Adventures of Space Camp Turkey

2006-01-21T02:30:00.000+02:00

me3

The End?

2005-08-22T05:09:00.000+03:00

This is probably the end of the story about our time in Turkey. We will visit Turkey again when we can. The Turks were kind and very hospitable, even to Americans. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed our blog site.

Home Again

2005-08-21T06:52:00.000+03:00

Well, the summer had to come to a close eventually. I have just moved into my new apartment and started my fall semester of university. I was sad when I boarded the plane for Chicago. I had such a great time in Turkey this summer that I wished that school started later so I could travel more. Oh well, just another reason to come back. Over the summer I met some wonderful friends that I will miss now that I am in the States. But I have come away with some great memories, experiences, and friendships that I will cherish forever. Now.........on to school!!!

Leaving Turkey Soon!

2005-08-10T12:13:00.000+03:00

This summer has gone by so fast. Only four days until we return to the US. On August 14th we fly from Izmir to Chicago, then to Houston. Before we return, we got an extra day off work to enjoy. Sarah and I are going to a place called Grand Blue Sky hotel in Kusadasi for two days, Saturday and Sunday.

2005-08-08T12:06:00.000+03:00

Pre-circumcision celebration: for young boy on front of camel

2005-08-08T11:48:00.000+03:00

Downtown Balikesir with our friends

Balıkesir

2005-08-07T23:26:00.000+03:00

This past Saturday Tom, Matt, and I went to visit some former students in their town of Balıkesir. It was a fun trip. We left Izmir at 9am and arrived around 11:30. The girls met us at the bus station and we headed for town. On the way we stopped at their school because they wanted to show us around. Their school is very nice. Next we went to the town center where they lived. We went to one of the girls house for lunch. Her mom cooked us a great lunch. There was alot of food. First we had mashed potatoes with some sauteed beef. The meat was so tender. Along with that there was green beans, salad, stuffed peppers, another type of salad, cheese stuffed eggplant, and rice. After we filled up on that there was more!! Fruit, pudding, and a cake type thing was brought out for dessert. There were peaches(şeftali), grapes, pears, and figs. By the time we were done we were stuffed!!! we couldn't move so we payed cards for a while before going out to see the town. Around three we headed out and walked around. We saw the clocktower, museum, and the town. After a couple of hours we were hot and decided to get ice cream. We went to a nice ice cream paror and all ordered sundaes. Tom, Matt, and I decided that we were going to pay for everybody because up until this point they had been paying for us, like bus tickets for example. Matt went up to pay when they weren't looking, but he was caught.

He came back and said, "They caught me."

"What??" I asked

"They caught me." Matt reinforced

"What do you mean?" Tom said

"They saw me tring to pay and stopped me. The cashier had my card and everything when they came up and they said something in Turkish and the cashier gave me back my card and said 'NO'!" Matt said

One of the girls then said that it is Turkish custom for the guest not to pay. That if the guest pays it is impolite. We finally relented after some more discussion. We then continued around town for a few more hours, and then returned to the house for more cards and dinner. dinner was not a fancy as lunch thank goodness, because we were still quite full. We had chicken, french fries, eggplant, and salad. For dessert there was watermelon. By now it was 10pm and we had to get going to the bus station for out 11pm departure back to Izmir. We said goodbye to each other at the station and left for Izmir. It was a really nice day. The girls were super nice to us and we were sad to leave. But we have been invited to come back whenever we want. Maybe we will.......

New Recipe of the week!

2005-08-04T00:33:00.000+03:00

Stuffed eggplants are great and served often here.

AWOL

2005-08-03T23:22:00.000+03:00

Mothers were kissing their little boys and girls goodbye as they checked in to SpaceCamp Turkey. The new campers turned there cash into space camp credit cards and recieved their t-shirts. It was the start of a new week. At 4 pm it was time to officially start the weekly program with "Program-O" or program orientation. We waitied for about ten minutes for the person responsible for giving the opening ceremony, but Connie did not show. I was "volunteered" to be the one who give the lecture since I have no fear of doing so. I gave the opening rules and introductions to camp, then we sent the kids off with their teams. Connie was missing, but we did not stop and wonder where she was. The supervisors on duty, however, saw it differently. They told me I should have let them know when she did not show up to program-o. I just said, "I gave the lecture then took my team. That's it." I did not care where she was, I just went on. But I have forgotten to tell the story before the story. The night before Connie was missing, Connie and her highly codependant lover, Darren approached some of us in the television/counselor room. They confided in us that they were going to leave camp that night. This is weeks before they were supposed to leave according to verbal contracts, etc. So, they went AWOL! Darren and Connie got their bags and headed for the bus stop. Some of us walked them to the bus stop since we were going to buy some snack at a gas station beyond the bus stop. We said our goodbyes and watched them get into a Dolmush and leave. That's it. They wanted to leave and they are gone. Now we have to fill in their positions and are stuck with their jobs.

The kindeness of strangers

2005-07-23T13:37:00.000+03:00

Here at Space Camp Turkey, we live in a land of generosity and hospitality. Invitations have been extended to Sarah and I to visit people all over Eastern Europe, Bulgaria, and of course Turkey. Our travel possibilties are endless but our time is not. We normally have only one day off a week, but hopefully we will be able to visit some of our past students who live nearby. The hospitality in a Turkish home is great, and the food will always be the best you have eaten.

Family Visit

2005-07-22T22:13:00.000+03:00

Finally the weeks ended and Tom and I had 2 days off because my Mom and Sister were coming to visit. Tom and I went to pick them up from the airport. They finally came out of Customs after an hour........without luggage. We went to give the info needed for the airport to deliver the luggage when it arrived and went to catch a cab to the Hotel Karaca. Once at the hotel Claire laid down to sleep while Tom, Mom, and I went for a walk and ended up at a pub and had a drink. We had been invited to a friends house for dinner so we went back to get Claire and headed back into the center fro dinner. It was a fabulous dinner. We had a yougurt based cucumber soup for starters, eggplant with tomato chicken and cheese topping along with a bean salad, green beans, rolled vine leaves, cooked peppers and zuicinni, and bread. It was a great meal and gave Claire and Mom a real sense of what Turkish food is. It was getting late and Mom and Claire decided to retire because they were tired form the flight. Tom and I then met up with our friends from camp and went out on the town for the night.

The next day the luggage finally arrived from the airport and we went out on a tourist tour. We walked around for hours seeing all the sights and ended up at the elevator thing. This elevator was made for people to get form a low road to the high road. We went up to the top and enjoyed the view and had a drink. Then we went back to the hotel for awhile before heading back to space camp. After giving the tour of space camp we went to a vinyard for dinner. The dinner was excelent. I had, for starters, white asparagus with a holandase-cheese sauce. For the main course I had steak emanse with mushrooms. IT WAS EXCELLENT!!!! And then for dessert we shared cheesecake with raspberry sauce topping and a chocolate parfe/mousse. Along with this dinner we had red wine, I forgot what the name was. When th night was saddly over Tom and I got dropped off at space camp while Mom and Claire went back to the hotel. They would be leaving the next day to go to the Greek island of Samos for a week before coming back to see us. I hope they have a great time and I will update the next exciting weekend of FAMILY SHOPPING.

2005-07-20T18:00:00.000+03:00

36 years ago today we landed on the moon!

Sights and Wines

2005-07-17T22:35:00.000+03:00

Sarah's mom and sister came to Turkey to visit us here. They arrived yesterday and are staying at the Hotel Karaca in the city. We took them on a tour today. We ended the night with dinner at a great winery in the countryside. The winery's web site: http://www.sevilengroup.com/eng/

JOKE TIME!

2005-07-15T01:07:00.000+03:00

Here's a few good ones for people who like bad jokes (i.e. Mr. Farrell)

What do you call a fly with no wings? A walk

A frog is looking for a loan, so he goes into a bank. He sits down at a desk and the name plate says "Patty Whac". He talks to Patty about the loan and she asks him what he has for collateral. The frog replies well I have this vase. He pulls the vase out of a bag to show her. Patty says "well thats just a cheap knick-knack". Then the owner notices the vase and says to himself "gee that's from the 17th century, it's worth tons of money" So he walks over to patty and says "Thats no knick-knake Patty Whac give the frog a loan".

Two sausages are in a pan. One looks at the other and says "Gee, it's hot in here." and the other sausage says "OH MY GOODNESS IT'S A TALKING SAUSAGE!"

A farmer is milking his cow. As he is milking, a fly comes along and flies into the cows ear. A little bit later, the farmer notices the fly in the milk. The farmer looks up and says, "Hmph. In one ear, out the utter."

A small piece of sodium which lived in a test tube fell in love with a Bunsen burner. "Oh Bunsen, my flame. I melt whenever I see you . . .", the sodium pined."It's just a phase you're going through", replied the Bunsen burner.

Good times

2005-07-15T00:50:00.000+03:00

It is late here, about 1 am. I had habitat duty tonight. Habitat duty is when I have to put the children to bed. So I woke up at 8 am today, spent the day teaching and working with the students. Then at 10 pm I start part 2 of my job. Only once or twice a week do I have to do this extra part. At 10 pm, we make the boys shower and get ready for bed. Then, at eleven oclock, the lights are shut off and the boys make fart sounds for a while, then laugh and fall asleep. Sometimes the boys are such angels, and then other times they are, well, not angels. Tonight, a group of boys, some Turkish and some American, wanted to do yoga. It is against the rules to not be in the beds after lights out, however, I told them if they really did yoga and were quiet it was no problem. I checked on them several times in the 30 minutes they did it and they were great. When they were done, they went to bed. Techniques to get twenty boys to be quiet and go to sleep vary greatly with each group. To quiet another group I told them I would sleep in the dorm with them. It's fun getting to know these kids and finding ways to work with them and have them respect you while you discipline them. This week an astronaut, Dr. Drew Gaffney, from a space shuttle mission (STS-40) visited us here and has given several lectures and informal question and answer talks with the students. Good night...

Launch Canceled

2005-07-14T00:08:00.000+03:00

The launch was canceled today due to a sensor problem. Maybe next Monday the 18th.

Return to Flight

2005-07-10T22:57:00.000+03:00

The shuttle will be returning to space this week on July 13th. The launch is scheduled for 3:31 pm EST.

NASA sight:
http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/main/index.html

Like Baklava?

2005-07-10T22:46:00.000+03:00

You will LOVE the recipe of the week (See menu on right) for chocolate baklava. Mmmmm, I can taste it just writing about it!

2005-07-10T22:19:00.000+03:00

We are alive, but very busy. Sarah and I are working 13 hour days. Next week we will have more time to keep you updated. I am updating the recipe of the week. We are fine. This week we have students from Israel, Turkey, and America. We miss you all!

2nd Team

2005-07-02T13:31:00.000+03:00

This last week was an awesome week. I had my 2nd team this week and we had a blast. I had kids from 4 different countries: Germany, Israel, Bulgaria, and Turkey. During the first couple of days the kids stayed in their respective country groups but they slowly started to mesh and by the end of the week everybody was best friends with everybody else. Alot of kids did not want each other to go and they exchanged e-mails, numbers and addresses. We had lots of fun this week doing simulators and learning all about space. It was really cool to see the change in the groups at the end of camp. It was good to see all the kids get to know each other and set aside their country boundries and have fun with each other. They graduated this morning and are preparign to leave. Tom's group, Sun, won "Best Mission." He was very proud of them. This week was the best week here so far. The next two weeks are E-PAL weeks. We are going to have lots of teams and a very busy schedule. I hope that they go as well as this week went.

Pamukkale and beyond

2005-07-02T09:52:00.000+03:00

Last week, Some counselors, Sarah and myself went to Pamukkale which is 3.5 hours from here. We took a bus to Denizli, then a dolmuş to the little town of Pamukkale. The town sits below a very commonly visited tourist attraction, the white travertine pools and the ancient Roman city of Hierapolis. You must accend the hill near the travertine pools without shoes and walk on the calcium bed formed as a sidewalk. We walked the calcuim walkway up the hill, took pictures, and watched the crazy europeans. At the top of the hill is the ruins of an old city named Hierapolis. We looked around, saw a very impressive theater of Hierapolis built into the hillside. After a long day in the hot sun looking at the ruins, we wanted a nice dip in the healing waters of large swimming pool. It cost 18 Yeni Turkish Lira or about $15 USD. We did not swim because of the price. We stayed in a pension with a pool so we swam there. We took a day trip to another Roman ruin site call Aphrodisias. This site is well preserved and is one of the top sites to go to in Turkey, but it is out of the way so it does no get alot of visiters. Now we are back at work.

Last Week

2005-06-27T23:22:00.000+03:00

Last week was my first team. The kids were from Beirut, Lebanon. I had the Neptune team along with John our other counselor. The kids came in on Friday and they left today, Tuesday. It was a cool 5 days. The days were jam packed with activities like missions, simulators, space briefings, recreation, and lots of games. My group was so excited about learning. Some just wanted to play all day, but most were excited about what our next activity was. The week went well and at the end my team won "best mission," which means that their mission was the best out of all 4 teams. John and I were very proud. That ended a fun, eventful week and they left to go home.

Updated recipe of the week June 27

2005-06-27T22:45:00.000+03:00

I just added a new link (see the right column) to a recipe commonly found here in restaurants, etc.

It is stuffed bell peppers and they are GREAT!

My First Team

2005-06-15T10:02:00.000+03:00

My first team arrived on Sunday for check in and to start their journey at Space Camp Turkey. They will be immersed in space life for 6 full days. These kids are from Turkey and in the English program and speak it very well.

Stephanie, an American couselor, will be the co-counselor with me for the six days while they are here. We will alternate shifts, morning and afternoon. Sarah is on support duty for this week.

Having a group is the greatest thing. It is my designed purpose. I was trained to do this. We learn, play, and play while we learn. The kids are smart and know most before we even do the activities. They are inquisitive and bold. Most of the children are interested in space travel and want to know the simplest things, such as, "Is there sound in space?"

no

After eight hours of kids you might think that I would wish there was no sound here. Actually, I miss the noise and can't wait till my shift today at 3pm.

Donkey Island

2005-06-12T23:00:00.000+03:00

We took a trip to Donkey Island yesterday(Sat) on a fancy yacht. It was really cool. We set out from space camp at 9:30 in the morning and were on the yacht by 11am. The warm sun was so nice. We lay out on the front of the yacht basking in the sun. Life here is so hard, we have 7 days of vacation, 1 day of work, and then back to vacation. Just kidding. It has been fabulous so far. It took about an hour to sail to Donkey Island. The weather was sooooo perfect. Sunny, no clouds, and around 90 degrees, perfect weather.

The Agean Sea is really clear and blue. Once we got to Donkey Island we lowered the anchor most of us jumped into the sea. It was really fun to jump from the boat into the ocean. The depth was around 14 meters. I brought my goggles and could see the bottom and I could also see way off in the distance. Under Water!! Everybody had fun looking through my goggles in the ocean. Connie was worried about swimming to shore because she was not a strong swimmer.

"Don't worry," Beth said "there is so much salt in the sea that you cannot sink."

Tom and I were already in the water and we decide to try it out because Tom always sinks. Tom lies flat on his back and...........sinks right down.

"Uh......Beth," I comment.

"Yeah," Beth asked.

"Tom still sinks," I said.

"Well......he better just swim," Beth told us.

No problem. We had to swim from the boat to the island. It was not that far but a good swim. From the boat we could see all the donkeys that inhabited the island. So once on land we walked to where the donkeys were. We did not have any food wıth us because we forgot to bring some, also because it would have gotten wet and soggy. At first the donkeys ignored us, but when we pretended to have food they all came over to investigate. We petted the donkeys and then explored the surrounding area for a little bit before heading back to the boat. We swam back to the boat and continued to look at the sea under water for a lıttle bit, and then we climbed back up on deck to continue our relaxing day. I read a book for a while before the captain decided that we would go to another spot to sit and relax.

The next place we tried to go was Blue Lagoon, but there were too many tourist boats so we headed on to another, more private location. Tom had to jump into the water to tie us up to the rocks on the cliff. The depth of the water here was about 8 meters and was just as clear as before. We all jumped into the water and swam for a bıt. Then we all just lounged around on the boat. All the guys fished whenever we stopped.

After a couple of hours at the private location we headed back to Blue Lagoon. This time there was enough room for us to stay. Again Tom had to jump into the ocean to tie the boat up to the rocks. Blue Lagoon did not live up to it name. It was BETTER!!! The water was a beautiful torquoise color. Again the water was so clear. When the guys fished we could watch the fish bite the bait. It was sooooo cooooooo!! Alas, the day had to end. We had spent 8 hours out on the open Agean Sea visiting island after island. We sailed back to the mainland of Turkey and went back to space camp. By the time we all got back around 8:30pm, we were tired, but happy and relaxed. It was a great day. I hope to be able to do it again sometime.

2005-06-12T22:23:00.000+03:00

How cute

2005-06-12T22:21:00.000+03:00

An island of donkeys?

2005-06-10T22:45:00.000+03:00

Evil Eye

Friday field trip

2005-06-10T22:02:00.000+03:00

Today was our last day of training. We are being cast into the unknown. This afternoon we took a little field trip to a shop in the country that hand makes glass beads. They mainly make a Turkish traditional type of design called the "evil eye". The eye is supposed to protect from evil. I bought some gifts for the folks back home.
There were lots of wild animals including a white peacock and a camel named Efey.

To learn more about the evil eye of turkey...
http://www.business-with-turkey.com/tourist-guide/evil_eye_amulet_nazar_boncuk.shtml

2005-06-08T20:26:00.000+03:00

Church in Pyrgi center

2005-06-08T20:24:00.000+03:00

Mavros Gyalos Beach with black pebbles

2005-06-08T20:21:00.000+03:00

Some rocks for geologists

2005-06-08T20:19:00.000+03:00

Church of Panayia Sikelia on Chios

2005-06-08T20:16:00.000+03:00

Sarah and Tom at local Turkish winery

Scooters

2005-06-08T12:43:00.000+03:00

Scooters. What else can I say. Our 1st day on the island of Chios we, Tom, Darren, Connie and I, rented two scooters to travel around the island on. One for Darren and Connie and one for Tom and me. The day before when our travel lady showed us around Karfas, she pointed out the best scooter rental place. In the morning we went to rent the best scooters available. Only one problem, the good scooter place wouldn't rent us scooters because we did not have international drivers licenses. Okay, strike one. We walked down the street to the next "Rent a Moto" place. Here there was no problem.

"You want scooters?" the Greek lady asked us.

"Yes please," we replied.

"Do you have licenses?"

"Yes. Here you go," we said as we produced out American drivers licenses.

"Okay," the lady replied.

We continued to follow her out to the street to get our scooters.

"Since you are tall," she directed at Tom, "Here is a bigger scooter. And here is a smaller one for you," directed at Darren.

"Do you have experience in riding?" she asked Tom and Darren.

"Yes, plenty," Tom replied.

"No," Darren said cautiously.

"Oh no. We have a problem," the lady said.

Now of course we are thinking that we are not going to be rented the scooters because of lack of driving experience. But that was not the case. The lady just told Tom to take Darren out for a spin and teach him how to ride. Connie and I waited for Darren and Tom to get back from the driving lesson, and then we all got helmets, paid 12 euros for the scooters, and left for our adventure of exploring Chios.

First we had to get gas, so he rode down the street to find a gas station. Now, Tom is an excellent scooter driver because he has had much practice on dirt bikes and motorcycles, but Darren is not such a good driver. The first gas station came up rather rapidly after a bend in the road and Tom and I turned into it without problem. Darren and Connie did not have as much luck. Darren skidded on the gravel and the bike toppled onto its side. Darren was okay, but Connie hurt her leg. The Greek gas station guy was really nice. He brought a chair and a cup of water out for Connie to sit on and drink. I had an ice pack which we applied to her growing knee. Nothing was broken, except maybe Darren's confidence in driving. Connie was such a trooper and said that we need to get going and we all got on our bikes and kept going. Tom told Darren that his fall was most likely due to using the front brake to much.

"Remember what the scooter lady said, '70% back, 30% front'," Tom told Darren. "Don't be afraid to use your front brake, just be careful with it."

As tom and I rode off in front of Darren and Connie we were worried about how this trip was going to go. For the rest of the afternoon it was great. Riding along in the south of Chios was the best experience of the whole trip.

We did not have much of a plan, just head south-westish. We stopped in Armolia for lunch and then headed south with the plan to go to Komi, Emporios, and Mavros Gyalos(the black pebble beach). Not much has happened yet, injury-wise. Just wait.

The drive was very nice and I had been relaxed for some time now, after I got used to "scootering". Tom and I were usually a little ways ahead of Darren and Connie. Tom and I were rounding a bend just outside of Komi, when a car pulled out in front of us. Tom swerved just in time. I felt the car near my leg. We missed it hitting us by only inches. Luckily no one was coming the other direction because we had swerved to the other side of the road and almost hit a fence, and almost lost our balance on the side of the road. Tom kept his wits about him did not crash the bike but kept it upright and kept going down the street and we stopped to catch our breath at the stop sign. Of course you have to remember that we are on scooters and anything that would hit us or anything we would hit would cause a pretty good amount of damage. I was deathly afraid of crashing with the scooter. But Tom kept control and we did not have to call Space Camp and tell them that we were in a Greek hospital with concussions and broken limbs! The car that almost hit us came and apologized. It was an ancient old couple. The diver had really thick glasses and kept signaling that he couldn't see around the bend. But that of course did not stop him from accelerating out onto the street instead of cautiously creeping out to see if there was any traffic!!

We made it to Komi and relaxed for a 1/2 hour or so before heading over to Emporio. After Emporio we went to Pyrgi and then wound our way home without any accidents. The only thing that aroused was when Darren took a 90 degree turn a little too fast and ended up on the side of the road. No one fell off or got hurt, just shaken up. At that point Connie was ready to walk home rather than get back on the scooter with Darren. We took the rest of the way slowly and carefully and arrived back in Karfas around 8pm. We were all glad to be back home and off the scooters. 8 hours scootering around the island can make you tired. We saw most of what we wanted to, did not die or break anything, and arrived home just in time to go to dinner. Saganaki for starters, and Mousaka for the entree. But, that story will have to wait for another time.

Greek Island Adventure

2005-06-08T11:16:00.000+03:00

Four of us, all Americans, planned a trip to the Greek island of Chios for several days we did not have to work. We called a taxi cab to Space Camp and took it the Uçkuyular bus station for a bus to Çeşme. We arrived just in time to board a bus leaving to Çeşme. We arrived in Çeşme and walked down towards harborabor. The road to the harbor was a rough brick and stone street lined with a gauntlet of tourist stores. Shop keepers shouted strange English slang and "Turklish" expressions to get us into their shops. We ate, bought our ferryboat tickets from ErTurk travel, then looked around the city.

A sultan had a castle there and it was interesting. We exchanged our money, with some problems. I exchanged new Turkish Lira to Euros, but Sarah and Darren changed US dollars to Euros. Darren had no problem, but Sarah did. The lady changing her money took far too long and I was concerned Sarah was getting screwed. She got done and sat down saying she got too many Euros. Oh well, we all left and caught the ferry to Chios. The ride was only about 45 minutes long to the island. The ride was a little bit wet from the wahittingting the bow of the boat. We had to retreat from the bow area seating to a more covered area to the rear of the boat. The ferry arrived at the Chios harbor and we went headed for customs.

We went to the customs for non-Euro peoples. We got into line, when several people started pushing past us with no regard for anyone else. At first we thought maybe it was an emergency, then realized it was some stupid tour group. We quickly started to block the intruders from cutting in line. They started yelling and pushing more. A few more got by finallynaly we were close to the customs window. We had some of the crazy tour group still at bay behind us. One women got creative and held her stomach and yelled "Bebe, Bebe" as she pushed by us. She was a little thick in the stomach, but a fake. The Greek guard saw this and actually told her to wait. She shoved her passport into the window anyways. We pushed and fought our way to the window and got our passports stamped. We walked towards the city and stopped at the first travel agent to find out where we should go for rooms. The owner of the travel agency was there and told us about a great apartment on the beach about 5 km's away. His wife picked us up and showed us the place. They told us that for 4 of us it was 50 Euros a night. That was 12.50 each, which was good. The travel agents owned the place. We took the apartment, complete with kitchen and a shower with no walls. We ate at a restaurant on the beach that night. We had some meatballs on macaroni.

The next day we were to explore the island by scooters. Each couple got a scooter bike to ride. I had experience on motorcycles most of my life and once owned a scooter like we rode, however, the other couple had none. I took the other driver, Darren, out and showed him how to drive the scooter. I drove while he rode. I described the brakes, leaning into turns, and how the passenger should lean with the driver, and anything else I could think of. Now it was his turn to try it. He was unsure and a little wobbly on the corners, but I thought he'd get it. He drove until we decided he could do it on his own.

We went to get gas...and bad things happened on the turn into the petrol station. Somehow, the other couple fell into the turn and crashed. The female passenger was hurt and in pain. No visible blood. They were going slow when they fell, but she had a deep bruise on her leg below her knee that prevented her from walking. We waited for a while, to find out how she felt. She was tough. After some ice and rest, she said we should go on with the plans to see the island. She was brave to say the least. I'm sure that Sarah was somewhat apprehensive after seeing this, but she didn't say much. Off we went into the island.

We traveled inland and finally stopped at a Byzantine monastery called Church of Panayia Krina (Our Lady). [pictures should be posted soon] It was a 13th century, small stone structure complete with great arches and domed ceilings. We could only see it from the outside. We left the church and headed to Armolia for lunch. The first place we tried had Amstel beer glass covering the floor. Someone had broken hundreds of bottles on the floor and a woman was sweeping it up as she waved us to leave. We ate something called a Mafioso, which was spaghetti with tomato sauce and seafood, including mussels. We headed south again to the town of Emporios to find the black pebble beach called Mavros Gyalos. As we drove down a hill, a little silver car pulled out in front of us and almost made me hit a fence. I had the bike as close to the fence as I could have been without hitting it. I had the rear brake on hard and the front brake on firmly. I needed to slow but not loose control in the gravel. I told Sarah, "Hang on to me!" So that our weight was centered well, and she responded, "I AM!" We straightened up and were ok. We pulled over and the older Greek couple said some stuff we couldn't understand. We exhaled. Our partners behind us caught up and we moved on to Emporios.

The black pebble beach Mavros Gyalos, was beautiful. We spent an hour there and went to Pyrgi. Pyrgi was beautiful. The streets are less than one car wide in the main part. We parked and walked into the center and looked around. They have a neat way they paint the building there with shapes cut out. [see pics] We left Pyrgi and headed north to go home. We went a different route to get home. We took a steep mountain road into a scrub pine forest. There were bee hives all over. A sign said, "Warning: Forest fires." The decent was fast and had many switchbacks. Darren lost control of his scooter again, but no injuries. His female passenger looked at him with a "death stare" and I wished there was another way for them to get home. We pushed on and finally made it home. The next day we relaxed on the beach, swam, and got sun burned. I bought a corona size cigar and smoked it on the beach the next evening. We ate great food and the hospitality was great. The last night in Chios, Sarah and I sipped CAIR champagne on the beach. Nice end, but why does it have to?

Kamikaze Shopping

2005-06-03T15:27:00.000+03:00

Shopping, the simplest and benign of activities. That droning sound of endless elevator music drives you insane.

Not here, not in Izmir. It's all about shopping completely blind...Kamikaze style! Myself, Sarah, and Darren all went to the the local Kipa store for things we needed. Kipa is the Walmart of this area. They sell everything. We needed laundry detergent, face wash, milk, alarm clocks, snacks and other goods. It was strange to say the least. When we started things were ok. The prices were clear and we had fun looking at all the funny things they sell. The first difference I noticed was that there was a lot of employees. They would fill up a space immediately when you took something off the shelf. The other thing I noticed was that they were all attractive young women doing the job. If you needed help finding an item, they were there to serve you. Now that's service! Since I knew where nothing in the store was, I must ask the girl. The other counselor we were with got some shampoo and the bottle had a woman's picture on it (i.e. girls shampoo), however, he was a he. So the young attractive Turkish girl offered him a picture of a man to stick on the shampoo so he wouldn't be humiliated or caught buying a feminine product as a man. We looked all around the store and it was fun. Sarah got her European sweets, and I got some milk that is not refrigerated. We found some very good juice and snack chips. The chips are different in flavor here. They have more different spices, but good. the milk tastes different, but ok. I got some sweets for myself, such as nestle crunch bars and some hazelnut bars. We were shopping for laundry detergent, but it appeared that it may be dishwashing liquid. After some time, we found the laundry detergent in another place, after almost buying some dishwashıng soap for our clothes. The fabric softeners smelled strange. The perfumes used were not good smelling to us. They sold lots of bulk nuts and spices. We finally checked out. I could not get some soy sauce I wanted because the UPC symbol did not scan, so the Turkish girl looked at me and said, "No." So that's it, no soy sauce for me. I tried to get it but the language barrier prevented this. We took a taxi home for 5 yeni Turkish lira. The taxi ride is great fun and a risk to your life. Get in, shut up, hold on!

Days Off

2005-06-03T00:57:00.000+03:00

We don't get many days off here at space camp. But all of a sudden we have 7 days off in a row. It's basically time off after training and before the kids come. And I am ready! All we've done so far is wake up, work for 10hrs, eat, sleep, repeat. We weren't given much planning time for this though.

Wednesday morning Beth, our boss, says that we have Friday off.

"Oh," she says "also Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are optional."

"Optional?" we all repeat.

"Yes, you don't have to work but you won't get paid."

"Duhhhh!!" we all think.

So the remainder of this week has been full of planning trips around Turkey and Greece. Darren, Connie, Tom and I are all going to go to Chios for a couple of days, and then maybe go to Efes(Ephesus). Darren and Connie opted to work on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so Tom and I are going to go South. We're not sure quite yet, probably Efes, Sirince, The Temple of Artemis, and places like that. There is only one slight glitch in or plan. We had planned to go to Chios for Friday and Saturday night and then go back to space camp for Sunday night and take day trips down south. We were telling Beth this and she all of a sudden said,
"You can't"

"What do you mean 'we can't'?"

"Space camp's closed of Sunday"

"What do you mean 'closed'"

"Locked. Nobody will be here. You cannot come here Sunday night."

"But this is our HOME. This is where we LIVE. How can you close our home?"

"Well......everybody said they were going to be gone." (We said that after 10min of consideration Wednesday morning)

Lots of stammering of "but....how?....where?.....why?....but.." followed, but it did not good. We are going to have to find someplace to stay the night on Sunday.

So this is our plan for our fabulous vacation time. We leave tomorrow (Friday). We'll let you all know how the trip went in a week.

Turkish Opressıon

2005-05-31T07:52:00.000+03:00

A story in May 21 addition of Turkish Daily News was as follows-

Hasan Başar, married wıth two children and working as a civil servant, is suing the General Directorate of telecommunications for rejecting his request for a discount because of his stutter. Başar claims that due to his stutter he pays nearly four times more than a person without hıs dısability. The General Directorate of telecommunications reviewed the claim and said... no.

reporting from Ankara, Turkey, this is Spacemonkey signing off

Driving

2005-05-30T11:45:00.000+03:00

Driving in Turkey is quite amazing. Or crazy, whichever you like. Since we do not have a car we walk or take the bus everywhere. The only problem is that walking is a danger to your health. The drivers here are crazy. All street signs are taken as suggestions. For example, lines on the road......suggestions. Red lights........suggestions. Not running people over.........suggestions. The idea is that they are in the car so everythig else should get out of their way. The only consolationis that the curbs are really high, about 50 inches I've been told. We figure the reason that the curbs are so high is so that the pedestrians walking on the sidewalk do not get run over as much. Even with all this I have yet to see an accident in Turkey. I only hope that I get used to being almost run over because I have 3 months left of walking around Izmir.

2005-05-29T16:20:00.000+03:00

A slightly large flag on the front of the PPL (post office) building in Konak

2005-05-29T16:17:00.000+03:00

Darren, Tom and Sarah at the clocktower �n Konak

Flıght

2005-05-29T13:27:00.000+03:00

The start of our(Tom and I) journey set the precident for the rest. Our ticket attendent ın Kansas City put the wrong tag on our bags. They were now going to Istanbul, and we were going to Izmır. As we left her she said that she was going to go change them after the next person in line, but we were still skepical and wondered if we would ever see our luggage again.

The flight over was interestıng to say the least. First off, we flew Turkish Airlines. I have nothing against Turkish Airlines, but it was an experience. To start with, the plane left about an hour late because everybody showed up late. Now most trips I have taken if you are late the plane leaves wıthout you. But not this time. We finally left Chicago.

This is the first long trip that I have taken since I turned 21 so I wanted to get a drınk. The stewardesses came down the aisle with the drınk cart and I had my money at the ready. As soon as I could see the cart I was amazed. All it had on it was alcohol. Vodka, gin, whisky, scotch, beer, wine, everything. And even more shocking was that everybody was ordering it!! Apparently thats just what happens on Turkish Airlines, everybody drinks. Oh, it dıd not cost anything either. Everything was free.

Finally after 11 hours the flight was over and we were ready for the next dısaster. Sınce our plane left 1 hour late, we landed 1 hour late. Our next plane was scheduled to leave at 1:00pm, and we landed at 12:55pm. After a mad dash through visa and passport check, and another mad dash (well really it was like a marathon run because Istanbul airport ıs really, really long) we arrived at our gate only to find out our plane had left. We got new tickets for the 4pm flight and now had 3 hours wait. But the wait would be interesting. We had our first experience usıng a pay phone wıth a Turkish callıng card. It turned out to be fairly simple wıth some help. Anyway we called Space Camp and cleared our arival time and then went to sit and wait and try not to fall asleep. As usual our next flight left late, but we fınally arrived wıth our luggage and went to Space Camp.