old. There seem to be too many of them here but at least it gives me some options. I have had good response from two. Address and British Culture. I did some observations with Address so far and they were fairly enjoyable... kinda boring. I also talked with one high school about teaching a literature class. For those of you who know me, you know reading is not my favorite thing in the world, so it might be a bad fit... its my last ditch idea. So now I am going to do a few observations at British Culture, see what they both offer me, and make my decision. I hopefully also can find some private lessons... they pay goooooooood.

So non work related life, I have found some guys to play soccer with which is pretty awesome, unfortunately the field we play on is a AstroTurf field which is built on a concrete base, so the ground is like a rock! not good for a goalie to have to dive on. It is also inlaid with small rubber particles that tear your skin up... but at least I'm playing! I am also going to the studio to play music with some guys I met here, nothing serious, just playing some awesome classic rock with some really talented guys... to bad none of us can sing or we would be famous! haha.

I have been living with Ebru's family since I got here, but just moved into a flat today. My roommate is a Turkish guy who works at the University teaching beginners English. Staying with Ebru's family really provided me with some interesting challenges. For starters, i do not speak Turkish and they do not speak English. This can be overcome with lots and lots of pointing and confusion. I now understand how to say breakfast (kavalte) and tea (chay). Her mom makes me a great Turkish breakfast every morning, which is definitely a very lucky thing for me. Turkish breakfast usually consists of a few kinds of cheese, pretty strong salty cheese; a beef sausage called sucuk, some bread which can vary from just a regular loaf of bread, to simit (a donut shaped bread with sesami seeds) or something called boyos, which you can only get in Izmir! tomatoes, cucumber, black and green olives, and some various jams, jellies, and honey. Breakfast here takes usually at least one hour to eat because you sit, take a bite, then talk for a while. You drink a few cups of tea, then after the meal, you make Turkish coffee. This is served in a small cup, like and espresso cup, and is made with a grainy coffee ground. You end up with a thick but of coffee and grain at the bottom of your cup. Its a great tradition, but very time consuming to go through this every day.

I am starting to get used to hearing the call to prayer five times a day every day now, but it still seems very exotic to me. It is really beautiful to see all the mosques along the hillsides here. At dusk when the sun is going down over the mountains and you see all the silhouettes it is a really awesome view. I am lucky to be surrounded by mountains and right on the Aegean all at once.

From Ebru's house it takes me an hour to get most anywhere, in fact, it seems like no matter where you go in this city, regardless of where you started, everything takes an hour. I do not think that has any logic, but I am pretty sure its true!

I will get more into culture here and talk more about my city in my next post, but hope this was a good start for everyone! I miss everyone and of course, you are all welcome here!