Christmas in Turkey
A fantastic couple that I work with at my school invited me to stay with them for Christmas at their home near Karabarun. On christmas day, we explored the ruins of an abandoned Greek village.
As you can imagine, there was no road access to the village so we had to find a good point of entry from the pastureland surrounding it.
Here there be Goats.
The ruins were much more extensive and intact than any of us had expected. We spent the day trying to determine where their church would likely have been as well as other important structures common to a greek village from around 100 years ago.
A large main courtyard and position of the building's foundation indicated a church to most of us.
This is an old fountain that served the village.
We encountered new born baby goats and a mother in some of the ruins but we were afraid that disturbing her to take pictures might make her run off and abandon the kids. This is a consolation picture of some other christmas goats we saw while on the road.
We stopped by a small village on the way home.
I bought fresh honey on the honor system.
New Years Eve in Izmir
Little known facts about Turkey:
#1 Saint Nicholas lived and worked the majority of his life in what is now Demre, Turkey.
#2 Turkish people celebrate a secular New Years/ Christmas holiday. Small gift giving happens and the new years eve countdown also takes place.
Izmir had lots of live music, and throngs of people out on the street doing exactly what you would expect on New Year's Eve anywhere else in the world.
Me and my good friend Radost.
Radost's husband Jodie who also happens to be an awesome dude and a good friend of mine. We found Guinness, there was much rejoicing.
Thankfully, I had the good sense not to bring my camera with me on New Year's Eve. As such, there isn't much photo documentation. Rest assured that I had a safe and wholesome evening.
Fun Turkish New Year's Eve Superstitions:
Crushing a pomegranate outside one's home will attract wealth into the household. This has something to do with the many seeds coming together to form the whole fruit.
Leaving the faucet running for the minute preceding and following the countdown will attract wealth into the household. This has something to do with wealth flowing into the house like the water.
Turkish women will often don red lingerie under their normal clothing shortly before the countdown happens. This somehow grants them a wish. I have no explanation.
January
January was a busy month.
Camel Wrestling. You heard right. Selcuk, Turkey. Iranian Camels. Nuff Said.
Refreshments are purchased.
The crowd assembles.
And then, PETA-be-damned, camel thunderdome ensues.
It's sort of like a thumb war...
..but with camel necks and occasional biting.
They fight to the first squeal and are then separated.
My Coworkers are awesome.
Camel sausage anyone ?
Admittedly, it was kind of like a greasier venison and nothing to write home about. But it was a great experience nonetheless.
Foreign Faculty and Friends
Later in Selcuk....
At a carpet shop in Selcuk lived the two luckiest Van cats of all time.
Van cats are native to Lake Van in eastern Turkey. Distinguishing characteristics: All white coat. Mismatched eye color. Affinity for water and swimming.
According to the carpet merchant, the cats are never sold and normally only given to extremely close friends or family members.
Meriรง was busy pampering them.
Ekin and I are still having fun. We're just tired.
Aigai Village
I was lucky to accompany the ACI hiking club to the ancient site of Aigai village.
This section will be updated soon. I promise!
