Catching Up

I am really really sorry, I have not written a blog post ages. I have had a lot going on and not enough time. To start of I'll talk about a mountain trip we went on. Behind Alanya there is a mountain range called the Taurus mountains. We took a trip into the mountains one day. The mountains are full of trees and animals.  Once, Seamus encountered a snake. While we were there, we took a few hikes through the old town and up the mountains.

We stayed near a town called Akseki.  It was about a 30 minute drive from our hotel, which by the way was really nice. Akseki was the only place we could get food. We did find a really good restaurant eventually, but it took quite a bit of walking. The mountains had large stretches of rock, some of the rock had strange imprints in it, like somebody rubbed their fingers on the rock so much that in made little dents.  In the mountains we found quite a few small spots to rest and have snacks. Over all I think that our mountain trip was great, I wish I could say more but I have a lot to talk about.

About a week after I got back I we went on another trip, nothing exciting happened in between these two trips. This time, we were going to the third biggest city in Turkey. We already have done many great things in Izmir but I'll just talk about one of my stories. Personally my favorite part was walking down the boardwalk on the first day. The moment we got on to the boardwalk we found a big messed up boat frame.  It was obviously made for kids to climb on, and we did. We climbed up to the top and all over the side. 

We had a great time until eventually we got tired of it and decided to keep heading down the boardwalk. We saw some boats and a lot of seagulls. Eventually we stopped at the strangest pier I have ever seen. It was hardly even a pier; it was more of a mall. Inside there were shops and cafés. We stopped at one and had a drink with Grams while we waited for our dad to come.

We also got a book at one of the shops. On our way back we went on a crazy overhead walkway to get across a street. There are many more adventures in Izmir that I have had but I'll save those for later blog posts. I think I'm finally catching up on my blog now :)

Pirate Boat

A few days ago I went on a pirate boat. That may sound completely silly and fake, and it's true, I did not go on a real pirate boat. I went on a pirate-themed boat that went around the peninsula jutting out of Alanya. In the summer/tourist season there were more party boats. We woke up and had breakfast, our mom got to sleep in because she wasn't coming. We headed out to the harbor where all the boats were docked.

There were so many boats, they took up the whole harbor, and the harbor is huge. We searched around for one that looked nice and whose staff didn't yell out at us trying to make business. After we finally found one we waited on it for at least 45 minutes, but it was worth it. Our first swimming stop was about ten minutes after we started.

 I think it was the best stop, we went down to the lower level of the boat and jumped in the water. It wasn't cold though it wasn't warm. We swam around a little then we asked if we could jump off the boarding ramp/gangplank. They said no but told us that we could jump off the side of the boat. Of course we did, it was really fun.

 When the horn sounded it was time to get back on the boat. We continued around the promontory and saw some really amazing cliffs, castle, and climbers. The cliffs were like giant rock walls going as high as a building. The castles were ancient structures on the edge of the cliff with churches and battlements.

Finaly, the climber: in one of the cliffs was a cave that people dive into the water from. It was about 40 feet above sea level. The climber was not going to dive from the cave, he was going to climb up the side of the cliff. Once he was about 45 feet high on the cliff, he dove. Unfortunately he did not do a quadruple flip, he just did a normal dive. It was still amazing.

We kept on moving towards the next swimming stop. We did the same thing as we did the first time except we didn't stay in the water as long. After it we had ice cream. Out next stop was lunch, and that is where we got off. Our lunch was pretty normal, french fries, spaghetti and chicken wings. After that we got off and went to the beach, I won't talk much about that though. Anyway, that was our first pirate boat experience in Turkey.

A day in Turkish School

I do not go to school in Turkey, I home school. Except Wednesday we actually visited a Turkish school. It was pretty impressive. When we first got in it looked like a normal school. It had a blacktop and small playground. Then I looked closely, I saw that there where cakes, cookies, and puddings lined up on a table and staircases leading to different building up on a hill. The recess bell rang and a swarm of screaming kids emptied on to the blacktop. Some of them ran towards the tables with treats on them. 

In an American school we would never get cakes, cookies, and puddings as a snack. Even though it was only every Wednesday, I was still impressed. One the PTA moms even gave a spider shaped cookie to us. We started heading up the steps and around the different class rooms. The cafeteria had murals on the walls, which was kind of normal for a cafeteria. 

We also saw that they had an extra extra big chess board where the pieces were big that we had to carry them around. That was really cool, of coarse we didn't have time to play because we were on a tour of the school. We kept moving and found an olive tree my mom tasted one of the olives and said it tasted bitter. The way to make them taste like the normal salty olives that you find on a cheese plate at a party is complicated. You have to pick them at a certain time, then keep them in a container of water, lemon, and salt for fifteen days. Anyway, as we kept walking along we found a playground where Ruby and Brewer could run around while me and Seamus climbed on the equipment. 

After that's we checked out the arts area. They had science, music, art, and chess. They were all pretty much the same at NCC. That brought us to the end of tour. Now we were going to have lunch. The lunch was strictly vegetarian so I didn't eat much, I had a soup, some watermelon, and some bread. 

It was getting crowded so me Seamus and I had to escape. We went outside and waited till our parents, Ruby, Brewer, and their parents were done. Then the adults had tea and we left. 

I think it was a very interesting school and a place we might want to come back to.

Cappadocia

Cappadocia is a region of Turkey that has the most magical rock formations. It started with some ancient volcanos that erupted and created a thick layer of ash. Over centuries, wind and water shaped it into big towers. Later on people built houses inside of them. It was like a fully decorated cave, with shelves and rooms. Seamus and I could walk around inside them. 

In America something this old and amazing would cost at least $100 to look at. For us it costed $0 dollars to climb on, walk around, and explore. We would walk through the dark small hallways inside the cave and ask our dad how old it is. He would say casually "over 2,000 years." These formations are almost like grand thumbs, sticking out of the ground, sometimes they have little rocks balanced on top of them. Other formations are like hills made of whipped cream. They would swirl up to the top, were there would be a plateau or another bunch of towers. 

The best part about it  is the balloons. At 6:30am in the morning, at least 50 hot air balloons rise up into the sky. The combination of the colorful balloons and the amazing rock formations is just amazing. The first day in Cappadocia, we had some breakfast and took a hike through the incredible valley of giant rocks. The sights we saw that day were amazing, but they did not compare at all to the sights we saw the second day. The second day I woke up at 5:45am in the morning knowing that it was the day we were going on the ballon. A van drove us and a bunch of Australians to an empty area where there was an deflated hot air ballon and a table with snacks and drinks. 

It took a while for the ballon to inflate so we were waiting there for at least 30 minutes. It was worth it. The view I had was amazing as we rode high over the plateau. We floated high above the ground in our hot air ballon and saw all the towns and rock formations below us. We looked around and saw all the colorful balloons floating up along side us. 

Then when we landed it felt so good to be back on the ground. Over all, I think I'll never see anything like it again.

A Dark and Stormy Night

Last Saturday night, after the amazing soufflé experience, we celebrated one of our neighbor’s birthday. Our neighbors also came to Turkey with us and the Georgetown faculty and the Georgetown students. It was Kelly Bartley's birthday party. She is the Mom of Brewer and Ruby Bartley, and the wife of Allen Bartley. Brewer and Ruby are much younger than Seamus and me. Ruby is two and Brewer is five. Anyway, today we threw a surprise party for Kelly. We went to a traditional Turkish restaurant to wait for Kelly and the Bartleys to arrive. When Kelly came, we did the same thing as every surprise party, we jumped up and said SURPRISE.

The restaurant had out door tables and indoor tables. There was a thunderstorm outside so we ate at the indoor tables. It was too bad because we would have liked to sit out next to the garden and the cacti, maybe not for Ruby and Brewer but for Seamus, me and the rest. Inside there was a little stage where someone played her guitar and sang. The food was not something that the kids liked, it consisted of stuff like pickled apricots and a eggplantish tomato sauceish dish. The cake was amazing, the combination of fruit, white chocolate, sweet bready inside and frosting was really good. Over I think every one had a good time and despite the rain it was a great birthday party.

Triathlon with a side of Chocolate Soufflé

A couple days ago we went to meet a person who could potentially help us a lot while we are in Alanya. Her name was Condon, pronounced Jondon. Our goal was to make friends with her so that we could see each other often and find out could places that eat, walk around, swim, and many other things. 

There was a triathlon that day and we were taking a taxi to get to Condon. The taxi driver took a crazy complicated nauseating detour though the non touristy part of Alanya. It was not very clean and it had small streets with sharp turns. After about ten minutes of that the taxi driver stopped and told us that it would be easier if we just walked from there. It wasn't a long walk and we got to see the triathletes run through the caution taped streets, sometimes there was a motorcycle with a camera man close behind, filming. When we got to the Kaptan hotel, owned by Condon and her husband, it turned out that Condon was not waiting in the lobby for us but outside at the hotel's restaurant across the street. The restaurant had an amazing view of the ocean and the harbor, our beach's pier was a tiny dot way off in the distance. 

We sat there and and had two of the restaurant's specials, delicious meat and vegetable filled rolls. They were very good especially because is hadn't had anything to eat in a while. Their second special was (drum roll) a chocolate soufflé. 

I could have had a million of those no matter how rich they were. They also gave us little cups of cream, vanilla sauce, chocolate sauce, and pounded sugar. What I did was sprinkle "a little" powdered sugar on, then break the top open and watch it all fall into the creamy filling, then pour "some" vanilla sauce in and mix it around, you can't beat it. After that we headed inside to get covered from the rain rain that was starting to come down. My mom had some coffee along with Condon. After that Condon drove us home and showed us some tennis courts that we might want to try out. When we got home I immediately flopped down on the couch. It was hard knowing that in two hours I would be going to a birthday party but for now I just wanted to rest after a long day.

Sickness Strikes Back

A few days ago, we were heading up to the villa where my Dad teaches the college students.  We planned on doing home schooling there but we ended up going to a restaurant to have some lunch and do some science. The plan was to eat, go to the beach, then come home and finish the school day, but that didn't work out. On our way to the beach Seamus and my Mom dropped out because Seamus had a stomach ache. So my Dad and I continued and had a fun time at the beach. We stayed there for an hour then got our stuff and left. It wasn't until I got home that I felt sick. I immediately sat down on the couch and started deep breathing. I managed to make it through the evening and get to sleep, but it didn't last long before I woke up sweating, leaned over my bed and for the second time this trip, I threw up. My parents cleaned it up and I went back to sleep, but then BOOM. It happened again. I had just gone to sleep when I woke up and did it again. It took a while, but eventually I got a good night sleep.  (We didn't put photos in this for a reason.)