Blood, sweat, tears, and a whole lotta adventure*

These past few days have been overwhelmingly amazing. All the other students and I just keep asking ourselves what we did to deserve a trip this incredible. I'm too behind in my blogging and journaling to give a full update now, but to elaborate a little more, here were some of the adventures:


7/13- Istanbul> Fesleğen Village

• Stepping into the "healing waters" of a Salt lake on the way to the village
• Arriving to the lovely home of Yasmin and Ismail and receiving a warm and delicious welcome dinner while seated on the ground of the balcony

7/14- Fesleğen Village 

• Waking up to a delicious breakfast on the balcony, complete with homemade apple pastries and honeycomb
• Visiting an obsidian source in the middle of a village full of bold and loud children who were eager for pictures 
• Going to Market Day in the nearby town of Niglde and buying traditional village pants
• Visiting Niglde Castle and getting special access to usually locked rooms
• Eating an incredibly tasty village meal prepared by Hamza's mother at her abode
• Traveling into the mountains to see the sheep grazing and the spot where they get milked
• Following a crazy shepherd up the mountainside and into a small cave which we had to crawl in our bellies to get to.
• Crazy shepherd lighting a small fire within the tiny cave in order to see the early Christian crosses that were carved into the ceiling. 
• Nearly suffocating from the smoke inhalation. 
• Trying all the different leaves and flowers that crazy shepherd gave us
• Holding a gun from WW2 that one of the shepherds owned 
• Listening to the sound of a gunshot ringing off the mountains
• Visiting a local teahouse and meeting the President of the village
• Eating another amazing village meal 
• Having a balcony Jam-Session with Ukulele, village drums, cymbal and a tambourine
• Turning it into a Christmas song Jam Session
• Turning it into a "listen to Ayla make up a silly song" Jam Session
• Turning it into a teach our new village friends how to do the Macarena and YMCA Dance Party
• Turning it into an indoor dance party complete with Justin Bieber and a spritely old grandpa with a tamborine/drum
• Turning it into a water pipe session with Ismail and Yasmin
• Staying up til late with Ismail, Yasmin, and their niece Bushra having a three-hour long conversation with the help of two phrasebooks and a lot of gesticulating. 

7/15- Fesleğen Village>Cappadocia 

• Saying goodbyes to our village friends 
• Visiting a early Christian monastery carved into the rock that was near the village
• Climbing into tunnels and venturing into dark corners
• Visiting an eight story underground city
• Climbing into tunnels and venturing into dark corners
• Singing and making music videos eight stories underground
• Visiting Ihara Valley, hiking up trails, climbing up rocks, and over cliffs to visit different early Christian cave churches
• GETTING A TURKISH FANNY PACK
• Arrived to Cappadocia and our CAVE HOTEL at night

7/16- Cappadocia

• Waking up and realized how amazing Cappadocia is
• Visiting the Open Air Museum, a UNESCO Heritage Site, and learning and seeing many many more churches.
• Seeing the "livid" frescos in the Dark Church and sneaking pictures in no picture zones.
• Getting the best cheap lunch ever courtesy of bus driver's connections
• Eating potatoes courtesy of a potato
• Discovering pot in pots in abandoned ruins
• Visiting a pottery factory 
• Visiting a Cappadocian winery
• Photo opps EVERYWHERE
• Watching the sunset over Cappadocia on the roof of a castle carved out of rock
• Getting the best cheap dinnerr ever courtesy of bus driver's connections
• Night Photo opp!

Basically, this is a rough ROUGH outline of the past few days. Apologies for lack of coherency, random inside jokes, and vagueness. These past few days have been incredible, but the body can only take so much dancing/climbing/crawling/laughing. Some semblance of an actual post to come soon. Headed out to our dig site tomorrow. Stopping at Çatalhöyük on the way. I might as well just unhinge my lower jaw at the rate that it's falling out of amazement/panting from exploring/lowering itself to admit delectable Turkish food.


iyi geceler


*Blood was lost to a variety of thorns and prickly plants whilst we climbed the mountainsides and over hill and dale. Sweat was heavily produced on all aforementioned adventures. Tears were shed at the village goodbyes. Adventures were had by all.