So let me begin with my most recent experience, a haircut. The reason i am including a normally boring thing in my blog is because this haircut was just a little crazy. There was one actually barber and the other four guys there just smoked i think, but i came to realize that they also had very long pinkie finger nails so i think they may do some crack too but who am i to say, they may have the long nail for another purpose, like digging small holes. anyways the barber was a samurai with scissors! he never stopped clipping the scissors open and closed, even when they were away from my head, snip snip snip snip he kept them going! so he just cut away for about half an hour (yeah it was a long appointment, i think his method of cutting hair is impressive but not efficient) he called to one of the smoking drug dealer guys and they brought us some tea, so in the middle of the haircut we stopped and had a tea break and he had a couple cigarettes himself. he then continued cutting and cutting. i feared i would have no hair left but i think he misses the hair he is trying to cut often. so, an hour later my hair is done, i bargain the price down a bit and i tell them him ill come back again. i think i will because even though the barber shop may be a front for a crack cocaine ring he still gives good haircuts.
On to the trip. It was soo cool! im going to try and write so that the blog coincides with the order of the pictures on facebook. our first night on the trip we had dinner in a barn like thing but the food was great! it was just some family that offered to feed all of us students. we then proceeded to our night time accommodations in the woods, it was nice we were by a lake but it was darn cold and we all bought crappy sleeping bags that are good for about 59 degrees fahrenheit but it got down to 41 degrees. so we pilled into a few tents and snuggled.
The next day we went to the Midas City, the place were the one and only King Midas lived! the one with the golden touch. it was cool, more caves like cappadocia, and then some cool walls carved out og the stone with intricate designs.
We then went on to our hotel for the night, they had a friendly flock of sheep that pooped all over the place and mowed the grass. haha but it was a nice place, we finally had a breakfast that was almost as substantial as an american breakfast, they had potatos, cereal, fruit, etc. it was great. they also had natural hot srpings here, they were nice. (sorry there isnt anything really exciting about hot springs)
Now moving on to a castle on top of a hill. im sorry i dont remember what the name of the city is, but they have a really cool caslte on top of the highest hill in the area and we climbed to the top! it was a good work out and you will see some cool pictures looking down on the city.
Next was a temple built for Zues. very cool, and it has survived the years very well. it is interesting, these ruins are just in peoples back yards or just in the middle of tiny villages. so its not like a city is thriving off the toursim to the ruins. shortly after this the buses got stuck in the mud! the guys got out and pushed them out it was a fun little experience.
Then we went to what was described to us as the underground Pammukale. some of you may be familiar with Pammukale (white mineral deposits left from water, hot springs) well its that just underground. it was so cool, it was a natural oasis in the middle of nothing, it was like a little rain forest underground. from there we went to the real Pammukale (above ground) it is an entire ancient city in ruins. there is a theater, cathedral, tombs everywhere, and a martyrium. Here myself and just a few others walked up to the place where the apostle Philip was stoned and crucified up-side-down. It was great experience, in a place where a man died for the same thing myslef and many others believe in.
The next day we went on to Aphrodisias, named after Aphrodite. You can see in the pictures, it is the one with the green grass around it on the sunny day. This place had beautiful ruins, including a theater and a stadium.
Then on to Ephesus, where they sell genuine fake watches. yes that is how they advertise them. they are genuinely fake, interesting. haha Ephesus was great! of course it is the people Paul wrote the book of Ephesians to, but also he also spoke in the theater here! it was awesome to stand where Paul once proclaimed the Gospel! how cool is that! well i though it was haha. near by is what is thought to be the house where Mother Mary died. it was cool but it had been restored so i think it lost some of its euthenticity. and i am a little skeptical of it being anyones house let alone hers. but either way some people have a very spiritual experience there, i think mainly catholics because they are more into saints and the virgin Mary kinda stuff.
Next, was one of the seven ancient wonders of the worder, the temple to Artemis in Ephesus. This was a more spiritual expereince for me because in Ephesians Paul talks about how the temple of our God is in us, not temples or churches. and centuries later there is a single column of the temple left that was recunstructed yet the temple of Christ is still standing strong! I really like that!
Ok then to Pergamum. We went to the acropolis in Pergamum, it was really cool. again, temples, theater, whites rocks, etc. Pergamum is another of the Seven Churches of Revalation, along with Ephesus. After that we went to Troy but they dont know if it is the actual place where Troy was, they dont even know if Homers story of Troy is true, so that aside it was more ruins of an ancient city.
That is all of the places we went to for the most part, I did forget to mention the night we slept in a contruction site. (dont freak out mom) we were supposed to sleep outside but it was raining a little and it was supposed to get worse so we went into this half built hotel, not windows, doors, lights, or water. i dont think it has been worked on in a year or so but it was good enough for us. but i couldnt help but laugh at how creepy it was! seriously a very good horror movie could have been filmed there, and there were a lot of cats around.
Now as for more serious things, God continues to work in great ways here. So many people want to talk about religion and many people want to read Mere Christianity now! its really cool, many of the other exchange kids are just generall interested in religion. I have been having some great conversations with people about God and love and such. i am seeing the remains of a lot of lives hurt by religion or at least people that have been turned off by religion so it is really cool to reintroduce faith to them. (well hopefully im doing that, God willing, i wont for a second think i represent Christ perfectly) it is has been great! i really enjoy having these conversations. and anyone who would like to hear more about them feel free to ask, i dont want to go into too much detail in this blog because of the simple fact that this is a public forum and think the conversations should be shared with some discresion.
To all of you thank you for your prayers, school is finally starting up for real this week and im excited to get going! i miss you and love you!
Brit
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